“The catacombs open tomorrow,” Alyx explained to Cass as they walked through the city the next day. “Telis and I have preparations to make. You’re welcome to tag along, take it easy.”

There was another question unspoken there, but Cass ignored it.

“I’m going to follow up on some leads I’ve got,” Cass said instead.

We need to prepare for the Storehouse as well, Salos reminded her from her shoulder.

Cass made a distracted, noncommittal grunt.

It is a sealed environment, he continued. The potential should be denser, so you will get more experience from killing monsters, raising your level quicker. The blessing has something to do with the binding of dragons, which our bond, apparently, is similar to. And you want to help your friend. All our interests align.

Cass ignored him.

Alyx nodded, her expression stiff. “Of course. Best of luck. Meet back here at noon for lunch. You have money, right?”

Cass nodded and patted her Bag. “Where did you say that Academy place was? And the library?”

“The Academy of Arcane Arts,” Alyx corrected. She gave Cass directions to both before waving goodbye and walking off to handle her errands.

And like that, it was just Cass and Salos again. Alone in a sea of people.

I’m not overly optimistic about finding anything in the city, Salos warned.

What happened to ‘we don’t need Alyx? We can find what we need in the city without her?’

Salos looked away.

If this is about finding the piece of your soul, you can just say that. You don’t need to pretend you care about the other reasons.

No. I mean. He sighed. Yes. You are right. That is a large part of my interest. However, that does not make the rest of those reasons lies.

Sure, Cass said. But for now, let’s see what we can learn in town. Library or magic academy first, do you think?

I hate asking strangers about your business, but I think that’s a better start than hoping to find something in a library, Salos said.

“Institute it is then,” Cass said. They followed the road through the twisting streets back to the river. They followed it south for a while until they came to a tower.

It stood on one end of a long plaza. Its base extended into the face of the river’s stone channel walls. Its spire stretched up into forked tines, one longer than the other, like the head of a seam ripper.

People hung in groups around the plaza, some focused on books, others holding wands or staffs. Lights shimmered in midair. Water floated between groups. Fire twisted into unusual shapes.

The air glowed to Cass’s Mana Sense. Every single person was doing some sort of magic.

Cass wove her way through the sights, to the tower’s doors. Inside, she was met with a wide lobby. Three receptionists stood with long lines of customers. A bulletin board stood awash in notices on one side. A large bookcase packed with books stood on the other side.

And the room was packed. Most appeared to be ordinary people, all waiting in line. A few shimmered in Cass’s Mana Sense.

I guess we get in line, Cass said.

Salos shrugged.

“What’cha waiting for?” a voice asked.

Cass jumped. A big man with a bigger sword strapped to his back was staring down at her.

Cass was tall for a woman, not quite 6 feet, but closer to 6 than 5. This man towered over her, easily over 6 and a half. Maybe even 7. Cass craned her neck up at him.

He wasn’t human, she realized. His skin was a light greyish color, his hair a dark slate. And his ears were like a wolf’s, not a human’s. Also, was that a tail?

A wolfman?

Vargher Heavy Knight

Lvl 23

[The vargher are well known across the continent for their Strength and Vitality. As a heavy knight, this man specializes in heavy armor and heavier weapons.]

A vargher? Is that what that was called then?

He raised an eyebrow. “You mute?”

“S-sorry,” Cass stammered. “I was just surprised.”

She was still staring. God, this was rude. She was staring. She needed to stop staring. But she hadn’t even considered the possibility before. There were elves. There were dwarves. Why wouldn’t there be beast people? Was ‘beast people’ rude? What else would one call them?

“This your first time in the city?” he asked her. His voice was patient and warm.

Cass nodded. “Just got in yesterday.”

He nodded. “Nowhere on the peninsula is quite like the city, huh? You look a little lost here.”

“I wasn’t expecting the Academy to be so busy,” Cass admitted, ripping her eyes away from his ears and turning them back to the surrounding crowd. “Are they all mages?”

He laughed loudly. “No. I can see why that would be overwhelming. No. These are people like us. People lookin’ to hire a mage for one reason or another. I bet most are looking to add a mage to their Delve team.”

“Oh, for the festival,” Cass said.

He nodded. “I’ll admit that’s what I’m here for. The boss was hoping to grab the mage last minute. Didn’t want to pay them until we knew when the thing was startin’. Now I’m not sure what we’ll get.” He shrugged, shooting Cass a casual ‘what are you gonna do’ look. “You?”

“Um, I had a magic-related question that I was hoping to get answered…” but she hadn’t expected it to be such a madhouse.

