When you're running through a new city, you'd expect to be lost, without a guide that is. Well, even with our guide, Axel, we ended up in some other part of the city. Based on the houses, we're still in the richer district where the nobles live. It makes sense why he would be lost here, as someone from a poorer family, Hector and I couldn't really expect him to know this place.

Many of the guards are eyeing us suspiciously, I feel like they would attack if we made even a slight misstep. Super bloodthirsty, do they actually want to get in a fight with us? We have been wandering around here for quite some time. One of them approaches us, he's tall and stocky with a squarish face.

"Do you three have business here?" he asks.

Hector steps forward, "We're simply lost, my friend here," gestures to me. "came to see some family. We're returning from meeting with them, if possible, we'd like some directions on where we can get to the city square."

"Family?"

"The Yurfrays." Hector says. His face pales, the surrounding guards eye me.

"I can't quite place you. Who are your parents?" he asks. I could say it's personal, but I certainly don't look like a noble's child. Hector already said that I'm a Yurfray, and if I refused to answer, he could try and arrest me.

"Ayleth..." I say.

"Oh?" he rubs his chin. "You certainly look like the young Miss Aisha."

"How do you know this?" I ask.

"She used to come over sometimes." he says nonchalantly. I need more of an explanation.

I point to the house he were he was standing guard, "Did she visit that house?" he nods. "May I meet with that person?" I ask hopefully. Maybe the people she used to talk to can help me. It'd be nice to know when she started acting like this, the more information the better.

But something strikes me as off about the house. Like all the other houses, it looks like something only a noble would live in but it's much smaller, like it's made for a small rich family. The grounds around the house aren't very large either, no servants can be seen walking around.

"Well," he shifts around his weight. "the former master moved away. They weren't nobles, they fell on hard times and so they left the city."

I drop my shoulders, "I see. That's a shame. What was your relationship with my sister?" I ask.

"Only a guard. I was assigned to watch over her when she came."

"Thanks." I say. "Then can we get some directions out of here?"

"Ah. Certainly."

-------

"So~" Hector matches my pace. "are we going to be sleeping in Axel's house again?" he asks.

"I'd like to find a good inn." I tell him. "Are you going to stay with Henry and I for the night or with your family." the day's still young but it's good to ask now.

"I'll go with you guys." he answers.

"Kay~" I say.

"I'm a bit hungry." Hector says. I'd imagine so, none of us have eaten yet, it's a little past noon already.

"Ooooo, I know a good food stand, follow me guys." Axel starts running off in another direction. I'm hesitant, he already got us lost once, I don't know if I can trust him to find the right place a second time. Granted, it was his first time over there in the area.

"Are you going to treat us?" I ask Hector. He opens a small hole in his purse, just enough for him to see while running.

"I don't mind. I'm the adult after all." he says. Good. I was going to bring that up if he didn't want to pay, not that I would've forced him. I just need to save some money, Carlyle hasn't paid me anything yet.

"This is the place guys!" Axel exclaims excitedly. His hands rub together furiously, he runs into line jumping up and down. He must really like this place, I have no doubt that time has made him hungrier for it. It's like the time when my master gave me my two bracers, I spent the whole day taking out and putting back my knives. Sometimes, when I did it just right, the light from the sun would be reflected all over because of the magic that worked on the bracers.

That day, I was so occupied by them that I missed a whole day of training. My master for some reason didn't burst my bubble by telling me to get back to training. He did it the next day though. With a mischievous grin and devilish eyes, he took my bracers away and told me I could get them back if I was able to hit a jolok with a throwing knife. The little half squirrel half invisible lizard gave me a whole ton of trouble. I spent the day looking for one, useless by the way because they're almost impossible to see if they stay still.

Somewhere along the line, although unlike him, he told me, "Use these." dropping a smoke bomb in my hand he went back to lay in his tree. Needless to say, I finally got them back.

We get into line behind Axel. A man is pulled along by a little girl, around the age of four she points to the stand with a smile on her face.

"Daddy, can we get dat?"

The man stands still, his back's straight, he's tall and looks to be well built judging only from looking at him with his clothes on. He has short shaggy brown hair and a plethora of little hairs growing around his jaw, not enough to be a beard though.

