Videns had not been long in Era. He was enjoying his walk, looking at the scenery and whatnot. He found himself doing this more and more often. Since it was early morning the pale blue of the sky seemed to heighten the calming feeling of Era. Since Era was the home of the Rune Knights every stall and shop seemed to be at ease as there was almost always at least one page within a few meters. Any burglar would be a genius to steal anything within Era. Videns knew there was exceptions to every rule, however as he sipped his coffee enjoying the scenery he gazed upon as he sat on a park bench, he couldn’t help but feel as though this would be a good place to live. But as he remembered he was fairly broke and inflation was doing terrible things to the prices of houses. Sighing a bit, Videns leaned back on the park bench and let his sense’s run wild. The smell of freshly cut grass wafted in the air as well as the aroma of freshly made bread. The sun beamed down warming the exposed skin on his arms. Sighing is relaxation Videns took another sip of his coffee. He wondered what he could do today… wc 212

Finally she was home again, she believed Era was the place she felt more safe than anything. Funny considering everything that had happened here, but it was better than Magnolia and that said a lot. She had planned to go and talk to the people at the council at the headquarters but she wasn’t sure if she was up for that at this point. She had done enough to avoid this place and now she would go there. She walked to the coffee store that she had met Leyaria and took a coffee to go, as she was sure that she would have to do something about her not wanting to go there, there was also a letter addressed to her to come to them as soon as possible. She had not said she was going to Era and there were a lot of reasons as to why she had not said that and one was that she didn’t feel so well. She wasn’t entirely sure what was going on but she would figure out soon enough and with that there were enough jobs she had to do. She passed a few people and stopped as she heard them talk, she turned around and her cat ears were flat on her head, something was wrong in Era? It wasn’t as extreme as she thought but it wasn’t so good either. She needed to find answers and that meant she had to turn to someone she knew that knew about the Rune Knights. There was a light going on, where would she find Daragast?

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Across the street a the coffee shop Videns had came from, two elderly people began to walk towards the park. Because of their advanced age they did not notice Videns sitting alone. As well as that what seemed to be whispers grew louder to regular voices. “Oh give over Mary!” The Elderly man replied to his spouse. “Oh Philip come on, daragast is trying so hard. I mean look at this place, it’s practically heaven compared to the poor side. They just need a little help to get things moving.” His wife Mary pleaded. Whatever it was they were talking about they clearly had polar opposite ideas. “For the last time. Our pension is for our grandkids so they can have a good life like we did! We can’t just give it out willy nilly to every Tom, Dick or Harry, can we!” Philip replied. His point seemed to resonate with his partner as she looked to the ground, disapointed. “Yes, yes I suppose you are right. Still, Daragast is trying so hard for the children in the poorer part. It’s not good for him, he’s older than the two of us combined! He really needs to be less stressed…” She sighed to her husband. As the two walked on Videns could not hear anything more. He probably would not have listened regardless considering what they were talking about. Videns decided to walk to the poorer part of town, but one problem arose, he had no clue where it was. Videns looked up to see a girl with ginger hair who seemed to know her way around. “Excuse me, can I get a hand with some directions please?” 278+212=490

Alice looked left and right but stopped walking as she saw someone shot to his spouse and it made her realize that it was needed to work on something and that it involved Daragast as well, this also meant that she should go to the poorer part of the town and find him there, apparently stressing himself out. Before she could actually go there someone spoke to her and she looked up to see someone she had seen before, she raised her right eyebrow and stared at him, this was the guy that would show her the coffee store and got lost, it was apparently normal for him. ”Sure where do you need to go?” she asked calmly, not wanting to interupt him in his possible daydream about the scenery, which was more beautiful in Magnolia than in Era if you asked her. As she learned that he was looking for the same district as her, she offered to take him along as she wanted to talk to her old friend. Who was not hard to find as soon as she reached the location, ”Daragast, I came to talk to you.” The dragon like creature turned to her, ”Well if it isn’t miss Baskerville, it’s been a long time.”, which made her give a quick retort about him telling her what was going on and he asked her and the lost boy to come along. He would point out constructions and tell the two of them as well as about a private school where they took a short stop and she looked at it, Era had changed that fast or was she always blind for it?

