The rest of the School days were rather quiet, especially as Eleonora was still distant and mostly silent. Drak thought they had already talked about all the things, but did not bother further with it and appreciated the more quiet Days.
As the next Rest days came closer a bearded Man came with an invitation from the Berklin House into the School City. His eyes were whitish blue and if someone did not look closer they would think the Irises were fully white. Wearing rather cheap leather clothing, he wandered directly into the Noble District and was questioned more than three times by Guards.
Noticing the approaching Person Drak’s Guard in his tiny Guardhouse was waking up for once and greeted him.
“You want, Sir?”
“I was invited as a Coachman by the Berklin Family. Here is the Letter.”
Scrutinising the Letter, both people gave an unnoticeable nod in the form of a greeting. While the Letter was checked, the Guard already knew the person in front of him was supposed to be here.
“Seems authentic. Just go in and wait for the Master to come from School. Do not walk around too much until the Son of Berklin is here, or you will get in trouble.”
“Will do.”
After the Talk the Side Gate was opened and the scruffy Person walked inside. Sitting in the stable on a bale of hay he started to nod away, waiting for the arrival of Drak.
- Drak on his way home in the Carriage
“Master, I got informed that Korn is here.”
“Ah, nice. With this we can change Carriages. Better to make space if the Princess wants to go shopping again. Also with him all of you can relax.”
“I understand the meaning, but to call Korn is a bit over the top. Are you thinking of making the horses Familiars?”
“You got it. Also the Carriage we are buying will be reinforced by our Carpenters secretly.”
“Are we going to war?”
Celia asked adorably while Seria and Drak were talking.
“No, just a precaution for later. If someone tries to mess with the Carriage, it is better to be ready.”
“While I would have chosen other words than Celia, it is really a bit extreme. How secure do you want to make our travels?”
“Secure enough for not being able to be implicated by an attack on us or on Eleonora.”
“Okay, that could be a possibility, but might be unlikely.”
“Too much has already gone south. Better to be prepared for everything.”
“As you wish, Master. Korn will take over all the work in keeping the Familiars fed and Carriage clean. Will you write what you want for your Carriage, so we can buy it?”
“What are you talking about? I will go shopping with you. Either all together or just the two of us.”
“Master and Seria are going on a date?!”
The Carriage shook a bit. Raja on the Coach Seat seems to have disturbed the horses and made the Carriage go unsteady.
“How nice that must be~”
“Obviously I will not only go with Seria and forget all of you. We will go on different days to different Shops. I thought you might want to go out a bit at your own pace.”
“...and trying to leave the School work at Home?”
“Ugh! Only out of necessity!”
A short silence made Drak sweat a bit after Seria again spoke.
“...that is fine. Without rest time, you might be too stressed to learn more. Also it is good for us to have a bit of relaxation. As there are three Rest days and we have four of us, we need to either do it over two Rest periods or each of us gets half a Day with Master alone.”
“Two periods!”
“Then would you not care if your Date with Master will be next Week Celia?”
“...Half a Day!”
“Seria, we can do this multiple times. Half a day should be okay. The third can then be used to rehearse the Books.”
“Master, are you fine? This is a rather good Idea and even had your School work taken into consideration.”
“Do you think of me as that lazy?”
Drak was about to cry, but Alice soothed him with a song, while he had his head massaged by Seria as an apology.
-
“Where do you want to go first, Seria?”
While Korn has groomed himself and put on the clothes of a Coachman, he drove the two into the Merchant district.
“The best would be the purchase of the Carriage first, as it would be better to go with Alice searching for Horses. With this it would be the most efficient way to see if we need two or four Horses later.”
“I meant to know where you yourself want to go.”
“Ah, um… While I appreciate your sentimentality, it is not proper for me to decid-”
“It is, as you are all my Family. Without you I would not be where I am. Now, where would you like to go first before we go purchasing the Carriage?”
“If I am allowed to ask… I loved accessories the most before I was… But that is long in the past.”
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“So an accessory shop. Let us see what we can find. Korn, find a nice Jewellery Store and stop there.”
“As Lord commands.”
“Korn, while he is our Lord, you should call him Master for the time being.”
“Yes Miss Seria. Master, I search for a good place to shop for Jewels.”
“Thank you, Korn.”
After a small trip Korn noticed some different Stores and Stalls selling different kinds of accessories, so he stopped and helped Drak and Seria disembarking the Carriage.
“Thanks Korn. We message you, if we want to go home.”
“Yes Lo- Master.”
With this Korn led the Carriage to a parking area for Carriages while tending to the Horses.
Drak walked to the small Jewellery District and saw the different Items on display. Some Jewels were enchanted with different Spells, while others had natural occurring wards that disable specific spells.
“Rather a nice variety. So many different Gems and not even made into something to wear.”
“Yes Master. Many People buy some different Gems to have them socketed into their Accessories. Customization is often Key, as you never know what part of the Body already is being drained.”
“If I remember there is the Rule of branch?”
“Yes. One per branch with small exceptions. One on one Finger of each hand, one band per arm, one Necklace and one Boot, while boots are mostly the same to create balance.”
“One Leg each, one shoulder each and two ears.”
“Exactly. There are exceptions, as ‘you know’. Some highly adept Magician can have two Rings on the same hand. One known as the iron Wizard was known for having three Armbands on each arm for protection against different Elements. He specifically was known for his high proficiency of low level Magic because of the over drain of his powers.”
“Yeah, from them I got the Idea-”
“Master, don’t you think this Gem looks quite nice? A shame for the low enchantment, it would be such a great centrepiece in any Accessory.”
