The Kalifa war was one of the most fearful and terrible wars that cost the lives of many. The war created a lot of pain and suffering. It was a conflict between the werewolves and the humans who were fighting for a land between the border of the werewolves and the humans.
The Kalifa town on the surface was a central hub for adventurers to buy and sell their special magical equipment, but underneath, the criminal underworld was a place where the upper-class nobles and merchants conducted illegal business like selling people and exotic animals.
The town developed a multicultural society, where the environment was divided into five main districts: Boras (North), Exortus (East), Occidens (West), Meridies (South) and Medius (Central).
On the eastern side of the town that was close to the human kingdom, 80% of the society was made up of humans, while the remaining percentages consisted of werewolves, lycanthropes, and the abandoned fairy tribes.
The western side that was close to the werewolves' kingdoms had 80% of the society being werewolves and lycanthropes with abandoned fairy tribes. To the north of the town, there were 60% Werewolves and 60% humans, and they lived in harmony.
They hated conflict and were always in a neutral state. They hated to go to war or have conflicts with other people. To the south, the vampires were 80% of the population while the werewolves were the remaining percentages and would live in terrible conditions.
The central district had everyone meet, and that was where the hub of the town was, together with the government officials. Leaders will reshuffle after every year, with leader-representees from each district coming to Medius to lead the entire town.
The werewolves wanted the land as they claimed it was part of their ancestral land, and said that humans stole it with the help of vampires, while the humans' stated that it was all in the past and that they have thr rights of the land now and without their political power they wouldn't have a huge hiub of adventuring business that benefit the town.
This then led to a war where both sides waged war to gain access and control over the entire town. It was called the fight of the kalif war. The conflict continued for 30 years until the human leader named Damik Odai of the Boras district, together with the help of his werewolf brethren that didn't want the war, stopped it by ending the conflict.
He then decided to change the governing system, where it was to be led by a council of prominent leaders of all the five districts and to be structured in a way for all the leaders and their people to be represented.
Years later after the war, refugees and orphans started to increase and the best way to accommodate refugees of all sides was to accommodate them within the town, which by Damik wanted to make Kalifa a neutral town that helps the refugees and orphans especially during the war and the town slowly grew into a small neutral city state where people could grow as a community, but as it was all sunshine and rainbows, underneath it was a dark world of people that struggled while a business of slavery was growing underneath.
One of the most thriving businesses was the trade of human beings, fairies, werewolves and vampires. The people that were helped were the orphanages that weren't supported by the government.
One such orphanage was called the Phoenix orphanage, which was led by the patron named George Ames Bates. A very corrupt and greedy business that used abandoned servants from prestigious families as caretakers. During one starry night, a woman lycanthrope left a child at the doorstep of the orphanage.
She left with the name of the child as Ava Shula. At age five, Ava was a jovial child who liked to play with the popular caretaker named Maria. But sometimes, she would feel sad when the kids in the orphanage were adopted by couples that seemed influential.
Her magical affinity wasn't seen as anything special as she had very little magic affinity even though she could create basic magic that people used to make, like creating water that she used to clean her clothes and that of her friend who enjoyed playing with her.
Her friend had a potential and high magical affinity. So Eva was sad but excited that she was eventually adopted. At age seven, Eva's friend was adopted by a middle-class farming family, but she then later found out that her friend was sold into slavery by a prominent family that used kids with high magic affinity. Most of the couples that adopted the kids used the kids as a way to pay off their debts and would sell the kids to clear them.
Angry, she followed her friend to an abandoned manor, where they conducted the sales. She is caught and attacked by a group of mercenaries, who want to kill her because she is a witness, but they are stopped by Maria, who sacrifices herself by protecting Ava from being killed. Due to this, Ava's Navitas Aura activated, and she killed half of the mercenaries that were protecting the slave traders until George brought a magical artifact that temporarily sealed the magic power.
Two years passed, and there was a crackdown on the orphanages that were conducting slavery. One of them was the Phoenix Orphanage, and Bates was in trouble. To protect himself, he fired the caretakers, taking some of them, who were on his side, plus protection from a mercenary group and the ones that were together with Maria were left to fend for themselves. He then moved to the human kingdoms and decided to sell Ava to one of the most powerful noble families, the Elises.
Christopher noted Ava's potential, as Ava was in shock and delusional. She was sad that Maria died and that her friend was sold into slavery. She felt like a failure and insignificant until she met Lydia.
Now, she is afraid for her life because she just found out she has one week to live. To help his friends, Aaron suggests that he will go to the new dungeon and give the Navitas Gemstone and that he will buy Ava's freedom for it.
"Lord Elis, if I obtained the Navitas Gemstone, will you free Ava?" Aaron asked adamantly
"Mhmm, while of course if you can manage to retrieve it in one week," Christopher replied with a smirk on his face.
Aaron then grabbed Ava by her hand and told Lydia to follow her. They both left Christopher's chambers with anger and frustration as Lydia asked Aaron what his plan was. Aaron then rushed outside with Lydia without saying a word to anyone. Then Hudson approached them and blocked their way, but Lydia and Ava gave a galring look at Hudson that made him tongue-tied.
He then avoided eye contact with Aaron as he went to the armor room to prepare to go to the goblin cave. Aaron and the two girls then gave their party badge that had the crimson logo to the manager of the house, and they both left, leaving people flabbergasted by their action.
Aaron then headed outside, holding Ava's hand as they headed to an inn to prepare for their meeting tomorrow. Aaron has a serious look as Ava feels uncomfortable and is comforted as Lydia also holds her other hand while giving her a look of reassurance that everything will be okay. Lydia then asked Aaron what to do next.
"Are you sure about obtaining the Navitas Gemstones to help Eva?" Lydia asked urgently
"Our only hope now is Asani, and we have no choice but to complete this task, or Ava might die," Aaron stated eagerly.
Meanwhile, Mabel goes home, which is also a small clinic for the villages and other people within his home that need the care. Mr Brown was busy sorting out the medicines that he received and was arranging them in order at his shop, and while he was busy sorting them out, Mabel comes rushing in without saying a word to her father, which raises alarm bells. He knew something was wrong, so he had to stop and talk to his daughter to understand what was going on.
Mabel then explained what was happening between her and Mr Abedi and how he is down on his luck trying to pay his debt. She also stated that she was going back to adventuring, which shocked Felix, but he decided not to stop her.
"Dad, I'm going back to adventuring. I will be meeting my friends at an inn and will be back within a week, don't try..." Mabel stated vehemently but got interrupted.
"I..I understand, and I hope you come back safe," Felix replied calmly.
"W... wait... what? You're not angry with me," Mabel answered, shocked and with a surprised face.
"It's okay, my baby girl. I can never say no to that fierce look on your face. Plus, it reminded me of your mother," Felix answered while hugging his child.
Felix then gave some herbal medicines and some healing potions to Mabel as she left with her bag and went to the inn where Aaron, Lydia and Ava were.