“What are you looking at?” Lunia innocently asked me, as I stared in awe at the heaping mound of food in front of her, “Do you want some?”

Lunia and I, following Thalrics example, decided to order food to eat in the common area rather than going to the dining room, but I was beginning to have second thoughts at doing so.

Deciding to forego a heavy breakfast in favor of a glass of juice, reasoning that I had eaten my fill late last night, I sorely regretted my decision at the divine scent emanating from the pancakes, eggs, and fried bacon piled high on Lunia’s plate.

I sheepishly nodded in confirmation, and smiling widely, Lunia pushed the plate of food between us, and we began to eat.

Thalric apathetically watched us, as he calmly sipped some unknown, but incredibly fragrant smelling black liquid from his cup.

We will be descending in 15 minutes

A voice suddenly sounded from the corner of the room via some unknown method, and Lunia excitedly stood up,

“I can’t wait to get to Celestia,” she began to shake me back and forth, “I wonder what it’s like! Are you excited?”

“What are you talking about?” Thalric interrupted, “We have at least a week more of travel before we reach Thaloria city, then it’s at least another day by boat before we can get to Celestia.”

Lunia slumped back into her seat, devastated, and continued eating, in an attempt to comfort herself.

Chuckling in dry amusement, “It’s not all bad,” Thalric comforted, “I’ll give you two some pocket money to play with.”

***

As we exited the airship, we found ourselves in Slyvenia City, home to a House Frosthart, who held the rank of Baron.

Turning to both Lunia and I, “The airship will leave in 6 hours,” Thalric informed, “That time will be yours to do with as you please.”

Pulling out two, small brown sacks, he handed one to each of us.

“Slyvenia is safer than Frosthelm, so you two shouldn’t encounter any issues, but just in case, open your pouches.”

Inside the two bags were 10 gold coins, and a small, hollow glass marble the size of the tip of my thumb that contained a blue, flowing liquid.

Mouth agape at the incredible amount of money considered spare change to Thalric, I was barely able to process his following words,

“If anything happens, break the glass ball, and I’ll come running,” Thalric continued.

“Okay,” Lunia immediately mock saluted, before pulling me with her, “Come on, let’s explore the city.”

As I ran with her outside of the airship port, I entered the streets of Slyvenia.

Despite our still technically being in the North, even taking into account the fact winter was over, and already into spring, the weather wasn’t the least bit cold, rather, it could be described as balmy.

Slyvania was structured just like Frosthelm, where main roads ran in between rows of buildings and smaller alleyways sporadically cut between structures, but other than the way in which Slyvenia was built, the two cities had little else in common.

Each of the buildings were 2 to 3 stories tall, and were constructed from wood, rather than the black stone brick exclusively used in Frosthelm, and while in Frosthelm, when it was noon, the city would go so quiet you could hear a pin drop from a block away, in Slyvenia, the sheer volume of the hustle and bustle, especially around the port, would likely result in severe hearing loss if one were to experience it every single day for a lifetime.

In the immediate vicinity of the airship port were a variety of different storefronts selling a plethora of goods and services.

Fine plateware, swords, glass, clothes, “adult” activities, seemingly every single thing one could possibly want for was able to be bought.

Spotting something of interest in the far distance, Lunia pulled me along to an area in which there was a higher density of food selling establishments.

Lunia suddenly stopped in front of a street stall.

“How much for 1?” she excitedly asked the stall attendant.

Looking down at just what so thoroughly captured her attention, I was overcome with confusion.

Completely ordinary, skewered meats.

Other than the red specks of seasoning haphazardly covering the meat, they were completely ordinary skewers.

“10 copper slivers for 2, 20 for 5,” the attendant disinterestedly answered.

Reaching into her pouch with a smile, she nearly went through with the transaction, had I not grabbed her hand, and stopped her.

“Are you insane?” I quietly hissed, pulling her away from the stall owner.

With her head tilted, and a dopey expression on her face, she evidently didn’t know what I was talking about.

“Why in the world would you pay with a golden coin?” I whisper-screamed, “I don’t care how safe Thalric says this city is, you’re going to get us stabbed.”

“Why would we get stabbed?” she asked, her tone indicating she genuinely didn’t know why.

