When they reached a city called Springfalls, Vicente and Layla went in search of an inn where they could rest.
Resting in the woods was very bad and not suitable for people on the move. In other words, Vicente and Layla were in no hurry to reach their destination. Stopping in cities to rest wouldn't go against their plans, so they planned to rest in cities whenever possible on their journey.
The chances of both being attacked in cities were very low, and neither of them would easily get involved in old problems by stopping in cities on their way. New problems might even arise, but neither of them was interested in trouble until they reached the Chutha Dynasty, so even that had little chance of happening.
When they stopped in Springfalls, a city of about 80,000 citizens, they found no problems and soon found a place to spend the next 24 hours, enough for both of them to rest.
There, they would take turns resting. While one rested, the other would keep an eye on his surroundings.
Already very tired from the days without a good rest, the two soon went ahead with their plans for the city, with Layla going to bed first and Vicente staying to watch her.
...
The following day, Vicente had just woken up from his 12 hours of sleep, fully recovered from the days he had gone without sleep until yesterday.
When he woke up, he immediately looked at the gray-haired beauty staring at him, sitting not far from the double bed in this room.
"Do you want to go shopping before we leave?" He asked her as he got dressed in front of her.
Layla watched as Vicente took off his shirt and underwear, getting a glimpse of the skin of this man who had no shame in showing off.
But she was used to Vicente's manner and just answered his question. "That's good. We won't stop for another week. It might help to have something to eat and use in our training."
"Then let's go." He told her as he finished dressing.
He was dressed formally, as always, something that didn't hinder him in battle, as his clothes were made by renowned tailors, who made refined outfits that didn't hinder their wearers in battle.
Layla was also well dressed, but her clothes made her look more like a warrior than Vicente.
So they set out from the inn where they had spent the last 24 hours, intending to do some shopping before leaving Springfalls.
That was a simple city, considering Vicente's financial and magical power level. Therefore, they wouldn't have any problems with their purchases.
However, they wouldn't find anything very useful for someone of Vicente's stature, as there weren't even any Mid-level Mages in this city.
However, they would get things for Layla to use for the next few days, as well as food, something neither Vicente nor she could prepare well enough to brag about.
They both knew how to cook simple things so as not to starve, but if they had the option of not having to cook, they would both choose that alternative whenever possible!
With that, and having bought enough food for most of the next few days' travel, they left Springfalls and headed west again.
...
Hours later, Vicente and Layla were a long way from Springfalls, in a hilly forest area where you could barely see more than 2 kilometers to the horizon.
In addition to the area's rugged terrain, thick fog and rainy weather obscured the view of anyone passing by.
Vicente and Layla moved behind each other, one taking care of the back and the other the front.
They were strong but not so arrogant as to think they were invincible, that nothing in the Seidel Kingdom could harm them.
Even though they were moving at a high speed for people of their level, they were cautious.
Because of this, Vicente suddenly stopped moving forward when he noticed something not far from the path they were following.
Layla bumped into his body after he stopped abruptly, not having felt what he had just felt to justify stopping.
"Why did you stop?" She asked, putting her hands on his back and balancing herself.
Ignoring Layla's shock at him, he said. "There are magical beings ahead. A whole group of them."
"Magical beings? What kind of magical beings?" Layla asked.
Beasts and humans were kinds of magical beings. But normally, people like her and Vicente didn't call beasts and humans magical beings. They would simply say beast or magician for such beings.
Talking about magical beings was the same as talking about special magical beings like vampires and fairies.
"I don't know. From the size of their bodies, they could be ogres or giants."
Giants were usually much larger than ogres of the same level and usually had less grotesque bodies than ogres. Ogres often had components that made them look like beast mixtures, with very sharp teeth, pig noses, claws on their fingers, and so on.
However, Vicente had never seen either type of magical being. From the sensation he had just felt, he couldn't tell what type of magical being was in front of him. The only thing he could say for sure was that the four individuals in front of him had large, strong bodies.
From the amount of metal in the bodies of these four, Vicente could tell that they were between 3 and 5 meters tall each!
Layla frowned when she heard that. "How strange. Why would we find ogres or giants in the Seidel Kingdom? These magical creatures are seldom seen outside their realm. But we're far away from the area of Polaris Realm where they have their territories."
"A few months ago, I exterminated a group of goblins in The Rocky Gorge," Vicente told her.
"Oh?"
"I don't know what's happening, but this incident is not isolated. Then you should communicate with Jasmine and see what you can find out about special magical beings appearing in places very far from their area. Maybe something worrying is happening on the continent." He suggested, aware of the danger this could pose to the human community in weak areas like the Seidel Kingdom.
Special magical creatures were also known by another name: monsters!
Some of them were exceedingly terrible, like vampires, who were practically immortal, much stronger than those of their own level, and had almost all warm-blooded creatures as their food source.
Magicians and monsters were enemies on the continent. If too many monsters got too close to a human city, unimaginable catastrophes could happen in the blink of an eye!
