“Hey,” Joe called out to Mustache but the man did nothing and actually began to shiver. Joe realized the man was actually quivering in fear and realized the man was having a bad time. Joe took a deep breath and stepped towards the man who began to shiver even more.
“Hey… Hey, hey, hey! I’m good. Relax,” Joe demanded firmly as he stepped forward and put his hand on the man’s shoulder and pulled him upwards, “Stand up. You have no need to fear me. I am not so small minded and weak that I would anger so easily. Stand, relax.”
Mustache resisted being pulled up but Joe firmly pulled him upwards, “Hey. Look at me,” Joe continued as he placed both hands on his shoulders when he did so. “We’re all good.”
Mustache stood firmly but still quivered while staring down at his feet. Joe stood there without moving and continued to stare at the man with a polite smile on his face. After a few moments, Mustache finally glanced up at him and froze when he noticed Joe’s smile and slowly seemed to relax.
Joe caught his eye and nodded before smiling brightly, “I gave advice out of true concern, not anger.”
Mustache breathed in deeply, sighing before nodding with a relieved smile. Joe offered his own before turning and leaving. Kilniara joined him at his side and the two passed through the gate without much fanfare. Joe looked down at the medallion, fingering it as he looked at it carefully. He almost tried to emit mana at or into the medallion but then decided that he probably shouldn’t do that in the middle of the street and slipped the medallion into his pouch before looking up.
When he did so, he felt his eyebrows rise a bit, surprise covered quickly as he looked around at bright large buildings fronted by wide clean roads. Buildings had quite a bit of effort put into their beautification and Joe was able to tell there were in a much wealthier area of the city. As he glanced around, he noticed Kilniara’s awed looks as she glanced around at everything, obviously enamored by it all.
The walked down the street decorated with much more greenery and soon found themselves at a beautiful park. Kilniara pulled him into the park and they wandered it for a while, enjoying their time together in meaningless small talk. After a bit of time, Joe grew restless and tried to engage several of the people in the park to ask where the library was but wasn’t able to get any response as most ignored him or even appeared disgusted by his attempts to converse with them.
After the fourth time, Joe grunted angrily and Kilniara slipped a hand into his arm before speaking timidly, “Joe! Joe. They… will not speak with us.”
Joe stopped, surprised, before glancing down at her before cautiously asking, “Why?”
“They see us similarly as the guards.”
“Oh. So, they think we are beneath them?”
Kilniara flinched at his description before looking up at him cautiously. Seeing his calm demeanor, she quickly nodded with more certainty, “Yes.”
“Huh. So how do we get anyone to answer us?”
Kilniara didn’t respond, simply staring at him with some worry and Joe realized she was a bit worried about his reaction. Joe smiled and reaffirmed her, “I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.”
Joe then looked around the area, taking in the various buildings bordering the park. Joe wasn’t certain what to do, but opted to simply ask a shop as they wouldn’t be able to walk away from him so easily. However, as he glanced around at the various shops, Joe caught sight of a tailor and decided it would probably be a good idea to get a better change of clothing. Already have a hard time getting anybody to listen to me in just the park!
Joe sighed and guided Kilniara towards the tailor. The door chimed as they entered and Joe took the time to glance around the room at the quality of the goods. While he did pretend to be mostly disinterested and unimpressed, he actually found the clothing beautiful and of incredible quality. Huh… I should probably bring Zilnek and Garnedell as well. It would be a good idea!
As the two continued wandering around the store, the shop owner finally took notice of them and had an identical reaction to those outside, and spoke to them with disgust written plainly on her face.
“I’m sorry, miss, sir. Could you please leave? There is nothing you could afford here.”
Joe looked at her and smiled, “I know our appearance is uncivilized but I am more than capable of purchasing from this store. In fact, I have need of several sets as well as sets for my apprentices and Kilniara.”
Kilniara jumped on his arm at his last comment and she glanced up at him with a smile but Joe focused on the shop keeper, pulling out a couple cores to show it to her before setting them down on the counter she was standing behind. The woman’s scowl did leave as she opened her mouth to begin again before she glanced down and realized she was looking at a couple cores sitting on her desk. Her scowl turned into a sneer before she looked back up at him.
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“Excellent. Now you can afford a sleeve of one of our shirts!” she growled back at him.
“Two cores for a sleeve? So about eight cores for a shirt? That seems a bit much.”
“Eight at the pile of shit tailors at the city gates. You’d need at least ten for an undershirt here!”
Joe sighed and rolled his eyes. “Then you have failed to give me the appropriate price,” Joe clenched his teeth as he replied still attempting to be polite but growing short on patience as he pulled out his pouch full of cores and dumping it on the counter, spilling hundreds of cores onto the counter.
“Then maybe this will be enough!” Joe ended with a bit of anger.
The woman opened her mouth again to reply to his first comment but when the cores began spilling across her table, her anger quickly shifted to politeness, surprise, then shock as she began trying to keep all the cores on the counter top not wanting them to spill on the floor. Her unpleasant attitude quickly shifted to an obsequies one as she began to bob her head in apology.
