Red in colour, as the rest of the city, the mansion had the same squarish architecture as the rest of the buildings in the city. Unlike the other buildings around it though, towering above six to seven storeys, the mansion was only about two to three storeys tall. Even the area that the mansion covered was smaller than the rest of the buildings. At best, it was only about ten to fifteen metres long on each side, including its height. Still bigger than the house that Alnea used to live in the inner city of Rianra, and that too by three to four times. In comparison to big sis Serena’s mansion though, or even the other buildings around it, the mansion did not look as huge as they had imagined it would be.

“Is this what they call a mansion in the city?” Cecilia said, glancing at Yuri confirm her thoughts.

“…It’s just a place for us to rest.”

“…I guess,” Cecilia said, shrugging her shoulders. “At least it is much better than those tiny rooms.”

“…You haven’t even seen what the mansion looks like from the inside,” Alnea mumbled, only for Cecilia to click her tongue in return.

“Anything would be better than those tiny rooms… They almost suffocated me to death. Besides, the mansion is more than sixty times more expensive than a room. There must be a reason for its high price.”

“…Hearing you sound so reasonable makes me feel a little uncomfortable.”

“Hey, what do you mean by that?”

“Stop,” Yuri said, stepping in between them. “At least take a look around yourself before you start flirting.”

“We are not flirting!”

“…Then stop fighting.”

“He was the one who started it.”

“…I just said the truth,” Alnea mumbled, but looking at Cecilia’s puffed up cheeks, and Yuri’s amused smile, he could only swallow his words, and say, “Forget it. I won’t argue with her.”

“As if you could win against me,” Cecilia retorted, before glancing at the Wanderers around them. “I don’t like how they are looking at us.”

“What are we waiting for then?”

“…For you to open the doors,” Yuri said, pointing at the black box attached to the three metres large arched doors, bearing murals and engravings of a time long gone. “You do remember that you were the one who reserved the mansion, right?”

“…Of course, I do,” Alnea said, hurriedly using his Aspects to hide his embarrassment, as he stepped forward to place his Blood Card on the black box. Almost immediately, the top right corner of the box began shining in a red light, just as the doors parted ways with each other, creating a gap of less than half an inch in between the doors. Putting his Blood Card away, he then pushed the doors open, allowing the dim red light, mixed in with pale yellowish light to rush towards his face.

Pale yellow lights… It had been around three days since Alnea had come to the city. And in those three days, the one thing that had stood out the most in the city was not the rancid smell of blood, or the destitute look of Wanderers roaming its streets, searching for their next prey, but the blood red theme of the city. Whether it was the colour of the streets, or of the buildings, everything was dyed in a shade of red. Even the lights illuminating the buildings was red. At one point, he had even wondered why the city was named as the Lost City, and not the Blood City.

However, the city was not just about blood. Even in its theme, there were places within its bounds that had a theme of their own. Like the Blood Arena and the Blood Hall. And in the list of those places, Alnea also had to add his mansion. But he was not too surprised. The memory crystal he had used at the counter of Blood Coin Exchange and Redemption had given him a general idea of what the different types of mansions each had to offer.

A type D mansion… it may be the cheapest kind of mansion available within the Lost City, with room for only two to six people at most, but it was still a two storeyed mansion, with red carped lining its floors, and stones shining in a dim red light embedded in its double floored ceiling. Other than those two things though, there was nothing in the mansion that spoke of the words red, or blood. Especially with the stones, shining in pale yellowish light, lining up its walls.

The golden cushions in the centre of the hall, the black staircase, the brown wooden doors, and the other trivial decorations spread in the small hall of the mansion, bathing in the pale yellow lights coming from the walls, made it seem as if the mansion was not even a part of the Lost City. Especially the staircase towards the back of the main hall.

Owing to the small built up area of the mansion, the staircase to the second floor was not the grand bifurcated kind, like in big sis Serena’s mansion. Neither did the stairs have a separate area, as in the other buildings of the city. They just spiralled around a thick pillar, with waist high railings guarding their outer edges, as if they were made to save space in the mansion. Maybe that truly was the case. After all, some type B and A mansions did have large staircases. In any case, as Yuri had said, the mansion was just a place for them to rest.

“Wait,” a woman’s voice called out to Alnea just as he was about to step into the mansion, forcing him and the girls to turn around, and face the Wanderer. A woman, one whose robe was slightly dishevelled, probably from running. That would also explain the slight heaviness in her breath, and the way her chest was moving…

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“You surely walk fast. I almost did not catch up with you.”

“…You again,” Cecilia, almost snarling liked Forne. “What do you want?”

“The question is not what I want, but what do you want,” the woman said, straightening her robe and her hair to resume her elegant image. “Challenging an entire clan by yourselves, only to create history in the Lost City the very next day, and then waltzing around so arrogantly, without any care in the world… Do you know how much trouble you have gotten yourself into?”

