Life Giver

Having left Rose to bath herself after their eventful morning, Casmir was sitting downstairs in the living room lost in thought, a joyful and somewhat disbelieving smile on his face as he aimlessly stared at the blank wall in front of him.

'I'm engaged...' Casmir thought to himself with a slight chuckle.

Naturally he had agreed to marry Rose, all that separated them from a traditional engaged couple was a ring, that Casmir promised to find, for Rose.

That being said, their engagement was perhaps less than traditional.

Rose asked Casmir to marry her not just because it was something she wanted but also because it represented an agreement between them and she wanted to add a special condition to said agreement.

Rose didn't want to unreservedly use Casmir's money in order to start cultivating because she thought it would harm their relationship, so she told Casmir she would marry up him on one special condition.

Casmir would keep track of all the money Rose spent on her cultivation and act as if he had lent it to her, Rose would regularly pay Casmir back over time until she didn't owe Casmir a thing.

Although it might sound rather unromantic and to others it might seem strange or even inappropriate, this was something Rose wanted and Casmir respected that. Casmir would never use this dept against Rose but Rose still felt that she was paying back Casmir for what he's done for her.

Perhaps as they grew closer, this entire arrangement would seem pointless to them and they would disregard it, but for now it was something Rose needed.

They also agreed to wait for a few months before they arranged a wedding ceremony, Casmir and Rose had only known each other for a short period after all and they wanted their relationship to grow deeper naturally.

However Casmir wanted Rose to start cultivating as soon as possible.

So they decided to write a temporary contract involving Rose's debt to Casmir, that they adapt into their marriage agreement when they were wed in the future.

Of course Casmir didn't have this money to hand, he still needed to talk to his mother, Gloria about that and then write this contract...

And then.. there was Elena.

'What should I tell her..?' Casmir thought.

"Casmir, what are you doing in here?" Elena suddenly spoke from the doorway.

Casmir almost jumped out of his skin as he heard her, he visibly shook before he turned to Elena with an awkward smile on his face.

Elena chuckled when she realised she had scared Casmir.

"Hahaha... how did that scare you..?" She said as she walked over and sat down next to Casmir.

"Does my big baby need a hug?" She laughed.

Casmir could only swallow his disgrace and shake his head ruefully as he thought 'Speak of the devil and she will appear...'

"I was just daydreaming, waiting for you to come downstairs." Casmir explained with a white lie

Elena leaned into Casmir hugging him, apparently having missed his touch.

"Good.. you must have missed me last night then.." She said in an attempt to tease him.

Casmir looked at her, knowing what she was doing.

"Is this what Rose has been telling you to do? If you try to tease me.. I might just bite.." Casmir said as he leaned over Elena, kissing her neck.

Elena's body lurched forward at his kiss signalling her d.e.s.i.r.e for more, but unfortunately now was not the time.

Elena pushed Casmir back.

"You're mine today, we're going to go into town to look around before 'you' take me to dinner.. somewhere nice." Elena demanded before she stood up.

Casmir didn't mind her suggestion in the slightest, he was rather worn out in terms of 'intimacy' and he just wanted to spend some time with Elena.

They soon prepared to leave, deciding to walk through Ellaris park on their way and enjoy the fresh air.

As they walked through the park they talked about various things, Elena reminded Casmir about her idea to rent a small apartment by Heldan Academy, for their own personal use. They had already agreed to do so and seeing as Elena would start at the academy the following week, Casmir agreed to find a good apartment for them.

Eventually Casmir opened up about his experience with Rose this morning, he carefully told Elena that he and Rose were engaged.

To Casmir pleasant surprise Elena didn't seem too bothered about this change, as it turned out Elena had already realised that he and Rose would get married so she accepted it far more quickly than Casmir expected.

But when Casmir slyly brought up the notion of him and Elena, she gave Casmir her opinion in a demanding voice that almost sounded like a warning.

"If you're going to ask me to marry you, it needs to be a traditional Floral race ceremony and I want you to propose to me in the most romantic setting you could ever think of!" Elena almost shouted.

Clearly she was holding Casmir and Rose's engagement against him, demanding preferential treatment.

Casmir didn't try to coax Elena now, he just let her continue to lean on his arm as they slowly walked through the lovely scenery of the park. He believed that was the best way to show his acknowledgement of her suggestion.

Eventually Casmir and Elena passed through Ellaris park making their way onto a main street towards one of the markets in Ellaris.

On their way they passed by an old, large building surrounded by a large grassy area and multiple smaller buildings of the same architectural design.

This group of buildings was covered with colourful flowers and striped banners that made it look welcoming, however many passing people grew downcast and even avoided looking at these buildings. It was as if there was an invisible area of suppression around it that people wanted to avoid, the only reason they walked past it at all was because they needed to enter the city centre.

It was quite odd that these old buildings with so much effort placed on their appearance, would create such an unpleasant atmosphere.

