Zane walked down the large staircase that led to the platform where multiple carriages stood. It was surrounded by bushes that served as a sort of natural railing and a rose surrounded by two nine-tailed foxes had been carved into the middle of the platform.

A bit much . . .

As he walked he turned the ring he had gotten from Holin in his hand.

This means I work for him now . . . guess I'm a mercenary no longer.

He passed a few guards when he walked down the ramp that led back into the city. All of them nodded at him and he nodded back. On their fingers, he could see the same kind of ring he had hanging around his neck. The streets were clean and only covered in a thin layer of snow. Many people were walking around, going from shop to shop or from house to house, walking alone or with friends, with their children and lovers and others with dogs on a leash.

Zane walked past all those people without paying them much mind until he reached the blacksmith's shop. It was a house completely made of stone with a large chimney coming out of the roof. The blacksmith store didn't have a door, instead, it was open allowing one to look into it easily. The walls were nearly completely covered in weapons, shields and armours with a few shelves here and there. When Zane entered he was greeted by a wave of heat coming from the burning forge and the blacksmith looked up from the piece of paper he had been staring at. She was a tall woman with wolf properties and wore a dark brown shirt, black pants and a dirty dark grey apron.

"Ah, Reaper, you're back," she said.

Zane nodded at her as he approached the counter she stood behind. The piece of paper she had been looking at pictured a hand, with beautiful details on it.

Must be for Mira.

"So, what can I do ya for?" the blacksmith asked.

Zane rummaged through his satchel until he felt the small bullet he had put in there before facing the goblins. He put it down on the counter and she took a look at it, pulling down the pair of glasses she had on her head. She began turning a cog at the side of the glasses and the lenses began to extend forwards.

"Hmm . . . how many do you need?" she asked.

"Forty, keep that for reference later on," Zane said.

"Alright, but I have a high priority order so it might take a while, anything else you need?" the blacksmith asked as she pushed the glasses back up.

"Remember my sword?" Zane asked.

"Oh, you want one of those . . . I can do that but that will take a bit longer," she said.

She then turned around and walked over to a shelf with a lot of documents on it. After a while, she returned with two pieces of paper. The blacksmith looked over one of them for a short while and then looked up at Zane.

"That will be three forty gold coins," she said.

"Was told I'd get a discount with this," Zane said as he showed her the ring around his neck.

"Oh, you work for the family now? That's interesting what's your position?" she asked.

"Bodyguard for Mira and Xavier," Zane answered.

"Oh my, well then it will be two fifty-five," she said. "Will you pay now or later?"

Zane rummaged through his satchel and took out a heavy pouch filled with gold coins. He let the coins fall onto the counter and began taking away a small chunk.

"There," he said once he let the coins he had taken away fall back into the pouch.

The blacksmith then took the second piece of paper and wrote some things down on it, then handed it to Zane along with the pencil

"Just sign there," she said.

Zane took the pencil and signed the contract. The blacksmith then took the document and put it under her counter.

"Thank's for your patronage," the blacksmith said with a smile on her face.

Zane waved at her as he left the store.

I should go and get my armour repaired and then look into getting a few more potions. I could also let the witch take a look at the potions Vin made.

Zane walked along the walkway until he came to a store that had a roof above its door that extended all the way to the edge of the walkway. Hanging down from that roof on both sides was a sign that read 'Armour's and Clothes' in silver letters on a dark wood background. He entered the store through the heavy door and was immediately greeted by the sound of a bell that went of as soon as he opened the door.

The shop's walls were lined with shelves. On the shelves was cloth, leather and many other materials used to produce clothing. There were many stands with articles of clothing scattered around the room along with a few plants, some of which reached all the wax to the ceiling of the store.

"Ah, welcome, welcome," a tall, skinny man said immediately. "Oh, it's you Reaper what can we do for you today?"

Zane walked up to the counter and leaned on it.

"Armour repairs," he said.

"Well then, please take off your armour and put them over there," the shopkeeper said, pointing towards a large table.

The table was filled with tools used to repair armours. Zane walked over to it and took off his boots, leggings, top, leather gauntlet and cloak. He now stood there with a whiteish shirt, dark brown, very thin pants and dark grey socks.

"I'll take a pair of boots, pants and a coat," Zane said.

"Yes, yes, we should have those in exactly your size," the shopkeeper said.

He ran into a room in the back and returned shortly after with two leather boots, a pair of black pants and a black coat with silver buttons. The shopkeeper gave them to Zane who immediately put them on, they fit him well.

"Well then, that will make- oh you work for the family . . . alright, twenty for repairs and thirty for the clothes, so fifty," the shopkeeper said.

Zane took out the same pouch from before and gave it to him. Inside were exactly fifty gold coins. The shopkeeper looked through the coins for a few seconds before he smiled at Zane and nodded.