"Hmmmm." he looks through the line, as if searching for something. "I can't find any cute girls." what a thing to say in front of his kid. If his wife were here she'd slap him.

"Dey can'd be cuwer dan me." she pouts.

"Of course they won't be cuter than you. No one is." he rubs her lovingly on the head and picks her up. "What do you wanna get? We haven't come here before but maybe they'll have your favorite." the two step into line behind us. With nothing else to do, I decide to listen in on their conversation. I wonder if complimenting my sister like this would work. No no no, it's a bad idea, dismiss the thought.

"I wanna get da taswy food!" she says slurring her words.

He sighs defeated, "Okay."

Still prancing in place, Axel tries to look over the people in front of us. The smell of cooking meat invades my nose, the hits me like a breeze of memories, I haven't had meat in a while. Sure, bread and all those other grains and veggies are great and all but meat is important to eat. Without me realizing it, my mouth's already started to water, it's only been a week since I last had any but I grow a little impatient and sway back and forth.

I feel a tap on my back, "Are you sweepy mishter?" the little girl asks with concern on her face. "My mommy wash fweewing sweepy too. She fwell on da fworr an didn't get bwack up. You need to be cwareful." wow, that's dark.

He turns his body to the side so she's not so close anymore, "Sorry about that. She's just... worried."

"I understand." seeing her mother collapse and die in front of her and not understanding. It's scary to hear those words from a kid who doesn't get that she died. I hope that she won't have any troubles in the future because of that. Although I'm not religious or believe in any god, I pull my hands together and pray to anyone who's willing to listen.

"What are you doing?" Axel asks tilting his head to the side.

"Just having a contest of strength between my hands." I say.

"I don't think you'll be able to find a winner." he says.

"No, I've already found one." I raise my right hand. "This one won."

He looks at me puzzled, "How long did you do it for? An hour?"

I shake my head, "Not at all. I just like using my right hand more."

"Favoritism at its finest." he puts his hand on my left shoulder. "Don't worry buddy, I'm on your side."

"Talking to a hand Axel." I inform him.

"A neglected one." he adds.

"Axel." Hector says. "You're up go get your food, I'm paying by the way." Axel's face makes an "ooooooo" face while also grinning. It's like a child who's just gotten a good idea for a prank. I already can picture Hector's face pale as Axel wrings his wallet dry.

Handing me a kebab and a sausage, Axel then proceeds to eat his, instantly leaving nothing but the stick that impaled them. "Two more please." he says. Hector sighs and drops a few coins into the man's hand, he walks to another stand where he looks at scrolls while nibbling on his food.

I join him soon after, but instead of scrolls, I browse through a few weapons. Axel's still munching on the food when he gets out of line.

"That'll be three silvers and two coppers." the vendor says. I turn around, and see the man with his daughter. He searches through his pouch with a surprised expression.

"Shoot. They changed payday. Sorry but this is all I have." he drops down six coppers.

"This isn't enough sir. You'll have to leave."

"But-"

"It's not enough." the man says again to the father. The little girl looks up at her dad, tears form in the corner of her eyes.

"I'll pay." I say while taking out the required amount. "Here." I give it to the seller. "You don't mind right?"

He shrugs, "I doesn't matter to me. Here you go." he holds out the food for the man and his daughter. Both of them show no signs of taking the food.

"What's the matter?" I ask.

"W-we c-can't take it. I don't have anything to pay you back with."

"I don't mind, I didn't do this expecting to be paid back anyways. A simple thanks would suffice." I tell him.

"I-I... just can't have someone else pay for me."

"You've got some pride there." I step up and grab the food. "I'll take another one too." he hands it to me and I eat it. "Phew! I'm too full to eat the rest." I say exaggerating my less than bulging stomach. "Here, why don't you take these? It'll be a waste to throw them away." I hand it to the girl.

Her mouth hangs open as if she had just received a wonderful present. Her father looks at me with furrowed brows. "I can't take these." he says. "I didn't pay for them."

"Oh stop it. I gave it to your daughter, not you. And," I pat my belly. "I'm full. It's better to give away food you don't need than to throw it away." I turn to walk away.

"T-thanks mishter!" the girl says.

"Yeah." I respond. I walk away with an almost empty wallet but with a full feeling. "Let's go guys."

