As soon as the remark left the woman's mouth, she winced and covered her mouth with her gloves, as if it were taboo to say. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that!" she added.

Ares couldn't begin to describe how bewildered and overwhelmed he felt at the time, but the woman's comments managed to snap him out of it. He was so engrossed in everything that he hadn't thought about anything but what he'd just seen and heard. That shiny necklace on the floor... what could it possibly be. But now his mind was racing as he tried to grasp everything. The woman's voice was the only thing that could break through the chaos in Ares' mind right now. The many thoughts bounced around his mind like hawkmoths, lingering and festering, with no single thought being able to stay in his brain for more than a second.

She sounded apprehensive, but also remorseful, which was strange given the circumstances.

Ares, in fact, didn't believe he should be hearing this. There was a little stillness between them before the woman began to talk again.

"Please accept my sincere apologies." Her remarks were gentler than usual, which made Ares feel a little more at ease. After a little interval, the woman resumed speaking, but with a quieter voice.

"Ersa is my name... If you don't mind, may we go to the guild café and talk about..." She stops for a moment before motioning towards the necklace.

"I'm hoping our meeting won't last too long. I'm curious as to why our fates decided to be intertwined today..." Ersa said while laughing a bit at the end to regain her composure.

It took all of Ares' willpower not to scream, 'Why does your face seem precisely the same as mine?!' or, worse, 'What the fuck!' He understood rationally that such remarks would have no significance on the woman who called herself Ersa, or make any sense in front of any other stranger. However, in that specific circumstance, the notion had entered his mind, and he felt horrible for even thinking it. Instead, he inhaled an uneasy breath and responded as calmly as a normal person... well, as much as the puny necromancer of Ares could.

"Sure thing. What do you desire?" Ares asked a basic inquiry question in a hesitant tone, shifting the gears on his satchel to avoid eye contact with Ersa, despite all the attempts - her eyes pierced his soul even when not looking and her coat still emanated a feeling of danger. Ares thought: a quick talk, a quick dinner, and he'd be back on his way to greet Alan, help out Eléa and Inez, and to continue performing odd tasks to help out his family. His ordinary... normal... family. If only his feet would cooperate and propel him onward, he thought. It would be preferable to remaining here.

Ares and Ersa had found themselves at the guild café, but calling it a "café" was a bit of a lie, at least in his opinion, for the area was mostly a place for affluent people to display their money and solicit for trading agreements from partners. The location was quite upscale, but Inez had brought Ares here when she needed to feel a little more affluent than usual. In addition, Alan also came here for trading deals, which he said he hated because of how stuck up the people here were. The drink rates were exorbitant, but the place's gear bots were arguably the greatest in all of Upper Nimbia, being able to step in here was like a hellish luxury.

But when Ares realised he still had to tackle the entire... situational problem he sighed, he turned to Ersa, who had found them a simple seat at the café's corner. Ersa, wearing a prominent glove and holding the necklace in her other hand, motioned for Ares to come over with a shifting gesturing motion within her fingers.

He moved cautiously, almost as though approaching an animal. The confused guy flinched back slightly when Ersa placed the necklace on his right palm. She gave a gentle smile and added, "Simply touch it. I know you're curious", Ersa put her arms crossed and simply waited for Ares to carry out her instructions.

Ares looked perplexed, but did as she instructed. The necklace still appeared the same as before, with Ersa's name on it and it still having a shine to it, but when he touched and pressed harder on it, the letters began to move. Ares had no clue where the letters would land, but soon... the letters said "ARES." Ares let out a screech and threw the necklace up high in amazement... and also extreme fear, which Ersa managed to grab just in the nick of time before it dropped to the floor.

When he recovered, though, the necklace began to shine, making it impossible for him not to become even more stressed and agitated.

Ersa giggled, but quickly replaced Ares' necklace, adding cheerfully, "Don't worry, you're welcome!" Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a cruel smile as she realised what was going on. "Oh! Sorry, I wasn't expecting such a strong reaction from you! Allow me to mend my... er, your necklace..." She leaned closer, readjusting the gleaming necklace that had been given a new name.

