There had never been an incident where a regular human was able to resist the ward around town.

But this woman… she didn’t appear to be a witch. She was completely alone with no familiar to be seen. A witch wouldn’t ever go anywhere without their familiar. But the biggest give away was her hair color. It was jet black without even a tint of any other color. All witches, no matter the strength, usually had a least a little splash of color in their hair.

Though she was walking around as if it was her first time ever seeing magic.

We were taught to always be observant of any strange people in town. Whether it be regular humans or Dream demons, there was a lot that could threaten our peaceful town. If the secret of our magic got out into the world, there’s no telling what kind of issues would result for us. It was even risky to allow non-monster tourists in here, but the ward has never failed us before.

And the way she was acting, surely if she was a monster, then she wouldn’t be surprised by the sight of magic and familiars. Something was definitely up with this woman. Only no one else seemed to be paying attention to her. The most anyone else would do is give her an odd look.

So I took matters into my own hands and cautiously approached her.

She was across the courtyard from me, so it was quite a distance I had to make up. Dog was following just behind me, moving his little legs as quick as he could to keep up with me. And as I got closer, I was more easily able to make out what she looked like.

First off, she was much taller than I was expecting, taller than most people that walked by her. Definitely the tallest woman I had ever seen in town. Then I noticed how pale her skin was. Like she had never stepped foot outside in her life.

The clothes she was wearing were also notable. Usually when people visit our town, they tend to wear clothes that are comfortable to walk long distances in. But she was wearing an over-sized black hoodie and tight black jeans. Clothes that would be too hot to wear this time of year.

And once I was close enough, I was able to make out her face.

Her eyes were large, and the color of them was so vivid that I was able to tell that they were dark blue from almost ten feet away. They were a bit mesmerizing. The rest of her face had sharp features that looked almost too perfect to have been all on one person. She really was quite stunning.

Which is where I had messed up. Because next thing I knew, I was standing right in front of her.

She was looking down at me with a small smile, politely waiting for me to say something, while I was standing completely silent like an idiot. It was another situation where I hadn’t made any plans on what I was going to say when I actually got to the point of speaking.

“Hi!” she broke the silence with her soft and soothing voice.

It was the kind of voice that could take you off your guard if you weren’t careful enough. And I definitely wasn’t careful enough. I was now completely flustered and trying to find a good excuse as to why I came up and stared at her like a weirdo “Oh uh, hi… sorry for coming up to you and staring like that… but I was curious about you.”

“Curious? About me? That’s so exciting! No one has ever been curious about me before! What would you like to know?”

Her personality was a lot more bubbly than I was expecting. I was prepared for her to be a bit stuck up and talk down to me. But her bright smile and wide eyes shown down on me like a spotlight. She was looking at me as if she were a lost dog that just made a new friend.

But I couldn’t let myself become distracted. I needed to pry “It’s just, I’ve never seen you around here before. Is this your first time in town?”

She quickly nodded her head up and down “I’ve heard about this place ever since I was little and I’ve always wanted to visit! It’s so much cuter than I ever could have imagined!”

That didn’t give me much “What kind of things did you hear about this place?”

“Well about all the different types of magic of course! Being able to see it in person makes me so happy! There’s nothing like it from where I live!”

My intuition had been correct. This person had been able to see the magic and even had prior knowledge about my town. But she still didn’t look to be human. A regular human would have no way of knowing about this place.

Based on her appearance, I had initially wondered if she could possibly be a vampire. They would sometimes visit my town and aren’t affected by the ward. But she didn’t really act like one. It didn’t even look like the sun and heat bothered her at all. She actually appeared to be basking in it.

This was also when Dog finally caught up to us “Yeah, the magic is pretty cool… where are you from anyways?” I asked her, but all her attention was now turned to Dog.

Dog sat against my foot and looked up to the woman. That was when the conversation between us paused. The two were silently staring at each other and the silence made me feel a bit awkward. It was almost as if the two were having a conversation. Which was a preposterous thought of course. No one is able to talk to my familiar, not even me.

“Um excuse me?” I said to her with the hope I could get the conversation back on track.

Which ended the staring contest between the two “I’m so sorry! I just thought your dog was so cute that I got distracted! What’s his name?”

“I’m not sure, he’s never been able to tell me. So I’ve been calling him Dog.”

She looked down at Dog and gave a frown with a small hum. After which she looked back to me and put on a smile “What a cute name! But what were you saying before? Oh yeah! You were asking where I was from? I’m from a pretty small town that’s far from here. You’ve probably never even heard of it!”

Her vague answer didn’t help to convince me “So then, what are you doing here?”

A little light appeared in her eye “I wanted to come her because I heard it was a place that had magic and cute familiars and I thought that was so neat! I just felt that I had to see it!”

There was something very strange, but alluring about this woman. I didn’t know if it was her looks or her bright personality, but I found myself being drawn to her. It got me to be very interested in learning more about her “I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Naomi! What about yours? Oh let me guess, Witch?” she seemed awfully proud with herself after making that joke.

It’s enough to make me sigh, but I still had to press her more for information “It’s Evelyn… so Naomi, where are you staying at?”

“That’s also a cute name! And I have no idea where I’m going to stay! I thought I would figure that out once I got here.”

She sounded so relaxed for someone who had no plans. I didn’t know how she did it. Especially since I was always the type of person who liked to know exactly what I was getting into. I’m not sure if I admired her braveness, or felt sympathy for her carelessness.

But either way, I decided to help her “Well I could show you to where our hotel is. There usually isn’t too many people that stay there, so it’s pretty cheap.”

She had a nervous giggle “Actually, I can’t do that… I don’t have any money.”

I was stunned. I looked down at Dog, then back at her “You didn’t bring any money with you? But how did you plan on doing anything here? How did you plan to eat?”

She shrugged her shoulders “Don’t know. I just planned on finding a place to camp in the woods then trying to catch fish in the lake for food.”

This woman seemed so aloof. How could she come to a place she’s never been to before without a plan? There wasn’t even a single bit of worry behind her eyes. I was honestly baffled by how relaxed she was about everything.

And I became concerned for her. Would it be crazy for me to help a complete stranger like this? She didn’t seam dangerous, only completely oblivious to everything. If I were to leave her alone here and go back to my apartment, I would have been worried about her for the rest of the night. I felt really conflicted on what to do.

Then, I felt a little paw on my foot. When I looked down at dog, he was giving me a look like he knew exactly what I was thinking. And even though I couldn’t communicate with him, I could sense that he was telling me to help this person.

So against my better judgment, I listened to that sense “I can’t let you do that… how about you stay at my place tonight… it’s a little cramped, but it would be better than sleeping outside.”

Her mouth opened wide with a smile and her eyes got big “No way, really? You’re like the nicest person ever!”

Next thing I knew, there was a complete stranger in my apartment.