After Abel and Isla left, Ms. Sachsen waited briefly, and prepared the case with Abel’s blood for transportation. She carried the case out of her office, walking down the hallways casually. She put two fingers up to her ear, glowing a blue hue with her magic. After waiting about fourteen seconds, someone spoke into her ear. “Hello?” The voice asked.

  “I have something very interesting that you may like.”

  “What is it?”

  “I found a boy, and he seems to be a mixed human.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “He was healing incredibly quickly, as a non-magic user. His blood had magic inside of it, though. He was also blind, but his eyes and optic nerves were fine, as well as his heart not beating.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Yes, his blood was a purple color, too. I’m carrying the blood, bring a carriage or something of the like if you want to receive it. I also want my payment, please.”

  The man sighed.

  “Fine. How much do you want?”

  “I want double the normal.”

  “DOUBLE?! You swindler… Fine, I suppose it’s a reasonable price, the carriage will be there soon, as well as the payment.”

  Sachsen amused herself. She loved the money she got from selling information from students, but she felt a tinge of shame from this. Her walking slowed a bit, but she shook her head. She still needed the money to survive, she felt like she had two parts of her fighting against each other, one saying to do it, the second saying to find another way.

  She walked out of a side door, sitting on a bench near a walkway. She sighed and opened the case, making sure it was still intact. Pondering, she waited for the carriage to come.

  Eventually, it did. She opened the back door, and a man was sitting there.

  “Show me it.”

  She opened the case, and he took off his sunglasses, admiring its purple glow.

  “Woah…”

  He pulled out a case of money, and opened it. It was full of money.

  “Double the normal, three-hundred eighty six thousand Dravins.” A single Dravin is worth a US cent from January 1st, 2000.

  She took the money from him, and closed the case and gave him the blood.

  “Thank you very much.”

  She walked back inside the school, and headed towards the nurses’ station.

  The man giggled to himself, “Let’s head back to the kingdom.” The man handling the carriage nodded, and snapped his reins, making the horses move. It was a long drive, and the cobblestone road wasn’t of the best quality, causing the carriage to move slower. Eventually they reached a wooded area, where it changed from cobblestone to a dirt path. He pulled out a book, titled ‘Theory of the Soul.’ He had been reading it for months, studying it and trying to replicate the experiments inside of it. It was generally around humans, with litters of other races inside of it. He opened it and flipped to page 29, rereading the same line. “From this, we have seen that magic comes from the soul, but, it is only inside the body it can be utilized.” He pinched his fingers together, and created a small flame. He turned through many pages, reaching page 100. “It appears that some can utilize their soul, some can not. Others need sigils and words, whilst others only need their soul. Those who need only their souls’ for specific elements, tailored to their souls, seem to create different variants of elemental magic.”

  He had a smile on his face he couldn’t resist. He was blessed to be so talented, he was ecstatic for it. He turned forward more pages, almost finished with the book. Page 412, he read to himself, “Humans also seem to be able to culminate a weapon from their soul, their soul commonly in the place of their heart. The weapon is based on how their soul has been shaped. Only one person so far has been discovered to have this weapon, the child of the seventh king, Demetrius Osset. At the time of writing this, he is still only a prince, sixteen years old, but a prodigy. He seems to have his soul attuned to the element of the shadows, but a much more advanced version of it.”

  The man can’t stop smiling and chuckling to himself. His research with the human soul and body is going well, as well as his experiments. The blood he received may be a pivotal part of his research, as he can sense magic emanating from just the small sample he obtained.

  “That kid is something else…” he murmured to himself.

  “What was that master?” The carriagemen responded.

  “Oh, nothing.”

  The man pulled out a notebook and started drawing in it.

  He sighed, then got invigorated with rage. “WHY AM I SO ASS AT DRAWING!?” The carriagemen had a concerned look on his face.

  “Are you well, master?”

  “Yes, I am, just a bit frustrated is all, I can’t draw for shit..”

  “It’s alright, you’ll get better as time goes on.”

