The meeting ended shortly after poor Francesca accepted the offer from Guide Daniele. It must be said that the man had insisted rather forcefully on the price he had set, thus wearing down the girl.

Meanwhile, Giorgia Marchetti, observing the unfolding events from behind the Guide, thought to herself, The Master must truly have a big heart. Coming from a family that was very, very high in the social caste, two hundred pieces of crafted gold was a rather simple amount of money to dispose of. It was an amount that could perhaps buy weapons or a good-quality armor, or, depending on the needs, Pills or Ointments of a medicinal or cultivation-specific nature.

In short, from the perspective of someone accustomed to a comfortable life like her, it was just a little more than loose change, a very affordable expense. I don't know the boy's financial situation, but I'm sure that for the Giardino family, my Master's price is nothing more than a symbolic donation. A triviality that could be mistaken for a joke.

And she might be right about that, but let's continue nonetheless.

The last time I saw her was... was... I really can't remember. It must have been at least a couple of years ago, Giorgia thought, keeping her gaze fixed on Francesca without even realizing it. I didn't remember her being so combative... Actually, the few times I saw her at receptions or parties, she didn't seem to do anything to be remembered... Could it be... Could it be…

Now, setting aside the little habit of the young Giorgia of weaving incredible monologues in her own little mind, a habit unfortunately born more out of necessity than pleasure, it must be said that she was slowly starting to piece together something about her acquaintance. Of course, it was too quick for her to jump to the conclusion of a love affair. Being a woman with little experience in such matters didn't help her see the world clearly, but she was more or less beginning to see it right... for once.

That being said, once she reached that conclusion, little Giorgia couldn't help but hint at a smile. A smile that was easily misunderstood given the situation and was almost immediately misinterpreted by Francesca, who responded with a gaze so intense that it seemed to emit flames and lightning from her eyes.

It lasted only a moment, just enough to give poor Giorgia goosebumps and create existential doubts in Daniele. However, now that his dear guests had left and his objective for the day had been achieved, he let himself fall back into his armchair and wiped his sweaty palms with a cloth handkerchief. Did I do something wrong? Was asking for two hundred too much for political support? Or did that girl feel challenged ever since I introduced my disciples? Oh... Maybe I should have planned this meeting differently. It would have been much better...

And here, I spare you the next two or three minutes of his various ramblings that played out in his mind, so we can all avoid wasting too much time. Instead, after that lapse of time, Daniele finally remembered that he still had his disciples behind him, ready to accept a new order. Ah, the great genius thought, with little energy left in his body.

"Your training for today can end here," he struggled to say, standing up to face his pupils. "Today's session was shorter than usual, but I prefer to avoid having you regain your focus now that it has waned because of me." He cleared his throat a couple of times and took a deep breath towards the end. "Go home, rest, and come back tomorrow. As I mentioned last week, I have plans to teach you a new Breathing Technique, as your results have been declining lately. Mastering your Breathing will be the next step towards reaching the peak!"

Of course, for purely dramatic purposes, he put great emphasis on his last sentence, even clenching his right fist as it defiantly rose upward. It was a kind of theatrical performance, no doubt about it, but at least it was entertaining. Not to mention that his disciples, hungry for experience as they were, could only see their Master in a positive light. So, the little play had managed to create a great anticipation for the next day in them.

In any case, they all obeyed the commands and, after bidding farewell to the Guide with all due courtesies, they orderly exited through a second exit hidden from the view of potential visitors. This was because, unlike the complex route one had to follow when entering through the main door, the secondary one led almost immediately to the ground floor via a spiral staircase, illuminated just enough to avoid falling and breaking one's neck.

Giorgia was the last to reach the top, still slightly shaken by Francesca's strange gaze. Was it just an impression, or was it really directed at me? And yes, dear, even though it's hard for you to understand, the genuine hatred of that moment was solely directed at you. In fact, even after carefully considering it, the girl who had grown up under her father's cunning wing still didn't have a clear idea of what had happened or why it had happened.

"Giorgia... Giorgia? Are you thinking about something?" Not knowing what else to do, one of her friends took it upon himself to bring her back to reality, mainly because seeing her there with a vacant gaze wasn't a pleasant sight for him either. "Huh?" Giorgia responded, only now realizing that she was outside, with just a step's difference between staying dry and getting wet.

"Is something wrong?" the boy asked again, stopping and leaning his back against the external wall of the structure, momentarily averting his gaze to observe the heavy rain pouring down. What kind of weather... It was sunny before, and now it's pouring down in buckets. He let out a slight sigh, already getting a bit fed up with the changing seasons.

