"Go to hell!"

The lessons today ended up without any major events. Despite Fen's worries that the atmosphere at his bench would be awkward, or at least looking at his paired classmate would be kind of hard as he would constantly see her in the same birthday outfit of hers that she presented herself in during the ritual, nothing of that sort happened.

Dressed in her usual, school attire, Kaisha was wearing her respectfully short pants and comfortable upper robe during the lessons. In terms of their interaction, while it had to be obvious for everyone around them, outside of being even nicer towards the young arcanist, her behaviour didn't stray that far from what Fen could consider a norm.

Even during the break or after all the lessons were over, she didn't act as if anything major happened between them, still laughing as openly and freely as she used to, slowly working down the walls that Fen worked so hard to build around him to prevent this damned girl from influencing him too much.

The bad part only came when the young man finally returned to the archarity, where he initially expected to get some rest after the tiring day of constantly exercising his newly found ability to control his fires.

"I already escaped from it two years ago!"

At the same moment, as Fen opened the main gate of the big building where his group was living, he had to dodge a flying object that came at him at a high speed. Only barely managing to lean his body to the side, the young man could see some kind of glass kitchen utensil shattering upon hitting the edge of the door he just opened.

"Oh, you can trust me, you have yet to see hell!"

Not even bothering to notice his presence, the Nadia and Mark's duo continued to argue without paying any mind to the collateral damage that their argument was causing to their surroundings. Seeing that the situation was not that great for him to enter the building, Fen quickly stepped a few paces back, before silently closing the doors.

'What am I supposed to do now?'

Picking up a coin bag from his belt and weighing it in his hand, the young man looked at the street. Busy as always, it made him realise one thing about his stay in the city. So far, he never had the time to actually look around this place and leisurely enjoy his time here!

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'Since they just gave me the money… I guess I'm free to spend a bit?'

Shaking his head in order to cast away all the doubts that this insane thought brought. With how even a single coin that was in that pouch was worth well over several weeks of hard work as a hunter, splurging it on something that was not absolutely necessary seemed like the truest form of heresy for the young man!

"Fuck it."

Using his own voice to encourage himself, Fen entered the flow of people that constantly moved through one of the city main arteries. Moving without any real purpose in his mind, he quickly happened upon a street stall, hidden in a small corner between two buildings. From the delicious aroma of roasted meat that was spreading from it, he could tell that the quality of the meat sold there would be way above anything he has ever eaten before!

"Excuse me."

Using his experience at traversing the dense bushes of the forests, Fen quickly made his way towards the stall, appearing in front of the owner barely a few seconds after he made up his mind to visit it.

"How can I help you, young sir?"

Instantly scanning the figure of a potential customer, a middle-aged man who was sitting on a chair behind the stall while managing the meat on a gril smiled at Fen. It went without saying that this man's sight lingered for a little longer on the arcanists general crest that decorated the young man's robes, instantly deciding what kind of approach he should adopt when dealing with the arcanist apprentice.

"I would like those three pieces of meat."

Pointing his fingers directly at specific chunks that drew his attention, Fen smiled at the stall owner, only to see the man penetrate his face with a puzzled smile.

Yet, as suddenly as that strange smile appeared, the middle-aged man caught his plump sides with his hands, bursting out in a laugh.

"You clearly have a good eye for meat, young sir!"

Taking a moment to come back to his senses, the stall owner quickly grabbed his tongs, pulling the pieces of meat that Fen pointed at to a thin wooden bowl before passing it to the young man.

"How much do I pay?"

With this transaction being the very first time that Fen ever used the money for anything outside of the absolute essentials, it could be said that rather than splurging on food, he was actually attempting to gain more intel about how the economy of a real city worked! After all, unless he had something to compare, then all the coins that were in his possession would be absolutely worthless! In the end, the value of the coin wasn't decided by the worth of the metals it was crafted with, but with how much one could buy on the market with it!

"Arcanists do not need to pay for such small things."

Suddenly, a new but at the same time, a familiar voice entered Fen's ears. Turning around, the young man saw someone who he clearly didn't expect to stumble upon in a random place of this city.

"Master Hekarion!"

Fen's surprise wasn't faked. Instantly bowing nearly in half, he thought that he properly greeted his official teacher, only learning that somehow was wrong when there was absolutely no reaction from this old man. Raising his head a bit to steal a peek at the situation, the young man actually realised that Hekarion was looking at him with a strange glint in his eye!

"Come on, there is no need for such formalities."

Vanishing just as quickly as they appeared, once Fen dared to look at Hekarion again, there wasn't even a hint that those sparks ever existed in the first place.

"Anyway, what are you doing in the city at this hour? Aren't you supposed to keep practising your control right now?"