I walked through the crowd towards the citadel. It was winter, but the weather on Tes was like the Caribbean. Even in winter, we had above 20°C here. That was also one of the reasons why Fanhai was a tourist magnet, but with the transport ships, came the pirates, who wanted to relieve the traders and wealthy visitors of their belongings.

Tes, unlike the other continents, did not have large estates that were under the rule, so it was easy for pirates to use bays as hiding places. The vampires had founded Fanhai to create a safe port for all travelers to the continent of Tes. The only other city-state belonged to the dwarves in the far north of the continent, near the start of the mountain range. However, the city was of no interest to tourists, since the dwarf’s colony that founded the town wanted to mine the ores and gems to sell them by sea.

I approached the citadel tower in the middle of the market square of the city of light. A door had been installed in the tower. It was possible to climb up the stairs into the tower and the city of light or down into the basement and the city of night.

Ishina stood by the door of the citadel, she and I wore the same tunic, but the patterns on hers were blue. She stood behind a sales booth and sold goods from Syrras and Kerge.

“Master, I’m back.”

She glanced over at me briefly and turned back to a customer.

“2 gold crowns for the Elven jewelry.”

She did the business and turned to me. She started to smile.

“Welcome back, Eris.”

She hugged me, and I hugged her back. She whispered in my ear.

“We can talk about your trip later. Sovan was here asking for my help, please go and do it for me.”

I nodded.

“No problem, I’ll do it.”

I bowed and made my way to the citadel.

Sovan was the head of the guild house in the night city. He didn’t belong to any of the guilds but merely served as the city’s overseer.

The city had a simple living system. Residents who did not want to pay rent in crowns could offer their blood instead. The town always sold the blood packs to the vampires in the last week of the month. The point of sale was the guild house of the night city.

 

===

 

I stepped out of the main exit of the citadel. Some strange shapes glanced at me as I passed, but I ignored them and went to the enormous building complex on the other side of the market square.

There were only a few lights in the night city. They mostly served as navigation for people who had no night vision.

A long line of vampires formed at the entrance trying to buy their blood packs. As I walked past them, some of their facial expressions said, “You’re lucky.” It was so for those who had too little money or couldn’t buy enough packages had to get the blood differently. Of course, there was an illegal quick way, but other options would be to provide services and to demand blood instead of crowns. Blood was like a second currency in this city, but blood was not the same as blood. According to the description of vampires, the blood of humanoid races was the premium blood. In contrast, the blood of magical animals was just okay, and the blood of non-magical animals was not bearable.

Out of curiosity, I asked Ishina what my blood tasted like. When she tried it, she just made a strange face and said to me, “Like a rabbit.” Then she laughed.

“Uncle Sovan!”

Sovan was Ishina’s older brother. When we first met, he said to me, “You can call me Uncle Sovan.” and since then, I did so.

“Oh, Eris! Did you come to help your uncle?”

I nodded.

“What can I do?”

“We don’t have enough hands to get the blood packets from the storage room, could you help the others? And please take care of thieves!”

“OK! I will.”

I made my way to the back room. A young man came out of the room and pushed a cart with wooden boxes in front of him.

“Ah! Are you the temporary helper?”

He asked me.

“Yes! Uncle Sovan said I should help bring the packets of blood forward.”

“Then you are just right. Please take the cart, and I will help with the loading.”

He gave the cart to me and went back into the room. I peeked in and saw him help two other people get boxes on the carts. I turned away and pushed the cart over to Uncle Sovan. He and two workers unloaded the cart so that I could get new boxes.

The sale ended soon after, and Uncle Sovan came to me.

“All in all, sales were quiet, except for the usual crowds. And how was it, Eris?”

I put my head slightly to one side.

“How was what?”

I asked him somehow, absentmindedly.

“Well, your adventure in the wilds of Tes.”

“Oh... Well, I couldn’t see that much because of the task, but I saw some interesting creatures.”

“Is that so? That’s nice.”

We went up the stairs together to get to his office. His office was on the eighth floor, the floor of the night city because the floor of the city of light began afterward. Stairs even led up from the building.

When we stopped in front of his office, I wanted to say goodbye and go back to Ishina in the City of Light, but he stopped me.

“Please come in for a moment.”

He opened the door and signaled me to enter. I did as he asked me to.

He locked the door behind us and went to his desk. I stood motionless in the middle of the room.

“And... why am I here now?”

I asked him, irritated by his behavior.

“That’s why.”

He took a bundle of letters from a drawer and handed them to me.

“They are for Ishina and you.”

I looked at the bundle in surprise.

