The wagon stopped at the edge of the city.

“This is as far as I’ll go.” Said the driver. “Good luck getting inside.”

Gabriel and Naomi jumped out the back. They were wearing disguises to conceal their identity.

Naomi surrounded himself with a dirty old rug. He decided to act like a poor vagrant, easily blending in with the many different folks of the city.

Gabriel however went a different route. He put a sombrero on his head and sunglasses on his eyes.

“Are you kidding me?” Naomi looked at his exotic friend. “Is that a disguise or a plead to get caught?”

“I don’t see your problem.” Gabriel said, adjusting his sunglasses.

The road ahead was made out of fresh cobblestones. Though Neustadt was probably the poorest town in all of Astria, its freshness made that fact almost unnoticeable.

Small village homes were scattered across their path. Almost all of them were empty.

Since Neustadt had yet to be surrounded by a wall, they needed to free up space. Government officials gathered those in the way into the city’s heart, giving them free housing and aid for the time. Thus, the outskirts of Neustadt were a ghost town currently being demolished.

Although there was nobody living there, the roads were largely crowded. Nomad traders, wagons filled with goods and working men traversed the cobblestone to fulfill their gold-earning jobs.

The road towards the center of Neustadt was long and full of guards. All of the side roads were barricaded, forcing people through a fishing net made out of guards.

There was no way of walking through that road without being stopped by a guard.

“Papers, please!”

A guard dressed in full-body iron armor stopped Naomi. He bore the crest of Neustadt on his chest, a grey wolf surrounded by blue asters. They were meant to be purple, however, Neustadt did not have enough money for purple paint.

Naomi reached under his clothes. He hid his face as he gave the papers to the guard, just in case he’d get any funny ideas.

“Mao of Marktstar. Is that you?”

Naomi nodded.

They were given fake papers to enter Neustadt. Despite being tasked by the Duchess herself, it looked like she had little authority over her own town.

“You’re good to go.” The guard handed back the papers.

Naomi sighed in relief. He nodded a thank you to the guard and was about to leave when the iron-armored man pulled him back.

“One more thing,” He whispered into Naomi’s ears. “I don’t care if you were born there or you have some deeper connection with Marktstar. So long you relate to that city, you’re not welcome here. Keep that in mind.”

Naomi let out a loud gulp. He has never been to Marktstar, but the political tensions were clear between the two towns.

“Are you screwing with me?” Naomi screamed internally. “They gave me the fake ID of an enemy vagabond?”

“Hmph.” Another guard stepped in front of him. “Is he from Marktstar? How can we be sure he is not here to cause any ruckus?”

Naomi’s face paled from fear. He had to act or else these guards will not leave him alone.

“Hehe, guys! There is no need for any xenophobia!”

Naomi raised his hand as if to show his innocence, inadvertently causing the opposite effect. As the two guards looked at his hand, they noticed the large Sigil on the back.

“A Sigil?” One of the guards muttered.

“There is no question about it!” The other drew his sword. “This must be an enemy spy!”

In the face of two heavily armed guards, Naomi could only squeal as he recoiled.

It looked like his covert operation would end sooner than expected.

“Hold it!” A shout resonated behind Naomi.

It was Gabriel, still sporting his sombrero and sunglasses.

The two guards became even more frustrated by Gabriel’s sight. Much worse, the rapier hanging from his side was one more reason they would be wary.

“And you are?” The guard pointed his steel sword towards Gabriel.

“The name’s Leir. I’m just your average good Samaritan.”

Gabriel was composed despite the guards’ weapons aimed at him. As if it was just another casual event instead of a serious border control, he leisurely walked beside Naomi and grabbed his hand.

Observing the Sigil up close, he put a finger on his chin and hummed like a professional. The guards were getting impatient, but also very curious.

“Is he a buddy of his?” One of the guards whispered.

“What if he’s a professional?” The other added.

Gabriel raised his chin as if he had just experienced a revelation. He slapped a hand onto his forehead and laughed.

The guards were having none of it.

“What’s so funny?” One of the guards asked.

“Oh, what a rookie mistake! There is no Sigil at play here, just a simple skin disease!”

The two guards growled like angry dogs. They saw the weird mark on Naomi’s hand. It could only be a Sigil – there was no question about it!

However, what they saw next left them utterly confused.

“What?!” They cried out in unison. Even Naomi was surprised!

The skin on his hand, right where the Mage Sigil was, had turned dark red!

“Gahh!” Naomi pulled away his hand. “What did you just––“

“Haha!” Gabriel laughed as he covered Naomi’s mouth with his hand. “Don’t worry, friend! I’m a professional when it comes to medicine. I will seek you to the nearest herb shop, where I’ll cure your disease!”

The two guards were frozen. They took glances at each other, but neither knew what could have happened and before they had time to accuse them of trickery, the two have already fled the scene.

Gabriel went ahead and as soon as they were inside, he pulled Naomi into a secluded alleyway. As they entered the shadows, the confused Naomi let out a manly scream.

“My hand!” He tried to fix it by shaking it around, but his skin remained the same dark red. “What did you just do to me?!”

Gabriel raised his sunglasses with a proud smile. His sharp, snow-white fangs showed under his lips, gleaming at Naomi with smug pride.

“Hemomancy.” Gabriel grabbed Naomi’s hand. “Or as I like to call it, ‘Blood-bending’.”

As he grabbed Naomi’s hand, the dark red liquified and fell to the ground. Under the blood a small wound appeared, so small in fact that it was on par with something left by a bee.

Naomi was in utter disbelief.

“H-Hold on!” He muttered. “Does that mean you hid my Sigil with my own blood?!”

“Pretty cool, eh?”

“No!” Naomi locked his arms and pouted. “Leave my bodily autonomy alone! Besides, how the hell did you learn to do that?”

Gabriel puffed out his chest and pridefully smiled.

“I earned this ability! It’s the proof of my determination and superiority! If honed to perfection, this ability will break armies of men with but a single strike!”

“U-huh.” Naomi nodded unenthusiastically.

Gabriel saw the lack of emotion in his eyes and frowned.

“Hah, you’re just jealous!” Gabriel put a hand on his chest. “My ability is immensely powerful. You just can’t conceive it with your ape brain!”

“Jeez, man. Chill out.”

Gabriel gritted his teeth, seeing the lack of vouch from his companion.

Quickly, he shrugged that anger aside and focused back on the task.

“Alright, enough chitchat for now!” He said, continuing forward. “We are here on a mission. Let’s go prove ourselves!”