I wake to the sound of the first bell, rising slowly in bed. I rub my eyes. Looks like I have another day. Probably. I sit groggily as Emily and Helen do my hair. I get the impression Helen wanted to try something new with it, because Emily keeps oohing and ahhing as they work.
I still need to make my shopping checklist. As I doze a little, I try to at least put together what I need to buy today. Three pairs of underwear for my regular life here. For combat preparations... bandages. I'm definitely going to need more bandages. I want some more mollite, but getting a bar of nuvrite seems more important. The coins work, but I want something larger that I can convert mana with more easily.
And I should get more iron. If I have the time, maybe I can get it forged into smaller pieces that I can use as projectiles, like I did before. That seems to be my only method of attack at the moment. I'm sure I can find some use for lightning, it's supposed to be really dangerous. I'll test it more today and try to come up with something...
Still half asleep, I fumble around with the numbers, adding them up to see how much I'll need. Two hundred ten barr for the underwear. Mollite and nuvrite are cheap, one hundred twenty barr. But iron is expensive. Five hundred barr. Totals to eight hundred thirty. I'll have two coppers and three nuvrites left. Not enough for bandages, since I need to keep the coppers for lightning testing...
"Hello..." Emily is shaking me, isn't she?
"Sorry, just sort of dozing," I say. I yawn, stretching and shaking myself to wake up.
"Well, what do you think of your hair now?" Helen jumps in all of a sudden.
"Uhhh..." I drone out the sound. I have no idea, I can't see it. Why does she always ask? I try touching it again, and it feels like they did... three ponytails this time? Instead of one, there are two ponytails a little higher, just to the side of the low one in the middle, where those braids are tied together. "It's... nice?" I can't really imagine what it must look like with so much going on.
"Mmm, I agree," she shrugs and nods slowly. "This one... is probably no good. I'll have to try modifying it later and see if I can come up with something better." Wait, I said it was nice, right? I look to Emily, confused, but she just giggles. The other girls have already left. Helen waves as she heads out the door as well.
Once we're alone, I have Emily show me her claw wounds again to make sure they are still healing correctly. They still look fine, healing bit by bit like normal because she's still bandaged with normal bandages using lele fruit. I take a little more of the earth mana, tomorrow should be the day I finish it. "How are you feeling now?" I ask. "Are you able to think about the attack?"
"Y-yeah... Emily shudders a little, hands going up to her shoulders. The gesture looks protective, seems like it's become a habit. I'm not sure if it's good or bad but... it is what it is I guess. "I think I'm still fine." Her eyes are a little wet and glassy, but she gives me a determined look anyway.
"Good," I smile at her. "You're really strong, Emily." Then I give her a small hug before we head downstairs for breakfast. While we eat, I go over my shopping list with Emily so she knows where we'll be going today. She agrees. We finish up quickly and head back upstairs. While I'm gathering the materials I'll need today, I look down at my clothes. I've been wearing this set for a few days now, climbing trees and hunting in the forest. I'm used to it, so I have to remind myself that they're pretty dirty already. I have to go back to the refinery to buy those metal bars, so I have to make myself as presentable as possible.
Thinking that, I pull off my clothes, and start to put on my other set, but stop short. Even my hands are all dirty. Actually, the floor in here is dirty too. Everything here is dirty. The best I can do is try wiping as much of the grime off of my hands as I can on my old clothes. Then I carefully pull out my other set of clothing, trying not to smudge the leftover dirt on my hands all over them. Sure enough, just from sitting on the dirty floor under my bed, they're kind of dirty looking too. Even though I haven't worn them at all yet. I sigh at the clothes. This is going to be really tough, isn't it?
Since there's nothing else I can do, I slip the shirt on and wipe my hands again, just in case, before pulling on my skirt. I carefully tie it, trying to straighten it as best I can, so the bunches and folds are at least a little less random and ugly looking.
I'm totally going to get kicked out of the shop this time, aren't I...? With a looming sense of dread, I finish collecting my things and we set off.
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Our first stop is the clothing store, since it's not that far away from the orphanage. We need to go past the northwest district, using the road all the way up along the north wall, but the shop isn't that far south, so it's not that bad. I pick up three new pairs of underwear without trouble, tying them all up in one of the bundles of bandages I brought with me. I have quite a few today, since I'll be buying a number of things and I don't want to lose any of them.
We try to be quick, getting the underwear and immediately turning to the east. The third bell rings shortly after we leave the clothing store. We go back the way we came, passing the orphanage once more, then cut through the northeast district the same way as last time, heading toward the refinery.
