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A couple of days passed after the visit. Lucian was at the store minding his own business when Janus appeared with an annoyed look. Frowning he said to him, “You!”

“Me, me, what! What! What! I am not afraid of you,” said Lucian raising his fists.

“If I wanted to hit you, I would not announce it,” said Janus frowning.

“Tat! Sneaky, sneaky, for a preacher’s son,” said Lucian smiling.

Janus sat in a chair facing the counter, and he rested his head sideways on the table. Pouting like a little brat, he said, “I don’t even know what we are anymore. It’s all one big mess.”

“How so?” asked Lucian.

“Well, Marduke gave father a position to test him, or to trap him, and lo, his punishments start getting cruel and unusual. And now, he is planting daisies, and with a hat that says: I did this to myself,” explained Janus.

“Well, if he did it to himself, then there is nothing that can be done,” said Lucian petting Janus on the head.

Sitting up, Janus said, “I know. But, it is just such strain, on the family, and father looks like the soul has been sucked right out of him.”

“Maybe they did take his soul,” suggested Lucian.

“You know something that I don’t, because if it did happen. King or no King! Flamen is my father. I can’t bear to see him humiliated like this,” said Janus.

“Then don’t look! We all must pay for our crimes, at least this is what Marduke is trying to do. He overstepped his bounds, and now he is paying the price. At least he is planting daisies, instead of pushing them up, you know,” said Lucian.

“Yes. Punishment wise, there is nothing corporeal about it, but Marduke says it will last till he learns his lesson,” said Janus.

“Oh! I see. So, it seems like it is a forever type of deal. Oh! Well, it is just a good a time as any for you to step up, and be the man of the house,” said Lucian.

“I don’t wanna. And that isn’t what I came to talk to you about! Did you touch her!” asked Janus.

“Who? Karina? Just her box, nothing more,” said Lucian thoughtlessly.

Janus then jumped over the counter, and started punching, and chocking Lucian saying, “I’ll kill you!”

The one-sided fight was eventually broken up by Lucian’s mother who came with a broom, and did a serious number on Janus. The young men then went to school severely sore.

Karina smiled when she notice the state of those boys. She said to them, “I would heal you guys, but my healing methods are a bit painful, and I don’t really feel like it.”

“Sheesh! Thanks, why even mention the ability if you don’t plan on using it,” said Lucian caustically.

“Aren’t we in a foul mood today,” said Karina, “Anyhow, we have a new weirdo today who has nothing better to do on a Saturday.”

“Saturday?” asked Letholdus. On that day, he was advertising baby clothing, so he was sporting the bib, and bonnet.

The weirdo in question had the height and appearance of a boy of 15, though his true age was 32. The name he went with was Jonathan, but Karina knew that his true name was Picolina Astrapia. He was a goblin fellow, who was orphaned at the age of 13. He was raised by a family of rabbits. Recently, they had moved into Veragerung because the King was there. It seemed like the safest place to be at, considering the turbulent state of the Kingdom. At least there, the food markets were full. The rabbits like Picolina were pretending to be human, using magic. These rabbits walked on two feet, like Alice’s White Rabbit.

The ears were like the English lop, with a body type like the flex rabbits. They are in a class of trickster creatures along with the foxes, and raccoons, and other illusionists and shapeshifters creatures that have survived by pretending to be something they are not. Not counting our alien allies, the known trickster animals are raccoons, foxes, coyotes, goats, frogs, dragons, wolves, chevrotain, peacock spiders and agama lizards. There were some known squids on land as well, but the whole pretend thing is more of a land-dwelling problem. The ocean is large and vast so the marine creatures can give each other some space.

At times Karina wondered if she should turn her back on land dwellers, and go live with the winged squid monsters, and their silly monoliths.  

In answer to Letholdus’ question, Karina said, “In my home, we used to name the days of the week. The first day was called Monday, then Tuesday, and so forth. The sixth one was called Saturday. Due to the day aspect of the names, people used to use the names of week in songs often.”  

“We should name our days, and then make all the other holds, do so, so that we can write songs about the days,” suggested Babysel.

