After paying for the food and drinks, Elya and Tseli’etro picked up and started to carry Victor.

It wasn’t long before Elya, with her guard training, took over and carried Victor alone, leaving her friend to carry the belongings that he had with him instead. Luckily, because of how large the capital was, it didn’t take long for them to locate a guard station to put him down on a piece of furniture.

“You didn’t hold back at all,” Tseli’etro noted as Victor was put down on a cot, “You need to be careful with that. If he had some sickness it might make it worse.”

Elya exhaled audibly as she took out some paper on and began to write.

“Are you still doing that?” Tseli’etro asked, “Why do you feel the need to write like that so often? I mean don’t you get enough paperwork on the job?”

Instead of responding, Elya kept writing. She alternated between quick flicks with the quill and long slow strokes before eventually stopping and setting the paper aside.

“I just needed a moment.”

Once again moving closer to Victor, Elya held two fingers out and let them linger just above his lips, “He’s still breathing. I wonder what happened.”

Tseli’etro shook her head, “It doesn’t really matter what caused it. What matters now is figuring out if he just passed out or if it’s something worse. Then maybe figure out what caused it”

The two women began to have a mild argument about what they should do in regards to Victors' current situation, but while they both had the same end goal in mind, they had dramatically different thoughts on which path to take to get there.

Darkness was everywhere no matter where he looked and it began to swirl around Victor as it created a cocoon that began to slowly close in on him. As he noticed the form closing in on him, he began to search the area to look for anything around him that might be of help in any way, barely registering the tendrils that the darkness had that seemed to scoop away the light.

As he searched his surroundings, Victor, eventually, noticed memories that were scattered on the ground before him. Some of them were from before he was brought to this world while others were from his time since then. Each memory was crystallized and they all seemed to have a unique shape to them, from the basic shapes to absurdly abstract.

There were good memories as well as bad ones, but the majority of them seemed to be mundane memories that felt the easiest to forget.

While looking through the memories, in an attempt to find anything useful, Victor eventually found some memories that he didn’t think were real. Having only gotten drunk once in his life he couldn’t count some of them out, but since it had only been once the sheer number of them made him doubt their authenticity. Especially those that were from this world.

As the darkness got closer the tendrils started to grapple at Victors’ body once he was within reach. He attempted to fight them off with the memories, but there seemed to be no effect as the darkness drew them all in. Eventually, he found himself holding just one memory as the darkness had nearly engulfed him.

This memory seemed to be in a state of flux as its shape altered itself rapidly. It didn’t seem to want to stay in one form the way all the other memories had.

Victor cried out in frustration and fear as the memory kept changing shape in his hand while the darkness took hold of him. Eventually, it decided on a shape that resembled the card that he had gotten when he first found himself in the new world.

Once it had taken shape it went through everything that it had stored within it one after another in rapid succession.

Unlike the way it had worked with the real card, the image of the item that it stored protruded from the card in a manner that let him feel what it was in it in a sort of two and a half dimension setting.

At one point the memory split into two and a jolt of pain went through his body causing him to nearly lose his grip on it. It did, however, give the tendrils enough time to pull him in closer to the darkened cocoon as the memory took its final form that reflected the two cards as they really were.

As the darkness pulled him up from the group and help him aloft, the two memories took hold and quickly shot at each other somehow, connecting to each other and intermingling something between them.

When it was done there was something new in card one, while card two was left blank. The card that was blank suddenly fell from Victors. hand as the darkness gripped him more roughly. It escaped his sight and made a ripple in the darkness where it landed.

Within his other hand, Victor felt the memory start to shift shape again. It shifted into the form of the fang that had previously been in his second card and then started to grow in size, adjusting itself until it was the size of a small curved sword.

In the time it took the card to form into the odd form the darkness completely overtook him on all sides.

The most obvious impact that this had was that his vision was completely gone in the sense that he only saw darkness and nothing more. Additionally, his sense of touch numbed as all he could truly feel was the part of the weaponized fang that he felt in his hand. Even when he screamed there was only a muffled whisper as far as his own sense of hearing was concerned.

