“Give it back!” Alice yelled, almost on the verge of tears. It was quite the spectacle to see the usually timid Elizabeth turn into such a bully once the girls got a bit familiar, she was currently holding Alice’s hairpin. They were currently traveling inside a luxurious carriage with just the three of them. Of course, that carriage was a part of the rather sizable Blackburg caravan headed for the capital. The sheer number of magically driven carriages surrounding them was enough to drive away even the most brazen and suicidal of bandits, and merchants for that matter, so their journey was uneventful so far. It was after all a rather rare occasion for lady Blackburg and 4 of her children to travel to the imperial capital.

“Not happening!” Elizabeth laughed heartily at Alice’s teary expression. By exerting all her strength she kept the hairpin barely out of Alice’s reach. Only two weeks had passed since the festival of Dragoncull, but the girls were getting along quite well. That was definitely a good sign since Irwyn would be forced to take rather drastic measures if the two were already at each other’s throats.

“We have almost arrived,” Irwyn eventually had to stop Elizabeth’s persistent teasing “please return the hairpin, I need to tell both of you some things,” once Irwyn had told her to, Elizabeth obediently handed back the hairpin, which Alice used to fix her hair before they both started paying their full attention to Irwyn.

“As you already know, we will be staying in the city for over a week. In the meantime there are multiple things we must keep in mind. First I need to ask both of you to be wary of your surroundings and never leave my side. There will likely be assassins creeping around,” both the girls nodded. Either their mental fortitude or naivety had to be immense to not even gulp over such a firm announcement “We were assigned a rather capable guardian, but that isn’t a reason to drop your guards.”

“Secondly,” Irwyn continued “we will be making preparations for Alice’s upcoming advancement trial. Most of the equipment should be already available to us, but we need to look for a catalyst,” Alice was already twelve which Irwyn considered the minimum age when undertaking the first trial was safe. Even though the benefits of advancing into the second tier were great, even Irwyn himself did not dare attempt it earlier than when he turned 12.

“Catalyst?” due to her persisting holes in education Elizabeth immediately asked a question.

“It is something that allows you to advance into a better version of a class,” it was Alice who answered this time. She was quite likely looking for one herself before the tournament went down “A good catalyst will allow the user to get a couple more attribute points after they advance and a first-rate one may even bring additional bonuses.”

“I see,” Elizabeth nodded “so we need to find the best one available for Alice?”

“Yes. Unfortunately I couldn’t secure one at Black city so we need to scour through the capital stock,” Irwyn smiled.

“Will it be fine? From what I know getting even average catalysts can turn out to be expensive and difficult,” Alice was the only one unsure about the plan.

“You are still looking through the eyes of a runaway girl, Alice. Today you are here as a part of the official Blackburg convoy. There is no auction house with barren gates, and there is no price above our budget,” Irwyn nonchalantly explained.

“I see,” Alice nodded hesitantly. She probably believed Irwyn’s words, but was still feeling unsure.

“Either way, we have arrived,” Irwyn announced and indeed, their rather sizable caravan has reached inside the Imperial capital. They were let through the gate without even a pause, then they rode right through the city. Their carriage was about in the middle of the entourage, so they mostly only saw people staring in amazement from the sidewalks, or leaving the street altogether. In roughly 15 minutes of travel they arrived at their destination: A rather luxurious pure white mansion located deep within the upper-class district of the city. It was perhaps not as massive as the Blackburg manor, but it still stood out among the surrounding constructions.

“Others will take care of our luggage. Let’s head out now, since its barely past noon,” Irwyn simply announced and the girls followed. As they departed Irwyn felt a presence flash in their direction and then vanish, along with other 3 who couldn’t quite hide completely from his senses. Just as he had expected: Shade was assigned to him. He could only hope that he would not be berated by barrages of mental attacks at any point during his stay, but at least he could be sure of his security.

“The architecture is different than anything I have ever seen,” Alice spoke soon after they left the premises of their temporary mansion. The surrounding buildings were not built out of stone, wood or even bricks; they were all beautifully carved into pearl white marble and fused into the ground.

“The old districts of the capital are maintained by ancient magic,” Irwyn explained “some documents claim that it was left behind as a farewell gift of an Ascendant some 6000 years ago. The potency of the magic still doesn’t relent to this day, the buildings are basically indestructible even for awakened.”

“Who or what is an ascendant?” Elizabeth naturally became curious about a being with the power to create such magnificent magic.

“It is a name given to those who Ascended the Spire, the hardest dungeon in all existence. There is not much known about it, no one knows where it is or how to get there, only the Ascendants themselves. Its existence is only known, because there are many references to it in the Logos. It is even said that only a single person is chosen to challenge it once in a millennium,” Irwyn provided an explanation.

“Amazing,” Elizabeth’s eyes shone “what is at the top? An amazing treasure or perhaps forbidden knowledge?”

“No one really knows, legends speak of artifacts like the blood of Ignis himself; blades forged by the aspects; or even that there is not a peak in the first place” Irwyn just smiled “but one thing is certain: There was never anyone who descended back down.”

