Rebecca and Artiel were both on a balcony, admiring the stars in the sky above them.

They would never have believed that they would have the honor of visiting the Upper Town of the capital Kilguana. What's more, meet the most powerful person in the kingdom! The Magus of the Court himself.

Of course, when comparing him with their Master, his powers seemed insignificant but come to think of it, everything that was compared to their Master was insignificant.

It had been a long time since they had stopped comparing people and things in this world with their Master. He himself had told them to stop.

- "Do you think everything is going to be okay?" Rebecca asked with a slightly worried tone.

- "I'm sure Isaac will be able to manage" Artiel replied immediately with a slight smile.

In their eyes, Isaac was as lost in the capital as they were. They quickly saw that he was not accustomed to this kind of city either. Perhaps because he had never left the sanctuary before? It came to the same thing: He doesn't know a lot from the outside. Perhaps he even knew less than them for that matter.

Their Master was naive, silly, and far too trusting. Artiel was living proof of that. Who in their sane mind would take someone who had attempted to assassinate him under their wing?

Isaac really had a problem.

- "We're going to have to help him a bit" then declared Artiel what Rebecca seemed to approve with a nod of the head.

- "I agree" she replied. "The Master has no common sense… something must be done about it."

A little further into the gardens, Isaac sneezed.

- "Are you cold, Excellency?" Frederic said.

The maids around hastened to pull out a warm cloak and held it out towards Isaac, bowing forward. Isaac smiled to them and shook his head.

- "No no, it's fine" he replied simply.

The butler just motioned for the maids to put the coat away before turning to Isaac.

- "Tell me when you are ready, Excellency. Your room is ready-" said the butler before being cut.

- "I don't need to sleep, don't worry. If possible, I would like to do some magical experimentation. Is there a place for that?" Isaac asked with interest.

He had so many ideas and things to try out. He wanted to see the new expansion of his powers with his new ability. And for that, he had to have a deserted place where he wouldn't risk damaging structures or inadvertently killing people.

The butler began to think deeply before giving his answer.

- "We don't have one at the Manor, Master Kol prefers to do magic at the Palace or at the Magic Academy."

It was understandable. A Manor was supposed to be a place of life and rest, it was a home in which one should feel warm, safe and relaxed.

On Earth, things were different. Isaac was only a student and lived in a small apartment. Most of the time he lived where he worked like an increasing number of people on Earth actually.

He was unfamiliar with separating place of life and place of work. So, that the Manor did not have the infrastructure to do magic safely was not totally a surprise.

- "Good. Tell my apprentices and Zachary that I will be back tomorrow morning then" said Isaac.

Without wasting a moment, he disappeared into a black shadow. Despite this unexpected disappearance, no one seemed surprised, they seemed used to it.

- "Inform his apprentices" he ordered to the maids who obeyed immediately.

Frederic then looked at the soldiers.

- "Send a message to the city guards. His Excellency Isaac's portrait is simple: 'a brown-haired elf'. Tell them if they find him, they should escort him" he ordered the soldiers.

Immediately, the soldiers nodded and left in the direction of the outer wall of the Upper Town while Frederic walked towards the Manor, thinking.

Much further down, on the surrounding wall of the Upper Town, a strident sound echoed on the interior facade before the stones of the wall began to emit a powerful golden light.

The light quickly attracted soldiers who positioned themselves in a semicircle, their swords drawn, around the point just before a black explosion happened and made them retreat a few meters.

Thanks to their strong build and training, none of them fell but their eyesight was still readjusting. Where the blinding light appeared was now a black spot nearly five meters in diameter lodged against the wall. Like a sticky liquid on the surface of an object, the black substance slowly was slowly dripping down.

As the soldiers wondered what it was and started to sound the alarm, a figure suddenly emerged from the black liquid, inhaling deeply, as if it had just drowned.

- "What the heck was that?!" Isaac said before looking around.

What actually happened was that he "ran" into the Upper Town protective barrier when he tried to teleport.

"I wasn't expecting that" he thought before seeing the soldiers standing around him, swords pointed at him. "Oh shit…"

Immediately he raised his hands so as not to trigger an unnecessary altercation and lowered his hood to show his ears.

The soldiers did not fail to recognize the famous pointed ears of the Magus' guest and immediately lowered their swords. All had received the latest news: Isaac had been authorized by the King to stay and visit the city.

Given the status of the person who invited him, namely the Magus, the soldiers owed him as much respect as the latter. Especially since they had before them an Archmage.

- "Apoligies, Sir. We didn't expect to see you here" said one of the soldiers before leaning forward, which everyone else did afterwards. "Can we help you?" he asked after getting up.

