"Who are you?" the guard asked in a deep voice, addressing Nero and Eleanor. The two stood wrapped in their torn clothes in front of a small gate, which was the city gate of Tissling. Nero looked nervously at the ground while he left the talking to Eleanor.
"Just two travelers on the way to Purtal, looking for temporary shelter."
The guard looked the two up and down. "That makes one sun coin per head!" he barked.
Eleanor twisted his face into a grimace. "Isn't that a bit expensive?" he asked, irritated.
"Those are the rules; every newcomer has to pay one sun coin as an entrance fee. Unless you have a pass?"
Eleanor sighed. He shook his head in defeat while pulling out two sun coins from his pocket. Reluctantly, he handed the two coins to the guard. Of course, he knew the guard was ripping them off, because two sun coins were enough to afford a good meal and a room for the night. There were three types of coins in Huma. There were moon coins, each worth one thousand sun coins, then there were sun coins, each worth one hundred twilight coins. These coins were named after the three holy beings of this world, but Nero did not know the exact details.
An average person earned around five hundred sun coins a year and one moon coin every two years. That meant that the fourteen moon coins they had taken from Tark represented a not insignificant fortune. To be exact, twenty-eight working years of someone from the middle class.
But of course, they could not just wave that wealth around, because it would not only draw suspicion and attention, but also the greed of people. And Nero knew only too well what humans were capable of doing to satisfy their greed.
After they had paid, the guard handed them two identical papers. "These are your passes; you can use them from now on to enter the city for the much lower price of 25 twilight coins. Don't lose them, or you'll have to pay another Sun Coins!"
After that, the two passed through the gate into the City. Tissling was an important city, because the main road from Shergien to Purtal passed directly by it. That was why Nero had used this as their backstory, because it was not very unlikely that a caravan would pass through here.
Many made a stop in Tissling on the long and exhausting journey, which the rulers of the city, of course, exploited to the fullest. That was also why there was such a high entrance toll, because in most cases there was no other choice but to stop here, since otherwise there was nothing but forest for the next few hundred kilometers.
But that was also a great advantage for Eleanor and Nero, because they were surrounded by hundreds of foreign people who were staying in this city. That helped them blend in among the people so as not to stand out. They were just two more travelers who had set out on the journey in hope of a better life, or to see family, or as part of a caravan.
"First, we look for a place to stay," Nero muttered to Eleanor. "There we eat something, and wash ourselves so we do not stand out as much. We should also get some new clothes, because these have long passed their lifespan."
"Why didn't we get new ones before we came here?" Eleanor asked, confused.
"Because if we had shown up in fresh clothes in the middle of the forest, our story would not have made sense," he whispered back.
Eleanor nodded and felt like an idiot.
"After that, we look for a library or something similar. As you know, thanks to the symbols on your chest, we can speak, understand, and read any language."
Eleanor remembered how Ramor had engraved the symbol into him. He had done it with a glowing needle, which had burned the symbol deep into his flesh. But afterward the flesh had healed again, so the symbol was not visible on the surface.
When he focused his magic on Nero, he could also see many symbols that had been burned into his body, but his view was overwhelmed by the cloak in Nero's bag, which was embroidered with thousands of brightly glowing symbols.
The two walked a good distance through the city. Right after the entrance there was a large marketplace where all kinds of different goods were being sold. Among them were rare herbs, plates, pots, all kinds of fruit and other food, and even slaves. Most of them were human slaves, but among them were also some Lizzians and Reils being offered for sale, although they were significantly more expensive than human slaves. Nero's gaze only briefly swept over the slave market before moving on.
"We are surrounded by mages," Eleanor whispered to him. In fact, there were not few people in the crowd with a magical aura. Nero nodded. "Fril had already reported that there were, on average, more mages. Could any of them be dangerous to us?"
Eleanor looked around discreetly. He saw many different auras, but could not compare any to his, let alone Nero's. If Nero's aura was like a gigantic inferno that stretched into the sky, then the auras of the people here were at their strongest, like torches, and at their weakest, like a matchstick.
"No," he said then. "None of them has a particularly strong aura. And no one has a similar aura to mine, so I assume no one can detect us."
Nero had already expected something like that. Mages like Tark were a rarity even in this world. But then, suddenly, Eleanor flinched. "Over there..." he brought out. Nero frowned. He followed Eleanor's gaze, but did not see anything unusual.
"What do you see?" he asked.
"There are two people… with incredible auras."
Nero stopped. He searched for the two people Eleanor meant. "Do you see the muscular man and the black-haired woman?" Eleanor asked to guide Nero in the right direction.
Nero saw the two people Eleanor meant. The bald man was around thirty years old. He was gigantic, over two meters tall. He wore a tight shirt, although that was probably not intentional, because he was so muscular that every shirt would fit him tightly. The woman next to him was much smaller, with mid-length black hair, which she had braided into two long braids. She wore riding pants, long black boots, and a loose shirt. The two were currently engaged in an excited conversation.
"Are they stronger than Tark and Isabella?"
Eleanor nodded. "I think they are a bit stronger, but not as strong as you, but it is hard to estimate. I would still advise against a fight."
"Describe their auras."
"The aura of the man is like a gigantic burning fire that devours everything around it. The woman, on the other hand, has the aura of an endless blizzard that rages infinitely. The two auras are truly different."
Nero clicked his tongue. "In any case, we'd better not get in their way; after all, we don't want to risk drawing attention to ourselves unnecessarily."
Exactly in the moment Nero said that, the man seemed to have sensed something, because he suddenly stopped with a furrowed brow. "Deactivate your magic!" Nero hissed immediately.
The two turned around. Eleanor focused. He looked at his star and ordered it to shrink into itself.
On the other side of the marketplace, the woman looked at her friend in confusion. "Morch? What is going on?" she asked, because her partner had suddenly gone silent. Morch looked around in confusion. "Didn't you feel that?" he asked the woman.
"Feel what?"
"I can't describe it exactly, but believe me, Kia, something is wrong." His gaze locked onto two figures that were moving away from them, their backs turned. He frowned. "Those two!" he said to Kia. "Come on!"
Kia frowned, but did not see anything special about the two figures. Yes, they wore torn clothes and were a bit scratched, but that was not a rarity in Tissling. Still, she trusted Morch because he had been her partner for almost twenty years. If he sensed something about those two that caught his attention, then they were more than what they seemed to be.
They ran after the two, who had just turned into a side alley. They fought their way through the crowd, ramming people aside with their elbows.
"Ow..."
"What the fuck is that supposed to be!"
"Watch where you're going!"
The people complained at them, but the two simply ignored them. Their focus was only on the two figures moving away with fast steps, who had just turned another corner.
Suddenly, Kia was also overcome by a shiver as she felt a short wave of magic. But it was gone as quickly as it had come. Had she just imagined it? "Did you feel that?" she asked Morch, who nodded grimly. Finally, they turned into the alley where they had seen the two disappear, but when they arrived, the alley was empty. Not a single soul could be seen.
"Damn it!" Morch cursed.
Kia patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, we will definitely see them again!" Morch sighed, disappointed, but there was nothing else he could do except agree with Kia. "It's not that bad. It's just… something about them didn't feel right. I'm telling you, Kia, they are not normal!"
Kia looked around the alley one last time before turning around. "Come on, Morch, let's go. We still have a lot to do!"
Morch let his shoulders drop, but followed her in the end. And neither of them had seen the shadow at the end of the alley that was slightly larger than it should have been.