“Huh!? Why should someone send me a letter?”

He shrugged.

“Who knows, but maybe it is important.”

“Thank you!”

I bowed and wanted to leave the room when he stopped me again.

“Eris.”

“Yes, uncle?”

I looked back at him.

“This is for your help.”

He tossed me a sack, at first thought he was going to throw me a bag full of crowns, but when I caught it, I immediately realized that it was too light for it.

“Thanks, Uncle. See you!”

I bowed and left the night city.

 

===

 

Ishina was already replaced at the booth and should be at home already, so I decided to go home as well.

The streets were empty because it was early evening. Families with children were often in the city at lunchtime, and in the late evening until late at night, the adults got their money’s worth, but there was not so much going on in between.

“Welcome back.”

I wasn’t even through the door when Varien greeted me.

...even though I suppressed my presence! I didn’t expect anything else from the former General of Fanhai.

“I’m back.”

I wanted to go to the living room when Varien stopped me.

Wah!

His hand that suddenly touched my shoulder from behind made me startle.

“Ishina waits in her office.”

I turned to him and thanked him.

“Eris, whatever comes next, please don’t do anything reckless.”

I didn’t know what he meant, but I nodded. I turned and went up the stairs to the second floor.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

I knocked on the door of the office. Without a word from inside or mine, the door opened. Ishina was sitting at the table, scanning some documents.

“Eris, sit down.”

With one hand, she pointed to the sofa across from her table. I did as she told me to.

“I still have to go through the documents, but you can get the objects out if you want.”

She only looked up for a brief moment but lowered it again to the documents.

“OK.”

I activated the amulet and removed everything I had collected on the trip. All the furs, fangs, feathers, or claws. The only thing I didn't put out was the magic cores.

By the time I removed and sorted everything, Ishina finished her documents.

"Shall we?"

I nodded at her question.

"But master because of the Behemer…"

She looked into my eyes.

"It's not bad if you couldn't beat it. It was just an additional task."

I shook my head immediately.

"That's not it. Here."

I took the Behemos Core out of the amulet and handed it to her.

"It wasn't a Behemer."

"As a matter of fact."

She looked at the core, with a thoughtful face.

"A Behemos… judging by the core, still very young. Good work."

She threw the nucleus back to me, and I immediately let it disappear into the amulet.

"You defeated a monster well above your own rank. Congratulations here."

She threw a stone at me. I caught him in the air and looked at him.

"What's this?"

"An ability stone. This stone contains the ability (lightning fire)."

I stared at the stone.

That there are such stones... they are like TM's.

"Where do these stones come from? Can anyone make it?"

She nodded.

"I made this stone. This stone size is expensive to produce, and unfortunately, these stones do not have a 100% guarantee that the user will actually learn the ability."

She paused and looked at the table. She frowned when she saw the bundle of letters that I placed on her desk after I got in.

"I'll talk to you about the stone tomorrow, but now..."

She picked up the bundle and cut the ribbon that held the letters together. She looked through the letters and handed one over to me.

"It's for you."

"Uh, thanks."

I looked at the sender.

From the city government of Astel.

"From Athem?"

I cut open the page of the envelope and took out the letter. I started reading it.

_______

Dear Miss Eris,

It's been a while since we last saw each other... Your departure was shocking, but it didn't stop us from not losing sight of your goals. Therefore, we invite you to this year's selection tournament in the city of Astel.

Confirmation of participation must be carried out in person up to the 23rd Juvanes¹Juvanes is the name of the first month of the Year. Even if the name is quite similar to January, Juvanes is a month of early spring and not part of winter..

Sincerely yours,

Administration of the city of Astel

_________

What is this? That doesn't sound like Athem at all!? Especially this, "Dear Miss."

I don't know how I looked, but Ishina spoke to me.

"Don't you want to read the backside?"

"Backside?"

I turned the page, but this side was blank.

"There's nothing here."

"Try to pour a little mana into the letter."

I did as she said.

The sheet began to glow, and more and more letters appeared until the entire text was visible.

I started reading it.

_______

Excuse me,

We didn't know how far the postal traffic was checked, so we created the other half of this letter. Eris, the invitation to the tournament is real and is the first step in our plan, so we hope that this doesn't stand in the way of your training.

And what's new... Well, the representative of the shapeshifters has arrived in Astel. The first planning of the new settlement has also started. And at last, the shapeshifter representative wishes to meet you soon.

I hope we will see us soon,

Athem & Irono

_________

This is the real letter!

"I think we should end for today."

Ishina tore me out of my thoughts. I nodded in agreement and left everything for later.