Fortunately, the red light district wasn’t too far. Some places in the city were far enough from each other to require horseback travel. This, however, was only a small walk for Rai.

After walking in the direction that the signs told him to, Rai found himself at the entrance to the red light district. There were no students around now, only adults and scantily dressed men and women of all races. Music blared from within most of the establishments, and the bright pinks and purples in the lights along the street were harsh on Rai’s eyes. Many of the signs on the buildings were indicative of the establishment's inclination, whether it was marketed towards light party-type fun, or for something more... provocative. Rai had no experience of such a world, so he thought almost nothing of it.

He figured he’d ask a resident worker about where he could find Devil’s Secret, since he had no idea himself. Rai walked up to one of the scantily dressed men to ask for directions.

“Excuse me, where can I find the Devil’s Secret?”

The hairy chested shirtless man looked at the young boy who seemed only just a bit shorter than himself.

“You’re a bit young to be going there. Why are you in this part of the city anyway? You should go back home. This kind of place isn’t for young men like you.”

Rai shook his head, understanding the misunderstanding.

“That’s where I’m staying for the night, a friend of mine got me a room there. I’m taking the Academy’s entrance exam tomorrow, so I’m staying at Devil’s Secret for the night.”

“Ohhh, okay. In that case, it’s at the far end of the district, that’s the end closest to the Academy anyway. It’s a straight walk from there to the Academy, even though it’s a little far away. Your friend probably got you a room there so you can easily get there from here.”

“Ah alright. Thank you! Have a good night!” Rai waved the hairy man goodbye as he walked down the road.

“What a strange young man, who gets a room to sleep in the red light district?” He questioned himself for a moment, but thought nothing of it and continued his job, trying to entice people to enter his establishment.

Rai continued walking down the road, attracting looks from many of the female patrons of the red light district, as well as some of the men. He’d already gotten used to ignoring the attention though. While he understood that he was good looking, he didn’t expect this much attention from random people on the streets. It’s a bit rude of them really. I don’t know why they just stare at me. It grew more annoying the more that Rai thought about it, so he stopped thinking about it and zoned out as he walked to the Devil’s Secret.

He only zoned back in to see a giant building looming over him. On the top was a bright neon sign with a female wearing hardly any clothes that had devil horns. The sign seemed to dance. Above the doorway, which was grand and well lit, was a sign that was made of gold. It read, ‘Devil’s Secret’.

Well, I guess this is the right place? Ms. Talvier worked here?... It's the biggest place I’ve seen so far on the whole street! Rai noticed the queue leading inside, and a number of security guards watching over the entrance.

One of the security guards took a look at him, spoke into something Rai couldn’t recognise, then started walking over to him.

Rai knew he didn’t do anything wrong, so he didn’t flinch. But what he heard wasn’t what he expected.

The guard spoke in a gruff voice.

“You’re Rai?”

“... Yes sir.”

The guard spoke again into the device that was now visible, but Rai still didn’t know what it was.

After waiting a moment, the guard indicated for Rai to follow him inside.

“Stay behind me, don’t wander off.”

“Okay sir.” He must be the owner! So very kind of him to let me stay the night! Rai smiled to himself as the person he thought was the owner guided him into the building.

The guard thought that Rai was more polite than someone recommended by the boss, but he didn’t give anything away and held his stoic expression. It was a simple, but important, requirement of a guard at this kind of establishment.

As Rai followed the man inside, the people in the queue looked at him with envious eyes. When Rai entered the building, he took note of how luxurious it felt. This felt more like a mansion than a night club. He didn’t know anything of the customs in the city, or of what was considered the norm, but he could tell that the people who were around him, drinking at the bar, talking to the succubi and barely clothed elves, that these people were most definitely nobles. Or at least part of noble society. Their clothes were clearly personally tailored, and their stances and manners of speaking screamed 'upper class'.

The guard took Rai to a reception area towards the back of the lobby, where there was a desk and a few chairs. It was different to the front reception where guests from the queue ended up.

“Wait here. Don’t go anywhere else. If you need to relieve yourself, tell the clerk. Otherwise, don’t move around.” The guard went off into an office of some kind.

