"Uuuh, sis... do we have to get these things? Aren't the cards enough?"
"No, you're not in such an easy situation where you can say that willy nilly, remember, most cards in this realm are sub mortal or mortal cards, an absolute authority card like yours would attract unwanted attention. Even then, you never know when you'd have insufficient mana,"
As the 2 teenagers walked towards the square, Anne had pulled out a small dagger and handed it to Lukas, then a larger shortsword for herself. Lukas tried to complain, as even if the dagger was small, it was still an iron dagger, but Anne was having none of it and ignored his grumblings as they continued walking towards the square.
------A few minutes later------
Arriving at the small circular square, where a statue of the founding mayor had been erected in honor of his capabilities as the founder of this small city. Of course, his era was before the Lord of Lust gained power, or else there wouldn't even be someone known as the Lord of Lust, That was how powerful of a person he was.
When he died, it was rumored his inheritance had been built and hidden somewhere in the beast forest, east of the city, where the competition was set. Looking at the majestic figure of the Founder, Anne couldn't help but show her respect for such a person, who was just as charismatic as her father, the Archduke of the Germanic Empire.
Lukas, also looked curiously at the statue in the middle of the square, and saw a small name plaque it read: 'Hugo Raylei, Founder and father of Anaemo City, inventor of Inkstones'. Before Lukas could finish reading the plaque, he was pulled over by Anne.
"Focus, Lukas, the competition is starting,"
Looking over at the stage in front of them, both the siblings and the crowd of people from all walks of life quieted down as they saw the mayor walking up to the stage, he was a healthy man with an elegant imperial moustache, although he had greying hair, his drop fade haircut somehow made them look stylish and smart, but that did not take away from his manliness, in fact, it serve to give him a noble-like aura. he looked around slowly before speaking:
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I know it may be a huge surprise for you all to see me at such an early period in the competition, but I assure you there is a good reason for this; As this is a competition, there must naturally be rules and rewards, and I will personally be announcing the rewards and handing them out to the winners,"
As he spoke, everyone could actually hear him clearly, even though there were thousands of people, although, he could see their confusion, he continued nonetheless.
"The rules, you must arrive back by this time 3 days later, and the one who gets the most beast essences will win the game, of course, higher class essences will have priority, here is the scaling system: 10 sub-mortal essences = 1 mortal. Since there are no mortal gods in the forest, there is no need to mention them... Now, on to the rewards,"
"Let's see, -Ahem!- the first place and the winner of this competition will receive 350 bottles of Ichor, Second place and runner up will receive the Mortal card『Anya, Bladesong Viking』and finally, third place and second runner up will receive a reward of 10,000 gold coins... I hope you all have a splendid time... happy hunting,"
Smiling softly, he looked to one of the people at the side of the stage, which promptly shot a firework through the sky, and after a few seconds, it exploded with a loud bang, officially signaling the start of the competition.
Everyone stopped to look at each other, before rushing towards the east exit of the city, towards the giant beast forest. Some used sub-mortal cards of giant eagles and birds to fly, while others rode on various types of beasts: a tiger here, a lion there, and oh! those lovely ladies were riding a giant mouse!
Although, Lukas didn't have any beast cards that could transport them, Anne had a flying potion she had made using the essence of a skybeak eagle, allowing them to soar in the sky for 5 minutes. handing one to Lukas, they both drunk the vials and began to slowly float in the sky, and after a few minutes of getting used to the feeling of weightlessness, they began heading to the forest.
Seeing such a strange method of travel, other contestants were of course stumped, but other than being confused, they didn't make a ruckus, after all, there was a man riding a giant cockroach...
-----Somewhere in the red light district-----
A woman sat on a red bed, with a mysterious floating card in front of her, it's finish clearly categorizing it as a god card, and on the picture, a young woman was depicted, looking exactly like the woman on the bed. though cards normally didn't float, she was not just holding it, as her clothing also matched the woman in the card, clearly signifying that she was in the Possession of the card. Suddenly she opened her beautiful blue eyes, looking at the direction of the forest she shouted:
"I see them! that man was right, I need to find them, and ask them what relation they had with that cursed man!"
The woman looked at the picture of the people she had to find again, and right there, she could see Lukas and Anne flying towards the forest
The woman then hurriedly got up and rushed out of the bordello, her skimpy clothing from the possession of the card swished in the wind, making all the passersby stare. Of course, she didn't have the time to care for such a small problem, this was because on the woman's back, a tattoo of a giant dragon swirled around her back and nape, slowly restricting her neck, she estimated, in another week or two, it would completely constrict her neck and kill her.
The only solution she had was to follow the mysterious man's instruction, "Look for this boy, on the date of the competition, drink this and use possession, go to him and earn his trust... Only then will it go away,"
And although she didn't trust him, she had no other option but to run towards where Lukas and Anne was and hoped for the best...