15 A Visit to a Mysterious Friend

At a few hours past noon, Elizabeth is taking down the stall for the day. Even though she's been operating this street stall for almost a week now, Elizabeth still hasn't figured out where it came from or how it works. On the morning after Astur caused a commotion at the Town of Dawn, she had given Elizabeth this strange collapsable stall. Despite appearing to fit inside of her handbag, the stall can fold out to stand several metres tall and wide. Even her handbag was given to her by Astur, and much like the stall it too has some mysterious properties. Appearances can be deceiving as this handbag, despite its appearance as a typical small handbag, can fit a seemingly endless amount of things inside.

When Elizabeth received both of these items, she could smell the remains of Astur's special blunt and traces of alcohol in her breath. Elizabeth was very curious as to how such strange and mysterious items were made, but Astur only held a strange smile as she refused to explain. Elizabeth wasn't too concerned over the handbag, while different, it wasn't that far off from a storage ring an artificer could make, just instead of an isolated space created through magic, the handbag has a similar space inside of it. But the folding stall goes beyond Elizabeth's understanding of the world.

Heaving a deep sigh, Elizabeth mutters, "seriously, just how does this work?" as she looks at the once large metal stall, now neatly folded into the palm of her hand.

"Oh good, you haven't left yet, Miss Elizabeth."

Hearing a familiar voice call her name. Elizabeth turns to see her new friend, the tall and slender Taurion getting out from his car along with his two friends, the mellow and easy-going brown-haired Lester, and the energetic and playful blonde-haired Heinrich. While the trio isn't wearing any overly flashy brand clothing, they still draw the attention of a few passerby's with a sharp eye from the high quality and fine details of their clothes.

"Good day to you, Sir Taurion," Elizabeth says while performing a light bow.

"It seems we arrived just in time, I'm glad we caught you before you left. My good brothers wanted to meet you and don't worry, they don't hold any prejudice against the Mystic races," Taurion says.

"Is that so, then allow me to introduce myself, although you may have already heard, my name is Elizabeth Tepes. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I'm Lester Dresuar, heir of the Dresuar Viscounty," he says keeping a smile on his face.

"And I'm Heinrich Gausier, third son of Count Gausier. If you don't mind me asking, what's the metal box in your hand?" He asks, looking curiously at the small metal box in Elizabeth's hand.

"I think I remember you two buying things from me a couple of days ago. And the box in my hand is the stall from which you have all bought from previously," Elizabeth says, putting the stall into her handbag.

"Haha, a wasn't aware you held a sense of humour. There's no way that big stall could be in such a small box and from what I can tell, that box isn't a spatial artefact like a storage ring," Lester says.

"You misunderstand, the stall isn't inside the box, the stall is the box," Elizabeth says, taking out the folded stall from her bag and dropping it on the ground behind her, causing it to begin to unfold itself.

"Oh my god, how does this work!?" Lester says as he circles around and studies the unfolded stall before Elizabeth folds it up once more.

"Why doesn't anyone walking by seem to notice this? Everyone around just seems to take it as a normal everyday phenomenon," Heinrich says.

"Now that you mention it, I have seen Miss Elizabeth take out and close her stall before, but at the time I thought it was a normal thing. But now I realise this is a very mysterious and abnormal process," Taurion says.

As the three men look at Elizabeth with a questioning gaze, she says, "I have no idea, I didn't make it. I also don't know why no one takes notice of it. Oh, and I told my friend about you, Taurion, and she wanted me to bring you to see her."

Raising his brow slightly, Taurion asks, "did she say why?"

"I don't think she gave any specific reason. She asked me if you were trying to court me, but I didn't know what she meant and then she wanted me to bring you to see her. So are you trying to court me? And what does that even mean?" Elizabeth asks as she tilts her head slightly.

With his two friends snickering beside him, Taurion just produces a dry cough before saying, "we can talk about this later. I have time today, so I don't mind going to see your friend. Is today fine with your friend?"

"I don't think she actually cares too much about when so long as it happens, she does her best to not leave the house so she should have time every day. But her house is a bit far from here, is that alright?" Elizabeth asks.

"No problem, we can take my car. Where does she live?" Taurion asks.

