Towards the evening, Egeria was walking to the town square. The square was always busy and crawling with people who wanted to trade or buy things. Most of the people here were of the Harmonics of Do ranks, however not many of them were able to fight since they chose to do other works than going for hunts in the forest.
The square bustled with activity and chatter, it was pretty loud. Many sellers were yelling out their products and the sales they were currently applying. Egeria did not like this place at all, however he needed to sell the branches if he wanted to get some food for the next week. Unlike the others he sold them rather cheap, this worked for him since he did not need to supply for multiple people at once and just had himself to feed.
He was carrying the bag of branches Nymphia had gathered up, walking to the usual stand where he sold his branches most of the time.
"Good evening boy, I see that you have less today." The stand owner was an old man of a Do rank. He was rather friendly.
"Good evening sir. I am not in dire need of food, so I thought I could slack off today." He said with a smile on his face, his voice sounded lazy and humorous.
"I see, I see. I will buy those for ten silver coins. How about it?"
"Really? That would be great!"
Ten silver coins would make a small family survive for a week in this town. So Egeria was enthusiastic to immediately sell these off to the old man since he was being generous today.
Soon, Egeria was walking around the stands. He did not want to go back home yet since he had nothing to do, so he decided to check what people were selling around today. Although he did not enjoy the people density here, he was more eager to spend a silver or two.
First thing he did was to look around the stands that were selling weapons. Most of the weapons were basic weapons, however there were some that were imbued with Frequency Waves. The weapons that were imbued with FW usually were stronger than regular weapons and some even had enchantments to themselves. Which unfortunately he could not use due to not being a Harmonic.
He had also heard that these weapons could be imbued with ones soul, meaning that they did not need to carry the weapon around physically, as they were able to just place it into their souls. It was a very handy ability to have since you did not have to carry weight around with you all the time.
***
After some time, Egeria was somewhat pissed. People had been bumping into him since he came here, he did not want to cause any scenes so he had ignored the most, however he was quite fed up with it currently.
Egeria was currently inspecting a dagger imbued with FW in his hand in front of a stand. He was the only one waiting in front of the stand so he could admire it all he wanted. And the seller, who was an old man of the "Re" rank did not seem to be bothered by it either.
"Yer not trying to make it look like your inspecting it, then immediately run away when I look away, are ya son?" The old man said in a rather serious tone, but the smile on his face suggested that he was joking.
Egeria was about to laugh when a angry voice sounded behind him.
"You should be careful sir, talking to strays like him—motherless ones tend to bite when you show them a little kindness."
Without any warning Egeria's fist immediately lashed out to strike the woman square in the face with the back of his fist. He had been on edge since coming here and his sarcastic and playful demeanor dropped immediately, replaced by a cold one.
When the fist was about to connect with the woman a young man immediately got in the way and blocked Egeria's strike even if he did stagger a few steps.
The young man had sharp, refined features that gave his face a beautiful elegant look. His dark purple eyes as beautiful as a purple sapphire, yet so distant with eerie emptiness. His skin was fair and his body was lean and agile, not bulky that spoke of disciplined training rather than brute strength. A faint burn mark on his right hand was visible and he was wearing robes that screamed of aristocratism. His hair was blonde and reached to his waist, it looked elegant and looked after
"While the woman is in the wrong, attempting to strike them should not be the best option." His voice sounded calm and firm.
The young man was most likely a member of a high class family, and Egeria, no matter how pissed did not want to deal with high class families like in the past. He returned the dagger to the old man and simply nodded to him, perhaps as an apology or something else entirely.
After returning the dagger, Egeria decided to walk away from the square and return to his house. The joy of getting ten silver coins for today had been overshadowed his bitter feelings.
***
The blonde guy watched as Egeria walked away. He turned his gaze towards the terrified lady, tThe woman had crossed a line—mocking someone for being an orphan. There was no pity in his eyes, only cold detachment.
"Thank you.., sir.." young maiden said in a meek tone.
"Save it." He said coldly then walked away.
