In the barracks of a knight order Ren peacefully sleeps in a bunk. Soon, the door is kicked down. A knight in full armor barges in, pulls out a trumpet and blasts a reveille to wake everyone inside. The sound is enough to shake the room and all the women are ejected out of their beds in a very rude awakening.

  “All of you! Up and at ‘em! The sun is peeking over the horizon! Get your asses in gear! I want you all presentable and in uniform standing at assembly in the training grounds in 30 minutes!”

  The knight leaves the door open. In the distance, they all hear a door getting kicked in and the trumpet blaring again.

  Ren and the other guards who came with the Albrinters were being hosted by a knight order from the capital in lieu of their original plan to stay at some duke’s estate. It also seems that they are also adopting their morning routine during their stay. With little choice, Ren goes along with the routine. She isn’t exactly one of the Albrinter’s guards, but it was this or find her own place to sleep.

  “What is this?” Agnoir complains in disgust. “The girl needs her beauty sleep.”

  “Uh. It’s a morning routine.” Warumasa says. “Everyone with a damn pulse has one.”

  “What are you talking about? Some disruptive trumpet performance in the morning is the worst thing in the world.” Apherward says. “If I weren’t a well wizened practitioner of the magical arts I would assume that this trumpet playing was some sort of dark ritual. Some sort of curse to plague all who slumber.”

  “What? It’s just an alarm to wake you up in the morning.” Warumasa speaks with the tone of a very confused demon. “Then you get up. Wash yourself for the morning and go out. Maybe run a drill or two.”

  “Fuck that!” Agnoir scowled.

  “The sun isn’t even in the sky yet! It just peaked the smallest measure over the horizon.” Apherward complained.

  “I feel like you both would have easily sold your soul to a demon of sloth.” Warumasa says.

  “This has nothing to do with sloth!” Agnoir says. “I was Rein Song, a revolutionary! A great assassin who slew kings and inspired rebellions! When I finally breathed my last, I was made a legend and my mortal soul ascended into become an all preserving spirit to grace the common man with the freedom to fight!”

  “Yeah that’s great, but why go through all that effort? I just used magic.” Apherward says.

  “Oh, bitch please!” Agnoir snaps back. “No one liked you so you just holed up in your little mage tower.”

  “All this because you don’t want the girl to wake up in the morning.” Warumasa sounds disappointed.

  “You know what, screw this. Let’s get out of here!” Apherward says.

  “I am all for staying up late to do sneaky stuff, but not this morning trash.” Agnoir says.

  “I don’t want to be here anymore so I’m going to leave.” Ren says to one of the the guards

  “Wait, weren't you supposed to get money or something from Lutz.” the guard says.

  Ren is in front of a guard and paused at the words she said.

  “Oh. I should probably get that.”

  “Are you saying this because you don’t like waking up with the knight’s morning routine?”

  “Yeah.” Ren says.

  “Understandable, but all the inns are at capacity for the Golden Autumn festival.”

  There is another pause in the conversation.

  “You didn’t think about that, did you?”

  “No.”

  “Well, maybe you should start with meeting with Lutz and then do whatever it is you want to do.”

  “Okay.”

  Ren finishes her preparations and begins to head out of the knight barracks. She makes her way back to the high end inn that the Albrinters were staying at. There Luard was speaking with Lutz, as well as the other sons and daughters of Lord Oschont Albrinter.

  “Absolutely! So tomorrow just be presentable to her majesty. If you need a hair dresser, tailor or anything like that, I can find a few who I can get on call at a moment’s notice, but more notice than the morning of would be best. Beyond that, I think we’re done.”

  Lutz begins to stretch in his seat once Luard ends the explanation.

  “Good. I need to prepare for Ren to barge into this room about a shopping trip I’m paying for.”

  “What? You’re giving Ren a shopping trip?” Peschale gives the eldest brother a hard stare.

  “Yes, I’ve called in a favor to pay her for her service against Parnidot and Mackamer.” Lutz says. “What, were you hoping to join her?”

  “Yes.” Perschale says.

  “Yes.” Unwo says.

  “Yes.” Velaura says.

  “O- okay. Well, you can always just ask to join her while she plays with another guy’s money.” Lutz says.

  “You’re paying Ren off with money that isn’t yours?” Gilligan scoffs.

  “Thank the gods a big money merchant owes me a favor.” Lutz says. “I could never afford something so taxing.”

  The conversation is interrupted when a knock is heard on the door to the room.

  “Oh, maybe that’s Ren.” Lutz says.

  Lutz moves to open the door. When the door swings open, he instead sees a green haired elf catboy.

  “You’re not Ren.” Lutz gives the man a confused look.

  “Hi. I’m Alliot Greenbloom from the adventurer’s guild.”Alliot introduces himself. “I’m looking for a Luard Luminite.”

