Chapter 75 The Festival

Evernya exited the salon, following Meira’s scent left down the sidewalk. She received many odd looks, some bordering on hostility as she wandered down the sidewalk but ignored them. A few minutes later, she spotted Meira walking down sidewalk across the street.

After looking both ways, she dashed across the street before slowing down to a silent trot. As quietly as she could, Evernya stalked up behind Meira and poked her in the back, causing the elf to jump a meter in the air.

Meira spun as soon as she landed on the ground, magic swirling, ready to attack, but lowered her guard when she saw who it was. “Damn, you are good at stalking. I had no idea you were there.”

“I didn’t even try to sneak up on you.” Evernya lied.

“If that is you not trying, I am afraid of when you try to stalk,” Meira commented before she scanned Evernya’s unchanged hairstyle. “You’re done already? Why did you only get a trim?”

Evernya gave Meira an odd look as over an hour passed. “I think I used my entire one hour appointment slot, and a trim is the max my hair will allow. We didn’t try highlights, but somehow, I doubt that will work either. Amber tried to curl my hair, and she even brought in a friend, but both failed. My hair refuses to stay curled. It’s also hard to cut by another person. The trim exhausted Amber by the end.” Evernya summarized.

“Interesting, let me try cutting a strand.” Meira requested.

Evernya held up a strand from the opposite side of the one she cut earlier. Meira targeted the strand with a tiny air blade, cutting through the strand but not without resistance.

“Oh my, you weren’t kidding. If my air blade met that much resistance, she must have had a lot of issues.” Meira marveled as her weak air blade needed a slight boost to cut through a single-strand.

Evernya compared the strands, finding them uneven. She used a tiny force blade against the longer left strand, evening them out with one clean slice.

Upon witnessing the effortless cut, Meira decided, “Yeah, you are trimming your own hair from now on. Maybe you can even style it.”

“I like my hair the way it is, and no one can mess with it besides me.” Evernya insisted.

“What if I took your smoothies away?” Meira playfully threatened.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Evernya exclaimed.

“You’re right. Those are important for your health, but I am sure I can find something to bribe you with.” Meira teased as they sat down on a bench just off the sidewalk to take a break.

Meira materialized a two liter jug of smoothie, which her hungry kitten immediately snatched. Evernya greedily chugged it down before Meira had a chance to take it back while giving a look, daring her to steal it back. In record time, she emptied the entire jug into her bottomless stomach. Evernya let out a cute little burp before handing the empty jug back while smiling a fangy smile as her fangs receded.

Meira smiled at her kitten’s adorable reaction before suddenly turning serious. “You are due for your first solid meal of the day, but I don’t have anywhere for you to take your mandatory coma nap. I’ll have you eat an early supper before the auction tonight instead. The auction doesn’t start until nine pm, so you should be back among the living by seven or eight if I feed you at four. We need a private place to change into our outfits anyway, so that will work for your coma nap.”

Evernya nodded in agreement before inquiring, “So, what were you doing while I was torturing hair stylists?”

“Just some shopping, but I didn’t find much. Most things in this area aren’t practical for everyday life,” Meira replied.

“Are you done then?” Evernya asked, wanting to leave, sick of the constant stares.

After taking a mental stock of her purchases, Meira replied, “Yeah, I think so I can get anything I need in Druth for much cheaper.”

“You mean you actually want to save money? You hardly saved any money on my outfit worth more than most cars. At least I think I haven’t seen how much a car costs here.” Evernya teased.

“The prices on most of those items weren’t bad for what they were. The material alone cost at least twenty thousand more. The price is good, when you add in the name brand designers. Plus, the jewelry I can add enchantments to the jewelry for future use. Even the dress, despite its fragile appearance, is more durable than some adventuring clothes because of the enchantments, so it will last for a long time. The rest also have durability enchantments but not nearly as potent. I’ll reinforce all the enchantments when you put it on next to ensure everything is solid too.” Meira defended, driving the point home.

Evernya threw her arms up in surrender, exclaiming, “Fine, I get it! My crazily expensive and fancy outfit isn’t overpriced.”

Meira smugly smiled in victory, commenting, “Glad you finally understand. I wouldn’t ever buy some overpriced junk for you just because it looks good.”

After surveying the passing mostly human crowds for a minute, Evernya inquired, “so what’s next? Are we going to go to this festival you mentioned?”

“Yes, the next stop is the Summer Solstice Festival in the merchant’s district, where we should find you some passable weapons. After that, we will head back here to eat and rent a hotel room to get ready.” Meira replied, almost looking depressed as she eyed several clothing stores within view of their bench.