“Yeah, sure, let’s make the class about that, shall we? For the time being as all. I mean, what are we doing with our time as of lately?” inquired Karina.

Babysel feeling sheepish, said, “Sorry, so yeah the new weirdo, where is he?”

“He is standing at the door, waiting for his balls to grow,” said Casimir caustically, with a grin on his face.

“Look weirdo, this is just a little get together, and not a real class. You are not going to get a bad grade, or demerit or nothing for not coming inside, but you are going to look rather foolish, for wussing out,” said Regin getting up and opening the door for the fellow.

“Come in, my goblin friend,” said Karina gesturing to an empty seat.

Picolina flinched and started to run down the stairs. It was then when Regin, and Babysel started making chicken noises. After getting down a couple of flights, the echo of the chicken noises forced Picolina to return back to Karina’s doorsteps.

Frowning, he asked, “How did you know?”

“A little bird told me,” said Karina, “Or to be more specific Gigas the Cockatoo told me.”

“That’s the last time I trust a wild bird to keep a secret,” said Picolina folding his arms feeling rather foolish.

“Well, since we all know, you might as well drop your mask,” said Casimir.

“You first,” said Picolina.

What the goblin said made all the students stare at Casimir. Casimir simply shrugged his shoulders not understanding the implications of what Picolina had said. As far Casimir knew, he was a regular human, who lived with his grandparents.

“It’s fine. If we all started dropping masks here, you would be the first to run away, my dear Casimir,” said Karina.

“Casimir, Casimir,” said Casimir in a low whispers. Nodding, he then said to Karina, “I suppose so.”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it,” said Karina, “Today’s class is a little simple. I am going to take you to Aragon, and we will learn when it is right to kill your fellow man.”

“What? Why? I don’t wanna hurt anyone,” said Babysel, “And besides, I can’t go there, I have a baby with me.”

“Some of the best assassins in the world are mothers who bring their babies out on the job. Nobody ever suspects of a nursing mother,” said Karina smiling.

“What kind of a sicko does that?” asked Letholdus getting up.

“So, the man has a pulse. It is nice to see you so alive and well,” said Karina sarcastically.

“I am a merchant, not a killer. Good day madam,” said Letholdus starting to depart.

Karina saw him leave, and she shook her head sadly, “Now, that is such a pity. In an ideal world, there would be no need for death. But, as things stand, evil triumphs because the good are too nice to do what must be done. I am alive, because my mother and uncle chose to fight back against injustice, and they did not stop till every one of those evil doers were dead.”

“If you do that, won’t you be fighting an endless war?” asked Janus.

“Not, with that attitude no. It is as if you inherit a garden overgrown with weeds. At first you think you will never get it in tip top order. It may take years, centuries even, but eventually you will succeed. It all comes down to the life you want to live, and what you are willing to do to make it happen,” said Karina, “Still, I do agree that killing is the cavemen’s solution to most problems.”    

“Cavemen?” asked Letholdus.

“Drunkards,” said Karina.

“Ah!” said Letholdus flatly.

“Still, it would not hurt to at least make yourself strong enough to live the way you want to, without allowing others to interfere. There is always a fellow out there, who wants to over egg your pudding, and then there are others whose pudding one should over egg, like slave drivers. Yes, let’s go to Aragon, and crack down on slavery a bit, that is an evil that we all agree we should stop,” said Karina.

“I don’t know,” said Janus, uncertain.

“What do you mean, you don’t know,” cursed Karina angrily, “Get out of my class!!”

Karina then picked up his chair, threw it out of the class, with Janus on top of it. The chair broke, when it landed, and Janus got hurt on the elbow badly. Karina realizing what she had done, came to him, and healed him with her powers. She said while dusting him off, “I am sorry. I sometimes forget myself.”

“That was quite uncalled for,” said Janus coldly.

Karina sighing said, “Good, Lord. I am going to be planting daisies for a months, now!”

“Why?” asked Janus.

“If someone hurts you, over petit nonsense, then you have the right to kill that fellow. Nobody has the right to hurt another for something stupid that they say in private, where it cannot harm another fellow. Now words spoken in public, that inspires many to act stupid, then, and just then, is it allow for a head or two to roll, Capiche?” said Karina.