We move as fast as we can, both breathing pretty heavily as we almost jog. Going back and forth across the whole city is really difficult! We make really good time, but even so, the fourth bell is probably going to ring soon. At least we manage to make it to the refinery first. We stop for a bit to catch our breath, standing on a side street, some distance away from the refinery and its higher class customers. That's when the fourth bell finally rings. Once we've recovered, we nod to each other nervously, and approach the Ebock company refinery.
Like last time, Emily waits outside. I hand her my basket, only taking the money I need with me. Then I slip in, staying low and moving quickly to keep out of the way of the merchants and businessmen that stand inside the shop. I search frantically for the same shopkeeper as last time, but I'm not in luck today, I don't see him anywhere. I'll need to try another. I'm totally getting kicked out on sight...
With that worry refusing to leave my mind, I carefully choose one, a young woman who... looks nice... maybe. She has clean brown hair, shoulder length and cut very straight across the bottom. She's wearing the same well fitting uniform as the other employees, and looks really proper and impressive. She's also quite tall, I'm eye level with her knees. I gulp nervously, approaching and calling out, "Excuse me," quietly. She glances around briefly before noticing me so far below her.
Her expression goes cold in an instant. Before she can even say anything, I bow down deeply while holding up the money I prepared beforehand. "I'm really sorry, I just want to buy a few things and then I'll leave."
The woman pauses for just an instant before she responds. "Like we need your dirty money." She swings to hit my hand. With a jolt, I close it around the coins just before she strikes so they don't go flying across the shop.
"B-but... where else can I get metal bars?" I ask. Oh no, this isn't going to work! I can already hear the disgusted, angry remarks of the other customers, their attention drawn by the shopkeeper's remark.
"Who let that trash in here?"
"What kind of business are you running?" A couple voices sound from nearby. I didn't want to make a scene here.
"Get out!" the woman demands, not even acknowledging my question.
"B-but..." I stammer. It's hopeless, the entire shop is flinging insults at me, even the shopkeepers. I knew this would happen. A man wearing their employee uniform moves out of the crowd. Unlike the others, he is very tall and imposing. Without a word, he grabs me by my arm and begins to drag me from the store. There's nothing I can do, there's no way they'll sell me what I need like this... As I think that, all of the strength goes out of me.
As soon as we reach the door, he flings me away. I sail through the air briefly before hitting the ground. I roll through the dirt and gravel for a bit before coming to a stop. Without much thought, I sit up, looking back at the store while laughter and jeering comes from the customers and employees. I sniff a little. It's not fair...
"A-Aria!" Emily shouts, running over. "Are you alright?"
I just shake my head. It feels just like at the church. I only wanted one thing, but I couldn't even get that. Tears start to slip from my eyes. I don't want to cry here, in front of all these laughing merchants, but I can't help it. I need metal. Without metal, there's no way I can continue my studies. No way I can even try to fight the rail units. Without access to the metal they sell, I'm absolutely going to die.
"Your money!" Emily suddenly gasps. It takes me a moment to realize that I dropped it all over the ground when I was thrown into the street. She hastily runs around collecting it. I feel like I should help, but I can't make myself do it. With this path closed off to me, imminent death staring me in the face, I can't even work up the will to stand. All I can do is sit in the dirt and cry.
After frantically collecting the coins off the ground, Emily starts hugging me and rubbing my head. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll work something out. It'll be fine..." I don't even have the energy to tell her it won't. I don't have any time left. Every day, it feels like tomorrow will be the day. I'm literally living like each day is my last. I can feel the stress through every bit of my being. I need that metal now.
Then a man comes out of the refinery in front of me. Something about the way he walks catches my eye. It draws my attention. He's walking right toward us. I sniffle a little, trying to keep myself from crying too much as he walks right up to us.
He has a bald head, but a beard as well, colored very light brown, nearly blond. But more striking are his clothes. He's not dressed well. No bright colors, no weird folds or threadwork or fancy designs, like the merchants in the street behind him. He wears a simple brown shirt and pants. The quality is much better than our clothing, without a single patch on them, but the clothing is just too simple. It also has very dark smudges around the edges of his sleeves, the kind I saw from soot coming from Gremory's forge. But the rest of his clothes are completely clean somehow. Even his face and hands are clean.
