“What kind of last name is Alyssum?”

“It’s not very common…” Nia said trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Oh! No! I… uhh… I mean’t that it’s unusual that’s all.” Ren tried to salvage his attempt at small talk.

“I would say your name is even more unusual than mine.” Nia retorted with a smile.

“Ah... well… I’m not from around here, so it makes sense.”

“Where did you say you were from again?” Nia asked.

“A kingdom that’s really far away. Like… across the ocean far away.”

“I’ve heard stories of kingdoms on other continents, but no one has ever gone that far to verify if it’s true or not. Since you’re here you could tell me more about what it’s like over there!” She said excitedly.

“Ummm… It’s actually a bit further away than that…” He stumbled.

It had been a whole week since Ren had arrived and he had quickly adjusted to life in Anderess. He quickly got rid of his old, off looking clothing, and bought suitable garments for an bronze level adventurer. He had even found himself a small party, also eager bronze adventurers. Despite coming from a far off kingdom, he seemed to be prepared with enough gold to buy everything he needed, and then some more. Nia thought that maybe he was from a rich background, but more than that, she was curious to know more about this faraway kingdom. She didn’t usually get the opportunity to talk to someone who was from a distant land, so she used her lunch break to try to learn as much as possible.

“There isn’t really that much to say about it if I’m being honest. I’m more curious about this place. Is there anything big happening?”

“Big? Nothing really. I mean, the kingdom is always looking to expand its borders so adventurers are always needed to help out, but other than that things are at a relative peace right now.”

“Oh. That’s a bit surprising. I’d think that a kingdom like this would be at war trying to expand its borders.”

“We were at war with the neighboring kingdom, but that was a while ago. Now we are trying to expand into the wilderness, which is why Anderess was created.”

“But I heard the city was like, 100 years old.”

“The wilderness is very dangerous. Progress is slow, partially because there is a lot we don’t know about it and partially because of the cautious nature of our guild master.”

“Aurus right? I met him when I first came into town. Didn’t take him for someone too cautious, just too serious.”

“He is a bit too serious.” She said with a laugh.

“But still, 100 years is a long time to expand. This place should be a lot bigger than it is.”

“Well, soon after Anderess was founded we went to war with the neighboring kingdom. Since they border the other side of our territory, all of the resources were taken there. So the town really didn’t start growing until about 50 years ago when we declared peace.”

“That makes sense.” Ren said quietly.

“Enough about my kingdom. Are you sure there is nothing you can tell me about yours?” She asked, still curious about where he was from.

“There are a few things I could probably explain if I’m being honest.” He said scratching the back of his head.

From what she could gather about what he told her, it seemed his kingdom wasn’t a kingdom at all. The people choose the leader in a sort of voting process. The people also lived in very large cities, probably as large as the capital, she figured. The most surprising thing to her though was that they did not have any magic.

“So your kingdom doesn’t rely on magic? At all?” Nia said incredulously.

“No. We rely on other things, but not magic. That was something I was very interested in when I came here actually. How does magic work?”

“Uhh…” The question hit Nia all too suddenly. She didn’t know much about magic, she only knew that it worked.

“Like, do people use mana?”

“Mana? Like the bread?” Nia was puzzled why people would need to use a type of bread to cast magic.

“No. I mean… can anyone do it?” Ren rephrased his question.

“Of course. As long as you have a magic item and an activator you can use magic.” She replied, still thinking about the bread.

“But can people use magic without items?”

“No. Magic can only be found in nonliving things.” That was what Aurus told her when she asked that same question, so that was what she told him. “Except for a few plants and insects, I guess.”

“What kind of magic system is this?” Ren said under his breath. “Can you teach me more about these activators?” He quickly asked before she could process what he had said.

“No… I don’t really know all that much. You should ask someone who does know. Don’t you have someone in your party who knows magic? You could ask him.”

“I did, and he told me to go read a book. I’d really like if someone actually taught me instead.”

“Then why don’t you go to the Wizard’s College? I’m sure they’ll accept anyone who is willing to learn.”

“College is the last place I want to go to right now. Even if it is a wizard’s college. Isn’t there anyone with magic experience who would be willing to teach me?”

“Well. Aurus has a lot of experience with magic, but I’m not sure if he would be willing to…”

“It’s settled then. I’ll ask Aurus to teach me magic.” He interrupted her.

“I don’t think that is a good…”

“Thank you very much Nia! I have to meet with my party soon so we’ll talk later.” He ran off, interrupting her once again.

