I step aside as two servants rush across the corridor. Are they looking for something?
"Vyswe'eyaga, good timing."
I immediately recognise the familiar voice and smoky scent as I turn toward the owner of the voice.
"Is everything alright?"
"Nothing serious, I'm just looking for my idiot nephew… Did you happen to see him?"
"Yes, I did. We were in the backyard not long ago."
He clacks his tongue in annoyance, "Haah… Whatever. Since you're here, why don't you come with me? We'll go and resolve the issue of identification papers, then maybe stop by the library and borrow whatever we can."
"Okay…" I pause before asking, making sure that there is no one else with eyes. "Are there shops where herbs and other mystical items of the sort are sold?"
"There are such places here, yes. Do you need something?" The way he asked was completely disinterested but I can tell he is curious.
"It will be tedious to maintain my glamour on daily basis, so I need to make a charm to keep it up. I want to check out the materials available."
"I see… But you must know that most of the materials used for sorcery are rare, so they'll expensive."
"Like I said, I just want to have a look, and I don't need the materials to be of a too high quality."
"Well, let's get going then."
At the entrance of the house servants join us with mounts following behind them. They have large, elongated heads, long hairy tails and long muscular legs and torso.
"I suppose you don't know how to ride a horse so I will be holding the reins for you."
I am helped in mounting the animal and we immediately depart for the guard's barracks, that is where I will be issued an identification slip.
I would have personally preferred to walk to attract less attention and take my time to observe the city. My worry turns out to be baseless because except for the passing glances no one really takes attention to us. Also, mister Owono maintained the… horse's… pace to an amble, giving me ample time to sightsee.
Now that I think about it, it is a bit funny that I behave like a tourist in my own hometown.
"We have arrived." Says mister Owono as he descends from his horse, I follow suit after him. Mister Owono decided to go to the barracks located at the entrance of the city since it is the closest one to his house. There are several others disseminated in the city; it makes it easier for them to swiftly dispatch guards in case there is a problem.
A guard approaches us as he ties the horses near the one-storey building. His young appearance coupled with his somewhat hesitant gait tells me he must be a fresh recruit.
"Hello, sir, miss. Can I help you with anything?"
"Yes, you can, this young woman over here needs to be registered. She is new in town."
The young guard takes a closer look at time, lingering on my attire and face, then nods at mister Owono.
"Please follow me."
He guides us in the building and into an office. There we meet a woman, the energy coming out from her tells me that she is a Warrior. Her hair is shaved short like Ewa, she is tall and muscular… very muscular… if it were not for her equally imposing chest size, I will have mistaken her for a man.
"…Yes?"
"Registration, madam." Her attention immediately zeroes on me.
"I see. Bring over the crystal then."
The guard salutes then leave. She sits down and invite us to do the same.
"Archivist Owono, it's an honour to meet you."
"Likewise, captain. I did not know I was famous though, given my humble occupation."
"Rest assured, you are not that famous, but quite well known for the… liberties, you sometimes take in regards with some rules... if you know what I mean." She says with a chuckle.
Oh?
I look at him from the corner of my eye. Is he a troublemaker? He did not give me that type of impression.
Mister Owono coughs. "Regarding the registration…" He says—clearly changing the subject, "Shall we begin?"
"Of course." Her voice is filled with mirth. She takes out a piece of paper and charcoal. "Your name and place of origine."
"My name is Vyswe'eyaga, and I come from a nomadic tribe in the east."
She stops her writing to look me in the eyes, suspicion written all over her face. "A nomadic tribe, huh?"
There are numerous travelling villages in this era, so it will be impossible to check my exact background. It is the simplest camouflage for anyone trying to hide his identity, really. And it has surely been used by others for that purpose.
"Yes. She is the daughter of an old friend of mine, he asked me to take care of her while she visits in the city. I will be responsible of her."
"Hmm… And for how long do you plan to stay?"
"I'm… not really sure."
She takes it down on the paper.
"Okay… Are you a practitioner of the Arts?"
"No."
"I asked you that question for the benefit of the doubt, but Protocol demands we make sure of it, especially because you might be staying for an extended period of time."
The door opens at the same time and the guard from earlier enters with an object in his hands, it is a small crystal ball shining with a golden-yellow light. He places it on the table, directly in front of me.
A Spirit Crystal.
"Hold it in your hands."
As I expected, they use it to identify sorcerers from the common person.
I hold it as I am instructed. Then we all wait, staring expectantly at the crystal ball in my hands. Several seconds goes by in this palpable silence.
Nothing happens still.
The officer lady leans back. "No reaction. You are a perfectly normal teenage girl."
I manage to school my expression before a frown shows on my face.
Teenage girl?
Seriously?
"I will have a guard deliver your official identification slip in a few days," she says, stamping the paper she was writing on, then handing it to me, "use this is a temporary replacement."
Before I can take the paper, she moves it out of my reach, staring pointedly at me. "You are welcomed in Asso so long as you do not cause trouble. I know from experience how agitated you rural tribespeople can be when visiting cities, so I better not hear from you. Understand?"
"Very clear madam."
"Then have a nice day." She turns to the guard. "You may escort them out."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now that this has been done you can access our libraries or any other facility without any problem."
"Thank you for your help."
He waves me off. "No problem. I am more interested in how you were able to do what you just did, though… Why don't we have a drink somewhere?"
We stop by a tavern where we take a table far from the preying eyes—Not that there are a lot of people to begin with—Mr. Owono orders a carafe of wine for himself and a carafe of funny-looking juice for me… It is red-coloured… Like blood. Once the waiter leaves, I discreetly place a Hush ward around our table.
