For the next few days, Zycor trained intensely while he waited for his new gauntlets to be finished. While he did that, the rest of the group decided to kill some time by exploring the village in groups.
-
“It truly is fascinating how much different this village is set up from the standard.” Mylon spoke as he inspected the different architectural design choices with the village's buildings.
Liz giggled, “You know, I didn’t think you were the type to act like a child when seeing something new and cool.”
“What can I say, no matter how old I get, seeing something as neat as a building with a glowing sign will of course fascinate me.”
“Hehe, then I suppose you shouldn’t go inside, you may really flip out~.”
Mylon quickly looked at the entrance to the building and back at Liz. He looked at the sign, it read ‘Magic Tool Convenience.’ He took a breath and mumbled, “I see now what my destiny is.”
While he stood in thought and preparation, Liz walked past him and towards the door. When she approached, it automatically slid open. She pivoted around and smiled, “Pretty awesome, right?”
Mylon nodded, following her inside the shop, though taking a moment to admire the magical sliding door. When he finally pried his eyes away and began to look around the shop, his eyes widened like a kid in a candy store. He began to look at multiple items displayed throughout the shop. A metallic, portable surface that was able to heat things placed on it, an object with blades hidden within a cage that spun rapidly to produce a refreshing breeze. Each object appeared to utilize magic and technology to function in inconceivable ways.
The shopkeep came out from the back to greet the customers, then saw Liz. Noticing she was carrying a backpack, the shopkeep shouted, “Lizali! I thought I told you to keep that bag of yours outside the shop! I don’t want to deal with any more 'misfires.’”
Liz shuddered, yelping in response, “Y-yes ma’am!”
She went to put her bag outside and secure it. Before leaving she explained, “Hey Mylon, you can look around, just be careful not to break anything, or else the old bag will get upset.”
An object flew past Liz’s head hitting the wall while the shopkeeper yelled, “Who are you calling old?!”
Liz quickly fled out the door. Mylon chuckled as he returned to browsing the store. He looked for a while, examining multiple items, until he stumbled across an orb. He picked it up to inspect it, curious as to how it works and what it does. “Wanna know what it does?” Liz asked, having returned from securing her backpack.
“Very much so.” Mylon responded with enthusiasm.
“Well, when you add mana into it, the orb can show you memories of your past.”
Mylon’s enthusiasm instantly vanished. He stared at the orb silently with great intensity.
Concerned, Liz inquired, “H-hey, are you ok?”
Mylon put the orb down gently and solemnly replied, “Yeah, I just would rather not accidentally use that item.”
“Not even if you could use it to see the good memories?”
“With the bad ones outweighing the good ones so heavily, I think it best to not.”
Liz tried to think of something to say, but thought it best to leave that conversation alone for now.
The two of them exited the shop in silence until the doors slid shut behind them. As Liz picked up her backpack, Mylon asked, “So, you and Zy have known each other for quite some time, is that right?”
She chuckled, undoing the different locks on her backpack, “Yeah, although it’s been quite sometime since we actually have seen each other. Hell, we both thought the other was dead it seems.”
“Are you happy to see him again?”
“Of course I am, what sort of question is that?!” She paused for a moment, continuing, “However, after traveling with him for a while, I realized things were not the same as they were before, nor could we go back to them.”
“Yeah, there were certainly some better times in the past.”
Picking up her backpack and slinging it onto her back, she began to continue their exploration. Mylon, out of curiosity, inquired, “So, what exactly have you been doing? I gathered that you were a blacksmith or something, but I think there is more to it than that, am I right?”
Liz nodded, “Yeah, I am what you may call a ‘tinkerer.’ I learn about magic, technology, and combining the two, then trying to make something using those skills. When apprenticing, we are to assist our teachers with their tasks to learn and get some experience. In our free time we are to work on a functioning creation that is all our own. Once that is complete, we get to graduate from apprentice to novice assistant. The main difference is you are paid more and are allowed to give input on certain ideas.”
“I am guessing that bag on your back that fires out all of that high powered magic is your original creation?”
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“Yeah, but it’s still only in its experimental phase. Just because it functions does not mean it is efficient nor complete. I have had much trouble with it, honestly I am surprised I, along with everyone else, was not blown sky high. Truthfully, that was the first practical field test against others.”
Mylon remained silent for a moment as he processed what Liz had just said. Mylon began to question, “Hey Liz, when you said we would all be blown sky high…”
“Well hey, look over there! More things to look at! Let’s go over there and forget about the conversation!”
Mylon sighed, mumbling, “She really is a chaotic individual, isn’t she. I can’t tell if that is because of the life she lived, Zycor’s influence on her, or both.”
He shrugged, chuckling, “Ah well, I suppose it doesn’t matter right now, I can always pry it out of her later.”
-
While Liz and Mylon enjoyed their day, elsewhere in the city Aisha and Baz had been left to their own devices. A circumstance with an ending no one could predict.