“…We may have been a bit arrogant lately,” Yuri said, stepping in to face the blue robed woman from just a hand’s distance away. “But that has nothing to do with you, does it?”

“…There is no need to be so defensive against me,” the woman said, raising her hands in the air to show her sincerity. “I am just trying to help you.”

“And why should we trust you?”

“Because you know who I am,” the woman said, exuding confidence from her smile. “This little brother here… He might not know me, but you two do. Do not deny it. I can see it from your eyes. The way you are trying to make him stay away from me as if he is your cub…”

“It is exactly because we know who you are that we cannot trust you.”

“But I am more trustworthy than the other Wanderers in the city, am I not?”

“…That is still not enough.”

“…I may not know your origins, little sister, or the origins of little brother, but the crest on the chest of your friend, and her typical domineering behaviour is enough for the entire city to identify her as a Serpian.”

“I have never hidden my identity in the first place,” Cecilia said, huffing in dissatisfaction.

“Then here comes the problem,” the woman said to Cecilia. “Most, if not all of your clansmen are in the Southern District of the Lost City. And yet, here you are, in the Northern District, all by yourself. What is most puzzling is that even after your clansmen learned about you, they turned a blind eye to your predicament. Although you have not garnered as much as attention as your two partners—

“What do you mean by that?” Cecilia said, clearly not happy with how the woman was describing her.

“…after your performance in the Aspect Trials, you have proven yourself to be one of the most talented Wanderers in the city. Even in Supreme clans, a genius of your calibre should be well protected. Yet your clansmen still refuse to come to your aid. It is as if they do not even consider you to be a part of their clan. But then, they have not denied you being a Serpian either. How do you think other clans are planning to deal with you right now, Miss Serpia?”

“…It is none of your concern,” Cecilia said, snorting at the vexatious woman, while trying her best to reign in the black cat, poised to strike at the woman at any moment. “I will deal with those cowards on my own.”

“…Given that you have come to the Lost City, there must be at least a Mystic Wanderer behind you. After all, only Wanderers who have raised their Spirit to the Mystic Rank can find the Lost City. There must be a reason for the Wanderer behind you to bring you to the Northern District rather than sending you to the Southern District. And this Wanderer must also have considerable status within your clan to be able to make the rest of your clan within the city give up their initiative to find you.

“These assumptions, along with the fact that you have been behaving like clear novices for the past few days, with no understanding of the Lost City, is enough for anyone with some decent brain to guess that you have come to the Lost City as a trial from your elders. They probably expect you to make a name for yourselves in the city all on your own. Maybe even make it to the inner city. Am I right?”

“…You still have not answered why we should trust you.”

“You are taking the Lost City too lightly,” the woman said, shaking her head with a sigh. At the same time though, the edge of her lips upturned in a smile. “I can guess part of the reason why your elder did not let you go to the Southern District, or let your clansmen help you.”

“Do you think—

“They want you to learn how to deal with other Wanderers.”

“…Why do you think so?”

“Because if you wish to make it to the inner city, then you will need some friends. Companions, whom you can trust.”

“…And why do think we can trust you?”

“Because you know why I am here.”

“…Who knows, maybe you have already chosen someone else, and trying to lure us into their traps.”

“Maybe I am,” the woman said, with her smile widening in confidence. “But like I said, I am still more trustworthy than the other Wanderers in the city, am I not?”

“…This is why I hate vixens.”

“Enough, Cecilia,” Yuri said in a solemn tone, while keeping her eyes trained at the blue robed woman, as if searching for the flaws in her smile.

“But she is from the Erwein forest!”

“I know.”

“She is a Weina!”

“…I know.”

“…I don’t know what exactly you two are talking about,” Alnea said, scratching his head in confusion. “But it seems like she does have a point.”

“Of course, you would think she has a point. You—

“I am really not taking any sides here,” Alnea said, smiling in defeat, while pointing to the other Wanderers watching their show. “How about we take this inside?”

“Alnea is right,” Yuri said, letting out a heavy sigh. “Let’s go inside first before deciding on anything.” After a pause, she glanced at the blue robed woman, and added, “You too.”

“…Are we really going to let her in?”

“…Like Alnea said, she does have a point,” Yuri said. “We need a reliable source of information. And she does seem a bit more trustworthy than other Wanderers. At least we know what her ulterior motives are. But we cannot say the same about Tia and Martha.”

“Thank you for showing your trust in me, little sister,” the woman said, with a sweet and charming smile. It was not as charming as Yuri’s smile, but the dimples on her cheeks did make her look cute.

“I have yet to decide whether to trust you or not. Unfortunately, it seems that we have no better choice for the moment.” After a pause, she added, “And I am not your little sister.”

“It does not matter,” the woman said. “Things like trust are built over time. And I am sure that we are going to have a great time together.”