Adolin lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
It had been a while since he woke up, but he didn't feel like getting out of bed.
He had a strange dream.
It was his life in this world. But Aylinth was there from the beginning.
That wasn't the strange part.
What bothered him was how accurate it felt. Things had gone differently. Not impossibly so, just… smoother. He hadn't spent a whole day walking around like an addict.
An hour after waking up, he already had decent clothes.
How she managed that, he didn't know. He hadn't seen it in the dream.
Just like he had never seen how she fixed most of the problems his party came up with.
In the Count's estate, she had handled things before he could resort to violence.
And… she had scammed Eduard out of his gold.
Adolin felt a smile form on his face.
Five hundred gold coins.
In the guild, everything had gone smoothly. He hadn't even needed to enter.
It had all worked.
Adolin exhaled quietly.
Maybe there was no need to go a decade without her.
She made things easier.
A lot easier.
He frowned slightly.
Thinking back, it had always been like that.
Problem comes up, and just as it came it was solved.
He had never paid too much attention to problems, because they didn't stick enough for him to notice most of them.
Adolin exhaled quietly.
He should probably thank her.
Next time he saw her.
Adolin stretched and groaned.
He had to get up. It wouldn't be fair to Lira.
She was probably still worried about him getting kidnapped.
And he was lying in bed, debating whether to get up.
He clicked his tongue and pushed himself upright.
The other problem was his coin.
At best, he had enough for ten days at the inn. Without food.
Or maybe there was food. He wasn't sure.
Either way, it wouldn't last long.
He needed work.
And he needed to cast a few spells so the blessing could record them.
That would have to wait until he returned to the inn.
He didn't like the feeling of being low on mana. Not when nobles were kidnapping young boys off the streets.
Adolin chuckled and got out of bed.
The room was pitch dark, so he moved to the window and pulled the covers aside.
Golden light spilled into the room.
Adolin glanced around.
The room wasn't large, but it had a bed, a drawer, and a desk.
More importantly, it was clean.
He had nothing to leave behind, so he opened the window to let some air in and stepped outside.
The common room was empty, just like the day he arrived.
The bartender was wiping a glass behind the counter.
"I want to extend my stay for two more nights," Adolin said.
The bartender glanced at him, not stopping. "One gold."
Adolin set the coin on the counter and left the inn.
The streets were already busy.
Voices overlapped as people moved past him, carriages rolling through the crowd.
After a night in the inn, it wasn't as bad as before. Still, he walked faster.
It didn't take long to reach the district where Lira's mother lived.
What bothered him was that he had to figure out which house it was.
Which meant asking people. Or he might get lucky and run into Lira or Telian.
Adolin stood on the street where he had been kidnapped.
In front of him was where Lira and Telian had disappeared when he was surrounded. He started walking toward the street, then took a right turn.
It led to another long street, filled with houses.
Time Rewind would help him find where she went next. But his mana pool was still too small.
He knew the house was somewhere in this district. He also knew it was close to the Academy.
That helped. A little. But there were still too many houses. Far too many.
There were a few ways he could go about finding it.
He could spend a few days increasing his mana pool. He dismissed that idea almost immediately.
The other two ways involved things he wanted to avoid, but he couldn't. He quickly scratched one of them off.
He couldn't go to the Academy and ask for her mother. He didn't know her name or Lira's last name. And going there would probably get him kicked out faster than he could ask the questions he needed.
That left him with the only option he could think of.
Find the Academy and try to narrow down the area where the house was. Then… ask random strangers in the area.
"Aylinth, where are you when I need you?" he muttered.
Adolin had to admit the district was pretty.
Every house was different, and most of them were pleasant to look at. The architecture varied enough that it felt like everyone was trying to outdo their neighbors. And every house had a garden. Every single one. A smaller one at the entrance, and a larger one in the back.
It was the same as in the Count's estate.
Gardens. The people of this world seemed to really like them.
Adolin did too. Luc would love them too.
He wouldn't mind adding another goal to his already low list. Buying a house here would do wonders for his mental health.
A garden. Evenings spent there, with a cup of tea.
It was a nice thought.
Adolin got lost a few times, but found his way again quickly.
Half an hour later, he stood looking at the Academy in the distance.
It was a massive building. More like a castle, with several towers rising above it. They looked like Mage towers. There had been a few in his old world too.
He never had one. They came with too much attention.
And he wasn't a fan of that.
There were gardens as well. Just as he expected. It wouldn't make sense for the Academy not to have them. Everyone else here did.
Well… everyone in this part of the city.
There had been no gardens in the slums. No trees either. Only a few in the Craftsman District.
So that was it. Gardens weren't just decoration.
They were how the rich showed their wealth.
Adolin liked the way this world did things better.
The good news now was that he had narrowed down the area. The bad news was that it was still too big.