"Always good to have your patronage," he said with a bright smile on his face.

Zane left the store and went back on the walkway. He followed it for a while until he came across a narrow alleyway that led to a large tree. The tree's leaves were of a purplish colour and veins hung down from its many branches. There was also a light smoke in the air that smelled like dirt during the rain. He was in a small area, surrounded by the walls of houses to all sides but one, on that side was the mountain, and imbedded into it was a wooden door, and two small round windows consisting of a round wooden frame and a wooden cross in the middle. The smoke came from those windows.

Zane walked past the tree and opened the wooden door. More of the smoke went past him. The inside of the house was narrow, the walls packed with shelves and the rest was covered with tables or more shelves. On those tables were all kinds of things. Jar's filled with strange leaves and liquids, there were large glass containers with snakes, spiders and other small creatures in them on the shelves were more jars and bowls filled with ingredients and in the back of the room he was in was a counter, next to that counter was a cauldron with a thick, blueish liquid inside.

"Oh, a customer," a female voice said.

Zane looked around for the origin of the voice and spotted the tip of a pointy hat looking out from behind the counter. After a few seconds, a woman appeared. She had slightly pointy ears wore a black dress with purple details, beneath it she wore a white shirt and on her head, she wore a pointy hat the same colour as the dress. Brown hair with a hint of red hung down from her head all the way to her chest where it rested.

A half-elf . . . where's the old woman?

"Oh, you must be the Reaper. My grandmother told me about you when I took over the shop. I'm glad to see a returning customer so soon," she said. "My name is Avila and I'm the owner of this shop now."

She sounded more excited than Zane thought she should be but he just nodded and approached the counter.

"What do you need?" Avila asked.

Zane pulled the four vials that Vindictus had filled with the strange liquid and showed them to the witch.

"Mind taking a look at these?" Zane asked.

Avila shook her head and took the vials out of his hand and laid them out on the counter. She then took out a small apparatus, which was shaped like a small birdcage with a flat roof and a vial in the middle, and a pair of glasses with strange milky lenses.

A witch using sorcery . . . never seen that before.

She poured a bit of the liquid into a vial on the apparatus and then pressed a button on it. The bars of the cage-like apparatus split in two and began bending towards the vial in the middle. When they connected with it Zane could sense how Aura was flowing through the apparatus. Avila then put on the pair of glasses with the milky lenses and looked at the liquid for a short while.

"W-W-Where did you get this?" she asked after a while. "This is amazing! Who could make something like this? What kinds of ingredients did they use? Where did they get those ingredients? What method did they use to make it? Did they press them? Boiled them? Cook them? Cut them up? Or maybe all of those? Did they make it under certain conditions? Midnight? Fullmoon? While injured? On top of a mountain? Underground? This is simply amazing! The potency of this potion is unbelievable! This could heal any kind of wound! Broken bones, cuts, this could even help with missing limbs! And all that with no pain!" the with said, talking almost too fast for Zane to understand. "Now tell me, where did you get these?"

Avila was leaning over the counter, her breast resting on it making her cleavage appear even larger than it was. With one hand she held onto Zane's shoulder and her eyes were filled with curiosity. Zane grabbed her hand and forced it off his shoulder.

"These were made using an Aura ability," Zane said.

"An Aura ability eh? So would you tell me who exactly made them, maybe I cant rack them down and put them under contract," she said.

"Vindictus," Zane said bluntly.

Avila jumped back a bit at his answer.

"D-Do you mean . . . that Vindictus, the thirteenth god?" the witch asked in disbelief.

Zane nodded.

"W-Well that complicates things. Of course, assuming you're right . . ." she said. "H-How would you like to sell them to me?"

"How much?" Zane asked.

"Hmm . . . fifty . . . no seventy, seventy each," Avila said.

Seventy each . . . a normal healing potion would be five . . . a bone repair potion would be seven.

Zane smiled at her.

"I'll sell two," he said.

"Perfect, a hundred forty gold coins coming up," the witch said as she dove behind the counter.

Zane could hear the sound of metal hitting metal for a while until she came back up from behind the counter with a pouch in her hand.

"Can I get you anything else?" she asked with a bright smile on her face.

You should have asked that earlier.

Zane took two of the vials back as he thought and Avila put the apparatus and the glasses back where she got them from.

"Ten healing potions, three for broken bones, five fire breath potions, five for night vision and one vial of silver dust," Zane said.

"Alright . . . that will be . . . fifty, seventy-one, one twenty-one, one thirty-six. . . one forty-six, that will make one hundred forty-six gold coins," she said already about to take back the pouch filled with gold coins.

But before she could take it Zane showed her the ring around his neck.

"Oh . . . then it comes out to one hundred and ten gold coins," she said.

