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Friday, XX/XX/XXXX | 10:43 |

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"What a huge city!" Andre shouted as he marveled at the sight before him.

Beyond the drawbridge was a harmonious combination of comfy houses, lush vegetation, and mansions--all formed into certain pattern on beautifully paved roads. Almost every windows had flower decorations, adding a sense of serenity to the bustling city.

Stores and other service type buildings lined up cleanly based on its production. Hospitality and dining mostly located near to each other and clothing was somewhere nearby to complement the good combination of shopping and accommodations. Meanwhile blacksmith and other less clean stores were mostly in the corner, but were crowded despite the location. Dwellings were scattered and almost looked the same in design.

Beyond the great wall separating the city and the wilderness was a translucent protection dome. It consisted of a neat pattern of hexagons, shining in rainbow pattern when struck by sunlight. One glance was enough for Andre to assume that it was a protection barrier.

Andre couldn't keep his gaze in one place as he slowly traversed the road. Being a world of high fantasy, he saw many different races such as catfolks, beastkins, dwarves, elves--and many other races he had little to no knowledge about.

Everything was mesmerizing.

It was almost surreal, as if it was a dream.

His mouth went agape as he passed a bipedal lion reading a town map. Beside the lion was a lioness, probably his mate, chatting with a human woman.

Truly amazing!

"Sir >, would you like to tour the bazaar?" one of his attendants asked, "I believe you will find something interesting there!"

Andre threw his gaze behind. He was followed by two female maids and two guards dressed in ordinary clothes.

"I've been to bazaar before, but not here. What can I find there?"

The maid smiled ear to ear, "Almost anything! You won't believe it, but I once found exotic animals and food! I didn't even know you can buy them there. Also the food was amazing! Sure they looked funny, but I still cannot forget the taste!"

"By 'funny', you mean how... I mean the rating. From the scale of 1 to 10, how weird it was?" the other maid threw a skeptical look.

"Uh... 6 I guess? I vaguely remember seeing something in a shape of a nose."

"Ew, how come you...? Ugh, I'm not good with gross-looking food... No, don't describe it in details!"

One of the guards butt in, "But it's true that the bazaar has everything you need. Have you ever seen a magical key that can open almost any door?"

"Did you buy it? Can we see it?" Andre asked, curious.

"Oh, no, I didn't. It was outside of my price range, but still it was a fascinating experience. Even if I did buy it, I'd rather use it as a decoration. I'm not that kind of person who invades other people's property."

The first maid nodded in agreement, "Not only that, you can get a heavy sentence. Last time it was 5 years, right, the incident in Count Gaval's residence?"

The second maid nodded.

Interesting, Andre thought. As expected of a fantasy world! Even the most obscure items that can't be found in Earth is sold here! Since the time in Earth was stopped when they summoned us, I must explore this world to see what it has in store for me!

The quiet second guard asked out of the blue, "Would you like to see the Egrery, sir >?"

"Eg... what?"

The first maid exclaimed, "Oh, that's right! Today's the day, right? But can we even go there? Unrelated persons can't get in, right? Not to mention we aren't even sick!"

"Yes, that's true, but I'm sure Her Holiness can make exception for sir >," the first guard answered calmly, smiling.

"Hold on, guys. What is the Egregy?" Andre stopped altogether, causing the rest to follow him suit.

"Oh, we are very sorry, sir >," the second maid apologized, "the Egrery is our free healing service provided by the Cathedral. It is held per quarterly, usually Friday. On a rare occassion they do it on Saturday, too."

"Yah, we do have healers, but the Egrery is particularly important since it's done by the High Priestess. I want to be someone like her... She's powerful and beautiful!"

Andre's brows arched a little. He couldn't believe that they also had the same days of the week.

Seeing his visible confusion still lingered, the second maid continued,

"What Krisia meant by 'unrelated person' earlier was spectators. We used to let them inside the building, but now it's forbidden to go in due to incidents several years ago. Overcrowding led to another problem and then it was disaster."

"You can't quell curiosity, after all," the first guard commented. "Holy blessing and powerful healing isn't something we ordinary people see every day. To us these are almost like... dragons or something similar."

"That's true. Unlike potatoes, you can't even see it until you get sick."

The second guard gasped in horror, "By the Mashiach! How dare you compare holy blessing to potatoes?"

The maid blurted out in panic, "N-No! That's not it! W-What I meant was the rarity! The exclusiveness! Yes, the exclusiveness!"

"But still you can't do that! What would Her Holiness do if she heard it?"

"Uh, sorry to interrupt you," Andre spoke, waiting the two to stop bickering with each other before he continued, "your Pope is a woman? Not that I have something against that, but it's unique."

The first guard chuckled and shook his head, "Oh, no, sir >. He was referring to the High Priestess. We use the same title to refer to both the Pope and the High Priest. It is easier now that we have Her Holiness as the High Priestess. We used to have both male Pope and High Priest, we have to refer to them with their full title to differentiate them!"

"That's right! The deceased His Holiness the Pope Eldrain and His Holiness the High Priest Viersaff for instance! It's quite mouthful, but well..." the first maid trailed off and then shrugged.

"...what about you, sir >?" the second guard questioned, "do you also have High Priestess in your home?"

"Uh, to my knowledge no? I only know the Pope and priests who conduct sermons and religious rites. That's all I think."

"Priests are able to give sermon? That is amazing!" he was astonished and so was the rest, "here, priests mainly perform healing services and join monster extermination parties! How fascinating!"

"Oh, I see... interesting. There's so much things to learn about this world..." he went silent for a moment before looking at his party members, "uh, anyway... can we see the healing service now? I'm curious about the process and stuff."

"Of course, sir >! Let us accompany you! We'll get you the first-hand experience you'll never forget!" the first maid gave him a thumbs up and grabbed his hand, leading him to the place.