Mannus Lan watched Ivory walk towards the The Woolen Pillow. It was the least he could do, after all: what a traumatic experience it must have been to appear in another world. Working closely in conjunction with the Mage’s Guild had many benefits for his business, this knowledge being one of them. Of course, protocol dictates that he report any suspicions of ‘Earthers’ directly to the guildmistress of the Mage’s Guild… there was no doubt that he was one.

[Appraisal]. Despite the virtuous speech he gave Ivory, he had cast the spell when he noticed an adult sitting with the children. Not that he had cause to believe he was a degenerate - certainly not! It was mere curiosity; [Detect Magic] sensed no artefacts on him, so he cast the spell. No Class or Skills. Then he noticed the strange outfit, the bag and its contents… conversing with Ivory after the fact was all the confirmation he needed. Mannus appreciated Ivory’s tact: he clearly knew he was not on ‘Earth’, and concocted believable lies. Unfortunately for him, a mixture of [Detect Truth], [Detect Lies] and [Shopkeeper’s Intuition] were hard to deceive, especially for someone without any Levels.

No. Let the boy live, not be harassed to join Wistram. Their failure with the [Singer] amused Mannus; see what greatness she brought from her world! Wistram would have squandered it. Mannus began muttering to himself as he opened the door to The Esoterica to make preparations for his appointment.

“If the boy has any sense about him, he would capitalise on my generosity and—”

“Mannus, you oaf!” Mannus turned around to see Rex bounding towards him and leaned back against the window. Few people took any notice; this seemed to be an unnoteworthy occurrence between the two. Mannus stifled a chuckle as Rex neared.

“Apparently you are paying for a young man’s stay at my inn?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

“That’s right. Charge my tab for it. I’ve got an appointment, let’s discuss this tonight,” Mannus went to open the door—

“Not so fast! I’m going to need a little bit more than that!” Mannus paused, and turned to face Rex.

“I see a lot of potential in the kid. Consider this your favour to me: let him stay as long as he wants to, Rex.”

Rex straightened up. Interesting. Mannus hasn’t taken an apprentice in a long while, could this be…?

“Very well. Good day.” Nothing more needed saying; Rex headed back to his inn. Mannus entered his shop and went back to his personal office space to pick up the subject of his next appointment and then returned to the reception area. Moments later, there was a light knock on the door.

“Hello? Cassandra Petilil to see Mr. Lan?” a young voice chirped. Mannus heard her as if she was right next to him, due to a Skill. He got up and opened the door to see a young Half-Elf girl with her hands behind her back. Mannus smiled and welcomed her in.

“Miss Petilil, a pleasure to see you again. Please take a seat.” Cassandra smiled nervously and entered The Esoterica and hoisted herself up on the chair.

“Now, young lady, I have had a look at that ring you brought to me last week. Before we get to that, I’d like to know how you came upon it. When you and your father visited last week, all he had said was that you found it in a river?

“Yes. I returned to mother’s village in Gaiil-Drome and I was playing by a river, when it washed up. I thought it may have come from mother’s village, so I asked the elders. They don’t like mother and me very much, so they said no one had lost anything. Is it magical?”

“Right,” Mannus thought. “They wouldn’t treat a Half-Elf leaving their village to marry a Human very well.” He said nothing of it, and nodded.

“Gaiil-Drome? I see, that makes sense. Well, those elders should have taken you a bit more seriously, because this is a ring of Half-Elf make. As you will know, it is wooden — specifically, made of lifebark. Your mother can tell you more about lifebark, but what is important here is that it is magical. When it is worn, it will change colours depending on the mood of wearer. An interesting piece of magic, to be sure. You were wise to not put on a ring without knowing what it does. Here, try it on.” Mannus placed the ring in Cassandra’s cupped hands. Sweet girl; she was being very careful with it.

Cassandra gingerly slid the Mood Ring on her left index finger and gasped as the otherwise dull, but smooth brown ring transitioned to a bright, vibrant orange. Mannus had not come across that colour when he had worn the ring over the course of a day; orange must mean excitement. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

“Wow! This is so cool! How does it know?!” she exclaimed with delight. Gone was the air of nobility that she tried her best to keep up; only the pure delight of a child remained.

“Why, that’s magic!” Mannus opted not to bog her down with all the possible applications of The Mood ring, as they had little use to a child. “Treasure it, young lady.” She nodded eagerly and looked again at her orange ring and smiled

“I will. Thank you very much, Mr. Lan. Umm…” Much that she was being taught the way of a [Noble], she had little experience talking to those outside her household. Taking the cue, Mannus stood up.

“You are very welcome. Have a good day, young lady.” He stood up and opened the door for Cassandra. She did a small bow and hurried out, still grinning.

Mannus watched as the young, aspiring [Mage] children were picked up by their parents or [Carers]. He bade goodbye to them as they left and cut his supply of mana to the scrying mirror. The Esoterica was not open to customers on this day, so [Shopkeeper’s Ambient Mana] wasn’t available. He picked up the scrying mirror and deposited it on its frame in the reception area.

An interesting day. Mannus regretted sending Ivory away; he would have learned much from his appointment with young Cassandra. Alas. The [Magical Shopkeeper] wished both youths well, and hoped to see Ivory tomorrow.