Apolo approached the Gururi to put on his toga again and took off the silver mask, noticing the creature's lost look.

—Seems like you're a bit unwell, you seem a bit dazed— Apolo commented with rather poorly feigned concern.

—Huh? Yes, I could swear you disappeared and then reappeared...— Zoe said, holding her head with her little hands.

—It's because you're getting old; it'll pass— Apolo replied calmly as he exited the alley—Now we're going to the breeders' market to buy two little "friends" who will accompany you in your new life. Go ahead to the carriage.

—Of course, I'll wait there, master!— Zoe replied, suddenly disappearing from the young noble's view.

Apolo, moving as slowly as an elderly man at the end of his days, walked toward the carriage until he encountered his faithful servant's dazed look.

—Is something wrong, Mateo?— Apolo asked.

—I could swear I forgot something important...— Mateo replied, furrowing his brow, as if he were trying hard to remember what he had seen a naked giant running down the street like a lunatic just seconds ago. However, he couldn't remember, or rather, he didn't want to remember!

—If it were really that important, you'd remember it!— Apolo said as he opened the carriage door—Don't dwell on it too much and head to the breeders' district: we've finally found our great friend Zoe!

—Zoe?— Mateo asked, but then he looked at the curious look of the creature beside him and understood what had happened—Ah... Zoe, we found her... what joy, so you're a girl... what a surprise, I mean... it was obvious...

—She's a Gururi; don't pay too much attention to her name...— Apolo replied as he got into the carriage—She just listens to my orders, and the rest will gradually be forgotten if you don't waste your time remembering it: a great way to deal with many problems and also a potential cause of many problems.

—You're a great expert, my lord!— Mateo praised mechanically, using the reins to head to their new destination.

The journey itself was quite long. After all, distances within the Ring City districts were even more daunting than in the capital, for obvious reasons related to a ring-shaped urban design. Although the primary factor hindering travel within the Ring City districts was the limited budget and imperial planning. While there were still some basic services, such as cemeteries and other structures, the truth was that the city's growth had never been entirely organized. Services were an afterthought to its expansion, relying more on the goodwill of the current emperor than on anything planned and systematic. This led to many problems, including the obvious lack of imperial guards, poorly executed laws, urban overpopulation, crime, and, most annoying for Apolo, poor urban planning.

In reality, to navigate within the ring city, one had to take many turns in circles and follow inconsistent paths. It was common to travel along a path for a while only to encounter a dead-end alley or a street where only a single carriage could fit, causing two carriages heading in opposite directions to block each other, making it challenging to maneuver carriages on these labyrinthine roads. Fortunately, it wasn't impossible; most commercial neighborhoods had addressed the issue by constructing well-built roads. However, when one had to traverse a complicated area lacking the sponsorship of nobles and interested merchants, the story was entirely different. It was quite normal for Mateo to have to pay a street kid to guide him through such areas.

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Nevertheless, Mateo didn't seem concerned with the issue. He had been living in these streets for a few months, so he had already grown accustomed to these problems. In just a few days of travel, he managed to reach the breeders' district, also known as the district of animals and exotic creatures.

Unlike the slave market, this district was incredibly vast, with each shop occupying an entire block much larger than those in the other neighborhoods. The district was meticulously planned so that carriages of considerable size could enter and exit comfortably. Mateo even noticed that they had constructed a secondary road to exit the ring city, indicating the significant investment in this district, which made sense, as the management of living and incredibly valuable creatures always required a great deal of effort to make the business work.

Mateo drove the carriage to a shop he was already familiar with. Apolo had taken great care to arrange everything regarding his Gururis, so the young man had pre-arranged with a breeder in this district to oversee the birth of his new two Gururis.

Finally, the young noble could see from the carriage window two large open gates showing the inside of a shop. Like most shops in this district, it had no roof, so they looked like small private enclosures surrounded by wooden fences. After feeling the carriage stop, Apolo got out and ordered:

—Stay in the carriage and wait for me to return with our new friends.

After giving the order, Apolo slowly made his way into the shop, carefully observing how several people were working, feeding and checking on the animals they had apparently just bought. The young noble didn't have to spend much time inside the shop before a man dressed in a white shirt and white pants approached him, saying:

—Pleasure to meet you, Apolo. Did you come to pick up your Gururis?

—I came to verify that you've kept your word— Apolo replied without many pleasantries. The noble had spent almost 1000 crystals on this pair of Gururis, so he expected his expenses to be reflected in a successful outcome. In principle, paying such a price was an atomic exaggeration, but Apolo had requested that several things be done that were generally not done when "gestating" or "creating" Gururis.

Basically, Apolo had requested that the traditional method of creating these creatures be followed, something that had been abandoned and lost for almost 900 years. Nowadays, all Gururis in the empire had been modified so that poor families could buy them, or rather, wanted to buy them.

While initially the differences between the two Gururis weren't "so" significant as those of their evolutions, they were differences that annoyed someone as obsessive as Apolo more than he cared to admit. The young noble had already resigned himself to the fact that the Gururis his ancestor had seen with his own eyes no longer existed in these times, so it was impossible to buy one that had been used by a mage and was identical to what his ancestor expected a Gururi to be. However, the story with the newborns was different: these would indeed be identical to what his ancestors had seen! Or Apolo would make sure to send a hit squad after all the idiots who had promised him something they couldn't deliver in exchange for a thousand crystals.

—We followed your instructions to the letter and assigned a specialized breeder to carry out your request— the breeder commented with a smile—I assure you we will have good results. From our perspective as breeders of exotic creatures, we're also interested in this project that aims to revive the ancient method of gestating Gururis.

—We'll only know the result in a few minutes; there's no need for premature judgments...— Apolo muttered gruffly.