The young blond man was Vex, Vex Valerius. He had come here to get some ingredients for himself but instead ended up running into the infamous "Egeria." He had heard that the man was a menace back in his childhood, but had been hovering under the radar for a few years. Perhaps he had grown up and became calmer, but some habits did not fully disappear it seems.
***
After Vex bought the ingredients he wanted to buy, he was walking towards the zone where the high class families had their houses built in. Vex was actually a member of a high class family as well, however his situation was a bit unique.
As he entered the house, and then got to restocking everything around the kitchen with the newly bought stuff, everything was silent. As if no one was living here other than him. Which was true of course. Vex had set the final maid free yesterday since he wanted to save money for the future too.
He was the only member of the Valerius family, so he was considered the head of it too right now. His parents were extremely strict and controlling, they always trained him strictly and kept him on a strict diet. But Vex was not concerned by this, he always did what they wanted, he wanted to be strong for his own benefit.
Then all of a sudden that strict controlling life of his, changed when his parents got "sick" and died from an unknown disease... however he didn't believe that, he saw the parents of his best friend with his parents having dinner together a few days before they suddenly got "sick", so he had come to the conclusion that his strong, "Mi" ranked parents were poisoned by his friend's family. He did not know the exact reason why, perhaps it was jealousy that his parents were strong.
Because of that Vex cut ties with his best friend and anyone close to him. And he vowed that he wouldn't ever die as pathetically as his parents, from a mere "poisoning or disease." This event left him with deep trust issues and constant suspicion of others, calculated caution, always questioning motives and seeking the hidden strings behind every interaction with others.
Well perhaps that would not matter anymore.
'I have delayed it enough.'
He was going to attend the Harmonic tournament this year. He was going to get strong and finally leave this hell.
Well.. before all that he needed to attend the dinner that was going to be held tomorrow.
***
The stars shone on the night sky. The town was illuminated by small street lights that were mostly lanterns, electricity was a myth here.
There was a house amongst the many big sized houses. The difference between this house and the others was that this one outshined the others in terms of size and beauty. This was the house that mayor and his family lived in, for many years Lyriou family had been operating this town.
Inside the house the mayor and his wife were currently in the spacious dining hall. The hall was decorated beautifully, their voices echoed slightly inside.
The door to the dining hall was partially open, hard to be noticed, letting the light from the spacious room seep into the dark halls. Behind the doors a young woman stood, leaning her back against the wall and listening to her parents talk secretly. She was wearing a solemn expression on her face.
The young woman was the daughter of the Lyriou family, a family that had two Fa ranked harmonics in it. Her name was Aria.
Her face was gracefully shaped, holding a quiet beauty that drew the eye. Her hair was a natural brown, cascading in soft waves down her back—though the ends faded into a vivid violet, dyed with striking contrast. Her eyes were sharp, framed by long lashes, with rich brown pupils that shimmered with something unreadable. She wore a flowing, white asymmetrical dress that resembled divine robes from an ancient age—lightweight and ethereal, adorned with golden embroidery that traced delicately along the waist and hem.
She was going to enroll into the tournament this year. She had finally convinced her parents, she had been trying for three years. Now she was eighteen and finally was about the enter the tournament. She had always dreamed of becoming a harmonic and leading people out of this town. She wanted to discover what was beyond this place and share the experiences with her people.
But those dreams would have to wait again. She had accidentally listened to her mother and father, they were discussing the tournament. From what she had heard they were going to let her participate in the tournament and duel other people, however she was not going to be turned into a harmonic. That was because her father was scared that she would die.
Aria wanted to barge into the room and tell them that she was strong enough to endure the dissonance, that she wanted them to finally listen to her as she had grown enough to be taken seriously. But she couldn't find the courage to face her parents. They were Harmonics of the "Fa" rank, they had experienced much more than her and was more stronger than her.
With a defeated sigh she finally retreated to her own quarters. Tomorrow her parents were going to post a meeting in the estate with other high-class families. There was always a feast before a tournament amongst the families, the participants were also going to be invited this time around so naturally she was going to attend too.