Helice had noticed she was being followed a few hours after she entered the city. She had come here thinking she had everything figured out, but it turned out she was gravely mistaken. She had underestimated the importance and sway money held over the populace. In any world, money was important; anything and everything had a price, after all.
It was this miscalculation that resulted in her current plight. She was stuck with nowhere to go, no roof over her head, and no place to pass the night. Imagine her surprise when she noticed she was being followed, and by a regular human, no less. The first thing that came to her mind was that the man intended to rob her or worse. But then again, she was wearing an acolyte robe, which should deter most humans, especially in this city. However, upon further thought, she realized there was still a lot she didn't know yet.
As for how she knew the other party wasn't an acolyte, the answer was simple. When she looked at other acolytes, she often sensed a strange fluctuation from them, which she called psychic fluctuation. Her stalker didn't have any psychic fluctuation, which could only mean the other party wasn't an acolyte.
Helice had intentionally walked into a secluded alleyway to put an end to this cat-and-mouse chase. She was feeling quite frustrated at the moment, especially at the fact that she would be sleeping on the streets tonight.
To her surprise, it was a young man, looking to be in his mid-twenties. He wasn't wearing an acolyte robe as she had initially speculated; instead, he was wearing strange body armor and had an iron sword hanging from his waist.
"I must say, you have good intuition, my lady," the young man said with an amiable smile. There were four new acolytes who had entered the city today; out of all of them, he had chosen to recruit Helice, the reason being that she seemed the most unique. Of course, the young man was only saying this because he was thinking with his lower instincts. After all, Helice was only a Rank 1 acolyte, even though the young man had no way of knowing that.
Helice, on the other hand, was currently glaring at the young man with extreme prejudice. Her eyes now looked prehistoric and feral; she didn't like the way the young man was eyeing her.
"What do you want?" Helice said. She wasn't afraid of this young man. He was an ordinary human, while she herself was an acolyte, even if she had only recently stepped into the elusive rank. She doubted he would be able to flee from her. Besides, she could tell the young man was not worried, since he didn't appear to be scared of her. This could only mean he had ways to defend himself, which suggested he could at least use that sword of his.
Helice herself, in both worlds, wasn't much of a fighter.
"I mean you no harm," he said while raising both his hands above his head. He then placed one hand on his chest and gave a gentlemanly bow.
"My name is Rain, and I work for the Baron family," the young man, Rain, introduced himself. However, he didn't wait for Helice to answer before he continued talking. "I've come with a proposal on behalf of the Baron clan."
As the young man spoke, Helice thought to herself how she might have attracted the attention of this Baron family merely hours after entering the city. This was her first time entering this city, and naturally, she had never heard of any Baron clan. After a moment of thinking, Helice came to a few conclusions.
She wasn't very important, nor was she strong enough to attract the attention of the Baron family. Judging from the smug look on the young man's face, as though expecting her to grovel at the mention of the name, it meant it wasn't what she was thinking. After all, it would be tragic to have offended someone already. There was more to this than met the eye.
"What proposition?" she asked. "I hope it has something to do with a roof over my head tonight." By this time, darkness had already set in. The environment would have been pitch black by now if it weren't for the lampposts stationed on the streets. They offered a subtle calm to the darkness, making the world in their flickering orange embrace slightly livable.
Hearing this, the young man smiled. Who could resist the Baron family? This woman was probably broke and stranded, from what he could see. At least she wasn't stupid. After all, she was only a Rank 1 acolyte, and judging from her bewildered look at the mention of the Baron family, it meant this was the first time she had heard the name. In fact, Rain was thinking Helice had only reached this rank recently.
"On behalf of the Baron family, we would like to invite you to join its ranks. Don't worry; it will be worth your while."
Now it all made sense. This should be the norm within the city. Helice could potentially guess this Baron family wasn't the ruling family or clan in the city; there would be others, and their strength was determined by the number of acolytes or official magi in their ranks.
Helice didn't even have to think; this was perfect for her. A behemoth family like the Baron should have a lot of resources. If she wanted to advance to Rank 2 acolyte, she would need to borrow some of their resources. Plus, she was kind of stranded at the moment, hungry and with nowhere to sleep. It was probably the best thing she'd heard all day.
But still, she played along. She wanted to know more, but that would obviously not be shared here for obvious reasons. She pretended to be deep in thought for a moment before she finally responded, "I agree."
Rain had expected this. "Great, come with me to sign the official contract."
And so, both parties walked into the distance. On the way, Helice couldn't help but inquire, "Could you tell me more about the city? You can probably tell this is my first time here."
"Of course," Rain said. His speculations had been spot on. He didn't mind sharing a bit of information about the City of Midnight and its inner mechanics. From its history to the top families and clans, from weakest to strongest, Rain laid it all on the table.
Helice naturally learned a lot, and suddenly things began to make sense. It turned out the Baron family wasn't even among the top families but was actually part of the lower four families. It made sense why they would offer a contract to a Rank 1 acolyte.
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