However there was a good reason for this, this group of buildings was the grounds for a school, specifically a school for young children of various Beast and Floral race's, named RedHollow School. It used to be the largest school of it's kind in Ellaris but after a decade of the Lifeless Plague, it became a symbol of their enduring crisis.

The local council and various do-gooders would regularly place flowers and banners on the buildings to keep spirits up, but they had little effect on the suppressive atmosphere.

RedHollow School was merely a hollow shell of what was, those few children still born during these times were sent to much smaller and well protected schools.

As Elena and Casmir passed by this group of buildings, they didn't fully appreciate it's meaning because of their inexperience but they still felt slightly cold inside.

Elena's hand tightened around Casmir's ever so slightly. Meanwhile Casmir's eyes burned the image of this simple old school into his mind, he swore to bring the laughter and cries of children back here.

Thankfully they soon passed the school and entered the market area, the lively shouting and bustling crowds was a sharp but welcome change to the atmosphere.

This market was set up in a large circular area, paved with stone surrounding a large fountain of water. The market stalls were simple wooden skeletal structures with thick tarps shading the merchants wares from wind and rain.

The stalls were tightly squeezed together and were organised almost like a maze.

Fortunately Casmir had been here many times, often with Elena, so they walked around quite naturally not confused by the odd lay out of the market.

"Are you looking for anything specific Elena?" Casmir asked.

Elena tugged Casmir's hand as she led him down a walkway of the market.

"I want to look at the seeds, they usually start selling some early spring seeds this time of year." Elena explained.

Casmir wasn't entirely sure why Elena wanted spring seeds in early winter, but he didn't ask her for fear of engaging in a conversation he could not break free of.

Soon enough, Casmir and Elena found themselves surrounded by stalls selling various plants and vegetables.

At the moment it was still early winter so although there were many varieties of plants being sold, it was far less than during the warmer months. Most merchants were simply selling off their excess stock from autumn or speciality items that were produced during the winter months.

Elena looked around with interest, occasionally buying a few small items. She wasn't interested in many of the food items but there were a good selection of winter flowers that she enjoyed growing at home.

While Elena was taking her time looking through the plant items, Casmir sat on a nearby bench looking around at some of the more odd items before an idea struck him.

His activated his Qi senses and used it to observe his surroundings.

Instantly he was struck by heavy Qi pulses from nearby cultivators, in such a large market with a variety of goods there were bound to be guards with higher level cultivations. Casmir couldn't be sure how high because his senses were not very attuned and he had only been practicing using his Qi senses for a week or so.

However the reason Casmir used his senses was not for the cultivators around him, but the items being sold. Many of the stalls around him sold items that had their own Qi pulses and although they were much weaker, they each had their own unique feel to them.

Casmir hadn't had the chance to observe many items that produced their own Qi pulses, so he was intrigued by them.

He stood up and walked around, while steadying his Qi senses against the overwhelming pulses of his senior cultivators.

He saw fruits and plants with Qi pulses, clearly they were sources of Qi energy with varying grades. Most of their Qi pulses were weak but contained an odd vitality, it felt like the sweet taste of a fresh fruit.

There were also Qi Crystals on display by some vendors, the pulses from these crystals felt oddly warm and the plants around them seemed to be more vibrant than others. These were Qi Crystals that were imbued with certain affinities that could aid plant growth among other things, farmers and herbalist's would use them to nourish certain plants.

There was even a small stall guarded by multiple burly men selling farming equipment like hoe's and watering equipment, all of which gave off strange feeling Qi pulses. Casmir learned from a nearby vendor that those tools were used by specialist cultivators to grow high quality plants and animals, apparently those crops were astronomically expensive but were still consumed by high level cultivators.

The whole market contained a variety of interesting things that Casmir had neglected attention in the past and Casmir only saw a small portion of them relating to the agriculture industry.

He wanted to walk around the whole market and examine the Qi pulses of various objects but his head started to pound from the constant bombardment of various Qi pulses, so he regretfully stopped.

Casmir walked back over to Elena, talking to her about her purchases.

Elena eventually left the agricultural area of the market, moving towards the clothing area. She had Casmir help her pick out a few nice outfits at this time, it was then that she noticed Casmir's boredom and thought about letting him go off to another part of the market.

She didn't immediately let him go however.

'He's still quite useful for judging the clothing I pick after all..' Elena thought to herself rather fiendishly.

A short while later, Elena eventually let him go.

"Casmir, you can go and have a look at the Odd Traders if you like, I don't need your help to pick any more items. Thanks for your help though.." Elena said as she walked up to him and gave him a kiss.

Just as she walked other to another clothing stall she remembered something.

"Why don't you look for some cultivation items? They have a variety of pills, books, crystals and that kind of stuff over there..." She suggested.

Casmir was interested in her suggestion, he usually just looked around at the most interesting and rare item's but shopping for some cultivation items sounded much better.