“I don’t Capiche nothing,” said Janus not knowing what Capiche meant. He was getting tired of Karina inserted words that did not belong to the established language of the land.

“Well, let’s say, preacher son’s, that you start telling your flock that it is alright to eat fat babies. Eventually, when enough people buy into that nonsense, it becomes a socially acceptable practice, that nobody questions. There are a lot of evils in the world that are like that. Remember, just because something bad is allowed, doesn’t make it right. Good and evil is simple, it is bad men, who try to convince you to engage in their behavior,” said Karina.

“Why do those people try to change your ways? I never got that?” asked Casimir, who was listening at the door.

“The why varies from person to person. But overall, it is born from the same type of spirit. The spirit of a fellow that cannot be happy, unless if the world thinks and acts the way he so desires,” said Karina.

“He? So do spirits have sex?” asked Mico.

“Not at first, but you add enough shells onto a spirit, and eventually it becomes unrecognizable,” said Karina. She added, “But we are not about to get into a metaphysical discussion here. As far as my people are concerned, the worst type of person out there is not a serial killer, but a politician.” 

“Hardy, hard, harrr,” said Casimir, “So, are we doing this thing, or what?”

“Fine, let’s go,” said Karina.

Karina guided her students to a mirror in a storage closet. The mirror had a candle flame burning in front of it. Karina brought out a skull from beneath her cape. She said to her students, “If you stare at the skull long enough, you will find yourself in Aragon.”

The skull was ornamental, with floral patterns, and gems, and two glass eyes made of Murano. The students were at first reluctant to stare at the skull, but Janus decided to oblige, since he had nothing planned for the afternoon. Visiting Karina was more of a hobby, at this point, than a necessity of learning, or of a desire to become a better, more wholesome type of person. After five minutes, just about all the students were somewhat looking at the skull in the eyes. When they lifted their gaze from the skull, they saw that they were indeed outside, in the pestilent city of Aragon.

“Dear God, it stinks!” said Picolina.

“I am starting to remember why I left Aragon for good,” said Carmenta.

“I heard about the smell, but I always thought it was an exaggeration,” said Babysel. Looking about, he said, “Where is the baby!!”

“Oh! Yes, the baby was not looking at the skull,” said Karina remembering.

“Well, send me back, Periwinkle cannot be left alone,” said Babysel taking the skull from Karina’s hand and staring at it. Babysel heard the crying of the baby, and so did the students.

“Well, we haven’t really left the classroom, this is more of a bit of an abstraction,” said Karina.

“Ah, what?” asked Babysel.

“Teleportation, through the medium of hypnosis. I am very good of at that hypnosis. If you give me a minute, I can send you back,” said Karina.

“I don’t need a minute, send me back now,” said Babysel.

“Fine, fine, already, nag, nag,” said Karina hitting Babysel on the skull, with the skull she held in her hand. The mild blow to the head sent Babysel back to be with Periwinkle.

“So, what are we doing here?” asked Janus.

“We are here to see an assembly of people staging a protest of sorts,” said Karina.

“A protest? Never seen one before,” said Casimir.

“That is because nobody was ever stupid enough to try that stung in Veragerung,” said Carmenta.

“Now you got me curious,” said Janus, “Let’s see what those idiots are complaining about.”

“Maybe it’s something mundane, like asking for money for a cause that rich people pretend to care about,” suggested Lucian.

“Perhaps, it is just an excuse to go looting,” said Mico.

“Looting?” asked Janus.

“Yes, many protests in the ancient past started all fun and good, but it degraded to looting. Though, in my day, it was the soldiers robbing the merchants because they were out of money, and they were not allowed into the brothels or get married,” explained Mico.

“I get the first, but the other two seems a bit arbitrary,” said Janus.

“It often happens among priests that they forbid an action that they can no longer do,” said Lucian.

“What! Got something to say to me!” said Janus.