Seeing that the soldiers had sheathed their swords, Isaac lowered his hands before getting up as best he could, observing the black liquid around him.

Strangely, there was nothing dark or dangerous about the liquid. It was simply the residue produced by the barrier's contact with its teleportation spell.

They were simply elementary shadow particles that had suddenly been overloaded with other elementary particles. In this case, elements of water which were in overabundance in the Upper Town.

First, Isaac decided to dissipate the liquid by manipulating the particles composing it to make them volatile again.

With his newfound ability to be able to extend his mana circuit outside of his body, the task was completed in an instant and the liquid went up in smoke as if it never existed.

The soldiers remained silent and amazed at this spectacle. After all, it wasn't every day that they could see an Archmage at work, let alone an elf.

Once the surroundings had been cleaned up, Isaac looked up at the soldiers before smiling at them.

- "I would like to visit the rest of the city. Where are the exits?" he asked eagerly.

One of the soldiers hastened to answer.

- "The teleportation circles have not been activated so you will have to go through the front door" he said pointing in a direction. "We can escort you if you w-"

Isaac had already disappeared.

- "…"

After a few seconds, the soldiers pulled themselves together.

- "O Father, make sure nothing happens tonight" lamented a soldier, raising his eyes to the sky.

At the gates of the perimeter wall, a shadow opened before letting Isaac out. The soldiers posted drew their swords before sheathing them again when they saw who was in front of them.

- "I would like to visit the city. Can you let me through?" Isaac asked with a smile.

The captain of the guard posted at the entrance and who had just approached was surprised by the request. Visit the city? It was not something he heard often in the Upper Town.

Most residents didn't like to visit the lower levels. A few liked to go out to big events and festivities for the Nobility like the Court Magus but there was nothing planned tonight to be.

Why on earth would an Archmage, moreover an elf, want to visit the city? But the captain didn't ask any questions.

- "Of course, if you could wait a minute, we will have a transport and an escort for you quickly," he said, gesturing to his soldiers.

- "Transportation will not be necessary" interrupted Isaac. "I prefer to walk," he said at last.

Transport was not required, he could teleport anywhere and most importantly, he wanted to see the city up close.

When he arrived, he had noticed that most of the streets on the lower levels were narrow, and from the captain's gaze, the "transport" he was talking about was undoubtedly one of those coaches that nobles love to use.

In other words: impossible to visit the small streets.

As for the escort, Isaac didn't really want it, but he didn't really want to have to deal with the little scums who would want to rob him. Soldiers would be perfect to scare away the majority of the town's bandits.

The captain nodded and motioned for Isaac to follow him as the soldiers hurried to form a circle of about fifteen soldiers around them.

"Isn't that a bit too much?" Isaac thought, looking around.

Soldiers were a good way to scare away the bandits, of course. But with so many soldiers, the escort would scare away even passers-by from the street! Not like there would be a lot of people in the streets at this late hour.

That was what he thought.

"Eh?" Isaac thought, looking ahead.

No sooner had he left the small front fort protecting the gate of the Upper Town, things drastically changed. The streets were crowded with people and stalls, shops and more were visible as far as the eye could see.

- "What ... is there a festival or something?" he asked the captain, who obviously wanted to escort him.

- "Today is the day the King decreed the abolition of slavery in the capital. Not a official date, it took more than a month but the people chose this day to celebrate" replied the captain.

- "I haven't heard of it" resumed Isaac a little surprised.

- "It is normal, it is not an official day of festivity. Only the people celebrate it, the nobles do not take part in it."

The smells of the various food stalls filled the air. Meats, grilled vegetables but above all, a smell that Isaac would recognize among many others.

"Rum ?!" he thought, looking for the origin of the smell.

It was a small tavern that was filled with people of all kinds packed in all kinds of places and positions. Some were even seated on the windowsills, which shows how famous the establishment was.

Seeing Isaac's interest in the tavern, the captain reacted immediately.

- "Julius' tavern is quite recent, its owner is barely thirty years old. They were originally positioned near the North Gate, near the Poor Quarters. But thanks to its fame, they managed to get this very prized location."

Isaac was surprised. If he had to compare this place, it would be equivalent to a boutique in the most exclusive and sought-after areas of the capitals of the world.

Like Fifth Avenue in New York or the famous Avenue des Champs Elysées in Paris.

- "Their fame comes from the fact that they offer several quite exotic alcohols from northern regions. The most common drink in the capital is beer, but this tavern also offers mead, rum, and vodka. He is also one of the only suppliers of such beverage, which allows him to access the Upper Town from time to time to deliver the Nobles" continued the captain.

"Oooh" Isaac thought as he looked around. "What an exciting city! So many things to see."