“Oland! My good man, what a wonderful day to keep wonderful company. What’re you up to these days? It's been too long since we last spoke.” Alvir said, a friendly smile crossing his features as though he actually cared.

  Maybe I was being uncharitable, so far he seemed like decent enough company, but there were only two kinds of people that bound their soul to a demon. The desperate, like me, where power was a demand and not a question to find a place in a harsh world. Perhaps I could find some sympathy for those witches, if I knew their circumstances. They were people too, and I couldn’t exactly judge their reasoning.

  Then there were the witches that dominated popular understanding of the craft. Plenty of tragedies started with a witch, enough that society had no tolerance for the bastards. The sheer amount of horrors they’d released onto the world was staggering, whether it was contracting to a demon that was too much for them to handle or…an insidious agent ingratiating themselves with society.

  Cunning. That wasn’t a quality I found appealing.

  Alvir looked like a human right now, pale skin and brown eyes alongside a light stubble. I didn’t recognize him from the game. His self assigned title rung no bells, but from the little I’d gathered, I determined that he’d make for a rather annoying mid-game boss.

  Nothing a Knight couldn’t handle…if they could find him.

  I wasn't even close to being capable of fending off proper monsters, let alone a boss, so I didn’t have much of a choice but to go along with his offer. It wasn’t something of the soul so, if Arr’koro was to be believed, there wouldn’t be any consequences for putting me under duress.

  Oland gave a warm smile to Alvir, clearly not suspecting the horror that he was. “I was here just three days ago, is your memory betraying you friend? Wouldn’t do for you to turn senile before I do. Just not the proper order of things.”

  “Three days is much too long to spend separated! Do you know how many ingrates I get coming around my shop trying to haggle ridiculous prices? Too many, rare is it for me to have a pleasant conversation in this trade,” Alvir sighed.

  “Is that why you got the girl there? Need someone to witness your woes and lament together?” Oland chuckled. “Or have you finally taken on an apprentice? It’s taken you long enough.”

  “That’s a no on both counts,” Alvir chirped. “She’s just a…what do you call it…hmmm. I got the word somewhere jumbled in my brain but I can’t seem to remember. Starts with an m I think. Anyway, she’s here to pull in customers, I’m the only jeweller with an elf at the counter! Let alone the famed rat-slayer, fools with too much coin in their purse will be lining up for my extravagant collection just for that.”

  Oland's eyebrows raised at the mention of me being an elf, and he stared hard at me. I sighed and moved aside my hair to reveal a pointed ear, which got a gasp out of the man. I’d been growing out my hair to cover my ears so that I didn’t stand out…some people still recognize me by my eyes though. Oland turned his stare to Alvir.

  “How’d you convince her to do this? Isn’t she a hunter's apprentice?”

  “Quite easily, my geriatric compatriate,” Alvir said with a smile that was a little too wide. “But don’t think you can steal my secrets so easily, a jeweller has his methods.”

  “So coins?” Oland chuckled.

  “I’ll let you believe what you will, takes the fun out of the mystery otherwise.”

  Oland nodded in agreement. “Indeed. Now, I should be off. It was nice to see you Alvir, and you as well young lady, will you be a frequent occurrence?”

  “Only on Tuesdays sir,” I said.

  “I’ll be sure to visit then, Alvir has a horrible track record with making friends.”

  I guessed that that was supposed to be funny, but I didn’t have any mirth to do anything but nod. He returned it, then headed out of the shop into the streets beyond, and wherever the fuck they led in the winding paths that marked the east.

  “Kind fellow,” Alvir nodded. “Always comes for a chat, rather refreshing amidst all the haggling. He even comes by with food every now and again! Empathetic and reliable. Truly, a heart of gold on that one.”

  “I have this nagging feeling none of these are compliments,” I said.

  Alvir smiles with a row of normal teeth. “They aren’t. Just casual observations of an old friend.”

  “We aren’t friends”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “That’s…are you daft? Obviously I was talking about Oland,” Alvir said, confusion laced in his voice.

  I blinked, and then realized my mistake. Embarrassment creeped onto my cheeks in a scarlet blush, and my gaze turned to the floor. Good gods, I was never going to forget that was I? My mind would probably replay it over and over, as the treacherous organ tended to do.

  Alvir chuckled, but his attention shifted to the man coming to the counter, and both started haggling over a silver necklace. Pure silver, we were on the expensive side of Anik, and the clientele was suitably dressed to match. Plenty of ornate togas of bright reds, yellows, and even a few purples. I frankly didn’t want to take a single step in this place of flagrant wealth, and I was pretty sure the residents didn’t want me here either, but Alvir was not to be denied, so here I was, wondering what he wanted me for.

