A moment later.
In the night, Richard walked into a quiet alley in Faro City and stopped before a wooden door. He raised his hand and knocked. "Knock, knock, knock."
After knocking for a while, he stopped and quietly waited for the person inside to come out.
Yet after waiting for over a minute, there was still no movement from within. Just as he raised his hand to knock again, an angry young girl's voice suddenly came from behind the door.
"Hey, whoever's outside, I don't care who you are. If you dare touch the door one more time, I'll break your arm."
Richard: "..."
"Tap, tap, tap..."
Rapid footsteps drew closer. It sounded like someone was stomping over in wooden bottom shoes.
As she walked toward the courtyard gate, the other party complained rudely, "Seriously! Knocking in the day, knocking at night, knocking every day, knocking every month—can't we have peace for a while? It's been three days straight now. Every time I'm just about to sleep, someone comes banging on the door. Do you really think this is an inn?"
Richard: "..."
"Tap, tap, tap!"
The footsteps grew heavier. The person inside had clearly reached the door. Then, with a clatter, she flung it open. A girl with wide eyes poked her head out—it was Justice Girl Nellide. She opened her mouth, ready to curse him out.
Suddenly, Nellide's expression stiffened. She swallowed back the words at her lips, her eyes widening even further. Looking at Richard standing outside, she said in surprise, "It's you?"
"Uh, it's me," Richard answered.
More than an hour later.
Richard sat upright in the living room of Female Wizard Circe's small courtyard. In the study not far from him, Female Wizard Circe was translating the "Ancient Script" for him.
The room