From where he started to the Academy, there were five streets. Five large streets. Over a hundred houses. He could probably remove the first two streets based on what he knew. Then again, he could be wrong. He didn't know what Lira meant by "close."
It could be the last street next to the Academy… or the last street from where he started.
Adolin clicked his tongue.
He decided to set a goal for himself. He would talk to two people on each street, starting from the closest one. But now that he thought about it, the last street didn't make sense. If the house was there, Lira would have said it was right next to the Academy.
She hadn't. So he excluded the last street.
And the first one from where he started.
That left three streets. Six people to talk to.
That was more manageable.
A few minutes later, he was standing on the first street.
One thing he didn't like was the city planning. Every street was long, too long, and there were no side paths. Maybe it was done for a reason, so people would have to pass by every house. Probably not.
Soon, he found an old man working in his front garden. That was his first target. The man didn't look scary or particularly talkative. It was a good start.
"Good day, sir," Adolin said with a small nod. He had noticed a few greetings around the city and decided to copy them.
The old man turned. "Good day."
"Could I trouble you with a question?" Adolin said.
He had considered being direct, but he was fairly sure it wouldn't work. He decided to take Elira's advice. Not fully, just… in a more respectful manner.
"Spit it," the old man said.
A man of few words. Adolin already liked him.
"I'm looking for a friend. Lira. I didn't get her address."
The old man chuckled. "That's not giving me much to work with."
Adolin scratched the back of his neck. "Her mother is a professor at the Academy."
The old man looked thoughtful. "Academy professor…" he muttered. "That doesn't help much either. Half this district is filled with them."
That made sense. Still, it felt wrong to mention that her daughter was an addict.
"Thank you for your time, sir."
Adolin gave a small nod and left.
Adolin made his way through the streets, talking to different people, but got nowhere. He had met his goal and spoken to six of them, yet he still didn't have a single clue where to find Lira.
Finding a single professor here was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Apparently, this was the professor district.
A kid was running down the street, playing with what looked like a wand.
Adolin waved him down, and the kid ran over.
"Are you playing a mage?" Adolin said, with a small smile.
The kid lit up. "Yeah, mister! I'm Archmage Belion!"
"Do you want to see real magic?" Adolin asked.
"Yes!" The kid bounced slightly in place, even more excited.
"How about this. I need to find a kid named Telian. He lives in this district."
"Telian?" The kid frowned, thinking. "The one who comes back all dirty every few days?"
That matched what Adolin knew. Telian visited his mother in the slums often, and when Adolin met him, the kid really had been dirty.
Adolin just nodded. He didn't feel like commenting.
"He lives on the street next to the Academy. In a house with a pink garden."
"How do you know that?"
The kid shrugged. "My mom told me. That's where the addict lives. Everyone knows that, mister. There's only one addict in the district."
Well, if he hadn't tried to be respectful, he wouldn't have wasted all that time for nothing. But it still felt wrong to ask it like that. So he didn't feel particularly bad about it. The gossip was only natural. That was probably why Lira had been kicked out. He'd fix her addiction in time. And with time, the gossip would die down.
"The magic, mister!"
"What kind of magic do you want to see?"
The kid fell into deep thought. "A fire spell! Like Archmage Belion!"
Adolin smiled at that.
He didn't want to use too much mana, so he decided on a simple mana construct. It wasn't really an illusion, just shaping mana and altering its nature.
He let his mana flow out and focused, shaping it into a small dragon. Then he shifted its nature into a harmless flame.
A small dragon made of fire appeared in front of the kid. It circled him, flapping its wings and breathing tiny bursts of flame.
The kid's eyes went wide. "Woah…!"
He took a step back, then leaned forward again, completely mesmerized. "It's real! It's actually real!"
"Did you see that?!" he shouted to no one in particular, pointing at the dragon as it flew around him. "I'm gonna be just like that!"
He spent a minute entertaining the kid with the dragon, then dismissed it and made his way toward the next street.
He needed to remind Lira to choose her words more carefully. She should have said the street next to the Academy, not "close."
Some time later, he found the house the boy had told him about.
It stood out right away.
The front garden was filled with pink. Small trees with pink leaves stood among clusters of pink flowers. The fence was overgrown with green plants, blossoming with the same soft pink.
It was a bit much.
But it made the house easy to find.
He stood in front of the door.
The day had been a little draining, but not as bad as he had expected. A night's rest had done wonders for his energy. He hoped it wouldn't drop that low again. He really wasn't pleasant to be around when that happened.
Thinking back on it, he had probably done too much at the Count's estate. Maybe there hadn't been a need to escalate things. He could have talked it out instead.
He shrugged. It was already too late for that.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Adolin had a feeling it would be exhausting if he had to deal with Lira's mother.
The door opened, revealing a woman in a mage's robe.