"So, I hear you've got a storage device."

We've been brought into the city lord's office. The first impression the city lord gave me was a very obese, but kind looking middle aged man. But after looking at Mama for a few seconds, his expression almost immediately shifted to an unpleasant, greedy expression.

The guards usher Mama to a chair, and she picks me up and sits down.

"I want to buy your storage device, please show it to me."

Even Mama Bloodcat, who doesn't understand many social cues, seems to realize how rude the man is being, as she furrows her brows and frowns a little.

"Come on, I just want to look at it, there's nothing wrong with that right?"

"Who are you, and why do you wish to speak with us?"

The man gives an 'ah', "I'm City Lord Marcus, and I called you here because I want your storage device. I'm willing to pay one thousand quotes for it."

Mama sighs, "I do not know how much money that is, but I do not wish to sell to you. I do not like you."

I can't help laughing at Mama's response. The city lord's face quickly darkens, but he actually starts laughing as well.

He stands up and sneers at us, "Good, good! The only reason a Qi Awakening cultivator such as yourself would be so impudent is because of your magical beast! Well let me tell you, your holy fox is only at the early Qi Manipulation stage. What if I told you I'm half a step from mid Qi Manipulation? And I'm not the only strong person here. You should think it over again, will you sell your storage device to me or not?"

"I will not, we are leaving."

As soon as Mama Bloodcat stands up, two guards seem to appear out of nowhere, blocking our path.

Mama glares at the city lord, "Do you intend to attack us?"

"That depends, will you sell me the storage device?" asks the city lord derisively.

"No."

"Then yes, we'll kill you both."

Mama turns to the guards behind us, "Do you wish to kill us as well?"

The two men grin and shake their heads no mockingly.

Mama sighs and puts me down on the chair, "Most humans seem less violent than beasts, capable of living together peacefully."

The men surrounding us look confused for a second when suddenly, out of nowhere, one of the guards collapses in a pool of blood.

Mama stares harshly at the city lord, "But it seems there are some humans that are equally as vicious as us beasts."

As Mama starts walking towards the city lord, the other guard collapses as well, and the city lord finally seems to come to his senses.

With a wave of his arm, he sends a vine out of his sleeve. The vine quickly nears Mama Bloodcat, but she merely touches the tip of the vine, catching it on fire. The fire quickly spreads to the rest of the vine, incinerating it as it goes, all the way up to the city lord's arm.

Following a scream of pain, the city lord's arm goes limp, after which he holds up his other arm, which starts emanating a green glow. He crouches down and then jumps, propelling himself towards Mama Bloodcat.

With a quick movement, Mama smacks the city lord's glowing arm long before it reaches her, breaking it, then grasps his throat and lifts him off the ground.

"I have always thought myself to be less vicious than other beasts, but I will not tolerate others trying to kill me or my family!"

Crack!

"We are leaving."

Everything happened too quickly. I can only stare on in shock as billows of colored fog, one blue and two green, rise from the three bodies and head toward me.

As the fog enters the marble on my chest, I feel some sort of barrier inside of me break, and then a wave of qi rushes through my body.

As Mama picks me up, she freezes for a second, and then smiles.

"You have leveled up."

I finally wake from my stupor, "Ah, yeah, I guess I did."

Mama walks out of the city lord's mansion as if nothing happened, and continues walking through the streets with me in her arms.

I can't seem to shake off what just happened though. Those men attacked us for no reason other than to steal something we had, and the instigator was the leader of a city no less! Those guys were no better than the black eyed beasts back in the forest that attacked us for no reason.

Suddenly Mama lifts me to eye level and stares at me seriously, "Lyna, I do not want you to judge all humans based on the actions of those few back there. They were blinded by their greed, which led them to their deaths. Remember to treat everyone kindly, be they beast or human, unless they mean you harm. Or maybe if they are food. And remember to never covet others' belongings to the point that you are willing to kill them."

She then brings me closer and hugs me. I find the current situation to be a bit funny. A magical beast that turned into a human is lecturing a human that turned into a magical beast on humanity.