All around him the darkness felt almost like a thick liquid, a sort of molasses that had enveloped him, except for when he jerked his wrist. Around where the point of the fang hit the darkness got harder and seemed to lose its ability to move as it liked. It then started to dissolve as the foul nature of the fang injected itself into the more solid form.

Eventually, a little bit of light became visible and the world that Victor had been in faded away as a new one took its place.

The sunlight was bright as Victor woke up. Because of this he held his hand aloft to block it from his eyes as he groaned, a mild stiffness helping him wake up from unconsciousness.

“What…. Who….. Where?”

Sitting up, Victor felt a hand on his shoulder keeping him in place.

“Don’t sit up to fast. I want to make sure you’re not still going to keep with that odd behavior before you get up.”

Peering around, Victor saw that Elya was making her presence known by putting just a little pressure on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry that I had to hurt you like that, but you were starting to act, well I’m not sure how to explain it. Are you alright? Do you know where you are? Who you are? What happened?”

Victor took a few deep breaths and looked up at Elya who had a stern look on her face.

“I’m a little sore, but I’m doing fine,” Victor began, “I’m in the capital somewhere. I’m Victor, the same guy you zapped the first day we met. As for what happened I had something of a panic attack because your singer friend started talking about all that stuff about slaves being locked up so tightly and it brought up some bad memories that really hit home.”

This time when he tried to sit up, the pressure was no longer pressing down on his shoulder, “Now my questions. Where am I and what happened?”

Moving a chair into a position opposite from the couch that Victor had been laying on, Elya looked at him.

“That panic attack as you called it made us worry and was causing a real disturbance for everyone around us. My first thought was that something was wrong with you. I didn’t know if you were sick or cursed, but that wasn’t normal.”

Holding up her hand, Elya tapped him on the shoulder, “So I used my magic on you and made a short, but unbearable pain. Almost everyone passes out just from a tap when I do that. It’s very mana inefficient though so I’m glad you passed out right away.”

From there she indicated for Victor to look around which, eventually, he did.

“As for where we are,” Elya answered, “I just brought you to the closest guard station that wasn’t just one of the report boxes, just in case.”

Stretching to get rid of some of the tightness that he felt, Victor suddenly froze in place, “Oh wait, what time is it?”

“It’s a little past the midday bell,” Elya informed him, “Not too late, but you did pass out for a while. You should probably just rest for a little before you go out.”

Standing up, Victor swayed just a little bit but smacked at his cheeks to help him regain focus.

“I’ll be fine. I just don’t want to be late. I got a test I need to take to get a job.”

Stretching a bit more, Victor groaned as he continued, “If I can get this job I can make some money without having to go out and risking my life. I’m great at math,” Victor mentally thought, especially by the standards of this world, “and think I can get top marks.”

“Oh? If they are going to test you it might not be easy. Are you sure you can handle it?”

Mentally, Victor chuckled thinking back to his first math test here, “I should be good. Worst case I might need a piece of scrap paper to work with. As long as it’s just financial stuff like they said I should be fine.”

“You’re quite confident,” Elya noted, “If it’s for financials it could be a really hard test. Do you know what place is doing the hiring?”

“It said on the job board that only those who pass the test will be told where and who they are working for. Sounds a bit stuffy so might be a noble or something.”

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose, “I just hope whoever the boss is they aren't too uptight or anything. I know if they pay you that you should suck it up, but that only goes so far. Think of the paycheck, but know your boundaries.”

“Taking the test in order to learn who is hiring? That’s…. A little odd.”

Nodding in agreement with Elya, Victor got himself ready to head out.

“It’s alright if I go now right? Or did you and um…. Telly need something else from me?”

“Tseli’etro,” Elya said correcting Victor, “said she will try to stop at your Inn to give you what she promised.”

Elyas voice got softer as she spoke with a smile, “She’s nice, but she can be a bit pushy sometimes. Make sure you push back if you need to or she’ll try to take over your life.”

“Before you go though,” she said, her voice suddenly back to normal, “Do you want a quick checkup? It can’t hurt to make sure that there is nothing wrong with you while you’re here. I can call one of our medical staff to check you properly now that you’re awake.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I feel fine.”

Victors’ hand wandered a bit until he was able to touch his cards and thought about what happened with the fang in his dream.

