Through the crowded streets of the third district, four figures moved as usual.
Despite the familiar surroundings, many onlookers turned curious eyes towards them, after all they were quite odd.
Leading the group was Alan, his eyes wrapped in a black strip of silk, beside him, Lucian followed with measured steps and high posture.
However, behind them were two hooded figures, trailing along in silence.
Ignoring the lingering stares made their way, Alan glanced up at the sky.
The sun was dropping into the horizon, covering the world in its familiar red hue.
They spent much longer time at the second district than initially planned.
"Uh, you two." Alan glanced back at Julia and Iris. "You two going to be walking around with those hoods?"
"These are artifacts." Iris stated. "It blocks others from perceiving our features."
"Uh-huh." Alan nodded, he remembered being unable to recognise their features. "But don't you think those assassins might recognise you guys like this?"
"Uh..."
"And isn't your eyes what really gives you two away?" Alan pointed out. "Think about it, blonde hair and red hair is actually common among nobles, so just get a blindfold like me!"
"Umm..."
"I want one..." Julia whispered in a small voice.
"Alright, let's get one." Iris immediately agreed.
"Sweet!" Alan smiled. "Oi Lucian."
"Yes?"
"Get one too."
"What? Why?"
"It's the new trend, why are you trying to be different, huh?"
"But you said to save mo—"
"Shut it, we're getting you one as well."
"But these actually cost a lo—"
"Shh."
...
"It's you again?" The man looked up, it was the same artifact dealer Alan met last time, his fedora was still placed along his crown, while his glasses settled low on his nose.
"Yo!" Alan brightly greeted him.
"How's that blindfold serving you?" The man closed his book and turned his attention to Alan.
"Yeah! Really great!" Alan smiled. "That's why I'm here, do you have more of those blindfolds?"
"More?" The dealer tilted his head, then glanced behind Alan. "Quite the crowd you've brought for some blindfolds."
Julia was inspecting each of the artifacts with great interest, while Iris squinted her eyes looking at the artifact in her hands.
"An artifact store in the third district?" She asked.
Artifacts were something that was only sold to nobles, or rather commoners were too poor to afford it, thus no one really sold artifacts in the third district, where income for the dealers were low.
"And these are high quality too..." She muttered, then looked at the man. "Who are you?"
"Me?" The man pointed at himself. "I'm just a wandering merchant."
"A wandering merchant?" Alan asked.
"Well yes." He nodded. "I came to the said capital of the Northern continent, mostly out of just curiosity, I was actually going to leave tomorrow."
"Wait." Alan rubbed his chin in thought. "You talk as if you aren't from this continent."
"Oh?" The man nodded. "I suppose you can't tell with this hat of mine."
He reached up, placing his hands on his black fedora, before finally pulling it off, as the headpiece came away, a pair of dark cat ears twitched into view.
"My name's Felix, and I travel for fun." He introduced himself, then wore the fedora once more. "And do some business on the side."
"A beast folk?" Iris asked.
"Well, I'm half human and half beast, my mother was cat folk..." He stopped in the middle of his sentence and turned a wary glance at Alan and Julia. "Why are you two looking at me like that?"
Both of Alan's and Julia's eyes were practically shining.
"Can I pet them?" Alan immediately asked.
"No."
"Can I pet them...?" Julia asked slowly.
"...No."
Same response.
"Aw man." Both Alan and Julia instantly slumped their shoulders.
"Would you two let someone pet your ears." Felix questioned in return.
"Absolutely!"
"Yes!"
And both Alan's and Julia's response was nonsense.
"You two are weird." Felix frowned, then stared at Lucian and Iris. "Are you two their caretakers?"
"Pretty much." Lucian agreed.
"Uh..." While Iris seemed very confused.
"Can I pet them once?" Alan pleaded, not even trying to deny the caretaker allegations.
"I'll give a hundred gold for it!" Julia started bidding.
"Oi! That's cheating, why the hell are you paying money now!"
"Two hundred gold!"
"Fuck fine then! Three hundred gold!"
"Six hundred!"
"Where the fuck are you spawning all this gold from!"
Ignoring the two spouting rubbish, Felix focused on Lucian and Iris.
"You two seem sensible." Felix nodded. "Care to continue the transactions?"
"Yeah, sure." Lucian nodded then stepped up.
Meanwhile, Iris was still staring at Alan and Julia bickering with a bewildered expression.
"You'll get used to it." Lucian assured her.
"Huh... used to what?" Iris looked confused.
"You'll see." Lucian shrugged, then asked Felix. "Do you have any more blindfolds in stock?"
"How many do you need?" Felix asked back.
"Three."
"Hmm." Felix thought for a moment.
Snap
At the snap of his finger, three strips of silk floated over.
One was pure white.
The other was scarlet.
The last one was golden.
"Hmm?" Lucian tilted his head. "Are these colour schemes too convenient?"
"Is that so?" Felix rubbed his chin. "Well, I can't blame you."
"What?"
"As a beast folk, I don't have an affinity, but as a half human, my body doesn't become increasingly barbaric." Felix explained. "Instead, my body developed strange prophetic abilities."
"Oh, so you can see the future?" Lucian widened his eyes. "That's incredibly strong, no?"
"Eh." But Felix lightly shook his head. "Sure I can maybe see the future, but it's kind of useless, and every prophetic actions I make, are purely coincidental."
Felix tapped his chin before continuing. "Say, one day I might have the urge to make a blanket, then a month later, the blanket is conveniently available when I spot someone freezing outside."
"So you are saying this is a result of your influence?" Lucian asked, pointing towards the three blindfolds.
"Well yes, those were just some artifacts I built on a whim a few months ago, but now it's all too convenient for you lot." Felix shrugged. "That's why I travel, my influence extends everywhere."
