Chapter 181: The Old Mage and the Cat
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Very quickly, they reached the town that was closest from here ----- the town of Hank.
They came to an inn to stay for a while. They planned to do some preparations here. Some of them went to buy daily supplies, some of them went to mingle around and listen to rumors. Some of them expressed that they did not need to worry about being caught by the Church anymore after leaving Helius, so they wanted to rest properly and have a good night’s sleep at this inn.
To this, Benjamin was relieved.
They can be regarded as finally having escaped from the kingdom of Helius, right now, they were at a small town at the border of Icor, even if the bishop of the gate were to be really angry at them, they could not pursue to this point.
Because of this, when entering Hank, they did not act timidly like before anymore, but walked in the small town with confidence. Under the eyes of other people, they did not need to hide their identity as mages anymore, and could freely have discussions out in the open. That kind of feeling was like having a load taken off one’s shoulders, and they could finally breathe fresh air.
They did not worry about the queen hearing of them ----- they were in Icor, and it was hard for the whole gang to hide themselves, as long as the Queen wanted to, she could find them. Thus, they just relaxed themselves and did not care about what other people thought.
The citizens of Hank were not really surprised from the way they acted either.
Those that passed by, passed by, those that had to go out, still went out, there were even people who came forward to ask: "Mages, our shop has just been restocked with magic beast materials, care to have a look?"
Even though they did not know what the usage of magic beast materials were for, but seeing the way they treated mages normally made the mages feel good.
At the same time, Benjamin saw a shop that was opened just for mages.
"Mor’s Magic Store", this was the name of the store, just by hearing it, it gave off the impression to be a cafe with a fantasy theme. But his curiosity towards the magic outside the kingdom was great, after putting down his luggage, not even taking a moment to rest, he came back to this shop and walked in.
It was different from the mysterious and dark place Benjamin expected, the shop was not much different from the others. The aisles were clean, and the area was well-lit, it looked more like a grocery store, but this place sold weird plants and severed beast parts.
As Benjamin looked around, what he saw were colorful flowers and herbs, animal skins that skill had blood, claws from an unknown creature, weirdly shaped bones and skulls, and some of them even still had eyeballs in their sockets. It gave Benjamin goosebumps.
Do the mages outside of the kingdom just toy around with these items?
"Hello sir mage, is there anything you would like to order?" Very quickly, a worker who looked young came to ask Benjamin passionately.
"Uh..." Benjamin thought for a while, then opened his mouth, "I’d like to ask, other than all these materials, do you have other things for sale? It would be great if you had books related to magic."
His purpose of coming here was not to buy strange magical beast materials, he would not know how to use them -----at this moment, what was most important was for him to make sure of the situation of the mages in this land.
Hearing this, the worker showed a surprised expression and said: "For this, you have to ask our boss, only a mage would have these. Out of the few mages in this town, only our boss is in town today."
"Where is your boss? Could you bring me to see him? "Benjamin asked immediately.
The worker’s expression looked weird, but after a while of hesitation, he nodded his head and led Benjamin towards the back door of the shop.
Very quickly, they came to the backdoor entrance. The worker stopped, knocked the door timidly, and with a soft voice he said: "Boss, a mage wants to see you."
After some silence, there came a voice from a throat full of phlegm and age that said: "Let him in."
Benjamin was caught off guard by this voice. This voice sounded a lot like those evil and mysterious witches in movies who would perform experiments on live humans.
Plus, from the way the worker behaved, he seemed to be scared of this mage.
Who knew how this mage was.
Thinking of this, he pushed the door to walk in. But after walking in, he made a shocking discovery. The world behind the door and what his brain expected was very much different.
It was a rather large room, the furniture was messily arranged. Bed, table, cage, cradle…..and all sorts of small items, more than the eye could see, but there was nothing one could find that was related to magic at all. With a glance, it would not make anyone think that this room belonged to a mage.
What was most important was ------ all the furniture was pink.
Pink table, pink wardrobe, and pink bed sheets with flowers, Benjamin thought he walked into the world of a magical girl after entering the room. What made it most unacceptable was that the owner of this room was an old man wearing pyjamas, squatting at the corner.
When Benjamin walked into the room, this old man was holding a staff with fur on it. He has a face full of smiles like a mentally challenged person, and slowly swaying a pink cradle with a fat cat with yellow and white stripes.
No matter to whom, this scene was full of surprise.
"This…..senior, first time meeting you, hello."
Benjamin was flustered, it was like before he transmigrated here, his boss saying "Balala Energy" that sort of dreamscape becoming reality, it had that sort of impact on him, making his stomach churn. But he managed to resist these complicated feelings, and opened his mouth to say this.
Hearing this, the smile on the old man vanished, he turned around, looked at Benjamin angrily, and said: "Foolish brat, if you have anything to say, say it, don’t disturb my precious Mona Lisa."
When he turned back to the cat rolling around in the cradle, his angry expression vanished immediately, his smile created wrinkles that made him look like a chrysanthemum flower.
"..."
Benjamin could start to feel his blood pressure rise and his veins pop.
"To this scene, don’t you have anything to say at all?" He could not help but ask the System in his heart.
"What’s wrong?" The System sounded rather calm," After experiencing Grant’s homosexual act at the ball, I’ve become blind, how can something so minor like this make me lose my cool?"
"....You win."
After experiencing the urge to talk to the System, Benjamin took a deep breath, and started to feel that everything in front of him was not as hard to accept as he thought. Thus, he recollected his thoughts on what to say, opened his mouth, said quietly:
"I’d like to ask, do you have any books on magic that I could buy?"
Hearing this, the old man turned around with a face angrier than before: "Lad, go back and tell your boss from the mage’s guild, don’t try to cheat away my secrets. If he really wants it, he must trade it with the "Water of Origin", if not, don’t stay here and waste my time."
Benjamin was confused.
....What is going on?
"I’m not from the mage’s guild." After some thought, he lowered his voice and said: "Actually, if you could tell me what the mage’s guild is, I will turn around and leave immediately, I won’t waste anymore of your time."
"Wait..." The old man’s expression changed to become strange, "You don’t know anything about the mage’s guild? Are you trying to lie to a three year old?"
Benjamin shrugged and said: "Why would I lie to you? I just escaped from Helius, I have zero knowledge about how the magic on the outside world is like. In my kingdom, I have never heard of anything called the mage’s guild."
At this moment, the old man’s expression changed yet again.
He finally turned his attention from the cat in the cradle towards Benjamin, circled him, looking left and right, time to time with his mouth making "tsk tsk tsk" sounds, as if he was looking at a panda exhibition in the zoo.
But for Benjamin, being examined as an "animal" did not feel that good to him.
"Is there anything to be so taken aback by?" He sighed and said this helplessly.
"Wouldn’t it be strange? A mage escaping from the holy dogshit kingdom, how many years have I not seen one already." The old man said this, suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, then continued on, "But, it seems that there has been some incident at the gate recently, you might have escaped using that opportunity."
I am sorry, that incident was caused by me...
Benjamin wanted to say this, but it would sound too arrogant, and the opposition would not believe it totally. So, at last, he only nodded helplessly.
"A mage that escaped from the holy dogshit kingdom..." Seeing this, the old man’s tone was even more surprised than before, and even with some joy, "So, you’re an adventurer mage?"