Valar and Viktor initially started walking in a random direction, their only goal to get away from the orphanage. Neither of them had explored Lyndale to its fullest, and that led them to an embarrassing realization.

  “We’re lost, aren’t we?” Valar asked, his tone incredulous.

  “Kind of… We still see the walls, so heading back to the central district should be easy enough.”

  They started walking with the city wall at their back, heading to the central district and Viktor’s inn. They walked in silence for a while, but Viktor eventually spoke up.

  “Your eyes glow orange when you use your fire.”

  “Do they? That explains why you managed to stop me from doing something stupid. Thank you.”

  Valar really meant his words. As much as he despised the head matron and the orphanage, burning her and it down would have been undoubtedly wrong. Even if Ophelia was mean-spirited and misguided, she ran the orphanage, and many kids without parents would be homeless without her work. Especially for the younger kids, that was worse. Some were also adopted, and that would be harder without the orphanage.

  All in all, burning down the orphanage would’ve been dumb. Although I think I wouldn’t be able to burn it all down. Maybe Ophelia, but that would have hurt like abyss.

  “You seemed to be about to do something that you would regret, so I stepped in. Killing that woman wouldn’t bring you any relief, and more people would suffer.”

  Their leisurely walk was suddenly interrupted by a blur of motion. The street urchin, not much older than Valar and still unawakened, dashed from an alleyway to their side. His hand almost reached Viktor’s coat pocket, but he had chosen the wrong mark to pickpocket.

  Just as the boy’s hand came close, Viktor grabbed it. He tried to slink away, but the wind mage held on tight—his grip loose enough to not hurt the him.

  “And who could you be, young man?”

  “Let me go you fucking geezer!”

  Viktor stared at Valar in shock as the boy struggled in his grip.

  “Do I look that old? I mean the silver hair makes me look a bit old but calling me a geezer…”

  Valar started giggling at Viktor’s expression, the urchin boy looking on in confusion. He still tried to escape, but his attempts were unsuccesful.

  “Now, even though you called me a geezer, which must be a royal offence, I’m willing to help you out a bit.”

  The urchin immediately stopped struggling, suddenly all ears. He looked up at Viktor, waiting for the man to continue speaking.

  “If you lead us to the central district, I’m prepared to give you a silver coin for your help. Is that a deal?”

  The boy’s eyes went wide and he nodded furiously, starting to walk towards the central district. He beckoned Valar and Viktor over, and the two men followed.

  The street urchin’s route through the northern district was certainly an interesting one, but that didn’t take away from its efficiency in the slightest. The boy led them through abandoned buildings, barren streets and back alleyways without ever stopping to even look around. At times, Valar noticed shadowy figures hidden within the shadows, but the boy’s quick gestures dispersed them like they had never been there in the first place.

  The street urchin was working hard for a reason. Getting roughly an sixteenth of the average monthly salary as a street urchin was a massive windfall. He had truly hit the jackpot, and was doing his best to earn the coin.

  They reached the central district much quicker than expected, the sun only starting to descend below the horizon. As they breached the border of the central district, the buildings changing to colorful ones almost immediately, the boy stopped in his tracks. He held his hand out expectantly, a nervous expression on his face.

  Viktor dug around in his coat pocket, soon finding a silver coin. He handed it to the urchin, and the coin was snatched away in a flash that almost made Valar reconsider if the boy had actually been unawakened. The boy scurried away, yelling his thanks as he ran back to the shadow-filled alleyways.

  Viktor smiled gently as the boy left, shaking his head in amusement. Valar looked on, experiencing an eye-opening realization. If I had not awakened when I did and made it to some nearby city, that would have been my future… Better than the orphanage though. At least he is free.

  “See some of yourself in that young man? You two seemed similar to me,” Viktor asked.

  “Yeah, I was just wondering that… I don’t know if he would want to awaken like me though.”

  “Probably not. I reckon the whole process was quite painful for you.”

  “It was bad, yeah. Basically nothing compared to the soul wound ripping open though,” Valar muttered distractedly with a distant stare aimed at nothing in particular.

