Chapter 11 – Making first acquaintances

Year 2371 ATTB. (After The Third Beginning) Levestein.

If one had to name the most populated city in Ethena, then it wouldn't be the capital city Hayden, but the City of Magecraft.

The first thing one would see, when arriving at the city, was that the closer one got to the center of it, the taller the buildings would become. The structures of magi around the center would tower over the regular buildings, while 'The Academy' rose to the tallest parts reachable by humans. With towers almost able to scrape the clouds, it stood majestically within the center of the city, admired by any who could catch a glimpse of it even from the farthest of distances.

This city itself was divided into three major districts. The outer ring was accessible to the entire public. There you could find anything you'd see in any other regular city, albeit in a far greater quantity. Due to its constant influx of people, this district kept expanding as the city bounds grew with each passing day.

The inner district was only accessible to magi. Unless you had learned the very basics of Magecraft, you were incapable of passing through the invisible dome that surrounded the district. The common people could only longingly gaze from the outside, at a dream so close, yet not within their reach.

And the central district was the enormous academy itself. At any given time, one could see a steady stream of people passing in and out of its gates. Considering it was the only public Magecraft academy of the empire, the number of people gathered here could be imagined. Levestein had become a hub of the ingenuity of human Magecraft and a gathering place for all human magi over the entire empire. Instead of a family crest, as they were usually found on private academies, the symbol of Ryeka was spread across the whole academy. It could be seen on the various statues of heroes past, and the flags that flattered proudly within the wind. Even the occasional bush was shaped to represent the symbol and doctrine of the academy.

While private academies favored nobles to an unfair extent, The Royal Court of Magecraft, more commonly referred to as 'The Academy', was without discrimination. Anyone who passed the examinations could enroll in the academy regardless of their background, something that was almost preposterous in current times. Unique to this city was, therefore, the utter lack of any presence of noble houses.

Most noble houses stemmed from a family background made up of Magi. That's how they had attained their unshakeable status and foundation within the empire. Not even the crown itself could ignore the various accumulation of magi and eventually had to endow the mightier families with noble status. Over time their dominance had grown to such an extent that they'd tried to restrict the knowledge of Magecraft to the public. Not only did they have various resources and experiences over generations at their disposal, they even wanted to try and prevent the rise of independent magi who could dispute their power. There wasn't much that could be done until one magus had deserted from a noble house and created The Royal Court of Magecraft with the support from the crown.

While the noble houses were obviously displeased by its rise to power, there weren't any convenient methods at their disposal to deal with it. Disregarding its popularity with the public, the current headmaster wasn't someone to be easily trifled with. Soon, the rise of the academy attracted not only want-to-be magi but many other people of different backgrounds. Eventually, this started a chain of events until this city became the goal for many migrants. That, which had started out as a small gathering for magi and their disciples, was expanded and built into the central-hub of the country for merchants and magi alike.

It wasn't called the City of Magecraft just because of the academy. No matter where you went, even in the outer district, you would find constructs of Magecraft that took care of mundane chores. A delivery system of sentient-like letters was only one of many conveniences that Magecraft brought with it. Buildings could look small from the outside, but once one stepped inside, the size was exponentially bigger than it should have been possible. Sentries - made of tiny crystals and formed into lengthy diamonds - flew around, making regular security guards mostly redundant. Anything that caught their eye would be transmitted to the few remaining guard stations with visuals and sound. Cleaning the city wasn't necessary either due to the constant magical breeze that traveled across the ground. Neither were sewages, considering the import of spatial transportation devices made possible by Dwarven inventions. And those were only the few constructs visible to the public.

Across the busy streets in the outer circle of the city, two young men were strolling around. Both of them wore the uniform anyone could recognize even from a distance. A white robe that would never be stained and the golden embroidery of Ryeka's symbol stitched across the chest would unmistakenly indicate the status of those who wore it. The streets were as hectic as usual, yet there would always be people who gazed over in admiration and envy. They were blinded so much by the uniform alone, that they couldn't recognize the unsightly frown across the faces of the two who wore them.

“Ugh... That stupid wench...”

One of them moaned just loud enough so his companion could hear him. The other almost jumped up in fright and quickly looked around for something. After having reassured himself, he shot a glance at the idiot who had thoughtlessly opened his mouth like that.

