I did it! It took me the entire 5 days we spent in the carriage, but I did it. Not sleeping for 5 days straight really paid off! I’d finally mastered the spell Serenity gave me. It was called ‘A Dream at Night’, and despite the somewhat lame name would be exceptionally useful in the future. It was an illusion type spell with two main abilities; the ability to twist shadows to conceal yourself and others, or even objects if you want, while the second consisted of manipulating moonlight to create visual illusions. Unlike most spells I know, this one has the ability to be used in a variety of different ways, giving different outcomes, whereas regular spells only have one outcome… like blowing something up. The only downside was that it wasn’t that useful during the day: not too many shadows or dark areas to manipulate and no moonlight. Granted, if it was a dreary day and the sky was grey I would be able to conceal myself to an extent… but still no moonlight.

You mentioned earlier about stones that could absorb light while you were talking to yourself.

Wait… that could work. I know that the city is illuminated by magic crystals engraved with inscription patterns to absorb light when exposed and release it in its absence… it would only work if I could turn it on and off at will. I guess I’ll have to take a look at the inscriber’s shop later. Hold on, what do you mean talking to myself? I was chatting with you Serenity.

When you didn’t stop long enough for me to get a word in, I could only assume that I wasn’t part of the conversation.

Hmm? Are you upset?

…No

Hehehe, to think you wanted to talk to me that bad. Alright next time we have a chat, I’ll listen to you for as long as you like!

No, in fact I would prefer if you sto-

I ignored the rest of what Serenity had to say. I had the feeling it wasn’t important anyway. What had drawn my attention away in the first place were those tall grey walls in the distance. Nearly back at the city it would seem.

Mary and Gant started to chatter about how we had to immediately make our way to the church headquarters to give our report and warn them of the upcoming crisis, but I couldn’t help but start to drift off. I hadn’t slept for 5 days after all. According to Serenity, this wasn’t a major issue because as she absorbed natural magical energy, I was revitalised somewhat by it. In reality, I could go another two days before desperately needing sleep but when I heard the voices of my comrades I couldn’t help but drift off.

“What do you think Cyne?” asked Mary, disrupting my descent into sleep.

“Yes” I answered non-committedly. That would probably do.

“Yes?” said Mary.

She seemed confused, I guess my response didn’t answer whatever her question was. Alright second try.

“I agree with what you were saying.” I said.

“Ok! That makes all three of us in agreement.” said Mary.

Yeah, yeah, keep it down would you. I stifled a yawn and looked out of the carriage. We had made our way to the gates. Upon the checking of our credentials by some uninterested-looking guards, we entered Sol city.

“Quick lets go!” exclaimed Mary.

She grabbed both mine and Gant’s shirt sleeves pulling us with all her might in the direction of the church. I knew she was weak, but this is pathetic. A 5 year old child could probably overpower her. As I continued to think pointlessly on such matters, we gradually made our way to the church entrance where we quickly requested entry and to see the church leaders with urgency.

After our request was accepted we were led through the white walkways to a whited door, through which we entered a white office. In the middle of the room sat a broad white desk at which three old fellows sat, all dressed in white. Too… much… white…

This is a rather unpleasant place.

I couldn’t agree more Serenity. You should try the food they serve here, it’s awful!

I can’t eat physical food.

That’s nice. I refocused on the three old church leaders in front of us, one belonging to each profession. In the middle sat the Pope, the highest ranking priest belonging to the church of Sol. His face was basically mass of wrinkles. I could barely tell his different features apart. He was clean shaven but possessed some spectacular eyebrows that drooped down by about 10 cm. He looked quite frail, as though a breeze could snap him in half.

To the right of the pope sat the Holy Knight-Captain, a stone-faced fellow with a full head of grey hair cut short, in a similar style to Gant’s. As he looked us over his facial expression didn’t even twitch. I don’t think it’s that bad to show a smile you know.

And on the left, the head of my profession, the Lead Inspector. He was about the same age as the Knight-Captain, but compared to his strong and broad figure held a slim and thin body with a gaunt face. His eyes were set deep into his skull and his now greying brown hair was tied into a ponytail that ran down his back.

“So what did you come here to report?” questioned the Knight-Captain, in a deep, gravelly voice.

Both Gant and Mary looked to me to take the lead. It looks like they’re no good under pressure. Why does all the work get left to me? Isn’t life being a bit unfair these days? I proceeded to tell the same story to the 3 church leaders, after which I awaited their response.

The Knight-Captains expression had finally changed and settled into a frown. The Lead Inspector’s eyes were practically gleaming with interest at the new knowledge I’d put forth, while the Pope… frowned I think.

“This is troubling news. Normally such a serious matter reported would be looked upon with a degree of scrutiny, but you three are already well-known as rising stars of your professions. I can’t see you fabricating something as serious as this.” said the Pope.

“We should take action immediately! Let’s approach the palace and inform the royal family. While the Knight Captain and I do this, you can go and gather the priests necessary for a summoning and meet us in the inner palace summoning chamber.” said the Lead Inspector to the pope.

“First let’s send a message to the adventurer’s guild to also inform them of the situation. We’ll need their nominees for the heroes’ party immediately.” said the Knight-Captain.

Now all in agreement, they stood up from their seats and began to make preparations. Before heading out, the Knight-Captain turned to us.