Ersa quietly giggled as she witnessed all of this. "You know, for another black magic practitioner, you have some... odd reactions!" She then tried to regain her composure and asked a simple question, "Are you alright?"

Ares said, "Y—yeah...", which was a blatant lie. He wasn't feeling at ease since the prospect of touching anything on his neck made his skin crawl, and the moving letters didn't provide any answers or explanations either for this whole thing, but he didn't want Ersa to think any less of him. Instead, he nodded nicely to his new "buddy." Ares then paused for a moment and his gears shifted, both on his satchel and his mind... he realised that a statement Ersa had made was quite strange, and he debated whether it was better to question it further or to just hold it in his mind and see if he could use it against her, but before he could say or think anything, Ersa's voice rang out to him again.

"Ah well, I believe it's better I introduce myself properly." Ersa stated this as she leaned in closer to Ares. "Well, I'm a black magic savant attending Stelmaugh Academy, which needs no explanation." Ersa expected Ares to give her a surprised and awed gaze, but instead her face indicated that she was simply staring at a very bewildered young man.

"Oh, you've never heard of Stelmaugh?" Ares merely replied with a head gesture indicating that he had no bloody idea what she was talking about. Ersa grinned briefly before starting to speak "Normally, practitioners of black magic are aware of it, but given how devoid of magic in general Upper Nimbia is, it's no surprise that you have no recall of it. But still, you haven't heard it all from any travellers entering the city?" Once again, Ares shook his head.

Ares sat there for a time, thinking about what to say. But there was one thing that remained in his mind. "Hey," Ares began, his voice plain and interested.

"Yeah?" Ersa responded. She gazed at Ares closely, which was still strange to Ares, but he attempted to restore his calm before asking her questions. "What exactly do you want to say? Did you remember what Stelmaugh was?"

Ares took a deep breath and replied, "No... it's not about that - but it's more of the fact that..." he attempted to think of the best words to say before compromising and simply saying "how did you know I practiced black magic?" Ares thought it was a simple question to answer, but Ersa looked at him dumbfounded... dumbfounded by how stupid the question was Ares assumed.

"Oh... that..." Ersa looked around, almost as if she was hunting for someone in particular - then she yelled at two women in nice blue suits and motioned them over to the table where the two of them were sitting. Ares sat there embarrassed, expecting her to expose him for performing dark magic, but she merely made light chat with the women. The conversation was quiet verbose, and Ares was surprised that Ersa could communicate so easily with people - which made Ares a bit insecure. Ares tuned out most of the conversation, but the conversation seemed to finally involve him and culminated when Ersa gestured towards Ares.

"Y'know? What are your thoughts on my partner's necklace?" Ares' ears blushed, but not for any romantic reason, simply that he didn't like the spotlight of strangers when he wasn't in control of the attention. The two women looked at each other for a while, and then looked at Ersa and then one of them said.

"Madame, not to be rude but... what necklace?" the woman simply said before Ersa brushed them off, saying that she was making a joke. The two women then laughed and then went back to stare at Ersa and continued to talk about a new topic that didn't interest Ares for a long. Even if they said something that was interesting and intrigued Ares, his mind was too preoccupied with what that one woman said. This necklace was highly gleaming, difficult to miss even from afar and immersed in a muddy puddle - but for two people who were up close and in pretty excellent lighting to miss it? That was obviously unusual for Ares.

Eventually, the conversation ended, and the women walked away. Ersa turned towards Ares and held the brooch part of the necklace and asked "Have you figured it out?" Ersa said, like a mentor trying to teach a student a fundamental lesson. Ares thought about it for a second - trying to piece everything together. There seemed to be multiple answers, but only one logical answers that felt true to his heart. He spoke out loud and said.

"Can only people who employ black magic see this?" Ares said before being greeted by a black smoke. Ersa had disappeared and left nothing to Ares but a scarlet envelope sitting on his lap.