“Here we go again,” she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, glancing over Marigold Town through her window. Seira had woken up early today, the vampire knew that sleeping through the day wouldn’t do much for her here, considering that everything in this place happened while the sun was high up in the skies. Understandable, considering that Marigold was more of a village than a town, and most people who lived here were farmers or came from farmer families. Seira didn’t like Marigold as much as the other cities she had been to, mostly because it was so small and it seemed like everyone knew everyone here. She felt uncomfortable knowing that she was going to be recognized if she showed up often enough and even though she didn’t visit that much and never stayed for very long, the vampire still was a bit paranoid when it came to those things. She would hate for people to start questioning her and she usually just came by to find some work before she moved on to the more populated area of the country. Marigold was also located in the very south of Fiore, and going on from here there wasn’t much left other than Hargeon which was in the opposite direction of which she had travelled. That being said, she had turned her sleeping schedule around and now it was much easier getting up in the morning, luckily. Even though the vampire didn’t experience the same amount of endurance she had during the night, it wasn’t so bad anymore and she felt as though she was finally growing used to what she had become. Seira had never paid much attention to her magic before and while she used to be connected to the element of nature, she had completely lost that aspect of her magic and instead it had been replaced by something else, something strange. Blood magic was horrifying and it really didn’t appeal to her at all, but the vampire was left with no choice than to slowly adapt to it. But before she did anything else, such as training, she wanted to spend more time working and earning money, perhaps even purchasing weapons or something of the like. Seira walked into the bathroom and started getting ready for the day. She made it a habit to shower in the mornings and evenings now, mostly because there was a lot of dirt on the streets and she was a bit ocd when it came to feeling clean. Seira hadn’t hunted for a while, and her last human meal had been in Hargeon Town, which was alright considering that she could live up to a month without blood, if necessary. The place Seira had rented was a hostel, well more of a hotel considering that she had a relatively large room and a nice bathroom, but no kitchen. She decided that she wouldn’t be staying for very long and therefore did not need one. Once Seira finished showering and getting dressed, she stepped outside.

[506/2000]

The weather was nice, it was still relatively warm considering that autumn was here and she saw the leaves turning red and orange already, which meant it wasn’t much longer until it would be cold again. Seira didn’t mind and autumn had, in fact, always been her favourite season of the year. She loved the change of atmosphere, how nature became so much more colorful and even the weather — Seira enjoyed cold weather, mostly because of her prefered choice of clothes. Peacoats and boots were just her style and something like that couldn’t be worn during summer. Either way, as she walked outside she noticed a few people on the streets, most of them either going to work or going through the inner city to do some shopping. Marigold wasn’t as populated as Hargeon and there weren’t as many shops here either, so Seira never really stopped by to do some shopping herself. There wasn’t much she wanted or was looking for and in the end she always chose to simply find work for the day, finish that and then return home. Seira rarely did more than one job per day anyways and often she was more on the road traveling than inside towns. Lately, the vampire had been spending a lot of time in Hargeon, but that was only because she needed a rest and was hoping to meet with a certain person. Now that that was over, she was back to her usual self. The only difference now was that Michiko, the purple creature she had found injured in a forest and nursed back to health, had started following her around and even though she disappeared occasionally, Michiko always returned and seemed to know exactly where Seira was at all times. Having Michiko around was a welcomed change, mostly because she provided comfort and made a decent companion and she was an animal, which meant that she did not talk. Seira loved having some peace and quiet, so she appreciated the fact that she had someone and wasn’t alone and at the same time, that creature never really annoyed her. Either way, Seira was now walking through Marigold and heading to the farmlands, where she wanted to meet Farmer Jim. Farmer Jim was quite possibly the oldest and most respected person of his profession and very well known around Marigold. He was a man in his mid fifties who owned a lot of property and land where he was harvesting different things such as cabbages and what not and usually, he always had work to do for all sorts of people. He didn’t discriminate and Marigold didn’t have a local mage guild either, which made things a lot easier when it came to finding work. Seira approached his house and knocked on the door, only to be let in by the man shortly after. She had worked for him several times before so he knew her already. They exchanged greetings and Seira took a seat by his table.

