Despite Adabelle’s warning of an early morning, she was the one who came back late after saying goodbye to everyone she needed to. Trevor didn’t mind because he knew that it was important to her, and they still had a bit of time together before the end of the night. She explained how the stable hands were going to bring their wracors and wagon to Klarkartar’s Magical Emporium so they could easily leave after picking up his quest.

The next morning, Adabelle woke him up after having apparently received another Full Night’s Rest. She was surprisingly chipper and ready to return home. They ate, relishing the leftovers from Matteo's, before heading to Klar’s. Their wagon was already waiting for them when they arrived.

Even though it was early enough that only a few people were out and about in the city, the minotaur was quick to let them into his empty store. There were a few employees preparing for the day, many of whom offered polite bows before continuing on their way.

“I am very happy to hear that you two enjoyed Matteo’s,” Klar said loudly as they were led to the back room. “And Trevor was positively floored by your surprise, Lady Adabelle. I couldn’t have asked for a better tale when he came back to see me.”

“It was fantastic for both of us,” Adabelle said. “And Matteo’s is always delicious.”

“Thank you again for that, Klar,” Trevor added.

The minotaur waved his hand. “For my close friend, it is the least I can do,” he said. “Whenever you want to come back to Eskretet, come and see me. Anything I can do for you, then I will be happy to do so. That goes for you as well, Lady Adabelle, though I understand that could make you seem like you're taking favors.”

“I’m glad you understand, Klarkartar,” Adabelle said with a nod. “That said, I do believe a quest to escort Trevor back home would not be seen as any type of favoritism, especially as we did the same on the way here.”

“Oh, yeah!” Trevor exclaimed, suddenly remembering something he was going to ask about. “How will quests work when you’re the mayor? I doubt you’ll have a lot of time to go out and adventure.”

Adabelle smiled. “That is true, but for those of us who are designated Summoners, such as Jackson, the king, and soon myself, we follow our own rules,” she explained. “We get quests directly from the Quest Master in regards to our governance. If we want to take part in adventures then there’s nothing stopping us, but work usually keeps us busy unless there’s an emergency.”

“Dang, and here I was thinking I could eventually catch up to you,” Trevor chuckled. “Well, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t feel the need to compete with you, so long as I can be with you.” Reaching his hand out, Adabelle took it, and they smiled at each other.

“Not a hopeless romantic, he tells me,” Klar laughed. He slapped Trevor on the back, causing the young man to stumble slightly, before stopping in front of a series of bays. As he gestured towards them, he continued. “Here’s the goods that I have. There’s goods and materials for Thimbleden, Dory, Grunder, and Corrin in there, but the Quest Master is being a pain and telling me that it can only be counted as one quest.”

Trevor put his hands on his hips and looked up. “Quest Master, how come this doesn’t count as several?” he asked. “Thimbleden and Dory came with two quests that involved a delivery to the same person.”

[[Because Klar is one person, and Thimbleden and Dory are two people who used their Quest Giver status to help you, young man.]]

“Well, it’s right about that,” Trevor admitted. “You are only one man, Klar.”

“Alas, it is true,” Klar sighed. “If only I could be in more places at once. I could get so much done.”

“It’s a shame, for sure,” the young man said as he looked over everything marked for transport. “I think I might need to keep my backpack on for this one, depending on how similar everything is.”

“Your backpack increases your Capacity, right?” Adabelle asked.

“Yeah, it’s the original Anderson Bag,” Trevor said, his face turning red from embarrassment as he said it out loud. “Specifically attuned to me and my inventory space by Melvirn. Alright, ready for the quest.”

[[New Quest! Return to Tosa!

So, you’ve seen the big city and want to go back to the place where everything is comfortable and warm and your girlfriend’s soon to be the one in charge. Hey, I understand it. No judgment here. Lucky for you, you seem to make friends everywhere you go, and Klar is no different.