"That's nice." Lucian lightly responded. "How much?"
"Just take it." Felix waved him off. "It was gathering dust anyway."
"Don't mind if I do." Lucian immediately snatched the three blindfolds.
"You're quite lucky, like I said before, I'm leaving tomorrow."
"Where are you going?" Lucian decided to ask anyway.
"The Eastern continent." Felix replied. "I heard the world tree is big."
'The world tree is big? It's called the world tree for a reason, moron.' Lucian thought to himself, then nodded. "Alright, hope we meet again."
"Yeah, see you," Then Felix returned to his book.
After walking a few steps from the artifact stall, Lucian was immediately greeted with something he momentarily forgot.
"A Hundred platinum!"
"Where the living fuck are you getting that kind of money from!"
"Two hundred platinum!"
"Oi! We got it! Stop bidding!"
"Three hundred!"
"Stop!"
Iris stood a little further from Alan and Julia, with an awkward face, unsure if she should do something.
Noticing Lucian, she asked him. "Is he always like that?"
"I guess?" Lucian affirmed, then looked at Julia. "Rather, I'm surprised there was someone like her."
"No... I'm surprised there was someone like him." Iris replied, glancing at Alan.
"A thousand platinum!"
"Hmm, maybe I should just rob the royal castle..." Alan muttered.
"Lets stop them." Lucian suggested.
"Yeah..."
And so Lucian and Iris stopped Alan before he developed strange ideas.
...
"You guys look so cool." Alan nodded.
Lucian wore the white blindfold, the colour scheme blended perfectly with his hair.
Iris took the scarlet one, pairing well with her own crimson hair.
And Julia took the gold one, matching it with her blonde hair.
"I'm surprised you can actually see in this..." Iris said, more to herself.
"Do I look cool?" Julia asked.
"Well... yes." Iris answered.
"Yay!"
Honestly, Alan didn't understand how someone like her was the fourth princess, but he didn't really care, she was pretty fun to be around.
Alan faintly smiled before tilting his head up, the last traces of the sunset had vanished, leaving the sky in darkness.
Soon the nightlife of the third district begun to stir, the street lamps flickering awake, owners setting up their food stalls.
"Well, should we find a place to talk?" Alan asked Iris.
"Hmm." But Iris was somewhat distracted, looking at Julia.
Julia was observing all the stalls and people with an expression Alan couldn't quite understand.
"What's with her?" Alan whispered to Iris.
"Well…" She paused. "She has never left the royal castle."
"What? Why wouldn't she leave."
"Not that she didn't want to, she couldn't."
Alan listened, then asked. "So this is her first time outside?"
"Yes."
"Hmm." Alan nodded. "Oi Lucian."
"Yes."
"Get me some cotton candies."
"Alright." Lucian vanished.
"Yo, you two." Alan called out to Julia and Iris. "Let's walk around a bit."
Julia's face immediately lit up.
…
Jingle
The bell chimed, signalling the arrival of new customers.
"Welcome!" The innkeeper brightly greeted the newcomers then paused, immediately recognising two of them.
There were Alan and Lucian, who now wore a white blindfold.
Both of them were holding on to a mountain of lollies and sweets.
Next to the two, was a girl, with shoulder-length crimson hair and scarlet blindfold, idly licking on a single cone of ice cream.
Then the last one with blonde hair and golden blindfold, with both hands occupied with heaps of sweets, smiling contently.
"You expanded your little blindfold group, I see." The innkeeper giggled. "How may I help you today?"
"Give us a room." Alan responded.
"Oh my~" She grinned. "Are you lot planning on having fun?"
"Who the fuck even says that." Alan snapped and quickly glanced back.
Lucian as usual didn't seem bothered, Iris's jaws were wide open, and Julia tilted her head innocently.
"Fun?" Julia smiled.
"Oh my~ you brought another innocent one." The innkeeper laughed.
"Why the hell are you the owner." Alan shook his head. "Just give us two rooms."
"Roger that."
Soon, Alan got handed two keys.
"Alright, let's go up then."
As they were leaving, the innkeeper yelled. "Make sure to use protection!"
"Quit your job!"
...
Click
The moment the four of them stepped through the door, Alan begun lowering his blindfold.
But the next second.
Crackle
The sound of electric cut through the air.
Instantly, Alan whipped his head back.
Julia was stretching her hand into the air, from within her palm, sparks of crimson lighting erupted before colliding with one another.
Quickly a pure black spear emerged in her hands, the spear blade was jagged and uneven, but at the same time looked deadly.
'Another soul weapon?' Alan's mind was already freaking out, how the hell does both of them possess one.
Right now in this room, Alan was the only one without it, breaking his thoughts apart, Alan quickly pulled out a dagger from his necklace.
"What are you doing." His voice was low.
"The lady said we need protection." Julia whispered back, her blank expression didn't change as she rapidly scanned the room.
"What the hell?" But Alan dropped his sword in disbelief. "That's not the kind of protection she meant..."
"Oh what?" Julia's face immediately returned to normal.
Crackle
Then dismissed her soul weapon entirely.
Her entire vibe quickly digressed into a sweet, innocent lady.
But Alan didn't completely forget the face he just witnessed, that cold, empty glare.
Still, he didn't pursue it, instead he returned his sword to his artifact.
"Is she always this innocent?" Alan decided to ask Iris.
"Well, yes." Iris nodded, then whispered. "Don't you dare taint her."
"Uh-huh." Alan lightly nodded and stared at Julia.
She tilted her head innocently, then as if bored retrieved the lollies she stored in her artifact, before furiously devouring them.
"Well, she's quite something." He sighed.
Then, shaking his head, he pointed to the two beds behind him.
"Well, take a seat, we got some stuff to discuss."