When Mira entered the city, she received the stares of almost every person inside. Thankfully, Mira pinned her token on her dress to prove that she's someone related to the Battle Maiden Sect to avoid any unnecessary trouble.
With how close the Entrance Exams are and with how busy everyone should be, Mira figured that the majority of people wouldn't cause any trouble with her as long as she showed off her token.
However, not long after entering the city, Mira felt numerous prying eyes on her from people that seemed to be hidden in the shadows, but not feeling any ill-intent, she stopped paying attention to those eyes.
'I guess either of those guards thought of me as suspicious.' Mira thought to herself as that's the only realistic conclusion she could come to. Sure, the eyes on her could be from curious residents who don't want to show themselves, but with how they are watching her every movement, she doubted that.
"Do you think Celaine has already arrived? I'd like to see her again," Maria suddenly said.
"Who knows. We'll probably see her when the Entrance Exam starts. For now, we should look for a place to stay for the next week. Though… that might be hard considering how busy the city is," Mira said.
She was right. Finding an inn or a place to stay won't be easy with how many people are in the city at this time. Most of them are probably already fully booked.
"Oh? It seems that little friend of yours has already booked an inn. If you want, I can lead you to them!"
Mira's lips twitched when she heard the Guardian's voice appear in her head.
'What happened to the whole non-intervention thing? Why are you trying to lead us to Celaine?' Mira asked, clearly irritated. It's not that she didn't want to see Celaine. She just didn't have much desire to see her right now.
"Oh, come on! Look at your Lover! She clearly wants to see her friend! If you won't go see her for yourself, at least do it for Maria! Plus, if you go, you won't have to find a place to stay," The Guardian said, trying to get Mira to go meet Celaine.
Mira looked over and saw Maria's happy and smiley face and felt her lips twitching again.
'Yeah, she looks really depressed… Ugh! Whatever. Just lead us to Celaine. It's not like we have anything else to do.' Mira sighed and decided to listen to the Guardian.
The looks she's been receiving from everyone have started to make her feel a bit uncomfortable, even for her, and she felt like if she stayed out in the open much longer, she'd have to deal with some annoying bullshit.
"Yay~~! Alright! Just listen to my directions!"
Mira really wanted nothing more than to give the Guardian a good beating, but unfortunately, she's just too weak.
"It seems the old man that's part of the inheritance that I received found Celaine's location and wants us to go there. Do you want to go?" Mira turned and asked Maria, whose eyes brightened when she heard what Mira said.
"Yes! Let's go!" Maria exclaimed.
Mira nodded and began leading her little group toward Celaine's location.
Around an hour later, they appeared in front of a massive luxurious inn. It was at least ten stories tall and took up nearly an entire block. The building itself looked like it was made out of a stone similar to granite but much more luxurious and expensive.
The sign on the building read, 'The Royal Maiden Inn'.
Looking at the decor and the name, Mira felt like this inn was somehow related to the Battle Maiden Sect.
"It seems Celaine is in this building," Mira said.
"Woah! Why would she stay in a place like this? I bet it's super expensive!" Dominique exclaimed. She's never seen such a fancy building in all her life.
"Who cares? Let's just go see her!" Maria said and opened the front door to the inn.
When Maria and Dominique saw the interior, they were both shocked and impressed. Pure white walls, dark brown wooden floors, lights all over the place, several paintings of the mountain range next to the city, and a scent that smelled like spring.
The receptionist noticed that people had entered the building, and her gaze immediately latched onto Mira, then she froze.
The receptionist is a Stage 5 Core Formation Realm expert and has been working at the Royal Maiden Inn for several years now. She's seen all kinds of people during her time as a receptionist here at the inn. She's seen different races, all kinds of beast companions, strong people, weak people, young people, old people, and everyone in between.
Although she wouldn't go so far as to say she's the most cultured person in the City, she isn't too far off.
However, when her gaze landed on Mira's body, she felt her skin crawl. Her intuition as a receptionist who had seen all kinds of people told her one thing when she looked at Mira:
This woman is dangerous! Really dangerous!
She didn't call Mira dangerous because she thought Mira was powerful. No, she called her dangerous due to Mira's mentality. From Mira's body language, the receptionist felt like she was a bubbling volcano just waiting to blow up and destroy everything in its wake.
She couldn't tell what Mira's cultivation was, nor could she feel her hidden killing intent, but she knew Mira was dangerous.
Still, as a professional who has greeted all kinds of people from all walks of life, she quickly regained her composure.
"Greetings! Welcome to the Royal Maiden Inn! My name is Olivia! Do you have a reservation, or are you looking to book a room?" The receptionist said with a professional smile on her face.
Mira could similarly tell what the receptionist was thinking about her, but she couldn't help but inwardly commend her for how quickly she regained her composure.
'Is this the difference between the Main Sect and the Branch Sects? Interesting,' Mira thought to herself before answering Olivia, "Our friend, Celaine, should have booked a room for us to stay in."
"Okay! I'll contact her to tell her that you're here. May I please have your names?"
"My name is Mira, this is Maria, and that little girl there is Dominique."
"Alright, I'll go contact her for you. Please wait a moment."
Olivia wrote down their names and walked into the room behind her for a minute before coming back out.
"I appreciate you waiting patiently, dear customers. I just contacted Celaine, and she's currently on her way down to greet you." Olivia said politely with a smile.
Mira nodded indifferently and stood there waiting for Celaine to come down. Sure enough, just a few seconds later, Mira and Maria heard hurried footsteps coming down the staircase. Not long after, a pretty young woman with vibrant green hair came into view.
"Celaine! Long time no see!" Maria ran up and immediately embraced Celaine in a big hug.
"Maria? Wait-!" Celaine muttered in confusion after being hugged by Maria. She saw Rhydian, Vulcan, and Dominique, but when her eyes landed on a tall woman with nine tails and fox ears, she was confused.
"Who are you?" Celaine said in a deep, almost threatening voice. Although the tall woman had a familiar aura to her, Celaine didn't associate her with Mira. After all, Mira looked like a little girl the last time they saw each other.
How could she change from a little girl to a tall woman with fox tails in a span of merely two years?!
"That's Mira, silly! Why don't we go up to your room so Mira can take off her mask and show you? But I think the fact that Dominique and Rhydian are here should prove that's Mira…" Maria suggested, and Celaine subconsciously nodded.
"Is that really you, Mira?" Celaine stared at Mira and asked in disbelief.
Mira lightly nodded and said, "Of course. Lots of things happened over the last two years."
Although Mira's voice was a bit deeper, much more mature, and more imposing, Celaine knew from that tone of voice that the person in front of her was definitely Mira.
This greatly shocked Celaine as she continued staring at Mira, but after around 30 seconds, she had calmed down enough to turn to the receptionist and say, "Thank you for letting me know they're here. I'll lead them up to the room."
Olivia smiled and nodded, "Of course, dear customer! I'm glad to be of help!"
Celaine then turned to Maria and said, "Alright, come on up to the room. We can talk there."
With that, they all headed to Celaine's room.
***
[A/N: Here's one bonus chapter for making it to the Top 25 of the Golden Ticket Rankings! Thank you guys so much for the support! I'm going to try and upload 3 chapters per day until this weekend as a thank you for all the gifts and support I received last month!]