“Besides, I think I saw a lot more guards and such lately so if something bad does happen I’ll find one of them.”

Earlier in the day, before Victor had passed out, a young woman named Osheyka had watched him when he entered the Powdered Starlight Apothecary. She, for the most part, just stayed where she could look at the door and waited for him to exit, but at one point she did peek into the shop window. Her only concern was to make sure that he hadn’t snuck out the back or something else in order to escape her view.

While this was, in part, because it meant she would have to find him, she also thought it meant that she might have been noticed.

Unable to hear what he was doing in there, she could only speculate that based on what he had done previously it was related to him looking for work and there was a good chance she would have to just wait outside for a while.

Checking the area for places she could hide and observe the shop, she pondered why lord Vinulette had shown such interest in the young man.

Despite being made to follow him for the day, she hadn’t been told what to look for. She did know that, while it started with just a few people doing it, this was now a job that would alternate between many of the members of the house staff to minimize the chance of being noticed multiple times.

Today, before being sent out, she was made up in a way that would help her blend in.

Her hair was trimmed shorter to make it even harder to determine her gender. She wore basic clothing, but without rips or tears that could be used as descriptors if she was noticed. She had even been given a change of clothes that she kept in a pouch in case she had to escape notice and money in case she needed to go somewhere to watch him and as food money.

As Osheyka searched the area she noticed someone that she recognized walking her way and hid in the nearest alleyway that she could find.

Holding her breath she felt a bit of excitement as she noticed Tseli’etro walking down the street with two other people.

Doing her best to stay composed, she peeked around the corner at the singer.

Last year she had been lucky enough to be allowed to go to her show, with some of the other members of the staff.

Lord Vinulette had gotten some tickets from a friend, and from a business associate, and one from an enemy wishing to stop the unofficial aggression between them.

Not wanting to insult anyone by selling them or leaving them unused, he allowed his staff to make use of all the ones he wouldn’t use by drawing lots in order to determine who would be allowed to go along with him. It was a treat beyond the norm that she hadn’t expected to be allowed to experience herself, especially since, at the time, she had only recently been hired.

Feeling overwhelming excitement that she was able to see the singer in a more casual setting, she leered a little bit and was able to see when Victor left the shop and collide with the singers' female traveling companion.

“That bastard,” she said quietly to herself as she saw it happen.

Watching the group converse from there she felt both frustrated and excited when she saw her target join the pair on their travels as the other male companion left. She couldn’t help but notice that her target seemed a bit hesitant in staying with them.

“How could you hesitate to go with them?” she mentally exclaimed, “Doesn’t he know how big a deal it is to be able to spend time with someone like her?”

Waiting for the group to walk away, she followed them at a safe distance. As she did so she muttered both complaints and words of excitement about how she could watch the singer while watching Victor.

When they stopped at a restaurant, she nearly cried out in excitement as she noticed there was an empty table close to them and managed to get seated at it so she could listen to the conversation they were having.

Not only would this allow her to have more information on her target, but she would get to learn what Tseli’etro is like in her daily life. That, along with a meal, was beyond what she could dare hope for from a day-long assignment like this.

She had missed the first part of the conversation in the time it took her to get seated, but she was eventually able to hear most of what was being said between the three.

The first thing that she heard was Tseli’etro asking Victor if he thought that the woman named Elya was attractive. She even offered to give him pointers on how to seduce her, which meant that she was close to the singer.

Osheyka suddenly had a thought that maybe it was someone that she was going to start a duet with.

She couldn’t help but think that Tseli’etro didn’t need anyone to help her with her music as she made a note of the other womans’ name. She wasn’t sure if it would matter to the investigation but she thought it better to make note of it regardless.

Hearing Victor stutter at the prospect of romance made her glad that he wasn’t trying to make a move on the singer.

She told herself that someone as amazing as Tseli’etro deserved to be with someone equally amazing and that there was no way that this simple man could be that for her.

There wasn’t a lot to this man, as far as Osheyka was concerned. Sure he had a few slaves, but they didn’t seem to be of high quality. Likely something that was going to be sent to the mines or to their deaths that he got at a discount.

