Alaric stood in a line at the entrance to Melbourne, trying to keep his eyes off a grumpy red-haired girl. Her murderous aura wouldn’t let him off that easy though… and neither would her comments.

“Not even one measly Death Bunny!” she grumbled. Alaric was not sure what a Death Bunny was but he wasn’t about to ask.

“Look on the bright side! We caught a pack of Mudhounds,” Alaric tried.

The people in front of them tensed at their conversation. Some of them even braved sneak peeks at the people behind them. Who in their right mind would casually speak of fighting off a pack of mudhounds?

Scarlett snapped at Alaric, “No… Not another word from you, Mr. Pushover!”

“That’s harsh,” Alaric chuckled.

“The truth doesn’t care about your little feelings, Alistair. I’m not the one who comes up with it,” the girl responded with a dark glare on her face. Alaric shook his head at her antics. All he’d done was hold her in line like everybody else.

Considering they were both new to adventuring, the procedure for re-entering the gate was unclear to them. Were they supposed to just go through or wait in line like everybody else?

Of course, Alaric had no problem waiting in line. Besides, he’d already helped a few people in the line.

There was a man whose carriage was so heavily loaded it was a surprise he’d made it this far. Alaric spared him some rope from the collection of essentials he’d been given in his bracelet, hoping to replace it later.

He’d also provided a shawl to a shivering woman’s child then he’d let an old woman walk right past them so she could get through the line that much faster.

Scarlett ground her teeth as she watched similar acts of ‘kindness’ each second they drew closer and closer to the gates. The ones where Alaric let someone through irked her the most. What was this boy? Some patron saint of goodness!

At the gates, they appeared before a familiar pair of men dressed in light armour. “And what brings you two to Melbourne?”

“We’re adventurers… We’ve just returned from the Purified Zone,” Scarlett was quick to mention.

“Adventurers?! Really? What are you doing in the line then?” the guard scrunched his eyebrows, “Licenses. I don’t recognize your faces.”

Alaric retrieved his license from within the storage bracelet while Scarlett retrieved hers from a ring on her hand.

The quieter guard observed Alaric for a while longer before speaking, “You’re the one from the other day. Alistair, right?”

‘Sharp memory,’ Alaric exclaimed in his mind. A pang in Alaric’s chest reminded him of his guardian’s absence. Normally this would be Alia’s cue to say something about the man. Alas, the guardian remained silent through all this.

“Yes, that is I,” Alaric responded.

“You do charity work everywhere you go?” the man asked, having noticed what Alaric kept doing as they moved up the line. It was also likely that Alaric’s actions had got people talking.

“Only when I can or won’t be a bother,” Alaric responded calmly.

“Sounds like hogwash. How are your uncle and… relative doing?” the man asked.

“My uncle left a day ago. I’m staying with my relative now,” Alaric responded. By this time, even he knew when he was being suspected of something. His smile was gone, replaced by a complicated expression, a mix of curiosity, agitation and sadness.

“You guilty of something, Alistair?” the guard continued only for his comrade to jump in.

“Huh… the licenses check out,” the other guard piped up in surprise, “How did a scrub like you become an adventurer? You one of those mages?”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“He’s too young to be a mage, Karl,” the other guard spoke up, slightly ticked off that his comrade had interrupted his conversation with Alaric.

“Oh come on, Scrubbley. Have you seen this boy’s hands? They’re softer than a sleeping pillow,” the man exclaimed.

“Is there a problem here?” Scarlett suddenly spoke up, her agitation ringing clear in her voice. She’d watched these men interrogate Alaric long enough. There was nothing noteworthy about the boy… and yet, he stuck out like a sore thumb. It was like everywhere they went, someone wanted to talk to him.

“There might be. Now, what’s a beauty like you doing with a potential criminal like him?” Karl quipped.

“Criminal?” the girl wondered, “Alistair doesn’t have a vile bone in his body.”

“Haven’t you heard, Beauty? The Emperor’s men are here. That lot always means trouble,” Karl snapped at the girl, then turned to Alaric, “They show up one day after we’ve received a pair of oddballs dressed in grey SnowBear cloaks and you think we won’t get suspicious?”

“SnowBear?” Alaric was now confused… Wouldn’t a SnowBear be white though? If only I knew more about SnowBears, I’d…

{ Subject of research: SnowBear.