I look up at Mama Bloodcat, who still has a serious look on her face, and can't help but start giggling.

"Yes Mama."

Suddenly a loud voice seems to encompass the entire city.

"City Lord Marcus has been found dead, along with two elite guards. The perpetrator is believed to be a woman clothed in red and her small white magical beast. If you see anyone who fits this description, we advise that you avoid them at all costs."

Almost immediately after the broadcast, a man across the street spots us.

"That's them!" he blurts out, and then quickly covers his mouth as if he had said something wrong.

A few seconds and a few screams later, we're the only ones left on the street.

"It seems we are no longer welcome here."

"We did kill their leader after all, guess it can't be helped. Even though he was a total jerk..."

We start making our way to the city gate. Everywhere we go, the people clear the street in front of us. I even see people staring at us through windows, but every time I make eye contact with them, they recoil with fearful expressions on their faces.

I used to be a firefighter, so I'm used to looks of gratitude, praise, even looks of adoration from kids. I've experienced dissatisfied, even resentful looks for not getting fires put out in time. But I don't remember ever getting looks of fear before, at least not from humans. On second thought, I guess Neil and Sarah's mom was pretty scared of me.

'Ugh, I hate this feeling'

Mama keeps walking until we eventually reach the gate. Standing underneath the gate, blocking the way, are hundreds of people in armor. They have yet to close the gate, so I assume they aren't intending to keep us in the city. So why are they blocking our path then?

As we near the group, a tall female guard, nearly as tall as Mama Bloodcat, approaches us. She keeps walking until she's only a few feet from us, and then stops. Straightening her posture, she holds up a scroll and unrolls it in a practiced manner, and starts reading from it.

"You have been accused of killing City Lord Marcus and two Qi Manipulation Guards. Do you accept these charges?"

Mama puts me on the ground, "I killed them."

"In accordance with international law, you will have your appearance imprinted. This crime will be recorded and any country or individual, if they so desire, may post bounties for your capture or death. Should you refuse, you will become the mutual enemy of all countries in the Elemist Coalition."

The woman lowers the scroll and gestures at the people behind her, after which a man leaves the group and walks towards us. He's one of the few people here not wearing armor, and is holding a device that I can only assume is some sort of camera.

"This man will take an imprint of each of you, please stand still."

Mama frowns, "It is I who killed all three men. She has nothing to do with this."

"You cannot prove that. The law states that you must both be imprinted, please comply."

"Then I-"

"Mama! Don't worry, it's just a picture. Besides, if they spread my picture around the continent, won't I be a celebrity?"

"What is a 'celebrity'?"

"Ah, being a celebrity means you're famous."

"What is 'famous'?"

"Oh right, famous means a lot of people know about you."

"So if one is old, they are a celebrity?"

"Why would they be a celebrity just because they're old?"

"As you grow older, you will meet more people. Thus, more people will naturally know about you."

"No, I mean like, if you're a celebrity, everyone knows about you."

"How can one guarantee that everyone knows about them?"

"It's just a figure of speech. It just means that a ton of people know about you."

"Yes, so an old person may be a celebrity."

"Well yeah, an old person can be a celebrity, but a celebrity is not necessarily old. A lot of people know about celebrities, but a celebrity doesn't have to know a lot of people."

"So how does..."

Suddenly Mama looks around, and I follow her lead and look around as well. Somehow, all of the people around us have disappeared.

"They must've taken our picture while we were talking and then left."

Mama Bloodcat squints her eyes, "Sneaky people."

"So I guess we can just leave the city now?"

"It would seem so. But you must explain what a celebrity is, I still do not fully understand."

"Oh yeah, so I was saying a celebrity is basically being famous, right? Well remember when all of the people were running from us? They were running from us because we were famous, and we were famous because of the announcement."

"I see, so people are afraid of celebrities."

"Nonono, we just so happened..."

And so we continue our journey to the silhouette in the sky, as I try to explain what the word celebrity means.