374, 89th of the harvest season, Late afternoon, Elven outcast village

  Just as the sun began to fall on the day of the 89th, the newly formed trio of Rosario, Senarre, and Paulida walked through the gates of the elven village walls of wood reinforced with iron, guarded the village. After crossing the gates to the village, Senarre stopped one of the long-eared and asked him a one-word question, “Aromorer?” The elven man, with long, blonde hair fashioned into intricate braids of fine gold hair, pointed towards a small wooden hut. “There, halfkin,” he said to Senarre in a snappy manner. The man was considerably taller than even Paulida, who himself stood at least 200cm tall. Paulida gestured towards a small building made of stone and wood with a wooden sign hung outside that read “Pub and Inn.” he said, " That's where we can reassess our situation.

  Within the hour, the trio was seated at a circular table with a black disc-like apparatus embedded in the center. Paulida pulled off one of his gloves and pressed his thumb onto the disc. The disc began to spin in its housing, refracted light began to form the shape of a bar, filling the projection, then displayed the image of a fingerprint and a picture of Paulida, his brown skin distorted by a light blue tint, a string of numbers under his name appeared a metallic sounding female voice said “Welcome to the bounty organization and resource department”. Paulida pulled his hand from the disc and said, “Now we can see what's going on in the world.” he flicked through the menus displayed on the holographic display with a ring on his left thumb. Rosario had heard about this before, but had never seen it in actual practice before because the bounty network was not especially common in the major cities where the military forces of Dreynas handled most threats, both manmade or otherwise. He sat in awe, seeing this, and was turning over in his head how it worked on a mechanical level. Rosario lost his concentration when Paulida began speaking again, “broadcast band.” he paused, thinking for a second, and should be “87.2.”

  The light display shifted, displaying an image of a woman. Hair of silver-gold tied into a tight bun on the back of her head, eyes as gray as a stormy sky, her sharp features made her instantly recognizable; she was none other than Iselle Leistung, the standing head of the Queen’s guard. She stood flanked by two individuals, one with an officer's cap pulled over his eyes and a longsword hung over his shoulder. The other was a woman with a black-red head of hair and bangs covering her eyes. Iselle began speaking, “The revolt of the beastfolk has been quelled for the moment. We are currently investigating the assassination of the queen in relation to the uprisings in the ghettoes.” Rosario spoke up in an angered tone, said, “That's bullshit, no one was revolting, they sent their soldier in there to-” his stomach dropped, he could feel his hands go cold, and his heart beat through his chest. The little holographic Iselle said, “Our current primary suspect is the youngest of the Lorea house, Rosario Lorea. To those of you watching on the broadcast, a picture will be visible momentarily.” An image flickered into view, the young man with black hair and eyes like an unpolished jadeite. He was shirtless, with a black eye and a busted lip. Paulida tabbed out of the screen with a smooth gesture and said, “Did you do it?” Rosario, now with his head hung low in defeat and panic, nearing the point of tears streaming down his face, said meekly, “No.” Paulida replied, “Well, now that's all I need to know.” Paulida waved over the barmaid, a woman with pale skin, red eyes, and ears like a rabbit on the sides of her head. He said to her, “Can you please get me a Board ring?” He handed her a small roll of folded-up bills, and she walked off. The barmaid returned with two rings, one silver and one pale green. She said to Rosario, “Pick.” He reached out his hand meekly and grabbed one of them and held it in his closed hand. Senarre, who had been quietly disassembling one of her firearms at the table, peeked up and said, “What color do you get?” She held up her right hand showing a white colored ring on her index finger, “I got white.” Rosario opened his palm, and a ring sat in the center of it. The ring was a pale green with flecks of black and white embedded within it. Both her and Paulida urged him to put the ring on, he obliged and placed the ring on his right middle finger and said, “What now?” Paulida said, “Thumb on disc.” Rosario reluctantly placed his thumb on the black disc in the center of the table, and the metallic-sounding female voice said, “New user register.” A string of numbers flew by, and the rune carved into the ring that sat on Rosario’s finger began to glow. The holographic display changed to a welcome sign, and the metallic-sounding female voice said in a dead tone, “Welcome, Lorea, Rosario.” The holographic display then showed a panel of information, including a rank “E.” Rosario said, “What's the letter for?” Paulida replied, “It's a ranking, think of a risk assessment, it factors in your work history and deadline completion, and rates you for what level of jobs you're suitable for.” Senarre cut in and said, “Mine is D.” Rosario's face now inquisitive, turned to Paulida, “What's yours?” The big man cracked a grin and said, “I'm glad you asked, I'm A.” Rosario said, “Why are you trying to help me first the ship and then this?” Senarre responded this time, she said, “You see, we are in the business of punishing the wicked, and if you are as innocent as you say you are, then that makes you not worth punishing.” Rosario, in a shaky voice “Thank you.” Senarre asked, “Why are you shirtless and beaten up in the photo they used?” in a playful manner. Rosario, in a now calmer tone of voice, said, “I stole stuff from a campus lab for a theory I wanted to test. I got caught on perimeter wire, lost the shirt, and got into a fight with a security guard.” Senarre said, “The security guard rocked your shit then.” Rosario, now feeling better about his situation, said, “He was a very big security guard.” The woman across from him gave a slight laugh. Paulida cut into their brief conversation and said, “He's coming with us now, we gotta help him clear his name.” The woman looked over to the big guy and nodded. He proceeded to say, “Take him to the armorer and get him some kit.” he threw a small roll of bills towards Rosario. He caught it and said, “Thank you.” Senarre hastily reassembled her firearm and placed it back in its holster on her hip, and stood up and said, “Let's go.”

