Eldin rubbed his hand. With how lost he was in his own tangent, he didn’t realize how much he had astonished everyone with his theories. He had stopped trying to count how many other wizards had approached him to thank him for his amazing speech. Even though he had taken the position for the pay, he was extremely grateful for the breakthrough he experienced in the mystery that was Lumina’s ability. It didn't solve the issue to control energy, but it was a step in the right direction.

  With payment in hand, he left the venue and made his way back to the Gorging Gorgon. The speech had been in the evening, and by the time he had finished, the sun had nearly set completely. Once in the inn, he was greeted by Inyoka as he made his way upstairs. Passing by a few of the Fereece working at the establishment, he finally reached his room. Inside he found Lumina completely equipped with all her armor and equipment.

  “Finally! Took you long enough. Get your gear we got to go.” She stated impatiently. Lumina had been waiting for Eldin to get back from his lesson.

  “Where are we going?” Eldin asked with surprise noting that his friend didn’t even ask how his speech went.

  Lumina handed him a request from the Adventurer’s Guild. “Thanks to me being a high combat rank, we were able to score another job.”

  Taking a look at the request, Edin had to re-read it multiple times to make sure that it detailed what he thought he read.

  WANTED: Experienced mercenary able to guard and investigate the haunting in Alice Springs. Job duties include: Protection of goods delivery, loading and transporting materials, combat expertise, investigation and negotiation.

  Pay: 200 crystal per guard.

  Eldin’s eyes went wide when he saw the pay for the job. “200 crystal!” Setting the massive pay aside, he couldn’t help but notice that it also wanted them to investigate a haunting. “A haunting? Like a spirit causing problems?”

  Lumina nodded, “I know. Not only is it interesting, but we get to do so more travelling. The pay is for the entire job. Traveling to Alice Springs and back will take a week. Not including the amount of time investigating a spirit.”

  “Spirit’s don’t exist.” Eldin scoffed knowing full well that the natural order of the world prevented such things from being real.

  Happy that her friend had finally all of his gear situated, she moved for the door. “The transport leaves late tonight. We need to visit some merchant named Christoph Hemmingway at the docks for more details.” She didn’t want someone else to take the unique job and ended up nearly dragging Eldin part of the way.

  The cobblestone streets gave way to rickety wood as they passed through an open gate signaling, they had reached the lifeblood of Gildale. Its docks spanned the entire length of the city on the ocean. It was the continent’s largest port and much of the trade by sea was offloaded and loaded at Gildale’s docks.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Despite most people closing down for the day in the city, the docks seemed as if they had hit their busiest time. Ships continued to dock and leave port regularly as sailors ran about loading and unloading supplies.

  What really caught Lumina’s attention was the sheer variety of species in the area. Everywhere she looked, she saw Scaal, Taloran, and Humans. Oddly enough, there weren’t any Fereece. At least not that she could see. Lumina had hoped that a melting pot like the docks would have Fereece as well. However, it seemed that even among the diversity of the port, Fereece were simply not welcome either.

  One of the reasons she wanted to leave Woodvale was to meet other Fereece. The only problem was that the Fereece she did meet were too scared or timid to actually talk to. It frustrated her on another level seeing her kind act like that. Even if she wasn’t raised among them.

  By the time Lumina had sorted through her thoughts, she found herself walking inside a large brick building with a tall iron fence around it. “Is this the place?” She asked with curiosity.

  Confirming that it was indeed their destination, Eldin couldn’t help but notice the particularly confused stares that the guards gave his friend as they neared the office in the warehouse.

  Christoph got up from his desk and looked out the large window behind it overlooking the docks. It gave him a perfect view of the shipping area where he could watch his goods get loaded and unloaded. A knock on his office door caught him by surprise. He wasn’t expecting anyone. “Enter.” He commanded. He nearly tripped over his feet when he took a few steps back in response to seeing a silver haired Fereece in perfect health and decked in armor walk through his door.

  Normally Fereece were terrified and outright submissive when he dealt with them, yet this one, boldly strode in like nothing was bothering her. There was no collar around her neck either. What was more, was that she was gorgeous. His analytical mind focused on profit, already began calculating how much he could sell her for at an auction. Looking over to the young adult next to the Fereece, he couldn’t help but rub his eyes in response to seeing the elementalist badge.

  Doing his best to maintain an air of superiority and calm, he sat down behind his desk to help hide his surprise. “I was not expecting clients today. What brings you to my office?” He asked with as much command as he could.

  Eldin pulled out the request he had taken from the job board from the Adventurers Guild. “We’re here to see if we could still join the transport to Alice Springs as guards.”

  Christoph took a moment to calm himself and re-organize his thoughts. The duo that stood in front of him was unlike anything he had ever seen. Elementalist were the cream of the crop. Hiring one to work for you was incredibly expensive. And yet, here was one such spellcaster of such high caliber applying for a job that paid a measly 200 crystal. It was obvious to him that despite being an elementalist, the kid was indeed still incredibly na?ve and obviously had no idea how much his services were worth. On top of that, the Fereece next to him was in such perfect condition and apparently had no idea about the dangers of walking about without a collar.

  An unexpected stroke of good luck had appeared right before him. He could easily milk the kid for loads of work at the fraction of a cost. The Fereece, if he managed to separate the two and capture her, he could easily sell for 1,000,000 crystal. The sheer amount of potential profit was insane. Christoph knew he needed to play smart if he was going to make his thoughts a reality. The first thing he needed to do was to make sure the two would come back for more work. Which in turn would help establish a trust of sorts. Which then, would also make them less on guard and easier to capture the Fereece when the time came.

  Once he had managed to calm himself down, Christoph spoke, “Before we continue, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Christoph Hemmingway, Chief Financial Officer of Hemmingway Mercantile. Please have a seat and tell me your names.” Christoph replied.