“Please get me this.” Alice said, pointing at a wooden staff.
The staff was just over a meter long. It was made of a darker wood and had a crescent moon carved as its head.
“Why that one?” I asked her. “There are three other staves there and all of them have more decorations.”
“I just think it should be this.” Alice said as she picked it up.
Why that one? It just seems basic. Not that basic is bad, but I thought that she would go for one with more decorations or gems on it. The other three staves had magic stones, or something like that in them. One of them even had six of them. So why this one? I guess price wise this is cheaper, but I just don’t understand why she wants that one when she was going to have me pay for it.
“...sure, we can ask the owner about the price when he comes back.” I told Alice. “I just don’t understand why you chose that one.”
“It just feels correct.” She answered.
Is it something to do with her attribute? Or her skill in magic? Or is the wood just higher quality? So many questions.
“Sir Brian.” I heard Lawrence call for me. “I got your money.”
“Thank you.” I responded and took Alice with me to the counter.
“Here you go. Please confirm it.” He said as he placed a bag on the counter.
“Actually,” I interrupted. “Alice is interested in that staff. How much would that cost?” I asked him.
“A staff? Which one?” He looked at the staff Alice was holding. He opened his eyes a little wider when he saw the one Alice picked. “Miss, are you sure you want that one?” He asked Alice.
“Yes.” Alice responded. “It felt the best for me.”
“... I see. That staff is carved from a treant branch. I’m surprised you like it.” Lawrence said to Alice. “I’ve heard that they are more difficult to use and require higher levels of mana control. But they also improve over time as they are used, so some mages swear by them.”
I guess Alice would have higher skills than most beginner mages after all her training, so a difficult to master staff that will grow with her might be for the best.
“So, how much is it?” I asked Lawrence.
“I can let it go for 30 gold.” He answered.
Thirty? That sounds low. Is he trying to give me a super good deal again?
“Are you sure it's thirty?” I confirmed. “You are not trying to give me another super good deal, are you?”
“Deal?” Alice asked next to me. “No. We will pay the full price. I can’t have the Watchman name ruined.”
Does she even care about it? I’m surprised that she does.
“...I’ve never heard of someone haggling like that. Fine. Forty gold. That’s it. I won’t take more for it.” Lawrence gave up.
“Pleasure doing business with you.” I said to him. I opened the bag of coins he put out on the table and took out ten gold coins. Then I placed the magic fanny pack onto the table.
After a second of awkward silence, I asked him. “Will you take out the flask or not?”
“Oh, right.” He realized that he was frozen. Then he pulled out the box he showed me last time. “Here it is.” He handed the box over.
I slid the cover of the box to the side and confirmed that the flask was inside. And it was, so we are good to go. Then I took the ten gold coins and shoved it all inside my fanny pack.
“Thank you.” I said to Lawrence.
“Thank you.” Alice repeated after me.
“I think I should be thanking you. This is the biggest sale I’ve made in a while.” He told us.
“But we are the ones walking out of here with the coins.” I joked.
“I’ll make that money back when I sell this.” He said, padding the magic fanny pack.
“Good luck.” I said to him as I took Alice’s arm. “Let’s go.”
“Yes. Goodbye.” Alice said to Lawrence as we left.
I noticed something strange as I placed the magic flask that I just bought inside my fanny pack. The strange thing is, it actually went inside just fine. The one I made in the dungeon didn’t, so I just kept it in my pocket, but the new one went in just fine. I wonder why.
(It is because the flask you bought is empty and stored inside a box. The box prevents the interference that would normally come from stacking spatial distortions.) Laura told me. The rightful source is NoveI[F]ire.net
(So I can place an empty magic bag inside a magic bag if there is something in between?) I confirmed.
(Something that is made to reduce spatial interference.) Laura specified.
(I guess I should at some point search for something like that then.) I told Laura.
(Why? You don’t actually need it. Master is not a merchant and even most merchants wouldn’t have many items like that. They are seen as unnecessary, unless you deal in magic items that require them.) Laura told me.
(I guess.) I admitted. (And I do have this one now.)
“So, where are we going next?” Alice asked.
“What part of the ‘I have no plan’ did you forget?” I countered.
“All of it.” Alice joked.
“Well, we can go wherever we want.” I told her until I looked to the west. “At least until the rain starts.”
“Will we have to call off our date?” Alice asked.
“We are already on a date, aren’t we? Can we call off something that is already going on? It would be more like cutting it short.” I told her. “And I think those clouds won’t be here until the afternoon, so we still have time.”
“Can’t you do something about them?” She asked.
“Are you asking me to change the weather just so we can extend our date, where we already have no plans. I think it’s better not to mess with natural things too much. Not that I know if I could even do anything about the rainclouds.” I told her.
I have some monsters that might be able to do something, but honestly I don’t want to try. Blue-Eyes might be able to make a hole in the clouds and I guess I have a monster called Weather Report as well, but Weather Report’s effect has nothing to do with the weather. He actually counters different kinds of binding spells.
“Then we have to hurry. We don’t have the time to just stand around.” Alice said as she pulled me along.
“Well there's always tomorrow. And the day after that.” I told her.
“But Father will be home soon and after that I can’t do things anymore.” Alice argued.
“Then you’ll just have to show to your father that going outside is good for you. You just got a nice staff that you wouldn’t have had without this date, so that’s already an improvement to your magic abilities.” I told her. “By the way, why didn’t you have one already?”
“Father said he would get me one when I casted my first spell. But then everything went crazy, so I guess he just hasn’t yet.” Alice told me. “Staves are usually fitted with a magic stone with the same attribute as the user.”
I guess the other staves had magic stones already. And if I had to guess, dark magic stones are rare. Everything dark magic seems to be. But what even are magic stones?
(Magic stones are refined from monster cores with magic. They take on the attribute of the magic they are refined with, but they favor the attribute of the monster they were originally in.) Laura told me. (And like any magic, they don’t like their opposite element.)
(So I can’t turn a monster core from an earth monster into a wind magic stone?) I confirmed.
(Exactly. But Master’s stones would be without an element in the first place. Stones like that are good for beginner staves, but often are replaced with elemental ones later.) Laura told me.
I guess a neutral one would be nice when you are still learning. Makes me wonder why Alice didn’t have one like that.
“Alice, why did you not have a practice staff while you were studying?” I asked her.
“I did have one.” She told me. “But then it broke. Teacher said it could no longer take the amount of mana I used when I attempted casting spells.”
“So it was flimsy. Please be careful with that one. I don’t want to see it blown to pieces.” I told her.
“Sure. I’ll be careful.” She told me.
I just don’t want her to break it immediately. I just got it for her. Actually, analyzing it wouldn’t be a bad idea. That way, I could recreate it with the dungeon if it does break. And perhaps I could even make an improved version eventually.
With those thoughts, we continued our date.