They make it to the town of Fallholt. A medium sized town, it was just small enough to evade direct capture by the Arcana kingdom, instead being ignored, but of course, they submitted, the surrounding cities were directly captured so they never stood a chance. The place has grown recently due its relative safety and bountiful harvests. Not long after they arrive, they deliver the elemental wizard to the authorities which put him in jail. It could be nice to take some rest and stay in a town for a couple of days, all this walking has made their feet hurt and their legs are tired. First we should check out the local tavern, Ennius suggests, although regardless of the circumstances a tavern would've been the first place he'd visit anyway. They enter the local tavern. It's decorated with hunting trophies on the walls, and there's a small stage for performers, which Ennius immediately takes to and he starts playing some tunes from the Hiatum republic, amazing all the patrons, and especially some of the women, much to the dismay of the local men, who aren't to keen on having more competition, although the good music makes up for some of it. Zad orders Mona a strong drink, maybe it will make her feel better if only for a little while. Kilian decides to talk with some locals and Baldric is approached by a woman, a rarity in his case, his large posture not conventionally attractive to most women.

  This sucks, I'm not interested in drinking in some run down tavern. accompany me while I look for a good place to spend the night, Alina orders Kilian. It'll be fun!

  Can't you go on your own? I kind of like it here.

  You would let a princess go out unprotected? I thought you were a gentleman, but you are just like the other guys.

  Alright then, I'll go with you. Kilian says, knowing that if he refuses she's just going to sour the mood for everyone till she gets her way anyway. They step outside and follow the main road of Fallholt. On the sides are mostly taverns, some bakeries and butchers, a general store here and there. Everything is in quite good shape and clean looking, this town isn't doing too bad.

  What about this place, Kilian says, pointing at a small, cozy looking inn. It's got those traditional wood with plaster walls.

  No, I can already tell it's going to have small rooms, I desire luxury, it's been so long since I've had a comfortable bed.

  But this is just a small town Alina, I don't know if they can accommodate your tastes. I doubt they get a lot of wealthy visitors around here.

  Every town has something for noble people, I just know it.

  But how many towns have you visited Alina? Don't they usually know beforehand when a princess arrives, and then they make sure there is something to accommodate royalty? We just stumbled into this town, they don't prepare for this type of stuff.

  We're going to find a good place to stay, you will see, she says.

  They walk around for an hour without finding anything. It's getting cold and dark outside.

  What about this place then? He points at a large, tall hostel.

  It looks like a place for poor people. I've had it with these subpar places.

  Come on Alina, we haven't even checked out the rooms yet. Plus we'll only sleep there for a few nights, it's not like we have to live there, is the difference in quality really going to matter that much?

  Yes. It's important. Now stop questioning me.

  I like this place. She points at a large mansion, surrounded with a beautiful garden, and high metal fencing, the type with those spear tips at the ends to prevent intruders from climbing them.

  This is just a regular mansion, I don't think they'd just rent us a room. You'd have to buy the entire thing.

  I want to stay here.

  We haven't even been inside..

  She walks over to the guard post and starts talking to the guard.

  She returns about 5 minutes later. Alright it's been arranged. We can stay here for a few days in exchange for 300 gold coins. We will have servants too!

  Kilian thinks it's a waste of their money, and nobody would really care, but this stuff is somehow very important to Alina.

  I'll take a quick bath then let's check out the rooms Kilian!

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  I should really head back Alina, I don't think Baldric and Mona can handle their spirits.

  Fine. You can go back to that dumb tavern now if you want to. Why would you want to spend private time with a princess anyway?

  I'm sorry Alina, but this is important.

