Chapter 55 - Eira's Journey

Nighttime befell the whole country. The bright blue sky was replaced by one lit a million times aided by glimmering stars. The moon looked bloodied; it bared a crescent shape that looked like a smile. Surrounding it, as if covering said mouth with hands; the clouds. The chilly night breeze shook around what little trees were left; mainly burnt and dead. After passing through the main gate; Eira and Staxius parted ways. Glimpsing back at the castle she once called home; Eira watched in awe, the taillights of his father's car vanished.

"Greetings Eira Haggard," a voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Greetings?" she replied while suspiciously looking everywhere for the source of said sound.

"Please inject more mana, Red-fury's performance level is sixty-eight percent." A red light located on the steering wheel began to light up. "As you wish," she gripped the wheel tighter and after inhaling; she released a mass of mana. The car's meter changed from sixty-eight to seventy-nine. "This has to be a joke." Eira scowled; said surge of mana was her injecting every ounce of strength she had.

"User's mana capacity evaluated, rank assign, A-rank. The reconfiguration will now begin." The same soft, girlish voice spoke. Dazed by what happened; Eira decided to focus on driving, and fondly enough, at the speed she drove, Savaview bridge came into view.

"Halt," a guard holding up a loudspeaker in one hand and a stop sign in the other, signaled her to stop. Time had come to pay the toll. Unwilling to leave the vehicle, she drove closer and rolled down the windows. "How much is the toll?"

"One silver piece and three copper." He muttered while eyeing down the beast that growled. Eira reached for her purse and began looking for change, meanwhile, the guard approached the car and circled around it to have a better look. The dragon crest gleamed once he reached the front; his eyes grew wide open.

"Miss," he slowly back away. "Yes?" Eira answered while exploring the purse for change.

"Are you related to a noble named Staxius Haggard?" he asked, the voice faltered when he spoke his name. "You know my father?" she continued her search.

"You're his daughter?" *Gulp,* "You m-may p-pass." He lowered his head and went back to sleep inside the little cabin near the bridge. "What about the toll?" her gaze rose up, "don't worry about it, Staxius Haggard is a friend of mine." He let out a small smile and covered his eyes with the blue cap. With his feet resting on the table, he went to sleep.

"Thank you?" paying no attention; Eira drove into Oxshield. After getting off the bridge, the dirt path on which that poor car was torturously driving finally reached roads. It separated into three different lanes: the one to her right headed to Dundee, the one in the middle directly headed for the capital and the one on the left headed to the villages and residential areas of the low-born. Said low-borns weren't of noble birth but were financially rich, no one who lived in Oxshield was considered poor. The roads were clear and empty; a slightly dense mist formed. Her drive to the capital continued, the landscape that went beside her was naught but dark and fuzzy.

"Configuration complete." One hour into the drive, it spoke again.

"Who are you?" Getting tired; Eira decided to speak to a car, even though it looked foolish. "What am I doing?" she awaited a response but to no avail. "I'm Red-Fury," after a few minutes, the car spoke once more.

"What do you mean Red-fury?"

"I mean that red-fury is my name," it responded to her question. Confused, Eira slammed on the breaks, the car screeched to a painful stop. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING." It yelled, "that hurts, not physically, but it hurts."

"W-who or w-what are you?" Eira let go of the steering wheel.

"I'm Red-fury, a car as well as a spirit. I was imprisoned into this machine – I say imprisoned, though I agreed to the contract for they offered me a lot of human souls. Yes, I'm a machine with a conscience, why do you think only six of this were made? And the price tag, have you seen it?"

"…" Eira took some time to process, "are you friendly?" she asked curiously with her right eye slightly closed while lifting the opposite eyebrow. "Yes, I'm friendly, are you stupid? You're my owner, I can't possibly hurt you."

"You got guts speaking to your master that way but I like it." She slammed onto the accelerator and headed for the Rosespire. A few hours in, the massive castle was in sight, the castle wall was so big that Eira had to roll down her window and stare up. Going around the massive fortress, she arrived in town which was enclosed using the same wall but the actual castle rose high above everything else. No-one was permitted up there, except nobles who served the council. The town itself was massive, it was ten times bigger than Dundee.