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“Oh, Hey it’s Alice right? Good to see you again” Videns asked as the neko had turned around. He had met her once before in Magnolia. Alice had helped Videns slightly when she had caught his coffee when he dropped it, while Videns reciprocated by showing her the coffee shop from where he had bought it. A short but sweet meeting. “Well I overheard that a man named Daragast needs a hand with some things in the poorer part of Era, but I have no clue where that is. I was wondering if you would?” Videns asked. If he recalled she had said that she was apart of the Rune Knights, so naturally being one she would know where it was. Videns beamed at Alice once she had said she knew where to go. She also mentioned that she had business with Daragast too so she would be joining him. “Oh I see, well let’s go then, shall we?” He would ask still smiling at their chance meeting. There was almost no time for chit chat as the two mages came to the poorer district. As soon as the entered the dirt street which was a complete contrast to the white cobbled stone of the street they were previously on, there was a small and stout creature that looked almost identical to a small dragon. The two began to talk, but now Videns was enthralled by the scenery of the poorer side! 242+490=732

”You might think that the rich would be smarter as they get better schools. But don’t underestimate intelligence of the poor.” Daragast said to the two of them and Alice quickly looked at Videns before she turned to look at the public school again. She didn’t belong to a rich family she had been lucky perhaps but before she could ask what he meant he went on that it was maybe a job for the Rune Knights to put scouts here to find people that would be civil servants and she frowned and looked at the sand road, that would be a suggestion she could make as she was probably invited about a conversation with the higher ups to become a Lieutenant, ”You have a very good point. I will bring that up in my next ranking up conversation.” She spoke shortly about it with Daragast but didn’t want to throw Videns out of the conversation, she smiled at him, ”what do you think?” she asked after hearing some children laugh and turning her attention soon enough to a group of children playing tag very enthusiastic, she eyed it for a little bit. Wondering if she should play along to give the children some more fun but she doubted that it would be appreciated by other knights and she didn’t want Daragast to say anything about it. She wanted to ask the Dragon-like creature something and before she knew it as she looked for him, he was gone. She looked left and right and noticed that he just entered a noodle store, she looked at Videns in surprise and shrugged because she was curious and followed there to hear him just order ten cups of noodles, what the heck was he doing?

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Videns had returned from his gazing of the scenery as Daragast began to talk. It had seemed asn though the elderly couple were right. Daragast was indeed very passionate about the children and about helping the poorer district. And of course he had his own opinions on the matter. He was telling them both not to underestimate the poor just because of their lack of amenities. Videns nodded in agreement. Although he never went to school he knew first hand that even without fancy facilities people could turn out just fine. As Videns’ eyes shifted to Alice he noticed her eyes trail the public school as if nostalgia made her do so. Videns wondered if she had attended a school similar to it or that school in general, but not wanting to interupt the small scaly man Videns kept his questions to himself for now. Her eyes then shifted to the ground which was covered in dirt, litter and from the smell of things, excreted products. Videns looked mildly surprised when she had mentioned that she would talk about it to her higher ups upon ranking up. Videns guessed that she was fairly strong when they had first met but she must also be very well known within the Rune Knights to be able to higher ups with such ease. Videns looked from Alice to Daragast as he was asked his opinion, something which rarely happened to him. “Um well. I do agree with you Daragast, to an extent. Although yes many would benefit from better schools, it’s about the drive children have to become the best. Although I have no prime examples of a rags to riches story, there are many out there. To me the determination makes everything. Like now most kids hate school, even the well off. They need a drive to learn, if not then no amount of top class teachers or facilities would be enough.” He said without realising he had such an opinion on the matter. Before he knew it Daragast had gone to the noodle shop and bought cups of noodles. Videns returned Alice’s confused look but soon after buying it the dragon like man came to the children who were playing tag and offered them all some food after their intense game. “Thank you both for listening to me and for sharing your opinions. Here’s a little thank you.” Daragast said with a smile as he handed the two a rather large reward. Videns could plainly see refusing was not an option so took the reward graciously. Once the two had left Videns would ask Alice “have any other plans I can tag along with?” 443+732=1175

As she had followed him to the noodle shop and heard him send the children inside he turned to her to explain that she should always support local shops and she nodded, she mostly went to the smaller sized shops, supermarkets and inns and bed & breakfasts so she could easily tell Daragast she did that. She watched him tell the children to go eat once more as she walked back to Videns and found it a bit of a weird thing to be thanked not much later by the dragon-like creature and even be given money, she was probably earning more soon if she became lieutenant but giving it back to him doesn’t seemed to be an option and she would not say it now but she might donate it to the school later. She had some other good funds that she needed to pay for, one was a man in hiding probably, she wasn’t sure and most of all she wasn’t sure about her health at the moment. She felt gloated, she turned to look at Videns once he spoke to her, again realizing too late that Daragast was gone, ”Oh I thought about finding a job to do.” the longer she would prevent herself from going to the headquarters, the better, ”Want to join me? Two is always more fun than one.”

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