When Seira woke up the following day in Crocus, the holy capital of Fiore, she could hear the voices of the citizens outside; the hotel she had chosen to stay at was in a relatively busy street and when she looked out of the window she could see the market. She rolled around, not wanting to get up just yet, and checked the time - it was noon already, which meant that she had slightly overslept and although Seira usually was strict with herself when it came to daylight activities, the vampire simply could not be bothered with much of that today. She had plans on leaving Crocus soon, seeing how this wasn’t a place where someone such as herself should stay for too long. She had found work yesterday, a decent enough job that paid a good chunk of money especially if you considered how little work had to be done for it. She recalled the events of the past day and thought of Lady Merlin, the king’s personal adviser who was also a sorceress. Rumor has it that she was of old age already, much older than the king and used magic to keep herself young which only spoke for her abilities considering that she was a stunning looking lady with pale skin and nice, dark blue hair. Seira wouldn’t think she was a day over twenty eight simply by looking at her. Lady Merlin was (fortunately) a very generous client with interesting tasks as well. She had asked something unusual of Seira: enchant a golden amulet as a gift for someone else.

She could have done this herself of course, but the king’s adviser was incredibly busy and so she tasked someone else with this job. Seira had spent the entire day in the library at Mercurius yesterday and she was surprised and at the same time awestruck at how large everything was inside that building and how they had pretty much everything a wizard could ever ask for. Seira had to grind her way through a few tomes before finding the right enchantment, which wasn’t exactly a problem - it simply took a while which was fine with the client. After that she had to create a potion and gather a few different ingredients which were used to enchant the amulet with and once that was all done and Lady Merlin had checked the quality of the final product, she was able to gift it to Luciel, whose birthday it was, and obtain her reward. It had been a rather satisfying day to say the least and Seira was glad that everything had gone so smoothly. Either way, even though Crocus was incredibly huge in size she didn’t want to risk running into any familiar faces while she was here considering that she had recently fed on someone - so she decided to leave soon. Seira wasn’t sure where to go yet, but she was likely heading back for the north as she had spent enough time in the south lately.

[502/3000]

Seira was even thinking about going to Baska Town - she’s had enough of Oak for now, even though that was without a doubt one of the largest cities in the north. There was also always Orchidia Town, which was a place where she used to do a lot of work, even though it’s been awhile since she’s last visited. There was a lot to do in both of those places, but as of now Baska was certainly more likely. She had never exactly spent much time there and more often than not only visited to take the train that lead her down south after she had been in Oak. Baska’s train station was the closest to Oak Town which made it a perfect in between stop, but perhaps this time around things would be different. The vampire stood up from her bed and walked into the kitchen, where she would have some cornflakes for breakfast while thinking about which route to take after she was done in Crocus. Crocus, weirdly enough, didn’t even have a train station which was kind of annoying, but so many normal travel routes led to the capital that it probably wasn’t really necessary anyways - at least from the crown’s perspective. That being said, Orchidia was the closest place that had a train station that could take her up to Baska, and even this would take her a few days to get there, which was fine. She would have to walk but Seira didn’t mind the longer travel since that was kind of what she did anyways. The woman got a can of tuna for Espeon, who was still somewhat sleepy and decided that she would let her pet out today and that she would have to accompany her, considering that they were leaving soon. Crocus was interesting but not the perfect place for someone like Espeon, who clearly prefered the woodlands and smaller towns. Seira could totally understand that, after all Espeon was a strange looking creature and there were way too many people out there wanting to pet her. Seira eventually decided that she would indeed travel up to Orchidia and then take the train from there to visit Baska. The town was infamous for its flea markets and many street vendors and she figured that there just had to be something interesting and was most definitely going to be worth her time. After making this decision, the female wizard went into the bathroom and took a shower to get ready for the day. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do yet, but work would find its way to her eventually and so she decided to go for a quick stroll and get some fresh air and make some final purchases for her travel before going to look for work. When Seira finished showering she put on her clothes and left the hotel room with Espeon trailing closely behind. The vampire noticed that it had gotten much colder, although the weather was still nice and sunny in a way.

