In order to go on a journey adventurers go to the shops! They collect their equipment, they repair their tools and they get their last meal. Thank god, Bria and this random guy named Claude aren't adventurers and they are not going on a journey.
Hours just outside the capital city was a small walled in estate. The walls were just about half the height of the city walls, but it still effectively kept people out of it. In addition to this, it also completely hid the inside of the property.
The walls which surrounded the capital city are at the record tallest of forty meters in height and were half as thick. So this made the walls around this small estate roughly twenty meters in height and only ten meters in width. This was generally done to make sure the estate wasn't overrun by people from the sums found directly outside.
This estate is known for magical research, one in which always sends lucrative requests to the Mage Guild in the hopes that Mages and users of magic would help with their experiments.
It seems two people, Bria and Claude couldn't resist the urge to take the mission submitted by the one and only Salvador Linxys. Though everyone generally just calls him Sal.
Half the time he will only respond to the friendly nickname rather than his full name. For some reason he has a buff with his father and gets angry if anyone calls him by his surname. They had never gotten along, especially after his father kicked his mother out into the slums.
Around the time his father died, his mother had died several years before, so there was no way he could have brought her home after he inherited the home. So all he could do was brood until he found his interest in lucrative experiments.
Have you ever seen plaid explosions? He sees them on the daily.
Ever seen a banana merged with an apple? He makes them as a hobby.
However despite how mad and impressive his experiments and results have been, many find that he was too eccentric in his tastes. Some of the things he does are on a whim. Simply because he knows he can try to do it, he will for all sakes and purposes, try.
If you tell him he cannot do it, he will for all sakes and purposes, still try to prove you wrong.
This is the kind of man Salvador Linxys is.
His estate spans at least 10 acres, the main building is fully integrated into the Southern Wall. The architecture is reminiscent of a Gothic Cathedral. Though by no means is it related to the religion of the state. The whole building was made out of the same material as the outer walls of the Palace district. It was sheet white except for the banners that similarly decorated the district and the tinted windows which kept anyone from seeing inside.
The main building is approximately central six stories in height and has towers that loom several feet above the outer walls. There is even a door which leads out onto the roof which would allow anyone who entered the main building to access the top of the walls.
However to make sure no one can spy or pry on his work without him knowing, Salvador has used the strongest known barrier spell which incorporates all known magical affinities as an anti-surveillance and anti-invasion tool. Making the only entrances and exits the front door and hidden entrances beneath which lead into the lost undercity found beneath the Palace District.
…
Bria and Claude were walking together after several hours of walking through the noble district, commons district and the slums. People barely eyed them since it was usual to see Mages moving about freely. On top of that it seemed that her disguise was working since most of her face and features were hidden.
However the only reason it took so long for them to reach their final destination was because Bria was so damned set on avoiding the place where she first woke up.
As long as the route they chose avoided it, she didn't care how long it took. She didn't want to go anywhere near there incase there was anyone watching. She currently didn't have anything to hide her mana's appearance from those who could Magick Sight.
Approximately a few inches away from one another, Bria was strolling in front of Claude. Her steps were rather small, which literally allowed Claude to stop every few seconds and take another step.
The reason why he was behind her?
Well Bria yet again made a demand that she would be in front of them. She was afraid of someone coming up behind her. As if she had a target on her back. This only made Claude a little suspicious of who she was, or at least wondering how paranoid she could get.
"So.. What's a rich kid like you, wondering around randomly?" Claude finally after hours of very little talk, spoke up to break some ice.
"Rich kid? What makes you think I was rich?" She asked with a brow raised, making one of her eyes wide while the other almost squinted as she looked back and up at him.
"You kept on getting change for Platinum Gold. That isn't even in the hands of most noble families unless they're reputable and financially savvy.
"Oh… If that's so, how do you know what it looks like?" Bria asked with a teasing tone as if she believed he didn't know what it looked like. Even a commoner knew what they looked like. Though it was rather unlikely that anyone in the slums knew. Unlike a normal commoner, Slum dwellers weren't given an brief three to four year education course.
This was one of the initiatives that she had brought forth through the King, though most of the nobles wouldn't support educating everyone, it seemed that only regular commoners got support. They wanted the slums to be easily squashed due to lack of knowledge, yet she knew that she could get some great developments if they allowed it.
Letting a sigh out as her thoughts had gone off again, she would purse her lips and look at a young girl begging for food.
