Most cities went dark soon after sunset. The average person couldn't afford to keep their oil or coal fuel lamps on for too long.
Mana lamps that could keep an entire estate lit for a night were something they couldn't afford even if they saved for generations.
So the sight of entire streets being lit up brightly is not something often seen even in the wealthy capitol.
But here in Nirad, this exact sight of the blindingly bright street hours after sunset was as strange as things got.
"Oooh, I want to try those!" Celes ran toward a stall grilling pipping hot mystery meat sticks.
Her curiosity for things had been unleashed to the maximum.
"There she goes again." Elina grumbled in frustration.
"Yup." I agreed in defeat.
Celes quickly paid for the meat sticks with a couple of copper coins. She quickly peat a steaming one in her mouth. Her eyes widened as she made a look of joy.
"Give me one too!" Risa, who was sitting in my arms yelled.
Our parents and elders were busy monitoring General Katrina. The reinforcements and a 9th-tier healer had come hours ago. Lady Karina was probably out of danger by now but we had a responsibility to stay beside her until she woke up.
It's the least courtesy we can have for being the ones to provide emergency treatment. It would be a shame if we didn't keep our presence all the way through.
"No! Kids shouldn't eat random things from the street." Elina said strictly.
She didn't want Risa to get sick or have stomach aches.
"I agree. Wait until you're bigger." I added. I wasn't going to let my little sister eat strange things.
Not until she had some mana running smoothly through her body.
Celes could eat whatever she wanted as her reinforced physique and organs could handle it.
"Ah! No! Give me! Give me!" Risa threw a temper tantrum as she punched my shoulders.
"Hahaaaha!" I laughed as her punches did nothing to a body that had been trained for years.
This s seemed to tick my sister off even more as she went all out, not that it made a difference. I continued giggling.
"Pfft!" Even Elina let out a light snort after looking at this. Risa was just too cute. Elina had no choice but to find this entertaining.
Celes came back to us after finishing 3 sticks of meat and licking her lips.
'That was good. You guys should try some.." she said but then paused when she saw what was happening.
"Hahahaha!" she started laughing too when she saw the scene.
"Ahhh!" Risa got frustrated and gave up pretty soon.
She tried to hide her face in my chest when she realized how everyone was making fun of her. It must be quite embarrassing as even some passersby let out smiles or chuckles.
But her embarrassment didn't last long.
"All of you are big bullies. Wait till I wiled a real sword. I'll get my revenge." She declared loudly.
We all stopped laughing when we heard this. All of us saw how good she was getting t at the sword. There was no doubt she would be capable enough to subdue us if given enough time.
"Ah let's not do that!" I said awkwardly. As much as I was confident in myself, I didn't want to get beat up by my younger sister.
I looked at the girls to see ei fthey could get me out of this. Elina understood my struggles.
"How about in return for not eating anything here, your brother buys you anything else you want?" she offered Risa.
RIsa started to contemplate and quickly nodded in agreement.
"Anything except food?" she looked at me for confirmation.
'Yeah, anything else." I said proudly. My pockets were quite heavy these days.
The SSS paid me heftily for my contribution to the war. It wasn't just merit points but hard cash as well.
After all, cash is king.
"Hehe! Then lest go!" Risa yelled in excitement.
We started to tread faster as Elina held tightly to Celes, only letting her off when the food she went for barely met her noble tastes.
Unfortunately, there were only or three such stalls in these crowded market streets. We tried mostly deserts made from cheap sugar and, milk or creams. There were also some fruit snacks.
The ones ELina picked out were pretty good but Celes was practically crying. There were so many things she wanted to try but we couldn't indulge her.
It was getting pretty late and the market itself would be closing too. We had already been here for over 2 hours but we came during its late hours.
The crowd from before had already drastically reduced as most of the stalls were packing up. Somehow, Risa had kept quiet the whole time.
Though we had appeared to her with small samples of the desserts we ate, only after Elina's approval that is, it was still odd for her to be this calm.
I could see her gazing at her surroundings like a hawk. She had been eyeing the stalls like predators but oddly hadn't made a choice.
As we approached the very end of the coal lantern lined streets there were only a couple of small stalls selling trinkets.
"Should we turn back now?" I suggested. There was no more to see.
"Sure." Elina agreed.
Just as we were about to turn around Risa finally broke her silence.
"Wait! Go over there!' Risa commanded while pointing to a stall that was halfway inside an alley.
"Uhhh...you sure?" I asked hesitatingly. What could RIsa want from such a shady stall?
"Yes!" she said with confidence. I complied.
The other girls also looked at the stall with scrutiny. Which person who wanted to make money would put their stall in such a dark place anyway?
The girls silently nodded to each other as they silently activated their mana. They found the stall to either be suspicious or run by an insane person.
