Shopping had taken the enchanter more than he had expected. There were a lot of things to be done, and a lot of places to visit. His first destiny was a shoemaker. It took a few minutes to convince the man that he wasn’t a beggar, because he honestly looked like one. Then a half an hour to get suitable boots and a pair of socks. The boots weren’t cheap, but hard and durable leather, coated with a thin line of fur to maximize comfort. The perfect footwear for travel. Maybe he was getting a bit ahead of himself, but the boots would last a long time either way.
After that, Nido directed to a tailor recommended by the shoemaker. This was the place that sucked up his time the most. The tailor was a woman obsessed with perfection, and once the enchanter proved he had enough money, she wouldn’t let him escape until he was more than presentable.
The quality of the shop was astonishing for a relatively small coastal city. He ended up buying tens of pieces of clothing. He was most proud of the pair of silk underpants he bought. The situation turned a bit uncomfortable when the tailor noticed he hadn’t been wearing any underpants all this time, but thankfully, she had understood and handle it well.
Then he also added to the shopping cart a pair of linen pants, one white linen shirt for special occasions, a brown one for traveling, and a thin leather coat to protect him from the elements. The coat was a tad bit too big as it was thought for grown adults and his body was currently at the stage of a teenager. A grown teenager, but a teenager, nonetheless. He still had some centimeters to grow.
And for storage, he bought a shoulder strap and a hard leather backpack. Nido thought if he should buy a bandolier, but he discarded it as it could get in the way in case of combat situations when he travelled.
Then, after spending uncountable hours on the tailor, he went to a public bathroom recommended by the woman. Sure, he could use some magic to clean himself. But that solution would be partial at most. And he would appreciate the touch of soap a bit.
The enchanter took his time on bathtub, more than an hour for sure. He consciously scrubbed every single corner in his body to remove all the grime accumulated by a full day of travel. Then spent minutes relaxing on the hot water.
“I have to enchant a self-cleaning item, like tomorrow.” Nido groaned in pleasure at the tub. “I had forgotten what feeling dirty was like.”
The ancient enchanter valued versatility above all else, and that meant he had an enchanted item for every single situation possible. The coiled ring itself already covered thousands of different situations, to begin with.
“I guess I’ll end up accepting Castor’s offer.” Nido toyed with his legendary ring. “I need to travel, the Wanderers are going to travel, and I can gain some information related to the Records thanks to them. Literally no downside or whatsoever.” He yawned as the hot water made him sleepy. “Even if for the impossibly small chance than the Traveler notices me, at least he’s a logical divinity.”
With a pinch of foresight and another of paranoia, the enchanter considered the worst scenarios possible. And ended up with the conclusion that he would be safer on the road with the Wanderers than any city that contained a single church.
“I should get out.” He looked at his unwrinkled hands, the intertwined ring prevented him from such trivial ailments.
Nido had ended up using more than half of his money, namely more than a gold coin. Most of the money had been inverted in clothing, which in reality was considerably cheap when taking onto account the amount of clothing. A gold coin was enough for a person to feed for a month, or it was that way in his time. Though inflation seemed to be a non-issue when he looked at the prices at the shops he visited and Marta’s inn. It was mostly the same, with some minor differences here and there.
Once he went outside, Nido felt like a new man. Finally walking in his own clothes and his head looking high with dignity.
“Talking about clothes… I still have some time, I should return these rags to their owner.” Nido went outside the city walls, this time from the gate at the port. Now that he came from inside the city and no longer looked like a beggar, he didn’t share a word with the guards and plainly got out.
A single day had elapsed since he stole the worn-out clothes, yet it felt like it had been much longer. He had made a lot of things in a single day, between enchanting tens of items, guaranteeing his survival, and conversating with people. The secluded enchanter hadn’t bothered with those things for decades. Just focusing himself on the void rune.
No one gave the now-clothed enchanter much attention on the docks. He just walked with an objective in mind. Thankfully, none recognized him. Which would have been odd in the first place, specially when he had made sure he was alone when he grabbed those clothes.
With the same juvenile agility as yesterday, Nido climbed the alleyway where he had found the clothes and left as he had found them. He had even cleaned them while he was in the bath. Not very well, but still clean enough.
The enchanter emasculated his presence with a touch of illusion magic, just to be sure. It was mostly paranoia speaking, but he wouldn’t like to be seen. While his domain on Light magic was questionable at best, Nido believed his illusion skills were for better than his mastery on the main element. He was sufficed that they looked life-like.
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By the time he made his way back to the inner city, the midnight sun already made itself visible. The small star was a strange sight, yet infinitely more understandable than half the things he had experienced.
The Damascus Inn was sprawling with conversation as it filled with people. It was still soon enough in the night that most people hadn’t ended their work shift.
“Back here already?” Marta told the enchanter as he sat at the counter.
“Yeah.” He put the coin bag before him. “As you can see, today has been a productive day.”
“That’s nice. Will you now pay for your meals?” The innkeeper grinned.
“Of course, and a room if there’s one available.” He took out a silver coin.
“I’m sure I can make some space for my sister’s employee.” Marta said as she grabbed the coin. “For the time being, I guess you will want something to warm you.”
“An ale and a plate will be a good start. Is there a specialty of the house here?”
“Do you fancy mutton stew?” She poured a drink from the barrel.
