Back at the Mardrago Church Residence, Jack woke up feeling even more tired, not physically but spiritually.
He felt a sense of continuation that tormented him; unlike normal people, sleep wasn't relaxing.
It felt like the day continued; to him, it was like he had remained awake from the moment he arrived to right now.
After reflecting on the last few days for a while, he got out of his room after placing the letter in his pocket. Opening the door to the prayer hall, which was the main hall, he saw Aldric and Lucius praying to a symbol of an X with a line drawn at the middle.
His plan was simple: drink some water, go buy some bread from Delma, then look for other work since he expected Captain Varen to discover that the Crystal was missing.
The latter was a concern for Bren and Aldric as well, since they might be blamed for it.
And if Varen wanted to retaliate, Jack planned to run to Victor and tell him about the crystal.
Jack exhaled.
It's a long day ahead.
...
Worker Street, Farma's Shop.
The door to the shop opened with a ding. Farma, who was sitting in a comfy padded chair behind the wall to the right of the counter, was jolted awake.
Beside her on the ground was a small closed container with some mutated mushrooms; those were warped ingredients, plants that had their traits amplified by instability.
Those ones specifically were hallucinogenic.
A woman wearing a gray hood leaned in from the counter, looked inside, and then took the hood off.
She had the same facial traits as the girls from Chel's Sixth Tavern, but compared to them, she had significantly more optimistic eyes.
She had light gray hair tied in a ponytail and matching light gray eyes, which were a slightly rare trait in the north!
The further east you go toward the great forest, the more unique traits such as these you will find in humans.
"Farma!" —Mysterious Girl
"Emlyn?!" —Farma
The mysterious girl was Emlyn Hildegard/Hildegarde, the Brave and revolutionary mage from the north, as well as a very close friend of Farma.
Emlyn quickly moved behind the counter and towards Farma; she looked into the small container and saw the mushrooms.
"What is this?" —Emlyn was annoyed, and angry.
Farma had promised Emlyn not to use ingredients such as those anymore.
"You promised me you wouldn't take them anymore! They are bad for you!" —Emlyn
Farma just stood there quietly while Emlyn began to think.
'Damn it, I came here to tell you about getting hired on a good contract at the count and you give me this!' —Emlyn
"It's to celebrate." —Farma, in a quiet tone
"Celebrate what?" —Emlyn
Farma decided to stun her friend with the amount of money she was to receive from the count: one Leone every two months.
"Why?" —Emlyn
She thought that her friend had either gotten into a risky or illegal business, maybe that she had become the second wife of some nobleman, but she quickly dismissed that option since she thought Farma leaned the other way.
After this, Farma explained her situation. The two of them had been friends for a few months now, and despite the short amount of time, they were very close.
They met each other almost as soon as Emlyn reached Port Bravo. While Emlyn was technically a Brave under Salvation, she was allowed to enter despite the church not yet being allowed in town, due to the fact that she was there to spread knowledge.
But, same as before in the Nordic kingdoms, she was unable to get her formula to spread to the lower levels, thus leaving her stuck in high-priced magic books.
She also tried to reach the higher mages to convince them a month ago, but they were preparing for war, and with a lack of noble status, she wasn't given the right to talk to them out of fear of possible assassination.
During this time, Farma stood by her side, but this was the first time she learned that her friend was actually a banished noble, a noble with royal blood at that!
Taken aback by both the large amount of money as well as her friend's real identity, Emlyn found a normal chair and brought it in front of Farma.
"You know what, give me some of those mushrooms as well." —Emlyn