There was something strangely ordinary about carrying books across the streets of Koshima city. It brought back memories of my time on Earth, helping friends carry things and chatting the day away. The nostalgia brought a smile to my face.

Amanda’s hair bobbed up-and-down as she walked beside me. She had run out of inventory space. My inventory couldn’t hold the books immediately, not without dirtying them, and that was something Amanda wouldn’t allow.

Instead, I balanced them in my arms.

Gold and Agni flew through the air above us playfully. I had already sent a message to my dad saying I was okay. I’d let him know I was staying with a friend. He wasn’t happy with how things had turned out.

Judging by the tone of his texts, that was an understatement.

We would have a talk about it when I got home. About everything. My parents didn’t want to tell me what was going on, and I trusted them. My main issue of finding supporters had been resolved with my Mark being exposed to the church of Crijik, so their secret had taken a backseat while they were unwilling to answer my questions.

Now the information my family was keeping from me was impacting my ability to get to know my grandma. I wouldn't allow that to continue.

“Is it my pretty face or the books that are distracting you?” Amanda’s voice teased me. “Thoughts are fun to get lost in until you hit your face on a pole.”

I jolted and realised I had been staring at her by accident. I coughed and looked forward. The streets were filled with people moving from one store to the next.

It was some kind of shopping district.

We weaved through the crowds, careful not to drop the books. Motes of mana chased each other, and my mana sense picked up their waves as they passed by us.

“Is your dad going to be fine with me staying on such short notice?” I spoke. “I wouldn’t want to impose on you.”

“Nonsense, I’m the one that invited you.” She shifted her books so that she could face me. “You’ll be fine. I already messaged him.”

I nodded and dodged a distracted man that hadn’t even noticed me approaching. The streets were becoming more crowded by the second.

It wasn’t a coincidence. They were all coming from the same area, a large building near the centre of the city. It glowed in the darkness; lights situated across the walls. A rainbow of colours drifted from it coloured glass windows down on to us.

“That’s the guild.” Amanda drew closer to me as the street’s free space narrowed.

The guild? The people around us didn’t look like trained knights.

“What do they do there?”

“Parties and stuff. They also have a great magic show that runs each night.” Amanda shrugged. “That’s where Alexis is. The guild halls, not the magic show.” She saw my look. “He’s not coming back tonight. He already told my dad.”

“Huh. I thought that they fought monsters.” I shifted my head to get a better look.

The guild towered over the area, but it wasn’t the biggest building in the city. There was magic around it, not intrusive, simply there.

I had expected to see rugged adventurers moving in and out of the building. That was how it was in Zodiac. However, the street was filled with colourful figures that were dressed to party.

“They have to make money somehow.” Amanda spoke. “They do have monster slaying divisions, but those guys are always in the frontier cities.”

I pictured the situation and nodded. Koshima was a safe city, and its garrison wouldn’t often be called out to battle. Instead, the guild needed to make their money by renting out the rooms that weren’t being used.

It was a ruthless economy.

We made our way past the building, and I saw a couple of girls from school walking out of the building. They laid back against the wall to talk. One of them was a stranger that I’d seen walking around, the other was Unice.

“I bet my brother’s happy that she came.” Amanda raised an eyebrow towards her. “He wouldn’t shut up about her yesterday.”

“She seems nice.” I nodded.

“Well, we’re not too far away from my place. You can see the entrance over there.” She gestured with her hand and then panicked as her books threatened to spill over.

I followed the gesture and found myself staring at a distant wall. It looked small, but judging from the houses scattered around it, it was at least a few stories high.

“You’re not gonna tell me that entire place is your house, are you?” I stared at it.

It blocked off an entire third of the city.

“I wish.” Amanda shook her head. “That’s the noble district. Well, it used to be a hundred years ago. Now it’s just the district for people that want a nicer house and a view of a wall. Obviously, that name didn’t catch on. Everyone still calls it the noble district.”

I chuckled. “Is the view of the wall worth it?”

“Don’t mock the wall.” Amanda nudged me with her elbow. “That wall raised me. It taught me life lessons and paid for my academy tuition.”

“Really?” I narrowed my eyes.

It looked like an ordinary wall.

“No.” She giggled. “Of course not silly.”

My cheeks heated up. She’d sounded so confident and, in a world full of magic, it was tough to know what was true or false.

It crossed my mind that I could be lifting the books with magic. My stones could wrap around the books and hover around me.

I mentioned it to Amanda, and she shook her head.

“You’ll probably get stopped if you don’t have a permit.”

She looked back at the guild. It was already disappearing into the distance.

“The guild gives out permits, but they’re a little too expensive for my tastes. It’s a yearly fee of fifteen silver.”

I almost tripped over my books.

“Fifteen silver? Per person?” I spluttered. “Doesn’t the city government branch give our permits for free?”

They were the ones that had made me register my metal abilities in Yêlat.

“The guild is part of the government. Well, it’s complicated.” Amanda’s hair flared. “They don’t record your information, that goes to another department, but the guild handles the permits needed to use your abilities.”

I registered the information for later. There might come a time when I needed permission to use my abilities within the city.

“Also, there are cheaper options. They give family discounts and student discounts. There’s also the senior discount, but I doubt you qualify for that one.”