"Nice of you to do that for a stranger." Hector says. "I wouldn't have done that."

"Only because Axel here ran you dry." I say.

Axel holds his hands out, "Come on Rai, it was some pretty good food. He offered to pay and I took it, can't blame me for eating to my heart's content." that's right, he didn't eat anything yesterday. "But hey, good thing you did over there."

"Yeah, but now I'm running out of money too. Guess we might have to sleep at your place again. Sorry."

"No need to apologize to me, it's fine." Axel says.

"If you need a place to rest for the night, you can stay at our place." a voice calls out from behind us. "We don't have much room but we can accommodate three other people." he says. "It's the least I could do for helping us out back there."

Normally I'd deny this, but since we're low on money and I don't want to impose on Axel's family again, I take his offer. "Thanks."

"No. Thank you for buying that for us."

"For your daughter." I correct him.

"For my daughter" he says with a slight smile. "It's this way. Follow me." he carries his daughter as he leads the way. Hector is just happy that he doesn't have to sleep in a bug infested inn and Axel bears a slight look of relief.

The walk is long, going through multiple districts we finally make it there after an hour or so of walking. The house isn't bad looking, it's like Axel's house but on a smaller scale. It matches perfectly with the surrounding houses, from here I can guess that someone might have to sleep on the couch again.

"Is there enough room for all of us?" Hector asks when we open the door to take a look inside. Two simple couches face each other with a table in the middle. Five chairs are huddled around a dining table, a few dishes lay under the wooden cabinets.

"Yeah. It'll be okay if I sleep on the sofas." he says.

Hector shakes his head at this. "I'll be sleeping on the couch." he declares putting his hand up to stop his protest. "I won't allow the man who provides us with a roof over our heads to sleep anywhere but his own room." they bicker back and forth but the adamant Hector finally wins over.

"Alright." the man says. He looks over at Axel and I. "You two are mages right?" we nod. "Can you show my daughter some magic? She's always bugging me to take her to see some shows but they're always on when I'm working and I can't have her go watch alone."

"Who usually watches over her while you're at work?" Axel asks.

"My neighbor. She's old so I don't want her to go either. A child and an old woman, the perfect combo for a disaster waiting to happen." he says.

"I don't mind." I say. "How about you Axel?"

"I'm in. I haven't practiced magic in a little bit, Miss Ein would get annoyed at us if we came back the same. The other students are probably already learning a bunch of new things, it's been a bit more than a week already."

"Ehem." Hector clears his voice. "It's okay with me if you two practice some magic too."

"Oh. Right. Thanks." we both say.

"Are you both students?" the man asks.

"Yeah. We go to Renard Academy." Axel says.

"So you boys are from the city?" I answer no and Axel says yes. He looks at me with furrowed brows. "Then how did you get in? I heard that one needed a lot of money to enter." Axel also turns to watch me.

I decide to give as little information as possible, "I know someone who has some connections. They helped me get in." he nods at this answer.

"Well, thank you for helping me out today."

"No need. You've provided us with a place to stay." I hold out my hand. "Oh, by the way, I'm Rainen."

He grabs my hand, his grip is strong and his hands are big. "I'm Zale Hems. My daughter is Alice."

"Hi!" she holds out her hand for me to grab.

"Nice to meet you." I say while crouching down.

"Nicsh to meet you." she says back.

"Let's go show her some magic." Axel says and walks out the door.

--------

Four hours pass by and we're resting inside of the house. Instead of showing her magic the whole time, Axel and I played games with her like hide and seek. Hector and Zale sat down and talked. Only when it got dark did we start using magic, as expected, Axel's magic is stronger than mine. I was on defense most of the time.

"Rainen." Zale slowly strides over to me. "Are you really a magician?"

"Sorry that my magic's so weak." I say.

"Oh, not that. I mean, you didn't move like one. You seemed more like a warrior than a magician." I wonder if every average person knows this. Obviously not, Zale's a bit different from them.

"Have you fought in a war before?" I ask him. He shakes his head. Strange. Does he work with magicians then? "Yeah, I've learned some swordsmanship from Hector." it's the truth but not the whole truth.

He nods satisfied with the answer. "Good night." he says.

"Good night." I say as the others enter the room.