Where’s Avilia? This isn’t like her.

I’m outside the door to Karine’s shop after finishing today’s lessons. After going through all the shield spells I’ve learned, we continued to enhancements. I hadn’t realized I can stop all sorts of spells from using mana by cutting them short once I don’t need them anymore. Really interesting! It wastes a lot less magic particles and concentration than weaving an expiration time into the spell itself for sure.

Just that, if you forget to cancel a spell with no timer it’s going to eat through all your magic particles given time if they aren’t replenishing faster. Not that you’d notice it. Karine’s explained that the only downside to having run out of magic particles is that you can’t cast spells anymore. Can’t exhaust or kill yourself by casting spells. That’s a relief! I haven’t gone out of my way to test what it’s like to not have any mana left. I’m taking her word for it.

… But, where is Avilia? This is the first time she’s late. She didn’t say she had anything special to do today. Did something come up?

I should probably look for her at the guild. It isn’t that far away anyway.

The amount of guards doesn’t seem to have changed much from yesterday. I’m counting at least a dozen of them on the streets right now. That’s way more than there were before. I’m pretty sure I’ve usually seen at most two of them with just one actively patrolling at any given time. Karine said that even the regular guards aren’t locals and report to some noble from the capital. She says the community can do its own policing just fine and doesn’t really have a need for outside help. That they’re a relatively new addition to the village.

What that means is that even the normally stationed guards are here for surveillance. Makes sense to be honest. Even though this village isn’t right next to the capital and feels insignificant, it’s also not very far away from it. I guess it wouldn’t be a bad staging ground for an assault. And with an uprising and a rebellion going on at the same time… Well, it’s not really a time where they could loosen their hold on nearby villages.

It seems like there’s some commotion going on in the guild. The door’s open and I hear people shouting.

What’s going on?

I walk to the doorway and peer inside. I see four guards surrounding someone with a fifth one standing right in front of that person. It’s…

It’s Avilia. They’ve surrounded Avilia.

“We heard there was a freak in this village and what do you know, we find a filthy elf skulking around! Your kind don’t belong here!”

She looks distraught and miserable. It’s obvious that one of the guards behind her has pulled her hood down, showing her hair to the rest. It’s all very theatrical and purposeful. I wonder how long this has been going on?

Surely they aren’t here just because of a report of “elves,” right? They wouldn’t send a whole bunch of people just to accost us, right?

They might. Given what I know about this kingdom by now, they just might. They hate everything they don’t perceive as human, even if it’s something as silly as hair color.

I have to do something! But… What? I doubt they’d listen to reason, especially from someone else they’d consider an “elf” too. I’ve only spent two weeks training magic and I’ve never fought in my life outside of silly games! And these are trained guards! Sure, I have my cybernetics, but…

Could I be more useless right now?!

Calm down. Think.

They don’t seem to pay attention to me. I could sneak up on them and defeat at least a couple of them with magic and raw strength from my cybernetics. All I’d need is a sword and not get hit for a while to copy a bit of their sword techniques… It could work. I also could get badly hurt, but I’ll never know if I don’t try.

On top of that, the guild representatives are still present, clearly agitated by what’s going on. They really don’t look happy. I doubt they’d help the guards if I did something drastic.

Well, excluding one of them who looks more annoyed than agitated. The mages’ guild representative. A woman in her mid-forties, it seems. For some reason I didn’t notice it before, but she has similar golden eyes and black hair as Karine. Related, perhaps? Her robe is as black as her hair.

It’s almost like she’s waiting for something or someone but it just doesn’t seem to be happening as fast as she’d like. She’s probably the only one who noticed me at the door, but I obviously wasn’t what she was waiting for.

“Ah,” the representative seems to mutter to herself, ”For the love of…”

She theatrically points towards Avilia, kind of reminding me of Karine when we first met. The guards don’t even notice, they’re too fixated on their “elf.”

“Paralyze Aura.”

The guards fall down to the ground, limp, but still alive.

Why didn’t I think of that? It sounds so simple! Casting one spell on Avilia that affects those around her was the easiest solution!

But isn’t this bad? Isn’t she committing a crime against the kingdom? Not that I wasn’t preparing to commit a crime of my own, but I don’t have ties to this place.

The representative starts walking towards Avilia who looks equal parts confused and relieved. I feel the same for sure. More relieved than confused but regardless.

“Where’s my useless niece,” she exclaims, “She was supposed to ensure the removal of these cretins before they actually did something! And now they’ve started causing problems at the guild! This is unacceptable!”

What? Her niece? Who’s she talking about? Not Karine, right?

The other representatives seem to be picking up rope and the like. They’re going to restrain the guards, no doubt.

But that doesn’t matter.

I should get to Avilia. See if she’s alright. I think the aura itself has already worn out but the effects are longer lasting.

The representative gets to her before I do.

“Are you fine, Avilia?”

She nods. “Thank you for the help, Miss Strophie!”

Strophie? So she and Karine are related after all. So Karine’s supposed to take care of this situation somehow?

How?

Avilia notices my approach. “Oh, Irene! I am sorry I could not come to the shop in time! These guards would not believe me when I said I was in a hurry.”

“Don’t worry about it” I say calmly, ruffling her hair, ”I saw what happened. I’m just happy everything turned out okay.”

No blood was shed. That has to count for something.

Representative Strophie turns to look at me. “Oh, so you’re Irene? Avilia’s told me about you. You’re being taught magic by my no good niece, right?”

“Yes. She’s a good teacher!”

She nods. “I have no idea how you got your hands on our family heirloom, but you have my thanks. I know how important it is for my niece and my brother.”

“It’s not for you?”

She laughs. “Personally? Not really. I’m with the Guild and I’m no crafter. I’m here to keep an eye on my niece, though. Who knows what she might come up with if left alone!” She sighs. “Not that she hasn’t come up with something even though I’ve been here all this time.”

I wonder what she means?

Before I can ask her, we hear there’s a commotion outside this time. Shouting, people dropping metallic objects to the ground. I wonder what’s going on? It was just the guards a few minutes ago!

Avilia grabs my hand and rushes for the door.

I don’t know what I expected to see outside, but this wasn’t it.

The guards have dropped their weapons and hold their hands up. They’re surrounded by people I recognize as locals. People I thought were just regular village folk. But they’re wielding weapons and wearing armor that looks too expensive for simple farmers. What’s going on with this place?

Ah. Right.

They’re too far from the capital and it’s still the closest proper city to the village.

This village is next to a forest filled with monsters.

It’s close to a ruined town filled with undead.

No one would come to save them if bandits attacked.

This isn’t exactly a prime location for regular people to put down their roots. It honestly shouldn’t surprise me at all to find out that they know how to wield a sword. They probably train on their time off. And the Strophie family probably pays for their equipment.

So, what are they? Ex-mercenaries? Ex-soldiers? Bandits? Probably all sorts to be honest. People who wanted to get out from their old life and start anew. And people who’re willing to learn to use a weapon to stay away from the influence of the kingdom.

“Irene,” Avilia says, “We should find Karine.”

I agree. We totally should!