What A Dream Wants

The grey walls, supposedly two stories high, surrounded the entire town. There were four majestic gates on each side of the wall, along with the tall resting guard posts. What was more impressive than this, though, were the buildings that stood stories higher. Yet, towering above all else, was the grand castle in the middle of the town.

"This is like a kingdom!" Jess exclaimed. His eyes looked everywhere, absorbing the splendor.

"Oh, this is just a minor dukedom," Steven casually dismissed, waving his hand. "The forest that we exited is some random border forest between two empires, and your village is somewhere in the middle. Usually, the forest is filled with decently strong monsters, but luckily, we just met a random bear."

"..." The baby cub said, in the arms of Max. It waved its paws around, annoyed.

It was ignored.

The nearby gate was guarded by a good number of guards. A decent crowd was forming at the entrance because those who tried to enter the town had to be identified. They had to show their identity token to prove they were a citizen of the empire.

The crowd slowly dissipated. Steven and Friends approached the gate.

"Halt!" One of the guards swung a spear down in front of them. "What is your business here?"

"Just passing by," Lukas replied. "We're travelers."

The guard glared menacingly at Lukas, before saying, "All right, show me your identity token and you can-"

A loud shout and the galloping of horses was heard behind them.

"Make way for the son of the duke!" A shrill voice ran out.

The carriage, pulled by gorgeous white horses, ran right past- cutting in front of them.

Lukas raised an eyebrow.

The duke's son, a young lad not older than ten, stepped out and showed his silver token.

The guards bowed in his presence.

The son of the duke then looked back at the people behind him and sneered.

"Country bumpkins."

He entered the town.

Lukas, after a minor sigh, took out his totally normal identity token and the guard let them in.

"That dude just cut us," Olivia whispered angrily.

"We should be the better person," Steven whispered back...

"That being said, how many matches do we need to make this whole place burn?"

The bear, which was being held by Jess, shivered. 'These people are petty', it thought.

"We don't need matches to make this place burn." Olivia grinned, baring her teeth. Her smile was beautiful; her intentions... not so much.

The bear felt bad for this town.

Lukas, who would usually say something about not burning down towns, didn't reprimand them for their fine idea.

. . .

"We're staying here for the night," Steven told Lukas and Max.

Immediately, as they stepped in, rambunctious laughter and loud noise could be heard all across the room. It seemed like the inn was quite popular.

"Welcome," The receptionist at the desk greeted them.

"One room for one night."

"Okay, that'll be 20 silver coins."

With a flash of light, twenty silver coins appeared in Lukas's hand. He handed the coins to the receptionist.

"Woah," Max shouted. "Those coins appeared out of thin air!"

"It's an interspatial ring." Steven dismissed.

The receptionist handed a room key to Lukas.

. . .

They sat down at one of the tables for five.

Lukas ordered some food for Jess, Max, and the bear.

The door opened and closed again.

A party of a couple of people entered and asked the receptionist for three rooms.

"Apologies sir, we don't have any rooms left."

"What do you mean there are no rooms left?" The guy slammed his hands on the desk.

The receptionist knew this was a trick question, but there really were no more rooms left.

"There are no rooms left."

The guy's face flared up and asked,

"Do you know who I am?"

The receptionist knew this was a trick question, but he really didn't know who he was.

"No." the receptionist replied.

The dude rambled about his important identity before stomping out in frustration.

'How weird,' Steven thought to himself. 'He didn't ask anyone to give up their room.'

He knew that it was a common cliche in those Chinese fantasy books for the main character to get embroiled up in some conflict that really wasn't their fault. He didn't read often, but those books were like junk food: mostly filler, gave some exhilaration here and there, then forget about half of the characters the next day because they hold no importance to the plot!

Steven didn't like using his brain to think too much, so he decided to just continue eating a couple bites here and there.

The food definitely wasn't comparable to his own cooking.

. . .

"Alright, we're leaving," Lukas gave the room key to Max and patted his head. "We'll come back in the morning."

"How come he get's the room key?" Jess whined.

Lukas wasn't sure how to answer that question, so he said.

"Fine, do rock paper scissors."

Meanwhile, Olivia was having fun "teasing" the bear.

"No funny business..." Olivia threatened the bear with a nice smile. "Don't eat the children."

The bear shivered, and gave an innocent look that read: "I won't eat the children, I promise!"

It whimpered and waved its paws in an adorable manner.

They walked out of the inn.

"Do you think they'll be alright by themselves?" Olivia asked, a bit worried.

"What could possibly happen?" Steven nonchalantly answered. "That really weak bear is there to protect them."

"He is really weak though." Olivia mused.

"I'm afraid the bear might end up eating the children." Lukas murmured.

"Are you doubting my blackmailing skills?" Olivia scrunched her eyebrows and frowned. "I already warned it not to."

"No, no... Not at all." Lukas gulped, sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Hmph!" Olivia sashayed away.

. . .

The bear sneezed in the inn room. It was a cute sneeze.

Also, it was forced to sleep on the floor, because humans are more used to sleeping on the beds. It is a bear. Don't feel sad for the bear.