We walked over to the stall and saw a man sitting next to it on an old wooden chair.
He was an old man with an eccentric, curly mustache. He had his eyes opened very thinly. His gaze looked at the four of us with a scrutinizing gaze. His grey hair was sparse and his wrinkles were dense. He wore a very worn brown robe that was somewhat in decent condition.
As we got decently close, I stopped moving forward. It was close enough to maintain a safe distance from the man whom we sensed had no mana. He had to be a mortal as there exists no way to hide one's naturally emitting mana on this continent.
Either way, our hidden guards had already surrounded the area as per protocols.
As the old said nothing to us, I initiated.
"What do you like?" I asked Risa. Her eyes were flying all over the small metallic tickets that were displayed.
The trinkets were mostly rings, chains, or hair clips. Nothing stood out about the materials, colors, or shape. I couldn't sense any mana from them either so they couldn't be artifacts or devices.
"That one! I want that want!" Risa pointed to a silver necklace with a butterfly emblem.
It was a strange butterfly with sword-like wings and sported a bright bright green color.
Celes went up and carefully picked up the necklace and scanned every inch of it.
She then turned to Risa and said "It matches your eye color pretty well."
I took a glance between the necklace and Risa's eyes. The color was very similar. The necklace was only a tad shade darker because of the lighting.
I looked at the strange old man and asked "How much?"
He smiled creepily and said "10 silvers." I nodded and reached into my pocket. I quickly placed a stack of 20+ silvers on his stall.
I didn't even bother to count as silvers were just chump change to us. I knew that a necklace like this wasn't even made with real silver and should cost nothing more than tens of coppers but I didn't care.
I also wasn't carrying coppers, unlike Celes who had purposefully exchanged for them with the purpose of buying food.
The old quickly grabbed the silver and started to pack up shop. That was probably enough money for him not to do business for weeks or months if he was frugal.
"Can I have my necklace now?" Risa asked after we had come quite a distance from the old man.
The entire atmosphere of the man and his stall was creepy so we had to be extra careful.
"No." Erina said flatly. She took the necklace from Celes' hands and held it firmly.
"I don't think this is a normal necklace." she said as her eyes glowed.
I had the same feeling.
"Did she say something?" I asked cryptically. Hinting about the goddess.
"Yeah." Elina replied. Celes understood what we were talking about and remained silent.
She turned and looked at Risa in pity. who knows if the little girl was going to get it back?
It might end up being something Risa wasn't allowed to keep.
"You can't break your promise. I want it! Give it to me!' Risa was preparing to go on her usual bouts of force.
She started kicking up a fit while in my arms and even smacked my head a couple of times in frustration.
Oh, the pains of handling a little sister.
"Wait till we get home. If the elders say it's safe, you can keep it. If not, I'll buy you anything you want when you get to the capitol."
I tried adding more to our original deal as things didn't go as planned. This didn't appease her as she didn't budge on her adamant request.
She was angry all the way until we got back to our booked hotel. Mom was already there so I dumped Risa on her.
Mom was better at pacifying Risa as she became calm in minutes. This is mother ill never be something one can beat.
Elina handed the necklace to my dad as he quickly made his way to the more knowledgeable elders.
"The elders find no trace of mana but the necklace does have a strange aura around it. Uncle Martin said he will figure it out by morning." he said later.
Elina, Celes, and I nodded as we made our way to our individual rooms. before we split up, we convened in my room for a quick talk.
"What did the goddess say?" I ask.
"She said that is something from another continent. She isn't very knowledgeable about stuff from there so she couldn't say more." Elina revealed.
We just left it at that. Helena was a goddess from our continent and had very little interaction with gods from other continents. She wasn't very sociable because of her weird quirks.
That's why she could get much information about what it was like outside our continent. She only knew surface-level stuff like how big it was, the notable entities, and the existence present.
The girls left my room and headed to theirs to rest up. We would be back on a 3-day journey.
I quietly sat on my bed and sighed.
I found it strange how so many coincidences were happening to those around me. With Cels being a god's descent to General Karina landing gravely injured right next to us. Now it's Risa's turn with a strange find from another continent.
When so many coincidences line up, it's no longer a coincidence.
Fuck! I guess it had finally awoken. The thing that makes me keep my memories in every new life.
I suddenly sat in a cris cross position and closed my eyes. I put my hands on my legs and entered a state of meditation. I focused my mind on the very recesses of my soul.
It was a bright space of witness with colorful clouds fleeting about. I got deeper and deeper into the inexplicable endlessness that my soul possesses. I quickly found a golden orb floating in tranquility.
"Fuck!" I curse at the orb.
My cursed cheat was back.
------------------
Author: My index finger is still pretty swollen but I got some motion back.
I think it should be fine in the next couple of days.