The next day the party left early to investigate the orphanages. Even though it was only a few hours after dawn the streets were bustling with people and the stalls. Merchant were shouting their wares to all and approaching anyone who caught their eyes.

Mia and Emile followed Astar as he once again navigated the throng of people. His skill is evading potential conflicts and traffic jams was even better than the locals it seemed, as many people kept bumping into those that stood still or had tripped.

A merchant called out to them but Astar ignored him as he was fully focused on getting through the crows was about to swerve him, however Emile called, "Wait a sec Alex, I want to see what this gentleman has to offer.", he then moved over to the stall the merchant was standing.

Astar whipped his head to look at Emile and nearly bumped into an orc that was standing in the middle of the street. The orc growled at him and Astar turned the gesture but opened his cloak revealing his sword and daggers. The orc took a close at the weapons and decided that it wasn't worth the trouble. Satisfied that a fight was unlikely, Astar turned back towards the other two.

"Hey, aren't we in a rush? Why are we wasting our time with a dingy stall?" He asked Emile. The merchant's assistant, a teen boy with dirty blonde hair, gave Astar an aggrieved look, but the merchant tactfully pretended not to hear Astar. However, the smile on his face became strained and his posture was more withdrawn.

Emile who was looking at some amulets that were made of red gemstone apologised to the merchant "Sorry about my friend, he doesn't mean anything by that. We are actually in a rush and he is annoyed at me and not you or your stall. And Alex, don't fret we will be on the move soon."

The merchant relaxed a bit at Emile's apology and his smile widened a bit. "It is of no offence my good sir, I can sympathise with your friend. If you are in a rush, I can give you a quick overview of our most popular wares."

The merchant moved to a section of weapons and brought out some daggers "These are great quality Avalian daggers, with enchantments. The dagger with the red sticker has the bleed effect, which ensures the blood does not coagulate and slows regeneration. The daggers with the blue stickers are coated in the venom of a basilisk."

Astar who was still grumbling to himself perked up at the mention of basilisk venom, and Mia was curious how the daggers could handle such a volatile substance. However, Emile didn't look up from the amulets he was looking at. "Hey Boss, can I have a close look at these amulets, they seem very interesting."

The stall owner who was showing the basilisk dagger to Astar and Mia assented without much thought and went back to show the groves on the blade where the venom was coated. Emile picked up one of the amulets under the watchful gaze of the assistant. He activated his magic sight and nodded as he confirmed his previous suspicions.

He turned towards the stall owner and shouted "Boss, I'll take all of these amulets."

The stall owner whipped his head "Sorry Sir, but did you say all those amulets?"

"Yes, I want every amulet with a red gemstone. I like how they look and I have a family gathering that I am attending in the near future. Red is the colour of my family, and many of my female cousins are always looking for accessories with those colours, so this will save me a lot of trouble."

The stall owner had to swallow to stop himself salivating as he couldn't believe the windfall he was about to receive. He carefully put down the dagger and quickly went over to begin packing up over a dozen amulets. As he was putting them into intricate wooden boxes, Emile asked him where he got such a large set of identical amulets.

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The stall owner doing his best to ensure that this purchase went through, replied instantly "Erm, there was a group of people that came about a week ago that were selling a lot of items to the merchants on this street. They said they were adventures passing through the city on their way to the republic. But they had miscalculated their expenses and needed to sell some items before they could continue their journey."

"Oh, that sounds interesting. For adventures to carry so much treasure that these amulets were sold on a street market, no offence, they must have been very high-ranked. Did they carry any insignia or symbols on their clothing?"

"No, they were all dressed in dark hooded robes and only the seller revealed their face."

At the mention of the dark-robed figures, Astar and Mia stopped observing the daggers closely and started to pay attention to the stall merchant. However, they took care to not arouse any suspicion. Emile kept up the conservation as the merchant was wrapping up the last box. "That does make sense, in a city like this you can never be too careful. Though dark robes are conspicuous, it is still better to hide your appearance lest you are followed."

The stall owner agreed and put the boxes into a storage bag, "The bag is free with the purchase." Emile asked him to include two sets of the daggers with the purchase, and the merchant happily gave them a small discount. Emile then paid him and received a receipt from the stall owner.

He looked at the others, "I'll tell you later but we need to get a move on." Astar without hesitation turned around and led towards the destination. The number of people moving about had only increased in the short space of time they had stopped at the stall.

Luckily, they were able to get out of the main streets soon and Mia was finally able to take a deep breath without coughing. The smell from the crowd was a mixture of sweat, dirt and cheap perfumes and Mia had to hold her breath many times.

They were now in one of the side streets that led to the commoner district, and Emile pointed to an alleyway for them to enter. They followed him and after making sure that it was empty he asked Mia to cast the silence spell again. Mia nodded and quickly cast the spell and took a seat on a nearby crate.

Astar asked Emile "So what is the deal with those amulets? There is no way you would give your cousins random amulets from a street stall,... actually that sounds exactly like something you do. It would rile those stuck-up, entitled idiots. But we know that red isn't the colour of your family."

Emile's fake green eyes flickered purple for a moment as he gave Astar a wink, "Yes, my cousins would rather be dead than be seen with such amulets."

Mia frowned "They look fine to me."

"That is because you are looking at them with your normal sight. Most Amulet and other jewellery can be separated between utility and cosmetic. For adventures, mages and warriors the reason they carry pieces of jewellery is due to enchantments on them. The problem however is that unless a master enchanter takes great care with enchanting those jewelleries, the magic signature they give off is very intense and for lack of a better word ugly."

"This isn't a problem for adventures since the utility of those items is more important, but for nobles that is a different story. Imagine you are at a ball and you decide to admire some painting by a famous artist. You know that this artist uses magic to create incredible scenarios and landscapes so you use your magic sight to enjoy the full experience."

"However, as you are enjoying this painting a lady comes to say hello to you. Without thinking you turn to look at her and are then blinded by the jewellery on her body. To your magic sight, the enchanted jewellery is akin to looking at the sun through a broken mirror."

"That's why most of the jewellery worn by nobles are unenchanted, of course, some prominent nobles will have absurdly expensive jewellery crafted by master enchanter. These enchanters are like gem cutters and are able to control the magical signature of the items they work on. So instead of a blinding light, an observer will see intricate patterns that relate to the wearer."

Astar nodded absentmindedly because he noticed that Mia had a frown on her face. "What's wrong Mia?"

She pointed to an amulet that Emile had taken out while he had been talking. "That amulet looks very wrong. I can't explain it but there is something off about it, something different to what Emile said."

Astar followed her suggestion and activated his magic sight, and he instantly understood what she was talking about. The amulet in Emile's hand had an ominous red glow but what was more worrying was the dark spot on the gem and the black tendril reaching out.

"What is that Emile?" Astar shut off his magic sight and had to clench his teeth to stop himself from breaking the amulet.

"This amulet is not from our realm, it is an artefact created from an eldritch blessing." Emile's expression had gone very cold. "And judging by the stall owner's story there are many of them spread throughout the city."