These boxes contain the merchant prince's orders for Tosa. He could have sent them out two days ago, but knew that you were returning and held off on it. All you have to do is deliver these boxes to the proper spots to get credit. That’s: Thimbleden’s Sundries, Dory’s Potions & Alchemical Supplies, Corrin’s Couture, and Grunder’s Superb Protection.

Reward: a few coins, but only because Klar insisted.]]

As he started taking boxes into his inventory, Klar stroked his chin. “I’m assuming your Capacity is instrumental in how much you can store with your Power?”

“That’s right.”

“What happens if you store too much and take it off?” he asked curiously.

“That’s a really good question,” Adabelle agreed.

“I’m not sure,” Trevor admitted, shrugging before continuing to work. “The Quest Master said I didn’t want to know, but it’s a good question. Any insight?”

[[You have the right to know, I suppose, though it would have been a lot funnier to learn the hard way…

If your inventory is overfilled when you remove the backpack and your Capacity can’t handle it, then everything is ejected from inside the dimensional pocket.

And I’m not talking gently, either. Everything will shoot out away from you, using the surface of your skin as its starting point. It would slice up your clothes, Trinkets, etcetera while doing the same to everything in a 20 foot radius. You would be fine, but everything in your immediate vicinity would get hit by a lot of shrapnel.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Yes, you could easily weaponize this, but I don’t think that’s a danger from somebody like you.]]

Trevor chuckled nervously as he read the message. “I would, uh,” he stuttered. “I guess I would become an inventory grenade if I did. There would be few survivors, which would not include my clothes and my dignity.”

“That sounds terrifying,” Klar remarked.

“That sounds awesome,” Adabelle said before glancing between the two men staring at her. “What? I’m still an adventurer for at least a little longer, this kind of ability is relevant to my interests. Besides, all Trevor has to do is be careful when he takes off the backpack and there’s zero risk involved.”

“Well, that’s true at least,” Trevor chuckled, taking Adabelle’s hand as he finished retrieving everything else with his other. Some of the boxes were Stackable, but not as many as there were in Thimbleden and Dory’s delivery. “I was thinking that I’d have trouble sleeping with the backpack on, but I’m sure Reed and Beth will have someplace for me to store the excess so I can be comfortable.”

“I’d be hesitant to leave it in the wagon just because there’s going to be more traffic on the way back, but we’ll figure something out,” she agreed. Once he pulled in the last box, Adabelle squeezed his hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Nearly full, but doing alright,” he said. Turning to Klar, he let go of her hand and put his together palm to palm over his head before bowing deeply to the minotaur. “Thank you, Klar.”

He couldn’t see, but he heard the minotaur huff happily and the coins on his horns clink together as he returned the cultural bow. “No, thank you, Trevor. I look forward to seeing you again when you next come across my doorstep. And you…” Klar turned to Adabelle as he stood, placing one hand on her shoulder and one hand on Trevor’s. “He’s a lot more sensitive than he lets on, so you take care of him.”

Amused, Adabelle reached up and patted the back of the minotaur’s massive hand. “I know, Klarkartar, I’ll take care of him.”

“I’m serious,” he continued. “When he first came to this world, I literally knocked him down. He was so nervous, and I was the first person he met aside from Jackson. I could tell that he would be great in his own way even before I knew what his Power was. Thank you for taking care of my friend, and you must take care of yourself as well. Take care of him for your sake, take care of yourself for his.”

“For my sake?” she asked, eyes widening in confusion.

Klar laughed and released them both. “You forget, knowing people is my whole job! I have eyes, I can see, and I can see that you two will be great. Tosa is in good hands with you there, and you two are good for each other.”

“Yeah, we are,” Adabelle agreed as she smiled at Trevor.

With a round of goodbyes that lasted longer than they thought necessary but were in no hurry to finish, Adabelle and Klar bowed at each other in the traditional Lucent greeting before the two Summoned left for the journey home.

