The trip went by pretty easily, as there were no more attacks from neither bandits nor animals. Chris was slowly able to reclaim his sanity thanks to Serah and Balfor, and Harriot slowly talked to him again after recovering from her shattered ego. ‘I wonder how she would feel if she knew she failed to seduce a twelve year old.’ Chris laughed to himself as they rolled upon the city of Ilvern.
Its features resembled that of a fortress, walls surrounding the main city, with poorer shacks littering the outskirts. The walls were forged through magic, as it wasn’t made of brick, instead pure compressed stone. There wasn’t a single crack in the wall, making it clear upkeep was important, and at the top were spots where archers could stand and fire when necessary.
As they approached Fernando slowly became a bit more stressed, checking his information scroll several times as he looked around for where he needed to go. Chris hopped up next to him at the front.
“How late did we end up being?” Chris questioned Fernando. “We actually arrived on time thanks to the smooth ride the latter half. I’m just trying to find where I need to deliver this stuff. The guy’s gotten more popular lately, so he’s moved shop.”
Fernando’s eyes darted around before resting on a shop just a bit in the distance, “Ahh there it is.” The shop was a bit worn, wood slowly decaying around the entrance, with the name plastered above it of ‘Advars’ Whimsical Wares.’
“Is this really the place for these high end goods? The place looks a little shabby.” Fernando shook his head viciously, “This place might not look like much, but the wears inside are high end. The owner decided to focus on gaining a dedicated market instead of looking like just another generic fancy shop.”
Chris took in the atmosphere and understood what he meant. The shops littering the rest of the cobble path looked very similar, only different based on the colors and sign quality. Compared to that, Advars’ seems to stand out by comparison. Fernando turned the cart into the side street next to the shop, and asked us to start unloading the goods.
Within just thirty minutes they emptied out the cart, and brought everything inside. That’s when they met Advars, Advars Olinvar. He was a man of chaotic pleasantries. Snapping back and forth between talking to Fernando and thanking us for our hard work. Bringing up random stories, and talking about whatever seemed to spill out of his brain next.
The man wore goggles on his head, Had dark black hair, and silver eyes. He was tall, just half a foot shorter than Tarles, but he was lanky. He wore a beige coat that had black stains covering it, and he wore some very tight black pants, and very comfy looking shoes.
Advars was managing to hold up different conversations with everyone, turning back and forth quickly discussing different topics of intrigue when suddenly his eyes stopped. He stared at Chris with his dark brows furrowing.
“Can you unsheathe your sword young lad?” Chris nodded and followed suit. He held the sword out in front of him, while Advars inspected it. Suddenly he grew excited, “Where did you get this from young man? This must be a holy relic, ahh yes, what wondrous work. It's a little rough, but it’s quality is incredible.” Chris glared down the man, and Advars recoiled, “Ahh I mean, I guess I got a bit over excited. There’s no way that’s a relic, the sword is far too cheap. I apologize.”
Everyone seemed shocked by the exchange except Serah. She just smiled knowing just a little bit more about Rose and his abilities.
After that exchange Advars calmed down, paid out his debts, and slipped a small piece of parchment into Chris’ hands. Chris left with everyone else, reported their findings of the green humanoids, as well as reporting the mission complete, and parted ways.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
At least, Harriot and Fernando parted. “Make sure to brag about me, I wanna hear some really funny rumors!” Chris yelled out to the two as they left. Serah stayed by Chris’ side along with Balfor. Chris finally read the parchment, “Visit the shop alone tonight, we have much to discuss.” Chris and Serah found an inn that had a stable willing to let Balfor sleep in it.
He informed Serah of his plans to meet Alvar, and that he wanted to meet him alone. Serah didn’t like that idea, and decided that she would stalk the shop, and if anything weird happened that she would come in to deal with it. Chris agreed and they headed out, Serah trailing a ways behind.
The trip was relatively short, and even during the night the city was still bustling quite a bit. He avoided bumping into passersby that felt entitled to the entire space.
When he knocked on the shop door Advars yanked it open and drug him inside, “How do you possess such a mundane looking holy relic? I have so many questions, please indulge my curiosity!” Chris shoved the man off of him, “These are not holy relics, these are works I created myself.” Advars tilted his head in confusion, “These? Meaning multiple?”
Chris took the mask off, pulled his sleeve up, and unsheathed his sword. “The fact you could tell my sword was different from a normal mana storage sword means you might have some insight into helping me design such things. Or maybe you’re just a liability.” Chris glared at the man, who was hopping with anxiety and excitement.
“You made these yourself? Then that means,” the man talked to himself for a bit before pulling out an extremely damaged book from a secret compartment in his main desk, just like the one Chris had. “You have the complete version of this don’t you?”
Chris was stunned at finding another copy, “Why is it so damaged?” The man sighed, “This book was never meant for me. My older brother was gifted this book by a mysterious man with red hair and silver eyes after my brother had acted bravely with something. I didn’t ever pay him too much mind. My brother became a skilled magician and garnered a lot of attention. But he also gained ire directed towards him. While sleeping, our house was set ablaze, and I was the only one to escape. When I returned to the burnt remnants of my house, I found a small part of my brother’s body less burned than the rest, and resting in his arms was the partially burnt book. I’ve been studying it ever since, but the parts detailing holy relics towards the end of the book didn’t survive, so my knowledge is incomplete.”
The man took in a deep breath, “I’ve been trying to engineer devices similar to holy relics, but the most I can get them to do is collect mana and store it on their own.”
Advars looked down, dejected until Chris spoke up, “That’s incredible that you made it that far on your own wits. If you help me design tools, I’ll teach you the method for creating holy relics. I don’t know if you have enough magic skill to do them, but I will gladly assist.”
Advars stood up, grabbing at Chris’ shoulders, “You promise you can help me?” Chris nodded, “As long as you can help me.” Advars immediately wanted to get to work, but Chris refused stating simply, “I want to go to sleep, we can start tomorrow.” Chris grabbed his equipment and headed outside. When he opened the door, he heard an oww and felt a thud. He saw that Serah had been listening, pressing her head against the door until he quickly swung it open.
Advars seemed a bit concerned until Chris grabbed her by the hand and drug her away. “Wow, it seems like you have quite a few secrets huh Rose.” Chris nodded, “Yea I would say so.” She went silent until they made it back to their room.
She stood glumly once the door closed, “Your name isn’t Rose is it? And your backstory you gave was just as much detail as you felt comfortable giving right?”
She sat down on the bed, exhaling abruptly, “I can’t blame you, if I was forced to dig into your personal life by those guys you put a stop to I probably would’ve spilled anything for fear of what they’d do if I didn’t.” She patted on the be, inviting Chris to sit next to her.
“If you don’t want to entirely open up to me I understand, but I really do want to know about the man who I’m adventuring with. I hope you understand where I’m coming from.” Serah had a bittersweet smile on her face.
Chris pulled his mask off and seriously asked, “What do you want to know?” From his name, how he grew up, his knowledge of swords and magic, and what he did before becoming an adventure was divulged. He trusted her entirely, as she was what kept him held together at his worst. Not only that, whenever she asked a difficult question, she would back off understanding that he couldn’t tell her everything.
She divulged about herself, her upbringing, training, and lack of friendships growing up until she met Helena at the guild. They fell asleep together once again, this time holding each other close, as if someone would snatch the other away.