"Ahh shit," are his first words to us, as he stands, rubbing his temples with a troubled expression. I blink a few times. What? Then he crouches down, nearly coming eye level with us sitting on the ground. He glances back and forth between me and Emily briefly, then addresses me. "I'm sorry about all that, little one. Please come with me." He stands again, takes a few steps, then glances back as we stare, dumbfounded, and gestures for us to follow.
We both look at each other. Clearly, neither of us know what is going on right now. A thought surges through my mind. It's dangerous to follow strangers around. I shudder, shrinking down a little. But wait, this is an area we can run away from if we need to. If it goes really bad, I could pull his mana to knock him unconscious. I am not defenseless now. I take a deep breath, then push that worry away.
I wobble to my feet, wipe the tears from my face, and nod to Emily a little. She nods back, and we follow the man. He leads us toward the other entrance into the building, the one that it looks like the workers use. It's a pair of very, very large metal doors. Then turns away from them, going to a small door a short distance away to their left, slightly closer to the shop section. I didn't even notice that was there before. The man draws out a key, unlocking the door and leading us inside.
In the entryway, I stop and glance around carefully. It's bright inside. The walls are empty, but it doesn't smell musty inside or anything. It... seems safe? The man throws a glance at me as I survey the surroundings, so I start walking again.
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He leads us down a lengthy hall, wooden walls with a few doors on both sides, though the color and quality are clearly on a completely different level from where we live. How does wood get so bright and colorful? The wavy wood grain going up and down is just so pretty, it's amazing.
We soon arrive at another door, the last one in the hall, on the left hand side. The man knocks, then opens the door. "Don't just-" an annoyed man's voice begins to come from inside, but the man speaks right over him.
"Eryk, I found the kid."
"Listen to- Wait, really?"
"Yup, found her crying in the street."
"What?!" I hear a clatter from inside. "Bring her in!" The man moves aside, holding the door open and gesturing us inside.
We both walk through the door slowly, looking around at the new room. It's... really fancy looking. The wooden walls are such a strong color, so bright they actually shine a little. Actually, that reflectiveness reminds me more of the floor in the church than anything. What did they do to that wood to make it shine like that?
But more interesting than the walls are the things hanging all over the walls. Numerous small lamps are scattered around, casting their light from high up, while big, colorful cloth hangs all over, with many different intricate designs sprawled across each one. From the door, the room widens in both directions, with a desk on the right, and a pretty big table with a number of chairs around it ahead, a little to the left. Behind the desk, a man is just standing up.
He is rich, no doubt about it. His shirt was definitely made for him personally. It's a dark fabric, but it has a subtle sheen of rich bluish color, with embroidery around the collar and around the cuffs of his sleeves, with bits of gold and silver trim. The entire thing screams money. The man himself isn't that tall, at least compared to the somewhat burly looking bald man who led us here.
He has hair that goes down to his ears, but it looks trimmed and free of knots. It's black, and clean. So clean it's actually a little shiny. When he moves from behind the desk, I see his pants, finding that they're pure black. They don't necessarily have all the fancy trimmings, but I've never seen clothing dyed anything like that before. With his hair and the way he moves himself, it's absolutely striking. He is really good looking.
He rings a small golden bell, then sets it back on the desk.
I glance further into the room. Past the desk and man, there are a few shelves and a long counter with all sorts of things scattered across it. I don't recognize any of it well enough to guess what it is though. Then, just past the table, another door opens from the left hand wall, and a woman enters. No, the woman. The one from the shop. I try to hide behind Emily, tears coming immediately. I don't know what's happening here, but I don't want to go through that again.
"Yes... sir?" she trails off a little in the middle as her eyes lock onto me. I shrink further behind the confused Emily's back. I see the woman twitch a little, but she keeps a straight face while she finishes the question.
"Get some juice for our guests," the man, Eryk, says.
"Yes, sir," she responds immediately, turning on a heel and exiting the room before he turns to look back at us. As soon as he does though, he looks at me, then back to the door where she left.
"Uuurrgghhhh...." he puts his face in his hands and lets out a strange, strangled groan. "This figures..." he mutters afterward. Shortly after, the woman returns. Before she has time to say or do anything, he addresses her pointedly. "Isa, did I not tell you to bring the child to me if she was seen in the shop?"
"Yes sir, but I haven't seen that child. Wasn't she supposed to have strange clothing and extremely long hair?" Everyone looks over at me as she speaks. That description sounds... exactly correct, at least until I changed my appearance. I guess that means it worked, but why were these people searching for me? My heart jumps into my throat as Eryk's eyes lock onto me like some kind of predator.
