Walking down the main street towards the west gate of the Sarvois state, Fleck leaves behind the marketplace area carrying a large, dark fabric. The cobblestones shinning with a faint light, it is the only thing telling the Sarvos people that right now the sun is on the sky, otherwise, they wouldn’t know when it is day and when it isn’t, since the sky was still painted in a crimson hue.

Fastening his footsteps, Selvin runs from the market to Fleck, reaching him as both leave behind the slight slope of that section of the main street.

-”What is this street?”- Selvin asks.

-”Good to see that you’re making an effort to speak well.”- Fleck comments.

-”Danks!”-

Fleck snorts at his reply.

-”So, what is with this street?”-

-”What do you mean?”-

-”I-ehmm… aha, I mean, it’s glowing.”-

-”Aaaah, true. You never have been here before, have you?”-

Selvin only shakes his head.

-”This street… things like this are plenty in Arcadia, you know? Before the kingdom fell, it was at the top of technological and magical development in the world. They were from decades to hundreds of years ahead of all other kingdoms. The artifacts developed by Arcadia are plenty and all of them are marvels, and even after the kingdom fell…”- Fleck makes silence, just to resume speaking after a couple of steps further -”well… many of the artifacts from this great kingdom are still around. This street is one of them, and as I understand it, one of the lower ones at that.”-

Looking to his side, Fleck is met with Selvin’s wide-open gaze.

-”What? Thinking of becoming an artifact salvager? Arcadia is a large and dangerous place.”-

-”Such thing exists?”-

-”Yeah. All of the surviving states have some sort of artifacts salvaging guilds in order to recover artifacts lost at the moment of the fall. It is the second way they can secure their survival, the first being trade, usually between Zunko and New Arcadia. It isn’t as reliable as trade, but when trade dies down, it is the safest net they have to fall down upon.”-

-”The artifacts… they must have a high price, uh?”-

-”You got it, boy. But it isn’t only that. If the states relied on finding artifacts to survive, they would die long before they can safely bring one back home. So, instead of that, they offer a service and support to everyone who wants to get into Arcadia in search of artifacts, by a fee, and if a group is successful, they offer transport services to bring it back safely to the state. They have a couple of arrangements to ensure that both the state and the people salvaging artifacts are both benefited, so the people doing the salvaging will want to continue working with the state in the future.”-

-”Uuuh… What do you say, Sis? We could give it a try.”- Selvin says as he turns and looks back.

Turning his head, Fleck sees Ana standing right there, biting her lower lip.

Letting a huge sigh escape, she says -”I… I don’t know…”- as she scratches her head.

Fleck stands there in silence as she sees her. Looking with his one eye, he notices her knees inward, her right hand grabbing her left arm, her head lowering little by little.

It is clear what is the issue here…

-”No matter what you decide to do…”- Fleck starts saying -”there will be danger wherever you go. You may die anytime, anywhere. It is natural to think in ways to avoid that, after all, you want to survive, yet if you are completely crippled by fear, you will never set down.”-

Selvin nods furiously at Fleck’s words. Ana only gets more dejected in the process, crouching and embracing both her legs.

-”There is also multiple services that the guilds, and also other entities, offer, besides support and transport. Here in Sarvois, if things haven’t changed that is, the state offers medical services too. In conjunction with a couple of companies and the health and security guilds, they try their best to keep every salvager alive.”-

Raising her face from between her knees, Ana looks at Fleck and says -”You are trying to get rid of us, aren’t you?”-

-”Straight answer?”-

-”Yes.”-

-”Of course. Do you know how much of a pain would be to try and keep both of you alive in this little trip to New Arcadia, with so little people as we have right now? Be smart and stay here”- and looking to Selvin, he adds -”Both of you.”-

Selvin looks at Fleck, then Ana, then back to Fleck, and then once more nods, with not as much strength as before.

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Fleck only pats his head.

Ana snorts -”You surely can be heartless.”-

-”Better straight than sorry.”- Fleck replies back.