She was left alone, sitting on a table near the bar. There was definitely something off about him. She couldn’t quite figure out what, but she knew there was more to him than he let on. For once, his kingdom seemed extremely weird to her, especially the fact they didn’t use magic. Everyone used magic to a certain extent, whether that was healing magic for bruises, fire magic to cook things, or light magic to brighten up the night. Doing things without magic just seemed like a lot of extra work. Nia decided to try to figure this all out later, because right now, her lunch was getting cold, she hadn’t even taken a bite out of it yet. She looked up quickly as the self-proclaimed artist chef sat directly in front of her.

“Nia. Do you know when the boss will be back?” Marc asked.

“He’s been gone for about an hour so… I’ll guess it will be another hour before he comes back.”

“Good, good. I really wanted to try this new piece without him around.” He said in relief.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” She said worriedly. “The last time you changed something on the menu half the adventurers got sick, and you got a lecture from Aurus about it.”

“I know, I know, but it won’t be a permanent change. I just need to know how much rat poison a regular person can eat without getting sick.”

“Marc no!” She yelled at him. “Why are you even using rat poison as an ingredient?”

“It’s for…”

“Don’t you dare say it’s for the art.” She cut him off.

“…curiosity.” He said meekly.

“Please Marc. You already used rat poison as an ingredient before. You should already know how much makes a person sick.” She pleaded.

“Yes! But I don’t know how much DOESN’T make a person sick! Don’t you see? I’m going to be using it as an ingredient again. All the flavor of rat poison, without any of the negative effects.”

“I’m pretty sure rat poison does not taste good in any quantity.” She tried reasoning.

“That’s because you haven’t had it properly prepared and served. All these people use rat poison for is for killing rats. Some of my best taste testers were rats, so I’m going to show them how good it can be for other things.”

“I really hope you are kidding.” She responded. “Is there anything I can say that would change your mind?”

“No. Even if there was I already put rat poison on most of the orders I’ve gotten today so it would be too late either way.” He said with a smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me I must observe the audience for a bit.”

Nia stared at him with a blank expression as he left, before slowly looking at her plate of food. Looking closely at it she could see between the pieces of meat in her plate were a few pellets of what she initially assumed were spices. Lifting one of the lettuce leaves, she found more rat poison pellets. She slowly pushed the plate of food away from her, thanking Ren in her mind for having her talk about the kingdom instead of eating. She heard a thud as the fighter sitting on the table next to hers slammed his head on his plate of food. The priest sitting opposite to him stood up and began asking him what was wrong, before gripping her own stomach in pain. People all throughout the tavern began to show different signs of poisoning. While some doubled over in pain, others began vomiting profusely, while other just fainted completely. Nia got up and quickly ran to the bar where Marc was seated. He had a small notebook in hand and seemed to be really focused on writing down everything he was seeing.

“What kind of rat poison did you give these people?!” Nia almost screamed at him.

“Regular rat poison of course! Well, that and a few other kinds of poisons I thought would make good ingredients later.”

“You’re unbelievable! How did you even get a hold of so many poisons?”

“Someone left the door to the poisons cabinet in the Shop Shop open so I thought I could use some of them.”

“Someone left the... but why would you? I can’t…” She breathed deeply before speaking again. “You’re going to help us clean everything when it’s all over and so help me if anyone dies I’ll…”

“Don’t worry my dear! I know how much poison is enough to kill someone. Remember I’m doing this to find out how much DOESN’T kill.” He posed while speaking; only now taking the time to look at her in between notes.

She stared at him. Her near-golden eyes that normally looked serene now held in them a piercing look. He was a bit taken aback at how different she looked when she was angry. Her usually calm demeanor had shifted into a glare that sent chills down his spine. It lasted for less than a second, as it was gone just as quickly as it had come. Nia tried to calm herself as more and more adventurers collapsed around them, until a voice rang in from the direction of the entrance.

“What’s this? You all started a celebration without me?”

She turned around with her eyes wide, to see Mayor Rickett entering the building with a large smile on his face. She turned to Marc.

“Find a healer who is not currently vomiting everything inside them and start fixing this mess! I’ll go deal with Rickett.” She whispered the last phrase to him.

Marc groaned, but accepted he would need to do more tests later, before getting up and trying to find someone to help him with this situation. Meanwhile Nia had already made her way through the sick crowd and stood right in front of the mayor.

“Mayor! What are you doing here all of the sudden?” She said, putting on her best fake smile.

“I had an idea I wanted to discuss with Aurus, but I had no idea you were all planning a party!”

“Well, you see… It was just so sudden. We didn’t really plan anything. Aurus isn’t here right now but you can wait upstairs if you like. He shouldn’t take too long to arrive.” She did her best to get him out of there; this was already a terrible situation.

“I could, but I’m more interested in what is going on down here.”

“Oh this is nothing. Just a… training exercise! A training exercise… yes! We are trying to figure out the proper precautions to take in the event of mass food poisonings.” As she said this, a ranger fell on the floor behind her, knocking down a table in the process.