"I will be honest. I never taught that you would manage to fool a Spirit Crystal."
"Then what will you have done if you doubted my capabilities? Surely me openly lying about my identity would have marred your credibility."
"People born with the ability to do sorcery are usually discovered when they are very young, but it also happens for Late Bloomers to appear from time to time, it's not that uncommon…" He smiles sheepishly at me, "And what a surprise it would have been for you to awaken your abilities now. Don't you think?"
That… is a sound reasoning.
"Back on topic. What was the trick?"
I take a sip from my cup; the juice is sweet and aromatic and cool on my tongue. I wonder from what fruit it was made off.
"That is because the Spirit Crystal they used was of low quality to begin, it would have been a lot more difficult if it had been a deep blue, purple, or worst, a white Crystal."
"And why is that?" He asks leaning forward.
I observe him for a moment. "Do you know what a Spirit Crystal is? Why they have different colours?"
"Of course. It is a mineral capable of absorbing Spiritual essence. Its colour indicates how much essence it can absorb, red being the lowest and purple the highest."
"Yes. A Spirit Crystals is very sensitive to Spiritual essence, which is why it tends to absorb as much Spiritual essence as it can in order to become purer. The faster it can get it, the better."
"What exactly are you trying to—"
He stops talking abruptly, having caught on to my reasoning.
"Spirit Crystals can absorb essence from people, that is why they glow during contact…" He murmurs absentmindedly. "You can control the amount of essence you give off, effectively making yourself invisible from detection."
His eyes widen at the realization, and a small smile spread on my lips.
"The catch is that high quality Crystals are very sensitive to Spiritual essence flow, hence they can precisely detect any trace of essence given off, no matter how light the trail is. The same couldn't be said for low quality ones though."
"I see, but shouldn't high quality Crystals also not be able to tell if you're a sorceress or not? After all, you dampened the amount of essence you give off."
"True but even when suppressed, my essence is way denser than that of a normal person's—it goes for all sorcerers by the way—and purer Spirit Crystals can detect that."
"Hmm…"
He looks deep into my eyes.
"That was a risky gamble. What if they had used a high-quality Crystal?"
"You said yourself that rare sorcery materials are expensive. I figured it would be unlikely to have a blue or purple Crystal given to each guard post merely to check if every visitor is a sorcerer or not."
"Clever… Very clever."
He becomes silent for a while, and I seize this opportunity to refill my cup with the delicious beverage.
"Say, Vyswe'eyaga… What do you think of becoming my assistant for a while?"
"…Sorry?"
"Whether you believe it or not, libraries are not the most popular places which is visited by the masses, they are usually more frequented by scholars, officials or archivists like me. You will very certainly spend a lot of time there, which will be unusual coming from unaffiliated outsiders. I think that, in addition to being my ward, it might be a good idea to use the guise of working as my assistant to not raise too many questions."
I hesitate to answer, he catches on to that and adds further, "Obviously you will be remunerated accordingly for your services—twenty cowries a month—Child labour is a serious matter here."
Is that a small wage or is it a decent one? An assistant's salary cannot be too big, but it is still enough to live adequately… That is how it would be in Nchāre anyway.
"What… exactly do I need to do as your assistant?" I will ask how the monetary system here works later.
"Let's see... You will be expected to help me with my work, cataloguing documents, writing letters for me, running errands… the usual."
So, it is nothing I haven't already done. Back when I was still a student, I used to do such side jobs. In fact, every aspirant sorcerer is expected to work under an accomplished sorcerer for a time—when it's really just an elaborated scheme for them to get free labour for their research projects.
"Then I gratefully accept your offer mister."
He nods his head pleasingly.
"It's settled then, I look forward to our collaboration."
"Likewise."
We shake hands and later leave the tavern when we are done with our drinks.
"Let's make a stop at the materials shop. You mentioned needing a few items for an enchantment, correct?"
"You don't need to." I hastily say, "I will just—"
"Hush now, let this old man buy this for you, it's not like I'll be asking for your soul in exchange. See it as an advanced payment if you must."
I smile awkwardly.
"…You are not that old mister."
"Ah! Using flattery now, are we? It might have worked if you didn't call me 'mister' all the time. Just call me Uncle Owono, will you? Or just Uncle if you must."
"I—I'll try..." He looks expectantly at me, "Uncle… Owono."
The shop does not look like what I had expected. It's small, disorganized and stuffy. Peculiar objects of all sizes, shapes and colour are laying haphazardly on shelves, there are also vials filled with suspicious-looking fluids, and others with organs and body parts of animals.
I am not much surprised by the items this store posses but by the flagrant disorder and lack of proper care of said products. Is it even safe to have them on display like that, and to sell them to people?
An old man appears from behind the counter, and—what would qualify as a business—smile edged on his face.
"Ah! New customers! Welcome to my humble boutique. Are you Practitioners in need of rare items? Do you need charms for protection, luck, or strength? Or maybe you want a custom-made potion to make a love interest more collaborative—if you know what I mean? Whatever it is we have it all at the Laark's Curious Trinkets. If we don't have what you need… well, there are always ways to procure them for you."
"Please make sure to ask how to use a product in case of doubts in its utility. We do not accept purchase returns for any reasons or give refunds for said purchase. We also will not be held responsible for any injury—or potential death—caused due to the misuse of a product."
I stare dumbfounded at the man
That last part—he said that last part so quickly I almost did not get it.