"The Sea of Trees," Elizabeth says, prompting strange looks from the trio again.

"I've never heard of someone living in there before," Taurion says.

"It might be the house inside the barrier," Heinrich says.

"I've seen that house before a few years ago, but I don't recall seeing anyone living there," Lester says, closing his eyes.

"Supposedly, she's lived there for a long time. The ID Card she has is from the previous century and she really does try her best to limit how much she leaves her house. Due to some circumstances, I've been living with her so I can pass through the barrier so longs as she lets me."

"Hmm… I'm quite curious, can you tell me a bit about her?" Taurion asks.

"She's tall, I think she's actually taller than you, Taurion. And I think most people would consider her to be quite pretty. And…"

Before she could continue, Elizabeth suddenly realised she couldn't recall any of Astur's physical details.

"What's wrong?" Taurion asks.

"Nothing, it's just that no matter how much I try, I suddenly can't seem to remember anything about her appearance."

"Well, you just said she was… huh? I can't seem to remember what you previously said. What about you guys?" Taurion asks, scratching his head.

"Nope, don't remember a thing," Lester says.

"This is rather interesting, I'm even more interested now. Us all collectively forgetting that same topic at the same time isn't a normal occurrence," Heinrich says.

"Then shall we go pay your friend a visit, Miss Elizabeth?" Taurion asks, opening the back door of his car for her.

"Yeah, I want to ask her about this too, so I appreciate the ride," Elizabeth says, getting into the car.

Closing the door for her, Taurion says, "Nice hanging out with you guys, but I'll see you two later."

But before he can get into the driver's seat, Taurion feels a hand on each of his shoulders.

"Nah, we're coming with you. You aren't ditching us for a girl that easily," Lester says.

"Additionally, I believe we're all curious about Miss Elizabeth's mysterious friend."

Sighing, Taurion looks to Elizabeth for permission, to which she nods and as they all get into the car, Elizabeth says, "I just hope she's sober when we get there…"

"Does your friend like to drink?" Taurion asks as he starts the car.

"Yes, perhaps a bit too much," Elizabeth says while shaking her head.

"So you can remember details about her personality but not anything about her physical appearance?" Heinrich asks.

"Correct. Her name is Astur and I would describe her as a crazy and irresponsible person. From what I've seen, her hobbies are drinking, smoking, sleeping, and playing games. But I think she's rather intelligent as well, she is the one that made all the stuff I've been selling, including the stall."

"I've heard there's a thin line between genius and madness, and I get the feeling your friend would fit the description well. But I can't agree with drinking and smoking as a hobby, perhaps I can try to convince her to at the very least lessen the amount she does, after all, it isn't healthy," Taurion says.

"You can try, maybe you'll do a better job than me," Elizabeth says, removing her hood, seeing they've left the city.

Seeing Elizabeth remove her hood, Lester and Heinrich glance over to confirm her appearance. Pointed ears and long fangs with both red eyes and long red hair.

"Taurion said you were cute, and it seems he was telling the truth. But I prefer more mature women, with nice assets," Lester says.

Although she doesn't say anything, Elizabeth has just registered Lester as a no-good person in her mind.

"Indeed, red hair and red eyes. The only vampires with both are the Tepes Family. I want to ask, but considering what the Chruch has done in the past, it might be insensitive to ask," Heinrich thinks, remaining silent after observing Elizabeth's appearance.

Meanwhile at Astur's house.

"I need to write this down to make sure I don't forget! Although it's random, this is still a good thing. Figures that Gramps couldn't entirely seal all my abilities, they stretch beyond his Authority after all," Astur thinks, while furiously writing her findings in her journal.

"Since the condition is like this, I need to find a way to keep my high up for longer in the future. My resistance to those shrooms has grown too much for the high to last more than a few hours per blunt. And… oh? What's this, the little girl is talking about me?" Astur mutters as she closes her eyes.

With her eyes closed, a vision appears in Astur's mind as she focuses on Elizabeth and sees her along with three other men driving towards the Sea of Trees while talking about her.

"So this is that Taurion fellow she mentioned the other day. And the other two, seem to be his friends," Astur thinks as a dangerous smirk appears on her face, "I need to make some fun preparations for my new guests."