The wares hall was considerably spacious, or it would have been without said wares, most of which were nearly impossible to distinguish individually. Of the six windows lining the walls, only one had its shutters open wide, but even in the dim light Meiris noticed a thick layer of dust covering the items.

From the outside the shop gave an impression of impending - if not concluded - bankruptcy, but on the inside it looked abandoned.

'Odd...'

At least a few hundred items must've been stored there... If all of those were imbued tools of worth similar to the shower piece she held in her arms- The whole merchandise must have been enough to afford a retirement. Maybe not if one were young, but it would be possible to live off of this for well over a decade.

Yes, that would require people to buy it in the first place. However, the market for imbued tools was far from being saturated.

Pathenam was clearly too small of a settlement for such supply, especially so considering the presence of that second magesmith, but all it took was a contract with a merchant and they would happily sell the wares elsewhere. In fact, Meiris would have gone to decent lengths in the past to secure such a contract herself. Granted, a couple things would require professional assessment, but the maker of these items seemed talented, valuable...

Actually- Where were they?

More than a couple seconds had passed, but Meiris was still the only person here. She tried navigating through the shelves and islands of clutter, hoping to find something akin to a counter.

Just when she had found it- A silhouette of a man appeared in an open doorway in the back wall. A pair of tired eyes behind large round spectacles didn't as much as flicker to see who had entered his shop.

Since Meiris' eyesight had enough time to adjust to the encroaching darkness, she was able to tell that the man had plenty of wrinkles and thick, light-colored hair. Estimation of his age eluded her, but she knew that the tattered clothes clinging to his frame were once worth a small fortune. Not something one could buy in the middle of nowhere...

He approached the only uncluttered worktop - the one Meiris stood by, his gaze focusing on nothing worthwhile. At least as far as she could tell.

And then he finally looked at her, visibly surprised. Which was a bit of an overstatement- The alteration in his expression was almost imperceptible.

"Has Jonarth sent you?"

His voice was raspy, though not of age.

The question sounded more as if he was stating a fact and his hand reached for the shower in Meiris' hands before he even finished speaking.

"Yes."

She wondered how had he known- Was it that he recognized the item? In this dark room without his gaze ever wandering to it? Perhaps that was the magic sense of a magesmith... Though she wondered if that would work with a broken tool?

The man seemed on the eccentric side, which only amplified Meiris' curiosity. She hasn't met many magesmiths before, just one... But before she could ask for his name, much less anything else- He looked to be focusing on the job already.

The L-shaped contraption made primarily out of metal, outlined with a material she didn't know the name of, now rested on the counter. She had expected him to take it to some kind of a workroom, but maybe there was no need.

"How very interesting..."

He muttered to himself only a moment later.

"What is?"

His eyes flickered towards her- She expected to see irritation in them, but that didn't seem to be the case. Maybe the man would indulge her in some knowledge?

"You would expect a breaking trace to damage the structure, yes, but how come most of them have shifted?"

That was all he said before focusing again.

'Yes, I would definitely expect so...'

Meiris had to hold back a sigh. All she could hope to derive from his words was that the issue was unconventional.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"..."

They stood there in silence for a couple minutes, until he spoke again-

"This might take a while, I need to remake half the imbuement."

"That's alright."

As far as the inn was concerned, unless anything extraordinary happened this evening- The shower was of highest priority. Jonarth greatly valued the reputation of the inn and a place to wash oneself after a long journey was important.

Well, not like that was hard to do without it. Systematic travelers often carried water-creating tools of their own and rivers were always an option. Though of course mana-created water was more practical of the two in this case.

To pass the time, Meiris paced around the room, checking out the various items. There were a few lamps, bells, a cold stone... Some of them she couldn't recognize. Uncertain whether it was appropriate for her to use fire magic in a shop with plenty wood inside, she grabbed a hand-lantern.

In general, magesmiths frowned upon, if not straight up forbade trying out their works so freely. Not an issue if a certain ex-noble didn't know about this, right?

The lantern took in her mana and produced a vibrant yellow glow, illuminating a radius of about four meters around her. What she found most interesting now that she could see things more clearly, was that no two creations looked the same. Even what was a series of ink effacers-

'...Wait, ink effacers?'