  Viktor stopped in his tracks. Valar let out a surprised yelp as the onyx ranker yanked him to an alleyway by his shoulder. His eyes had some dancing silver in them, and his tone was serious.

  “First of all, that was new information. It’s good to know that there was a start to the wound. I thank you for the information…. That being said, we are in a populated city, Valar. Stop yelling your secrets to the whole world, because someone might actually turn their ear and listen.”

  Viktor’s comment made Valar blush in embarrassment. He had been warned about the dangers of revealing information on the state of his soul, but he had messed up immediately on the same day. Luckily, no one seemed to have heard it, as they were still on the border of the southern district. I need to be more careful. Stupidity kills, and I’m not dying young… In spite of having nearly died three times in the past two days.

  Viktor patted Valar on his shoulder, and they continued their way towards the inn, their discussion meandering far away from serious matters like Valar's soul.

  “We still have one stop left before the inn. Normally it would come after dinner, but... we are both adults and I want ice cream now,” Viktor said.

  Valar just followed, curious about this iced cream the man kept talking about. They soon reached further into the central district, the area full of terraces filling the streets.

  Most of the view above the houses was dominated by a massive church made out of white marble. The sheer size of the building was imposing. The sigil of the church of light, a pair of wings made out of gold, stood on top of the church, reflecting the light of the sunset. It was quite beautiful.

  Viktor looked at the church with distaste, scrunching his face with squinted eyes. Valar looked at the man questioningly, and the mage shrugged.

  “People are free to believe in whatever they want. Sometimes I just wish that they met an actual angeli… They are not nice.”

  “The religion lessons at the orphanage said that angeli are mythical beings that help people out of the kindness of their heart.”

  Viktor just chuckled mirthlessly in response, muttering something about the sons of bitches not even having hearts. Valar decided to not talk about the church for now, as Viktor obviously disliked them for some strange reason.

  They continued their walk, eventually hearing a simple melody played with a horn. Viktor headed that way immediately, telling Valar that it was a sound ice cream vendors used to tell people where they were at a given moment.

  The men arrived at a cart surrounded by people—mostly parents with their children. A man with short dark hair was selling ice cream, and people were buying a lot...

  Viktor and Valar joined the long line. They were apparently lucky, as the line grew rapidly behind them, people arriving from the surrounding restaurants and inns for dessert.

  The dark haired man was clearly a good salesman, people constantly buying more than they had planned. He was clothed in a clean white shirt covered by a brown vest. That combined with sleek grey pants and shiny leather shoes gave him a professional look—intentionally so.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  As the line slowly shortened, Valar became more and more interested in what the man had to offer. Children and adults walked away with balls of ice cream served in cones. There were lots of flavours. Some even ate the ice cream between cookies.

  Valar and Viktor arrived at the front of the line, the ice cream vendor greeting them cheerfully.

  “Good evening! I’m Jean, and I hope you like ice cream, because I have a lot to sell!”

  “Good evening Jean. What would you suggest we get?”

  The man grabbed his chin, seemingly thinking for a little bit. He pointed to two different boxes and nodded to himself.

  “I’d recommend either the caramel ice cream served in a waffle cone or the vanilla ice cream cookie sandwiches. The sandwiches are a bit more expensive, but they received excellent ratings from the Lyndale newspaper!”

  Viktor looked at Valar in question, and Valar just shrugged. He didn’t know what was good, and the other man seemed like he knew more anyway.

  “How much does a cookie sandwich cost?”

  “One cookie sandwich is four copper coins, but the caramel cones and other flavours are three per piece.”

  “How many cookie sandwiches can I get for one silver?” Viktor asked, grinning.

  The vendor’s eyes widened just a little, but he hid his surprise well. He quickly counted with his fingers and nodded to himself while the two men waited for his answer. Valar was just looking at Viktor confusedly, no idea on how the man was going to store all that ice cream in the first place.

  “Normally you could get 25 cookie sandwiches for that price, but as you are a bulk buyer, I think I can give you some extra ones. How does 28 sandwiches sound?” The vendor grinned back at Viktor.

