Fair to All, Young and Old

Fair to All, Young and Old

Ethan watched Ivy's body get sucked into the mailbox, but from his own experience, the teleportation process wasn't painful. His vision blurred for a moment, and then he found himself at an unfamiliar pier. Several multi-masted sailing ships, their prows carved into the shape of gryphons, were moored there. Their sails had been lowered, and sailors were wiping down ropes and decks with cloths. Their faces, too, were obscured by accessories.

His gaze shifted to the sterns, where the caravans' flags were hanging. The gryphon designs on them looked lifelike, fluttering in the breeze. In the Empire, gryphons symbolized nobility and glory, and represented the Lofik Consortium's illustrious history. Starting out as bankers, they had amassed a vast fortune during the great disaster of the previous era. Their influence spanned politics, economics, propaganda, and religion. They were everywhere in the Empire—even in a remote border town like Brookwood Town.

People said a town could get by without a society of the occult, but it absolutely couldn't do without a bank.

The pier was bustling with oddly dressed guests. Masks and disguises were the most common accessories; some people had bandages wrapped around their faces, while others had painted their entire bodies in bright colors and dressed themselves up as circus clowns. Their wildly different attire made Ethan realize that many of them probably weren't from the Empire.

At the other end of the pier stood a small town shrouded in dusk. The Lofik Consortium's guards were posted at its entrance, a force made up of knights and gunmen. Ethan noticed that only a handful of guests approached the town, and before entering, they had to show the guards an ID and undergo a thorough search.

The luggage they carried and the jewelry they wore made it obvious they were people of considerable status—VIP 10 or higher, heavy spenders.

That clearly wasn't a place for a zero-spender like him. Ethan knew his limits.

But no one noticed the yellow specks of light, constantly reassembling and vanishing. They joined together to form the outline of a door, and every guest had stepped out of it.

Ethan could see the flow of magic.

It was an ingenious teleportation spell set up by some great power, one even ordinary people who hadn't entered the extraordinary realm could use.

Teleportation Magic ranked among the top three things on Ethan's wishlist. With a single thought, it could whisk someone from one end of a city to the other. For a former wage slave like him, no other magic was more appealing. It meant he could skip the commute to work and sleep an extra half hour!

Unfortunately, although magicians and Elemental Shapers both used magic in theory, their Faith Systems were entirely different. Magicians worshiped the God of Trickery, and most of them were born into ancient, mysterious families and had been learning magic since childhood. For someone like him, who'd come to it halfway through life, it was a little too late.

That was also why Ethan had been thinking about leaving Brookwood Town.

The town library was stocked with nothing but popular science books. They could only give him a general idea of the kinds of extraordinary paths and Dark Creatures out there; they contained no practical guides at all. The only book he owned with any real substance was Fireball Ice Arrow Magic Mechanics, which Zhao Cai had somehow dug up for him two years ago.

Ethan really needed books like Teach Yourself a Hundred Little Spells, but those were the sort of books only a big-city library might carry. He might even have to join an organization like the Containment Bureau just to get access to them.

Maybe Fireplace Bay...

Ethan shook his head, quickly dismissing the wicked thought.

Before she left, Ivy had warned him that giving in to his desires in a place like this was the first step toward an abyss of no return. Fireplace Bay was bound to have something he wanted, but the same old question remained.

But what would it cost?

Anything in this world with even the slightest connection to the extraordinary became exponentially more valuable.

Clearly, not everyone was alert to the danger. Even through the accessories they wore to hide their faces, he could make out the greedy, feverish looks in many people's eyes.

That raised a question.

Where was Ivy?

Ethan waited on the pier for nearly ten minutes, but still didn't see her. If he remembered correctly, the young lady had warned him not to wander around Fireplace Bay when she cast the teleportation spell.

He was about to ask the passersby if they'd seen Ivy, but then he froze.

If he couldn't mention Ivy by name, and couldn't describe her accurately, how was he supposed to find out where the young lady had gone?

Was he supposed to go around asking people if they'd seen a mysterious masked woman with a voice that sounded like it needed to be taught some manners?

But before long, Ethan didn't even feel like asking for directions anymore.

He wasn't the only newbie in Fireplace Bay. Ahead of him was an anxious young man in a cheap formal suit, frantically searching the crowd. He looked on the verge of a breakdown.

Seeing him, the passersby all sympathized with his plight and were more than happy to point him in the right direction.

Asking for directions: 3 Gold Lions. Help finding someone: 5 Gold Lions. No bargaining.

Why don't you just rob people?

Ethan silently asked the question on the young man's behalf. In a place like Brookwood Town, one Gold Lion could keep you living comfortably for an entire month.

The young man had just shown him what happened when you asked for directions in Fireplace Bay. It made clear that in this cursed place, you had to rely on yourself.

Mugram—that was the shopkeeper's name.

Although Ivy had disappeared before she could finish speaking, she'd already passed on the important information: Mugram's shop was aboard one of these merchant ships.

If Ethan looked around the ships, he'd find it eventually. Maybe Ivy had already reached the shop and started browsing.

But Ethan had clearly underestimated the dangers of Fireplace Bay.

The young man ahead of him was the one who suffered. Pale-faced, he boarded the first ship. Just as he was sinking into darkness and despair, a friendly middle-aged man approached him. His hearty laughter was a stark contrast to the cold passersby.

"Don't worry. You'll find it eventually. This is Fireplace Bay. You can find anything you want here."

He handed the young man an ice-cold beer. "Drink up. It'll help you get back on your feet!"

Ethan saw the look in the young man's eyes beneath his mask. He looked like a drowning man clutching at the last straw.

The young man took the beer with a trembling hand and drank it all in one go.

His confidence returned, and his eyes brightened once more.

"Thank you, thank you so much! I'll never forget your kindness for as long as I live!"

"No need to thank me."

The middle-aged man smiled and shook his head, holding out his right hand. "Just pay for the beer. One Gold Lion. Thank you for your purchase."

"Huh?"

"It was brewed by a master brewer from Windless City, using the finest hops and wheat. You can only taste this master's work in Fireplace Bay."

A group of burly men emerged from the crowd, a stark contrast to the middle-aged man's hearty smile. They surrounded the helpless young man.

"Besides Gold Lions, we also accept collateral. Eyes, blood, kidneys—we'll take anything. You know, a person can get by with just one kidney. If you don't want to put anything up as collateral, you can borrow money over there. The interest is 45 percent. Very reasonable."

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