“You three will be the church’s nominees. Although only newly graduated, you proved your competence with this report. Meet us at the palace entrance in 2 hours, and come in appropriate attire for the heroes’ banquet.”

I stifled a groan after he said this. Looks like these two are still in the running. I was hoping that since I’d gathered the information, that I would immediately gain a place. The last battlefield is at the Heroes’ banquet! After the summoning, the royal family, representatives from the church and adventurer’s guild, and all the nominees for the heroes’ party will participate in a banquet to become acquainted. The selection of party members comes after the occasion.

Looks like I’ll have to go out and buy some formal attire, suitable for the occasion. Currently all I have in my wardrobe are multiple sets of uniform. All white… I’m going to make sure whatever I buy today will not be white. Unfortunately my aesthetic sense isn’t too great. Serenity you choose!

No.

But… I saved your life!

…fine.

Success! Now I can let Serenity do all the hard work and I’ll just pay!... I hate spending money. I couldn’t help but shudder at the prospect of giving my hard earned coins to others. Is there any way to get free clothes? I could always threaten them… but if word got out I would get in trouble with the higher ups. Dammit, I’m just going to have to suck it up and pay for it.

After leaving the church building and slipping away from Gant and Mary before they could invite me out or try to get friendly, I quickly made my way to the high class commercial district in the city. It was just to the side of the Nobilities’ residential areas, which surrounded the palace, the most centrally placed building in the city. Since the Church was pretty close, it wouldn’t take that long to reach, and I needed some quality goods if I wanted to make a good impression on the heroes.

Despite the busy streets I easily slipped through the crowd… well they basically made way for me; I was still in uniform and no one wants to piss off an inspector. Despite the bad reputation, even if you do offend one they can’t really do anything to you until there’s solid proof you’re a heretic. It’s only in non-central, villages, towns and minor cities that they can abuse their power. Good thing no one knows that though, hehehe. The perks of being feared are just too convenient.

Before heading to a tailor’s, I quickly stopped by the inscriber’s shop to enquire after light absorbing crystals with the ability to turn off and on. Turns out I was in luck. It was a relatively new product that some up and coming genius inscriber had come up with. It certainly is a very useful item, especially since I’ll be able to use it to create illusions during the day. It was a tad unwieldy though, a sphere with a 5 cm diameter. I can’t just take this out every time I get into a fight to use my illusions.

“Are there any that come in a smaller size?” I asked the portly shop keeper.

“Our smallest one is this” replied the shopkeeper.

He withdrew a small chip the size of a finger nail with minute inscriptions running down it. It was transparent like the sphere before…. I have a great idea!

“I’d like to make a request kind sir. I would like a glove for my left hand made with many of these crystals inserted into it, kind of like a scale pattern often seen in gauntlets these days”

“Uhhh… I think that’s possible sir but it’ll be right costly I tell you now.” Replied the shopkeeper.

After handing over a heart-breaking 50 gold coins for the item’s construction I left the establishment. I wiped the tears from my eyes and continued on to the tailor. I would have to come back in an hour to pick up the finished product, at least it was a speedy process.

I eventually arrived at the most well-established tailor in the city and walked in, eager to see what Serenity would pick out for me. Alright Serenity it’s your que!

Okay.

From there on out I was instructed by Serenity to try out a myriad of different outfits. It was an extremely tiring process. If I had chosen, I would have just picked out the first item I saw. At least the time its taking means Serenity is serious, and for my sake too. I’m touched, really I am. After trying out the better half of a hundred articles of clothing, Serenity decided on an outfit. Not bad.

I looked in the mirror to see a relatively tall youth of 18 years, with dark brown hair neatly combed back and dark brown eyes. I was dressed in relatively plain attire, suiting the preferences of Serenity no doubt. I had black boots that came 2/3rds the way up my calves, into which were tucked equally dark trousers made of smooth yet firm material, probably the skin of some kind of magical beast; yep, the label said bat magical beast leather. I had a belt around my waist, a dark brown, similar in colour to my hair and eyes. On my torso I wore a collared, beige shirt with a black coat over it. The coat was made of a leathery material, once again, probably some kind of magical beast skin, and had some belt straps about the mid-section and waist to tighten it if necessary. After looking at the label I identified the leather to be once again bat magical beast leather. Why bats?

All in all the outfit was simple, yet functional. I think it kind of suited me. The style was a bit similar to my inspector’s uniform but it had a much preferable colour scheme. It wasn’t really something you would normally wear to a formal event, and could double as clothes I could use in my day to day activity, but I liked it, and since Serenity had actually gone to the trouble of choosing for me, I wasn’t about to choose something else. I went up to the tailor and ordered three sets of the same clothes, once again parting from a mass of gold coins, 10 gold coins to be exact, but this time I held back the tears. After all, I’d spent some quality bonding time with Serenity. But still! 10 gold coins could buy you a decent magical core infused weapon, so why did they cost so much?!

I then returned to the inscriber’s shop and retrieved my order. The glove was a dark brown, same as my belt and was covered in a thin layer of transparent crystals, arranged in a scale pattern on the back of it. Perfect. I slipped on the glove, replacing the white one I had been wearing since gaining the symbol on my left hand, leaving my right hand without a glove. If anyone asks, I’ll just say it’s a fashion statement.

Now dressed in some high quality clothing, I approached the palace. I also couldn’t help but notice my pockets feel significantly lighter… Dammit, I’m going to cry.