  “That’s a deal! Start handing them to me and I’ll store them away,” Viktor exclaimed, giving the ice cream vendor a silver coin.

  The man started handing Viktor ice cream, used to not asking needless questions from paying customers. Viktor started putting the ice cream in his coat, Valar looking on incredulously as the man stuffed more and more in his pocket.

  “It’s spatially enchanted so it’s way bigger on the inside. Don’t go yelling about it though… They’re expensive,” Viktor winked.

  Finally, Viktor handed the second to last ice cream to Valar and grabbed the last one for himself, thanking Jean with a smile on his face. The vendor’s smile was equally wide as he returned to his work.

  Valar and Viktor went to the side of the road and leaned against a light blue house to eat their fare. Valar looked at the slab of ice cream sandwiched between chocolate chip cookies with interest. First, he smelled it—the sweet scent unfamiliar to him. Apparently the flavouring was vanilla, whatever that was...

  He opened his mouth and brought the sandwich closer, taking a small bite. Valar chewed for some time, his eyes widening by the second. It was sweeter than anything he had ever tasted, the flavouring complementing the sweetness perfectly. This was something the matron withheld from us… I could’ve been eating things like this all the time?

  Valar scrunched his face, looking at the ice cream with squinted eyes.

  “That bitch…”

  Viktor, still in the midst of taking a bite, burst out laughing. As he calmed himself, he took the bite and savoured it, proceeding to take another one immediately afterwards. Valar quickly followed suit, the pair going silent for a good while. He ended up scarfing down the tasty treat, used to other kids stealing his food if he ate too slowly.

  Valar looked at his empty hands, frowning in disappointment. That ended way too quickly. I want more. He slowly turned his head towards Viktor’s coat pocket, the hunger in his eyes plain to see. Viktor noticed his gaze and put his hand in the pocket, dragging a cookie sandwich out. He handed it to Valar, the boy snatching it quickly.

  “We still need to eat dinner afterwards, so that’s the last one for now. You’ll get some on the road too.”

  Valar nodded thankfully and muttered his agreement, already eating his second ice cream. They were addictive, the second one somehow tasting even better than the first. He was able to focus on the individual flavours more, not in such a rush this time. As he was savouring his ice cream, Valar heard two voices arguing loudly.

  “Really Arthur, I appreciate the cookie sandwich but why did you have to get mint ice cream? Not even mint chocolate, just plain mint! Who the fuck eats plain mint ice cream in a cone?” A short brunette woman was yelling at a blonde man, the guy just laughing at her comments.

  They were clearly adventurers by their getups, the brunette woman wearing mage’s robes in addition to boots meant for rough terrain. She was clearly someone who cared about their looks, her hair and face well kept after. Even her pants were picked out to match the look of her robes, every small detail thought of.

  The man evidently cared less about his clothing, probably wearing the set he used on missions. The clothes weren’t dirty, but the cream-coloured shirt and brown pants were clearly used a lot. He was not wearing armor, but he carried a bow and quiver on his back. More interestingly, his eyes were yellow, bordering on gold.

  “Mint ice cream is good, what are you so pressed about? You got your ice cream, and I’m 4 copper poorer because of it,” The man, apparently named Arthur, responded.

  He was smiling, the loss of 4 copper not seemingly bothering him that much. He was savouring his mint ice cream, trying to tie his coin pouch closed with his spare hand. In his clumsiness, the archer dropped a copper coin, muttering a silent curse.

  The copper coin rolled through the city street, Arthur following it with his ice cream in hand. The woman followed him, shaking her head with vicarious embarrassment. The archer almost caught the coin many times during its roll, but it slipped from between his fingers time and time again. Finally, the coin stopped rolling and fell on its side, directly in front of Valar’s feet.

  Arthur sighed in relief, going to pick up the coin. When he raised the coin, a stupid smile on his face, he came eye to eye with Valar. The man’s eyes widened, and he beckoned the woman over.

  “Carla, look who it is! It’s panther boy!”

  Viktor was shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, muttering some gibberish about the archer and his eccentricities. The brown haired woman came over, her matching eyes gazing at Valar in evident shock.

  “It really is panther boy! So glad that you are alive!”

