Chapter 324: A new day, new goals

While trouble was already brewing inside the walls of the city, some distance away from them from the thick tree lines, three people could be seen leaving its dark premises.

Finally, after so much trouble, and many-many hours of the exhausting journey, Aiden's relatively small group have finally got back. 

As they left the busy lines of various trees behind, Drake was the first to plop down on the emerald-green, dewy grass field, and look up to the bright, light blue clear sky above.

"Finally!" He exclaimed amidst two heaving sighs. "We are FINALLY out of this horrid place…" 

"Yes. Last night is now behind us." Aiden replied as he sat down next to him. His servant, Galina still in her evolved Goblin Dragonling form, followed suit as well, taking her place on Aiden's right.

After exhaling all the air he stored in his lungs, and gradually cooling himself down, he turned his head to the side and looked at Aiden's light green colored, calm expression.

"How long are you going to keep up this illusion? You know, you could already change back… Otherwise, how do you plan on getting back into the city?"

"You do know I have my means by now, right? You have already seen it before." Without any worry visible on his face, he replied whilst he stretched out his right hand. As he turned his palm towards the sky, the black faceless mask, he used once before, have materialized in it. The very same that he actually used back when he came with his Master and Granny to rescue to trapped Lilly.

Seeing the mask appear just like that, didn't startle Drake anymore. He merely smiled wryly, shining light to yet another problem, the boy seemed to be forgetting.

"That's nice, your face will be hidden with that quite well." He started, with a friendly tone, that instantly transformed into a slight exclamation. "But did you take a look at yourself recently, Aiden?!"

"Hmm?" Befuddled by what he was referring to, Aiden turned his head down, taking a peek at himself, only to exclaim with a wondrous face when he realized the crucial problem, that he seemed to miss: The ragged clothes that he usually wore, were torn, shredded into pieces, he was basically bare-chested at this point.

The mellow, simple linen clothing he liked to wear was basically destroyed during all the heated battles of last night. Only the neckline and a few ragged shoulder pieces remained, fluttering against the wind as if some sort of makeshift cape. His green, goblin-esque torso was displayed for everyone to bear witness and see.

This reminded him, of the constant fidgeting and shy looks he was receiving from Galina, causing his body to tremble and turn stiff for a moment.  All the heavy thoughts, and information that was dumped onto him, have caused him to somehow forget about his current look. 

Unfortunately, even if he were to take back the ring, -which he would never do, by the way-, even then, he wouldn't be able to solve this predicament. The ring's magic would change how his body looked but would not magically provide him with clothes. That, he had to solve by some other means.

"That's… problematic…" He sighed, realizing that he was stuck. He can't get back to the city looking like this, he wouldn't be able to get past the guards at the gate! Even if he would sneak around, using the route he took with the family before, how would he sneak around? How would he get into the Guild? All the eager adventurers would look at him like some wandering monster and lounge themselves at him!

Drake took a brief moment to enjoy the look on his friend's face before he sighed and threw his leather pouch to Aiden.

He sighed as he smiled at him.

"Sometimes I just don't get you, man. One moment, you act like this unphased mighty leader figure, and the next, you ruin that image by acting like this. Geesh, man! Take this and look for something. We should have roughly the same physique… so my stuff should fit you."

Showing a thankful smile back his friend, Aiden reached into the seemingly bottomless holder with his right arm. As he wasn't sure how big, how spacious it actually was he was quite surprised when the entire length of his arm, down his shoulders, have instantly vanished, earning another gleeful laughter from the silver-haired prince.

"Ahahaha, I forgot to tell you. That is an enchanted bag, a magical item, it has a much, much larger space inside than what you would expect. Be careful, don't fall inside!" Drake chuckled.

Ignoring the youth, Aiden searched, and not too long after, he brought back a new set of clothes, that whilst didn't really match his simplistic taste, was at the very least good for the job.

Walking behind the nearest tree, to avoid the curious stares of his shy servant, Aiden swiftly dressed up. 

When he came back, Galina was shocked speechless, and even Drake had to admit, that his friend's new look, was quite a sight to see, even if he tried to hide behind a large dark fur hooded cloak.

Under the spacious cloak that hid his arms and hands as well as most of his facial features, he wore a milky white silk, long-sleeved shirt. His usual khaki linen pants were replaced by dark green matching silk trousers and black long-neck boots that reached up all the way to his knees. 

Pulling the hood back, and revealing his face as well as his long black hair, he had quite a new look, matching the vibe of anyone in the royal family. If his skin wouldn't be as green as a goblin's, one could easily mistake him a member of the higher-standing nobles or even a hidden, distant relative to the royals.

It was stupidly mind-blowing how a simple change as this could alter one's outlook, one's feelings.

Galina was stunned silly, mesmerized by her Young Master's new outlook. For her, even before this, he was the most glorious, godly figure she could imagine, but now… She had no words to properly convey what she was feeling. Her heart was thumping chaotically, she just couldn't avert her eyes, even though she knew she shouldn't do it. 

Drake, on the other hand, was stunned only for a brief moment. After that, a wide smile crept up on his face, he nodded at his friend appreciatively.

"Well… That's unexpected… You look like royalty man! If I wouldn't know you, I would be easily fooled that you are some big, influential figure." 

"Whatever you say, man… Anyway, so this should at the very least get me into the city without raising too much attention." Aiden swiped his hand dismissively at Drake's taunts, as he walked back to them.

As they arrived, he grabbed the mask that he left lying on the grass, and put it on, only allowing his golden eyes to shine through the tiny carved slots at its upper parts.

Finally, as the last touch, he grabbed the edges of his hood and pulled it over his head once again.

Not bothering about any comments about his new look, that with the mask, now matched that of some dark evil lords, he slowly paced towards the dusty, wide road.

"We still have quite a walk ahead of us guys. Let's not waste any more time and head towards the city." He spoke after a few moments without pausing in his trek, only turning his head sideways to look at his servant. 

"[Goblin] Galina, don't use the ring until I tell you to. The magic inside it is limited, you can only keep it up for two hours at most. Once we are close enough, I will tell you. Okay?"

Already behind him, Galina obediently nodded.

"[Goblin] Yes, young master. I will await your command."

—

With that, the trio was finally out of the woods and left the nightmares of last night behind them. Their goal was the city of Higrove, where they had hoped to meet up with the rest of the team, and finally, get a bit of rest. 

The orc's camp had its many ups and downs, lots of things have gone down. Many questions were answered, whilst even more, were raised, or were still waiting for a proper explanation. 

Regardless of all of that, Aiden finally learned a lot about himself, his past, his present, and even his supposed future. Even though it wasn't something he was hundred percent willing, at the very least, he wasn't feeling 'lost' anymore. He had a goal, he had a path to cross. He had friends, a family, and even a growing household to his name.

Right now, he felt he earned a moment of rest, a bit of respite after such a stressful night.

Unfortunately, without them knowing, the wheels of fate were once again churning, moving forever forward, not giving in to their desires. Trouble was already looming on the horizon, bringing forth the ever-present chaos with it.