"Red, do you have any useful functions?" she asked while passing the giant gate; the only way in.

The guard seemed to not pay attention, probably because the car she rode in looked expensive as hell, and nobles were considered saints here.

"I can drive you to places without you walking? Isn't that enough."

"Again, with the attitude, I mean do you have a map of this place, I might get lost." The car's pace slowed down considerably.

Meanwhile, opposite to Eira, Staxius rode in his vehicle. "Greetings void." He spoke nonchalantly.

"Greetings master," a deep voice spoke, it was a man's voice for once. "Can you please scout around in front of us, I don't want any unwanted attention; direct me to a more safe and secure path."

"As you wish, Master, please inject your mana for I to reconfigure the settings."

"There you go," he nonchalantly let a bit of his mana seep into the steering wheel.

"Configuration error, mana input has exceeded normal levels, switching to over-drive." The car roar

and as quick as a flash of lightning, the car sped or rather vanished. You could only hear the engine, the car was nowhere to be seen, as black as the abyss and as dangerous as hell, that was Shadow.

The car whose properties are yet to be found for the spirit contracted to that car is unknown to even the mages who built it.

"What do you mean overdrive?" the scenery began to fly by at neck-breaking speed. Any small rubble or rock or anything that would disrupt the car's momentum could cause it to tip and crash, and possibly killing the driver. Over-drive was a feature included in every single one, however, reaching that point as proven by Eira's attempt to fill up the mana gauge; is improbable. Entering overdrive means exceeding the mana capacity of SSS-ranked sorcerers, a feat rather unique and unprecedented. Though Staxius did it as if it were a piece of cake. The years stuck in oblivion proved to be a boon; he grew in strength. In a few hours, simultaneously with Eira, who now reached town, he approached the noble district.

"Void, trigger the concealment spell." Earlier, next to the steering wheel, a strange device popped out. It was made of paper, and as per the instruction is given or rather; he stole, writing a spell and adding them to the car's internal memory could be saved up and used later on. This was only available to the shadow variant; thus, he added a bunch of low-tier spells to test out how far he could push this machine. And not to forget that the machine isn't just a car but also a spirit, one who is powerful and very much alive.

As ordered, the already hard to spot shadow went invisible. Inside, tired, Staxius decided to sleep seeing as there were only a few hours left till daybreak. Also, it's because he was just lazy to investigate whatever the car had sensed earlier on. He now laid to rest with the noble district insight, the perimeter was surrounded by a wall, not tall nor short, plainly average. Through the mist, only the outlines of buildings could be seen, the tallest one had a slanted roof on which Kreston's crest rested. A bit out of place for the people of Dorchester who only ever worshiped the goddess of destruction, Admis. The holy crest for Admis was a skull with two swords impaled into the eye socket, the rituals, and prayers for said goddess involved human sacrifices and other gruesome things. One even depicts kissing a black cat's bottom and slaying its unborn kittens. The cat was obviously a female who was recently pregnant. After the deed was done, the members would dance around the dying cat's body while drinking their own blood. Obviously, these are just rumors but the lengths to which humans can push themselves into believing into whatever they see as being righteous is mind-blowing: gullible, foolish, but resilient – three words describing the inhabitants of Dorchester fully. With that thought going around in his mind, Staxius went to sleep.

"Come on red, find me a place to sleep already." Eira was frustrated; the car, in fact, had a navigation system but it refused to work. "Calm down master, I'm trying to find the best place to stay with your budget. Come to think of it, why not spend the night inside the car. It's tight and not that comfortable, but at least you'll save money."

"No way, there is just no way I'm sleeping inside a talking car. May the world crumble to pieces before I do such a thing." Red-fury rode across the wide road that spread throughout the town. The place was lively, it was night, but people were still out walking up and down; admiring armor, weapons, and other gadgets. Some were out on dates, some wore expensive suits and dresses, everyone had a smile on their face. Rosespire was a joyous town as opposed to popular belief that the princess had enslaved everyone here.