Elizabeth opened her mouth to ask another question, but at that point a loud shout sounded from in front of them: “Get out of the way!” a young boy was rushing at them clutching a wooden box to his chest. He appeared to be running away from something as he just ran around a corner of another street, however, as soon as he got near Irwyn and the girls his movements changed. In a single swift movement, he dropped the box and his hand flashed towards Irwyn but was caught mid-movement. Only once he was stopped by Irwyn’s own clutch did the object in his hand become apparent. It was a shabby dirk aimed for Irwyn’s throat.

“As I have said: Don’t let down your guard, there will be a couple more before they give up,” Irwyn did not even seem bothered by the assassination attempt. As he spoke the boy came back to his senses, and attempted to jerk his hand free. When that failed, dread finally settled into his eyes; he had just been caught red-handed trying to kill someone who looked like a rather well off noble. He was now without a doubt having second thoughts about taking up this sort of living.

“Take him away,” Irwyn said to nowhere in particular. At that moment a mirage dispersed behind the boy and a middle-aged woman in modest black dress manifested. With a skillful chop she knocked the boy out and expertly caught his body before it fell down, the dirk dropping harmlessly to the ground.

“Should we interrogate him,” the maid asked, not even phased that a first tier mage saw through her invisibility spell. Perhaps she just assumed that Irwyn only guessed that there would be Blackburg people following him wherever he went.

“There is no point. He won’t know anything,” Irwyn just shrugged and turned back to Elizabeth and Alice “please don’t let it disturb you. The marketplace is just ahead, we should get lunch,” at that the girls broke from their daze and nodded. Although it was a shocking thing at first, they would not be even fazed after a few more. Ironically much like killing.

It only took them a few more minutes of a casual stroll before they reached a bustling marketplace. It was just on the edge of the marble built part of the town, so the goods here were pretty far on the luxurious, but expensive, side. Soon enough they found a stall that caught their eye: It was an area with few tables surrounding a live performance where a mage was juggling with flames while simultaneously cooking with the very same wisps. A table had just vacated so the trio sat down. A waitress almost immediately took their orders and delivered them to the performing chef. When they sat down the trio resumed their conversation.

“Who would want to kill you in the first place?” Alice asked as she stole peeks at the performance over Irwyn’s shoulder. The chef was currently juggling 4 steaks which were perpetually struck by the flames from the sides, they currently looked about well-done.

“Quite a few people, but it’s fine. This is the North, not the central continent. Whoever is organizing these will give up after a few failed attempts and instead choose a direct confrontation. Just the fact that they sent any assassins makes it quite unlikely that they are a noble,” Irwyn nonchalantly spoke about people who tried to lay claim on his life. He had met far too many of those to care at this point.

“Why? I thought that nobles were the most traitorous people,” this time it was Elizabeth, perhaps remembering all those lectures Irwyn gave her about how dangerous Avys was.

“The Blackburg family is an exception since it is mostly run by my mother who is from the Mainland. The way of the Northern nobility is usually not to take out any threats early, instead they desire to take them on directly at their peak. The vast superiority in the number and quality of mages allows the continent to maintain that style of thinking,” Irwyn explained as the chef began his next performance: He juggled 2 whole chickens through 3 floating rings of flame.

“Then who was behind that attempt?” Alice naturally asked, she seemed quite curious about the Northern way. It took everything away from her after all.

“That is a good question. It could be the Elemental lord Amadeus holding a grudge, but he probably has his hands full these days, moreover he should be over half the continent away. Unfortunately I don’t really have any other suspects in mind, but we should find out soon enough. It won’t take longer than 5 days for the mastermind’s backer to grow annoyed and force him to either give up or directly confront me,” it was at this moment that the waitress delivered their dishes, the service was amazingly quick, it was a large plate of grilled chicken pieces with fresh salad and other vegetables. The girls ravenously dug in, clearly showing just how hungry they were after their travel, while Irwyn ate with modesty.

“Wats ouct!” Alice suddenly shouted, sounding quite ridiculous because her mouth was filled to the brim at that moment. Irwyn naturally understood what she warned him about: He kept constant grasp over his surroundings so he didn’t miss that one of the chefs balls of flame suddenly left the juggling trajectory and headed straight for Irwyn. With a casual wave Irwyn stopped the magic mid-air nonchalantly. Controlling such simple and unrefined magecraft was easy beyond words thanks to his body’s immense affinity with flames. Even Elizabeth could very likely pull it off on her first try. Not a moment had passed since Irwyn dispersed the spell and he instead took control of the remaining flaming spheres above the chef. Then he made them all strike the assassin. In an instant his skin was melted as the highly lethal magic was infused into his own flesh. If he was still alive at that moment the status quo would not last long. At this moment someone from the surroundings finally recovered enough to shriek in pure terror. A cascade of similar screams quickly followed and all the tables were almost instantly vacated.

“Why do I even worry?” Alice tried to sound like she was not shaken, but kept giving the molten sludge on the ground weir looks. Perhaps it reminded her of something she would rather not recall. Meanwhile Elizabeth seemed to be adapting quickly and did not even pay the things around her any mind, instead she stuffed the last chicken piece into her mouth.

“That’s the second one. How many more to go, I wonder?” Irwyn stood up and placed the payment, plus a generous tip, on the table before he left, followed by Alice and Elizabeth. As they disappeared into the crowd they heard a choir of shouts as guards gathered around that place. Like moths to the flame.