“I’m sorry, sir. I can see you are certainly a man of means. Please, take your cores and return them to your pouch. Please. I will assist you immediately.”
Joe smiled at that, nodding his head, “Certainly. I would like several sets of both excellent high event clothing, average daily clothing, relaxing wear, and any other clothing you believe is necessary such as under clothing or other such items. Anything you would suggest or advise, we would appreciate it.”
The woman quickly bowed again, grateful, as she replied, “Yes. Of course. I’ll be more than willing to assist you.”
“Great. We’ll start with Kilniara and me. I’ll bring my two apprentices at another time.”
“Certainly. Of course. I’ll do it immediately,” the shop worker bobbed her head in reply and immediately began directing them to take their measurements. The early morning passed quickly and Joe found his core pouch empty of two cores for everyone's clothing, even the two boys'. The woman was at least honest in the end. Joe ultimately didn't care about the price, more offended by her poor attitude and it barely put a dent into his core supply. They would need to return in a week’s time. Joe made an appointment for the following day to bring Zilnek and Garnedell once they’d gotten their measurements taken and chosen the various colors they preferred. Joe left the color choice up to Kilniara and the shop keeper but Kilniara enthusiastically chose her colors.
After a good half an hour spent at the tailors, Joe finally left the shop with Kilniara with directions to the library which the tailor happily gave them. As they left, Joe looked at Kilniara with a bit of confusion.
“Is that normal?”
Kilniara looked up, “We are… I am an outsider… no clanner and you are not wearing your colors or crest. She believes you are a commoner.”
Joe’s frown returned, “And the price?”
Kilniara frowned with him at that and shook her head, “It’s… a lot.”
Joe sighed, about to reply, but Kilniara continued, “But we… are not clanners and have no connections with any of clan Galgandar, so…”
Realization came quickly to Joe, although it didn’t reduce his anger, only dampening it slightly. After a bit, Joe finally was able to dismiss the affair and turned back to enjoying their day.
They enjoyed another circuit around the park since the library was on the other side. Their travel across the inner city proved leisurely and they sort of wandered lazily to the library. When they did make it to the library, Joe found himself lost and unable to find it for quite some time until he finally decided to enter all of the public locations in the area in search for the library since nobody in the area were willing to speak with them. After futilely entering the third shop and receiving no help, his patience rapidly wore out and he let his displeasure shine through.
“You know what, I think people need to learn about customer service. I want to know where the library is, nothing more. I need to know where the library is. Tell me that and I will leave.”
The shop worker had already opened their mouth but their anger quickly shifted to shock before driving firmly back into anger, “You… How… Get out!”
“No,” Joe spoke quietly but firmly.
The shop worker’s eyes narrowed and she turned away from him towards another worker, “Please get the guards.”
The shop worker looked towards Joe with a smirk and Joe smiled in return, “Thank you. Maybe I’ll actually get some help.”
The shop worker seemed a bit surprised at that and turned away, choosing to ignore him. Joe found his disregard pleasant and decided to return it, leaning up against the frame of the door leading out of the shop. Joe hadn’t intended anything by it but found nowhere else to relax. After a few minutes, the shop worker seemed to notice him standing near the door and became agitated, stalking up towards him.
“Get out! You are not wanted here.”
“Tell me where the library is.”
“This is not your place. Leave.”
“Where is the library?”
“Leave now!” the worker shouted, a hand coming up, pushing hard against his shoulder but bounced off of him, stumbling backwards. The man’s arrogant look quickly turned to horror and he took a step back before bowing quickly and quivering without moving.
Joe sighed and shook his head, “Relax. I’m quite upset by the lack of help people are willing to offer others here, but I will not do anything. I’m simply looking for the library. Please. Where is the library?”
The man replied quickly, but fear shook his voice, “The library is next door.”
Joe felt his anger spike as he realized it would have been so easy for the shop worker to explain but the anger quickly collapsed into exhaustion as he sighed, “Really? That’s all you had to say? Which side?”
The man took the first question rhetorically as it was meant to be and pointed to the right side of his door. Joe shook his head as his shoulders collapsed and he turned to leave.
“Come on, Kilniara. Let’s move on,” Joe waved Kilniara out in front of him before turning back to the shop keeper, “While you are not deserving of such, I offer my thanks for the help. Have a good day, sir.”
The man said nothing but Joe had no patience to spend on the man either so simply left and moved around to the other side where the library was. Joe had dismissed these smaller stores since they were all so small and libraries, in his mind, were rather large. The tiny shop that was the library caused significant mental dissonance as he walked in and found a small squarish room. The area for the customer was really just a small entry way with the entire shop seeming to be purely storage area accessed only by the librarian. Between the librarian and the visitor was an empty small counter only wide enough to separate the customer and librarian. The room was incredibly bare and gave the impression of abandonment. That impression was enhanced when the librarian at the counter looked up at him and boggled in shock, surprise at his presence obvious.
“Why are you here?”