[1,007/3000]

Seira began wandering through the streets of Crocus without a specific goal in mind; she stopped every now and then to look through the booths and also a few shops and occasionally made sure that Espeon had not gotten lost by glancing over her shoulder. Granted, there wasn’t much to do and she made sure to stop by one of the herb stores that was famous for having the largest selection within the capital to make some purchases before she decided that she was going to return to the hotel and put the few things she had purchased away. Espeon seemed to enjoy the stay outside and even though people were still looking at the purple creature, they were by no means rude or unfriendly - there was nothing negative and the feline was allowed to enjoy herself as much as her owner. When Seira returned to the hotel, she was stopped by one of the maids in the lobby who pointed upstairs to where her room was. “Miss Navillera? A messenger came around looking for you recently, he should still be upstairs waiting for you,” the maid explained and Seira (who was surprised by this, but wouldn’t let it show) nodded and slowly walked upstairs. There, she met a young boy, no older than 15, who was waiting in front of her room with a letter in his hand. “Miss Navillera?” The vampire nodded and approached him. “I have a message from Lady Merlin, the king’s adviser for you - I believe she requires your assistance with something,” he explained and handed her the letter and left shortly after.

Seira nodded and entered her room, locking the door behind her after she was inside. This actually happened every now and then and Seira was kind of glad that it did: clients who were satisfied with her work would contact her and ask if she had time for more work, which was just fine. That way she wouldn’t have to stroll through the entire town looking for the request board and going through the trouble of having to read through all the flyers before finding the perfect job. Besides, Lady Merlin had proven to be a good person to work with: she was simple, not laid back but not strict either and she paid well. Seira placed her belongings aside and sat down by the table to open the letter. It had a seal on it, which meant that no one else had read it other than her. In the letter, Lady Merlin asked to meet her at once of the town’s gates to discuss an urgent matter. She revealed a little bit of information in the letter right away: a caravan that carried an important item which Lady Merlin had requested to be delivered was going to arrive later today, but she didn’t exactly trust said caravan with being able to fully protect the items it contained, which is why she was asking a higher ranking wizard to help protect it and, if necessary, guide it around town.

[1,514/3000]

Seira looked over to Espeon and folded the letter back together. “We are leaving for the west gate,” she said and after changing up her clothes, she and Espeon left the hotel room once again to head for the western gate where Lady Merlin was supposed to meet them. It was about a twenty minute walk from Seira’s current location and on her way there she didn’t make any stops. When she arrived she saw Lady Merlin already waiting for her. Seira approached her and politely greeted the woman while Espeon was trailing behind. “I received your letter,” she said and held it up, “I came as fast as I could. What exactly do you need me to do?” Lady Merlin smiled and returned the greetings. “Thank you for showing up so quickly. There is a package set to arrive for me today and it holds some very valuable items. Not only are they expensive, they are also very difficult to get and quite rare, which is why I can’t let anything happen to it. Unfortunately it came to me that the caravan isn’t exactly known for being delicate with breakable items, which is really unfortunate.” She sighed, clearly very bothered by this whole situation. “I informed the guards at the gate that someone, you, will be waiting for the caravan and then guide them through the city. Please make sure to take a route that is free of thieves and choose streets that aren’t overly busy, the items are very fragile indeed. If they step out of line, tell them that you have been hired by me and that their reward depends on this - as well as yours.”

Seira nodded and memorized everything she said. “Sure, can do that, see you later then,” she said and walked past the gates and the guards where she would wait for the caravan to arrive. Seira approached one of the guards when the caravan arrived and spoke to them, informing them of who she was before going to the people who were on the caravan, “I will be guiding you through Crocus to ensure your safety and the safety of the goods you are carrying with you,” she explained and they nodded and followed her along while she walked ahead with Espeon. As Lady Merlin requested, Seira had to make sure that nothing happened. Crocus was a very large town, however and most of the streets were very busy especially during this time of the day. To prevent them from having any difficult encounters or running into too much people. Seira chose to walk a route that was pretty much around most corners and even though it took longer to complete, it was definitely much safer. The employees of the caravan weren’t happy at all, however, and would occasionally complain about how everything took longer than necessary. Seira was tired of hearing them complain but she could also see how they definitely had a point. But then again, they were known for being careless.