"Girl, spin around for us." He speaks in a commanding tone. It reminds me of Mister Fredricson, and before I know it, I'm nervously turning in a circle so they can see me from all sides. "You're right, she looks nothing like the description. Patrick, why did you bring this girl here?"
The rather heavyset, simply dressed man still holding the door responds with a chuckle. "A five year old peasant child asking to buy metal ingots? Who else could it be?"
Eryk opens his mouth for a few moments, then closes it again. "Good point." Without discussing that any further, he addresses me again. Suddenly, his voice has changed from hard and commanding to gentle and inviting. "Just to be sure, you are the child who spoke about magnetite with one of my store clerks, is that right?"
The sudden switch puts me on edge, but the softness of his tone immediately eases my worries as well. I'm not sure how to feel about this... I do my best to give a small nod in response to his question at least.
His lips curve up into a slight smile. "You can stop crying now, it'll be fine. Come, sit down," he invites me, motioning to the chairs at the table. The large man, Patrick he was called, takes that as his cue to leave. Now it's just us with the handsome Eryk and the half-frozen Isa.
Hesitatingly, I take one step forward, then immediately draw my foot back. The way it landed on something so soft, I'm worried I stepped on something. But instead, I see... some soft cloth-like thing on the floor. But it's not exactly like cloth, it seems like it's made of a whole bunch of thread put together to make it stick up in little bits. It reminds me a bit of animal fur, with a length longer than a rechit, but shorter than a hobin. No wonder why it's so soft underfoot. It's a deep red color, except for the dark, dirty mark left from where I stepped with my dirty, muddy shoes.
Realizing what I did, I gulp, then look back up at Eryk, trembling a little. He just raises an eyebrow. I don't want to track any more mud on his expensive floor thing, so I quickly pull off my shoes. At least my feet aren't that dirty, since I'm always wearing my shoes.
"Uhh..." Eryk mutters for a moment, but then he stops and makes an appreciative "huh," sound. After watching me, Emily hastily pulls off her shoes too, though she looks very confused as she does it. "Well, thanks for keeping the carpet clean," Eryk says with an odd, amused smile as he sits down. We quickly move to the seats he offered and sit. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to keep his chairs from getting dirty. It doesn't help that it's almost as tall as I am, so I have to jump up to climb on top of it. At least the wood should be easier to clean than the... carpet, he called it?
He snaps his fingers, and the stunned Isa shakes herself. She walks over. As she approaches, I shrink back, realizing I took the chair on the right, closer to her. Despite my worry, she wordlessly sets two... things down lightly in front of us before moving off to the side of the room, probably waiting for more orders. Once she has moved away, I look down at the thing in front of me, blinking at it. Then I glance at Eryk. He's just sitting, arms crossed, watching me. His face doesn't betray any emotion, but also doesn't look like he's forcing it. There's a person who can do that? When he doesn't do anything, seemingly just waiting patiently, I slowly return my attention to the thing in front of me.
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Didn't he ask her to get us drinks? I lean forward to look at it, but it seems to keep changing colors. Wait, that's not it. When I get to eye level with it, I realize that I can still see Eryk through it. Some parts of it are kind of tinted, and some parts have the image warped, but I can definitely see through this thing.
"Have you... never seen glass before?" he asks.
"Glass? That's what this is called?" I carefully run my finger over it, finding it oddly smooth. My finger can pretty much glide right across the surface.
"Yes, be careful with it, it's fragile," he warns us. I nod slowly. Then I carefully pick up the glass. It's shaped like a cup. Wait, it is a cup. The reason it was tinting some colors is the stuff inside. He called it 'juice'. I guess that's some sort of drink? I bring my face down to the top of the glass cup and sniff at the liquid inside. It has a very sweet smell to it. Definitely some kind of fruit, though I can't tell what exactly. It's a red color, so at least I don't need to worry that it's made of lele fruit.
I glance back up at Eryk, then over at Emily. Holding it gently, like it will break if I squeeze just a little too tight, I bring the glass up to my lips. I take a sip of the juice, letting the liquid run over my tongue. My eyes widen a little. It's sweet, just like I expected. But... it's different than just eating fruit. The pure fruit flavor is amazing, it fills my whole mouth. Sweet, just a hint of sour. I've never tasted this fruit before. That makes me just a bit nervous, but it's so good, I hold back my worries, and swallow. Thankfully, I don't find myself fainting moments later, so I know it's safe to drink.
