“Did you have a good time last night?” Copperbane, the dwarf asked with a meaningful smile. His tone and facial expression that was about to burst into laughter, indicated that he probably already knew what happened last night.
“Do you already know?” I asked back suspiciously.
The dwarf laughed loudly, inadvertently attracting everyone’s attention. “You know you have neighbours, right? Next time, don’t be so loud or go to the Lovers Hall instead. There are already rumors going around that you are a lustful beast. And seeing how you are in a rather good shape, I suppose that the rumors are true. You were not completely sucked dry by that unsatiable succubus.”
“This…” I did not know how to react. People liked to gossip but already, unrealistic rumours about me were appearing. And it was pointless to try to fight these rumours; any explanation I gave would only fuel more gossips.
I sighed and sat down to eat my breakfast consisting of a stew and a few slices of bread. The dining hall slowly filled up as the healers prepared for their day of work. For a first circle healer like me, my schedule was divided into three main categories: Healing the employees and customers of the Healing Temple, external visits and errands, and self-study at the library or one of the lectures of the Healing Temple.
Since there were no human customers yet, my work this morning would focus on the employees of the temple. This afternoon was dedicated to self-study and I planned on using that time to purchase a few essential items.
“Will it be alright if I go out this afternoon?” I asked.
“Sure. I’ll make the necessary arrangements but where are you planning to go?” Copperbane has been unofficially appointed as my mentor by the elder orc. The arrangements he mentioned formed part of the agreement I made upon joining the Healing Temple. While I was more or less safe inside the temple, the situation was different outside. I was still a human and would be seen as a target as bounties have been placed for the capture of living humans.
Nevertheless, me making an appearance in the city formed part of the Healing Temple’s plan. They wanted the hot blooded individuals to take action. They wanted to provoke the inhabitants of the city and once they took actions against me, the Healing Temple would have a pretext to use force. Their aim was to trigger the citizens just enough to create some conflicts without things escalating in an all out war. I was just the bait that would start the conflict; it was not ideal but it was also one of the safest positions I could be in at the moment.
“Just to buy a few things and explore the city a little bit.” I replied vaguely.
We finished our meals and went separate ways. Following my schedule, I headed to the Lovers Hall and got to work. An attendant greeted me and after exchanging a few words, I was escorted to a small work station where I would examine the patients. The attendants quickly worked around me to guide the slaves; most were females but there were a few males mixed in the groups.
There were four other healers working on the same task on different stations. Once everything was set up, the slaves walked up to the healers one by one.
A short elf walked up to me and quietly sat on the designated chair.
“Anything to report?” I grabbed her hand and swiftly cast Heal. The process was not very different from yesterday.
“No. Just that I had to serve a customer last night.”
“Alright.” I let my mana flow inside her body and very quickly found a couple of bruises on her back. I dealt with them adequately and since she had been active last night, I followed up with a Cure and a Cleanse.
“It’s done. You can go back.”
…
I matched the pace of the other healers, taking roughly ten minutes on each patient. Since I was not being examined or micro-managed, I could take things more casually. Just like yesterday, there was a large supply of mana stones available and I did not hesitate to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, only low quality mana stones could be supplied so carefreely, the intermediate quality mana stones I needed to advance would only be given once per week in limited quantities as my salary.
“We finished a little bit earlier than usual. At least, the new guy is not a dead weight…”
“Yes. And I thought he was just here to act as bait. The Hall Master will probably keep him a little bit longer since he is useful.”
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I glanced at the dark elf and the bangaa openly speaking about me. They were not bothered by my presence and I did not really think much of them. Regardless of what I did, people would talk behind my back.
I left as soon as I completed my task. I returned to my room to rest before walking down to the dining hall for lunch. Copperbane joined me once he finished his morning task and together, we exited the Healing Temple.
He started showing me around the city and I pretended to have never been here before.
“This is Mary’s Treats, the best bakery of the city. I come here at least once per week for their cake.”
“This forge is owned by my cousin Dane Copperbane. If you need any special equipment, you can come here and drop my name; he will give you a small discount.”
“Here’s the Quiver Association. They are an organisation that is trying to promote the use of bows and crossbows. You can come here if you want to learn how to use that weapon.”
I quietly listened to Copperbane, maintaining a calm expression. I was not very familiar with the city but I recognised many of the insignia in front of the shops and had a pretty good idea of their purpose.