[2,016/3000]

“Do we really have to take this route? It’s much faster if we take the main streets,” the man complained and Seira stopped for a moment, rolling her eyes at the man who had decided to speak up. “Yes it is, but it’s also incredibly busy especially during this time of the day so we are not doing that. One hour more or less won’t do you any harm so get over it, because if anything happens to those goods the king’s adviser will personally hex you!” She hissed at them and they finally decided to shut up. Of course taking the main street was faster - that’s what main streets did - but Merlin was right when she said that it was full of thieves and way to busy for a large caravan like this to be heading through it, so Seira lead them around a few side routes. This wasn’t exactly a much easier task since there were a few constructions going on, which meant that the streets were being worked on and they couldn’t go the way she had initially planned. Of course this was quite bothersome but luckily due to how big Crocus was, Seira could simply walk around a few corners to get where she wanted and she made sure to lead and guide the caravan on as well. in the meantime the vampire couldn’t help but be mildly curious about the items that Merlin had ordered. If it wasn’t for her position she would have probably asked to take a peek at it, but she wouldn’t do that here.

Not with someone who worked for the crown. Seira and the caravan proceeded through the alleyways which eventually lead to more frequent turns and twists but it was alright. There were no problems, and most importantly: not many people in these small streets which made it easier for them to move through. If the small alleys were crowded as well, that would have been absolute hell for them. After about half an hour Seira suddenly heard the yelling of who appeared to be a Rune Knight. Rune Knights only meant trouble and this was incredibly annoying, so Seira continued to readjust the route they were taking the get as far away from the Rune Knight’s voice was possible and whatever drama was going on there. The last thing she needed was for this caravan to be stopped and for their job to take even longer than this. Seira wasn’t worried about there being anything illegal in there, since this was for the king’s advisor after all, but at the same time she didn’t wanna risk it and finish up as quickly as possible. This was quite bothersome and the employees of the caravan were still giving her shit for it. Seira couldn’t help but wonder who was right here: Lady Merlin was sort of being a little extra but Seira couldn’t tell without knowing just how careless the people of the caravan truly were. After they readjusted their route for the third time, the people seemed to be done though.

[2,529/3000]

“This is it,” one of the men, probably the leader, suddenly said and stopped the caravan altogether. Seira sighed and turned around, crossing her arms in front of her body and leaning against the house wall next to her. “What?” He had a grim expression on his face, “This is far too much trouble for us for one delivery. We have other places to be today and our entire schedule is already out of order because this one, specific delivery is taking far too long. I’m sorry, I know you have been tasked to lead us around but we cannot and will not work under these circumstances.” He seemed upset but Seira merely shook her head, “There is no other way,” she explained patiently, “it’s too dangerous out there and like I said, the item is quite fragile.” The man started looking through the bags of the caravan while continuing to talk. “We will no longer continue to this quest - you do that, that’s why you are here in first place, right? We really have to keep moving now, I don’t have the time for this. I know that Lady Merlin is quite high ranking, but our institution is neutral so you can’t threaten us with consequences either way.” He kind of had a point and Seira knew this. The man brought out a small package that contained a white crystal orb. He handed the orb to Seira and pointed towards the distance. “This is what Lady Merlin ordered, be careful not to break it. You’re going to have to deliver this to herself now, I don’t care what you do with it otherwise. We are leaving now, goodbye.”

With the glass orb in her hands, Seira watched as the caravan left. “So much work for nothing,” she said to Espeon and shook her head. If they had just given her the damn orb right away everything would have been done already by now. Seira rolled her eyes and made her way to Merlin who resided at Mercurius. Of course she was being careful and all, but the item was small and easy to protect so the task was simple and when Seira arrived at Lady Merlin’s study, she began explaining the situation to her and gently placed the glass orb onto the table. “I tried my best, but they were incredibly impatient. They said they had other things to do and they did not have the time to venture through the whole city for one item, so they ended up handing it to me so I could deliver it to you personally, I hope this is alright,” she explained and Lady Merlin nodded in response. “I understand, of course that is okay. I’m quite disappointed with the caravan, but considering their reputation this was almost to be expected. Unfortunately, you cannot always choose the people you want to work for you. They left though, so their reward is yours as well.” Lady Merlin paid Seira double than what she would have usually gotten and then the vampire was dismissed.

[3,039/3000]