Turning to Brad enthusiastically, after having finished her nightly work sorting, Mia filled with joyous cheer, told him; “We had a great harvest today! I can barely believe how much we made. Your increased tier helped raise half of the harvest by a rank. Sure, it was mostly still stone tier, but almost everything was pushing copper tier! We should have enough money for the merge with some to spare!”

  “That’s awesome! We should head into town tomorrow then! Once we merge the territories, we can start fulfilling some of the orders from the goddess with the extra land available. The fortifications from my domain really ate up a ton of the land.”

  “That was surprising, but it kind of makes the place feel more.… What is the word that I am looking for? I swear that it is on the tip of my tongue.” Mia, obviously frustrated, scrunched her eyebrows while biting her lip.

  “Personal? Like a world of our own. At least that is what it feels like to me.” Brad suggested.

  “Yes, but not quite the word I am meaning. Close enough though.” Mia said, not quite giving up on the word yet.

  “Getting back to town tomorrow, will we have much to spare?” Brad asked.

  “Yes we will. Do you have anything in particular that you wanted?”

  “Well, I figured that we could have a nice little date. It isn’t like we have ever had a proper date yet.” Brad said with a quick raise of his eyebrows.

  Cheeks now turning slightly red, Mia couldn’t help but to smile before shining her signature grin in return. “I think that sounds like quite the wonderful plan. Do you have any ideas?”

  “As of now? Not really. Everything I know about town has come from the festival that we met at and the infirmary when I got injured. I was mostly hoping to eat at a nice restaurant before walking around and exploring the town.”

  “I would like that. Nice and simple!”

  “Well, now we have a bit more to look forward to for tomorrow. Try sleeping now! I know that I will struggle.” Brad said, having finished the dishes and starting to get ready for sleep.

  “I am really looking forward to it, but sleep may be an issue. Oh well, worst case I will just bug you until I fall asleep.” Mia teased, sticking her tongue out while joining Brad in getting ready for bed.

  ~~~The next day, approaching Westbend~~~

  “Didn’t you say that your friend worked the gate as a guard?” Brad asked Mia, the town’s gate starting to fill his vision as they got close.

  “Edgar? Yes, he tends to work gate duty quite often.” Mia said, now scanning the gate for her friend.

  “Do you see him? I am quite curious to meet him.”

  Having just located her friend, checking a cart a few spots in line ahead of them, Mia pointed her friend out to Brad; “There he is. He is the young guard checking the right side of the cart three spots up.

  “Oh, he was part of our orientation group I think.”

  “He was! Dang, you have a really good memory.” Mia said in surprise.

  “Just for faces and places. I am horrible with names.” Brad admitted.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “You remembered my name easily enough.” Mia teased.

  “To be fair, that's because you are much cuter than Edgar is.” Brad laughed.

  “Of course, I would dare say that I am the cutest!” Mia said jokingly, with a slight hint of danger in the statement almost daring a retort.

  “Oh, it seems that they finished the cart and starting to deal with multiple people at a time again!” Brad quickly moved the conversation along, trying to avoid the danger clearly present.

  Letting her focus switch, Mia turned her attention to wave at the now free Edgar.

  The approaching guard greeted Mia before turning to Brad; “Hi, you must be Brad. Mia has mentioned you a few times. It is good to finally meet you. You sound like quite the hard working fellow.”

  “Same to you. Mia has told me that you are quite the friendly fellow.”

  “Nothing inappropriate!” Edgar quickly inserted.

  “Haha, I didn’t mean as such. But it is good to have the clarification.” Brad laughed.

  “Well, you know how that can go if misunderstandings happen.” Edgar replied.

  “That is a very fair statement.” Brad said, still chuckling.

  “So, why are you two visiting? Do you have anything to declare?” Edgar hurried along after noticing the sergeant looking over at him.

  The couple, having also noticed, quickly replied almost in unison.

  “We are combining our land plots.”Brad said

  “We are joining our land and getting it registered.” Mia replied.

  “Uh… well you can definitely, uh….” Edgar stammered before organizing his thoughts. “Well, congratulations. That seems pretty quick, but I mean, congratulations. I will try to get you a gift next time to celebrate.”

  Brad, having caught on quickly, quickly responded. “Woah woah woah, don’t get the wrong idea. We are merging our lands for business purposes.” Noticing that Mia’s ears were flushed red with her quite adamantly inspecting her shoes.

  “Oh! Of course, that makes way more sense. It would be absurd to get married.” Edgar said, immediately regretting the last sentence.

  Jumping in to save his new found awkward buddy along with his own self, Brad added; “Well, improperly expedited, if we were to marry now. I doubt Mia would be for it and I would not assume as much.” Brad finished, knowing that they had dodged a touchy subject that was way too early to be considered.

  “Well, that is all I need to know. Have a wonderful day you two. I hope your visit to Westbend goes well. Be sure to visit check out the market, I heard that they have some special discounts on their baked goods.” Edgar told them while waving them in and gesturing for the next visitor.

  Having had to guide Mia forward, hand in hand, Brad looked over to his girlfriend. “You sure are quite the embarrassed one.” His hand giving hers a slight squeeze.

  “Wel..well, that was quite an unexpected statement. It is something that I am…. Well, it is something that is probably best to be left for.” Mia finished, not quite sure how to phrase her sentence.

  “Haha, the always sure Mia is at a loss for words! Mia, I like you. I get that we just met, we are both super young, and that we should spend more time together, so don’t get flustered. We can have this conversation in the future, but don’t think that I am just teasing.”

  Having stayed silent for quite a ways, Mia spoke up; “Thanks. It was quite the shock. You are right though, we are still a ways from that discussion. I like you a ton, but we do need time.” Mia finished, before giving her boyfriend a peck on the cheek.

  ~~~ Westbend’s Administrative building~~~

  “Hello, how may I help you?” the friendly looking staffer asked from behind her desk, having stood when the couple entered.

  “Yes, we would like to merge our land plots.” Mia said, taking the lead.

  “Very well. What are your names?” The staffer asked, walking over to a stack of thick ledgers. “If I may ask, were you not given the option at the ceremony?”

  With Mia now inspecting her toes once again, Brad replied with a chuckling staccato; “Haha, not marriage, we are joining, haha, for, haha, business.”

  “Oh dear, well I am sorry for making this awkward.” The staffer said, having winced when Brad explained. “Do you already have a business registered or are we setting that up today as well?”

  “It should be registered. The name should be ‘Golden Tree’.”

  Shuffling through the ledgers, the staffer quickly found her target and started flipping through the large book. “‘Golden Tree, Golden Tree, Golden Tree.” the staffer mumbled to herself before looking back up to the pair. “I can’t seem to find it, what were the names of the shareholders?”

  “Bradford Wallace and Mia….” Tilting his head, he looked over at his girlfriend embarrassingly.

  “Mia Silverwright” Mia said, having looked up to give her boyfriend a forgiving smile. “Do not worry, I never told you. The name carries many emotions, so I tend not to use it often.

  “Oh, I just sent a letter over to your farms!” The staffer exclaimed, now staring at the couple with an odd recognition having had researched them for the past few days.

  “What for? Is there another event?” the couple asked together.

  “No, it seems that you are in violation of quite a few laws.” the staffer informed the now stunned pair.