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The new year began with celebrations galore.

Why wouldn’t the people celebrate?

A new year meant new opportunities, promises, and a chance to try something new.

Depending on where they lived, kids had another year of school headed for them, or maybe this was the year they were going to help out their parents.

[Did we forget anything..?] (Eva)

[Nah.] (Syrus)

[Everything that should be done, has been completed.] (Luna)

Anlesa hadn’t been enjoying the last few days of celebration, but she wasn't drowning in sadness either. They had already done a lot of that, and it was physically painful to keep being in that state, so they just kept working on the day of the year they used to enjoy so much.

They tried not to be too sad and depressed. Enough of that had been done and there was a lot of work that needed to be done. However, knowing there was at least a slim chance their parents were alive gave them the fire to at least try and be happy with each day. Because drowning in sadness was the last thing their parents would’ve wanted, and they knew that.

Sitting in their small room on their bed was a small gift–a box wrapped in cheap paper with an envelope glued to the side.

[Hopefully, this should be enough to improve the situation a little bit.] (Syrus)

[...yeah…] (Eva)

[I doubt it, but it might mean their current standards of living can last for a little bit longer.] Luna spoke about the situation logically, thinking about Elly’s bank account and behaviour

What they had in front of them was the first promised gift of money they would send to Elly and the children. Anna hadn’t managed to save a large amount, but she hoped these monetary gifts would increase in size with harder jobs and Eva’s potion-making

They could send their parcel on any cart headed for the city or town they wanted it delivered to, but that had its own risk. So instead, they were sending it through the Cancole mail cart.

Mail between countries was a little bit more difficult; after all, every country had their own method, but with Arisea Station and Cancole being so close, the Cancole mail service had an office in it.

Cancole’s mail service had its own very prominent issues. The fact that the mail was only transported thrice a month meant that, depending on the location, mail deliveries could be extremely slow. Which was why some people just used merchants to deliver mail.

The mail service cart's next time of leave was this afternoon. In some ways, it was a really bad day to send mail, as people were mostly celebrating, but for the last forty years since the mail service was created, it has always left Arisea Station on the first day of the year.

Syrus walked out of their room with the package in hand, and as she did, she noticed a familiar face in the open area that connected the four rented spaces of the house.

Standing there, examining the place, was Mrs Gabby, the owner of the building.

Mrs Gabby let out a surprised gasp. “You're up early.” She looked down on the cheaply wrapped gift. “Sending something to the family?”

They gave Gabby no information about their home life or family, but she loved making her guesses.

So, Syrus liked to return bullshit. “Yeah, just sending some gifts to some friends.”

Gabby clicked her tongue. “Okay, I just wanted to remind you, that you need to pay this month's rent or otherwise I will be replacing you with another tenant.”

[Heh, she can’t even get anyone to fill the two empty rooms and she expects to replace us.] (Syrus)

[Maybe she’ll try to convince her family members to rent the room to prove the point.] (Eva)

[Haha, that’s a good one, Eva.] (Syrus)

Syrus answered, “I’ve already paid rent for the month.”

Gabby nodded, “That you did.” She knew full well that they did, but she had the unrealistic hope that they had forgotten, which was too bad for her. Syrus also realised that was what she wanted.

[To punch or not to punch, that is the question.] (Syrus)

[Would… you actually?] (Eva)

[Nah, but I will continue to be annoying in other ways.] (Syrus)

[Good because it would be a criminal act to attack someone on their property.] (Luna)

Syrus joked, [Haha, and it wouldn’t be if we were outside.].

[Actually yes.] (Luna)

Luna knew a fair amount about the laws of the surrounding counties.

[That… is interesting.] (Syrus)

[That’s so wrong…] (Eva)

[Arisea Station doesn’t have too many laws in comparison to Cancole or especially the Nevald Kingdom, but the ones it does have cover most situations, though most major problems are dealt with by a department in the city.] (Luna)

Eva was shocked, [I didn’t expect Arisea Station to, ummm….] She didn’t know what to say, but from everything she had heard about Arisea Station before coming here and living here from a situation, she didn’t expect a law to be worded in such a way that it wasn’t a problem to attack someone.

[As with most things, the situation is a little more complex than my simple explanation. When issues do occur, they try to make sure that any situation is resolved correctly. If anything, they have an incentive to make sure any problem is resolved correctly, which satisfies the populace.] (Luna)

[I see… Can you walk me through the Arisea Station laws at some point.] (Eva)

[Of course, I can, Lilly.] (Luna)

While they were having the small talk inside their head, Gabby had been rambling about her amazing family and all the things they did over the last two days. To which she just received a wide collection of responses from Syrus–‘Yeah and Yep.’

Gabby looked at the broken clock on the wall. "Oh, look at the time, I have to get going now, so many important things I have to do.”

Syrus waved goodbye. “All good. Thank you for your absolutely wonderful hospitality. I’m sure it runs in the family. I can really only pray for your family’s future fortune.

Before turning away to leave, Gabby smiled. “Aww, thank you!” She did not realise Syrus was insulting her and her family.

[With an attitude like that, I'm surprised she hasn’t gone broke yet. No tenants stay around for long and the word has spread.] (Luna)

After they moved in, people warned Syrus about Gabby’s attitude.

Syrus shrugged, [Give it a few years and a bad financial move or two.]

Syrus also left the house after locking her room.

The city was a little quiet in some areas, but other people were out and about enjoying a morning drink. It really depended on how smashed they got the night before.

[I do think we should move, though.] (Syrus)

[...But this place was one of the only affordable options.] (Eva)

[That was before we started working.] (Syrus)

[Syrus is right; the likelihood of Gabby nosing through our room is high if she hasn’t already. For everything in the future, we need a place more secure.] (Luna)

[But it is something we can’t avoid with the rental properties and the inn rooms.] (Eva)

[Good to see you have been paying attention.] Luna replied happily.

Their delivery went smoothly and the package was ready to be sent along with the cart. The Cancole delivery service was more heavily guarded and most people only sent mail so the majority of people had no interest in attacking it. Not that many people attack carts and caravans anyway, especially in Cancole’s borders. Anna’s trip here happened to be one of the unlucky ones.

With that done, Syrus and Eva went to the guild to do more gathering quests. It was time to make some more money.