The lamps illuminated the path towards a beautiful looking mansion

Although none of the houses in this part of the city were shabby, this house had an extraordinary sense of elegance that would easily attract the attention of anyone who passed by. It was quite well designed and properly structured. This was the house of Mark Solit, a weapons-dealer, which is a businessman of some sort in this era. He was the ice troll that Zow had mentioned before.

Ice trolls are not known for being efficient in terms of creating the weapons they wanted. Although their bloodline makes them formidable during wars, especially when it is within their own icy territories, most of them are born to be excellent warriors. Many of them have gotten into the habit of gathering and collecting weapons that would suit their fighting style.

Having a long lifespan similar to that of elves, Mark and Zow have been friends for over a hundred years now, and had thus been together through many ups and downs. Their races had been on good terms, even before the destruction of the Fountain of Life.

"How did you and your father come to this city? And it seems that both of you have settled in for good here nonetheless." Feihren smiled and asked a few questions to break the silent awkwardness between them as they walked way too quietly towards the mansion.

"Ah, we've only been here for around a decade. It would be long considering the lifespan of humans, but for me and my father, it has only been a little while." Marie casually replied.

"But why Sechua City though?" Feihren added.

"It was the place where my father first met my mother, who was a human. She has already perished a few years past due to old age. Although we already had spent a good amount of time together, we decided to just stay here in the city to continue my mother's legacy." She simply answered.

Feihren nodded as he confirmed his suspicion. She was indeed not a full Ice Troll, but a demi-human. This was the second person Feihren had met that was of mixed blood, although Marvin back then did not evidently have any dwarven resemblance.

...

An enormously tall wooden door with an intricate carving had opened immediately after the arrival of Feihren and Marie.

"Don't be so surprised, I have informed my father ahead before we came here." Marie immediately said to Feihren before he could even mutter his question.

'It seems that their race could easily use communication magic huh. I guess it is due to her being part human? Or is communication magic easy to learn? Hmm, if so then I should learn how to as soon as possible...' Feihren had random thoughts on his head before being jogged back to reality. A tall, thin person with a dark blue complexion walked towards Feihren.

"Come, come in. It is rude to make an acquaintance of a friend of mine wait outside the house." Mark immediately greeted Feihren as he led both him and his daughter inside.

"Ah, it seems that my friend Zow had something so important to say that he didn't rely on using communication magic huh." Mark casually talked as they towards the living room of the mansion.

Mark inspected Feihren from head to toe and had a feeling that this man is not someone that was just a 'messenger' and is likely to be part of the message in and of himself. "You should return to your patrol duty now, you could leave both of us alone." Mark signaled for his daughter to return to the city gates and to leave Feihren and him alone.

"But, father! This man is a stranger, and I can't just easily trust that he won't do anything by just leaving him be, especially alone with you." Marie replied with quite a loud voice as he retorted at the request of her father.

"It's fine. You can trust me on this one. Besides, I don't think Zow would send someone to harm me, would he now?" Mark smiled as he once again asked his daughter to return to the gates.

Marie could not do anything but heed to her father's request. She intently stared at Feihren as if warning him not to do anything funny before leaving the place.

"I apologize for my daughter's behavior. She had been like that ever since her mother passed away. She is now way too overprotective of me." Mark laughed as he looked at the figure of his daughter going down the staircase.

"It's understandable." Feihren smiled towards this loving father and daughter relationship.

"Have a sit. I do think that the letter sent by my friend will be something of high importance that we shouldn't wait till morning to read. Can you please hand it over?" Mark had immediately asked Feihren for the letter, and he handed it over.

"He also wanted to give you this." Feihren also gave him the pouch that was also with the letter.

"Hmm, ah, this is just the payment for the bow he bought for me back then." Mark immediately confirmed as he slightly tossed the pouch within his hands.

'And here I thought that it was something really important...That old man...tsk tsk' Feihren shook his head as he thought all about the ideas of being the 'Chosen One' and now... he was literally made into a working mule. Feihren could only laugh at all this.

Seriousness was evident on the face of Mark as he read the letter.

"... I do apologize for not greeting you immediately... Your Majesty."

"Huh?" Feihren was dumbfounded by the sudden words that came out Marks' mouth.

'Now you made me curious on what is in that letter damn it...' Feihren could only sigh as he never took a peek at the letter is self as it was sealed. It even mentioned about him, could it be about him being the 'Chosen One' again? 'I just hope not...'

Rolling the letter back up, Mark had a hint of a joyous smile on his face as he continued.

"Aside from this errand, do you have something else that you wanted to handle within this city, Your Majesty?"

"I have heard that you are of the Ice Troll race and are a local of the Icy Tundra, which is the home of these tiger cubs right here."

"Ah, I was wondering what the story was with those two cute little things you are carrying around. They are Snow Tiger cubs if I'm not mistaken? If so, then you are right. They are indeed from the same place as our race resides, but that leads me to one question. How did you acquire those?" Mark inquired

"I saved them from poachers that were also abducting the spirit guardians of the elven tribe in the central woodlands. Zow said that you might know where or how I could leave these two snow cubs?" Feihren answered without a hint of a lie. There was no point, as it seems that his identity was exposed on that letter. It would be best to treat Mark as an ally and just ask for help.

"I do apologize. I have not returned to the icy tundra for years. Only one acquaintance of mine from there would come here every other year, which would be 9 months from now. If you can wait until that time, we could ask him to bring those tiger cubs back to the Icy Tundra with him. Unfortunately, it seems that by that time these two little ones won't be 'cubs' anymore... Although you could travel there yourself, it would take quite a while. I do not suggest for a king to go that far away from his own kingdom..." Mark earnestly answered Feihren as he thought of the possibilities that he might try.

Feihren nodded as he thought of the ways he could return the cubs. Waiting for nine months was definitely not plausible. Although traveling using the Titan Slate would definitely shorten the time, going to an unknown region without knowing if the parents of these cubs were still alive or not and just leaving them there would only leave a bitter taste in Feihren's mouth.

'Well I guess you will be staying with me for now' Feihren smile as he patted the heads of the sleeping snow tiger cubs. They were indeed a handful, literally, but for Feihren, they were not a burden, and it seems that both these cubs had already grown fond with him too.

"Would it be fine if I take care of them myself?" Feihren randomly asked.

"I couldn't see why not Your Majesty. They seem to like you anyway, seeing that they could comfortably sleep in your arms." Mark smiled as if he was expecting that choice from Feihren.

"Anyways, anything else Your Majesty? I do not think that you have come all the way to Sechua City just to ask about the tiger cubs and hand me a letter, right?" Mark continued as he inquired about Feihren's other business within the city.

"Ah, there is. In fact, there's a lot, but I could narrow them all down into a single question." Feihren continued.

"You're a businessman, right? Do you happen to know the location of the black market within this city?"