Seira was lying in bed, curled up in between the sheets and surrounded by thick, fluffy pillows. The room was still dark, no sunlight was peeking through the closed blinds and even though it was already past midday, the girl had chosen not to get out of bed yet. She napped quietly and peacefully in the room she had rented and everyone else in Marigold Town could go by their business, just as she would go by hers. It had been pouring in the morning, but the rain had stopped ever since and the weather was much better now, albeit still cloudy. Seira, strangely enough, had chosen to turn on the desk light instead upon waking up and had no desire to look outside whatsoever. It was her sixth day in Marigold, and it had almost been a week since she had come here. Ever since then she had been able to find quite a lot of work, thankfully, and she had been working hard ever since to gather a good amount of money. The woman had only visited a place so deep in the south for that exact reason and although she enjoyed travelling and seeing new places, Marigold Town, truth be told, was far from mesmerizing and after spending some time here she knew that she could leave again without missing it too much. For the time being, however, she would remain where she was to check whether or not there was still more work for her to do. She had spent the first few days out on the farmlands, helping Farmer Jim with his work there and although it was nothing compared to the things she had done before and, to be honest, quite the strange work for a petite girl like her, it had been fun and an alright job so she wouldn’t complain about it. Yesterday, however, had been different compared to the jobs she had before here in Marigold and although it wasn’t a very difficult job, she appreciated the chance to do it. Fernando De Syllas was the current Lord of Marigold Town and the people here seemed to love him dearly. From what she could tell he was doing an excellent job, even in spite of only being a lord for about four years and he sometimes had tasks for strangers coming to visit from outside as well. As a Wizard Seira truly appreciated his offers and yesterday had been a somewhat special day as well. He had invited many noble families from all over Fiore to his castle to hold a banquet and it had been quite the success. Syllas was a lover of magic and interested in everything magic related, so he had asked wizards that were currently in Marigold to help out at his banquet and perform their magic in front of the guests to entertain them. Seira had signed up and completed her performance, amongst others, which fortunately had been a success. Petal Magic was quite beautiful after all.

[501/2000]

Seira eventually got out of bed and decided to get ready for the day. It was around 1pm already and she surely had plenty of time to relax and calm herself down by now and even though the weather wasn’t as great as always she would still have to leave the house and look around for things to do, after all. Perhaps she could check out some of the local stores to see if they had anything that she was interested in, something that was worth buying. Seira then got fully dressed and walked downstairs into the lounge, where she would have some breakfast as per usual. The inn had a great kitchen and offered relatively cheap and delicious food. She sat down and grabbed the local newspaper, expecting to read something about the success of the banquet that Syllas had held yesterday. As expected, the news were full of it and his picture, alongside some nobles from other towns, was on the main page. Seira started reading a bit about the event and even found a section of the performance and it seemed that all together it had been a huge success. For a small town like Marigold it was extremely important to be on good terms with other cities, especially places like Crocus and Era, and this was an excellent way to befriend them. Seira had ordered some fried rice with seafood for herself and as she was eating away, one of the ladies who worked at the inn, Greta was her name, approached her with a white envelope with her hand, that beared the official insignia of the Syllas family on it. “Seira Navillera? One of the guards of the Syllas family has left this here for you this morning and has asked you to read this as soon as you wake up. I couldn’t just let such an important letter slide under the door so I brought it here for you and waited for you to wake up.” She handed Seira the letter that was addressed to her. “Thank you very much,” the mage thanked her and opened it immediately. It was a letter from the Lord himself, asking her kindly to visit him at his castle today at 5pm. She had no idea what this was going to be about but the girl assumed that, perhaps, he had another job for her and she was most definitely going to attend. There was still plenty of time to pass however, so she finished eating her meal and then went into the city to look around in the shops, like she had planned on doing beforehand. Seira went into the city and entered a few shops, and while there was nothing specific she was looking for, she quickly noticed that something seemed to be “wrong” and some of the shops appeared to be damaged and the owners distressed, which seemed extremely unusual for a place like Marigold Town. Of course it wasn’t her presence that caused distress.

