"Which way to Fondorosso?" asked a young man to a dark-skinned young woman who was walking along a path in the middle of a meadow.

The young woman, from the way she was dressed, appeared to be a farmer, or at least someone who lives in the countryside.

As soon as the young man spoke to her, she stopped, and then answered him "To Fondorosso? That way, beyond that forest and finally across the plain, at the foot of the two hills."

"Thank you for the information," he said, leaving her behind.

But she spoke to him again "Are you going to Fondorosso for the Red Bottom Festival?"

"No, just to get my strength back." he took off his cloak, which covered him both front and back, thus showing her his torn clothes and the wounds at the rips "I am an adventurer, lady." he covered himself.

The girl looked away at the sight of the young man's wounds, some of them still unhealed "If I could I would help you, but I am in a hurry, I am returning to my village. I went to Fondorosso to buy medicine for my grandmother."

"Don't worry about me, lady, I'm an adventurer, so I can take care of myself. Go now, your grandmother will be waiting for you."

"Yes, you are right. So... Farewell, adventurer."

"Farewell, madam. Stellarno, by the way, not adventurer, my name is Stellarno, Stellarno Anellario."

"My name is Naticia." she held out her hand to him "Pleased to meet you, Stellarno."

He shook it "The same goes for me, Naticia."

With their backs to each other, the young man and the young woman continued on their way, but she, now far away from him, raised her voice "Stellarno!"

He turned towards her.

"Good luck!"

"Good luck to you too, Naticia!" and then thought, "Good thing she said farewell. It's lasting a bit too long, for a farewell."

"Ah, I almost forgot! I'm not a lady, but a young lady!"

"Alright!"

That evening, Stellarno arrived in Fondorosso, where the first thing he did was to rent a room in an inn.

The next morning, after breakfast, he had himself examined by a curator, the only one who knew how to use healing magic.

Healthy again, he took a tour of the town, where preparations for the Red Bottom Festival were almost finished. The festival would begin the next day, at sunset, when the two hills, at the foot of which Fondorosso stood, would look like, as the locals say, an ass.

The next day, in fact, at sunset, the Red Bottom Festival began with the Red Bottom Dance, where people danced in pairs, spanking each other.

Stellarno was invited again and again to dance, but again and again he refused the invitation. He didn't want to dance, he didn't feel like it, waking up the next morning with a red and sore ass didn't suit him, so he just enjoyed the festival without taking part in it at all.

It was in this way that Stellarno arrived at the last day of the festival. When he saw the young woman who had given him directions enter, chained, a public toilet, held by chains by a man "Hey, you!"

The man turned to Stellarno "You mean me?" he asked, glaring at him.

"Yes, I mean you! Release her or you'll end up worse than you look at me!"

The young woman, already inside the public toilet, hearing Stellarno's voice, began to cry, for the young man who, unlike the one who had chained her, had treated her well, had seen her in chains, that is, servus of a dominus "Stellarno, go away!"

"No, no, Naticia, no way." having said that, he drew his sword, and then ran towards the man and tried to strike him "Take this!"

But the man, despite his size, dodged his attack, counter-attacking with two daggers "Who do you think you're dealing with?!" the attack seemed to have succeeded, but, as if by magic, indeed, by magic, one of the daggers stopped inches from Stellarno's left flank, the second dagger having missed him without, as it did the first, a ring of ice, dust and rock, with a sort of transparent and elastic membrane in the middle blocking it.

A sneer from Stellarno "You tried, big man!" silent, but deadly, the sword pierced through the man's neck, who fell to the ground, bleeding "Serves you well, dominus." killed the dominus, he opened the door to the public toilet, beyond which, Naticia, on the ground and in chains, cried silently.

He held out his hand to her "I will not ask if you are well, for you are not. So..." he helped her to her feet "Let's get out of this stupid city."

Stepping outside the public toilet, they were surrounded by Fondorosso's guards, recognisable by the red armour at their asses.

"Halt, assassin, or you will end up like the man you killed!"

"It so happens that the man I killed chained this young woman, making her his servus."

"That young woman's dominus is me, not him." said an elderly, elegant man, behind the guards.

Another grinned "Oh, yeah? That means the next one I kill will be you."

"You're wrong, assassin, you won't be killing anyone in Fondorosso, or rather, not just in Fondorosso, but in Anatomia." said a guard.

Another one then intervened, spitting here and there "Yeah, that's right, murderer! And do you know why?!"

"No, and I don't give a fuck."

"Oh, yeah?!"

"Yeah."

"Oh, alright..." they elbowed him "I mean, I didn't mean this one, I meant this one! Oh, yeah?! And we don't give a fuck either!"

"Better that way, then the young woman and I will go." but taking a step, the guards, none excluded, pointed their weapons at him, some a sword, some a spear, some more.

At that point, the dominus took the floor again "The young woman is my servus only for today, not for life. And it is she herself who has been renting from me, as she has done every year for the past two years."

"Is what she said true, Naticia?" Stellarno was no longer just pissed off at the dominus, but also at Naticia.

"Yes, it is true... But-"

But then, perhaps, he understood "You do it for your grandmother, don't you?"