Cain quickly stuffed the bread from the table into his mouth, washing it down with a gulp of milk, and then earnestly studied the map he had just bought.
After staring at the map intently for a few dozen seconds, Cain discovered a very critical problem: he couldn’t read the map at all.
More accurately, he didn’t recognize the characters written on it.
Fuck, weren’t all isekai worlds supposed to magically have everyone speak your native language and write in familiar letters?
What were these crooked, squiggly lines in front of him?
After a bout of internal complaining, Cain had no choice but to accept reality.
He could only leave the inn and ask someone for help.
He already had a target in mind for this—the shop owner who had sold him his clothes earlier.
Before, when Cain was dressed in rags and looked like a beggar, everyone around had avoided him like the plague.
Only that kind-hearted shop owner had noticed him and given him a piece of bread.
Soon, Cain arrived at the clothing store.
The shop owner was currently sitting inside, flipping through a magazine.
Judging from the pictures on the cover, Cain guessed it was some sort of fashion or cosmetics magazine.
Hearing the door chime, Beva immediately set down her magazine and greeted him, “Hello, is there anything you need?
We have clothes for adults, children, men, and women here!” Looking at the blond-haired, dark-eyed boy in front of her, Beva had only one thought in her mind: He’s so cute!
I want to try all these outfits on him one by one.
Cain gave Beva a polite bow.
“Big Sister Beva, I’m here to say thank you.” Hearing this adorable child call her “Big Sister,” Beva was absolutely thrilled.
She replied modestly, “Oh my, being called ‘Big Sister’ is quite embarrassing, but I actually love it!” After her initial delight, Beva remembered the boy said he came to thank her.
But she couldn’t recall meeting this cute child today.
“Child, do you have the wrong person?
I don’t think I’ve met you today.” “Big Sister, I was the little beggar from this morning.” Hearing Cain say this, Beva finally remembered.
When she opened the shop this morning, she indeed saw a little beggar and gave him a piece of bread.
Who would have thought he wasn’t a beggar at all, and even ended up buying a fresh set of clothes from her store?
Beva looked at Cain in surprise, speaking in disbelief.
“You’re the little beggar from this morning?
Ah, no, I mean, that child?” He looked like a completely different person from before, apart from being the same height.
Seeing her shocked expression, Cain didn’t mind.
After all, he really had looked just like a beggar back then.
After a brief chat, Beva got a general idea of Cain’s situation.
Cain claimed he was traveling with his master.
The reason he looked the way he did that morning was due to his master’s strict demands.
He said that to become a fully-fledged wizard, he had to cross a barren wilderness all by himself.
Of course, Cain had made all of this up; one had to be careful when traveling alone.
Hearing Cain’s story, Beva hugged him tightly to her chest, her heart aching for him.
“You poor child, you’ve been through so much.” Possessing the soul of an adult, Cain felt incredibly awkward.
However, his eight-year-old body clearly couldn’t resist the overwhelmingly sympathetic Beva.
Once Beva’s emotions settled down, Cain finally asked what he came for.
“Big Sister Beva, my master just gave me another task.
I need to go to a place called Magnolia.
Do you know how to get there?” “Magnolia?” Beva frowned and thought hard, but still couldn’t recall anything.
Although he was prepared for this, seeing that Beva genuinely didn’t know about Magnolia still brought a wave of disappointment to Cain’s heart.
Unwilling to give up, he asked, “What about the port town of Hargeon?” The answer was still a blank.
Two major locations completely unknown; this made things difficult for Cain.
Seeing Cain’s furrowed brows, Beva’s heart twisted.
Suddenly, she had an idea.
“How about you wait here for a few days?
A merchant caravan will be passing through soon to deliver goods.
That’s who I get my stock from.” “I’ve heard they’ve even traveled to the Royal Capital.
I’m sure they’d know how to get to Magnolia or Hargeon.” The Royal Capital?
Beva’s words sparked a memory.
Wasn’t the Grand Magic Games held right next to the Capital of Crocus?
From there, you could definitely catch a train to Magnolia.
He hurriedly asked her, “Big Sister, do you know how to get to the Capital?” “I actually do know that!
First, you have to go to Clover Town, and from there you just take a train.
They have a direct train line to the Royal Capital.” “I heard the train ticket from Clover Town to the Capital costs 2,300 Jewels.
Did your master give you enough money for the fare?” “Yes, I have it.” Cain did some quick mental math.
The cash he had looted from the dead guard was around 6,000 Jewels.
After buying clothes, food, and booking a room, he had spent about 2,000.
He still had 4,000 Jewels left—more than enough to reach the Capital.
As for the fare from the Capital to Magnolia, he’d figure that out when he got there.
After getting the directions to Clover Town from Beva, Cain said his goodbyes.
He bought some dry rations and set off towards Clover Town.
Carrying about two days’ worth of rations and gripping his heavy sword, Cain walked alone down the dirt road to Clover Town.
While walking, Cain realized that his torn and blistered feet had mysteriously healed at some point.
Furthermore, despite walking for so long, he didn’t feel tired at all.
He hadn’t noticed it during his escape from the Bureau of Magical Development, but looking back, he had literally sprinted all the way to that first town.
Even then, he hadn’t felt exhausted—just extremely hungry.
This struck Cain as very strange.
Although this world had magic and he was an awakened wizard, he was still just an eight-year-old child.
Could a normal eight-year-old do something like that?
After pondering it for a while and coming up empty, Cain tossed the thought to the back of his mind.
After trekking continuously for a day and a night, Cain finally arrived at Clover Town.
Looking at the bustling town before him, Cain couldn’t help but feel that his luck was actually quite good.
He hadn’t run into any bandits or monsters along the way and had made it there completely unscathed.
Cain didn’t rush to buy his train ticket to the Capital.
Instead, he planned to rest for a bit.
Spending his first night out in the wild, he hadn’t dared to sleep too deeply, leaving him completely exhausted now.
He ordered a portion of wheat bread and a large bowl of bone-broth meat soup at a local tavern, intending to treat himself to a good meal.
As he waited for his food, Cain suddenly overheard the people at the next table discussing something.
Listening closely, he caught phrases like “Guild Masters” and “regular meeting.” Just as Cain leaned in to listen more closely, the men changed the subject.
They started gossiping about which town had the prettiest women and the best booze.
Cain was so frustrated he wanted to walk over and slap them.
You can talk about women and booze anytime, why now?!
At that moment, his order of bread and meat soup arrived.
Before the waiter could leave, Cain hurriedly asked, “Excuse me, I just heard something about a regular guild meeting.
What’s that about?” “Oh, that?
It’s just a bunch of Masters from the wizard guilds.
Every year around this time, they come to Clover Town to hold a joint conference.” Hearing this, Cain’s heart started hammering violently against his ribs.
He never imagined his luck would be this incredible—to stumble right into this exact place at this exact time!