“Oh, that sounds a lot less interesting. I think I shall take your advice and wait upstairs. Thank you Nia!”

“You’re welcome!” She said with a smile.

I probably didn’t have to lie about all this. Knowing him, he would probably join Marc in writing down notes. But I can’t have him here making things worse, so I guess this is a good solution for now.

Most of the adventurers seemed to have collapsed already, and the few healers who weren’t poisoned enough were now tending to them. This would probably not be too hard to clean up if it weren’t for the fact most of the lunches they had eaten was now on the floor. She spotted Marc smelling a puddle near one of the adventurers, as he saw her he gave small smile and a thumbs-up. Perhaps in his mind this was a success.

We really need a new chef. She thought before making her way to the broom closet.

She comforted herself in the fact that Aurus would probably not have been able to prevent this. She grabbed a mop and a wet cloth, starting to clean the floor from the edges of the bar. Whomever left the poison cabinet open would pay dearly; she would make sure of it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Aurus arrived in Anderess quicker than he had imagined. The whole trip to “exorcise” the magic house only took two hours in total. Leaving the horse in the town stables, he carried everything back to the guild. He dragged the bag filled with stones on the ground behind him while he carried the backpack with the more sensitive things. Specifically the box with the pebble currently holding all of the fire magic that used to be in the house. Considering how much magic it held, he wouldn’t risk it putting the box with all the other rocks.

I still need to figure out what to do with all that magic. Definitely not put it into a staff, maybe the Wizard’s College could use it better… I’ll figure this out later.

He remembered once again that he had quite a few sale documents to look over. He would usually glance at them but they were less than a month away from handing in the full financial report to the government. This was usually done in person at the Royal Bank, so Aurus had to make sure it was perfect, otherwise he would spend a lot more time than necessary over at the capital. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just sales sheets, but the financial report included any and all gold and items given or received for quests. It also happened to include the progress of said quests, since most important ones were done for the expansion of the kingdom itself. He already hated dealing with bureaucracy, having to see the ones responsible for most of it, for extended periods of time, sounded like a nightmare.

As he turned the corner of a street he saw Ren and his party talking amongst themselves, most likely about their next mission. Ren broke away from the party when he spotted Aurus, approaching him eagerly.

“Aurus, just the man I wanted to see.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I have a request to ask of you.”

“If you want to submit a quest you should ask the Info Desk.”

“No it’s not a quest, it’s a personal request. I want you to teach me magic.”

“No.” Aurus said as soon as the words left Ren’s mouth.

“Why not?” He said surprised.

“Because I don’t have time.”

“I’m sure you are very busy, but are you sure you don’t have the time just to teach me some very quick magic?”

“Yes, I’m sure, and magic isn’t something that can be learned quickly.”

“Not even what activators are and stuff?”

“Even if you knew the specific activator of a spell, knowing when and where to cast are completely separate.”

“Then you can teach me about that!”

“Like I said, no. If you want to learn magic so much, read a book. There are tons of books on the applications.”

The wizard in his party, who happened to be listening in on the conversation, shouted to Ren.

“What did I tell you! Hmmm?” He said with a shit-eating grin.

“Shut it Almer!” Ren turned to his friend.

A small argument broke out as they started discussing. Aurus decided this was the perfect opportunity to slip away. He had made it halfway across the street before Ren ran up to him once again.

“Wait! Are you sure there isn’t anything you can teach me? I am completely unprepared! What if I need to cast a fire spell? Or fight a magical creature?”

“Magical creature?” Aurus furrowed his brow and stood silent for a second before speaking again. “Do you know the fundamental theory of magic?”

“The fundamental what?” Ren tilted his head in confusion.

Aurus sighed before speaking.

“There are two orders, or energies, or forces, whatever you want to call them. Magic and the soul. The organization of magic leads to spells and enchantments. The organization of the soul leads to life. They do not mix. The most complex life form you will find with inherent magic are a few kinds of insects. So, I wouldn’t be worried about fighting ‘magical creatures’.” He explained rather quickly. “I taught you something, now I have to get going.”

“Nia said something very similar to that, but I…”

“Then you should’ve listened to her. That is the first thing you need to know if you are to ever use magic.” Aurus interrupted him, holding back the annoyance in his voice.

“But what about mana? Are there any spells that use mana?”

“I’m pretty sure that there are no spells that have bread as the activator.” Aurus answered as deadpan as ever.

“I’m not talking about… is there seriously no mana in this world other than bread?” He whispered to himself.

“Why don’t you go to the Wizard’s College?” Aurus suggested. “They’re always accepting new students, even those that have no experience with magic.”