[1007/2000]

“I suppose you are looking for work?” He said and took a seat as well. Seira nodded politely, “Yes, I just arrived in Marigold last night and decided to get down to business, there is nothing else to do here for me anyways.” It was true and to be fair, she couldn’t wait to return to bigger cities such as Era and Crocus, the holy capital, where she could do some shopping in her free time as well. “Well, that’s good because I actually have a job for you. Lately, we’ve been experiencing problems with vines,” he explained and folded his hands together. “Everything is overgrown and it doesn’t seem to be stopping and soon, all of the town will be part of those vicious vines.” He seemed frustrated and Seira frowned. “You want me to cut away vines?” He nodded in agreement. “I have been doing some work myself, but it seems as though they keep coming back and they keep growing larger, I don’t even know what the meaning of that is. Perhaps using magic on them will be more efficient, but I honestly cannot explain how vines can grow back that fast. That is why I would like for you to take a look at it. At this rate the town will be swallowed up in vines, and we can’t let that happen!” Seira nodded and stood up. Of course Farmer Jim was being overdramatic, he always was (especially when it came to his cabbages) but she didn’t mind. The work itself didn’t seem to be too difficult, and who knew? Perhaps there was something up with those vines after all. Farmer Jim directed her towards the farmlands, where she would spot the vines after walking around for a while. They were thick, long and seemed sturdy enough. When Seira began cutting them away, she noticed after a while that they were indeed growing back relatively fast and it was as though there were more and more coming through. The vampire frowned at this sight — even though she had lost her magic, she used to be a nature magic user and from what she could tell, this was extremely unusual. Of course normal plants did not behave like this and she couldn’t help but think that there was magic involved. Seira ripped off the vines only to realize that they were behaving even more strange now. They started climbing up her legs and she eventually dropped the knife and used magic instead to cut them off. Going deeper into the farmlands, the mage realized that the vines were getting stronger and stronger the deeper she pushed through. Michiko, who had accompanied her up until now, also seemed to be struggling with the vines. She was much smaller and lighter than Seira of course, and the vines kept tugging on her paws and pulling her into different directions on her tail, so the vampire decided to pick the poor thing up and carry her instead to keep her from getting pulled in.

[1512/2000]

Seira wasn’t a professional, of course not, but in this case she couldn’t help but assume that there was something giving these plants power. This certainly wasn’t normal behavior and she was surprised that Farmer Jim hadn’t figured that out yet, otherwise he would have certainly told her? Then again, she figured that he had never made it this far outside, simply because he was old already and probably couldn’t defend himself against this many vines, if even Seira had to use magic already. She marched forward and eventually put Michiko back onto the ground, who started firing attacks at everything that came too close to her, which was fine with Seira honestly and she did the same. Seira was looking for the core of the Vines, where most of them seemed to come from and while she could feel something in a certain direction, some sort of stronger magical aura, it was hard to move forward because of all the vines. After walking deeper into the bushes, Seira suddenly saw something glowing blue in the far distance. She figured that’s where she would find clues and decided to go even deeper inside, this time using actual strong magic alongside Michiko to fight off the vines. It took her a while to get there, but the light became brighter and brighter and when she arrived right in front of it, she saw what seemed to be a glowing blue orb that radiated magical energy, buried into the soil. This was, without a doubt, the source of strength for the magical vines and had to be destroyed. Seira simply punched the orb with her fist until it broke into a million tiny pieces and almost immediately the vines started pulling back. They removed themselves from the farmlands and shrinked, becoming much smaller than they were before. The lack of magic worked wonders here and Seira figured that she had taken care of the problem by destroying the source and therefore returned to Farmer Jim, who was already waiting for her outside the farmlands. “There was a magical orb giving the vines power, that’s why they grew so much,” she explained and he nodded, a surprised expression crossed his face. “Really? I couldn’t have made it that far inside to figure it out, so thank you so much for doing that,” he seemed genuinely surprised and glad that this had been taken care of. Seira explained to him what exactly she had done and advised him to make sure to scan the land every now and then for more magical orbs in the soil — things like that could happen and it wasn’t that unusual in the end. “Thank you, again, for helping us all out. Here is your reward, you have certainly earned it. Please come back whenever you are looking for work again,” he thanked her once more and handed her a bag with jewels, which Seira gratefully accepted. She then left the farmlands and Farmer Jim and returned to the inner circles of Marigold, where she would walk through some stores before going home.

[2027/2000]