Eh? Is he not the owner? Ohh... why would an owner stand outside the building? Duh, c’mon Rai. Think it through next time.

Rai sat down and looked around. There was no one else in the room except for him and the clerk. She was a succubus as well, which he noticed were somewhat common in this particular establishment. This one had light pink skin, with black hair and brown horns.

She was sat at the desk, nesting her head in her hand as she rested. She looked at Rai. Her eyes widened, then she looked like she thought about something, and became irritated.

“What’s wrong?” Rai asked her.

She was clearly surprised that he was even talking to her, since she’d expected an introverted anxious mess. Most young men around his age were like that. She thought she’d try to fluster him, “I want you. But I can’t have you. That Princess would kill me if I touched you.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Rai was already used to seeing eyes like hers. The eyes that spoke the words she spoke, just without words. He had to deal with it all day. So, instead of being flustered, he was just annoyed.

“I see. And if I told you that I would’ve refused anyway? If you can’t have me then you can’t have me. Move on!” He was mostly focused on the fact that she was just like the other people who annoyed him. His mum warned him that he’d have to deal with something like this, but this was way more than he bargained for.

The clerk’s eyes were wide, mostly in shock. Then her face relaxed, and her irritation subsided.

“I see. I like you even more now boy, a pity. It seems that this is the first time I get rejected.” She giggled to herself.

Rai rolled his eyes, then sat back in his seat waiting for the man that he now realised must be a guard.

After a few minutes of silence that was altogether not that comfortable, the guard came back into the room from the office.

“Follow me. Same as before, don’t wander off.” He said to Rai.

Rai stood up and followed. He looked at the clerk one more time just to see her wink at him. With a shiver, he followed the guard.

The guard took him past groups of aristocrats, high ranking officers, and the bar full of people. They came to a set of golden doors with a button next to it. The guard pressed the button. Rai heard a whirring sound behind the doors. He heard a ding.

The doors opened, and inside was a cube like room with hand rails and mirrors for walls. They walked into the cube.

The guard pushed the top arcane symbol from what looked like an assorted array of buttons in rows and columns. The doors closed, and the cube they were in started moving.

“What is this... thing?” Rai asked.

“It’s a lift. Designed by the Creation clan. They’re used in big buildings like this.”

“What’s its purpose? I can feel we’re moving.”

“It takes you up and down the building to different floors. The ones we have here are faster than most of the crude and shabby ones you’d find in any other building on this street.”

The doors opened with a ding like the one in the lobby. Rai was led by the guard out into the hallway. It took a short walk down the hall for them to come to a door. Rai noticed that there were no other doors in the hall.

The guard pivoted, and stood to the side of the door facing back towards the lift as if he was now standing here on guard.

“Go inside. This is where you’ll be staying.”

“Thank you.” Rai said with a bow.

The guard nodded, then continued his silent watch.

Rai opened the door to be greeted by a massive room that seemed more like a house than a room.

“Woah...”

Rai looked around at the sleek design of the place, how there was a living room segment, a kitchen area, a workout area with an indoor pool, and a couple of separate sleeping areas. One was at the top of another set of stairs and the other was further past the kitchen. There were doors that led outside to the top of the building as well, with what looked like an outdoor pool and a mini garden attached to a resting area.

This was all far too extravagant for him, but since Rai was only staying the night he figured he’d accept the graciousness just this once. Rai made a mental note to thank Ms. Talvier for this.

He made his way through to the sleeping area and settled his knapsack. Rai went and bathed, then started preparing to go to bed. He went to the kitchen to get some water when he heard a voice in the living area. Rai walked towards the open-plan living room to see a screen with images moving on it, and voices coming out of it. A crystalakrum?! That’s those new fancy screens that let you watch things on them! Bort’s been trying to get one for the Inn, I bet he'd be so jealous right now. Rai giggled, then walked over to it to turn it off.

As he pressed the button to turn off the crystalakrum, a voice came from behind him.

“I’ve been expecting you.”