  She smiled widely and went to hug Valar, the boy too shocked to resist the surprising embrace.

  The woman returned Valar from her hug and started looking over his form. As she was about to start speaking again, Valar managed to speak up.

  “Umm… Excuse me, who are you two? I don’t recognize you from anywhere.”

  The two adventurers looked at each other, both moving to scratch the back of their head in embarrassment. The man recovered first, chuckling and sticking his hand out for a shake.

  “Sorry, we were kind of shocked to see you. I’m Arthur and she’s Carla. We are the archer and mage in the adventurer team that rescued you from the forest.”

  Valar looked between the two adventurers, finally landing his gaze on Viktor. The wind mage just nodded in affirmation, still shaking his head with a grin on his face.

  Valar turned back to the adventurers and bowed his head deeply. They saved my life. The least I can do is to thank them for it. He gathered his thoughts and started to speak.

  “So your team was the one that saved me. I was told that I would have died without your help, so I offer you my sincere thanks. I really do prefer living over death.”

  The two adventurers smiled at each other, Carla responding to his thanks.

  “We’re glad that we were able to save you. Apparently it was close too, so don’t go repeating whatever you were doing there,” Carla said. “I want to ask you a question though... How in the abyss did you kill the panther? It was burned, but you were just awakening with a life affinity when we arrived.”

  Both of the adventurers looked at Valar expectantly, Valar stumped on how to answer their question. He thought furiously, but wasn’t able to think up a good enough lie to fool the archer and mage. He finally looked to Viktor, desperate for a way out of the question.

  “He stuck alchemical fire to the beast’s throat. Awakened from the kill’s energy too, bronze rank energy too strong for the closed gate,” Viktor answered almost immediately, probably having thought it up beforehand.

  I should have thought about it earlier too. I need to do better… Be smarter. The two adventurers turned to Viktor, surprised expressions on their faces. Arthur managed to break out of his surprise and whispered to Valar.

  “That scar on your hand looks cool. Frame it right and you’ll be popular anywhere you go.”

  Carla was looking at Viktor, occasionally throwing a glance at Valar. She eventually pointed at Valar with a confused expression.

  “So… why are you two together?”

  “The boy has potential, awakening that young and all, so I’m sponsoring him to the academy,” Viktor answered with a smile on his face.

  “Sponsoring him for the academy? What, are you made out of money or something? What rank are you really?”

  “I’ll tell you my rank if you pay half of Valar’s tuition.”

  The woman just stared at Viktor’s grinning face, flabbergasted. She eventually turned away from him, sulking as she ate her ice cream sandwich.

  “Were you two heading to the inn? I need to book Valar a room, as he’s leaving with us in the morning and doesn’t have a place to sleep.”

  Carla just started walking in a seemingly random direction—probably where their inn was—and the others started following her. Arthur moved to walk at Valar’s side, eating his mint ice cream with a smile on his face.

  “Lucky guy, getting a sponsored spot at the academy! I heard it was a nice place, but have never visited myself,” Arthur said.

  “That’s because you are as magical as a common dog, Arthur! They don’t take people without affinities to the academy,” Carla yelled from ahead.

  “I’m pretty magical with a bow, you portable icebox!”

  Viktor just chuckled at the two adventurers' antics, apparently knowing them from before. He did say that he led the caravan they were guarding. Probably got to know them then.

  Arthur and Carla continued their chatter during the walk to the inn, insulting each other with basically every other sentence. Arthur seemed pretty laid back, his shoulder length blonde hair unkempt and wavy. He walked at a relaxed pace, not in any rush.

  Carla didn’t seem much more serious, the only real difference being in their posture. Carla walked with her back straight like Viktor, both of them giving off a feeling of refinement. The biggest difference was that unlike Viktor, Carla cursed like a sailor, seemingly trying to break all common etiquette by purpose.

  When they finally reached their inn, the sun had almost completely set. Viktor walked to the door and opened it for the rest of the impromptu group with a smile on his face

  “Now then, let’s go meet the others. We have introductions to make. Don’t forget to sleep well, as tomorrow we set out for the capital!”