Feeling a migraine coming on, I angrily pulled her to a gaudy storefront, where we proceeded to enter, and request change for 1 gold coin.

As we waited, I turned to Lunia.

“Do you genuinely not know what would happen if I didn’t stop you earlier?”

Dejectedly shaking her head in response, she waited for me to continue.

Sighing in exasperation, “Not only do they probably not even have enough money to give back change,” I continued, “if anyone sees that our lowest denomination of currency is a gold coin, they’ll think we have more, and try to steal from us.”

Raising her head, it was as if Lunia was hit with a sudden stroke of enlightenment, and I could almost see the synapses physically firing off in her brain.

As I got back change from the shopkeeper of the gaudy store, we returned back to the food stall, and paid for 2 skewers, one for each of us.

Biting into the skewer, I identified the meat as likely coming from a cow, but that was the only thought I could muster, before the pain began to set in.

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As if a fire had been lit in my mouth, my tongue burned in red hot pain, but my mouth, nursing a fresh canker sore, was hit the hardest, as I felt like a small branding iron was being continually applied on every square inch of the surface of my mouth.

Dropping the skewer onto the ground, I opened my mouth, and desperately panted like a dog for relief, before finally getting a glimpse at the writing on the street stall itself.

WHITE HOT SKEWERS, FIGHT THE DRAGON

I desperately ran away in search of relief, only finding it in a storefront selling milk and when my will to live had nearly fully dissipated.

Rushing to the counter, I snatched a bottle of the white, creamy goodness, before completely consuming it in a breaths span.

Lunia, having run after me, followed my lead, though unlike me, she ended up spilling half the bottle’s contents on the ground.

The pain lessening somewhat, I immediately paid for the milk the two of us stole, and bought another two for the road.

Turning to Lunia,

“I hate you so much,” I declared in between pants and suckings in of air.

Lunia, in just as much pain as me, suddenly burst into laughter, toppling over onto her back as she did so, her voice full of warmth, mirth, and joy.

In shock at her reaction to my words, I desperately fought back against the impulse growing within me, but to no avail.

And I joined her, at first only a snort, then growing into a slight chuckle, then fully morphing into an uproarious laugh.

***

The pain from the skewers completely gone, the two of us continued on our way, and explored the city.

Despite the myriad of items on display, nothing captured my attention so as to warrant my buying them, though the same could not be said about Lunia, who had bought every single oddity that caught her eye, and somehow eaten enough food to constitute dinner for a family of 4.

With only an hour left to wander around, I was on the cusp of suggesting we prematurely return, until a store caught my eye.

Standing out from just how little it stood out, the storefront was completely and utterly ordinary in comparison to its surroundings, with only a hanging, bland sign, and windows showing books stacked from floor to ceiling.

Lunia, having already spent nearly all of her money, readily agreed to accompany me into the book store, on the condition that if she saw something she wanted, I would buy it for her.

As we walked into the store, the smell of dust, and books left unread for years hit both of our noses. Lunia noticeably cringed at the scent, but for me, it was somehow comforting.

Like despite just how old the books and the store were, they were still there, standing.

At the back of the store was a single elderly man, sitting behind a counter reading a book, who even with our entrance, continued with his own business, not even raising his head.

As I began to peruse the aisles and stacks of books, Lunia followed closely behind me.

Leaving her to her own devices, I had a specific goal in mind for coming to the bookstore; that was to find books containing general knowledge of magic.

Having scoured the entire store, I found cookbooks, collections of short stories, dozens upon dozens of editions of the Old Codex, but nothing matching what I had in mind.

I moved to the aged shopkeep,

“Do you have anything that relates to magic?” I asked.

Looking up to see what I wanted, the old man grunted, and entered the back of the store, emerging moments later with a stack of thick, ancient books.

Briefly looking over each and every one of them, I decided on purchasing all 4 of them, Imario’s Beginners Guide to Mana: 361st Edition, Fundamental Alchemy, Sword King’s Theory of Martial Arts, and 7th Compendium of Flora and Fauna, reasoning that I was spending someone else’s money, and had some freedom to spend extravagantly.

“I took the liberty,” the old man began, his voice gritty, and scratchy, “of choosing books related to mana, not magic, as you called it.”

“Thank you,” I gave my heartfelt gratitude, “How much for all of them?”

“12 gold coins.”