It was a lot more streamlined than I imagined. It was all expensive, especially for someone like me. My dad earned a few silvers per project. He also did side jobs for people in the city, but he only charged them a couple of bronze coins each time.

Fifteen silver was out of my price range. Even the student discount of ten silver was too high.

“Things are pricier here than they are in my home city.” I admitted.

We were quickly approaching the wall and I could see I had been wrong about its size. It was a lot bigger up front. There was a slight shimmer of orange mana around it that went up into the sky.

“Where are you from?” Amanda’s eyes gleamed.

“Yêlat.”

I looked over and her expression was blank. Her brows furrowed together as she thought about it. Finally, she gave up.

“I have no idea where that is.”

“In the south where all the farms are.” I replied.

A shadow crossed over me and I looked up to see Gold and Agni returning to us. The wall blocked their passage in the air, and neither of them wanted to go through the orange mana.

I raised my arm and Gold rested on it. He eyed the books warily. He didn’t want to share his space with them. Agni sat on Amanda’s hair and chirped at me.

“She’s asking if there are more birds like Gold down there.” Amanda translated with a smile. “I think she’s been having the time of her life finally meeting one of her own kind that is intelligent.”

Gold squawked and I felt him nestling against my neck.

“None that are exactly like him.” I took in her curious expression. “He’s definitely the fattes- ow!”

He’d pecked me on the ear. Amanda and Agni laughed, and I scratched Gold’s neck as an apology. The joke had distracted my friend from her question.

She looked up at the wall as we approached a doorway built into it. There were a few bored guards in a booth. Amanda showed them an ID card and they waved us through.

I got the feeling that this place was a little bit more than just a nice neighbourhood.

That feeling was validated as I saw the houses transform around me. None of them were as big as my grandma’s mansion, but each of them was an upgrade to the ones outside the wall.

The crowds of people were gone, and instead they were replaced by the odd jogger or person on a stroll. There was one other distinct change.

These houses all had gardens.

Outside the walls, inner city Koshima was packed to the brim, and the houses didn't have their own lawns.

The difference grew more pronounced as we walked deeper into the noble district. The houses had walls around them now, and small walkways.

I saw a light in a nearby window and looked up to see an animal staring down at me. It looked a bit like a cat, only fluffier. It had glowing blue fur and teal eyes.

“Careful, she’s nastier than she looks.” Amanda stuck her tongue out at the cat. “She’s always trying to fight Agni.”

I saw it staring at Gold.

“Don’t go near her buddy.” I steered away from the house.

Gold squawked in agreement.

A few minutes later the house was out of sight, and we found ourselves in the middle of a court that split off into five directions.

Each path was blocked by a gate similar to the one outside my grandma’s mansion. I couldn’t see the houses inside. There were only trees and flowers.

“My place is over here.” Amanda walked towards the gate to our right.

Her hair lit up as we approached it and the walls shimmered with symbols.

“My great grandparents paid a pretty big sum to get it to react to our bloodline.” Amanda grinned proudly. “Makes carrying books easier.”

“I’m sure that’s exactly what they planned to use it for.” I moved through the gate. “Is there a big staff on site?”

The area looked like it could fit a few buildings. As we moved through the gravel path, Amanda’s house came into view.

It was a mansion.

“It’s just the four of us. The staff goes home every day.” Amanda’s voice was low. “By the way, I’m not saying my dad is high maintenance, but let me do the talking.”

I raised an eyebrow at her and then looked at the mansion. It was dark, but I could see tiny wisps of mana floating out of the windows. Most of it was red.

My steps sounded out as the floor changed from gravel to stone. I paused as I felt something off about the material. I tapped it with my shoe and then frowned.

I couldn’t control the stone.

It felt like the living wall at the Zodiac compound, but a lot less sophisticated and weaker. I wasn’t trying to control the stone, but if I did, I knew it would react in the same way.

Explosively.

Amanda walked by me and knocked on the door. The books in her arms threatened to tip over, but she held strong.

It opened and I found myself facing a giant man with bright red hair. He dwarfed me, although he wasn’t as tall as the Athena director I had met at William’s birthday.

Amanda stood up straight and I followed her lead.

“Hello sir, I’ve returned home.”

Her father nodded and looked at me. Then at luggage in my arms. He waved his fingers and the books rose into the air. I could see hands made out of flames lifting them up. They touched the books but didn’t burn them.

The spell placed the books in front of him.

“Economics for beginners. Symbology and scribing intermediate. Scribing basics. Bloodline studies.”

He nodded and I saw Amanda breathe a sigh of relief.

“Good. It’s important to take your classes seriously.” The man waved his hands, and the books flew inside. “I will put them in your study. Make sure to sort them yourself into the bookshelves.”

“Yes sir.” Amanda saluted him.

She looked at me and gestured for me to follow her lead. I saw the urgency in her eyes and shivered.

“Thank you for having me here, sir.” I copied her movements and gave him a salute.

He turned towards me with a grin.

“She is messing with you.”

I felt a hand brush over my shoulder and laughter tickled my ear as Amanda walked past me into the house. She twirled around and saluted me.

“Come on. I’ll show you around.”