Those weren't easy for a noble to get their hands on due to the imbuement's difficulty, so what were they doing here of all places, catching dust?

Either way, the effacers stood on a nearby shelf- They looked so similar, but Meiris spotted that each had a unique detail about itself. A different engraved pattern, one more edge in their frame... Not a flaw, but done intentionally. A nice touch, she thought.

----------------------------------------

"It is done."

The voice reached Meiris' ears when she was just staring out the window, the items didn't pique her interest for long enough. Perhaps they would if she could sense their imbuements, but she couldn't.

"Are you buying this one?"

She had completely forgotten about the lantern in her hand and brought it to the counter.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was just looking around."

Intending to put it back on the shelf, she turned around, but-

"Wait-"

The man stopped her. Was there something wrong?

"Let me..."

He reached for the lantern and Meiris gave it to him. His reaction left her puzzled.

"Yes, indeed..."

His eyes now focused on her.

"Pardon me?"

"It is your mana."

The response hardly alleviated her confusion.

"What about my mana?"

"...You really do not know?"

The man gave the impression that he had expected something from her, but the perplexity in her voice must have been evident.

"I don't think I do..." 'Hold on- Does this mean that he knows what's wrong with my mana? How to fix it-' "Could you explain it to me?"

At that he took a deep breath, clearly considering where to start-

"There has not been concrete research on the matter, to my knowledge. However, I found out that while you are tracing - that is to etch an imbuement - there is a correlation between an individual's mana fluctuations and the optimal pathing. That is why magesmiths often fail at reproducing others' blueprints or patrons find their favorite authors."

The last bit of what he just said sounded fine to her, the rest relied on assumptions she freshly made up while listening. Though the important part was - she hoped - only about to come-

"I have gathered a multitude of measurements of people's mana. The greatest divergence I ever encountered was seventy-three hundredths of a percent. I also... Ahem, so... In your case, I am estimating at least six percent in relation to the average, likely over t-" cough "-ten."

He wasn't used to speaking this much.

Given his earlier remark, she concluded that less than one percent was enough to cause tangible disturbances in mana usage... So if hers was as high as he claimed, it would explain a lot. Though he mentioned imbuements- What about magic circles?

Meiris opened her mouth, but he continued before she could utter a word-

"That... Is what I have trouble believing, but acknowledge that it should be possible. What does not make sense, is how I know- How you slowly shift the pathing to tune it to your mana. I cannot prove that is the purpose, but it is the only plausible reason."

Initially he assumed it was a conscious effort on her part, but combining what she said, the fact that Jonarth had hired her and how unbelievable this was- He simply had to trust her that it wasn't.

"Do you mean to say that I can use so little mana because of those fluctuations?"

"That is the less interesting part, but yes. Though I cannot sense much of it on you in general... Could it be? The divergence affecting our senses..."

She doubted that was directed at her as it was only him who used the magic sense-

"Do you know how to fix this?"

"Fix? I am not sure whether that is an appropriate word to use here, but no. I can measure the fluctuations, however- I am afraid that is the extent of my knowledge in that regard."

There was no need to show it, so her face didn't look disappointed - but she was.

"Yet, if you were to spare me some of your time, I would like to test a few things. If you agree, I will return you the repaired artifact for free."

He nodded at the shower piece.

"Though you might wish to consider not using it yourself... Ah, I will just give you another."

There was no reason for Meiris to disagree, was there? That could be her chance to learn about imbuements... But she's been gone for more than two hours already, maybe three. Jonarth won't be pleased as it is, of that she was sure...

"Yes, I would like that. It's just that I have to go back now, so maybe I could come tomorrow?"

"Mhm... There is no need to rush this, I suppose. Take the money anyway, I have no need for it."

She hesitated...

"Will that truly be alright?"

"Yes. Just do not tell Jonarth about it. Or slip some of it back into his pockets when he is not looking if your conscience troubles you."

'So Jonarth must've rejected his offer in the past...'

"Thank you."

The man just nodded in response. The man...

"Excuse me, how should I address you? My name is Lena."

"Stegat."

Stegat said dryly, already on his way to the dark corridor he had come out from...