Rai turned around quickly, ready to defend himself. Though, he softened his posture once he saw who was sat on the couch behind him. A familiar pale face, with red hair and red eyes.

Rai smiled at him.

“Hello Kallad.”

----------------------------------------

Kallad looked at the young man before him. Disappointment was plastered across his face.

“You don’t look very surprised... I spent so long coming up with that bit and you just ignored it.” He pouted in a way that made him look like a sad puppy.

“What good would I be if I got flustered at something like that?”

“Touché...”

“Anyway... the name of the place is a bit on the nose, isn’t it? But I didn’t think you’d set all this up for me.”

Kallad scoffed, then lazily rested his head on his hand.

“Please, this is nothing. Besides, this suite is yours now.”

“...”

“...”

“What?” Rai asked.

“You heard me.”

“But why?! It’s way too nice, and there’s two separate bedrooms! Don’t I have to stay on campus? I won’t even be allowed to stay here.”

“You really are a country bumpkin. The Academy doesn’t stop you from living in the city if you have a place to stay. It offers the campus lodgings for students without a place to stay.”

There was a flurry of emotions on Rai’s face. Was Aunt Elly’s information wrong? She went to the Academy years ago Rai, of course it’s changed since then, duh!

“Plus, Sin will need a place to stay, and I wouldn’t let her stay in those student lodgings even if she begged me to. So she’ll also be staying here.” Kallad said.

Rai stared blankly at him while his cheeks slowly got redder and redder. He hadn’t thought about his childhood friend all that much since he’d arrived in the city.

Kallad seemed to be too absorbed in his monologue to have noticed Rai’s blushes.

“I’ve used this place as a relaxation hub for both me and my daughter whenever we had business in the capital. Now, it actually has a use other than simply being a ‘holiday home’. Oh, that guard outside is your personal attendant when you’re in the building, so don’t be afraid to call on him. Just call him Mr. Guard or something. They don’t like clients using their names.”

“Wh-where’s Sin now?” Rai managed to stutter his words out.

“She’ll be arriving tomorrow, so you’ll see her at the entrance exam. Don’t worry, you’ll recognise her as soon as you see her. Just have some patience, both of you lovebirds are as anxious as the other.”

Rai felt some comfort knowing that Sin felt the same worries he did. Wait. Lovebirds?... He shook his head as he blushed even harder. This district is not a good influence on me. Mum wouldn’t be very happy that I lived here of all places.

Kallad’s tone shifted slightly.

“Rai. Did you encounter any strange phenomena when you were in the city earlier?”

Rai thought back to the old hobo who gave him the books. He decided to tell Kallad about the old hobo, but not the books, simply because Rai wanted to understand the books properly for himself before bringing them up.

“Y-... Yeah. There was this... weird old guy that got me into a trance or something... I felt like I went to a cramped market stall for a while, then returned back to where I was before. It confused me, but I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“... I see. Rai, more and more things like that are happening in the city. I want you to be careful. You might be strong for your age, but against someone who has a way to disarm your strengths, you’ll end up in danger. I won’t scold you, but I want you to mention if something like this happens again, alright?”

“... Alright.”

“Good...”

Kallad knew better than to trust that this was all Rai had to say about what happened, but he let the issue slip since Rai had even said this much. He also knew that Rai wasn’t an idiot. If Rai didn’t feel comfortable mentioning whatever else was on his mind, then there would have been a good enough reason for it.

Kallad would have to look into this phenomena while he still could.

Rai felt anxious when Kallad asked him, but then relief set in once Kallad responded with patience. It built Rai’s trust in Kallad just a bit more. Rai didn’t realise the tiredness seeping in until now. Rather than go to the entrance exam tired, he decided that sleep was probably the better option.

“Uh... Kallad, I’m pretty tired so I’m going to go to sleep. I suppose I’ll see you when I see you. Goodnight.” Rai excused himself then went to bed with his glass of water.

Kallad sat for a moment more, thinking to himself. I wonder. The boy is far stronger than what I expected when I left him. Just how far did that old monster push him?... He shuddered at the thought before leaving the penthouse.