"Some Demi-Humans are not the cause of magic twisting their body into new form but are a fruit of an unlikely event for most races are biologically incapable of raising a mixed child. On the rare occasion where it does happen the children are plagued with many pains which often lead to a violent and painful death.
There are only a few stable combinations like half-elfs caused by a child between an elf and a human, half-orcs which are caused by an orc impregnating either human or an elf..."
-Extract from "Biology of Species"
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The two approach the stall staffed by two humans selling vegetables and fruits. Iris sees many alien-looking plants being sold mixed with food familiar to her.
The elf's hand hesitantly reaches for the familiar green and yellow fruit which at closer inspection differs greatly from what she was familiar with.
"Is this cera?" Iris held the fuzzy fruit in front of her, finding it much larger than what she is used to with red and orange hues mixed with the familiar green and yellow.
"Never seen it?" A man with a shaven face answered with puzzlement. The other man with a small hat and a moustache punched his fellow human in the chest, his other hand travelled to his ear pinching the edge and pulling it. The first man's mouth made an "O" shape.
"Yes, this is cera just thought you playing dumb or something." He said awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.
Iris sets the fruit down and scours the human stand for any familiar ingredients to cook with, beside her Kia probed and examined the colourful fruits with heartwarming giggles causing the elf to smile lightly as she shook her head. Iris eventually gave up her search and choose to buy both the more normal-looking plants and some more bizarre things which fueled her curiosity.
"That will be four silver and twenty copper." The man with the hat said.
"Here." The elf reached for her satchel at her waist, pulling out the exact change.
The two went out of the busy market with a basket full of vegetables and fruits heading back, Iris thought about buying some meat but she feared the meat would spoil while they travelled but...
"Kia, would anything spoil in your inventory?"
"No, it can't." Girl looks up at the elf, not understanding why Iris asked.
The long black hair of the risen shifts as she nudges the undead mage with the basket. The food disappeared from the weaved basket as Kia touched each of the plants with her slim pale arms.
The girls entered the market once again trying to weave their way through the crowd to a butcher. After what Iris felt was too much time spent squeezing between the crowd the two came across the meat stall just as the sound of the bell tolling five times rolled across Marinya's main market.
The stall was staffed by a chubby human woman with a blood-stained apron tied at her waist.
"Hello, what are you looking for." The woman asked with a slightly hoarse voice.
"Something to cook over the fire, please," Iris asked.
The woman grabbed a large chunk of meat from a crate beside her and put it on a chopping board attended by a heavy "thud" sound. "How much?" the human asked as she pulled a large butcher knife and hovered the blade over the meat slowly moving it from side to side.
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The elf was about to say to give her a little chunk but she felt her cuff being gently pulled. Upon turning to see what had pulled her, the elf sees a giant pair of blue and golden puppy eyes from under the girl's hood.
"Fine, have it your way," Iris buckled at the silent plea of the petite mage. "Half." Upon hearing the elf speaking Kia raised both of her arms in victory causing her hood to fall off.
"You have such a beautiful younger sister." The butcher lady said as she cut the meat.
"S-Sister!" The elf's pale cheeks flushed heavily.
"Are you not? Both of you have the same hair and pale complexion, you just look similar to each other." The woman said handing the meat to Iris. "Four silver please, hope you like it." She winked at the already shocked elf, who sheepishly gave the told amount.
Iris quickly grabbed Kia's hand, skittering away from the stand with even redder cheeks. Eventually, the tall elf offered the basket with the meat to Kia causing both items to disappear.
The two head back to the Adventurers Guild slowly making their way through the busy streets. The sixth bell of the day rings across the city causing Iris to try to speed up their pace but her efforts were in vain.
The wooden door squeaked with its rusty hinges when two figures entered the guild.
"Hi, Iris! Hi Siri! The instructor just began, I think." Mira waved at the latecomers.
"Thanks!" Iris waved back and jogged to the door leading to the training area. Upon opening the door she raised her arm, blocking the blinding sun until her eyes could adapt to the sudden change.
In the open sandy area, four people stud still around a towering grey hair man with many visible scars on his face and arms, a huge carving table was placed behind him. Iris and Kia walked up to the circle of adventurers.
"Come closer we don't bite, you did not miss much. My name is Soldan and I am today's disassembly instructor," The tall man gestured to the two girls to come closer causing the adventurers to turn. "Today's lesson will be about basics harvesting methods for almost any monster," Soldan spoke his blue eyes scanning each of the adventurers in front of him.
A young-looking boy came from a door behind the instructor with a cart full of small monster or animal corpses. "You will practice on these after I show you which parts are usually useful and which are not," Soldan pulled a knife out of its sheath with one hand and grabbed a young spineboar with the other. He started to cut into pieces the monster explaining the logic behind each cut and the parts that should be taken for sale. The general price of monster parts depended on their versatility or their magic content, for example, Soldan spoke that the skin and teeth of a cave bear are the most valuable part because a good amount of mana is used on
them during the manifestation process while the rest of the bear is only slightly more valuable than an ordinary bear. At the end of his lecture, the spineboar was no more than a neatly stacked and organized pile.
"Alright, grab one of them and try to replicate me." He said.
All of the trainees approached the cart. The elf grabbed a spine board and put it onto the large carving table while Kia was only a step behind Iris.
"Hey, kid go home before you start crying over an animal!" A man wearing leather armour with spiky brown hair shouted toward Kia who seem to not notice him.
"Hff! You just got ignored by a small girl, Jack!" A female adventurer with green hair and slightly pointy ears, her lime-grass colour eyes moistened as she chuckled beside Jack.
"Fuck off Veronica, you know children should not be here."
"Well, if you did not spend all your time levelling your swordsmen class and took some time to raise some perception levels you would notice that the "kid" is following an elf who grabbed a spineboar with one hand looking like a cuter copy of the elf." The green hair adventurer grinned at Jack causing him to avoid her mocking gaze.
Kia hid behind Iris from Veronica's sight while the elf frowned at the half-elf receiving a small but eager wave. The undead elf focused back at the half-skinned spineboar in front of her.
Upon the sound of the seventh bell ringing their instructor shouts to stop their activity.
"That's acceptable."
"Practice on your knife, don't just chop wildly."
"You should talk less..."
Soldan scrutinises his trainee's work while his attendant collects them.
"You can leave now." He waves his hand with a singular scar going down the entire length of his forearm.
All of the people left the training ground and headed inside including Iris and Kia but they were stopped by Veronica.