While I slowly work through all of this, Emily takes a small sip too. I guess that's Eryk's cue to speak. He leans forward a little from his passive pose before, speaking clearly and confidently.
"I called you here today because you piqued my interest." I gently set the glass down as I focus carefully on him instead. "I'd like to introduce myself. I am the current chief operating officer of the Ebock company ore refinery." I don't know what half of those words mean, but... I guess he's the boss? Everyone does what he says, so it's a safe bet. "What is your name?" he finally asks.
I hesitate for a few moments. This man is definitely a really important person. The boss of this big company that wouldn't even sell me anything because I'm a peasant. My gauge for how respectful I need to be may not be tuned very well, but even I know that I should be really, really, respectful to him. I clear my throat, trying to carefully remember my most respectful words. At least the first part isn't hard.
"My name is Aria, sir," I bow slightly as I introduce myself, realizing too late that I probably shouldn't do that, I'll make people think I'm a foreigner. Unfortunately, it feels like it's way too late to break the habit...
Without so much as blinking, he then asks, "And who is this?"
"I-I'm Emily. I'm Aria's friend," Emily says.
"Ahh. And where do you live, may I ask?" he speaks lightly as if the question is just a suggestion. It's... kind of disarming. I've never heard anyone speak like this before.
"We live at the orphanage," I explain. Oddly, that answer gets a response.
"You're orphans?" he asks, his airy speech slipping for just a moment.
I don't mind it, and just answer his question. "Yes, sir." I still have no idea why this important person called us here, but I also don't want to ask him too pointedly about it in case it offends him. He is the person in charge of this company. If I upset him, I'll definitely never be able to buy anything here. Actually... maybe there is a way I can buy what I need? If their boss tells them to sell to me, they have to listen, right? I gulp a little. It seems that there's something important that I might be able to gain from this conversation, though I suppose it depends on why he called us here in the first place.
While my mind spins through the possibilities, I nearly miss the next thing he says. "I suppose you would like to know why I called you here?" Oh. Ok, good. He brought it up himself, I think, relieved.
"Yes, sir." As long as he keeps asking yes or no questions, speaking politely shouldn't be that hard.
I see the most faint twitch of a grin on his lips, but it vanishes in an instant. Then he speaks once more. "I was attracted by the mention of magnetite to one of the store clerks. I asked them to bring you here to speak if they saw you again. My apologies that you were repelled from my store earlier." Did he just... make a joke about magnets...? In the middle of apologizing? No, that can't be it. He didn't emphasize the words or anything.
"I see..." I respond, not sure what to say here. So he heard how I was talking about magnetite and was just... interested? That's all? If that was his only reason for bringing me here, hasn't he already satisfied his curiosity? Or maybe there was more he wanted to talk about related to magnets? When he doesn't speak for a few moments, I carefully take another sip of the fruit juice. Apparently he takes that as an opening to change topics entirely.
"So what do you think of the juice? I've heard children are very fond of sweets like this."
"It's very delicious, sir. I've never been able to drink juice like this before. Would you mind telling me what sort of fruit is in it?" I try to be polite and go with the conversation, but I'm way too nervous to actually enjoy the juice that much. Even though it's really, really good. I glance at Emily, who's clearly just trying to stay quiet while she sips at her own juice.
"This? I believe it's made of strawberries," he explains. I don't know that fruit, it might be something only rich people can afford. I really should try to enjoy this while I can...
"I see, thank you for your consideration," I thank him, unfortunately bowing on reflex again. I wait a few moments. He went to that unrelated topic, but I have a feeling he's going to get to his real point soon.
"So... Now that we've gotten a little warmed up, I was wondering if we might speak about the other topic you mentioned to the store clerk. Is that cool?" I've never heard someone use 'cool' quite that way, but... wait, that's definitely a joke about nuvrite, isn't it? Is he doing that on purpose? I shake the thought out of my head while trying to answer seriously.
"I mentioned how nuvrite heats and cools when entering and exiting a magnetic field."
"Magnetic field?" He raises an eyebrow. Ugh, that's right. That's just something I made up, I have no idea if there's already some name for it I don't know of. I mean, even 'magnet' is a word I just made up myself...
"Umm, that is the term I thought up to describe the effect, since I have not been able to find anyone else who can explain it to me," I say, trying my hardest not to trip over my words while I'm flustered.