Incorporating herself, Ana says -”What should I do to be able to live as salvager?”-

Raising his arm, Fleck points to the north -”The salvage guilds are located at the north. There are a couple here in Sarvois, and their conditions are laid out, or should be laid out, besides the entrance of each guild. Go there, read, think what would fit best for you, and apply.”-

Turning, Ana starts walking without saying anything else. Selvin stays beside Fleck, a little motionless.

Crouching to meet the boy's eyes, Fleck says -”There are a couple of books on chanting around here. If you read them and start to practice, who knows? You may be able to use magic without a chant.”-

Selvin’s eyes open wide -”Is such a thing possible?”-

-”It is. Very few people can do it, but it is doable. These people sit at the top of the world of magic since they can fire magic as fast as they can think about it.”-

Visibly excited by these words, at this moment the voice of Ana reaches both of them -”Selvin, what are you doing? Leave that jerk behind and come already!”-

Looking back and forward, Selvin then asks -”If I learn silent magic, will you come by so I can show you?”-

-”No way kid. I have many things to deal with already.”-

-”Oh… of course.”- Selvin is taken aback a bit by this.

-”The only thing left to do is that you become such a good salvager that no matter wherever I go, I will always hear about the exploits of the legendary Selvin.”-

Opening his eyes wide, Fleck can see the flicker of passion in Selvin’s gaze -”I’ll do that, exactly that!”-

-”Selviiiiiiin!”- Ana’s voice reaches them once more.

Turning and starting to run towards his sister, Selvin waves back to Fleck and says -”You just wait! No matter wherever you go, you will hear about me!”-

Fleck only snorts at the sight as Selvin reunites with Ana and then both start going up the slope towards the marketplace, before taking a left turn to the north, and vanishing from Fleck’s eyes.

And now, that is one thing less to worry about… Finally.

As he goes to the west gate, he reaches it after an hour of walking. Going between the many automated carts that are gathered there, he reaches Masha’s, being the only one with a dark fabric covering it, all of the merchandise already on top of it. Hashi is sitting beside the merchandise, while Masha comes to Fleck’s encounter from inside the driver's section. Deborah is sitting beside her.

-”Aaaah, yes, finally. Give me, give me.”- Masha says as he makes gestures with his hands to Fleck. Getting the dark fabric, he looks at it closely and says -”Yes, yes, such a fine quality. Fleck, you have an eye for quality, uh?”-

-”It is all about grabbing the opportunity.”- Fleck replies.

-”The opportunity to buy nice fabric, the opportunity to use me as bait and put me in such danger, the opportunity to have fun with a slave.”- Hashi says, a little grumble coming out of her words.

In Fleck’s face, a smug comes out.

-”Now, now, no fights here.”- Masha says -”come Deborah, let us put the fabric together. We need to hurry and one person alone can’t do it.”-

Deborah nods and stands up, still red by Hashi’s comment. Fleck sits beside the place Deborah was sitting, to her right, leaving her space between him and Hashi.

-”Where is Selvin and Ana?”- Hashi asks.

-”They will stay here. Give the salvagers life a try.”- Fleck says.

Hashi makes silence at this, then asks -”You convinced them, didn’t you?”-

-”Yes.”-

Another silence, then, looking at Masha, she asks -”Masha, didn’t you say you will get more mercenaries to help up with the security?”- her voice now tinged with a slight touch of anger.

-”Oh, that? Yeah, don’t worry, that won’t be needed anymore.”- Masha replies.

Fleck turns to Masha and asks, just as Hashi stands up -”How so?”-

-”Well, you see,”- Masha starts saying as he is adjusting the fabric to the right side of the cart -”I met with a old fart that I go way back within one of the taverns. One thing led to another, and now we will be traveling with him and another bunch of people to the next state, all together.”-

Standing up, Fleck looks around once more as he asks -”All of these around us?”-

-”Yeah, quite the large caravan, uh?”-