“It sounds appetizing.” Nido took a deep sip out of the jar. “Mmm, I don’t mean to offend, but the beer you served me last night was fucking shit. This,” he lifted the jar, “is good stuff.”
“Yeah, it was a spoiled barrel that was sold at a cheap price. Only people who want to get drunk fast drink that.”
“And you served me that?” The enchanter’s brows rose.
“You weren’t going to pay, and it was your decision to finish it.” She shrugged. “Whilst I love a good conversation from time to time, I need to work here.”
“No problem, I will just wait for my stew and deep my worries in the drink here.”
Truth be told, the ale wasn’t all that good. But it was considerably better than the muddy water sold as beer. Maybe he couldn’t get drunk by alcohol, but the drunken ambience certainly put him in the mood.
Before he had even finished his first jar, a wench brought him his stew. It wasn’t Marta, but one of the workers here. Considering the amount of people it would gather in the next few hours, Nido was surprised Marta didn’t have a whole squadron of workers contracted.
Now that I think about it, is wench a Profession Class? Enchanter is one, and the tailor let the hint that it was also another one. Who knows? He put away the questions and focused on the warm food before him.
Another jar of ale and a full bowl of stew, the half-elven bard finally made her apparition. Nido hadn’t been bored while waiting, though. The common folk had a lot of stories to tell. Some talked about a war, others about the ‘pestering acolytes’, others about meaningless matters. One night I should infiltrate myself into one of these conversations.
The enchanter motioned at Marta for two jars, which she quickly served at him. Then he made his way towards the bard.
“Hello, there. I don’t know what drink you would’ve preferred, but I hope you’ll enjoy some ale.” Nido greeted her.
“A gifted drink is a gifted drink; I have no rights to complain.” The half-elf took the jar out of the enchanter’s hands. “Do you have the promised item?”
“Of course, here you have.” He casually gave the brooch to her.
The bard put the brooch on her jacket and inspected it. Nido, meanwhile, recalled the description from this morning.
Dexterous Brooch of Songcasting
Rank: Rare
Price: ~5 gold
Description: A brooch that weaves the elements of the Arcane, Life, and Air in a melodious song.
Effects:
-Mana increased by 20%
-Grants 5 points in Dexterity
Perks:
-Songcasting: Allows the user to cast cantrips through musical performances
The bard stood still for an uncomfortably amount of time as she processed it. She looked at the item, then at the enchanter, then again to the item, and blinked a few times.
“I… I can’t accept this. This is… this is too much. This is too good to just hand it over.” The bard had a hard time processing the gift.
“It’s my treat.” Nido affirmed calmly.
“But I mean… This is too much just to lend you my lute for a night, you could buy several of them with this item.” She took out the brooch and handed it back to him.
“I already told you, it’s yours now.” Nido pushed it back to her. “Consider me as a patronage from my part, then. I want to see my sponsored bard succeed.”
“I… I will accept it.” The elven bard kept the brooch in a tight embrace. “Thank you. I really mean it.”
“Well, then. Can I play the lute now?” The enchanter asked nonchalantly.
“Wait, you weren’t joking?” The bard dismissed her worries with a laugh.
“Of course, it has been a long time since I’ve played with an instrument.” He took a sip from the ale.
“It’s all yours.” She handed him the lute.
“For the night, you mean. I don’t plan to steal it from you or anything.” Nido added with a laugh.
The young enchanter grabbed the lute and directed towards the empty stage. He sat on the empty stall at the middle and touched the cords to check if they were tuned, they were perfect.
Noise at the tavern began to dissipate as everyone looked at the wannabe musician on the stage. They waited him to play.
“Alright, it has been a long time since I played a song of any kind, so I beg you to be merciful on my poor soul.” Nido joked, alleviating the tense atmosphere. “Considering we are currently at a coastal city, I guess I should play a shanty, don’t you think?” Which in response the public roared. “Don’t get your hopes up, though. I don’t any shanties.” He replied. “But I have travelled far and wide, and a song or two about the ocean has stuck with me, so without further delay, I will play.”
“Here, gather together, for that a tale of the deeps I will tell.” The enchanter played the lute with grace, the rhythm was slow and charged with emotion. “For that is the story of the drowned men of the sea of Cail.”
It was more of a ballad, than a happy tavern song. The story was an epic about a fishing ship that adventured into an uncharted sea and never came home. If the enchanter lamented one thing about his age change was that his voice had lost his characteristic deepness. He modified the play because of this, making it faster and more epic rather than the tragic version that was normally sung.
“…yet their echoes, forever more, will be remembered.” Nido ended the play with a slight bow after five minutes. A quite lengthy one that made his throat dry.
The solemn tavern erupted in cheers. While it wasn’t the song they had been expecting, it was hard denying it was a good play. The young musician left the stage when the ovations were still high.
“I’ve never heard that song…” The bard’s silence spoke a thousand truths. “Where did you even got it from?”
“Well, it’s a pretty ancient song, so I don’t expect you to be familiar with it.” The song itself was when he still hadn’t had the Tenet of Immortality in his hands, so it was probably drowned by the sands of time by now. “But now isn’t my moment, but yours.” He handed her the lute. “I’m sure you want to play that difficult song with your new item, right?”
“Won’t you play again?” It wasn’t a rhetorical question, but a petition.
“Maybe later, now I won’t to see a real bard play.” Nido grinned at her.