The annoying part of this trip was the looks I was receiving from the citizens. I already knew this was going to happen and could only bear with it.
Soon, I caught sight of the insignia I have been looking for: a diamond surrounded by a ring of gemstones. This shop was a jewellery. I casually pointed at it and asked Copperbane for some explanations.
“This? It’s a small studio of jewellers. They make good stuff like your jade bracelet but are bit expensive because they sell outside of the main organisation.”
“Can we go in and have a look?”
“Sure.”
Ding!
A bell rang as I pushed open the door and stepped inside the small and dusty shop. It was a relatively small shop, looking more like an atelier than a shop. Clearly, the owner’s goal has not been to attract as many customers as possible but rather, to focus on his own craft.
The owner, a Tauren, was busy working on his next creation. He was wearing thick glasses to protect his eyes as he manipulated a thin metallic rod looking like a soldering iron. He was facing a small ring with a green gem and carefully scratching the surface of the gem with the metallic rod as a faint light left behind some marks on the gem. From afar, the process looked very similar to soldering.
“Yes?” The Tauren grunted as he put down the metallic rod and removed his glasses.
He instantly frowned as our eyes met. After an awkward moment of silence, he coughed lightly and asked, “A human? Interesting. What brings you here?”
The last Right to be Judged was still fresh on everyone’s mind. The humans would refrain from trading with the other races until proper regulations would be put in place. Furthermore, with the current standing of the city lord, the humans were captured on sight as they arrived at Tussock. As such, the Tauren found it strange that I entered his shop.
“Looking for a few items. Do you have anything with the Mind Shield enchantment?” I went straight to the point. An equipment with Mind Shield was a must have in the tower. It was the only way I would be able to protect myself against the Mind Reading of the psychic element users. I was already tired of keeping a blank mind in public.
The Tauren carefully sized me up and snorted loudly. “What is your budget? I have varying levels of the enchantment.”
“Two hundred Points.”
“Mmm… I have a necklace at around that price. It can block against psychic element users up to the second circle. More advanced creatures will easily break the enchantment but you’ll be notified if that happens.” The Tauren explained as he rummaged through the messy shelves. He soon came back and placed down a simple necklace with an oval blue gemstone.
I briefly examined it and nodded. I did not care much about its appearance; to me, functionality came first. I could not wait to once again be able to think as I wanted without fear of being read by a psychic element user. “It looks good but I would like to request a modification. Can you add the Record enchantment to it?”
“A second enchantment is possible but it will cost you more.” The Tauren flatly replied.
“260?”
“Deal. Give me a few minutes. I’ll enchant the necklace right now.”
Copperbane observed our exchange with great interest. Once the Tauren picked up the necklace and returned to his work station, the dwarf opened his mouth for the first time in the shop. “How did you know what to ask for? Are you already familiar with these enchantments?”
I smiled faintly, giving the answer I had already prepared. “The person I spent the night with advised me to get these two enchantments. She told me that both were essential enchantments that almost everyone had on them, especially Record. She said I could be accused of many things because I am a human and Record would be the key to escape these slanderous accusations.”
“Oh. I see.” Copperbane’s eyes lit up, satisfied with my explanation. He asked no further questions. Together, we observed the Tauren as he inscribed some symbols on the blue gemstone. The process took about five minutes before he placed down the metallic rod and walked up to us.
“Here you go. The necklace has both Mind Shield and Record. It will cost you 260 Points.”
[A transfer request has been received. Would you like to transfer 260 Points?]
“Yes.” I answered silently to the tower’s question. My decision brought down my total points to less than twenty but it was worth it. I stretched out my hand, waiting for my necklace.
The Tauren silently stared at me, ignoring my hand. He glanced at Copperbane before eventually handing over the necklace I just paid for. “Were you truly not scared that I would do the same thing that dwarf did earlier to your fellow human?”
I grabbed the necklace and quickly put it on. “I am wearing this robe for a reason.”
“I see... The Healing Temple will indeed be a deterrent to most people but you still need to be careful. I won’t harm you since I do not want to be on the bad side of the Healing Temple but not everyone has roots in Tussock. Many will be willing to take the risk considering the bounty offered for each living human. The Healing Temples work independently of each other; once you are captured, the perpetrator can just take the reward and escape to another city.”