“Wait, we are staying the night here?” Evernya questioned.

“Yeah, the auction can go past midnight, and I don’t want to drive back that late. Even with my low-light vision, driving at night outside of cities is very dangerous since Mana beasts are a lot more active at night, even within an outer barrier.” Meira explained while taking a mental checklist of the nearby clothing stores for a possible morning visit.

Evernya’s hands wandered up to the confining collar with a scowl, prompting her to offer, “Why don’t I drive? I have amazing night vision. I’m sure we can make it back, maybe even bag us some more meals along the way with my reflexes and your Air magic.”

Meira gave her kitten’s suggestion some thought before replying, “You can’t drive within the city without a driver’s license. I’ll think about letting you drive outside of the city though. Either way, it would be cheaper to rent a room for a few hours for your coma nap and getting changed.”

“I have woken up in enough random places I would rather go to bed in my bed if possible, even if I have to drive through the night. By the way, will there even be a room available with the Summer Solstice Festival? The auction sounds like it is a pretty big event.” Evernya asked, mentally crossing her fingers, hoping others booked every room others before Meira could.

“It is a huge event, but most people go to the festival and look at all the stalls. The auction is invite-only. I checked last night when I realized what day it was, and there are dozens of rooms available in this section of the city alone. I think I’ll rent a room just in case we want to stay the night. We can always still go home.” Meira replied, putting a severe dent in Evernya’s hope.

Refusing to give up, Evernya continued to poke for reasons. “Isn’t a room in this district expensive? Like everything else here.”

“Yeah, they are, but unless we spend an astronomical amount of money, it’s fine. I have 1 million crystals set aside for today and I have another ten million-plus I can easily transfer over. Any more would be tricky as it’s tied up in investments and assets.” Meira replied yet again, nailing a critical blow to Evernya’s hope of sleeping in her own bed.

Evernya slumped in defeat, choosing instead to mitigate Meira’s spending. “I really hope we don’t come anywhere near either of those numbers.”

“Well, we have around 900 thousand left, so we have plenty left,” Meira stated, as if dropping hundred grand was nothing.

“Wait, where did that twenty-five thousand go?” Evernya questioned, staring suspiciously at her elf.

After a second of mental math, Meira replied. “My outfit, your haircut, and I bought some things while you were tormenting the hairstylists.”

“Why did your outfit cost less than half of mine?” Evernya inquired with increasing suspicion.

Meira answered, immune to her kitten’s glare. “I didn’t have to buy any jewelry, which was over half the cost of your outfit. When I said I had a lot of money tied up in assets, one of those is jewelry. I have a vault the size of a small room in my closet filled with jewelry and other valuables.”

“Holy shit! How much is that worth?” Evernya exclaimed, feeling her draconic urges stirring.

“To be honest, I don’t know. Some items haven’t even left the vault since I installed it. However, I have more than what was on display at The Mage’s Elegance.” Meira replied, enjoying her kitten’s shock.

“Why would you ever need that much jewelry!?” Evernya questioned as a greedy look overtook her features, losing ground against her draconic urges.

Meira justified herself while simultaneously testing her kitten’s control. “You should see my closet, as it’s even worse. Though In all seriousness, a lot of the jewelry are investments. There is no point in keeping a ton of money in my bank accounts. So to trim my bank account down, I buy a bunch of jewelry or other valuables like gold and silver bars in case our current economy collapses to protect myself when the currency becomes worthless. Anyway, I think it would be best for your own sake that you don’t go into my vault if the jewelry display gave you such a powerful reaction.”

Evernya shook her head to clear her greedy, draconic fueled thoughts before replying in agreement. “As much as I want to see this vault of yours, I think you are right.”

Meira checked the time on her cell phone before stating, “Anyway, let’s get going. I want to get in before the rush.”

Meira stood up and strode toward the curb, materializing her motorcycle. Upon materializing her helmet, she glanced at Evernya’s helmetless head with a wince. Meira’s wince transformed into a smile as an idea formed. With a swirl of her finger, a tiny swirling air shield forms around Evernya’s head, protecting it from potential impact without obscuring her vision or limiting her range of motion further.

Evernya jumped at the sudden appearance of her helmet of air, glaring at Meira. “You could have warned me.”

Meira ignored her as she swung herself onto her motorcycle with an expression of satisfaction. Evernya glared at her elf for a second before she too climbed on while grumbling. As soon as her kitten secured herself properly, Meira fired up the mana engine and rolled away from the curb, pulling into the light traffic.