  “Yeah, but the issue is also my writing, and I’ve been writing for decades and it hasn’t gotten much better.”

  “That is quite the predicament.”

  “Why do you talk so fancy?”

  “Am I not permitted to?”

  “You are, I just was wondering why.”

  “I mean, I am a servant, I believe I have some duty to be formal to my master.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  They went silent for a moment.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “So how’s your day been thus far?”

  “Well, it’s been going. Just got a vial of blood from some disabled kid to use for research.”

  “Ah, quite the interesting tale.”

  More silence.

  “I’m hungry, stop by for some food, will ya?”

  “We’re a little far away from the nearest town, but we’ll be there soon, most likely in about 10 minutes, sir.”

  “Okay, thank you.”

  They were quiet for the entire ride, up until they entered the next town. The dirt path transitioned back into a cobblestone road, although it was much more refined than the previous town. “You’d think that because so many nobles lived in the other town that the roads would be better, huh?” “Yes master, I concur.”

  As they traveled along the road, they found a tavern, which the carriagemen stopped next to. “We’re at our destination.”

  “Ah, finally!” He shouted with eagerness as he jumped out of the carriage. “Make sure the horses don’t get stolen!”

  “Very well, master.”

  He drove off elsewhere, and the man walked inside the tavern. The man was quite tall, being 6’5, and lean. His hair was curly and brown, medium sized. He was currently wearing a black suit, white tie and blue button up. Whenever he entered the tavern, he saw multiple groups of people, and he walked straight up to the bar and sat down.

  “Can I get uhhhh…”

  He looked behind the bartender and squinted his eyes, staring at the menu. He scratched his chin. “Ah, fuck it. Just give me the strongest thing ya got.” The bartender’s eyebrow furrowed, “Are you sure?”

  “Pretty sure.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “... I just said I was sure.”

  “Are you- nah, just jokin’ man. I’ll get it to you in a sec, but I gotta say it’s REALLY strong. Also very expensive. It’s like five thousand Dravins a shot.”

  “GYATT DAMN!”

  “I know, man. It takes a lot of time to make, but it’s really strong and very good.”

  The bartender went into the back and pulled out a large glass bottle full of a glowing green liquid. He pours it into a shot glass, and puts it on the counter behind him.

  “Oh yeah, forgot to ask, but you gotta pay upfront because of, er, people who often just run without paying it. I mean, that rarely happens because they pass out from drinking a shot. I think, like, only two dudes ran away.”

  He chuckled to himself.

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever, here’s your money.”

  He pulled out a coin bag and took out five one thousand Dravin coins and put it on the bar. The bartender smiled and put it inside of a compartment in the bar, and passed him the drink. The man took a swig of it and his face contorted.

  “That’s strong…” he said, his voice hoarse. “It’s like eating forty lemons at once. GOODNESS gracious I think I’m fucking dying please give me some water.”

  The bartender quickly gave him a glass of water and he gulped it down very quickly. The man sighed slightly.

  “You’re one of the first people I’ve seen survive that, or not run away. What’s your name?” The man cleared his throat, “Yeah, sorry, I’m Ichiro, what’s your name, good sir?”

  “Ah, I’m Yakov. I actually own this tavern, pretty cool eh?” Yakov squinted at him, “You look familiar, I can’t quite put my finger on it, though.” Ichiro laughed, somewhat loudly. The bar quieted as he laughed, people started staring at him.

  “Uh, what’s so funny?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing, I just get that a lot.”

  “How does that make it funny…? I feel like it’d be more bothersome than funny.”

  “Nahhh, I just find it funny. Anyways, I almost forgot, uh, can I get some food?”

  “Suuuuuure? What do you want?”

  “Got any chicken?”

  “What type do you want?”

  “I want like 30 chicken tenders, fried.”

  “...”

  “...”

  They stared at each other for a while.

  “Why are you staring, can I get my food or what?”

  “Sorry, I just… You surprise me, man.” Yakov walked into another room and disappeared. While Ichiro was waiting at the bar, a woman walked up to the chair next to him and sat in it.