  Kilian is far too focused on everyone's wellbeing, he forgets to enjoy the moment sometimes. She reads a book as one the maids prepares a nice bath for her. It's nice to live in luxury like this. Sometimes she misses the comfort of her castle. Yet it wasn't perfect, she'd grow so bored. Nor did she have many friends. She only had her cousins and nieces and those never really had anything interesting to share, since they never left the safe confines of the castle walls either. At times it felt like a prison. She never got to go anywhere without guards. She always made it a priority to go on diplomatic trips to travel the world but it never fulfilled that true hunger for adventure, although the trips were quite enjoyable. The only reason she can travel freely now is because her family isn't all that important anymore. They're still rich, but they're subjects to the Ocilon empire now; her dad hasn't made any important decisions in a decade. And in time it will be the same for her. She'll be forced to marry some noble, most likely a prince that's more closely allied to the Ocilon empire and then she will have to perform boring ceremonial duties and trips for the rest of her life. The people are so boring. They rarely have anything interesting to share, it's always just a brag fest. But at the same time, it's a lot better than living like a poor person and having to work hard just to survive. And poor people can be so rude and unsophisticated. Really, she doesn't know what she wants in life, but she certainly isn't satisfied with what she has now. For now I'll just focus on becoming a better light mage. Ideally she'd have many castles and estates across the plane, that she could travel between whenever one place would become too boring. But that's too expensive and unrealistic, even for the wealthy Blauwald family. At least she doesn't have to worry about etiquette now. She starts to read the book she received from professor Luminus. This blinding light spell seems rather dangerous to use, it could blind her allies as well. However this extra protective barrier spell could be useful. It summons a barrier of concentrated light energy which will block most projectiles and energy blasts, so most forms of magic.

  Princess Alina, your bath is ready, the water is warm. She takes the book with her to the bathroom. Time to relax.

  As Kilian makes it back inside the situation has grown quite dire. Mona is drunk, but unlike most drunks who either get way too friendly or just aggressive, Mona is scared and trying to defend herself.

  Baldric is similarly drunk and clearly being taken advantage of by some young woman, but he doesn't realize it.

  Kilian is nowhere to be seen and Ennius is too distracted by a group of girls to interfere with anything, although even if he wasn't, he's not the responsible type.

  This ones on Kilian. First he walks over to Mona.

  Go away from me! What do you want to do with me! She yells, slurring her words, she drunkenly tries to cast a spell but her otherwise powerful arcane bolts look more like arcane puffs.

  You're trying to set me up! You want to turn me in!

  Okay, this isn't good. If she starts talking about her bounty, she will alarm everyone in this tavern, and there's undoubtedly to be a few people desperate enough for some easy money to try and actually turn her in.

  He walks over to Zad. Okay Zad, this is bad, you shouldn't have given her so much alcohol. We need to restrain her and bring her to the mansion. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, Alina rented a mansion where we can stay, about half an hour away from here. We have to take her there, she's endangering herself.

  I hoped giving her some spirits would help her relax, but after only 2 drinks she became like this. Well of course she'd get drunk, does she look like someone who can handle a lot of alcohol? She's small and thin, and never drinks, you should've known better Zad.

  I hate to do this but here, use this piece of cloth to tie her hands so we can take her home without her struggling so much.

  Okay then. Zad quickly ties her hand behind her back.

  Let go of me! I don't want to go back! Anything but that! Mona starts yelling. She's drawing a lot of unfavourable attention. Kilian covers her mouth with his hand. She's drunk, she can get a little out of control. We'll bring her back to our room, before she ruins this night, he explains to the onlookers. They carry her outside and then have her walk.

  Come on Mona, we're not going to hurt you or turn you in, you've had too much alcohol, we're going to take you back to a nice place with a soft bed where you can sleep.

  I don't want to go anywhere! Let me go, she says. She starts screaming to draw attention.

  This is pretty bad. They cover her mouth again and try to drag her with them, but she keeps struggling because she thinks they're going to turn her in.

  A towns-guard approaches all the noise. What's going on over here, he asks, with a stern face and an even sterner tone in his voice.

  Well, our friend here drank a little too much, and now she thinks everyone wants to hurt or something, I don't really get it, it's not a normal reaction to alcohol. So we're trying to get her to go back to the place where we're staying for the night so she can rest till it's out of her system.

  No doubt this situation looks suspicious to the guard, 2 guys and a partly restrained girl struggling to break lose.

  Well, carry on then. Make sure she stays quiet alright, those screams are a great nuisance.

  The guard just lets them go. It's convenient at this time but a little weird at the same time.

  After a while they eventually make it back to the mansion, where they get Mona inside to a room. They give her some water.

  I'm not drinking your poison! Let me go! I don't want to be here! Mona, if we were going to turn you in, we would've done so way earlier instead of bringing you here. Think about it.

  No, you're scheming against me, I just know it! Alright, she really has to drink some water to help her sober up. Kilian keeps her mouth open so Zad can let her drink some water. Alina brings her some special herbs that are supposed to help against intoxication. Okay well you guys can take care of this problem, I'm going to go back and look for the others.