  Senarre and Rosario walked through the Elven outcast village's route to the armorer, who bore a still sorrowful expression. She thought about whether there was a good way to try to cheer him up, but couldn't draw any particular notes from memory. She tried to start a conversation, but couldn't find an opening. She said, “You're noble?” He said, “Only in name, really, I'm the third born,” she replied with “What's that got to do with it,” pulled from his gloom, he responded, “ brother’s supposed to” he paused “rather was supposed to marry the seated queen.” he bowed briefly into a sulk but perked up again when he said out loud “I have some pieces but no idea how to put them together” Senarre said with an inquisitive “what” Rosario stopped walking she stopped in her tracks too he turned and rapidly placed his arms on her shoulders and said “can i trust you implicitly with my life” She said “i sure hope so if youre traveling with us id like to put my life in your hands” he replied with a simple “thanks” He let go of her and they resumed the walk to the armorers shop. He said to her, “Basically, I have a couple of theories, pieces on a chessboard, you might say.” He stopped, “I'll fill both you and Paulida in later at the inn, I'm afraid of there being prying eyes or ear nobility are notoriously cutthroat”. The pair approached the door to the Armorers' workshop and went inside.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The walls of the store were stacked wall to wall with blades of a variety of shapes and sizes, longswords, shortswords, wooden staves, and even a few blades of eastern make. There was a small shelf of firearms of various makes and models, and boxes of ammunition flanked the shelves of firearms. An elf with unkempt gray colored hair stood behind the counter. Senarre walked through the door and over to the counter with the ammunition. She pulled the weapon from the holsters on her thigh, lower back, and the two tucked under her arms beneath her jacket, four firearms all in pristine condition, two of them were revolving style, one had intricate carvings on the grip and barrel, with the other had a standard gun metal finish with wooden grips. The other two weapons were newer repeating pistols; their levers had an iron finish to them that caught the light like a steel blade. She said, “Can you get me two boxes of Ten-Twenty Fives and two of Thirty eights?” The shopkeeper ducked under the counter and pulled out four small boxes of cardboard with a little picture of a cartoon wizard with a speech bubble that said “Casters' choice” and a slogan beneath it that said “so good even a mage uses it.” Senarre continued to look at the weapons on the shelf with a childlike glee.

