Year 1023 of the new calendar, Month of the Sun Day 20th

I walked down the street slowly, with a slight smile on my face. Today was the day that he was going to be killed publicly, and with Her Grace, the Duchess, not saying anything to me - it seems like he will swing. I was still a bit giddy, I had a pep in my step and everyone noticed, no one seemed surprised though. The news of me getting enough credits to leave for the rest of the year was spread by Hueser. My excuse was already set, Mrs. Kehlir knew the real reason and looked at me weirdly, but I didn’t care.

Today was a day for celebration, and even if Ava didn’t help me, a day of celebration where I just treat myself feels a bit sad. Ah, whatever, I don’t need any reason to have a fun time, and Ava had been working pretty hard for me. What even was she doing for a job? I needed to ask her sometime, It was only 10 am, and I had the entire day ahead of me. I was scrolling through my phone and noticed a surprising bit of news, Gawain had 6 people infected with a new disease. It was a medium-sized country on the eastern border of Iabrun, it was mostly a gigantic mountain range with a few cities scattered about. Eh, none of my concern anyway, no need to dampen the mood with depressing news.

I took a look around me and walked into a small establishment, just a little place where one could get a few exotic foods. I was never one to splurge, but this day seems like the best to spend some of my savings. Iabrun’s cuisine is varied with its immense size, but I usually cooked my meals, it was cheaper, and a nice skill to have. It was just a small joint, with some orange lighting and 4 chairs next to a bar. I just wanted a quick bite to go, browsing through the menu, nothing really caught my eye until I saw a dish that was the organs of a dried Beniven. They were small fish caught in the Hueser Sea, mostly, and were sweet. I ordered one and waited for a minute, a girl which I could only assume was the owner's daughter handed it over to me with a smile.

I noticed there was some lingering fear in her eyes, tsk, racial tensions were going down - but they could never truly be eliminated. She was what looked to be a Volucris, with prominent bird-like features. She had a face that was like a bird with a beak, and she had feathery wings on her back. Though she was also humanoid with 2 legs and 2 arms, they were a tiny minority in Iabrun and were picked upon extensively because of this. The natural enemy of the Volucris, the Vulcrum who were very vocal about their hate. Vulcrums were a very… weird species, they were very similar to humans, but they had a few distinctions: they all had a green gem lodged in their forehead which was the most obvious sign, and they all held a small black ring somewhere on one of their arms.

As far as I know, it’s only a cosmetic, but I doubt the Vulcrums would disclose anything related to it with their very closed-off circle. It seems that the hate between these 2 races ran deep, I felt a twinge of pity for the girl at the counter. I couldn’t do anything, though, so I just walked out with my small snack on hand. The organs looked like a bunch of black noodles strewn into a ball, it was wrapped by a sheet of paper-thin dough that had a slightly greenish color. It wasn’t the most appetizing-looking thing, but I had to eat everything growing up just to survive, so I built up a pretty good tolerance to these sorts of things.

I took a bite and the slightly salty dough contrasted with the sweet innards of the fish, it was good. Not the best thing I had ever had, but good, and it was a nice placeholder until I could get something better and more filling. I threw out the bag it came in and called Ava, it was now 10:30 am and I wanted to just have some fun around the city before the execution at 7 pm. She picked up and answered meekly, “Y-Yes?” I said, “Where are you at the moment?”

She answered with, “Uh, I’m just walking around and seeing what odd jobs I could find to make money. I-Is that ok?” I answered, “Yes, come to Yeverston Ave 12613 in 10 minutes. I have something to ask you.” She answered in an affirmative, and then I hung up. I started to slowly walk towards the destination, today was going to be a nice day. When I arrived there, I saw Ava in some clothes that were worse for wear. She also had a pungent odor, oh goddamn it, did she not take a shower in all this time? Sighing, I approached her and quickly led her into an alleyway.

I picked the lock of a window with a hairpin she was carrying and snuck inside the apartment, it seems no one was home. Ava followed suit and made sure to not touch anything, I reached their bathroom and swiftly took a bar of soap, before telling her to go into the bathroom. She complied, and I said that she had to take off her clothes, after a minute of waiting she said that she was done. Without any fanciful gestures, I controlled my mana into a water stream and made her spotless. I then used some hot steam to fully dry her, I told her to get fully dressed as I waited outside the room.

She walked out with her clothes that were now tattered, seems like the environment got to them as she was working. I looked at her again, she had a very prominent blush, I don’t understand wh- oh. A very slight blush crept on my face, I was too caught in cleaning her that I forgot to consider what this might look like. Wait… I made sure that the water I used made her spotless. Oh, for fucks sake, how was I going to explain this?

I looked at her, she was still blushing up to her hairline and was looking at the floor. Tsk, I needed something to get our minds off this. I looked around the room and my eyes constricted, cameras. This was just a regular camera, so it didn’t pop up on my radar.