Cool, this shield even stops the wind from blowing into my poor ears. I wonder why my ears don’t bother me when I run. Is it because of my turbo ability? I guess something to ask Meira later. Evernya thought while watching the passing scenery as Meira skillfully weaved her way through the increasingly heavy traffic.

Less than ten minutes later, Meira pulled into a packed parking lot. She ignored the cars fruitlessly circling through the parking lot, trying to find an open spot. Instead, she glided right up to the front near dozens of long lines leading toward a metal gate a hundred meters off in the distance. After climbing off and storing away her motorcycle and helmet, Meira strode forward, skipping the line, with Evernya following.

Evernya surveyed the thousands of people packed into lines with wide eyes while jogging to keep pace with her long-limbed elf. “You weren’t kidding! This place is busy! There has to be thousands of people within sight alone,” Evernya exclaimed.

Meira replied while paying no attention to the disgruntled stares and comments by humans and demi-humans alike waiting in line. “I would say at least several million people will show up today, not including staff and sellers. Most shops in the surrounding Tier 3 cities come here to set up a stall along with many people who make stuff in their spare time. Unfortunately, the weapon section is on the far side of the festival grounds around five kilometers away.”

“How will we get there? Walking will take forever, and I doubt they allow running or flying.” Evernya inquired, flattening her ears against the loud noise from the crowd as they neared the front of the lines.

“No, it won’t. We will take the taxi service, but first, we need to get our wristbands for entry. Fortunately, I remembered to buy them last night. Otherwise, we would wait in line like the rest.” Meira replied, materializing two platinum-colored tickets in her hand.

“Why do we need to pay for anything? Isn’t this just an event for people to show off their wares?” Evernya questioned.

“That’s only part of it. Multiple bands are playing with food and drinks provided at a hefty discount. The taxi service is also free depending on what packages we buy. The biggest advantage of buying a higher package is a thirty percent discount on all goods in most stores, which just include a few weapon shops. I’m sure there are multiple other benefits, but I only skimmed through the details. I know the basic package is just for entrée, but I bought one of the high-end ones.” Meira explained, trying to justify her purchase.

“Wouldn’t they lose money if they offered such a high discount?” Evernya questioned.

“No, because this city’s merchants council organizes the event which the owners of the major stores within this district run. The profits easily offset the discounts and then some. Not only do they make money from ticket sales, but each stall has to pay for a spot increasing depending on their location.” Meira explained.

After a few moments of silence, Evernya asked, “Do I want to know how much the tickets cost?”

“Probably not, but nowhere near as expensive as any of our previous purchases today. Though, it is enough to get a low to mid-range stall location.”

“You said all of today’s purchases. Does that include my haircut?” Evernya inquired, worried about the cost of her simple trim.

“If you had gotten more than just a simple trim, yes, but since your hair seems to have the same boring style as you, that didn’t happen,” Meira replied to Evernya’s relief.

Despite her relief, Evernya put up a front of defense for her hair. “Leave my hair’s style choices alone! It is innocent! It is just following what I want.”

“Then I will blame you. Will you at least let me braid your hair?” Meira begged.

“Wouldn’t it be better to keep my hair down to cover my lack of human ears?” Evernya questioned, unconsciously cupping her head with her hands where her ears would be if she were a human.

“True, but you have plenty of hair to work with while still covering your lack of ears. I don’t know why you would be self-conscious about your lack of human ears, since all shifters are the same.” Meira replied, blowing a weak wind through Evernya’s long hair to emphasize the point.

“Well, I will be among humans, so I would rather avoid showing more of my unhumanous. I like my ears and tail, but that empty spot on each side of my head looks so weird to me.” Evernya argued.

Saddened by her kitten’s need to hide a part of her, Meira slowed down while staring directly into her kitten’s dimly glowing sapphire eyes as she said. “It is not an empty spot. It’s part of you. You don’t see me hiding my big pointy ears, so I don’t hide your inhuman parts either. You are a beautiful young lady. Don’t think any part of your body is ugly. Is this why you never wear your hair in a ponytail while working out?”

Before Evernya could answer, they arrived at the front of the line. Meira flashed her printed out tickets to the staff monitoring the first checkpoint as she walked through the smaller gate into a fenced-off area in front of the much bigger gate with a banner stating summer solstice 2020.