“Are you crazy, Yasim!? What if somebody heard you? Hell, even a sentry would do!”

The man called Yasim just realized how reckless he'd been and shut his mouth. He still felt indignant, but it wasn't wise to question their teacher's authority and whether she had access to the footage of the sentries or not. Considering her, it wasn't entirely unlikely...

“Sigh... How many days has it been now? We've been looking for a week for that stupid cat! Do you know how many lectures we've missed? Like the interesting ones? What's the point of having a private tutor when it turns out you actually lose out on learning the useful stuff! I mean, come on, Serak, you know I'm right!” Yasim continued more discreetly but still giving vent to his emotions.

“I know you are.” Serak leaned in and quietly whispered in his ear with his hand covering his mouth. “That doesn't mean you should take stupid chances. I mean you had to open your mouth like that. Way to make a first impression...”

“120 years is old!” Yasim shouted out with rekindled injustice. “I don't care if she looks like she's in her twenties, that woman is still acting like my grandma's grandma!”

Serak sighed and gave up talking. If his friend dared to ignite their teacher's fury any further, he would simply cut his ties with him. Their simple friendship wasn't worth that much. Putting those thoughts aside, he continued scanning their surroundings, looking for a black cat. However, that turned out to be quite troublesome. While the cat had been used in countless experiments, there wasn't anything special about it. Just your average run of the mill housecat you could find anywhere... Well, that was if you ignored its apparent hatred for humans.

If they didn't have a method to locate its roundabout location, they'd have long guessed that it fled from the city. That would have at least given them a reason to abandon their mission and return to the academy. Instead, they were forced to continue circling around the city for the dozenth time and grew more annoyed as each day passed by.

“I don't believe you!!”

The two looked at the tavern, where the sudden exclamation of disbelief had originated from. Out of boredom, and considering their chances of actually finding the cat, they decided to turn around and take a look at the commotion. Thus, they entered the crowded tavern for some much-needed distraction. The tables themselves were unusually empty, and instead, most of the people were gathered around the bar at the back. The crowd was focused on the barkeeper who was handling some kind of flasks that couldn't possibly be used for drinking beverages. These flasks were shaped into long tubes and filled with different colored liquids. Almost all the colors of a rainbow were present as the barkeeper mixed them into a bigger flask, seemingly at random.

“What's this uproar about?” Serak asked one of the onlookers.

“That barkeeper claims he can use Magic.” He answered, too entranced to notice to whom he was actually talking to. This piqued the interest of Serak and Yasim. They chose to look from a distance and wait for the barkeeper to perform his 'Magic.'

Said barkeeper continued mixing the flasks into a black sludge and occasionally added a herb or two from underneath the counter. Most people could recognize the herbs that were commonly used for cold medicines and didn't find anything special about them. Eventually, the barkeeper finished his mixture and took out a wooden spoon, with which he swirled the liquid until it began emitting a faint light.

Cries of astonishment filled the tavern as the light continuously changed its color. One by one, the colors from the separate liquids had reappeared and shone brightly for a short time before the next one appeared, accompanied by a calming scent that relaxed the built-up tension from a hard day's work. To the uneducated eye, it seemed rather marvelous, but the two magi let out a small chuckle.

A few people turned around and finally noticed who had joined them. Far more turmoil than the 'Magic' had caused filled the tavern, and within the time of a breath, the gathered men had dispersed, allowing the magi to pass through unhindered. With a wry smile, the two magi shrugged their shoulders and closed in on the only person who had remained calm.

“Nice Magic. Where have you learned it?” Yasim said, and despite his choice of words, it didn't sound particularly demeaning. In his opinion, there wasn't any harm done in fooling people as long as it was kept within bounds.

“It's just a simple parlor trick. A little hobby of mine that helps pass the time.” The barkeeper said. Now that they stood in front of him, they could take a closer look at his appearance. It was somewhat unusual to see such short hair around here, but it wasn't frowned upon or anything like that.

“It also helps increase business. I hope the two honored magi don't mind my fooling around.”