This also wasn’t a particularly high-end apartment, so the footage should be stored in tapes, as it was the cheapest option. It didn’t matter whether there was an empty few minutes, I just needed to see where they stored the tapes. I didn’t dive too deeply into the intricacies of machinery, I view magic to just be superior, but I digress. If I remember correctly, then the camera should send the recorded video in 10-minute intervals to a remote tape. Tsk, I should have expected this, hindsight is 20/20 though, and I can’t change what I did.

I told her, “Look around the house, try to find the tape.” I generated some earth and ran through every part of the house, sealing up every single camera. After a few minutes of searching to no avail, I heard the front door of the house unlocking - the owner came back now? I spewed some of my mana through the seal I had on Ava, causing her to stumble and fall, but that was no matter to me. I generated some earth to seal the front door and every other door in the house. Passing it through Ava distorted my mana signature just a bit since she had her tiny mana supply.

As a last resort, I used up almost all the mana inside my body - using all of it would be disastrous at the moment - and shifted the earth of the entire foundation. I felt all the sensations, including where the tapes were being stored and ran to them. I grabbed Ava by her arm and ran towards the storage, in there I thoroughly incinerated them with some of my remaining mana. A feeling of drowsiness came over me, but I endured through and then ran out through a side story. I sighed a bit, what an… eventful start to a new day.

Out on the streets, I finally relaxed a bit and stopped running. She looked to be very tired, did I run too fast? I knew that mana did advance the human body a bit physically, maybe I did run too fast. I will have to make a note of it for later, anyway, on to the next order of business. There weren’t many people on this little street in Augustus, I looked at her and said, “Why did you not buy any clothes or take a shower?” with an inquisitive tone.

She replied, after a load of effort, and said, “Uh-Uh, they aren’t essentials to my survival. I tho-thought you’d be mad if I wasted some money on them…” Her voice became quieter as she went on and was barely hearable by the end. Does she have a deathly fear of doing anything? What happened to her in the past? I will have to try to find this out eventually, but that can be left for another day. It doesn’t bother me that much, so I didn’t need to figure it all out at the moment. I started walking down the street to look for a clothing store, I felt my earth constructs crumble into nothingness, good.

I looked back and could see her trailing behind me, I tried to slow down to no avail. She also slowed down and kept the same pace as me. Sighing, I shook my head and asked her, “Do you have anything you want to do?” She looked at me peculiarly and said in a quiet voice, “I will do anything you want me to do.” Tsk, this was getting nowhere. “No, no, I meant is there anything that you want to do? You can say it, and I promise, no punishment of any kind will be delivered.”

She still looked at me weirdly and said, “We-Well, there was this one festival I saw being advertised around the city.” I looked back at her and smiled, before she could talk I said “Interesting, I also wanted to go. Why don’t we, after you get some new clothes.” A slight smile crept on her face, she likely would feel weird if I went because of her. Me saying that I also wanted to go would encourage her more, but a festival, huh? Should be interesting enough. After a minute, I saw a clothing store. It wasn’t an amazing one, just a middle-of-the-road establishment, but that was perfect. I didn’t have much money on me, and this store would likely give a full set for just 1 pound. I gave her a pound and told her to go get some new clothes, she obliged much easier than usual - weird.

My phone in my pocket was quite a helpful tool, I started to browse around to see this festival. I wonder who the organizers were, any large event had to run through the government. Hmm, it seems like it was a newly established festival meant to cater towards those of the more seaside regions of Iaburn in Augustus. Augustus was not close to the sea, but with a bit of magic and the advent of refrigeration, one can get good seafood here. Seems like a fun place to be, there was even an aquarium they booked out. Organizers must be rich and eccentric for something like this, as I put away my phone, Ava walked out with a simple black t-shirt and black pants. She was smiling just a bit, a very noticeable improvement.

I started walking towards the area of the city where the festival was taking place, she followed swiftly after. She still trailed behind me by a bit, but it was not as bad as earlier today. Good, I got just a bit closer to a friend and not a master. I’m not dense enough to not realize that she would develop some feelings towards me, but I simply wasn’t ready to get into a relationship at the moment. It stung a bit to have to reject her before she even confessed, but no matter, that kind of thinking would just ruin the day.

After a few minutes, we reached the area, and it seems like the festivities were in full swing. Ava’s face lit up, was she from a coastal region? Makes sense, her white skin did contrast from the more olive-colored skin from there, but that wasn’t impossible. She even started to run to a little food cart, she did swiftly stop in her tracks and backtrack towards me. “What is it?” I asked while pointing towards the cart, it was a food of some kind, but I didn’t know what.

She answered with “They’re eggs of the Jellyfish, they’re amazing. It came from my hometown.” She said the last part with a bit of pride mixed in her voice, interesting, she was from Lendenburg originally. Jellyfish are a weird existence, their pink flesh was poisonous, but their eggs were perfectly fine. I wonder how they get the eggs under the nose of those 10-meter monstrosities, though, apparently one just killed a diver last month. I walked up to the cart and asked, “How much for 4 of these eggs?” The owner, that was just a regular human from the looks of it, said, “8 austral for 4.”