Fortunately for Evernya’s ears, the next section was much quieter, with only a few people preparing to enter the festival. Meira glided past the much smaller line leading toward the main gate, ignoring the angry shouts from those in line. Once at the front of the line, Meira presented the tickets to a middle-aged man wearing a dark blue shirt with bold white lettering stating summer solstice 2020 staff holding a scanning device.

After scanning their tickets, the middle-age man commented. “Someone splurged. You are the first platinum-level tickets of the day.”

The middle-aged guy grabbed two shiny platinum colored wristbands with Platinum VIP printed on them in bold, easy-to-read letters from a pouch at his waist as he explained. “These wristbands, once inside the festival area, will lock onto your wrist. Any attempt at removal will result in security arriving at your location to escort you out. I know it may sound scary, but we have had people try to steal wristbands in the past, and with how expensive these tickets are, we want to prevent theft from happening. However, don’t worry about accidentally breaking them. They can take a beating with their high-grade tamper-proof weaving.”

“How do you know where to find someone who has their wristband removed?” Evernya inquired, ever curious about this world’s security systems.

The middle-aged man smiled at the young shifter’s genuine interest as he explained, “To activate the wristband, you need to insert your mana into it, recording your mana signature. When a wristband becomes damaged, a tamper signature alerts all nearby security, displaying your location in real-time on their tablets. If they only find the wristband, they will then use the stored mana signature to track down the original wearer. Now, if someone else tries to break it off, it will record their mana signature too.”

I could easily exploit this security system. Evernya thought.

The middle-aged man caught something on the young shifter’s face, prompting him to warn her. “I wouldn’t try to remove the wristband on purpose. Doing so will ban you from all future festivals run by our counsel and notification of authorities. Besides, once locked, removal of the wristband is quite difficult, with a rating up to arisen grade 4 in magic in brute force.”

“Now hold out a wrist. For security purposes, we must be the ones to apply the wristband.” The middle-aged man ordered, moving on.

Evernya held out her left wrist while Meira held out her right wrist, allowing the middle-age man to secure the wristbands snugly.

Once satisfied, the middle-age man continued. “Now push mana into your wristbands. You will hear a click indicating activation. After activation, all you need to do is scan your wristband at the gate to enter. I would suggest preparing yourself before entering, as all spatial devices will cease functionality inside the festival grounds.”

Following the man’s instructions, they pushed their mana into their wristbands, causing a familiar click to sound.

Upon hearing the click, the middle-aged guy handed them both a magazine as he said. “This guide has a map of this year’s stalls and stores and any other events going on. If you lose the guide, there is a map along with additional guides at every taxi station and rest area on festival grounds.”

After his explanation, he moved on to the next person in line, prompting the duo to move off to the side. Evernya followed Meira to an open area to the left of the main gate where Meira materialized two backpacks, one dark blue while the other is green.

“Since my storage ring won’t work, I stocked these backpacks. I filled yours with several smoothies and MEL bottles and some Blue Serpent jerky.” Meira explained, handing the dark blue backpack to her kitten.

Evernya peeked inside with her mouth-watering, but quickly became confused. “Why is it so light?”

“Spacial enchantments are out, but minor weight reduction enchantments aren’t,” Meira replied, looking proud of herself as she continued. “I bought a cheap prepaid cell phone in case you need to contact me. It’s in the front pocket. A method of contact is essential since we will need to split up to cover enough ground. Oh yeah, don’t worry about finding me to pay for something. I also included a card loaded with a few hundred thousand crystals in the same pocket.”

She lost grip of the backpack for a moment before catching a just before it hit the paved ground. “Isn’t that a bit much to give me?” Evernya questioned, gingerly holding the backpack as if it was a precious valuable.

Amused by her kitten’s reaction, Meira replied without worry. “Na, from your reaction now and when we bought your outfit, I’m not worried. Unless you wander through the jewelry area, but fortunately, that’s several kilometers away from the weapon area. Also, don’t dare try to give the card back. It’s your money to spend as you see fit. Think of it as your allowance.” Meira ordered, upon catching her kitten’s hand drift toward the zipper of the front pocket.

As her kitten’s hand retreated, Meira continued, “You shouldn’t have too many issues with racist humans since there will be thousands of other shifters here, and you are more than capable of defending yourself. Also, don’t worry about someone stealing the money. I made sure only you or I can use the card. Now let’s get going so we can beat the rush. Maybe we will find something special before someone else does.”

Still in shock, Evernya followed Meira’s example, strapping the backpack on before walking toward the main gate. After scanning their wristbands on the scanner mounted on a pedestal to the left of the gate, they walked through the now transparent gate, entering the festival grounds.