  The customers strung along, checking the admittedly beautiful accessories and haggling for prices that’d give me a heart attack to even consider spending. Alvir was all good cheer, making some small talk alongside the haggling. It was clear that he liked this much more than he led on with Oland.

  “That’s enough fleecing,” Alvir said, a joyful tune to his voice. “Let me close up shop and we can start the really fun part of my day.”

  A spike of panic shot up my back. “And that is?”

  “Making more jewellery!” he chirped. “I’ve been working on this one bangle, truly a spectacle, three rubies encrusted unilaterally on white gold. The way it glimmers in the eye! You’ll love it.”

  “It sounds like you’ve already finished it,” I said.

  He turned with a childish smile on his face, so wide with joy that for a second I could almost imagine him being a normal person. “Astute observation! For the physical properties I am indeed quite finished, but what I need now is to imbue a touch of the magical.”

  “What?” I halted myself. “You’re an enchanter?”

  “Witches can be whatever mages are and more! So yes, though none in the district know that, and my workings are subtle. Wouldn’t do to draw attention.”

  I stared at the man as we stepped into the back of his shop/home. “What do your enchantments do exactly?”

  “Oh, just a small siphon of energy, nothing drastic.”

  “The fuck? Are you harvesting their mana?”

  “Oh, is it time for your first lesson already? How exciting! Okay, so the answer to that question is both yes and no. Notice how I said energy and not mana? People often mistakenly think of mana as the only ethereal aspect to be found in the body, they’d be wrong of course, but I don’t blame you for falling in line with popular theory.”

  I didn’t know why the fuck he was teaching her, but I wasn’t such a fool that I’d waste the opportunity. “Like…essence, doesn’t that only transfer on death?”

  “Close! Tell me, that demon ritual of yours, I assume you used blood? Have you ever wondered why rituals need something so simple as blood, freely given from the host?”

  “Not really…no”

  He tsk’d and opened up a glass container, inside was the bangle he was mentioning earlier, he twirled it in his finger and grabbed it.

  Alvir turned his eyes to me. “How good is your mana sense?”

  “I can see inside myself and anything I control,” I said, and that sounded…kind of lame honestly.

  Alvir shrugged it off like it was expected. “Prospects always forget to train their mana sense, thought that’d be different since you’re an elf but oh well! Means I just have more to teach.”

  “You’re going to teach me?” I scrunched my brow in confusion.

  “Yep! That’s what you get out of being a walking advertisement for my goods, though I'll have to give some coin as well so people don’t get suspicious. One gold a month should suffice.”

  My eyes widened in stupendous shock, that was an insane amount to give me for just standing around.

  Alvir seemingly caught my train of thought, giving me a knowing smile. “East side business makes good money, that’s not even close to what I make in the same time frame.”

  “Okay…” I said. “I’m not entirely opposed to the idea.”

  “Funny, you would’ve accepted just for the magic lessons,” Alvir snorted.

  “How would you know that?”

  He gave a mysterious smile. “Secrets are funner when they’re kept secret. Which is why I won’t ask you what kind of demon you’ve bonded to! It won’t be relevant until you merge a bit more anyway.”

  “Thanks?”

  “No problem,” he waved off. “Now, I’m going to enchant this wonderful little trinket, and you’re going to tell me how the mana feels. I’ll be using enough where even an amateur should be able to pick it out.”

  I wanted to protest, wanted to tell this prick to go fuck himself…but, well, magic lessons.

  I gave a nod.

  Alvir smiled. “Watch carefully now.”

  I nodded again and did just that.

  He brought a hand above the bangle, and I focused all my attention on the appendage. It was subtle at first, quieter than the whispers of the World but distinctly there. Something like a plague mixed with laughter. Like a corrosive cuddle, or a sweet poison. It only got louder, until I could almost see the miasma he was surrounding the bangle with.

  He started a complex weave that hurt my brain to even think about, an extension of the strange language of my spell but applied to the bangle. It was much longer.

  He worked for hours, and I examined him the whole time. Eventually, he finished.

  “Well?” he said as he turned to me, a glint in his eye.

  I felt some anxiety at being addressed while having found nothing, so I just shook my head. “Only mana and concept, sir.”

  “Don’t call me that,” he said with a snort. “But that’s good! We’ll have to work on your senses so you can pick out the mana in people, and eventually some other delights that’ll be kept a conspicuous mystery! How exciting. For now though, you should head back to that inn of yours and get some sleep. Come by next Tuesday, or even earlier!”