It was lunchtime when they finished talking about what they planned to do next while they were in Whaling so they went to the common room to eat but when they arrived there he saw that some of the merchants from the caravan that they joined to travel to Whaling was there. They were all surprised since they knew that the people from that caravan were citizens of Whaling, meaning they had their own business establishments and homes in the city.
Anna squealed and ran towards her two new girlfriends who were the same age as her and they chattered endlessly like birds in the forest. Anton overheard Anna’s two new friends talking about persuading their father to look for them since they still wanted to watch the television shows, and then they talked about shopping and other things that girls were highly interested in.
Then Lunelle, Belinda, and Ramona joined them and they became so noisy that Anton had an urge to cover his ears.
Based on the snippets that he was overhearing from his father and the merchant’s talk, the merchants were inviting them to stay in their homes which Anders declined. That meant that Anders and the others did not share the information with the merchants that they planned to travel to another continent.
They went to the common room to eat and the merchant and his wife and two daughters invited themselves to join them.
Anton was a bit impressed by his sister since even though they talked endlessly, she didn’t share any pertinent information about their plans with her new friends.
He was impressed and a bit sad since Anna was unable to just become a normal girl and had to be vigilant with her surroundings. Anton hoped they would arrive at a place where Anna could be herself.
Devon, Frederick, and Colin arrived after settling the two carriages, the horses, the three dire wolves, and two spirit wolves down. That was one of the problems with the summons from the golden tablets that Anton created. The summons would be permanent but they would exist as a regular magical beast that needed to eat to survive and once they died, they would remain dead. There was no way that they could dispel the summons and summon them again just like what Anton had been doing with his summoned animals.
Anton knew that the three must have been having a hard time with the animals since other animals would be unsettled by the wolves. What he knew was that the wolves wouldn’t have any issues with their food since Devon, Lucas and even his father were very diligent in hunting game animals in the surrounding forest and their spatial items, and his inventory was full of meat.
Anders kept talking with the merchant and his wife, repeatedly telling them that they wouldn’t have time to watch the shows due to them going to be very busy selling the items in their inventory.
The merchant then told Anders that they shouldn’t have a large number of items since they only had two carriages. Everyone laughed when they heard that and Anton’s father had to explain to the merchant that their products were stored in their spatial items.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
The merchant then said that he kept forgetting that they had an archmage in their group while the man side-eyed Frederick. The merchant basically implied that Frederick was not a believable archmage. Every one of them just smiled while the younger girls were in their own world.
Anton overheard Anna telling her new friends about her books and based on the look of the daughters of the merchants, they were fascinated by the story in the books that Anna was showing off to them.
After lunch, Anna invited her friends to her room so they could all talk the whole afternoon but unfortunately for Lunelle, Belinda, and Ramona, even though they looked like they wanted to join in with Anna and her friends, they had to do the work assigned to them.
Anna kept boasting to her new friends, and to the merchant and his wife who were also listening to her about the movies that she had seen already. Although it looked like her new friend's parents wanted to join Anna and her two new girlfriends in her room, it was inappropriate so they had to leave and let their daughters join Anna.
Anton said goodbye to everyone and exited the inn. He wanted to explore Whaling by himself. His main goal was to learn about the different kingdoms and countries that could be found across the ocean.
He didn’t know where to go next so he decided to go to a place where everyone gathered. A tavern. The nearest tavern to their inn catered to those with money so when he entered it, it wasn’t as noisy as a typical tavern frequented by regular laborers.
He looked around and saw that there were several groups gathered together at the tables scattered in the tavern. He saw the nearest group at a table that was speaking in another language so Anton decided to be bold and approach them.
“Good afternoon, Sirs. Do you speak Rendinduran?” Anton asked the men who looked like wizards based on their clothing.
“Yes, we all speak Rendinduran. What can we help you with, young sir?” One of the men said.
“I’m a mage and a student and I’m currently researching about the different kingdoms and countries across the ocean. May I interview you? I can treat you with the tavern’s most expensive alcohol,” Anton said.
At first, the men looked like they didn’t want to entertain Anton but when they heard that he was willing to spend a good amount of coins for the most expensive alcohol to treat them, they suddenly welcomed him with open arms.
Anton called one of the barmaids and ordered a bottle of their most expensive wine. The barmaid nodded and told the price of the wine then waited. Anton laughed and gave the amount of coins that the barmaid mentioned and when she received it, the woman smiled widely and then left to get their alcohol.
“You’re very generous young sir. You’ve given that maid a huge tip,” One of the men said then they all laughed.
Anton said that he was aware of that. The men then introduced themselves to Anton.
“My name is Nunda and this is Beron, Lendo, Okar, and Tindu. We’re merchants from the Kingdom of Okan across the ocean. We spent two months across the ocean to travel here and we do it twice a year,’ Nunda said.
“My name is Anton and as I’ve said I’m a mage and a student. Are you not wizards?”
The men from the kingdom of Okan laughed when they heard Anton’s question.
“That is not the first time we heard that question. A friend from this city told us it was because of our clothes. He mentioned that they resembled the robes that wizards usually wear here but the only mage among us is Tindu. The clothes we’re wearing are just the normal clothes that people from our kingdom wear,” Nunda said.
When the expensive bottle of wine arrived, it certainly looked like it wouldn’t be enough for them so Anton ordered a few more bottles and paid the barmaid correspondingly. The men from the kingdom of Okan cheered when they heard Anton order a few more bottles.
They were expensive but Anton treated it as his payment for the information about the kingdom of Okan that he was about to learn from the merchants.