One foot after another, one foot after another. Ignid repeated that to herself as she stumbled through the woods, keeping herself on her feet by holding onto trees as she walked. She had no idea where she was, having never had the chance to explore the land above her home. What would she do out here? The world was full of dangers and mysteries that She could not possibly know where to start. All she knew is that she had to keep moving forward, no matter what. The longer she stayed out here, the faster they would come for her.

The sun had just risen not too long ago, though Ignid had no way to actually tell the time. It was unbearably bright, something that the Fire mage had never had to deal with before. Was the sun not just a Giant ball of fire? Why did it want to hurt her eyes so badly? Her long White hair was unruly and tangled, and the adornments that once decorated it had long since fallen off. She wore what was once a beautiful red gown, but now was plastered with mud and fallen leaves, and the hems had already begun to tatter. Such was the life of a fugitive.

Up ahead, Ignid could hear voices closing in. She froze. Are they here? Did they find me already? That didn't make sense, how would they have gotten so far ahead of her? Something was different. Things were not adding up, and Ignid's curiosity dictated that she should investigate. Quietly, She crept up toward the source of the sound, eventually piecing together that the noises were from some sort of conversation. She would have to get closer to know more. She took some more steps and she could see some sort of figures on the other side of the treeline. Ignid stopped. This should be close enough, she thought. She had to make sure that these people were not from the Order of Rebirth.

"Oh, by the way! Have you seen that Draghast guy lately? The little Dragon man?" It was a female voice, probably middle aged. "Oh, you mean Daragast from the Council? Oh my god, don't get me started." Another woman's voice. They seemed to be engaged in a bout of gossip. "I know right? He keeps droning on and on about the 'plight of Era'. Geez, He's worse than my dad nowadays."
"Yeah. I am aware That this isn't the best place to live, but Era isn't THAT bad." So this place was called Era, huh? And this Daragast guy had some information on it? Perhaps he was the man to see for some help. But where was he? Era was completely unfamiliar to Ignid. Perhaps she could ask one of these kind ladies? After all, it was pretty clear not that they were no threat.The Fire mage emerged from the treeline, surely seeing era for the first time. "Woah! this place is amazing!" She turned to the women were now staring at her in surprise, the strange girl in broken clothes suddenly popping out at them. "I'm terribly sorry, but I happened to overhear your conversation about Daragast, was it? Do you know where I can find him?"
"U-uhh, He might be over there..." one of the women, now revealed to be blond, explained as she pointed a finger toward a part of town with broken buildings and fewer people milling about. "That's the poor part of town, That guy always like to hang out there."

After thanking the kind ladies, Ignid followed their directions, looking for Daragast the dragon man. Ignid had seen pictures of dragons in books, and while this man would not ACTUALLY be a dragon, She figured that he would still be decently easy to spot. Thankfully, this assumption was correct. As she walked amongst the worn out buildings and grungy atmosphere, she caught a glance of a blue humanoid lizard, speaking with some children. "Hello? Excuse me, are you Daragast?"
"I am, can I help you?"
"Yes, I hear that you know much about this place, 'Era'? I would like to learn about this world." Daragast looked up and down at Ignid, and then smiled. "Well, Arent you a strange one? If you don't mind the ramblings of an old man, I'd love to show you around." He waved goodbye to the children and gestured for  Ignid to follow him. "Oh, Thank you very much, sir!"

"You know, I get worried for those kids sometimes." Daragast started as the two began a stroll through the City, "There are many construction projects about to start up in this part of town,  And now the children will finally have a school to go to. I do hope it goes well." Ignid looked at him, confused. "You mean they don't already have a place to learn?"
"Not at all. In fact, I believe they learn more than the average resident through their hardships alone. It's just, That shouldn't have to be the case. You see, This town is full of rich folk. It is the home base of the Magic Council, after all. But the rich folk only seem to be smarter because they can afford a proper education. They are that many more families suffering from poverty, and I truly believe that they would be much smarter than those who buy their way to the top if they too could reap the benefits of education." Ignid nodded in understanding. She didn't know what she would do if she was never given the opportunity to learn. She was at least grateful to the Order for giving her that much. Daragast continued. "I have been a member of the Magic Council for a long time and I have seen the passion and intelligence that comes from these parts. If we could recruit some of them for the Rune knights as Civil servants, then surely they could bring more funds to the places that need it." He stopped walking among seeing more children, this time playing tag. Ignid had seen the children living in the Order play this game but had never joined them due to her rank. "However, there is still more we can do. For example," the dragon man walked up to some sort of food stand, handing the man running it some sort of currency in exchange for 'ten cups of noodles'. He then walked up to the children and told them to go to the noodle stand and eat up, before joining back with Ignid. "What was that?" she asked, intrigued, "Well, by supporting local business, the economy her grows. It's a slow process, but it breeds progress all the same. I could have easily just given the children some jewels to spend for themselves, but they tend to run to the more prosperous regions of era to buy candy there. That doesn't help the situation here."

The two continued to walk again, eventually leaving the poor part of town. "Well, I suppose that ends my Rant. I encourage you to explore this city for yourself and see how you like it. Era is a wonderful place, despite its flaws, and if we can work on the flaws too, well." Daragast chuckled. He then took Ignid's Hand. Her instinct was to pull back, but she felt something placed on her palm. It was a small bag of coins. "You are in need of help too, right? Perhaps you could use this to buy yourself some clothes and food. Your appearance is quite... concerning." The fire mage looked down at herself, glancing at her ripped and dirtied gown. "I won't ask questions, but think of this as a starting place for you, and a reward for putting up with my venting."
"Thank you so much, I will do my best to use this wisely." After the dragon man taught her how to use these 'Jewels', the two went their separate ways and Ignid walked right back into the poor part of town to buy some clothes there.


-exit-
D rank Quest: 1339/1000 words