Ahem… The next day, after getting food and taking a shower, Kiki and I get dressed in our clothes for the other world. I was gonna make us some toast, eggs, and sausage, but I seem to be out of eggs… I coulda swore I just went and bought some…
Well, after getting everything ready, I think for a second before pulling out one of the daggers I got in the dungeon.
[Rotten Lupix’s Fang: A dagger that is part of the Rotten Lupix set. It inflicts rot damage to all beings aside from holy, infernal, or fire attribute beings. (Effects: 4x Rot Damage) (Set: ⅙)]
It has a nice leather sheath attached to it, so it’ll be safe to carry it around just in case. I asked Kiki if people are allowed to have weapons on their sides, and he told me they are. I take one of my belts and secure the dagger to his side for him, so that he has at least some way to protect himself.
“Alright, you ready to go, baby?”
He quickly nods his head and says,
“Yup! I’m all ready!”
I smile and hold his hand before walking into the portal. We come back out right in front of the windmill Kiki looks around and starts smelling the air. His ears go up straight and he looks around before saying,
“Someone else was here…”
Yup. I can tell too. Not because of smell, mind you, but the mana around here is shifted, like someone had been using a powerful spell. I didn’t notice it back on earth because of how thick the mana is, but here it’s easily noticeable. Of course, it could just be that the person didn’t come through the portal. I mean, what kinda weirdo goes walking through random portals? Couldn’t be me.
“Did you smell them in my apartment?”
He shakes his head and tells me,
“With the air freshener you use, I couldn’t tell you if they were there or not.”
I sigh and shake my head,
“Haaaah, damn. Well, no use worrying about it now. I’ll close the portal before we leave.”
I wave my hand and shut the portal down. After it’s gone, Kiki check all around, but once again, we can’t find the person that was here. My guess is that they have the power to teleport. Otherwise, either Kiki or I would’ve been able to sense them.
We start walking down the road, taking in the sights all around us. Kiki holds my hand while we walk, smiling along with me. He looks absolutely adorable in those clothes I bought him.
While walking, I ask Kiki some more about the city ahead of us.
“That city is called Varelesh. It’s the capital of the Kingdom of Perenea. It’s one of the biggest cities in the world.”
I nod my head and rub his hand while I think of the next question. Looking down at our entwined hands, I ask him,
“How does this kingdom view same-sex relationships?”
He looks up at the sky and thinks for a second. It takes him a bit to think until he finally answers,
“It should be legal, considering the Queen has Queen consorts. Of course, that could just apply to royalty and nobles. I never really got to see much of the capital while I was enslaved. They kept us in covered wagons and did the trading underground. Even if the nobility partake of slavery, it would still look bad for them if the slaves were out in the open. Especially because the queen reportedly hates slavery at its core.”
I wrap my arm around his shoulder and kiss his cheek. Honestly, I couldn’t care less if homosexuality is legal. Let them try to arrest me. That shit’ll be funny. Kiki returns the kiss with a smile and wraps his arms around my waist while nuzzling his cheek against my chest.
Next, I ask him,
“Do you know where I should go to sell the stuff I got from the dungeon? Specifically items and crystals.”
He lets out a humming sound, which tickles my chest slightly. Eventually he says,
“Well, items are pretty rare, but you could sell those at pretty much any blacksmith or leatherworker. They’re always looking for one or two items to use as a basis for their own weapons. As for crystals, that’d be either a mage tower or the adventurer’s guild. You’ll get more money from the mage towers though, as the adventurer’s guild sells them there anyways.”
Huh. I wonder why. These crystals may be useful to me if the mage towers use them.
“Do you know what they use them for?”
He nods his head,
“Mhm! They use them for enchanting! Human-made items don’t naturally gather mana like ones from the dungeon do. They have to carve runes into the crystal and then embed it in a high-quality medium for it to work. The most common ones are weapons and jewelry. They can also be used to enchant buildings as well, but that requires a lot more crystals than a weapon. The carriages they took us in had a silencing enchantment.”
I rub his side while he talks. If I can somehow create dungeon items myself, I should be able to make a killing. I should study the ones I have and see if I can spot any runes printed on them. We move on to lighter topics, talking about his homeland. From what he remembers, it was always cold there, so the entire village slept together in one big tent. They would travel between hot springs, as the fish they eat apparently live in them.
His people are really open about nudity as well, since they all sleep together and all bathe in the hot springs. The reason they’re so sought after is because the average Caitherian looks like him. The men and women are both beautiful and young-looking. Despite living in such a cold place, the men have very little facial hair until they’re well into their sixties, then they start growing stubble. Their hair is all white, from the youngest to the oldest, and they’re all super pale.
Apparently, the nest-name thing he mentioned when we first met is something children are called. They usually receive an adult name at the age of fifteen, which normally doesn’t sound as cute. I look at him and ask him,
“Do you want me to call you something other than Kiki?”
He shakes his head rapidly, causing his fluffy white hair to twirl back and forth and his ears to flop. He vehemently denies,
“No no no! I love Kiki! It’s cute and makes me happy when you call me it! Plus… It makes me feel protected…”
He looks up at me with pleading eyes. I feel my heart jump a little at the sight and nod my head,
“Alright, Kiki. For the record, I love that nest-name too. I just didn’t want you to feel demeaned from me calling you that.”
I kiss his forehead before we continue walking.
After about forty minutes, we eventually get to the city. The walls are much, much taller than you’d expect from a medieval world. No doubt, magic was used in their construction. They tower high into the sky, and have intricate carvings done on them. They’re both resplendently decorative, and highly protective.
As far as height goes, I’d say they’re about as tall as the apartment building I live in. Close to twenty stories tall!
As we near the entrance, there’s a bit of a line to get in. I see them taking a toll from people… Ya know what? Fuck it.
