Banke-Sharn Market

"Ha, wait—don't tell me, you're looking for your first mission already?" To this, Silver and Ariadne nodded. Then, Rasher chuckled haughtily.

"Come on in then. It's been a while since I've seen a pair so desperate." Rasher said, before showing them the way inside.

Beyond the wooden door, a much larger room than they had expected awaited them. The building they entered was not grandiose at all, yet the inside was quite organised, to be perfectly honest. 

On their left, there was a flower vase on a round wooden table, and lit candles illuminated the dark. There were also three randomly positioned couches, one by the far wall, another to their left, and one to their right. And, there was also a blackboard, with a chalky mess drawn upon it.

"…You two are quite lucky that the other members aren't here on this particular day. I guess it's time to show you the know-how," Rasher said, sitting down. "I do remember telling you about the Land's Aberrations, so I suppose I was thinking about assigning that mission to you two younglings. That is quite harsh for a first mission, but, oh well."

Meanwhile, Silver and Ariadne looked around, and the two of them took a few steps forward, wary of this "den" that belonged to a Mercenary Troupe. What was weird about this place was the fact that the place felt tranquil, peaceful even, and unusually so.

"…The two of you better not be having any thoughts of telling the police about this place, or else you'll meet a bad fate in the end." He chuckled. "You know what that is, right girl?"

Ariadne shivered, and Silver nodded his head. "…Yes, we most certainly won't. But, what will be our first mission?"

"…Hold on. Before I tell you about your mission, let me tell you about the place that you will be visiting. As you now know, the Land's Aberrations are distortions in time and space, right? So, the place that you will be investigating will be an ancient ruin, frozen in time, yet still undiscovered and unexplored by human hands." He said vaguely. "A ruin of the past that once belonged to a legion of devil hunter knights, the Demon-Slaying Crucible Knights."

"…The Demon-Slaying Crucible Knights? That name sounds familiar…" Silver murmured.

"It sure does. A statue of the Commander Knight who once led them against the forces of evil stands solemnly in both the town's numerous markets and in the courtyard of the Count's residence. The Count himself descended from that valiant legion of knights, and obtained his Golden Branch as an inheritance, descending from those knights."

"So, this also means that the one who can investigate this place, and bring it to the Count's attention, will receive wealth from him far more than anyone else in this town could ever imagine!"

"With that money, you could even hitch a carriage ride to the capital, I bet! So, I guess you can tell already… with high risk, comes higher rewards!"

Ariadne agreed. "So, where exactly is this place? And, when are we going to go?"

"Hm, I don't know… perhaps, a week from now? And, the area in which these ruins are located is near Scina, the region next over, the Consecrated Land of Cursed Roots, up far north and near Sunrose City."

"Huh? But, we don't know where that area is…"

"No worries. When the time comes, all you need to do is go to Silver Crown Pub, and someone will escort you to the area. There are many unknown dangers in that area, so even I need to warn you to be careful." 

As Rasher talked, Silver noticed a spider crawling up his leg. He quickly flicked it away, causing Rasher's eyes to dart to him and back to Ariadne, and then he paused for a moment.

"Also… let me give you a special gift." He said, handing the two of them a few crown crests, with a sly smile.

"I hope this will help ease all of your worries for the future," Rasher muttered. "…And so, this is your welcome to the Shallow Wine Cup Troupe!"

***

Silver and Ariadne left the building soon after, counting the several coins that the fellow had placed in their hands. These were gold coins, which they had rarely ever seen before, and they were exposed to the radiating warmth of the sun, in the middle of May.

"This… this is a huge amount of money!" Ariadne yelled. "I can't believe he just gave them to us so much, just like that! Did the Gods grace us with good fortune?" 

"Haha… I don't know myself!" Silver said, and even he was a bit uplifted by the money given. "Should we buy something, then? I think a market might be close by since you can almost hear the hustle and bustle from here."

Ariadne nodded. "Yep! Let's go!"

They took off from under the shade of the building, and walked towards the source of all the noise in the area, Banke-Sharn Market, named after the armed scholar who killed a notorious gang leader on the streets close by to where the market was set up. And, from shopkeepers to stall owners, men and women singing their hearts out for a few coins and those praising the heavens for a new day fervently, one could instantly tell that this was a widely-known place to meet up or buy cheap food and clothes, or both! 

Though, as soon as the two of them arrived at the market, even though things seemed less lively than they imagined, the bustling atmosphere was certainly still there.

"So… what should we buy?" Ariadne asked, holding an excited face. Silver shrugged.

"Let's aim for important things first, like food and clothes, then buy the less important things afterwards."

"Good plan!"

They visited many stores and shops, like Brown's Bakes, John's Butchery Meats, and the Milkman's Shop, and came out of these places with several loaves of bread, plenty of cheese, no less than ten bottles of milk, and even herbs, spices and fresh-cut meat.

Plenty of time passed as they visited many shops like these, and after more than a few hours had passed, Silver and Ariadne bought everything they needed to buy, mainly food ingredients and clothes. The two of them also bought fairly expensive clothes on top of all that, including three-piece suits, consisting of coats, waistcoats and trousers, and they also bought with them bow ties, pocket watches, and monocles, which they would hardly find any use for.

In the process, Silver and Ariadne managed to blow away a considerable portion of the coins they received. But thankfully, gold coins were no small amount, to the point where thieves would even be willing to rob them in mid-daylight for them.

"Damn it… I regret buying so many clothing items…" Silver brooded. "For the sake of me and my sister, let's hope no thieves or pickpockets come to the market today…"

As anyone could expect, the two twins were not good with money management at all, and what was worse was the fact that they had bought some clothes that did not exactly match their younger selves.

But still, they managed to carry everything with the help of a creaky trolley that they picked up along the way, in a small alley. Then finally, they also took the opportunity to take out some more books from the library, most of these books on the subject of clothes, food recipes and the exploration of ruins, and soon headed back home, with a great amount of items being carried with them.

However, as they walked back home once the day came to a close, Silver found yet another spider on him, that crawled around his neck. Luckily, he was not afraid of such small creatures, so he merely flicked it away again.

But then, as soon as he did, they both swiftly noticed a mysterious lady who wore patched-up robes that covered most of her body, who stood by the pavement, leaning on a building's wall. 

Immediately, their first thought was that this person was going to rob them. 

Following this thought, they tried to quietly go the other way but were quickly noticed by the mysterious lady, who revealed her face and appeared to have luscious blonde hair and blue eyes, she also carried a sheathed blade akin to a katana by her side.

"Hey, you two…" She murmured.

"I have a question I want to ask…"