He winced. “Bad time for it, I’d say. Most non-combat mages are off for the holidays. Those that are around are probably already booked. And the combat mages aren’t much good for answering questions from my experience.”

Cass frowned. Was she just out of luck then?

“No harm in asking if you got the time to wait in line, though,” he said with a shrug. “Honest, I’m not expecting to manage to hire a combat mage, either. Not a quality one anyway. But, the Boss gave me a task so I’ll give it my best. Not like I got anything better to do today, anyway.”

“Who is your boss, if you don’t mind me asking?” Cass asked as she settled into the line behind him.

He tapped the badge on his tunic. “You don’t recognize this?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Cass squinted up at it. It was a coiling dragon wrapped around a sun. She shook her head.

“You really aren’t from ‘round here, huh?” He whistled. “This is the mark of the Warden’s son, Kohen Delim Veldor, grandson of the Grand Duchess. I’m not one to make a fuss about it, but the noble types tend to, so best remember and not ask it to their faces, yeah?”

Kohen? Alyx’s brother. What were the chances?

“Is everyone in here that important?” Cass asked instead.

The man laughed. “Hardly. Most are just the hopefuls. The catacombs are open to all for the festival. They’re dangerous, but there is a lot down there besides just the goddess’s blessing. Between a chance at becoming the next Dragon Knight and the untold riches of the catacombs, everyone who’s even slightly strong is thinking of trying their hand at them.

“Very few of the people here are expecting to win, but if they find a nice artifact or undisturbed shrine? That could change their fortunes overnight.

“Why, you thinking of trying your hand?”

Cass froze. Wasn’t that the question?

He laughed. “Sorry. No, huh? I suppose I should’a figured out that one myself, huh?”

Cass frowned. “What does that mean?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re a merchant’s daughter, yeah? You don’t got a fighter’s body but your level’s too high to be a craftsman. How much did your parents drop in monsters to level you this much?”

Cass shook her head. “No. I’m not.”

Do I really look like a merchant’s daughter? Cass asked Salos.

Well, you don’t look like you’ve ever starved, but you aren’t strong enough to be a noble.

I haven’t ever starved, Cass said slowly. Do people regularly starve here?

It happens. Or it did before I was a demon. I can hardly imagine that’s changed.

“No?” He frowned. “Well, then I think you’re exactly the sort that would want to try her hand then.” He shrugged. “Not my business, either way.

“What are you here to ask about?” the man asked.

Cass bit her lip. How much to say? How much was she even willing to share with the mages she was going to ask the questions to? “I have an interest in inter-realm transversal,” she said eventually. “I wanted to see if someone could tell me what the current state of research was before I started my own investigation.”

He had that blank look on his face Cass was accustomed to getting back on Earth when she said something more technical about coding. He blinked and focused again when she stopped talking. “You’re a mage too?”

“Um, kind of?” Cass said with a shrug. “I don’t have any real training.”

“That sounded real complicated for someone with no training.”

Cass shrugged. “It’s not. It’s just a simple question. The answer will probably be beyond what I can currently understand, but I have to start somewhere.” And I’m hoping you’ll understand some of it.

Don’t get your hopes up too high, Salos warned. My understanding of this topic is cursory at best.

“That’s amazin’. Everyone should approach the unknown like that.”

“Thanks, it’s really not that impressive.”

He opened his mouth to say something else when the receptionist called out, “Next!”

He looked over his shoulder. “Ah, my turn. Pleasure meeting you, miss. Good luck with your question!”

And he walked up to the window, leaning down to discuss his request with the woman.

They spoke for a few minutes. He was highly animated, speaking with his hands the whole time. The receptionist, for her part, looked bored, pointing to a couple of things on the counter repeatedly.

A few minutes later, he left with a sigh and a shrug, a paper in his hand.

“Next!” the woman called, and Cass scurried up to the counter. “Welcome to the Academy of Arcane Arts. How may we help you today?” She sounded incredibly bored.

“Um, I was told that I could get questions about magic answered here?” Cass asked.

The woman nodded. “What is your question about?”

“Inter-realm transversal?”

“Theoretical, got it,” the woman said. She pulled a book from under the table, flipping through it with practiced ease, barely looking at the pages before stopping at one. She turned the book around and pointed at several lines. Cass could not read the language it was written in. “These are the resident mages that are most likely to have research on the topic. These are their prices. These two are out until the beginning of next month. This one will be back in a nine-day. Would you like to make an appointment with any of them?”

Cass squinted at the words written on the page. Salos?

Is that Jothi? He asked. That doesn’t look like any text I’ve ever seen.

