Danika and Nathan placed the last poster for the charity fair. They had Lara, the top artist of the publishing house, make the posters. They didn’t have anything from the posters yet, but they still opened the bank account for the savings.

“I think people are looking forward to it.” Said Nathan, trying to cheer up Danika. The woman gave him a small smile and leaned into him.

“We haven’t had a fair since the harvest one. That was a month ago. They’d look forward to anything that gets their mind off Yule.” Said Danika. The best she could hope for this year was a stone and a letter with red ink in her Yule sock. Nathan frowned.

“Weren’t there legends that before grandpa Thinker came along Yule was there to celebrate the winter solstice? He changed so much, that old man.”

“He did, and not for the better. Do you remember the scandal of year 832 when he tried to rename Yule into something called Christmas? He even tried to enforce a new religion on the world.”

“Tyrant.” Hissed Nathan and Danika agreed. If the dungeon of Alerion hadn’t caught them all in its web, then they would be free of grandpa Thinker by now.

“Miss, can people on the bad list come to the fair too?” Asked a little girl with brown pigtails and freckles on her face.

“It is open for everyone.” What did this girl do to land on the bad list anyway? Wondered both the editors.

“Oh, that is great! Grandpa and grandma can come too. They have children without being married so they landed on the bad list before mommy was born.” Then the little girl skipped back to an elderly couple. They looked kind as she told them the news.

“I swear; the bad list is there to keep us all subservient.” Said a boy with dirt on his nose. Both editors agreed with him.

Meanwhile, Theanore and Marinus were finally having a breakthrough. They managed to reach level 459 before smoke rose from the cape. They placed the cape on the discount pile and shared a look.

“We can do better; how did you feel when we managed to pour more mana into the enchantment?” Asked Marinus.

“You poured more? I poured less. Mari, that’s it! We need to find a better balance.” Said Theanore and the merman waited for her to gather her thoughts.

“This time you were going for a level 400, right? Well, I thought we were making more for the discount pile and so I was going for level 300. We reached level 459, let us lower it to level 450. That means that we should have two more mana crystals on your side. Let us try again, but this time I will try using 4 mana crystals and you will use 6. No! Six and a half. Trust me, Mari.”

“Ok, Thea.” Said Marinus and he placed a new cape in the enchantment fountain. He gathered 7 crystals and Theanore gathered 4. They concentrated and when the 7th crystal of Marinus became half-full they stopped. Before them was a level 556 level enchanted item, on both the enchantments.

“They use a shared mana pool the more they advance.” Exclaimed Marinus and Theanore nodded. “For a level 1000 enchantment, we will need 10 mana crystals on your part and 20 crystals on mine. What do we enchant it with?” Asked Marinus and Theanore placed a hand beneath her chin.

“Well, how about we try with a quick shot and an air enchantment? Isn’t the Emperor an archer?” She didn’t know who told her that but it must have been one of their guardians.

“Ok, if he doesn’t like it we can make him something else. But let us try our theory on a cape first. But we can’t sell it for a discounted price, Thea. It will have to be saved for later or the Emperor will lower the price of his commission.”

Theanore nodded and the two children enchanted the cape to level 1000 without a problem. Then Theanore took out a notebook and wrote down the enchanting secret in it for future use.

“Mari, are you sure we can’t write a book on enchantments? Even grandpa Thinker shared this knowledge.” Asked Theanore but Marinus was unmovable.

“I am sure. This is our source of wealth. We don’t know if publishing books will pay much. If we give up our secrets, then we will have to become vegetable and fish merchants. At least we held off on absorbing wealth from the pile in the grotto. If we have absorbed even a single coin, then we could have had to work harder.”

“Ok, Mari. But we will need to get a new book out if this one becomes popular. Something useful.” Said Theanore. She wanted to write fairytales as much as any other child but those types of books were available to everyone. The people on the bad list needed her help and her knowledge, as limited as it was.

“I can help you write a book on sea creatures. Plus, on how to look after them in an aquafarm. Now let us enchant the ring.”

The ring was a simple gold band that had the motto of the Emperor engraved on it: Always free. The children got the two enchantments without any trouble and then placed the ring on a cushion and began to enchant other items for the discount pile. To make sure the Emperor didn’t demand a lower price the discounted items were kept at the level 500-600 range.

Soon the mana fountain was empty after all the high-level enchantments were done and the children went to the Ogre’s demise to get more flowers for tea. They then baked cookies and shared them with the worker elves. After that, they send a message to their guardians that they got the level 1000 item.

Unknown to them, grandpa Thinker went back to the Mirstone publishing house with a heavy sack filled with gold coins. He was about to do a good thing and he felt happy about it. Maybe he would finally get off the bad list too. It was so tiring to be at the head of it.