She took most coins out of the pouch and handed the much smaller one to Zane who put it in his satchel. The witch then disappeared into a room in the back and came out shortly after with a tray in her hands, on that tray where all the potions Zane had asked for.

"Here you go," she said.

Zane nodded and took the potions, then put them in his satchel.

"Thank you for your patronage, and if you ever get your hand on more of those potions consider selling some to me," she said as Zane left.

Zane waved back at her as he pushed open the door and walked back out onto the open area with the tree in the middle. He walked past it again and through the alley. It had gotten quite dark by now and the lanterns on the streets had lit up, emitting a warm light. Zane turned the corner and walked towards the inn where he had stayed before.

He entered the large inn close to the entrance of the town and was greeted by yelling, singing and the smell of alcohol. The inn was full of people, farmers and other workers, merchants and a few mercenaries.

He sat down at a small table and ordered food and drink.

I could go to the mansion, couldn't I? Ah, who cares.

The innkeeper quickly came back with Zane's food and drink. Nothing happened while Zane was eating but when he was about to leave he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Yo, Reaper! Who would . . . would 'ave thought yer still alive," a familiar voice said.

Zane turned his head only to see a tall man with short black hair, a trimmed beard and brown eyes. He was wearing chainmail along with some steel gauntlets and a greatsword was placed on his back.

"Hugo," Zane said.

For a few seconds, Hugo said nothing as he stared at Zane's new necklace.

"You workin' for 'ath family now eh?" he said, trying to balance while supporting his weight on Zane's shoulder.

Zane nodded.

Hugo sat down opposite to him and hit the table with his fist.

"So . . . what's yer job?" he asked.

"Bodyguard," Zane answered trying to avoid his eyes.

"Oh, so does that p-pay well?" he asked.

Zane nodded and at that moment the innkeeper walked past his table. With one hand Zane reached out to him, handing the innkeeper a few silver coins for the food and drink. He then stood up, trying to leave as quickly as possible.

"W-Where are ya goin'?" Hugo asked, standing up as well.

"Sleep," Zane answered.

"Sleep? But the lodging's upstairs isn't it?" Hugo said.

"I don't need lodging here," Zane answered.

"W-What? Nah, stay 'ere with me!" Hugo said angrily.

"I can't," Zane responded as he ran out the door.

But Hugo followed him outside.

"Now wait a sec. Come on, why don't ya stay a while? We can drink, like the old times!" Hugo yelled more than said.

A few guards had heard the yelling and were approaching the two.

"I already sa-" Zane began but Hugo interrupted him.

"No, no, no, no. Yer stayin' with me. And then, and then we're leavin' here togetha. We need to get Gil-Gilma. He's a fuckin' bastard ya know. Betrayed me. Years ago but it don't matter now! Togetha we can get 'im!" Hugo yelled, reaching for his greatsword with one hand. "But if you don't wanna, if you wanna defend 'im then I'll have ta kill ya!"

Hugo drew his greatsword and Zane reached for his, but it wasn't there. He had no weapons with him and he couldn't afford to waste any of the potions he had. That was when an arrow hit Hugo's sword.

"You there, get away from him!" a guard yelled.

"What do you want!? Just talkin' to a friend!" Hugo yelled back.

Multiple guards had now surrounded them.

"We can't let you attack him, he's a valued employee of the Vermillion family," one of the guards said calmly.

"I don't give a fuck!" Hugo yelled as he brought down his greatsword at Zane.

But Zane stepped to the side, lifted one foot and stepped on the blade. Hugo looked at him confused as if he couldn't believe that anyone could have actually dodged the attack. Zane leaned back a bit and punched Hugo in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Shall we bring him to prison?" one of the guards asked Zane as he was leaving.

Zane just shrugged as he walked away, towards the large ramp in the back of the city. It took him a while to get back to the mansion at the top of both the ramp and the staircase. Once he reached the top of the staircase and stood in front of the mansion again he was greeted by another wolf demi-human dressed in a pale pink dress and a dark red vest.

"Master Larcadia, if you would please follow me," she said.

Master Larcadia? Really? This is going to be hell.

Zane followed the woman to a room on the second floor. It was about as large as Holvin's office, had a large window on one wall that allowed him to look over the entire city. The bad was massive, longer than he was tall with many shelves and wardrobes. On the table laid his armour, repaired and looking cleaner than ever.

"The shopkeeper brought that over earlier," the servant said.

Zane nodded at her and she left the room. Zane looked around his new room. At the plants, the shelves, the bear rug on the floor that was made out of the fur of a dark brown dire bear.

Well, maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Zane took off his clothes and threw them onto a couch that was next to the table and lay down in his new bed. He decided that he should get rest this night and quickly fell asleep, a bit excited for what his new life would be like.