The traffic was, thankfully, still slow as they made their way out of Eskretet. The roads weren’t empty, but it reminded Trevor of a small time town in the morning back on Earth. The farther they got from the city, the more calm things got, the monotony only broken up by the various villages and hamlets they passed through.

Even though they were heading home, the mood between the two was at an all time high. Trevor and Adabelle chatted about life in this world, the people they had met, and the adventures she had gone on. There was no shortage of things they wanted to share with each other.

Conversation eventually lulled, and they rode in companionable silence, never feeling truly alone. When Adabelle drove, Trevor sat right behind her as he read through a book he had picked up about the kings of Eskretet. Her tail was wrapped around him as best it could as she focused on the road, and gently tapped his chest with lazy, cat-like flicks. He was happy.

Whenever Trevor was the one leading the way, he sat with Adabelle on the driver’s bench so that she could inspect his tattooed arm. She was constantly tracing the markings and recreating it on a sketchpad she had brought, and the young man was soothed by her touch. Every so often she would excitedly mumble to herself, though she admitted she had a long way to go.

As dusk started creeping up on them, they finally made it to the Halffle Inn. Just as Adabelle had warned, it was busier than it had been the last time they came through, though there was enough room to return their wracors and park the wagon. Dill took care of all that as the two went inside.

They were greeted by the sights of a full room. It wasn’t very large to begin with, but now it was packed full of people drinking, eating, playing cards, and overall having a good time. Reed was quick to slip around from the bar to approach them in greeting.

As they explained their situation, it turned out that there wasn’t much room at all. Thanks to everyone heading home from the Festival of Golden Lights, Reed and Beth’s kids, Dill, Rupert, and Jewel were all giving up their rooms for paying customers. A few were even sleeping in the stables.

Even though there was a ton of business and the Halffle Inn was a very popular spot, Reed had made sure to keep Adabelle’s reservation as she had warned them when they were going to be passing through again. She and Trevor got their separate rooms, though they were mostly full of boxes so that the young man didn’t have to sleep with a heavy backpack on. It was a relief to take it off, and he wasn’t looking forward to wearing it again the next day.

Still, they slept well, and were back on the road the next morning, though not without a knowing wink and smile from Beth when she saw a tired Adabelle snuggling up to Trevor for breakfast. He had grinned back, and nothing needed to be said on the matter.

The journey was just as pleasant as it was before as the villages and hamlets started to stretch out and were replaced with forests, lakes, and mountains. Even though it was a relatively short journey, only two days, they were both tired from being confined in a wagon for so long.

When they entered the home stretch and Trevor started realizing that they were getting back into known territory, he tried to hand the reins to Adabelle, who was sitting next to him.

She looked at him questioningly. “We’re almost there,” she said, holding onto his tattooed arm. “Do you want to sit in the back?”

“Not really,” he admitted. “I’m just not sure if you want people seeing us, well, all cozy like this.”

Adabelle arched an eyebrow as her tail, which was already against his back, began to swish up and down. “Is there a reason why we shouldn’t?”

“No, no,” he said quickly. “I just… I wasn’t sure if you wanted people in town to know, is all. Plus, we haven’t put a label on it, and you’re about to become mayor, and-“

He was silenced by a finger on his lips as she smiled. “You’re getting nervous for no reason again, Son of Ander.”

Trevor chuckled, but shrugged. “Maybe not for no reason.”

“No reason,” she repeated firmly. “I am looking forward to showing my boyfriend off, if I can call you that.”

“Yes,” he said, not hesitating for even a second. “Yes, you can call me that.”

“Good. I don’t plan on hiding it from anyone, and I hope you wouldn’t do that, either.”

As they smiled at each other, he leaned in to kiss her. The wracors knew the way, so he wasn’t worried about that. Instead, something else caught his eye that worried him, and he stopped short.

“Is something wrong?” Adabelle asked hesitantly.

Trevor was looking forward, and pointed to the sky. “Is it…” The young man tilted his head in confusion as he squinted. “Is it raining fish?”