Uncle Laue and Aias left the Harahan beast shop after a few minutes of discussing the price of the beasts Laue had decided to buy. In the end uncle Laue bought twenty five out of the thirty three shown beasts and another four beasts for combat practice, this wasn’t a small deal it took a whole seven hundred and fifty gold to settle the exchange.
The beast they had bought weren’t of high quality but are rather pricy as their temper with humans isn’t as bad as other beasts making them perfect for beginners in beast mastery.
………
Uncle Laue decided to show Aias around the town as he thought Aias might enjoy the differences between the institute and a city like Canastota. Though the city was small and not especially luxurious it was still a completely different environment than the orphanages school like and homely sweetness where everyone was trying to learn and improve. Here the people instead focused on succeeding with what they already knew. Of course it wasn’t as if the people weren’t kind and sweet, all across the long streets there were smiles on peoples faces showing affection and care for eachother. But it was a different, not as close affection as the kids in the orphanage had for eachother and their caretakers but still a close kindness.
Aias had told uncle Laue during their travel to Canastota that he wanted to buy something that could help him in the future, and so Laue had decided to take him to different shops that could have something good for him.
They first visited a blacksmith who crafted well made smaller weapons and equipment. Such as knives, daggers, hooks and chains. All forged from bloodsteel or exoskeletons of beasts. It was fairly high quality stuff and even if Aias wanted to buy something he would have to use all his money and still only get something “cheap”.
Uncle Laue told him he was willing to pay the rest of the money if he wanted something special. Even though that would equate to around fifty silver. Aias wanted to accept it but he felt it wasn’t something he could do. At least not until he had seen what else the city had in store for him.
They continued on to a bookstore. In the bookstore there were tomb and parchments for sale ranging from books on gardening to scrolls concerning demon summoning. Aias interests were peaked, he couldn’t stop searching for different material on beasts, demons, and energy manipulation. He had never seen so many different books. And as someone whose highest joy came from envisioning himself fighting what he was reading about. This store was like coming to heaven before dying.
At the end he still wasn’t sure what to buy, he had found eight books and three scrolls that he found interesting. At the end their price would be ten silver, which he could buy on his own without loaning from uncle Laue. But he felt he still needed to see more of the city before deciding what to buy.
The last shop uncle Laue recommended they visit was a magic crystal boutique. In it there were plenty of different crystals that contained different special properties. Uncle Laue suggested he buy a training crystal for his energy location training that was to begin around a year from now. Some magic crystals can help boost your senses for energy. And as the crystals aren’t cheap the institute can’t buy a crystal for every child.
An energy training crystal would at least cost around fifty silver, that was similar to how much he would have to pay for a decent weapon, but it was far more worthwhile if you look at the results it could give you while training energy location. However in the end he started getting a bad feeling like buying this would only lead to misfortune so he decided that maybe it was better to buy the books.
……..
While walking back to the bookstore uncle Laue and Aias came across something strange in the streets. It was a fight between three men, two of the men were arguing with a very old man. The old man was constantly looking down on the ground beneath him as if he had dropped something.
“The master demands that you sell it to him if you don’t we will get it through other ways are we clear?!” one of the two men yelled at the old man while shaking him around as if holding onto a rag.
The old man suddenly stopped being shaken about and stood firm, “Ya’ little shits have nothing to trade with and i have nothing to trade to ya’ so how about ya’ stop trying to shake me down already, ya’ ain’t scary!” The old man's eyes had changed, they weren’t disorderly looking for something, they were heated with anger and madness. The old man gave of a feeling of being a feral beast ready to strike at any time.
“You crazy old coot! That was your last warning!” The two men screamed at the old man before beginning to attack him.
The old man was ready and evaded them, after that all Aias could see was illusions and every now and then a fist hitting a nearby wall or crashing into the pavement. This battle was at a far higher level than the duel between seniors he had seen a few days prior. He simply couldn’t keep up.
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Next to him stood uncle Laue looking at the fight as a spectator, fully aware of what was happening, he could tell every attack and every movement of all three parties.
Suddenly the old man was flung into a wall nearby. The other two men appeared immediately after, they on the other hand came out elegantly without a trace of damage on them or their clothes.
“Shouldn’t someone stop this” asked Aias in a concerted manner to Laue.
“Not at this stage no. The two of them are working for some noble and though they are roughing him up they haven’t done any harm to him, only inflicted some pain. Of course if they tried to kill him or steal whatever it is they are trying to get, then i would step in.” The confidence in Laues voice told Aias that uncle Laue was far stronger than the two men.
“You better reconsider before tomorrow, otherwise we will come back!” One of the two men screamed at the old man as they were leaving.
“Well let’s get going” uncle Laue was about to start going when he saw that Aias was beginning to approach the downed old man. “Wait what are you thinking this isn’t our business”, uncle Laue whispered to Aias before he got close enough for others to notice.
“The old man was hurt by a noble family so normal people can’t help him as it may be disrespectful to the nobility! However I’m a war orphan what i do can’t be mocked or persecuted in the same way!” Aias reasoned with uncle Laue.