  “Oh! Well, here’s here.” Lutz welcomes the adventurer inside.

  “And what business does an adventurer have with a chancellor like me?” Luard crosses his arms as he is addressed.

  “Well, I got a job from one of your manservants.” Alliot says. “Turns out someone broke into a vault with your stuff in it. He was hoping to get it back without you noticing, and I figured it would be more fun- I mean better if I handed it to you myself.”

  Alliot presents the necklace he and Ren recovered yesterday. When he does, Luard goes wide eyed.

  “That’s my mother’s.” Luard says in shock.

  “I’m told it was stolen a few days ago. Supposedly you were out of town doing something. Got it back just yesterday, but I looked the job over then looked the guy over. I started thinking maybe I should just bring this to you instead.”

  “I see.” Luard nods along with the explanation. “Well, it seems that I’ll be speaking to my staff in short order. Do you have the form or whatever?”

  “Yep.”

  Alliot hands him a paper. Luard looks the paper over and gives a heavy sigh.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “This all seems legitimate.” Luard says. “I’ll pay you in a second.”

  At those words, Ren pokes her head into the room.

  “Hello! Is Lutz here?”

  “Oh, there she is.” Lutz says.

  “We should really be scheduling these visits.” Gilligan scoffs.

  “Hey Ren! Want to go shopping with us?” Velaura says as she approaches Ren.

  “This girl looks too good in anything and everything.” Agnoir says. “I put her in a dress and she’s a knock out in each one.”

  “Yes. Yes. Whatever you say.” Apherward speaks in the voice of a bored old man.

  “Does this place have any gym shorts?” Warumasa says.

  “We can worry about that later.” Agnoir says. “Augh! Why must she look good in cute and sexy styles?!?!”

  “What?”

  “Is there a difference?”

  “Uh, duh!” Agnoir scoffs like the wizard and demon asked the world’s dumbest question. “Cute styles present as a nice, clean and pure theme. Simple bright colors with no pattern at it’s base with cute patterns and designs in the details. Sexy styles are all about the details. About so much detail that it makes your head spin. Patterns and styles are presented everywhere. No matter where you look, there are details you can look at and inspect. Especially the risque places. Embroidery and patterns on the bosom and the posterior give every man and woman an excuse to look in such sensual places. Of course there are always hybrid designs that take from both. These details are the means in which you express yourself in the face of-”

  “Why are we here?” Apherward asked.

  “I think we’re here just to suffer.” Warumasa groans.

  Ren is being dressed by seamstresses along with the daughters of Lord Albrinter. She pulls the curtain to the changing room to show that she is adorned in a pleasant red dress with a rose theme. Frills that twirl into roses explode at her shoulders and the hem of the skirt.

  “Oh my gods, she looks gorgeous.” Velaura says.

  “Woah! She’s actually pretty.” Unwo says.

  “Oh! Impressive.” Perschale nods with an approving grin as she speaks. “We’ll need to find her a set of makeup to match.”

  “Doesn’t she look fine like that?” Unwo says.

  “No, Unwo.” Perschale wags her finger as she speaks. “You still have a lot to learn about being a woman.”

  “I’ll be wearing that at the festival, right?” Ren asked.

  “I would imagine so.” Perschale says.

  “I think I might want something with sleeves or maybe a longer skirt.” Ren says.

  “Yes, I suppose.” Perschale nods as she thinks on the occasion. “I seem to have forgotten to consider the occasion. I’m sorry, Ren.”

  “You think that’s why this dress is on sale?” Velaura says.

  “Yeah. That’s why I picked it.” Ren says.

  “Ren! When shopping, especially for dresses, you can’t just buy the cheapest thing.” Perschale says. “Come on, let’s find something grander.”

  Perschale, Unwo and Velaura go to look through the stock of dresses and other finery. As they do, Ren hears some snickering. A group of three women were laughing at the Albrinters girls.

  “Pfft. That’s Perschale Albrinter. Some backwater lord’s daughter.” a woman snickers to her friends. “I suppose it’s impossible for a bum to know the latest fashion trends in the capital.”

  “How droll. Complimenting a summer dress in autumn.” another says.

  “You can put a ribbon on swine, but it won’t make them beautiful.” a third giggles to herself.

  As they gossip among themselves, they hear a blade cut through the air and a blade of black metal appears only a hair’s breadth away from one of the woman’s neck. It takes them a second but they all lock eyes with the blade before they scream.

  “Ah!”

  “What is that?”

  “Eiyah!”

  They all instinctively back away and search for the source of the blade. Ren was holding her sword up to the woman’s neck.

  “Whoops! Sorry.” Ren says. “I wanted to see if this dress can fit a belt and scabbard. I also want to see how fast I can draw the sword with the dress on.”