Shocked at just how much the books were, I quickly regained my composure.

“I’m buying so much at once, surely I can get a discount?”

Briefly going silent into contemplation,

“10 gold coins,” he countered.

“That’s still too much, 9.”

“I’ve got a business to run-”

Arguing back and forth, we continued on until Lunia tugged my hand,

“I want these,” she announced, upper body hidden behind a tall stack of mostly novels and short stories.

“ ... 10 gold coins,” I turned back to the old man, “And throw in her books.”

With the corners of his mouth slightly raised,

“Happy readings,” the old man relented.

As we left the shop with our books neatly wrapped and placed in cloth sacks, we decided to return to the airship port, when suddenly,

“PLEASE,” the cries of a woman could be heard to our right, coming from a dark alley, “DON’T DO IT.”

I turned to Lunia, about to ask her how much time was left, but she was already gone, having dropped her two sacks of books and knick-knacks on the ground to enter the alley.

Cursing in my mind, I took out the glass marble given by Thalric, and grabbed our purchased goods and moved them out of the main roads into the alley, before running after Lunia.

Catching up with Lunia, I was met with the sight of a bloodied vagrant woman crawling away from a fat, balding man being kicked by Lunia.

Immediately, I threw the hollow glass sphere beneath my boot and crushed it, before running to assist Lunia.

Pulling his arm back in preparation to punch Lunia, the man was interrupted, as I jumped, and slammed both fists into his nose.

He stumbled back in a daze, most likely more from surprise rather than pain, fortunately tripping and falling in the process.

Mounting his stomach as a prostitute would a client’s crotch, I rained blows on his face, repeatedly punching and focusing on his nose, while Lunia assisted me by kicking the side of his head.

Crunch

The noise of his nose breaking could be audibly heard, but somehow, the man still hadn’t fallen unconscious, only growing more and more angrier the more we hit him.

With an expression of pure, unfettered rage, he roared, and shot back up, blood dripping down from his nostril to the stone brick floor.

“I’LL KILL YOU BOTH,” he screamed, beginning to charge at us, when he was suddenly stopped in his tracks, trapped in a translucent, blue cube.

“I take my eyes off you both for a few hours,” Thalric sighed, walking into the alley carrying our sacks.

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” the fat man, not recognizing his situation, yelled, “I”LL Ki-”

“Shut up,” Thalric disinterestedly waved his hand. The fat man continued to speak, but his voice no longer reached us.

“Let’s go kids,” Thalric motioned to us, the cube beginning to slowly shrink in size with the man still in it.

The man still yelled, growing more and more frantic, eventually even banging against the cube in fear.

“Could you not kill him?” Lunia suddenly nervously asked.

Thalric turned around, surprised.

“Why?” He asked.

Lunia stayed silent, biting down on her lip, looking down at her feet.

“I say yes, Lunia says no.” Thalric sighed, “Sol, you be the tiebreaker.”

I raised my fists, and inspected them.

A dull, aching pain radiated from my hands, less intense than I expected. They would be bruised purple the next day if I was lucky, while if I were unlucky, once the adrenaline wore off, I would discover that something had broken, or dislocated.

“Just kill him,” I indifferently voted.

Raising his hand again immediately after my words, Thalric made his cube resume shrinking.

The fat man kneeled, and began to shake, begging desperately in our direction, to the sky above, and even to the vagrant woman, before finally, attempting to stop the rapidly compressing box.

His prayers and effort bore no fruit, as his head was grotesquely forced down into his chest, his spine breaking in the process, part of it sticking out from the base of his neck, the bones in his forearms slowly separating from his flesh as a result of the pressure, before they themselves broke, split in half.

Dead, just like that, with no audience to hear his last words.

Satisfied with the result, Thalric deactivated the barrier, and left.

With the scent of freshly spilt blood in the air, I turned around to follow Thalric and escape the stench, when I was suddenly stopped by Lunia.

“Why did you do that?” she quietly asked.

I faced Lunia, the sun high enough in the air to begin to the illuminate the alleyway.

Standing over the cube of flesh that had once been alive, the vagrant woman suddenly burst into unsubdued, frenzied laughter, before kicking the cube like one would a ball.

Too exhausted to properly reply, I brushed Lunia's hand off of me, and left.