“Ah- Yes, but I don’t think Ruby would be a nice thing for anyone I know to present as a custom made Accessory. Or maybe Raja?”
Realising they are in the public, Drak shut up and made small talk with Seria.
Walking along they were shadowed by some people, but not hindered in any way. Seeing them strolling and looking at different Items they noted every move, but had kept a far distance and were not able to hear most of their words.
While strolling Drak noticed some black teardrop shaped Obsidian pieces.
“Those are curious.”
“What do you mean Master?”
“They have an intrinsic Magic. But I am not sure what kind.”
“Ah, you have a great eye, Mister. These are Obsidian shards of a Meteoric Crater. These have a special magical ability of the Stars.”
“That is Fake Master. Meteoric Obsidian has a heavy contamination of external influences. They not only mess with the workings of Magic around them, some sicknesses are thought to be caused by being around them.”
Seeing his sales pitch being seen through, the Street vendor started to sweat a bit. It is true, those ‘gems’ are seen as curse bearers, but also have a special draw, as they are rare and could bring Money from some young and unsuspecting Nobles, never been out in the World.
Sadly those people in front of him have a stronger insight and could not be swindled.
“I take all of them. Better be honest with the price, those things are not worth what you might try to push, right?”
“Master?”
“Ah, Mister you have a rather nice demeanour. Let me give you a discount and per drop I just want twenty Go- * cough * two Gold per one. I have nine of them, so it would be eighteen Gold.”
While he could not see the face of Seria, he could feel the icy demeanour and made a quick comeback. While two Gold were still too high a price, Drak did not care and bought them. Afterwards they moved away and the seller grinned slyly.
“Master, those are way less valuable than two gold per piece.”
“He will have his retribution. I have an Idea about these Obsidian pieces, that might help us in a way. Huh! Those things can not even be put in a spatial bag, how curious.”
“They interfere with Magic and can even break magical tools, if they are near them for too long.”
Putting them away in a normal pouch, Drak strolled with Seria around a bit more before going into a store.
While they were going out of sight the Stall closed up right away to leave for today. He suppressed a grin and walked out of sight into a side street when he was suddenly startled by being pincered in by four people from the front and the back.
“Who are you! Guards, I am being robbed!”
Pulling out a crest the two persons in front of him came closer.
“We are Imperial Guards. You will come with us and explain what you sold to that boy earlier.”
Not being able to process the twist of him being suddenly arrested by Guards in casual clothes, he asked himself where he did something wrong. While those Obsidian pieces were not illegal, it would be hard to explain how he got them. Also for how much he sold it was suspect and would be problematic if the Noble boy made a fuss.
Not realising he was going into the totally wrong direction of thinking, he was put in cuffs and put into an unsuspecting Carriage, vanishing forever from inside the School City.
-
Arriving with Korn at the Carriage Shop, Drak came down with Seria, who was now wearing a golden necklace with an oval Emerald affixed into the middle. While her face was not being seen, she was radiating happiness like a warm summer breeze.
“Welcome to the shop, how can I help you?”
It was evident the behaviour of the Merchant was a bit stiff, as he had problems connecting the person in front of him with the Duke’s Insignia. While a Duke’s Son might bring good Money, Drak was not looking like a favoured Child and it might be a cheap repair or maybe selling his old Carriage for an even older one to scrounge some cash. For these reasons the Merchant had not much hope for a good sale.
Contrary to his thoughts Seria was right away narrowing the Carriages down to rather luxurious Versions.
“We need a Carriage out of sturdy and pristine materials, Should have enough space inside for at least twelve people to ride comfortably, which means spatial extension if possible. Internal heating and a place to brew tea would be beneficial, while it needs a good suspension to not shake the people inside. We would like to have Glass Windows and not wooden ones, as they should be double sided to keep warmth in and cold out. The Seat for the Coach needs to be able to have heating too, we do not want to be cheap on that. The Magic Crystal intake for Energy should also be inside for security reasons. Also no Decorations for now as we have some crafters who-”
With the gigantic List of needed Features the Merchant had a light of Hope for a great sale in his eyes but also doubt, as he sometimes looked at the young Noble and could not think someone like him could afford that.
“I have a Carriage of this kind here, but needs to be adjusted for many things you want it to have. It needs two weeks at least, but the Money will be rather exorbitant. Are you sure you might want this, esteemed Son of a Duke?”
After Drak took out three Platinum Coins, the Merchant was shocked and elated. This would be enough to not only buy this Carriage, but even a few more on top of it.
“This is my Limit for now. If it costs more, I might look into asking my Benefactor for more, but they might come and ask how it would be so expensive.”
Reading between the lines the Merchant understood. The word ‘Benefactor’ did explain, he did not get this money from his Family, but from somewhere else. While this is normal in many possible circumstances, the source might not be as Noble as a Duke and be a bit rougher by asking how it became that expensive. Overcharging a Noble is easy, Overcharging an unknown Benefactor is risky, so better take a bit less profit for the sake of his two working legs.
“To fully evaluate the cost of refitting, I would need to have to calculate all of it over, but should not go over your Limit esteemed Sir. Please look at the Carriage, we would custom fit for you.”
Walking through the Shop there was a black Carriage with golden inlays having a four Horse harness on front. The whole Carriage was somewhat resembling the white one of the Princess, but a bit smaller and way more inconspicuous than the driving Castle of an Imperial Princess.
Trying to enter the Carriage for a look, the space distorted and made a crackling sound.
“Master, your Pouch.”
“Ah! I totally forgot. Korn, hold on to the pouch for a small while. I will take it back afterwards.”
“As you wish, Master.”
Giving the Pouch with the obsidian pieces to Korn, Drak and Seria entered and inspected the whole Carriage.