“Hey Kiki, I’m gonna cast an illusion on us and just fly over everybody. It’s gonna take a while for me to fully cast it, as this spell is a bit more complicated. Let’s get off the path for now.”
He nods his head without a second thought and walks behind a tree with me. When we get out of sight, I start casting. I’ll essentially be bending light around us, making us completely invisible. It’ll be difficult to see through, because I’ll be controlling the release of mana as well, making us blend in completely with the surroundings.
I then hug Kiki tightly against me, which startles him at first, but he then melts against me and nuzzles into my shirt while wrapping his arms around my chest. I kiss his forehead before asking,
“Well, little kitty. You ever wanted to fly before?”
He looks up at me with a blush and nods his head,
“Mhm! I sure have!”
I smile at him and say,
“Alright, then hold on tight!”
He nods his head seriously and tightens his arms around me even further. I cast gravity magic on both of us, allowing us to slowly float up.
“Uwah! That feels so weird!”
He starts to shake slightly, so to comfort him, I kiss him. Our lips stay locked as I make us float up higher, causing him to giggle and purr against my lips. When we’re finally up in the air, I break away. He stares at me with a kiss-drunk happy smile.
I take this chance to start flying us over the wall. His hair whips in the wind for a second before I throw up a wind barrier before us. Sadly, the wind was enough to wake him from his stupor. He starts to freak out a bit,
“Ah! Wha-what the! Wait… I’m not falling?”
I pet his head and tell him,
“No, we literally can’t fall right now. I’m using gravity magic to make us weightless and to control where we fly to. You felt a little weird because of us being weightless before. Seems you’ve gotten used to it now, though.”
He looks around a bit before nodding his head,
“Yeah. It felt like my insides were constantly spinning at first. I wanted to keep my feet facing the ground, so my body was going all woosh and turning on the inside.”
…
Is that like how a cat reacts to zero gravity?
Now that he’s gotten acclimated, I pick up the speed a bit before we get over the wall. I choose to put us down in an alleyway, as two pretty boys suddenly appearing in the street would be rather noticeable.
When we touch down, I check all around and see nobody, so I let the illusion fall from around us.
“Alright, can you lead me to the Mage tower, Kiki?”
(In the meantime, outside the city walls)
“Shit! I gotta follow them!”
A small, red haired, fox eared person chases after the two, going invisible before being seen. They run straight through the checkpoint, with nobody the wiser. Their movements are superhumanly fast and precise.
“Where did they go?”
He looks up at the sky, eventually seeing them dropping down in an alleyway.
“Ugh… Stupid cat… I would’ve been able to get closer if it weren’t for his nose… I can’t let them go though! My food is wherever they are!”
He nods to himself and continues following the two from afar.
Huh… This is… Definitely not what I was expecting from a mage tower…
The building in front of me is a large manor, with a stacked stone foundation and a plaster wall. There’s a section in the rear that has a fully stone tower that’s just a little bit taller than the manor.
I turn and look at Kiki for confirmation. He’s looking at the manor like it’s completely normal… Where there goes my fantasy of giant wizard towers… screw you for lying, Tolkien.
I’ll just have to make my own one day.
As we walk up to the doors, I see a few young mages walking in ahead of us, maybe late elementary school age. They wear clothing very similar to mine, only a lot less leather and embroidered gold, and more cloth. Looking at them… They’re not bad? I mean, they’re kids, so I wouldn’t expect them to be great.
Based on the magic wisping off of them, I’d place them in fifty plus. Meanwhile, I’m at…
~~~~~
Stats:
Vitality: 34(51) / 26
Agility: 42(63) / 47
Mind: 1487(11896) / 98,260
~~~~~
…
Yeah, I’m just a little bit stronger. Only a tad.
Though, I appear weaker because I’m controlling the release of my magic. If I didn’t, the wisps of it would be obvious from ten blocks away.
I’ve also broken my agility stat now.
[New title obtained!]
[Balance Breaker (AGI): you have broken through your limits using unnatural means. This allows you to grow infinitely stronger in the related stat.]
A few more dungeons and my mind stat will get there too. Unless it’s just passively raising… Is it?!
[Mind: 1487(11896) / 98,260]
Okay, no. That’d be busted if it did though.
Kiki holds my hand as we walk in behind the young mages. The interior is about what you’d expect. Wooden floors, stone walls, lit by magical crystals on the walls. I see mages all around, the strongest of which being maybe about a couple hundred in strength? So, pretty formidable actually. It doesn’t take long for us to be noticed. One of the stronger mages comes up to Kiki and I and bows to him. When he stands up, I see a man likely in his early thirties. His hair is short, and he has stubble on his face. Overall, he’s very average looking.
“Welcome in, your lordship. What can the Magic Tower of Varelesh do for you?”
I raise an eyebrow and realize something… Kiki’s outfit doesn’t really fit in all too well here. It’s clean, well tailored, and has lace on it, which is probably expensive in this day and age. Kiki looks over to me, a little stressed out by this treatment. I clear my throat and introduce myself,
“Hello, I’m Arthur Simmons. This is my boyfriend, Kieretha’an. I’m here to sell a few magic crystals.”
He turns and looks at me. His eyes trace up and down, checking out my outfit. Likely noticing that I’m glad head-to-toe in items from the dungeon, he nods happily and says,
“I’m Archmage Rubio Castellia. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I shall grab an appraiser. If you’ll follow me, I’ll bring you to a private room whilst you wait.”
I nod my head and follow him, the tap of my stave against the wood rhythmic with my walk. The private room is similar to one you’d see in a bank. Two comfortable chairs on one side of a desk, with another on the opposite side. Kiki and I take a seat and wait for the appraiser to show up.