The further she drove, the tighter the roads got until finally, a glowing panel caught her attention. It was weird and stood out, the other shops had a dignified look to them, and the hotels were even more so. However, this one had a cat as it's logo and lit brightly with a pink and yellow glow. The outside wasn't that striking, lightbulbs went around the window frames and inside a few pictures of cats was spotted here and there.

*Come in for the best time of your life.* A hooded girl who looked about twelve stood in front of the doorway and shyly signaled the passersby to check-in. Due to her short stature, everyone ignored her. Every time she tried speaking, people shrugged her off; which resulted in her opening her mouth and closing it. It looked as if she was eating air; nothing. "Master, that girl is a demi-human." The car spoke.

"Is that so, Red, I shall be staying here tonight. Do you have an auto-drive function? I mean, I didn't see anyone bring you to castle Garsley."

"Nicely spotted, I do in fact have an auto-drive function. What are your orders then?"

"Nothing much really, just don't stand out. Go do whatever you want, you're a spirit, aren't you? Just come back in the morning." The door opened then closed automatically. Red rode off into town. The hooded girl desperately tried to bring attention to the shop. With her hair flowing gently with the wind, the lights from the shops made it glow, Eira approached. She looked more beautiful than ever, everyone's gaze stumbled upon her, the white hair made her stand out. With her ruby eyes, she smiled and gently tapped the little girl's shoulder.

"Excuse me miss."

"H-hello m-ma'am." The hooded girl slightly backed away, her whole body looked twitchy as if she's constantly on the lookout for danger. Ignoring that subtleness, Eira continued speaking as if nothing happened. "Can you help me get a room inside?" Eira smiled.

"F-FOLLOW ME," closing her eyes, the little girl yelled. Everyone turned and eyed her down intently, her cheeks grew bright red. Comfortably, Eira took her hand, "shall we?"

They entered the brightly lit room. On the right side, a circular table with small chairs with a kitten's face embedded in. On the left side, a table stuck onto the wall with high stools. Cups, flowers, and other miscellaneous items were found atop. A few steps in, a counter with a woman sat behind. She held a cigarette in her mouth and had a few shots of alcohol in front. Behind her, on each side, two sets of staircases faded into the darkness after the first few steps.

Seeing Eira approaching, the lady quickly hid her cigarette. Upon closer look, she looked about fifty, her face was brightly colored with make-up. She was desperately trying to not look her age; which in the end made her look like a ghost.

"Greetings valued customer," She smiled, few of her teeth were missing. "-how may I be *cough, cough,* of service." The smoke from the coughs slowly hit Eira's face. Her right cheek twitched a little, for an instant, an aura of animosity escaped. Though she quickly rectified that mishap by a smile as big as the one the lady gave out.

"I'd like to rent a room if that isn't much of a problem."

"You've chosen well, here at the P.u.s.s.y palace, we have the best rooms in the whole of Rosespire." Obviously, the lady was lying, Eira caught onto that fact but remained silent. The place stood out, almost purposefully. It's normal for people to try and show off to get attention, but this inn had a feeling of overcompensation. It was as if they were hiding something. Her rant about the P.u.s.s.y palace being the best place to stay at in the whole of Rosespire went on for ages. Normally, Eira would have walked out and not cared; but the little girl, she gripped her hands tightly.

The rant ended, the lady not realizing that Eira was still present as most of the possible customer would have probably left by now - took a shot of whiskey. "How much will a night cost me?" Eira asked once more. Hearing her voice, the lady whose name is still hidden, choked on her drink. It sprayed all over the counter but luckily missed Eira who dodged at the last possible moment.

"You're still here," she mumbled. "I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that," Eira asked courteously.

"I said it will set you back at around two gold pieces." She smirked. Two gold-pieces could earn you the right to stay for one night at one of the high-class hotels. The value of gold hasn't decreased but

increased, it's more valuable than it was in the past.

"I'll take it," Eira smirked back and threw three gold pieces onto her counter. "One extra as a tip." The lady rolled her eyes and ordered the little girl to show Eira to her room.

"I'm sorry for wasting money like this." Eira bit her lips, the door opened.