Bryson entered the magic store, only slightly perturbed. Looking around he could see a lot more commotion inside this store than the last time he visited. So this is what this place is like when it’s opened normally. He thought.

All the people milling around the store seemed to be on the wealthier side of things. Which made sense considering all the magically enchanted items would be rather expensive. Which makes the appearance of Lottie Frost, with her plain shirt and jeans, seem extremely out of place.

It also didn’t help that she was already making quite a bit of noise, enough to receive curious glances from passersby. More than that it seemed that Lottie Frost attracted the attention of the staff.

Emerging from a backroom a confused Edvard Bo looked at the strange little girl that had entered her shop.

“She’s with me.” Bryson quickly called out.

Looking over to Bryson, Edvard gave a firm nod of understanding, “Lord Coldwater! What a pleasure it is for you to be here!” He said as he walked up to greet him, giving a polite bow.

“Yes, I am looking to purchase a few things.” Bryson said.

“Of course, er, take your time to look around. Don’t mind the others.” Edvard said politely, before returning to the back room.

Bryson looked over to Lottie who was still running around, looking at everything that attracted her attention. Giving an annoyed sigh Bryson looked over toward Lila a hard look.

“Hold your horses.” Lila said grabbing her sister by the shoulders.

“Ah, but I want to look around!” Lottie complained.

“Yes, let’s look around together. Let’s not cause a commotion.” Lila said.

“Boo.” Lottie said, rolling her eyes, but she did indeed settle down a bit. The two began to browse the wares inside the store much more calmly. Pointing and discussing to one another of the various items they saw.

Bryson gave a small shake of his head as he finally had a moment of rest from dealing with those two. Okay… so now, what do I do? He wondered looking around. He had to get something, and it had to be related somewhat related to his magical studies.

A simple toy probably won’t cut it… hmm. Bryson thought as he wandered around the different aisles. He skipped past the place where he had bought his playing cards and tried his best to ignore the ongoing looks from other customers.

He already knew that being a Coldwater, anywhere he went would attract unwanted attention. Still, it didn’t make it any less annoying when he had to deal with the whispers and curious looks thrown his way.

Nico Reese was at least doing his job, standing near Bryson doing his best to look intimidating. Most people around them quickly looked and moved away from the two of them.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Reaching the literature section of the store he thought this would be a good place to find some sort of learning material. He quickly began to browse through the books.

‘Mastering Illusions’… already have that, ‘Identify Magic’… not much use to me, “Fireball”, bit basic. Love potions… no. Bryson thought as he skimmed through his options, before finally stopping at one book.

Dispel The Fireball: The Basics of Dispel. Bryson looked at the book. That seems pretty useful. He then looked around to the other books, compared to the other stacks of books this stack seemed relatively untouched.

I wonder why? He thought as he picked the book up and headed back to the front of the store. As he returned, he noticed that Lila and Lottie had already gotten their item. A massive stuffed owl twice the size of Bryson.

“I see you picked your item.” Bryson said unimpressed.

“Yep! Look at this.” Lottie said before pressing something on the stuffed toys back and it suddenly sprang to life dancing, “Isn’t it cool?” She beamed proudly.

Bryson gave the dancing owl that was currently bobbing its head a look of absolute disdain. That is so dumb. Bryson thought. Well, if it’s what she wants.

Walking up to the counter he placed his book onto it and then gestured at the still dancing owl, which was currently attracting more attention from the passerby. Lots of children were pointing at it and asking their parents to purchase one themselves.

Edvard walked up to the front of the counter and took a look at Bryson’s book.

“Well, you don’t see that everyday.” Edvard said whistling in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Bryson asked.

“Oh, it’s just that people rarely purchase this book.” Edvard said.

“Why is that?”

“People tend to gravitate to other books, like Fireball and works similar like that.”

“Ah.”

As Edvard began to check out the two items, Bryson looked up at the glass cabinet that had held a stuffed teddy bear from the last time he was here. The teddy bear was gone and this time it was replaced by a woodcracker.

The strange thing about this toy however was the magic that he had seen last time emitting from the stuffed toy was also being emitted from the woodcracker.

That was definitely strange, while Bryson isn’t able to tell the differences between types of magic, he can tell whenever something had the exact same type of magic as another. That woodcracker had the exact same type of magic as the bear before.

More than that, with his improved abilities he noticed specifically that something inside the woodcracker was emitting that magic. Furrowing his brows in confusion for a moment he quickly returned to a neutral face when Edvard looked back at him.

“Here you go.” He said passing Bryson his book and Nico helped Lottie carry the massive owl out.

Bryson gave a simple nod and turned to leave, handing the book to Lila to carry for him. Giving one last quick glance back toward the nutcracker.

As they left the store, Lila quietly asked Bryson, “What was that?”

“What?”

“You looked troubled.” Lila said.

“It’s… probably nothing, but…” Bryson trailed off. Behind him, Lottie was busy playing with the giant owl while Nico tried his best to keep her moving with the rest.

“But what?” Lila prodded.

“That toy in the display cabinet, there was something weird in it.” Bryson said.

“Weird how?”

“There’s some weird magical object in it. It looked a lot different from the usual magic.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Bryson paused for a moment and pondered before finally saying, “I’m sure it’s nothing.” Though Lila could see that it troubled him.

“You sure?” She prodded.

“Yes. It doesn’t involve me.” Bryson said, more adamantly this time, “Come on, I don’t want to stand around the street any longer. Hurry up!” He yelled back at Lottie and Nico.

Turning back to Lila Bryson said, “We’ll drop your sister on the way back.”

“Alright.” Lila said and let Bryson walk in front of her, she herself looked back at the store with a twinge of curiosity, before moving on.