Indigenous to the Snow Plains in the Far East of the Valerian continent. These beasts are known to possess the strength of seven horses, the bite force of an alligator and the power to freeze the blood of anything that provokes them. They move fast for their size and enjoy snacking on anything with murderous intent. The Tower of Seekers believes SnowBears feed more on murderous intent than the meat of their victims. Because of this bizarre trait, they feed on mostly carnivores.

Side note: Their fur can be used to make very expensive clothes and accessories. Its best traits are the near-complete immunity to cold and the ability to retain its snow-white colour even after being dipped in the most corrosive of solutions… as discovered during many experiments in the Tower of Seekers. For more information, request books on the Great East Ice Plain. Would you like to request it?

}

Alaric’s eyes snapped back into focus a second later, his mind pounding with the sudden influx of information. What had just happened? If it wasn’t for the fact that he was still in the middle of an argument, he would have started hounding his brain for answers.

The lonesome hole in his chest was getting filled with his guardian’s presence. Whatever had happened was enough to draw her attention as well.

Alaric turned to the guard, “SnowBear fur doesn’t turn grey. It can’t be stained.”

“Then what would you say those cloaks were made of, eh?” the man argued.

“I don’t know for sure. I’ll ask Uncle Gandalow when I get a hold of him. Can we go through it now? We have to report to the Guild,” Alaric answered calmly.

Scrubbley handed him back their licenses, giving him a suspicious look, “We’re not paid enough to get involved with the Emperor’s men but I’ll give you a bit of friendly advice. Be careful. Those guys seem interested in a boy roughly about your age. Seeing as you just arrived, they might soon shift their focus to you. Danger follows those men everywhere they go so try to stay out of their way.”

Alaric was taken aback by the advice. Wasn’t he supposed to be helping the Emperor’s soldiers rather than him? Perhaps most people weren’t fans of the Emperor’s men. Back in the Five Hills though, the Emperor’s influence was too weak for them to even have an opinion of his operations.

“Thank you,” Alaric bowed slightly.

Karl slapped his comrade on the back, “You’ve grown soft, Scrubbley. You two, scram. We have a long line to deal with.”

Alaric and Scarlett proceeded into the town. Alaric’s mind, however, was still buzzing with the aftershock of the information that had flooded his mind, ‘What just happened?’

[ Must be something to do with becoming a Keeper Candidate ] Alia whispered into his mind.

[ Alia, I… ] he began, then stopped to catch his breath. His guardian was back. His guardian was back.

[ Go on. ] Alia urged him.

[ I… I’m sorry. ] he replied. Alia did her best to make him stronger so there had never been a time when he doubted her methods. Looking back on it now, what could she have done without an S-class Concealment Barrier? [ I… overreacted. I got emotional and was out of control. ]

[ It’s fine. That won’t be the last time we fail to agree on something. The next time we disagree though, try to make a logical argument instead of lashing out. I have emotions too, you know ] his guardian replied humbly.

Alaric and Scarlett had barely made it into the city of Melbourne when the boy grabbed Scarlett’s hand and pulled her into an alleyway. Halfway through the alley, he froze…

‘From both sides…’

“What is it, Alistair?”

“The Emperor’s men… I don’t want to run into them again. They make my skin crawl,” Alaric responded.

“Oh… I have something,” the girl looked both sides of the alleyway before pulling a large amount of dark fabric from her ring. With a few quick movements, she wrapped an enchanted cloak around them and pulled him into the shadow of the wall, “I keep a few of the tools I used when I was an assassin.”

“A few?” Alaric raised a brow, remembering the knives she’d revealed at the Sisters of Fragrance.

The girl just chuckled, “I’m impressed you can keep calm even when bundled tight together with a girl like me.”

“A girl like…”

[ ALARIC! ] Alia shouted at the boy, startling him in the process. He felt his blood go cold and struggled to understand why the guardian had yelled. It wasn’t like Scarlett could hear her but it was still very shocking.

“Ah… you’re not so dense after all. I’ll let you off the hook for getting cosy with me just this once,” Scarlett winked, something Alaric shouldn’t have been able to see in this darkness.

His mind popped from confusion… ‘What is this situation?’