Aayla and Daren finally arrived at the center of the city. Several squads of soldiers in slightly battered armor patrolled the streets. The rulers of the city were clearly not taking their security lightly.
Eventually they found themselves in front of the main carriage station. Carriages practically flew in and out along the streets. Pedestrians walked on crowded bridges above the roads to avoid the chaos. There were several terminals inside with carriages constantly coming and going from nearby towns.
Many carriages used to come from far away cities, but that all changed after the train station was built. Now the cushy coaches were replaced with more sturdy wagons for transport deep into the nearby mountains.
A tall young man with blond hair leaned against a wall near the entrance. He smiled and waved when he saw Aayla and Daren.
"Hey Daren! And Ms. Glowery is here too."
Daren simply nodded back.
"Hello Chris. How was your work?"
"Frustrating. Everyone from our residence hall got here today, but we may have some trouble finding carriages to get back. Some adventurers and mercenaries put together a sudden excursion into the mountains last night.
Let's hurry up and get out of here before that annoying woman and her lackeys show up. I saw her complaining about her carriage's 'lack of elegance' earlier."
Daren immediately agreed. There is only one 'annoying woman' in Chris's book, and Daren despised her even more than Chris did. Finally free to enjoy some time off in the city, Chris dragged Aayla and Daren to one of the quieter areas away from the Nafriton city gates.
The stores here were clearly much higher end. Sharply dressed employees with professional demeanors politely welcomed visitors into their shops. Several stores had signs that read 'By Reservation Only'. The customers here wore much more extravagant clothing. Even the mercenaries here could pass for well-bred gentlefolk.
Aayla kept her head down while she uncomfortably glanced about. These stores were way out of her price range, and the people were way out of her league.
"Um, thank you for showing me around Daren, but I have some other errands to run. I should be able to find my way back on my own."
"Nervous, Aayla? This part of the city has gotten a bit stuffy, but it's got some good stuff. Including one of the best places to shop in the city. It'll be fun. They should be having an event today, so let's go."
Before Aayla could flee, Chris cheerfully pulled her further down the street. Daren silently followed behind. He peered over his shoulder with a frown. Nothing was behind them except for a busy street.
That's strange. Daren thought that he felt a presence following them.
"Did you lose something, Daren?"
"… No. Everything's fine."
Daren quickly caught up with Chris and Aayla. They soon found themselves at the Polar Forest Auction House, the most popular location for mercenaries, hunters and adventurers alike to sell their best prizes. The auction house had a stellar reputation among sellers and buyers. It even rivalled internationally known action houses.
However, it did have some dark rumors swirling around it. Forest Waypoint only had cheap, lower end auction houses aside from the Polar Forest. No other auction house was able to flourish for long after competing with it. All of the best goods brought in to Forest Waypoint would inevitably be sold from there, or not at all.
Nevertheless, people flocked to the Polar Forest in droves for its excellent services. Today, a smaller auction would be hosted in within its halls. Several students were already there to watch the show.
They met up with a few of the Halcyon students from the tournament, and a few third- and fourth-years. Even Daren had a faint smile on his face while they caught up on how everyone did during their exams. These students were some of the few introduced to Daren by his uncle, and also some of the few who could be considered genuine friends of his.
Chris and Daren guided Aayla into one of the observer sections. Here, only those who wanted to watch could spectate. Word of mouth was one of the Polar Forest's best advertisement mediums for their goods. They allow students from Nafriton in with only a 5,000 tiur fee. That's a 90% discount of the usual spectator fee!
Hearing the price, Aayla wanted to leave. That's a decent amount of money for something that she wasn't interested in! Daren didn't even bat an eye at the price and just paid for all the entrance tickets. She profusely thanked Daren along with the other students.
The show would start in about an hour, so the group had time to kill. The upperclassmen had a particular interest in the girl who Daren escorted around the city the entire morning. They had never met Deputy Heston's goddaughter in person before.
"So, where are you from Ms. Glowery? You look a bit Leistian or Rashiyan, but your Tellan sounds Chinebarian," underclassman A.
"How long have you been studying under Deputy Heston? What's she like in person? My roommate's boyfriend's cousin is your classmate in the magic theory course. They talk all the time about you," upperclassman B.
"I heard that you did quite well on your Ancient Celes exam for a first year. We would greatly appreciate any help that you could give to our cute little juniors," upperclassman C.
"She did extremely well. Her score is nearly perfect. Professor Argall is still talking with the other Ancient Celes professors about a couple of problems that Ms. Glowery pointed out in the questions. Once those are resolved, she'll probably get her test updated to a perfect score."
"Is that so? Did your parents or Deputy Heston teach you about language, perhaps?" underclassman D.
Chris's face lit up with an evil grin. If he couldn't get any information out of Aayla, then those nosy upperclassmen of his should. Aayla blushed and furiously glared at Chris who gleefully continued to add fuel to the flames of their curiosity.
The commencement of the auction saved her. The lights dimmed above the participant and spectator seating. Bright spotlights highlighted the stage where an elegantly dressed man with a mallet stood at a podium.
"Ladies and gentlemen of all ages! Welcome to the Polar Forest Auction House! This morning we have several high-quality items up for sale. Our goods consist of high-quality armor and weaponry from local blacksmith Sir Hotohr, potions from the local Elemental Essence alchemy shop and large batches of prime raw materials just brought in from the Glacier Mountains and Ural Bay!
I'll stop wasting time now and have the lovely Ana bring out the first item."
The students became riveted upon the display of the first items. The Polar Forest Auction House never disappoints. They can only blame themselves for being poor college students!
The bidding got fiercer and fiercer for each item. One group would trick another into purchasing an item or lot at a sky-high price, only to be sabotaged by a third party a few items later. The bidding wars for the last items were particularly fierce.
Several hours later, the auction came to a close. The now hungry students left the auction house on a mission to find food. The restaurants on the nearby streets had super high prices, so the group left to find somewhere else to eat.
They found a cute little café in the middle of one of the nearby street markets. Aayla secretly sighed in relief when she saw the prices. They were much cheaper than she expected. Still, she had a hard time deciding what to order because she didn't know what any of the food was.
While the group was happily eating their meal, Aayla lightly nibbled on a salad. The students talked and laughed until they finally needed to get shopping again or they would never finish before the last carriage left.
The group slowly split up to walk through the street markets. Aayla was grabbed by a few of the Halcyon girls. Beneath their laughs and giggles was an intense desire to figure out what she and Daren did all morning. They refused to believe that Aayla only met Daren a handful of times and that they mostly shopped for books and school supplies all morning.
Eventually, the girls found themselves in a small but popular boutique trying on the latest trendy clothes from the capital. Aayla nearly fainted at the prices. A tiny bell ringed to announce the arrival of new customers. Familiar new customers. Aayla's heart dropped. She grabbed one of the other girls.
"Hey, isn't that Ms. Landrienne? The one who just entered?"
The girl looked over and her face warped. The poor attendant who stepped over to help the newcomers was immediately berated by one of Vanessa's followers. They wanted a separate room to see the latest fashions immediately.
"Oh, great. That IS her. So much for shopping here."