While the students walked with their teacher, Janus and Lucian were arguing. Without Suntaria to argue with, Janus was using Lucian as a replacement. It would take some months for Lucian to realize this, and thus he would distance himself from Janus whenever he was in that type of mood. After half an hour of walking in the street, Karina stopped for a second. There was a toy store belonging to her brother Chicot. He always had a bunch of cute stuff to sell. Karina opened her purse, and she sighed. Afterwards, she continued on her way. Lucian noted where Karina had stopped, and he made a mental note of it. He was half tempted of buying a silly doll for her, but then remembering the last time he had visited her house, he decided not to. As Karina once putted it, one only buys gifts for friends, on their birthdays, and even then not so much, since regifting is an ancient tradition.

Lucian could not remember the last time he got something he liked. When he was small, he used to ask for things in specific, but he never got what he wanted. There was always an excuse. Even when they came into some money, the gifts were usually of utilitarian purposes. In fact, the first toy he ever got was given to him by Marduke, who was visiting the store. It was recently that he was able to put, two and two together. No unrelated guy would ever give a gift to a little boy, unless if they were up to something. At least, this was what his mother told him before taking the little horse away from him and putting a price tag on it.

His thoughts were distracted, when his little group came upon the crowd of yelling people. The preacher type of fellow was in a soapbox. He was wearing dingy clothing, but if one looked closely, they would realize that he was wearing what he thought a poor person should wear. Even a homeless fellow in Aragon could bathe for free in the public baths funded and created by Melina. This marked the fellow to Karina as a charlatan, and a recent arrival, not in tune with the vibe of the people living in Aragon.

They caught the speech around this part, “…with demons. A fag, and charlatan, a madman. A spineless coward, in bed with crime lords he frees, while he has honest, hardworking people sent to the gallows…”

 Karina interrupting him said, “Lair! I was just in Veragerung, and there are no gallows, they were converted to gardens.”

“Lookie here! Ladies and gentlemen,” said the man on the soapbox. Karina and her observers were straining to remember the identity of this douche, who was so ordinary looking. His face matched about 15 other fellows, “She is a demon sent here to confuse us. Do not listen to her lies.”

Moving straight through the crowd, Janus said, “I am Janus Koresi. Behold my family seal!”

“That looks fake,” said a fellow beside him.

And some other people in the crowd said similar nonsense. Janus continued, “These so-called Crime Lords, were political prisoners who stood up against the Elders, and their injustices…”

One of the men from the crowds smacked Janus in the head with a brick. Janus fell flat on the floor, a bit dizzy. The students pushed through the crowd, to fetch him, while the people said mean things. After rejoining the teacher, Karina said to Janus, “How would you go about dealing with this problem.”

“By outlawing gatherings that have nothing do with religious worship, bartering, weddings, birthday or home defense,” said Janus rubbing the back of his head.

“Why are they not paying attention to us anymore?” asked Mico concerned.

“My silly skull was worried about the children, and so, it created a psychic field that makes those around us not take us seriously,” said Karina.

“That just flew past me,” said Casimir passing his hand over his head to illustrate his lack of understanding.

“It makes people think we are hobos,” said Karina.

“Aaah! I see,” said Carmenta nodding with understanding.

Due to her long lifespan, Carmenta had experienced all facets of wealth. She has been both extremely rich, and also homeless for a time. As a result, like Karina, she stressed about money, and at times it would take months for her to get something that she truly wanted, and that she could actually afford. Even now, whenever Carmenta was going to buy something, she would remember the words of wisdom of her father, “Save while you can, cause when you can’t, there won’t be any money to save.”

As for Karina, she was not too keen on becoming a hoarder like her brother Rimaru. It had almost happened to her once, when collecting talents. It went from being a mission, to an obsession. It got so bad that Karina was taking the talents of people, instead of making a carbon copy of them. Marduke’s demons putted a stop to her before she created a city filled with people who had lost their talent overnight. To prevent this, Karina had given herself an inventory limit. She could not hoard more than 60,000 items. Every year, she could get an increment of 2000 new items. Now, she had no choice, but to think things through.

Karina was thinking of this and many other nonsense, quite distracted from the very reason she had come here. On the background, her students were getting annoyed by the guy speaking badly about King Marduke. Though most of the things he said were true, as much as Karina hated to admit it.