“Um, sorry, but do you have this in another language?” Cass asked slowly.

The woman’s eyes darkened. She suddenly looked tired and hopeless. “You don’t read Jothi? What language do you read?”

Abyss, she says that’s Jothi? How far has the language drifted since I was sealed? Salos muttered.

“Do you have it in English?” Cass asked. She knew the answer already, but they didn’t have another language between the two of them that was any more likely.

“No.”

“Could you quote the price range for me?” Cass asked.

“The mages here all work primarily in Jothi,” the receptionist said coldly. “Much of what they can share will be in written form.”

“I’m working on my reading.” It wasn’t a lie so much as a new goal. The idea of being illiterate for any longer than she had to be made her skin crawl.

“I’m sure,” the receptionist said.

“Who can I see soonest?” Cass asked.

“This one, Tamara Daith. Her prices range from 36 to 47 sliv. A consultation will be 12 sliv.”

That was within Cass’s budget if she remembered what Alyx had said about money correctly. “I can do that.”

“That will be two days after the Festival. Is that alright?” the receptionist asked.

Cass nodded. It was later than she wanted, but apparently, she needed to learn how to read, so perhaps it was just as well.

“May I have a name for the reservation?”

“Cass. Cass Yuan.”

“Very good, Miss Yuan. On the day, you may go directly to the stairs there,” she pointed to the stairs to her left, “And show this ticket to the attendant on the next floor.”

“Thank you,” Cass said, taking a handful of coins from her pouch and placing them on the counter. She counted them out according to what she remembered and tried to ignore the look the woman was giving her.

“Here is the ticket.”

Cass took it and placed it safely in her Bag.

“Next!” the receptionist called as Cass hurried out of the way.

“How’d it go?” the man from before asked as she exited the tower.

Cass jumped again. “Oh, it’s you. I got a reservation for next week?”

She’d said a nine-day? Presumably, that meant in nine days, but that was a weird turn of phrase. Did they have nine-day weeks here? She hadn’t thought about it. Seven days in a week was actually pretty arbitrary if you thought about it. How long were their months? They had at least two moons. Which moon was a month roughly based on? Were they?

“Oh, that’s not too bad.”

Cass nodded. “How about you? Did you get the mage your boss wanted?”

He sighed. “Not the one he wanted, but I got one. ‘Just as good,’ she said. ‘All the combat potential with the backing of a robust theoretical understanding,’ she said.” He sighed. “If the boss hadn’t said that we absolutely needed a mage, I would have passed on her.”

“Why was he so insistent?” Cass asked.

“Abyss, if I know. He said something about his sister getting herself a new pet mage?” He shrugged. “Who can understand the minds of those noble types?”

Cass had a sinking feeling in her stomach. He couldn’t be talking about her, could he?

Hell. He was talking about her.

Did she tell him that?

She probably should, right? He’d been nothing but nice to her, but she’d been keeping this from him. Would he take it as a betrayal? Better to rip off the band-aid quickly than beat around the bush, right? Was she mixing metaphors now?

“Where you headed next?” he asked.

“The library, I think,” Cass answered without thinking.

“Gonna start on that research yourself then?” he asked.

“Kind of,” Cass said. “I, um, apparently, don’t read the dominant dialect of Jothi, and was hoping to fix that before my appointment with the mage.”

He laughed loudly but stopped a moment later. “Wait. Are you serious?”

Cass nodded.

“You really aren’t from around here then, huh?”

Cass nodded again.

“Abyss, good luck,” he said, slapping her back. Cass reeled forward under the impact.

“Thanks.”

“I’m headed in that direction. I can’t help you much inside, but I can make sure you don’t get lost in between.”

“I would like that, thank you.”

“No problem, no problem. The name’s Daidyn in service of branch Delim Veldor, by the way.”

“I’m Cass,” Cass said with a wave. “Hi. But, you should know, I’m probably that mage you were talking about. Alyx’s mage.”

He paused, looking Cass up and down again. He shook his head. “You know the lady Alyx Veldor?”

Cass nodded.

“And you’re the mage that has Lord Kohen concerned?”

Cass shrugged.

He shook his head. “No. No offense, but you don’t look like someone anyone needs to worry about.”

“I agree,” Cass said. “But I came into town with Alyx. There is no other mage.”

He sighed, deflating like a balloon with a fast leak. “My lord’s making problems again, isn’t he?”

Cass shrugged.

“It’s fine,” he said after another minute. “Either you’re the mage or you’re not. Either way, I had no way of knowin’, yeah? You’re just some girl I met in line. Anyway, library’s this way.”

He started walking before Cass could argue.