[1001/2000]

More likely had it been something that was wrong with the overall situation and Seira was clueless as to what was happening to these people. Even though she was curious and started looking around a bit, she decided not to ask any unnecessary questions to avoid bothering them even more. Time passed and eventually it was time for Seira to leave to her meeting with Fernando De Syllas. She had the letter he had written her with her, of course, to verify that she was indeed an invited guest and not just someone trying to sneak into the castle for whatever reason. The walk up to the castle took quite some time in itself, about half an hour since it was located so high up above the rest of the city where the citizens lived and Seira’s inn was. Anyways, once she arrived she was greeted by the guard and asked what her business was. “I’ve received an invitation for 5pm with Lord Syllas,” she explained and showed the letter to him. He gave it a quick glance and nodded. “Yes, I recall that. Please, follow me.” The guard then led Seira inside the castle and she followed him quietly. They were going a different road than she had gone through when she came here to perform her magic and she was led into what appeared to be a living room where Lord Syllas was already waiting for her. She was offered a cup of tea, which she kindly accepted and took a seat. “Thank you for coming,” he greeted her and took some tea for himself as well. “As you probably have found out by now, I need your help with something. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with entertaining any guests, I know a job like that is easy for a wizard like yourself. In the past week bandits have been harassing the shops inside the city during night time. They always disappear without a word, are incredibly difficult to catch and cause a lot of damage to the shop owner’s belongings. Needless to say, a lot is being stolen as well. I can’t let that happen to this time, so I need your help in catching these brutes. You will be rewarded generously for your efforts, of course.” He gave her a smile and Seira took a sip from her cup of tea. So that was what she had been witnessing while strolling through the shops earlier today. “I’ve noticed that something has been going on already,” she said and nodded at him. “I can help out, I think. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch someone, I will start looking tonight.” They both came to an agreement in regards to the reward and Seira decided to set herself up inside the city and wait through the night until she would hopefully find something or someone. Seira then left the castle and returned to the city. It was still day so she had to wait a few hours until all the stores were closing down and night had fallen upon Marigold Town.

[1515/2000]

It was her first time roaming these streets so late and she did so with utmost care. Fortunately, Seira was well aware of how to be quiet and carefully snuck around the street corners, making sure she was never too far away from the stores that were being targeted by bandits. She remained hidden for most of the time so she wouldn’t alert the bandits and scanned not only the situation but also kept track of her surroundings, in case she needed to fight several people at once that was quite important. Seira then heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching one of the stores and quickly came around, hiding behind a corner, to check what was going on. She saw three men, obviously bandits, trying to break into the store that was selling magical goods and items. Assuming that they felt safe simply by the lack of guards around, Seira then placed both of her palms together and casted a spell from the spot she was standing at, sending a storm of petals towards the three men. This spell wasn’t really meant to harm them, it was far too weak for that, but it caught them off guard and two of the men, after realizing that they were being watched this times, perhaps expected many guards or something similar and immediately ran away. One bandit, however, stayed where he was even after his comrades had fled and continued with his work, still trying to break into the shop. He was tall and had tanned skin, dark hair and a scar across his face. Overall, he looked very intimidating but that did not bother Seira. She got out from where she was hiding, extended her arm and immediately casted another spell, a burst of petals that would hit the man right in the face. Even though Seira didn’t look like it, she was quite sturdy herself, quick and had a decent amount of physical strength. She didn’t want to cause any damage to the shop so she decided to leave out spells for now and just physically beat up the guy. Seira approached him quickly while he was still blinded from her spell and kicked the man against both his shins, causing him to whine and fall down on his knees. She then used that opportunity to punch him into the face several times, before knocking him over by slamming her elbow against the side of his head, right into his temples. As she went for another punch, the man grabbed her by the arm and threw her across the street to defend himself from her. Seira decided then to use another spell after all, extended both her arms and summoned a pillar of petals that would strike the man down once and for all. He stopped moving and was finally knocked out. Seira started dragging his body to the meeting point she had agreed one with the castle’s guard, who agreed to take over from here on. She was awarded the promised amount of money and went back home.

[2025/2000]

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