  “Ugh! Contemptible child!” one of the women spits out.

  “How dare you!”

  “When my daddy hears about this, you’ll be sorry.”

  “Okay.” Ren says. “If I’m going to be in trouble, I’m going to do worse. I’ll be punished anyway, so I think I’ll carve funny shapes into your face.”

  The women go wide eyed and swiftly rush out of the boutique. A moment passes before Ren finally breaks her silence.

  “Did they even buy anything?”

  In the end of this shopping stop, Ren bought a more plain patterned but still pleasant red dress suited for autumn weather outdoors.

  Ren and the girls next went to a magic shop. There they browsed a great variety of magic items.

  “This is…” Ren listlessly says.

  “Hmm?” Velaura looks over to see what Ren was holding. “Isn’t that just the spell Conjure Ice Cubes?”

  “Why is this a spell?” Ren asked.

  “Because somebody wanted ice cubes.” Velaura says.

  “But why use magic?” Ren asks.

  “Why not?”

  “Why use magic on something so mundane?”

  “Why not? What else are you going to use magic for if not something mundane like that?”

  “Because magic is the ancient study of the inner workings of the world using a near endless supply of magic power.”

  “Why did you say ‘near endless’? Magic power is infinite.”

  “No it’s not! There is an end to the supply of magic.”

  “That’s stupid. Why would there be an end to magic?”

  “I don’t know, but once you peel back the veil of reality you can see where it ends.”

  “What veil? What in the world are you talking about?”

  “The veil of reality and the secrets of magic that supports and keeps the world standing. I know not many people poke at the darkness, but you should be able to comprehend the concept.”

  “Oh my gods. I don’t want to hear that from a weeb who learned necromancy during their edgy teen phase.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Ren asked.

  As Ren and Velaura bicker, the magic shop's shopkeeper approaches them.

  “Oh, it’s not that weird.” the shokpkeeper says. “Plenty of folk with an edgy teen phase and even a hint of magic talent learn the spell Raise Zombie. It’s a lot easier to take your first step into necromancy with the world’s rising literacy rate. Anyone who can read can get into necromancy as soon as they learn the basics of magic. Trust me, you’re in good company.”

  There is a long pause as Ren stares at the shopkeeper. Velaura pouts with her hands on her hips. The shopkeeper gives them both a glowing smile.

  “Wait, what?” Ren says in her usually tone of voice.

  “You were an edgy teen.” Velaura accuses her. “You're a weeb who had an edgy phase.”

  “It’s fine.” the shopkeep chuckles. “In a town or village, learning Raise Zombie might be the most unique thing in the world, but here in a big city, young people get into all sorts of shenanigans. Of course, necromancy is a forbidden art, but young folk are always drawn to the forbidden and seek to prove themselves the better of their peers and superiors. Of course the church and these teens are opposed and I’m pretty sure requests to launch an inquisition to hang and flog those they call ‘edgy’ are made every day. It’s unfortunate that forbidden magic has become so widely available through illegitimate sources, but there is little we can do but make good will campaigns to dissuade children from playing with such dark arts.”

  The shopkeep points to a poster on the wall. It depicts a child opening a book and the book has horns growing out of it. Along the bottom the phrase ‘Say no to necromancy’ lines the parchment.

  “What is this?” Apherward asked like he was legitimately begging for answers. “This is necromancy, the dark art, yes?”

  “Yeah, and?” Warumasa seems excessively bored.

  “How could- how could magic and the most taboo of magics be reduced to nothing but a trend among young people?” Apherward sounded like he was going to cry.

  “Wait, what’s the problem you have with this?” Agnoir asks. “Is it that something that was super secret has become public knowledge or that kids are playing around with dangerous magic?”

  “What the fuck?” Apherward seems to become more and more baffled with each passing moment. “Fucking! Men and women had to secret away their studies over this crap! I had to study necromancy in secret! How the fuck are young people just getting their hands on these forbidden texts and shit?”

  “They just go to a shady corner and a guy with a raspy voice in a cloak that covers their face sells a whole tome for, like, 4 gold.” Agnoir says in a matter of fact tone.

  “What?”

  “Oh yeah. I offered plenty of mortals necromancy whenever I tried to tempt them.” Warumasa says. “Turns out, loads of the younger crowd already knew all there was to necromancy before they called to me.”

  “Wha- I- he- what?!?!” Apherward begins to stammer. “I HAD TO PRODUCE A HOMONCULUS, CARVE OUT IT’S INNARDS AND HIDE MY NECROMANCY TOMES INSIDE IT! EVERY DAMN DAY I HAD TO WORRY ABOUT INQUISITORS OR RIVALS KNOCKING ON MY DOOR AND ACCUSING ME OF KNOWING EVEN A SINGLE SPELL OF THE NECROMANTIC ARTS!!! EVEN WHEN I GAVE UP MY MORTAL SHELL, EVERYONE WAS CLAMORING TO ASK ME HOW TO RAISE THEIR FAMILY AND SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!?!”