It was true, in Antrim the honor of a fallen soldier in war is often placed higher than that of a noble, and a war orphan is considered the grave of a warrior's legacy by most regions laws. If one was to sneer at actions of kindness or righteousness by a war orphan then it would be the same as sneering at the grave of someone who died for the kingdom. The punishment for this wasn’t light even for nobility, prison sentences and shamings by other families and even by whole cities. Antrim is a country built on the spirit of warriors and making sure every warrior is able to fight for their country without worry for the lives of the ones they may leave behind.
Aias walked to the old man. Everyone who looked could see his clothes and recognised the institutes attire he was wearing, many felt relieved that someone would help the old man as they weren’t able to.
As Aias began helping the old man up, he saw into the eyes of the old man. It was truly like an inferno of madness and hatred, Aias wanted to look away but simply couldn’t, he felt the spirit of a warrior from the old man and knew he was in front of a man who had been through hell but then returned to yet another hell.
The old man at the same time looked into Aias clear kind eyes filled with hopes and lust for adventure, and just as the abyss will look back at you, so will the light. The old man looked away and started walking to an alley while holding onto Aias sleeve.
Aias saw in the last moment before the old man looked away a clearness in his eyes showing not madness but sadness like no other. He felt the old man was worth trusting and followed him to the alley.
Uncle Laue followed stealthily from a short distance just to make sure nothing happened.
“Child ya’ seem to be a kind soul so i will trade my locket for anything you have in your pocket”, the old man mumbled out while trying not to get into eye contact with Aias.
“Gladly” Aias gave the man all that was in his pockets, 14 silver, 8 copper, and a small steel dagger.
The old man put a small locket in Aias hand then started to walk away. “If you ever open it I’m sure you can find a good use for it”, those were the last words Aias heard before the old man disappeared into thin air.
Only after the old man disappeared did uncle Laue appear next to Aias again. “How odd, that man was far stronger than those two punks but he didn’t use any of his strength when fighting them. Even i wasn’t able to tell how he disappeared just now!”, uncle Laue explained with a look of perplexity on his face.
“That locket he gave you seems special, i believe it’s sealed using many different energies. I doubt you’ll be able to unseal it in a long time.” Uncle Laue looked at the locket in Aias hands with a sad smile. “How about i buy you those books we looked at earlier, you can’t go home without something to show off to your friends afterall!”
Aias didn’t objekt and let uncle Laue pamper him with books and scrolls.
The two had had a long day of both traveling and buying things so they decided to stay at an in during the night.
……….
Before the two were to travel back to the institute uncle Laue had an appointment he had to take care of. Aias was during this time asked to help ready the waggons. They were going to be transporting 29 beasts after all, it would take a caravan of 30 or so carriages to hold the beasts, food, and guardians needed along the road.
Aias was tasked with helping carry large sacks of vegetables for the beast food supply during the journey.
But as he was carrying the sacks into their respective carriages several men came up to him. “Kid are you the one the old man gave his locket to?” one of the men asked in a strong but respectful manner.
“Yes i bought a locket from an old man” Aias respond to the man's question.
“I see it’s good that you are honest. We are willing to buy that locket for a far higher price than what you bought it for.” The man smiled at Aias and began taking out several gold coins from his pouch.
But before he could give them to Aias, Aias responded with a firm “No thank you!” And continued with his work.
The many men couldn’t believe what they heard. In the man’s hands were twelve gold coins, that wasn’t a small sum of money. The only reason they were carrying it and giving it in such a nonchalant manner was to make the kid think they didn’t regard the locket with much meaning.
“Alright kid how about 20 gold?” but there was no response from Aias, “Fine, 40 gold?”, “Okay okay we will give you 1 platinum”. But there was no response from Aias, not even a shudder in his step as he was carrying the sacks of vegetables.
The men weren’t going to take this, the amount of money they had offered was far more than they made in a decade but even so the kid hadn’t given them his time of day. In truth though Aias heart was beating so hard it felt like he may collapse at any moment, he understood the amount of money at stake here but because of that he couldn’t take the offer. Whatever is in the locket was without doubt of a higher value.
“Kid i didn’t want it to come to this, you are a war orphan after all. But you will either give us the locket or be taken with it, so what will it be kid?” The man had put the gold back in his pouch and was now standing in a daunting manner, his veins were popping out of his skin giving him a fearsome look.
Aias eyes were darting around trying to find a way out of the situation, there weren’t many people around the carts as most of the preparations were finished and the ones there weren’t in a position where they would notice him before he “disappeared”, finally when he couldn’t find a better solution he did what he knew wasn’t a good idea.
Next to him was the carriage holding the Kjil serpent. Aias calmed his heart and as if taking a normal stroll on an average day he walked up to the cage holding the serpent, he casually unlocked the hatch to the large serpent and climbed into the hold of the beast. This took almost a minute but the men weren’t able to react to it at all. It was so normal, as if that was what Aias should have done all along.