Despite the fact that they were not adventurers, didn't mean that Bria didn't pack some food. As they were about to pass the girl, she pulled a piece of potato bread out of what looked to be spatial magic, and tossed it into the girls hands.
Stumbling forward to catch it, the loaf was about half the length of her body and she was about four feet and eleven inches in height. It was a big piece of bread!
The kid ran off to her home which was made mostly of wood, metal and stone fragments. These houses were ugly and were made out of whatever they could get a hold of. Some of them were even just holes in the ground, though that was entirely unsafe as flooding occurred when it rained almost every time.
The closer they got to the estate, the worse it seemed the status of the people were. Some kids and adults didn't even have clothes.
The slums closer to the front gates were well maintained, but the further one went out, the worse it would be. Right outside the slums were farms and rundown government shelters from lost initiatives.
Bria's mother, the late Queen, was very much like herself. Supporter of the people, loved by the people. She would bring the world to a greater place if only she didn't die in child birth. The new woman who took the throne, the mother of her younger brother was her opposition. Though her son was one of Bria's supportive partners despite his younger age of twelve.
Once they reached the edge of the Slums, the arrived at the massive twenty meter high walls of the estate belonging to Sal.
Bria stared up at the wall which was much taller than herself. She never liked standing beneath large walls as she was afraid that the wind would push them down on top of her. Being squished could very well be a phobia, but it didn't make her act irrationally. It was just a passing thought every time, accompanied by phantom pains.
At the front gate, they looked around for a few moments. No one was there to welcome them? Weren't there supposed to be guards on duty?
Scanning the environment, Claude would scratch the side of his head lightly before suddenly he saw something move in the corner of his eye. His head shot to the side and stared at where he swore he saw a humanoid shape.
"What is this…?" He muttered to himself as he felt something was watching them. Scratching he felt pins and needles come running up his spine and the back of his head. "…An Ambush?"
"I don't think so," Bria would state with an expression that couldn't even be described in a thousand words. She knew something was off, but she wasn't surprised by anything that was in front of her.
Taking a few steps forward, seeing that dust wasn't moving along the ground, she let her first fly forward. Her small handmade impact with yet another tall fleshy vessel.
"…" After a brief pause there was a high pitch whine as a man dressed in white symbolic robes found himself visible and very much in pain. As if he had been lethally injured, he rested his back against the wall and slowly slid down. His face turning pale as his legs curled.
"We're here to see Sal," The girl stated as she stared down at the man who was making the annoying whining sounds. "… Are you okay?"
The man made a gurgling sound before spitting out smelly acidic fluid on the ground beside him. "NO! NO I AM NOT!" The man seemed to huff out these words after clearing his throat several times as it seemed to now be in pain due to the acid he had excreted from his mouth.
"Good. Now where is Sal?" Bria asked with a sarcastically, teasing and even torturous tone.
"I…" The man trailed off several times, as if he kept trying to speak, but said I several more times.
This is when Claude would walk up to the man, grab him by the cloth on his shoulder and brought him to his feet and back handed him several times as if he was trying to snap him out of a daze.
"You still with us Man in Robes?"
"Sounds like a great movie." Bria commented.
"What's a movie?" Both of them asked in unison with a brow raised, looking at her with interest.
Blinking a few times, she pursed her lips. "Entertainment created through the use of light, transparent film and sound. Kind of like shadows, but much more sophisticated." The girl would say with a few nods. Though they were somewhat lost, even though Sal somewhat understood the concept.
"Right… I am Sal. Pleasure to have you two at my humble abode!"
Bria simply looked at her hand for a few moments, then towards where she had hit him. Slowly her head lulled to the side. "Gomenasai Gozaimasu." Bria stated in Japanese, though when she had said this, both of them looked at her with puzzled faces.
"Who is Gomesasai?"
"Who is Gozaimasu?"
"Who is Claude." Bria would state with a sarcastic tone, not even bothering to explain what she had said really meant I'm very sorry.
He better not ask for an apology later.
[ Quest Accepted: Create the Twilight Affinity. 5,000 EXP. Twilight Affinity. ]
"Looks like this is going to be a lot of work…" Bria said out loud as she saw the amount of EXP which was going to be rewarded for finish Sal's task.
Both of them still gave her the puzzled look, not having gotten her joke from before, but now they also couldn't understand why she was talking to herself.