I nodded and paid him the money, taking the 4 slippery eggs he put in a bag. I reached into it and one stung me a bit, interesting. The eggs were also pink and looked like long strands, I picked one up and bit down on it, the flavor was unique but good. It was sweet, not like sugar or anything like that, but as something entirely on its own. I didn’t have any good words to describe it, I gave 2 to Ava and I picked up the last one. Using some of my mana, I charred it and then sliced it into little bite-size pieces. I popped one in my mouth, the flavor changed completely and went from sweet to savory. The previously pink interior was now white, and it had firmed up quite a bit - the new firm texture was nice.

Ava saw me do that, and I could tell she wanted to try, I did the same for her and started walking. I snuck a look at her as she ate it, her face beamed with joy, it made me feel happy as well. A little game was being held, it looked like you had to shoot at a board with a gun that fired darts. Interesting, it had a bit of mana inside it. I walked up to him and paid the fee of 5 austral, he told me to hold my breath when inside, I was confused, but I complied. The entire room was then flooded with water, and some fishes were also in there with me. I had to shoot this underwater? No wonder it had some mana in it. My 1st and 2nd shots were thrown off course by a fish bumping into me, the 3rd one was spot on, but a fish ran in front of it - stopping the dart in its tracks.

The water was then sucked up by… something, and I was dry again. I walked out and could see Ava sneakily eyeing the top prize, which was a gigantic plushie of what looked to be a sea monster. Sighing, I gave him 5 austral again and went inside. There were mana sensors, but it was only above a certain threshold. As long as I stayed below that, I would win. Slightly changing the water to help my darts, all 3 landed near perfectly on the targets, landing them all perfectly would be a bit suspicious. I walked out, dry again, and the person said I could choose any of the top prizes, there was an option to just choose 15 pounds of money, and it was tempting.

I looked again at Ava, though, and I asked him for the plushie. He looked knowingly at her, and me, before reaching up to get it. He handed it over to me, and I started to walk off to the aquarium. Ava was now nearly side-to-side with me, a major improvement, I gave her the plushie which had 6 heads and 4 tentacles on its back. Maybe it was a memento of her hometown? I heard someone say, “What a cute couple.” and I suppose we did look like one.

A show with Deep Sea Benivens? Sign me up, I started walking a bit faster to the show that was going to start in a few minutes. Ava followed my pace perfectly and kept up with me. There were bleachers all around a dark pool in the middle, it was massive and exciting. One could see multiple lights down there, likely the Deep Sea Benivens. I walked up to a seat and sat down, she sat down beside me and put the plushie on her lap.

After a minute, 10 large 5-meter large creatures rose from the depths of the water. They were all blinking with lights, some were white, others were blue, and some were pink and purple. They were synchronized with one another to make a beautiful light show. I could feel all of them manipulating the water to form up into a star behind them before they all splashed back into the water 1 after another, it was a beautiful show. The light in the water formed up into a blinking star, these fish were sentient and could coordinate with one another, and it made this show all the better. After 5 minutes, the show ended, and I walked out with Ava. This was definitely going to be a fun day.

A couple of hours later, at 6:00 pm, we both walked out of the festival laughing. “Did you see the guy that fell into the water there? How do you even accomplish that” she said with a little giggle, I replied in turn “Eh, he was a land whale anyway. He was just returning to his natural habitat.” She burst out in a fit of laughter, ahh, it was a nice way to spend the day. I walked out to a car, Ava started to follow me, but I shook my head. She got the message and started to walk away to a different place. The taxi driver asked me where to, and I said, “Where the killer's public execution is being held.” He nodded, it seems that many people were going there.

When I arrived, I walked through the vomitorium and up to a seat in the middle. At 6:45 pm, 15 minutes after I arrived, the entire Colosseum was flooded with water and I could see a black shadow inside the murky water. At 6:50 pm, I saw Ts’yvelir the Griffin and in his hands was the killer. He landed atop a small platform above the water, and Her Grace came down from him. She was wearing a full black suit, it looked good on her. She walked up to a microphone in the middle and started talking.

“This filth in the streets of Augustus has been caught by a close friend of mine, the little rat scurrying through the sewers has been caught. This… monster is a menace to all society.” I saw the killer in chains next to her, he looked at her with terror, weird. He then spotted me in the crowd, I took great enjoyment in watching his terror shift to anger at me. Ts’yvelir pressed a claw against the back of the killer, pushing him down to the ground. Her Grace continued, “He has killed many people heartlessly, cruelly. He does not simply kill, he kills in the most grotesque ways possible. He, no it. This thing is not a sentient creature of any kind, it is just an animal. And it deserves to die like an animal.” She ended with that. Ts’yvelir lifted him up in the air, against the setting sun, I could see the outline of the griffin tearing off his legs. He then let go of the killer, leaving him to fall in the vast body of water. Some sort of creature rose up from the murky depths, dragging him down into the water.

A fitting end for one like him.