Chapter 10 Valdmor

Juvia could have recovered her lost blood essence way earlier if she wasn't concerned about Leonardo's state of mind. Now that she got his approval to follow him, she felt at ease and proceeded to slowly recover her lost vitality.

As for Pandora, she hadn't actually 'lost' her blood essence per se, as she could still feel its existence slowly merging into Leonardo. Nonetheless, she would need to generate the lacking 70% anew with her blood magic, slowly patching up the holes in her internal structure.

The following morning, both girls opened their eyes, their complexions improving significantly. Leonardo was already up on his feet and walking into the distance. Since the mountain range is on the edge of this region within the forbidden domain, he might as well travel in the opposite direction; east.

The two girls quickly stood up with the intention of keeping up. Pandora wrapped herself up with the black robes before giving Juvia a nasty look through the corner of her eye. "What are you? A prostitute? Leader clearly isn't interested in your body, or might you be having thoughts of seducing men on the way to satiate your cravings?"

Juvia froze, only now did she remember that she was naked. She got too comfortable being nude over the course of almost a week, to the point where she would've been oblivious to the whole thing if not for Pandora's reminder.

Nonetheless, she waved her dainty hand while gnashing her teeth at Pandora, not even bothering to respond. Countless tree leaves descended from all around before dancing elegantly across Juvia's skin. Apparently, her Ode of the Elements is quite the versatile nature magic.

Quickly, an elegant floral green yet plain dress wrapped up Juvia's hourglass figure, firm curves, and deep cleavage. Then, a darker shade of green gathered into thick robes to conceal her figure just like Pandora did.

The two beautiful ladies hung their hoods low to mask their facial features under the curtains of shadows before lightly picking up their pace, flanking Leonardo from his right and left respectively, following the arrangement they had during Leonardo's resting period.

Leonardo wasn't bothered by their squabbles, but he had something to say about Juvia's reliance on the elements for everything so basic. He advised her to buy clothes, as every bit of concentration counts during battle, especially to a mage. Of course, Juvia had no reason to refuse combat guidance, especially since this was one thing she lacked during her period of living as spoiled princess.

…

The party travelled east at a brisk pace. During sunset of the same day, they finally reached a fairly populated town co-managed by the three races. This town, according to Juvia, is one of the three subsidiaries to the main city of the western region.

Due to the mysterious mountain range blocking advancements west, this region is sparse with resources and activity, hence why Juvia's mother could claim a fat plot of land under her name.

Upon entering Valdmor, the hustle and bustle of the town was the least of Leonardo's concerns. Looking around, he instructed Pandora to rely on her stealth abilities and senses as a ranger to investigate the situation in this town.

To be exact, the local forces.

To be even more precise, business parties and their interrelations.

To make things even easier, he instructed her to narrow it down to trade companies and caravans who are looking for investors and sponsors. The more information she could gather by dawn, the better.

As for Juvia, he instructed her to get herself some plain clothing since her elemental get up was practically screaming for attention. These people in a subsidiary town might not be perceptive enough to notice her top notch mastery over the elements, but one can never be too careful.

He then held out his hand, "Hand over the sack of wild fruits and mystical meat, I'll browse the market streets to get a grasp of the current ratio of goods per currency exchange. Keep some silver on your body for the clothing"

Juvia nodded and removed the travel sack from her back before handing it over. Then, she turned around and disappeared into the crowd in haste. Obviously, she had it in mind to quickly find a set of new clothes and return to her leader's side.

The atmosphere in the market street was heated to say the least. Stall owners, shop fronts, and even travelling merchants crowded the area with goods of multicultural origins. Humans, elves, and the beastkin who were visually variant due to the proliferation of bloodlines contested over customers.

From a cursory glance, Leonardo gathered some basic statistics about public needs and demands on the market.

Most human customers crowded near beastkin as they displayed enthusiasm toward the exotic weapons, leather skins, and ornaments crafted from glistening gems and sapphire.

Most eleven customers were captivated with the various human products such as instruments, poetry, gorme, and arts.

The elven shops revived their fair amount of customers of the various races without a significant surplus, mainly because they sold fruits and raw medicinal herbs. The elves are notorious for hoarding their local specialties so it wasn't that surprising.

From the looks of it, the price of fruits on the market is very low, meaning the only avenue to net profit would be selling the mystical beast meat. By the time Leonardo finished inspecting the market street and selling his goods for a fairly decent price, Juvia was also done shopping for a new set of clothes.

The two happened to meet at an intersection.

Just like Pandora, Juvia bought a set of black robes and a black leather suit tailored for long range combatants. Leonardo recognized her through a a pair of shimmering emerald eyes in the shadows under her hood.

"Stop her! Quick!" A deep voice echoed through the market streets, drawing the attention of the onlookers and Leonardo, who just reunited with Juvia.

The pair glanced over, spotting a lithe, pittie shadow shuttling through the crowd. She was a young girl wrapped in black robes, and the moment her crimson eyes locked with Leonardo's pitch-black orbs, a wave of relief washed over them.

Leonardo instantly recognized Pandora, eliciting a frown on his otherwise nonchalant face.

A robust, more accurately a fat man was struggling to keep up with Pandora who was relying on the raw potential of her physique to weave through the crowd while being marked down by three bodyguards.

The people split like two opposing tides clearing the road centre after Pandora fell in formation behind Leonardo, allowing the opposing party a moment of respite to collect his stamina.

Juvia leaned into Leonardo's left ear and whispered, "The fat man is an ordinary human, the three bodyguards, on the other hand, are mortal cultivators with an average level 21 strength."

Leonardo nodded, inwardly praising Pandora for maintaining a low profile even though she could have killed the party of four without much effort.

"Is that girl one of yours?" The fat man gathered his intellect and frowned, silently asserting the party of three. That girl was listening in on an important meeting, and they found her due to nothing but sheer luck.

It was unknown how much she gleaned from their secret meeting, but judging from her abilities of espionage, it wouldn't bode well for their company if the contents of their meeting leaked into the light of day.

"Why don't we settle for a place with less… What was the word?" Leonardo swept the crowd with his lifelong eyes before muttering in a low voice, though the winds carried his words to the opposing party nonetheless, "Publicity."

The fat man stated long and hard at Leonardo.

Although the youth was clad in plain white clothes that could be found anywhere, his wise old eyes could make out the shining outlines of inscriptions embedded into the fabric. His years of experience warned him against acting out rashly, thus he nodded his fat head and responded, "Very well. Follow me."

With that, he turned his round body and started walking away.

Leonardo silently followed with the two girls trailing behind.