"Very interesting. May I ask why you decided to refer to it as a magnetic field? It just seems like a rather odd choice of words." He's still speaking in his light, almost playful tone, but it feels like his eyes are going to bore right through me.
"I chose the word field because it describes the area around a river..." I trail off, already knowing that will lead into his next question.
"The field around a river? Why did you choose a river? Was it perhaps your source of inspiration?" That... was definitely a joke about rivers. How am I supposed to handle this serious conversation when he keeps doing that?
Still, I keep composed, as if I'm not noticing his strange jokes, and continue to speak. "Sort of. I chose rivers because I felt that the upstream and downstream end of a river seemed similar to the ends of magnets," I say while trying to keep my voice steady, even as I frantically change my explanation on the fly. I chose those terms based on mana, not magnets. Magnets don't have a flow like rivers or mana do.
"What an odd choice." He leans forward just a bit. "I believed rivers were better known for the flowing water inside of them, implying direction and movement. How odd you would choose that word to describe something which... does not appear to carry any of those traits, as far as I understand..." He says it like it's just an odd thing and he doesn't understand my decision, but I can practically hear his real words: 'you know more.' He nailed it immediately?! I almost gape when he pulls apart the error in my description so easily. I've never spoken to someone this sharp before.
I wait a few moments, keeping my surprise from showing and forcibly calming my thoughts so I don't stammer nervously when I do speak. There's no way I would be able to to this without those years spent emotionless and blank faced...
I don't think I'll be able to slip anything past him. If there's any inconsistency in my explanations, he'll spot them. I won't be able to play things off with slightly vague or inaccurate explanations like I normally do... But apparently, he isn't going to press me any further on that, because he suddenly changes topics once more. "I wonder what other sorts of fascinating discoveries you've made. Would you mind telling me a bit about them?"
Everything from his tone to his face tells me he's simply interested in the knowledge and discoveries I've made. But between his incredibly sharp sense for deception and the bewildering way he slips jokes into the middle of conversations with no sign of humor, I have no confidence in my ability to guess what Eryk may be thinking or feeling at all. Just following his words that seem like they may contain multiple layers of meaning is making my head spin. Still not giving me a chance to respond, he turns to the woman still standing a short distance from the table.
"Isa, what materials was Aria asking to buy today anyway?" he asks.
She opens her mouth for a moment, then glances away a little as she answers, "I'm sorry sir, I did not listen to her request at the time, so I cannot recall." Wait, she was so determined not to sell me anything that she didn't even listen to me before refusing? She can't even remember that she didn't let me get to what I wanted to order?! I gape, shocked. I knew they didn't want to deal with me, but not even listening at all? Unable to help myself, I glare at the woman as she tries not to look at me.
"I apologize on behalf of my employee," Eryk says smoothly. "Of course we will be willing to sell you anything you would like right now," he smiles graciously. I can? This is exactly what I wanted! I didn't even need to ask! Then with just a small turn, he says "Isn't that right Isabelle?" with powerful malice suddenly lurking just below the surface of his sweet tone.
"Y-yeof course, sir," she ends up both stammering and slurring different words together as she speaks too quickly. While holding the most stiff, worried face I've seen possibly ever, she walks over to me. I shrink back a little in my chair again, but she seems really scared of her boss right now. "What would you like to buy, miss?" she says in a similarly cheery, incredibly strained tone.
I don't know what sort of questions this man is going to ask based on what I'm buying, but I need to take this opportunity while I have it. "One mollite ingot, one nuvrite ingot, and one iron ingot." I try to speak clearly and concisely as Eryk seems to stare straight through me. It's only after I say that, I realize I don't have the money, so I quickly fish it out of my basket, still sitting in my lap. It's all thrown in randomly after Emily hastily collected it from the street earlier, not to mention that it's literally covered in dirt now...
Even so, I take the six copper and three nuvrite coins and hand them to the woman quickly. She grimaces as the dirty coins touch her nice clean hands, but then says, "I'll retrieve your goods momentarily," and quickly turns and leaves the room.
"Hmm... I see you know our store's prices already. You even figured out the exact cost for the goods beforehand, impressive," he suddenly compliments me.
"Well, I knew that I would not have another chance to ask for the prices, so I made sure to memorize them as best I could the one time I was able to hear them," I explain. It's not like I went out of my way to memorize all of his shop's prices or something, I only know all of them because I didn't have any other option.
However, he takes it completely differently, it seems. "So you memorized them after hearing them just once? Even more impressive, especially for someone your age." He ends up just complimenting me again. That's not what I meant! I blush a little at the weird, continuous praise.