 Casimir eventually said, “You know, I think I finally remember who is this fellow.”

“Ah, yes!” said Carmenta, “Now I remember! His name was Gale, something or other. He lost his title and wealth. He would have left with only the clothing on his back had Marduke not allowed him to keep a quarter of it.”

“What was his crime?” asked Janus.

“He had a guy prisoner, which he used to torture every once in a while,” said Lucian.

“No, I think the guy was really a her, he kidnapped a girl when she was like 5, and he held her prisoner, to do all sorts of sordid things,” said Mico.

“No, what really happened was that he ran over the son of the midwife, for lying to him about his daughter who was not truly dead, but only stolen,” said Regin.

“What really happened was that he tended to chronically be mean to one of his employees. Nobody did nothing for decades, and the fellow eventually died of stress. When Marduke came to power, the ghost of the man came to Marduke and brought up charges. And that is why Gale got ate. He was also terribly, passive aggressive type of husband, with the public humiliations of the wife, and the cohesion. It got so bad, that the wife tried more than once to escape with the kids. To help her, Marduke kicked Gale, and his brother out of the Kingdom for having a toxic personality. My brother has a very low tolerance for tomfoolery. He may forgive a thief, and maybe a murderer even, but never a chronic douche,” explained Karina.

“Aha!” said Regin, “I can see why he would say that your brother is punishing law abiding citizens, and freeing criminals.”

“Many criminals were created by circumstances. Now, being a law-abiding jerk, is all on you, and it eventually can escalate, if not put in check,” said Karina.

She was about to continue, but then the mass of people started marching towards the market.  Reading their frame of mind, Karina shot fireworks into the sky. This alarmed the crowd, and soon a bunch of little pudgy dragons started swarming around them. They were the first respondents during riots. They have become a bit more commonplace ever since the Lord of Aragon Lio, had become a professional alcoholic. The dragons started batting their wings, and they released from their mouths Chloroform and Ketamine. The strange gas caused many to disperse and to return home, those that continued on eventually fell asleep 5 minutes later due to exposure. Due to the narrow street they took leading to the market, it was easy to concentrate the gas in one location. When the riot guards came, they wore bird masks designed to filter most of the gasses spewed out by the tiny dragons.

Since Karina and her students did not follow after the rioters, they were not exposed to the gas, but they did get to see the dragons. A strong wind came down from the mountains, and within minutes it was raining in Aragon once again. Regin shivering said, “Let’s go back to the classroom.”

“Wait! Since we are in Aragon, let us get something in the market,” suggested Lucian.

“Sure, why not?” asked Karina. She took from beneath her robes some umbrellas, and now her students could walk the streets without getting wet. While they made their way to market, they saw the riot guards taking the sleeping people away.

“Isn’t that a bit overboard? They were only marching towards the market,” said Janus.

“Need I remind you that most protestors are just glorified looters. Look, they brought weapons with them. The whole protesting thing was just a cover for what they were really up to,” said Carmenta. She said this in the part because she had almost been robbed by a looter once. The looter had been a lad of 13. She killed him, and she still sleeps at night like a little baby.

The students stood there, seeing the protestors being taken away. Among them were curious bystanders who had also fallen under the effect of the gas. They were revived by the pudgy dragons who have photographic memory. Many of the would-be looters were newcomers who had been displaced by the wars. Others were recent exiles from Veragerung. Being sent to Aragon was a soft exile, but planning an attack on the merchants, the lifeblood of the city warranted a more severe type of punishment. Still, those matters would be put on hold till the return of Alyssa, wife of Lio the Lord of Aragon. While her husband was indisposed, which was a kind way of saying drunk, she was managing the affairs of Aragon.

When the students arrived to the market, they were amassed by all the strange items on sale. Due to Aragon’s proximity to Dokai, the local market often had strange goods from those Grey aliens. The Grey were a little bit annoyed to barter with, since they did not accept cash. Still, as long as the locals provided food supplies, and other bizarre requests, then they could reap all the benefits of the city on top of the Plateau, with two rivers on either side. Karina looked on top of the mountain, and she thought she saw the shadow of the city. It was a little bit further back, as all, but there were little outlook towers, for star gazers and people watchers.