Sure the woman looked to be better quality, but that was only because the other two seemed to be broken physically or mentally, leading to a better in comparison situation.

He was staying at a good inn, but that just meant that he had a certain level of money. He didn’t seem like a businessman. Besides if he did have money, surely he would have used it to buy better people like Lord Vinulette had on occasion.

He didn’t even look especially masculine. Sure hearing him speak made it obvious he was a man and that he wasn’t dumb, but his features were a little soft so if you didn’t hear him speak it wouldn’t be unimaginable for someone to be unsure if he was a man or a woman.

Of course, this was true of her right now, but she was specifically made to give that illusion. It looked more like he was naturally androgynous.

Suddenly, she needed to bite her lips to stop herself from crying out.

Tseli’etro was pulling the Elya woman in for a hug. She couldn’t believe it. How close were they?

The only reason she didn’t start to suspect that the pair were a couple was the fact that she was pushing for Elya to go on a date.

Shortly after she had to quickly take a drink as what she heard next was unbelievable.

Tseli’etro was offering Victor passes to get to see her after the show and share a meal.

Was everything up until now a ploy for her to try to date him? No that couldn’t be the case. She had a lot of people who would easily be better than him who she could date. There were even proper nobles who would take her as a spouse, although depending on which she would be a second or third and she couldn’t picture the singer marrying someone who had already had wives to compare her to.

Despite her thoughts of what sort of person would be good enough to marry Tseli’etro, Osheykas’ heart sank a bit when she thought about what Victor would be doing the day of the concert.

It was unlikely that Lord Vinulette would be given a large number of tickets again, especially since his noble status wasn’t reestablished like many people thought it would be. Even if he did they might demand she not get a chance to go do those who didn’t go last year could have a better chance to go.

There was the chance that someone would get to go though. If she told him that Victor was being invited to the concert and even allowed to go to meet the singer after it was possible that Lord Vinulette would pay for a couple tickets to keep an eye on him. With how crowded it was last year, it would be likely that a few of them would have to go in order to keep an eye on him or risk losing him entirely.

Perhaps if she worded it right she could even be one of the ones who was brought in, as a reward for the hard day of work and the information that she was going to provide him.

As she thought about the possibility of going to the show. She heard something about the Ivory Shore Inn and how it dealt with the slaves. As she nibbled on her food she imagined the concert.

The conversation that was happening at the other table barely registered in Osheykas’ mind. That was at least until she realized that Victor was acting so oddly.

He was breathing heavily and shaking more and more until he started to scream out loudly in a way that she hadn’t expected. She considered going to help, but she didn’t know what was happening and didn’t want to risk exposing herself.

It didn’t take long before she saw that Victor was knocked out by the woman named Elya.

While she wasn’t sure what she had done to him, it was obvious that it worked.

When Osheyka saw that Tseli’etro and Elya were leaving, hauling Victor with them, she decided it was time to pay for her meal. She didn’t remember the exact prices so she just took out enough that there was no way she was underpaying.

As the pair of women walked down the road with the unconscious man, Osheyka followed them from a safe distance.

Once the group entered a guard station, Osheyka took out a small bauble and clapped it between her hands. The premade trigger used up the last of the mana within it and sent a signal to someone else who worked in the house.

It was a system for when there was something that needed to be told right away happened. A way for the observer to get help.

At least that was what she had been told.

In reality, there was nothing magical about it. It was just a way for the staff member who was watching Victor and Osheyka to know that the newer member wanted something.

It was something that the senior staff did to help the newer staff grow, without letting them know that they were also being observed.

After he got rid of the last bit of stiffness, Victor asked for a little help regarding where he was in the capital. Once that was figured out he left the guard station. He wasn’t sure what to think about everything that happened so he did his best to push those thoughts away.

“If it’s a little bit past lunch,” Victor thought aloud, “I should be able to get to the testing site and manage from there. I wonder if I should get something for dinner to bring with me or if it’ll be short enough I don’t need to.”

As he walked away towards his evening appointment and turned he didn’t hear his name cried out by someone who ran after him with a piece of paper in his hand. He also didn’t notice any of the people who were watching him from different locations, doing their best not to be noticed.