NOVPUBThe horizon.
The morning sun rose higher and higher.
Brightness spilled through the gaps in the balcony’s wooden railings, falling on Lanci’s face, causing his eyelashes to tremble lightly.
"Time to wake up."
A gentle voice sounded.
"Great Love Poet... you go to school on your own, I’ll sleep a bit more before going..."
Lanci blocked his eyes with the back of his hand, somewhat reluctant to get up.
"Have you lost your mind in sleep?"
The question came without a hint of inquiry in its tone.
"Eh!"
Lanci suddenly sat up in shock, finding the grey-haired beauty sitting on the chair beside his bed.
Her figure was backlit by the morning sun, which cast a faint glow over her long hair.
In a way, she seemed to have moved the chair to shield Lanci’s face from much of the sunlight, so he wouldn’t wake up too early from the dazzling sunrise.
"Thank you, Tata."
Lanci threw off the blanket, sat on the edge of the bed, and rubbed his eyes, his consciousness gradually becoming clear.
Some time ago, his ace card, Great Love Poet, was no longer there and had temporarily become Talia.
In any case, living with Talia was something he still wasn’t quite accustomed to.
"Then tell me, how can I get you used to it?"
Talia, sitting in the chair, watched Lanci get out of bed and quietly asked.
"Firstly, Great Love Poet hardly consumed any power, so I didn’t usually have trouble waking up; secondly, in the mornings when I fed small animals on the windowsill, she would run over and kick me, making me give up my spot for her to water the flowers."
Lanci spoke with a hint of nostalgia.
"I have helped Lan Fu take care of the flowers on the balcony too," Talia replied.
But during the time she lived in Lanci’s dorm, she had always finished watering before he got up.
Now that they had left Ichrite Academy, the student service center was entrusted to clean regularly and tend to the potted plants.
"..."
Lanci always felt there was something different between Talia and Great Love Poet when it came to gardening.
Great Love Poet enjoyed the process of nurturing beautiful flowers, full of the energy of a young girl.
"If you wish, I could also give you a kick like she did, but I can’t control the force well."
Talia closed her eyes and said upon hearing Lanci’s thoughts.
"No, no!"
Lanci abruptly stopped his train of thought and ran off to wash and change clothes in a flash.
A comfortable cotton sofa sat next to the bedroom in the hotel room, with a round glass coffee table beside it, on which lay a guidebook with a patterned bookmark inserted.
Talia settled on the sofa, opened the atlas, and waited for Lanci.
"Meow meow."
Cat Boss ran over and sat down on the carpet.
"Speaking of which, isn’t this map quite simple? Why, from what Lanci said, could someone get it wrong?"
She flipped through the book, asking the Little Black Cat on the floor.
"Don’t mention it, I worry that someday that person might get lost near Boss Cat Restaurant in Ichrite."
Cat Boss shook its head.
According to Sigrid’s letter, she would probably arrive in Ichrite sometime around October to November, around autumn or winter.
But thankfully, the regulars around the restaurant could guide her if she got lost.
Talia and Cat Boss didn’t have to wait long.
Lanci was ready to go.
"Tata, let’s go to the Cardmaker’s Association."
Lanci said from the doorway.
Today, they were first headed to District 3 of the South Bank to meet with Countess Rosalinda, the president of the Southern Continent Card Maker Association’s branch in Pariel.
Floral City Pariel was bisected by the Selina River into North Shore and South Bank; traditionally, the North Shore was considered the center of academia and art, whereas the South Bank was more commercialized. The royal palace and The Senate were located on the south side, with district numeration on both banks reflecting a symmetrical pattern: closer to the riverbank, the smaller the district number; toward the edge, larger the district number.
District 3 on the South Bank was also a popular area for travelers.
The two set off. 𝚗o𝚟pub.𝚌𝚘𝚖
They first had breakfast in the restaurant next to the hotel lobby on the first floor before leaving the Platinum Sen Palace Mental Hotel, walking leisurely on the streets through the early morning dusk of the North Shore’s old quarter.
Today was not a formal workday; a trip to the Cardmaker’s Association’s Pariel branch was all it took to enjoy a full afternoon off.
Since arriving in Pariel, time had flown by.
As an enthusiastic citizen, he had already done quite a few good deeds these days.
"Did you spend your days in the Northern Continent like this too?"
Not long after stepping out of the Platinum Sen Palace Mental Hotel, Talia pondered Lanci’s sentiments and asked him.
"Not exactly, I had a lot more leisure time when I was in the Northern Continent," Lanci quickly noticed her and turned his head to answer.
"Doodledoodoodledoo."
Cat Boss made a series of inexplicable, aggrieved sounds.
Whenever it remembered the adventures of Lanci and the cat, it felt fortunate to have made it back alive.
It didn’t suffer from Eighth-order ailments, but it sure had an Eighth-order fate.
The two walked through the streets of Pariel with the cat in their arms.
They passed Platinum Sen Palace, which they had yet to check-in even after so many days in Pariel.
They crossed the Selina River via the Riverport Bridge that connected the North Shore to the South Bank.
After a simple half-hour transfer on the South Bank,
they arrived at the Southern Continent Card Maker Association near the Pariel Pedestrian Plaza in District 3 of the South Bank.
Unlike the Cardmaker’s Association they had seen in the Capital of Hutton, Ekrite,
the branch in the Poseen Kingdom looked more like an art gallery.
This building was originally a greenhouse built over a hundred years ago by the King of Poseen to protect the royal garden’s citrus trees from the winter cold before the start of the holy wars. Initially intended for storing citrus trees for the royal family, it later became a place to display artworks, until it was designated as the primary branch of the Southern Continent Card Maker Association in the Poseen Kingdom.