“I don’t know… College of any kind sounds really boring to be honest.” He said quietly while scratching his cheek.

“Then how would learning magic from me be any different?” Aurus asked him.

Ren pondered the question before Aurus asked him another one.

“Why do you want to learn magic?” He asked, now turning to face him.

Ren seemed to freeze, even more than the first question.

“I want to become a great adventurer who helps people!” He said triumphantly.

“You want to help people? Then learn healing magic, or take a few community work quests. I’m sure there are lots of small villages who could use the help.”

“Community work…” Ren said to himself before he felt a hand on his shoulder from one of his party members.

“We have to go Ren. We are going to be late.” The female paladin said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Aurus.

“Wait Denna. I still have questions!”

“You can ask them later.” She said in a serious tone. “We have dire wolves to kill.”

Even if you did have the time to ask, I wouldn’t have the time to answer. Aurus thought to himself as he saw the young adventurer being dragged by the much stronger paladin.

Aurus was sure that this was not the last time Ren would ask him to teach magic. He never figured himself as a teacher. The only reason he taught Nia anything about magic was that it was a job necessity. Handling magic items on a daily basis without understanding how they function was the first step towards disaster. He sighed, adjusting his backpack as he began once again walking towards his “favorite” place on earth.

He arrived at the tavern and was surprised to see that everything was a lot cleaner than it was before. It also seemed a lot emptier than usual. The usual sounds of talking, laughing, and arguing were replaced by an off-putting silence, as most of the tables were empty save for a few people. They didn’t exactly look in the brightest mood either, with their faces covered by an expression Aurus could only describe as nauseous. He eyed the room a bit more before Nia came up from behind the Info Desk.

“Boss! How was the ‘exorcism’?” She asked cheerily.

"It went well. Did something happen here?” He asked while surveying the tavern.

“Ummm… Someone left the poison cabinet open, and Marc got his hands on some of it.” She reeled a bit at the memory of what had happened and Aurus widened his eyes.

“Did anyone…”

“No one died! Thankfully. Almost everyone is at the Priest Hospital receiving healing.” She interrupted him

“Alright then.” Aurus calmed down. “Anything else?”

“The mayor is waiting for you upstairs. He said he had an idea to discuss with you.”

“Just what I needed. More ideas from him.”

Aurus made walked up to his office, still dragging most of the things along behind him. His thoughts were now on what Nia had told him.

Who would leave the poison cabinet open? Of all the dangerous things to do…

His thoughts continued even as he walked in to the Mayor sitting on a chair, enjoying a cup of tea.

“I see you got new windows. I’m sad you ignored my advice.”

“Unlike you I work better when there isn’t a breeze in my office.”

“Pity. I would visit a lot more often if you went with the windowless office model.” He sipped his tea.

Glad I replaced my windows then.

“What did you want to discuss with me anyways?” He asked. Putting most of the things behind his desk.

“I… I don’t remember! Hahahaha!” Rickett broke into laughter.

Great… Another waste of my…

His thoughts were interrupted as Rickett spoke in a loud voice.

“I may not remember my idea but there is something that I need to give you.” He said pulling out a letter from his pocket. “Someone gave me this letter addressed to you.”

Handing over the letter Aurus could see that it wasn’t particularly fancy. In fact, the paper of the letter seemed to be a bit old and scrunched up. He didn’t know whether that last detail was simply because of Rickett or not. The back of the letter simply had written: “To the Master of the Adventurer’s Guild”.

“When did you get this?” Aurus asked.

“This morning actually. For some reason it was in my pocket when I came here.”

“And you don’t think that is the least bit weird?”

“Not really. I have had worse things placed in my pocket when I wasn’t paying attention. This one time…”

“I really don’t want to know and besides, don’t you have an idea that you wanted to discuss with me?”

“Right! The idea… hmmm… I seem to have forgotten! Hahahahaha!” Ricketts laughter filled the office once more.

“Why don’t you come back later when you remember?” Aurus said, thankful that his distraction worked so well.

“Of course, of course. Have a good evening Aurus!”

“You too Mayor.”

Just as the mayor left his office, Aurus pulled out the small box carrying the fire rock and placed in one of his drawers. He would decide what to do with that later. Grabbing the letter, he opened it, and was surprised that there in terms of content. The entire letter read:

“Thank you for the poison "

-The Thieves Guild.”

He stared at the crudely drawn smiley face, trying to process what he had just read. Whatever doubts he had left about the existence of an illegal group in the city disappeared. There was a Thieves Guild in Anderess and they had stolen poison from the Adventurer’s Guild. Not only that they were most likely the ones who took the Honor Badges from the party New Frontier.

This is not good. Aurus thought, placing the letter back on the desk. This is not good at all.