Dear Giorgia, however, once she regained her composure, turned abruptly towards the boy and then said, slightly embarrassed, "No, no... It's nothing important. Rather, Giovanni..." Here, just for the sake of brevity, and I want to emphasize the 'here', the boy knew perfectly well where the girl was going with her words. "Yes, yes... It's not a problem, we can go there now. We finished earlier than usual, by the way, so we have time," he cut her short, almost without a hint of pity, resigned to his fate as a 'Marchettino', meaning the son of a secondary branch of the Marchetti family and, therefore, the caretaker of the girl.

The girl's only caretaker, or friend, by the way, but let's not dwell too much on that. The important thing was that dear Giorgia, now happy, quickly forgot about the nasty look and began to think about pleasant things again. For this reason, she put on the 'classic' robe of the Cult of the Creeping Angel, a piece of fabric so dull, in such a depressing dark color, to cover herself, and then she placed a peculiar stone mask on her face.

Unlike the robe, this mask must have been crafted with some care. In fact, the reddish stone embedded on the forehead shimmered with rainbow colors as soon as it came into contact with Mana, granting not only a new appearance but even a new Cultivation at the beginning of the First Meridian to whoever wore it. In this case, Giorgia. Giovanni also put it on without any concern, just as he had done many times before. After all, a Marchetti couldn't simply wander around Asparetto doing who knows what. It would have been like willingly shooting themselves in the foot, especially considering how quickly things could escalate in a city like theirs.

Their disguise was certainly not perfect. A Cultivator with a keen eye or sufficiently developed perception would be able to detect peculiarities in them, but only at a very close distance. Just a dozen meters would be enough to deceive the majority of common Cultivators. After all, they were gifts from their Master, much more than mere cloth veils.

Stolen story; please report.

Nevertheless, fully aware of where to go, Giovanni set off first, with Giorgia following closely behind, once they left the Cult's gates. Both of them were protected from the rain by a thin layer of Mana, which gave the impression from the outside that the water was falling everywhere except on their clothes. This caused most of the ordinary people who were peacefully going about their business, some more legally than others, to move to the side of the road.

In the southern part of Asparetto, there was indeed a lot of life, a lot of movement. And, at the same time, a great mixture of social classes. The governing style of the Giardino, after all, was particularly permissive, so it was not uncommon to find honest men on one side, capable of deceiving men on the other, and men capable of squandering their entire fortune on yet another side of the same neighborhood. Even when it came to resolving disputes or collecting debts, the rules remained vague enough to allow for decisive solutions, such as a good old lynching, or rather imaginative ones.

Only when matters exceeded a certain threshold and the population raised their voices did the law suddenly speak clearly, and trials, even in the town square if the weather permitted, were conducted orderly and professionally. Not that there was much enthusiasm for work among the Giardino, or at least that was the impression their way of managing their territory gave.

Anyway, our fairy tale couple continued their journey from a residential area to an industrial one and then back to another residential area... They had never put much effort into organizing the South Zone; they always built wherever it was convenient, without too many concerns. Even the winding streets could be confusing if one wasn't accustomed to them, which had caused both Giorgia and Giovanni to lose their way several times.

However, those misadventures belonged to the past. The present was quite different, in fact. Now that they had become familiar with the rustic layout of that part of the city and it no longer intimidated them, the couple surveyed a series of shops and small boutiques. In one particular shop, the owner recognized Giorgia as soon as she entered, having seen her masked appearance many times before, and greeted her with a hearty, "Welcome, welcome!" which was quite challenging to listen to.

The gentleman was nothing more than a small artisan specialized in crafting small wooden objects. He was not a Cultivator, and neither were his three employees, two of whom were his sons. The woodwork was entirely done by hand, using less-than-professional metal tools and a lot of patience. "Miss, miss!" the shop owner exclaimed again, inviting Giorgia and her companion to come forward. "We have everything ready. Just a moment, and I'll bring everything out!"

The girl flashed a smile once again, this time without anyone prompting her to do so. Even among the other customers, not one person gave her more than a few glances, considering that the mask did not make her particularly appealing... Well, let's put it that way, to be kind. Even Giovanni, in his current state, wasn't a heartthrob, but at least his eyes were looking in the same direction, and his cheeks were free of scars... Well, I don't have much pleasure in providing further descriptions.

The shop owner, on the other hand, returned to his nice counter with a bag full of letters, cubes, and various toys. Everything had been entirely crafted by hand, by the owner's eldest son, with a touch that was not too refined but also not too rough. It was a happy medium considering the price of a few silver coins paid without much concern.

