A couple days later, we left the village and were back on the road again. It took us another week or so to finally get to the outskirts of Grasslands City.
By then, the landscape had greatly changed from dense jungle to wide open plains of long, yellow grasses. A few trees were scattered here and there, but it was easy to see where the city's name came from.
The city was still quite far from where we were currently camping, but that was because Xavier didn't want to alert the guardsmen of Ahi's presence. Any closer and they would kill Ahi without a second thought.
Thus, we were finalizing our plan to get into the city without someone dying in the process.
"Alright, I'll fly to the city with Elisa and have the guards report the situation to the king." Xavier mused as he handed some eggs I'd prepared earlier over the campfire. "We should be able to get a quick audience, but it may take at most three or four days."
Ahi murmured his thanks before he said, "That's fine. I'll scout nearby villages for potential places if you're not back by tomorrow morning."
"That works." Xavier nodded in agreement. "However, you may need to keep some distance from the village since there are going to be guardsmen and scouts around…"
Xavier continued giving Ahi a detailed rundown of nearby villages while I silently tried eating some fruit. My gaze turned westwards to where the city lay, a large fortress looking building appearing in the distance.
Of course, I could be just imagining it.
I was nervous about this part of the journey. If things didn't work out in the city, we'd need to settle somewhere else fast to survive the winter.
It wouldn't be too bad in terms of weather, but Ahi would still need to hibernate. Not to mention we needed shelter and food - things we'd need to build and collect ourselves.
Normally, in stories the main character would have this all sorted out somehow. Whether by sheer luck, planning or a golden finger. Course, my so-called 'golden finger' was more like a rigged system that enjoyed tormenting me.
It would be helpful if I could have some kind of storage space or maybe an open system shop. It would make storing things much easier. Not to mention, I could probably get hard to find goods.
Too bad I needed a level 5 ranking to get that and with no new quests appearing that was impossible. I had to rely on myself as well as Ahi and Xavier. We'd get through this somehow.
"Elisa, you finished eating?" Ahi suddenly asked, pulling back into the conversation.
I glanced down at my half empty bowl of fruit and nodded, "Yeah. Think I'll finish this all later."
It was too nerve-racking to eat everything with a churning stomach. I just wanted this to be all over with, so I could enjoy the more peaceful side of the Beastworld. A quiet life was my dream for this second chance at life.
After all, my death on Earth reminded me how fragile life was. I didn't want to waste this chance rushing through life again. I'd rather enjoy the little moments and make some memories along the way.
"Cool then let's get moving then." Xavier stood up, swiftly moving to our bags.
While he sorted out what we were taking to the city, I made my way to Ahi who was seated opposite me. He glanced at me curiously as I stood in front of him.
"You'll be okay and stay safe, right?" I asked, hating this worrying feeling gripping my heart a little.
The way I was slowly falling for Ahi harder and harder each day partly scared me. I feared one day losing that love despite everything and didn't want to seem too clingy. I wanted things to work well between us.
There was a side of me that knew I was overthinking this, but another also knew I had failed in relationships before. I got too clingy, worried or overprotective that it made things suffocating.
And I didn't want it to happen here either.
"I'll stay safe, love, you don't have to worry." Ahi murmured softly as he pulled me closer and took the bowl from me. "What are you thinking about so deeply? Are you really that worried?"
"Kind of." I answered, automatically wrapping my arms around his neck as he moved his arms around my waist. "I just want everything to work out… and I'm a little nervous about parting with you. I know it's stupid-"
"It's not." Ahi retorted before I could finish. "I don't want to leave you either, but we need to do this. Finding a good place to live is important. Even if it means we'll be apart for some time. Don't worry too much about it. I'll be careful out there."
I sighed softly, leaning my forehead against his, "Alright. As long as you'll be okay…"
We stayed like that for a few moments, enjoying each other's presence. Eventually though, Ahi let go of me so I could help Xavier finish packing up.
Once we were done, I shouldered our luggage and climbed onto Xavier's beast form back. He swiftly took off and headed for the city. I watched Ahi as we flew away, my eyes only turning to the city when I could no longer see Ahi.
And when my eyes fell on the city, I couldn't help but gasp.
It was a huge fortress, bigger than I had expected with large golden brown stone walls. Part of it sat on a hillside with tall, sandy colored buildings everywhere within the walls.
On the very top of the hill stood the biggest building, a palace if I had to guess. Different types of beastmen were everywhere and I even spotted a few farmlands to the east side of the city.
Honestly, it was much better than I had expected. Perhaps, I hadn't expected much because of the villages we had visited and could suddenly understand why everyone wanted to live here.
There was no way to attack this fortress of a city without laying siege to it. And I doubted a single feral or small group of rootless beastmen could do that. It was too tightly guarded.
Soon enough, Xavier came to a stop in front of one of the city gates and I quickly got off. He then transformed and put on a fur skirt while I turned away.
"You can look." Xavier chuckled as he held out a hand.
I peeked at him, removing the bag to hand it to him. However, he didn't just take the bag, but grabbed my arm and lifted me up into his left arm.
"Xavier!" I squeaked out in shock, my arm instinctively wrapping around his shoulder.
He glanced at me as he shouldered the bag and murmured, "I can't let you walk into the city. The guards will be all over you. Not to mention all the single males once we're inside."
"Fine, but a little warning would be nice. Don't just grab me." I muttered back with a little glare.
He nodded in silent understanding before he headed for the city gates. A few beastmen were entering the gates with hunted prey or fur bags, guardsmen checking some kind of stone tablet before letting them enter.
One of the guardsmen with cat-like eyes on his head and a bushy blond beard noticed us approaching. His blue eyes immediately lit up and he waved at Xavier.
"You finally found a female, Xavier?" The beastman shouted, causing everyone to turn their attention to us.
Xavier scowled at the other male and muttered softly, "Great…"
"Something the matter?" I whispered into his ear, my eyes still on the guardsman now walking over to us.
"No… Ray is just a bit of a loudmouth." Xavier sighed. "Let me deal with him quickly."
"I can't believe you finally got a female!" Ray exclaimed as he glanced over at me excitedly. However as he stopped in front of us, he paused with a frown and sniffed the air. "Wait is that-"
"Ray, can we just meet the king please." Xavier interrupted. "This is an urgent matter, so keep your mouth shut… And stop your staring."
Ray pulled his eyes away from me and stared sharply at Xavier. "Fine, but you have a lot of explaining to do."
With that he turned away and Xavier quietly followed him, a few of the beastmen glancing our way. My stomach churned once more. I didn't have a good feeling about this.