  On the opposite side of the store, Rosario was looking at the swords on the shelves. He pulled a straight sword with a small motif of a horse on the guard. He pulled the weapon from its sheath and swung it. He noticed the weight was off and put it back on the shelf. Another sword caught his eye, it was bound with a white leather handle featuring two tassels hanging off a small hole on the pommel, and featured a motif of a bird of prey on the guard. Senarre walked over, leaving her weapons on the table. Rosario didn't notice her behind him. He gripped the sword in his hand, his grip tight on the handle of the weapon. Under his breath, he whispered, “Awaken sun gods stride.” He tried flowing his mana through the blade, but nothing happened. He then said under his breath again, “Oh, well worth a shot.” “What's worth a shot?” Senarre walked over to where he was standing. He fumbled the words out of minor embarrassment, “It's a thing a character from a series of books does, basically at the start of the book, he goes to a no name blacksmith in the boonies and uses his mana to awaken a long forgotten sword of the sun god, he just happens to pick a powerful relic out of all of the other regular swords in that shop” She replied with a simple “neat” he pulled the sword from its sheath. The weight of the blade and handle was perfectly balanced. The only drawback that he could notice with the naked eye was that the blade itself was in rough shape. He slid the blade back into the sheath and held it up and said, “How much?” The shopkeeper looked up and over unenthused and said, “Three thousand.” Rosario scratched the back of his head and said, “The blade is in rough shape. I'll give you twenty-five.” The shopkeeper stroked his chin and said, “Deal.” Both Rosario and Senarre walked over to the counter where the shopkeeper was standing, retrieving her firearms. Senarre tossed the roll of bills. The shopkeeper said that it will be two thousand five hundred for the sword and ten times 4 for the ammo, making a grand total of two thousand five hundred and forty”. He flicked through the bills, seeing a one thousand bill 4 five five-hundred bills, and a handful of smaller bills. His eye caught something on the one thousand: an elven woman that looked strangely familiar. The gears in his head began turning. He paid the shopkeeper with exact change and walked towards the door where Senarre stood waiting. He placed his new sword over his shoulder with the leather strap attached to the scabbard.

  The walk back to the inn was quiet. Senarre was thinking about the sensation of a thumb sliding a fresh cartridge into a bandolier when she was asked a question. “How old are you perchance, not in an awkward kind of way, just wondering since the elves live a really long time,” she thought for a brief moment and said playfully, “not in an awkward way, I'm twenty-three, why ask?” Rosario was placed on the back foot by her reply, “You just remind me of someone,” she replied in a more serious tone, “who might this person be?” He stumbled over his words and said, “Oh, just an old family friend.” Senarre, sensing he was placed on the back foot by her response, decided to push the advantage. “And how old might you be? They don't ever show you off.” “I'm uh, twenty,” she pressed the assault again, “and they haven't married you off yet?” he said in response, “my mo-, head of the house hasn't found a place for me.” Senarre thought for a brief moment. “Strange, usually by twenty, the nobles are already on the third progeny,” she said. She could feel his mana; it felt disturbed as if she had struck a nerve. “Say, is your sister always as much of a bitch as she is on the broadcasts?” his mana cooled down; she could feel it shift into a neutral state. “Yeah, I'd say so when I was a kid, she would chase me into a dark corner of the manor and shout,’ The demon kings are gonna get you,’ while tossing basic sua-type spells at me.” Senarre was taken aback momentarily, “What the fu-” Rosario cut her off, “I can feel you,” Senarre replied, “what?” Her mana briefly spiked in alarm like an involuntary muscle response. He said, “That sensation I feel you feeling me, not in like a physical sense, but off of the mana you're giving out.” Senarre was thinking out loud, “Strange, I've never met another like me in that sense, you have one too?” He thought for a second, “I don't think so, never been particularly good at manipulating the mana in or around my body, B student at best, but this is different, I can feel the mana radiating like when you hold your hand out to feel the heat from a fire.” She said back "I don't have particularly good control of my mana either but, if you are like me, then you might be the only one like me I've ever met, seventeen years of drifting and I've never met one, I thought I was the only one on the continent”. She paused briefly making eye contact “lets get back to the inn, we can discuss this with the Pa”