Letholdus whined and said, “If I knew we were going shopping, I would have brought my purse.”

Karina reached into her pocket and she said, “Here are 5000 gold pieces, you can pay me back later.”

“Thank you, you won’t regret this,” said Letholdus happily.

The students spread about to look at what things they could take with them. Most stuck to familiar items, like weapons, foods, flowers, plants, and clothing. Letholdus on the other hand took a keen interest in the unfamiliar. Since he seemed a lot chipper that day, Karina followed along with him. Letholdus picked up a box, and he opened it and saw sticks. He said, “What are these?”

“Matches,” said the salesman.

“Aren’t those a little dangerous?” asked Letholdus.

“These are safer. Look,” said the salesman lighting a match.

Matches were not widely on circulation, due to the unstable versions circulating in the Kingdom. To remedy this problem, the Grey Aliens decided to introduce to the local wildlife the safer versions, by selling them for items they did not really need, like literature and fine works of art. Another thing that called Letholdus’ attention was a salesman of blueprints. While looking through his inventory, he saw a print for making a slitting mill. With it, Letholdus could make a mill to mechanize the production of nails made from iron bars. A couple of other merchants had taken a whack at the blueprint, but only Letholdus was ever successful in replicating it. The rest of the money he spent on discount fabrics, that were pleasing to the eye or unusual, and cheap. With 5000 bucks, Letholdus ended up taking more than he could carry. Seeing Letholdus lugging around his prices made Karina smile.

She said to him holding out a little bag, “Here! Put it inside.”

Much to Letholdus’ surprise every item fitted in quite nicely. Karina said, “You can borrow this, for now, when you get back to your storage place, empty the bag, and bring it back.”

“Why isn’t this mass produced by the mages?” asked Letholdus.

“Well, there was a country where it was beta tested, and it was a real mess. The merchants went to other cities and stockpiled on pretty much everything, it got so bad, that there was an artificial famine and everything. Wars even broke out because of these items. Just think of it, a thief with this tiny bag could easily steal everything that is not nailed to the floor. It is a dangerous to have the ability to take whatever you want,” said explained Karina.

With the freedom to take larger items, Letholdus went a little crazy with the items he already had. After much buying and reselling, the fellow had amassed quite the large inventory of goods. Almost enough to fill an entire store house. By the end of class, Letholdus was lugging a piano. He said to Karina, “How do I made this large thing fit in there?”

“Well, first you wiggle your fingers in there, and eventually the hole will become big enough,” said Karina grinning.

“Not funny,” said Letholdus.

“To you, perhaps, but do you really need a piano?” asked Karina.

“Not really. I used to play piano when I was wee small, and I thought that maybe I wanted to pick it up again, and it is such a great deal, I could not pass it up. Can you believe this quality piano is only worth 120 gold coins?” asked Letholdus.

“There must be a catch,” said Karina.

“Maybe somebody was murdered on it, I don’t care. Worst case scenario, the exorcism is a lot cheaper than paying for this piano at wholesale price,” explained Letholdus.

Karina shaking her head sadly, helped Letholdus put the piano away. Eventually, she caught up to the rest of the students and they were able to return home. Slowly, one by one, Karina sent them back by whacking them on the head with the skull. Letholdus was the last fellow. He said to Karina, “Before we return, I wanted to ask you the real reason why that fellow got exiled?”

“Sure, why not,” said Karina, “For the last two decades or so, Marduke has been seeing that fellow arguing with people. Sure, he could have a normal conversation like a normal fellow, but that man has a way of making you feel like you are utterly insignificant. That in it of itself is no big deal, but last year, he was like super mean to one of the apprentices. The fellow almost killed himself because of what that man said. Since Gale’s little problem was starting to cause mental distress, his behavior was labeled public humiliation, which is considered a type of torture. Since torture is now illegal in Veragerung, he got himself exiled. The neighborhood is much quieter now, and all the people unfortunately to have dealt with him are quite happy, and at peace with his absence. If there is one thing that my brother values more than anything, is peace and quiet.”