  “They’re just books. Why are you getting so worked up?” Warumasa says.

  “THEY’RE NOT JUST BOOKS!!! THIS IS THE KNOWLEDGE WITHIN! THE POWER OF KNOWING WHY OUR HEARTS BEAT! THE POWER OF WHAT THIS EXISTENCE WE CALL LIFE IS! THIS IS THE WICKED AND WILD FORCES OF LIFE AND DEATH! THAT ANYONE WITH AMBITION, LET ALONE A PACK OF FLIMSY YOUNG FOLK WITH NOTHING BUT A TREND.”

  “Why is he making such a big fuss? It’s just necromancy.” Agnoir scoffs.

  “I have no idea.” Warumasa says. “Maybe he’s just mad because he had to work for his necromancy or something.”

  The next stop on Ren’s shopping trip was a pawn shop. Each shelf filled to the brim with random knick knacks and baubles sold off in hopes of finding a decent deal.

  “What are we doing here?” Unwo asked.

  “Shopping around for stuff.” Ren says. “Like this stuff.”

  Ren holds up a bundle of dynamite. 7 sticks tied in a bundle.

  “What is that?” Perschale goes wide eyed at the sight of the dynamite.

  “It’s dynamite.” Ren says in her usual dry tone. “How much for this stuff?”

  “50 gold.” the shopkeep says.

  “How about this?” Ren says holding up a teapot.

  “5 gold.” the shopkeep says.

  “And this?” Ren holds up an old dusty cloak.

  “10 gold.” the shopkeep says.

  “You sell laundry soap?” Ren asks.

  “Up front here. 1 gold per wrap.” the shopkeep says.

  “How about these terribly cut jewels?” Ren holds up a handful of jewels that were cut improperly.

  “1200 gold for everything in your hand.”

  “How about these training weights?” Ren holds up training weights that wrap around an arm or leg.

  “The whole set is 40 gold.”

  The Abrinter sisters watch as Ren spends more money in a dinkey pawn shop than the other finer places.

  “Hah!” Agnoir cheers. “This guy is only selling an assassin’s teapot for 5 gold. He probably doesn’t know what it really is.”

  “To in lay these gems into grand magic items. Oh, what facet of power I can touch upon with these.” Apherward muses while imagining what can be done with gems.

  “Meh. I could’ve used heavier training weights.” Warumasa says.

  Ren and the Albrinter sisters took a break from the shopping to look at all the decorations going up. They looked at all the fine decor going up and parade floats being prepared. They were going to be pulled by oxen or by some people who certainly won’t be celebrating with everyone else.

  “Wow! They’re so big!” Velaura says.

  “Yes. People work hard to make it big and colorful.” Perschale says.

  “Never discount mankind’s hard work and dedication.” Unwo nods as she feigns superior knowledge over her sister.

  “I wonder what strange magic they use to move them down the street.” Velaura looks over one of these floats.

  “They’re not pulled by magic. They’re pulled by a pair of oxen.” Unwo says.

  “Then what’s that one?” Velaura points to a parade float.

  To those novice to the ways of magic, nothing is out of the ordinary. To those who are adept at magic, a strange magic can be faintly seen if you look hard enough.

  “I see it too.” Ren says. “Want to check it out?”

  “Sure.” Velaura nods.

  Both Ren and Velaura go to take a closer look at the magical parade float. It is a float with a colorful tiger wearing a tophat standing on 3 legs and waving with it’s last paw. The two of them look the float over with great curiosity. As they do, a man carrying a box walks by and goes wide eyed when he sees the girls looking the float up and down while getting hands on with it.

  “Hey! Hey! You two aren’t allowed to be here!”

  As he speaks Ren touches the waving paw and the whole tiger falls apart to reveal a strange stone spike with green swirling accents of a bright green stone substance. It is the size of a house. Then it begins to ominously glow.

  “No! The altar! Now they’ll know about the ritual!” the man says as he yelps in a panic.

  “Oh cool! This magic is necromancy.” Ren says.

  “Of course you would know.” Velaura scoffs.

  “I have to kill everyone here before somebody important stops our plan!” the man shouts as he pulls out a ritual dagger.

  The man rushes for Unwo with his knife. As he does, Ren and Perschale train guns on him.

  “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m going to need you to drop the knife and turn yourself in.” Perschale says.

  The man is wide eyed and stands still with a knife drawn as two guns are trained on him. He is in know way close enough or fast enough to outrun a bullet. A moment passes before it dawns on him that he is out of options.

  “Shit. They’re going to discover the conspiracy!”