Isabelle returns with the ingots, setting them on the table in front of me with a short, "Thank you for your business." Then she quickly returns to a spot near the wall, a short distance away from the table.
"Let's see, mollite, nuvrite and iron. If I recall correctly, the last time you were here you purchased one ingot of mollite, among others, but no nuvrite or iron. So why nothing but mollite, with nuvrite and iron as well this time, I wonder?" He speaks in a roundabout way, but he really just wants to know why I'm getting these three.
"The main reason is because, well, they are all I can afford." It's an evasion of his question, but it is true.
Of course, he sees right through it. "That makes sense I suppose. Though you would have other options to choose from with that amount of money. Iron is quite a bit more expensive than your other choices in that price range after all."
"Well I mainly decided on mollite because it is really cheap and I'm sure I can make use of a second bar." While speak, I pick up the bar on the table and look at it a little, then place it into my basket. Then I move onto the iron, picking it up as well. "I wanted iron because there is something I want to try to do with it, and I'll need more than I have currently."
"Something you want to try? Would you mind talking about it?" Eryk asks.
"I'm very sorry, but I cannot discuss it." He sees right through me. Since I can't deflect or speak deceptively, I think my best option is to clearly say that I can't talk about certain things. But I'm really worried that it will just make him angry at me...
"You can't talk about it? It certainly must be an entertaining endeavor then," he chuckles that with that same good-natured air. At first I'm glad he didn't get angry at my refusal. But then I have to remind myself that I have no idea if that's real or fake, but it still makes me feel bad about being so on guard. He has been really nice this whole time... "In any case, what about the nuvrite?"
"Well, I felt I needed a larger amount of nuvrite," I explain. I reach out slowly, excited. I touch the surface, feeling the connection through the bar. It should be so much easier to push mana through this than those small coins. Kind of like when I touched that divine totem and was able to push any amount of mana through with no resistance. This much larger bar of nuvrite will let me convert a whole lot of mana really fast if I have to. I also don't need to choose between holding onto it and spending it, like I do with the coins. "This will be really useful..." I say while picking it up in both hands.
Excited and impatient, I pass mana through it. Compared to the coins, it's so smooth, nowhere near as much resistance fighting against me. I grin happily at it. Wait, the mana is changing color? I briefly turn my attention to the mana coming back through the ingot. It isn't any type I'm familiar with.
"Ouch!" I yelp, dropping the metal. With my attention diverted, it took a moment to notice the ingot getting really, really hot in my hands. It lands flat on the table with a dull thump while I shake my hands. It doesn't feel like they got burned that badly, they're just a bit red and sting a little.
Eryk shoots up from his chair. "Are you alright? What happened?" he asks, sounding flustered for once.
"Ah, no, I'm fine," I wave my hands to calm him down. "I just burned myself a little, no big deal." I accidentally slip up, not really speaking very politely. It doesn't seem like he notices though. He just sits back down in his chair while sighing.
"As long as you are alright," he says. He continues to peer at me for a few moments. While I wait, my mind spins. Come on stupid me, you know that nuvrite heats up in its own magnetic field, what did you expect to happen passing a large amount of mana through it? I feel stupid for forgetting something basic like that in my excitement. But then there's that new mana I got when I did it. I glance across the tabletop, and the source is immediately apparent. The table is empty except for the glass cup in front of me. So glass is the source... At least, that's if I assume it isn't the juice inside the cup.
"Umm, Eryk... sir?" I speak up timidly. I'm not really sure how to ask about this, but if I've found a source of another type of mana, I have to know if I can get my hands on it.
He raises an eyebrow. "Yes Aria?" His eyes are still locked on me, like he's watching me even more closely than before.
"This glass here, is it expensive?"
"Yes," he answers slowly. Out of the corner of my eye, it looks like Isa starts glaring at me. I frown a little, if it's expensive, I can't afford it... "It takes a lot of skill and training to properly blow glass cups of this quality," he explains. I don't know how the word 'blow' is used in that context, but I can probably assume it's like how blacksmiths 'forge' metal. It must be the method of shaping glass. In that case, it's the artisan who shapes the goods that adds a lot to the price, maybe the glass itself is something I could afford?
"If blown glass is too expensive, then what about, uhh, unblown glass?" I ask. I guess that should be the right term for it?
"And what would you want unblown glass for?" he asks. His face says he doesn't understand why I'm asking about this, but I feel like he's still just trying to get more information out of me...