“I see, but it is impossible to avoid any type of verbal confrontation forever,” retorted Letholdus.

“Sure, but it is possible to try to avoid it as much as possible. And there is a difference between conversing with a fellow, and insulting a person to try to get the fellow to behave in a way that it is convenient for you,” explained Karina, “If Janus keeps this up, he might get himself exiled one of these days. Brother has already sent him a warning, he will read it today, as soon as he gets back. To make certain of it, I wrote the cover of the letter, and I putted by double stamp on it.”

“Why a double stamp?” asked Letholdus.

“Because it illustrates just how serious we are about something. In our home, we do a double step. Here, it is the double stamp. It shows that we will not go back on our word,” said Karina.

After saying this, Karina smacked Letholdus on the head with the skull. They were soon back at the classroom. Babysel had rummaged through their bags, but nothing had been stolen. He was a bit of a bored gossiper. He surmised that several of the fellows had diaries. In the store, a lot of young fellows bought notebooks for diary purposes. Marduke had encouraged the fellows to write about their lives, and when the books were done, he would add their lives into the history books, if they did anything awe inspiring.

Some of the would-be soldiers had plenty of tall tales, inflating what they had supposedly done. Others had taken a bit more of a serious approach to that nonsense. As far as Marduke was concerned, there was not a fellow alive whose story did not deserve to be told. Since there were not enough Observers to cover the lives of all the sweet, kind people of Veragerung, Marduke had offered them this chance to submit information about themselves. The Judges with a strong Truth curse would act as editors, removing any information that was not remotely tied to reality. Still, even when a person lies, the lie tells plenty about the individual. If anything, lies are often some food for thought.

Karina returned home to find her brother playing with the baby. Zibanu, the headmaster of the army’s magic school, was also there was well. His face was like that of a gentle maiden, with long silver blonde hair, and honey colored eyes. His former delicate figure had become more masculine thanks to the new training regime. Beneath the Libra Tower, they had found a Sleeper Primordial Elf. These elves might be considered immortal. Whenever their bodies grew weak, they returned to the soil, and popped up every couple of millennials. During the early days of Saturnastra, when the planet was young, 1000 of them had been enlisted to spread the teachings of magic. Over centuries, they wandered about, and “died”. As such, it was impossible to know where all of them were buried. There was also the possibility of some being cremated, without any actual remains, there was nothing for those poor elves to respawn from. As of now, there was about five known awake, and intact primordial Elves. These elves were Zuberus, Irreron, Oberon, Vasila and Agrafina. The elf discovered in the Libra Tower was Agrafina. The name meant born with feet first. And indeed, Agrafina was born. Agrafina was the most physical of her group. As such, she was running the magic users ragged. She took the whole-body mind, type of ideal thing to its most extreme proportions. As a result, it was easy to confuse a magic user, with a well-trained army soldier.   

Zibanu regarded Karina, with his usual disdain. He was still a little bit uneasy when dealing with Marduke’s other siblings. Marduke’s conversation with Zibanu resumed as soon as Karina left the living room. She went to her window, and she opened it to look down below. Outside was Letholdus, he yelled, “Karinaaaa!”

“Whaaat!” yelled Karina in response.

Letholdus threw the money bag at Karina, which struck her on her forehead. Frowning, she said shacking her first, “You dingus!”

“Sorry,” said Letholdus starting to walk away.

“You could have knocked, you know,” said Karina.

“I did not want to intrude,” said Letholdus.

“Nonsense, any student of mine, is welcome any day,” said Karina.

“By you, perhaps,” said Letholdus.

“You doing anything later tonight?” asked Karina.

“Nothing, in particular, just sorting through the inventory, and all that nonsense. I still need to borrow that bag of yours for a little bit longer, though,” said Letholdus.

“Its fine, you can have it, just don’t let it fall into the wrong hands,” said Karina.

“It won’t,” said Letholdus smiling.

And so, the day ended with Karina seeing Letholdus later on that night. They did nothing in particular all inspiring. Though the discerning Observer noted an interesting change in Karina. Her sideburns had been coiled into a spiral.