As the cracked streetlights shined down, illuminating Athen, he breathed a sigh of relief.
For the night, he was safe.
However, after that... things could get dicey.
The visitor could inform the town's security of his robbery, making the center of town no longer a safe space for him.
Hopefully, by then, Athen would already be long gone.
As for finding a seller for this precious hope-filled diamond of his, Athen knew someone perfect.
There was only one blacksmith in the entire town, as only a few people could even afford to have weapons made or changed.
Athen wasn't naive enough to believe that he would be getting a good price for the diamond, but something was better than nothing.
The blacksmith would likely lowball him in an attempt to get the diamond and resell it, but Athen had no qualms with that.
Choosing another seller would be impossible.
If he showed the diamond to other people in the town, he would most likely be jumped and robbed immediately.
And if he left the town to sell the diamond, he would be robbed by some scavengers, gaining nothing from the diamond.
Finding an empty alleyway near the center, Athen walked into the thin strip before sitting down on a pile of trash.
After making sure nobody was nearby, Athen discreetly removed the diamond from his pocket before placing it on his lap.
In the darkness of the night, the diamond seemed to sparkle, instantly drawing all of Athen's attention.
Picking up the diamond, Athen placed it in between his two hands, making sure he was not damaging it.
It was weird really the situation he was in.
Athen was in a state of limbo, in between achieving freedom from this town and returning to his miserable life.
All he had to do was survive the night.
Gathering the courage, Athen carefully lifted the diamond up to his eyes, trying to leave as little fingerprints on it as possible on it.
The diamond itself was probably worth more than Athen and everyone other teenage in this town's life.
Yet...Athen didn't see anything special about it.
It was just a gem.
Sure, it was cool to look at... but what the hell do you do with it after?
He had heard from one of the rare visitors that gemstones were rare because they could added to "magic wands" and "spells" to increase power, but how did that help him?
Letting his curiosity get the best of him, Athen wrapped his hands around the diamond, trying to discern what was so special about it.
"hm?"
As he wrapped both his hands around the diamond, Athen discovered a part of the right diamond was stick out.
Almost having a heartattack, Athen immediately began examining the part of the diamond sticking out.
"this can't lower the price...right?"
Maybe, something in his pocket had damaged the gemstone when he was running...
Unforunately, Athen had no knowledge whatsoever on gemstones, so no matter hard he looked, he learned nothing in the end.
Placing his finger on the diamond, Athen traced the gemstone before eventually stopping on the part that was sticking out.
"Maybe... I can push it back in?"
If it was sticking out, then Athen could just push back in and it would be back to normal!
Placing his finger on the part of the gemstone that sticking out, Athen immediately started applying pressure.
Pushing down with is finger, Athen ignored the surge of pain and continued applying pressure.
*CLICK*
"hm?"
Surprising by the sudden sound, Athen dropped the diamond, but thankfully it landed square on his lap.
However...when Athen glanced down at the diamond on his lap, he almost jumped back on fear.
There on top of the diamond was a small female figure, who seemed to be holding some sort of large stick with an orb on top of it.
Before Athen could even regain his composure and react, the adult female figure tipped her witch's hat, and opened her mouth.
To Athen's horror, the diamond actually began emitting a sound.
"Hello Student! Congratulations on your acceptance to Aetherhelm Academy! I am your principal and will be giving you a short introduction on w-"
As the sound emitted from the diamond increased, Athen desperately grabbed the diamond before covering it with his hands.
"DAMN IT, STOP MAKING NOISE!"
Covering the diamond fully, Athen anxiously glanced around, making sure nobody had heard the sound.
"First, the academy... muffled ...located in the capital city... muffled... currently the number one... muffled... in the entire world."
Running further into the alleyway, Athen took off the cloth covering him before wrapping it around the diamond in an attempt to hush it.
Reaching the end of the alley, Athen sighed upon realizing that the diamond wasn't talking anymore.
"Huff... huff... Thank... pant... god..."
Staring at the diamond inside the cloth, Athen immediately changed his mind.
This diamond was special...IT COULD TALK!
After finding another pile of trash to sit on, Athen placed the cloth-covered diamond on his lap.
"now...what the hell was that... and does it add to the price?"
Looking around, Athen confirmed that nobody was nearby before slowly unraveling the cloth.
Shivering due to the cold of night as he was now shirtless without the cloth, Athen curiously stared at the diamond on his lap.
It seemed to be back to normal as there was no female figure on top of it, and it wasn't speaking...
Wordlessly, Athen stared at the diamond, his perspective of it completely changed.
"...do all gemstones talk!?"
Tracing the diamond again, Athen found the area was sticking out before placing his finger on it.
Tommorow, after selling it to the blacksmith, he would never see the diamond again...so Athen decided now would be that time to explore it.
One of these would never fall into his possession again, so Athen couldn't resist the urge to press down on the diamond again.
*CLICK*
As the click sounded echoed from the diamond, the female figure once again manifested atop the diamond.
Now not being surprised, Athen closely examined the figure...before coming a revelation.
"s-shes one of the rich!"
She was wearing a luxurious dress with well-groomed long orange hair, and she even had a necklace on!