"Well..." I have to remind myself not to try to deceive him, and just tell him when I don't want to say something. I continue to speak evenly. "I would like to study it. Similarly to how I have been studying different metals."
"I believe you were studying the unique properties of metals. Do you have some reason to believe glass has special properties?"
"Yes, I think so." I answer honestly.
"Hmm, fascinating. I would love to know why you think that about glass, which you have never seen before..." He leans his chin into both hands with a kind smile. I feel like there's a sort of menacing curiosity behind it though, maybe? I can't really tell. Even talking for this long, I can't figure out what he wants. He keeps changing topics, asking a few questions about one thing, then a few questions about something else. It feels like he must have some goal, some specific thing he wants to figure out, but all he's doing is chipping away around the edges... Maybe I'm overthinking things, and he really is just curious? I mean, he hasn't shown anything but kindness and curiosity this entire time. Maybe I'm just too paranoid because I always have secrets to keep?
"W-well, I have some reasons. I have never seen a material that I can see through... before..." as I say that, I realize it isn't true, and trail off. My mind immediately goes back to those strange, huge windows in the church that let the light of the sun through. They were colored and I couldn't actually see through them exactly, but the sunlight was able to go through.
"Oh? Did you perhaps remember another transparent material you've seen before?" he asks. There's an interesting new word. Transparent. So that's how you describe seeing through something...
"Yes, the windows in the church let the light in, but I could not actually see through them," I respond.
"Ah yes, those are also made of glass. The glass is colored, but the glassmaking guild is utterly opaque about the production method for the glass, it appears to be a closely kept secret." So opaque would be the opposite of transparent, meaning not see through... wait, that's a glass joke! "In any case, if you are looking to buy glass, I fear you will have an... extremely hard time going to a glassblower."
I lower my head a bit. "I suppose I will..." I mutter.
"How does this sound? Since I find myself so fascinated by the work you are doing, I could bring you to a glassblower as a means of introduction."
I open and close my mouth a few times, dumbfounded by the offer, "Y-you would do that?!" I squeak.
"Certainly, it sounds as if you have many exciting discoveries ahead of you," he says with a smile. Why is he so nice to me? Is he really just fascinated with what I'm doing? Or does he have some secret motive? I have absolutely no idea!
Then the bells ring out through the town. "Huh? Fifth bell already?" I gasp. It's been that long already?
"Oh, I don't suppose you have another appointment, do you?" Eryk asks.
"No no, it's not that," I shake my head quickly. "It's just that we need to go to the forest, we were trying to get our shopping done quickly in the morning today."
"I didn't realize I was keeping you, my apologies. Should we plan to go to the glassblower another time then?" Eryk asks lightly. He'd even be willing to put it off and go another day? But I don't have time for that, I should go as soon as possible. But I don't have any money anyway. But I need to know how much I need. Argh! I just keep bouncing back and forth. I bite my lip, stuck.
So I look over at Emily, who has so far just kept quiet and let us talk. She's clearly thinking about it too. Then she perks up. She leans close so we can speak quietly. "You don't have much time, right? You should go with him. I'll go to the forest first and get set up."
That just makes me more conflicted. "Are you sure? You'll be fine alone?"
She must only realize it now, because she flinches a little at the thought of going into the forest alone. "Y-yeah, I'll be fine. Maven will be with me, right?"
"Yeah. Oh, yeah!" I exclaim. I hadn't thought of that at all. As long as Maven is there, I can still help her. I can't help but feel guilty having him help us hunt his own kind, but... Well, he never seemed to care anyway. Hobins only seem to care about their own families, not other packs of hobins. I even gave him a lot of mana, so he should be able to knock out any dangerous animals that show up. As long as there are no more monsters...
"Is it settled then?" Eryk asks.
"Yes, sir. I will go with you to the glassblower's, Emily will go to the forest ahead of me," I respond clearly.
"Very good. It sounds like you would prefer this be quick, so let's set off now."
We both nod. He stands, so we hop off of our chairs and quickly scurry over to put our shoes back on. While I'm slipping them on, I glance sadly up at the cup of juice. I hardly got to drink any of it...
It seems as if Eryk has forgotten about the shopkeeper behind him. He just walks past us, through the door and down the connected hall we entered from. We follow him through the door leading outside, and he turns south.
"I'll see you later, Aria," Emily says.
"Yeah, I'll catch up as soon as I can," I assure her before she takes off. She also goes south toward the main road, but runs ahead of us.