“Of course not, do as you please,” Serak said with a slight smile on his face. He had just met the man, but he quite liked his attitude. Usually, the commoners could barely hold a conversation or believed themselves to be so inferior that they made it hard to interact. This barkeeper, however, didn't show any signs of that, a pleasant change to the usual treatment they received. Especially over the recent days, where they'd spent a lot of time around the outer district and grew even more numb to the constant admiration.

“The two of you seem troubled.” The barkeeper noticed with a keen eye. “Might I convince you to try some of my home-brewed ale?”

“Sure enough, we have the time,” Yasim said and the two of them sat down at the bar. It didn't take long until two mugs of freshly tapped ale stood in front of them. After a quick toast they tried the ale and much to their surprise it didn't taste too bad. They'd tried a lot of different alcohol after attending numerous noble occasions. Ever since then, it was rare for some brew to satisfy their palate. However, it still paled in comparison to what they were used to.

“Have you seen a black cat around?” Sarek asked, not hoping for much. He thought there was no actual point in asking, but the man was likable enough to spend some time for idle chit-chat.

“Well, yes...” The barkeeper answered a little awkward before Sarek realized his mistake.

“Of course you have... There are hundreds of these creatures around here...” Sarek sighed with tiredness that was gradually impacting his judgment.

“So I take it you are looking for a particular cat?” The barkeeper asked for clarification. Sarek nodded in response before continuing.

“It escaped from our... 'teacher' and went missing. I guess it isn't particularly eager to return and we just can't find it.”

“Can you differentiate it even when it's mixed in with other cats?” The barkeeper continued asking. Sarek guessed he was just making the usual idle talk that was expected of a barkeeper's company and indulged in answering him.

“We can see and feel the marker it was imprinted with. As long as we get close enough to it, we can tell it apart with a hundred-percent accuracy.” Sarek said, wondering if he would get a reaction from the barkeeper, who had been relatively down to earth until now. Staying true to his steadfast nature, the barkeeper didn't react much and seemed to ponder about something.

“Excuse me for a minute.” He said and left into the backroom. The two magi looked at each other, wondering what he was doing. Did he actually have a solution to their predicament? They couldn't actually believe it, but at this point, they'd listen to any suggestions. Not much later, the barkeeper returned with a map of the city and a small brown pouch.

“Take this.” The barkeeper handed over the pouch to Sarek, before unrolling the map on the counter.

“What is this?” Yasim asked a little more interested in the conversation now. Even after opening the pouch, they couldn't define its contents. It was a scentless green powder - It could be anything, really.

“A sort of catnip.” The barkeeper answered.

“So we just spray this stuff around and the cat will come around?”

“It's not that strong.” The barkeeper proceeded to guide their attention to the map he'd brought. From beneath the counter, he reached for a feather pen and crisscrossed a few spots on the map that were spread throughout the outer district.

“I don't have enough of this stuff to throw it around randomly, but if you scatter it on these places," he added the last cross on the map, "the winds on the ground will carry it through the entire city and center around this spot.” He pointed to the northern outer district, where he'd drawn a circle.

“Are you sure?” The two magi looked a little dumbfounded at the map. They'd never thought the wind-system could be used in such a way. More importantly, they didn't know that there was any regular pattern to it at all. But after pondering over it, they realized it wasn't impossible. They just had never bothered thinking about it.

“Absolutely.” The barkeeper answered with utmost confidence.

“Why do you have something like that around?” Yasim asked with some skepticism as he looked at the brown pouch.

“It's part of my hobby. Studying herbs and mixing them together to create various effects. That's also how I got into brewing my own alcohol. Over the years, I have created all sorts of stuff I never intended to, but it sometimes comes in handy.” The barkeeper answered without a shred of deceit, as far as the two could tell at least.

The two thought over the matter for a while and decided that it couldn't hurt trying it out. Anything dangerous was filtered out by the system itself, so there wasn't any problem in assuming that this was indeed catnip. The barkeeper also didn't seem to have any obvious bad intentions, so they chose to try their luck. The two departed and left the tavern when Serak realized something and turned around to the barkeeper once more.

“I forgot that we didn't even introduce ourselves. I'm Serak Kerays. This is my friend, Yasim Norwich.”

“It's a pleasure to meet the two of you. You can just call me Aien.” He answered and bid the two goodbyes.