"Thank you for everything! Come back soon!" the shop owner bid farewell, once he received the payment, finding some satisfaction in selling children's toys for a change, as in his area, the most popular orders were for small furniture, tables, and various tools. A rocking horse or a soldier brought more joy, even though he was no longer the one making them due to an old accident that left him with only three fingers on each hand, as the tradition of carpenters often dictated.

Later, they stopped by a small family-run bakery, where dear Giorgia bought some cheap loaves of bread. Then she browsed through one of the chaotic city markets, where she purchased some meat and fresh-looking vegetables, before leaving everything with her companion and continuing empty-handed.

Come on, Giovanni, we're all behind you! I understand that it's difficult to walk straight with your arms full of nonsense, but the road from now on is always straight. You can do it!

After their rounds, and enough nonsense from me, they finally reached their destination: the so-called Old Square in the South of Asparetto. It was an area where city traffic moved slower compared to other areas, even if we were talking solely about the South. For the most part, there was nothing remarkable there. Or rather, nothing that would catch one's eye, especially at that time when most workers were still finishing their day and heading home.

However, the two of them didn't mind, bypassing the only tavern in the area without being discouraged by the lack of customers. They continued towards a large building, just about the size of two houses placed side by side. The distinctive feature of the building was the children playing in front of it, though to be honest, they played rather mischievously.

There would have been something to talk about, a not particularly beautiful statue in the center of the square, but there will always be time in the future for that.

"You came again today?" greeted a woman who appeared to be at least in her forties but still had a certain vitality in her voice. "Miss... I appreciate the continuous gifts, but the children are starting to become spoiled because of you. Oh, they don't even seem like the same children anymore." The woman immediately complained, waiting for the couple at the doorstep and moving aside to let them in.

"But look! You're not even wet! Your shoes aren't even wet despite the pouring rain!" she continued as soon as Giorgia and Giovanni entered the building, exchanging a simple sleight of hand with incredible magic. Dear Giorgia felt a bit guilty in the face of the woman's complaints, but a gentle tap from Giovanni was enough to make her approach the children with a bag full of gifts.

"She's not very bright, let it go," Giovanni said to the woman, handing her the vegetables and meat, along with various other things they had obtained shortly before. The woman sighed, accepting the donations without knowing quite what to say, except, "I'm grateful for everything you do, but..." She stood there, watching from a distance the strange girl from the Cult of the Creeping Angel who was laughing among the children. "But... The Cult already takes care of the regular expenses, as well as the repairs of the building we've been assigned. These children already have so much. Compared to when they were on the streets, they already have so much. With everything you give us every week, I managed to prepare them two meat dishes this week. Not one, but two!"

The enthusiasm in the woman's voice gradually faded. As she neared the end of her speech, she sighed and added, "When I think that there are still so many children on the streets... I would prefer that your efforts go elsewhere. Perhaps then there will be fewer children suffering from hunger and cold in this city." However, Giovanni seemed almost annoyed by the woman's heartfelt complaints.

"We're providing more or less the same things to several other orphanages as well, at least here in the southern part. In the East, we don't have many connections at the moment, and as for the North... I'd prefer not to set foot there. It's the place where help would make the most difference, but there are too many problems. So don't worry, ma'am. Is that okay?" He maneuvered through a speech delivered in a monotone, almost entirely flat tone, as if it wasn't the first time he had repeated it.

"But... But..." The poor woman was a bit taken aback. The funding from the Cult of the Creeping Angel always arrived punctually, along with any necessary medical visits in case one of the children fell ill. If, in addition to all those expenses, the followers of the Cult were spending additional coins not only in her orphanage but even in the others scattered throughout the south of Asparetto, then... "How generous your Cult has become?" the woman rightly asked, without receiving an answer.

The money for all the extra things, in fact, came directly from Giorgia, who, with her cognitive abilities, was doing everything in secret, thinking that her Master didn't want any financial assistance from his disciples. It was a pity that, due to her giving something here and something there, many other orphanages funded by the Cult had started requesting more funding once they discovered that other facilities had received 'additional aid'.

And that's not even discussing the sudden increase in the cost of education in some orphanages, as 'all of a sudden', many more children had improved their reading and writing skills and, at the same time, acquired several books that had 'appeared' overnight.

In short, if it weren't for the kind heart and cunning of dear Giorgia, perhaps the Guide Daniele wouldn't have found himself so desperately in need of funds to make a deal with a Giardino seeking political support for a Clan never heard of before.