  “Hey pretty boy, what are you doing all alone.”

  Her voice dripped with false sweetness, tickling Ichiro’s ear in an uncomfortable manner. Ichiro’s expression shifted from joyful to annoyed.

  “I have a wife, you succubus.”

  He put his hand up to her and she was lit aflame. Her form shifting back to its original state as her magical focus faltered, the smell of burnt flesh filling the room.

  “Seems like when the Aclotyres escaped, so did some actual demons.” Ichiro whispered to himself.

  Everyone at the bar was flabbergasted, and some people even fainted. The amazing show of power, killing a demon, especially with fire, was incredibly impressive. People started vacating the bar and ran out of it, carrying the fainted people. Ichiro repeatedly kicked the demon, finishing it off. It eventually stopped squirming and making noise, and died on the floor. He waved his hand and the flame returned to it, leaving the charred body on the ground. Yakov rushed back out and saw the bar was empty, he smelt the smoldering of a charred corpse.

  “WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!” He shouted.

  He looked over the bar and saw the demon on the ground.

  “WHAT IS THAT??”

  Ichiro laughed again.

  “It’s just a demon, some must have escaped when the Aclotyres left Hell.”

  “ACLOTYRES ARE REAL??? I thought…”

  His voice trailed off, and he sighed. He put the plate of chicken down in front of Ichiro.

  “Just eat it, man.”

  Ichiro sat back down and pulled out a fork and knife.

  “Thank you very much!”

  He started eating it, as Yakov was bent over the bar, his head resting on his arm, wondering what he was doing with his life anymore.

  “That’ll be one thousand, five hundred eighty-seven Dravins…”

  Ichiro happily pulled out his coin bag again and put down thirty thousand Dravins worth of coins on the counter.

  “Here’s a bit extra for the trouble.” Yakov took the money and put it in the same compartment in the bar.

  “Thank you, I’d rather you not come again.”

  Ichiro laughed some more.

  “Yeah, sure, whatever you say, man.” He finished up eating his food, saving a few tenders on a plate and left the tavern. It was already dusk, the sun almost below the horizon.

  He wandered around until he found his carriage. He walked up to his carriagemen and gave him the remaining chicken tenders.

  “Here you go, Mateo!” Mateo looked at the plate and he took it.

  “Thank you, master.”

  He started eating the tenders, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes.

  “These are the best chicken tenders I’ve ever consumed, thank you master.”

  Ichiro got a massive smile on his face.

  “No problem!”

  He jumped up next to Mateo on the carriage and hugged him. Mateo flinched, not being prepared for the hug. “You are quite sporadic, sir.”

  “Yeah, I get that a lot. Anyways, after you’re done eating let’s continue heading towards the kingdom.”

  “As you wish.”

  Mateo finished eating the plate of Chicken and placed it down next to him. He snapped the reins and the horses continued moving again. As the horses moved, Mateo reached into a compartment built into his seat and pulled out an orb. He scratched a sigil into it, and said some words. It started glowing and he threw it up, and it lightened their path so they could see where they were going.

  As they traveled down the cobblestone path, the soothing rhythm of the carriage shaking caused Ichiro to be sleepy. He was soon sleeping, his body in a terrible position, with his neck leaned back over his seat. He was snoring incredibly loudly, which bothered Mateo, although Mateo said nothing as to not disturb Ichiro. Glancing back at Ichiro, Mateo saw his unfortunate position and realized that maybe he should say something.

  “Master Ichiro?” He said somewhat loudly. Ichiro snorted and sat back up straight. “Wuh- huh?”

  “Your sleeping posture was terrible, and I didn’t want you to be in pain when you awake on the morrow.”

  “Oh. Thank you Mateo.”

  Ichiro yawned and laid down on the seat, curling up slightly to fit in it. He went back to sleep, and his snoring was a lot quieter. Mateo smiled slightly and continued, the orb still illuminating the path ahead of them.