“How did I get stuck hanging out with a walking slab of talking meat?” Aisha huffed, dissatisfied with her situation.
“Listen here ya bratty dog, no one is forcing you to follow me. Why don’t you go hang out with Aislin or Nalea?” Baz retorted, attempting to ignore the ‘hindrance.’
Aisha rolled her eyes and sighed, “You bet I would love to go do that, but Aislin said she was on dragon sitting duty. She also mentioned something about wanting to see if she could ‘beat a dragon,’ so I am uncertain if it would be a good idea to try and interfere. As for Nalea, you and I both know she is only findable if she wants to be.”
“Then if you are going to be a complaining mess, you can go do it on your own.”
“Ok fine, maybe I will!” Aisha shouted.
She turned away in a huff and proceeded to head off on her own. Baz took a few steps, enjoying the reprieve from her nagging. He came to a stop and sighed, “I cannot believe I am actually going to do this, and after I was finally freed.”
Baz turned around and stomped off after Aisha. He walked for a bit, grumbling about how annoying she was for actually walking away. Baz eventually stumbled across Aisha looking at a building, completely entranced. “Hey, Ai, what the hell are you doing just standing there?” he shouted.
Aisha’s enamored expression quickly soured. She looked over at Baz approaching her, mocking, “What happened to the whole ‘go complain on your own’ thing, huh? You didn’t have to come after me.”
“Of course I had to come after you. What happens if-... when you get into trouble? Someone has to be there to hel-, bail you out.”
Aisha raised an eyebrow, “Oh~? What’s this, do you actually care about this ‘bratty dog?’”
Baz put his hand on her head and roughly pet her, “Don’t get ahead of yourself. Anyways, what are you looking at?”
She pointed at the building, “This place. The sign is glowing somehow and is advertising something I have never heard of before.”
Baz squinted and did his best to read aloud, “The hell is ‘bo-well-ing?’”
“There isn’t an ‘e’ there moron, it says ‘bowling.’”
“Potato, potato, doesn’t change the fact I don’t know what the hell that is.”
“Same here.”
Aisha and Baz stood in front of the building, passerby’s watching as they walked, some questioning what they were doing. Aisha eventually piped up, “So… wanna go check it out?”
Baz nodded affirmatively, and the two of them entered the building. Inside they were greeted with a desk off to the right and a large room ahead of them. There were multiple paths that all had oddly shaped sticks at the end. Observing the other patrons, they noticed they were rolling a ball down the path and hitting the sticks that fell over. After they fell, some runes would make the fallen sticks float slightly above the path.
“That is so cool! I really want to do that!” Aisha gushed, her tail slipping out and wagging.
Baz nudged her and pointed behind her while he asked the gentlemen behind the counter, “So, what exactly is the objective here?”
The man explained how the sticks were called pins and the paths were called lanes. The objective is to knock as many pins down as possible with a maximum of two attempts on a single set of pins. Based on how many pins you knock over you get a certain amount of points. You play a set amount of rounds and the person with more points wins
Aisha and Baz looked at each other and smirked. In unison they said to each other, “I bet that I could beat you!”
Baz gave the man forty Solium, the price for a ten round game, and picked a lane for them to play in. Baz went first and wound up to hurl the ball at the pins before being stopped by the man at the desk and Aisha. They both pointed at everyone else rolling the ball. He nodded and wound up, releasing the ball down the lane and crashing through the pins, missing the leftmost one. He missed it the second time.
Aisha smugly waved him out of the way and sent her ball down the lane, hitting a perfect strike. She flipped her hair as she moved aside. Baz’s eye started to twitch as he took the next ball. He sent it down again, only for the same situation to happen. This continued for the next eight rounds. Aisha came out as the victor, rolling strikes every time.
She boasted, “Haha, kneel before me! I am the queen of bowling, haha!”
Baz, angered, cried out, “That was just a learning attempt! We are going again, for real this time!”
Aisha giggled, “Whatever you say~, but you lost so you are paying again.”
Baz grumbled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out an additional forty Solium and handed it to the man at the desk. They played another game, this time Baz only missed the left pin in half of the games, though he still lost to Aisha.
“WE GO AGAIN!” he shouted, putting another forty Solium down.
They ended up playing three more games before Baz finally beat Aisha on account of her messing up slightly.
Baz looked down at Aisha with a huge grin on his face, boasting, “Well well well, looks like what they say is true, no ruler rules forever!”
Aisha looked up at him with embarrassment and frustration. The two of them left the building to be greeted with the setting sun. “Wow, I didn’t realize how long we were there.” Baz commented.
Suddenly, Aisha jumped onto his back, climbing up onto his shoulders. “The hell are you doing…” Baz asked, unamused.
Aisha sniffled, “You made me feel bad, so now you have to make it up to me by carrying me back to the inn.”
Baz, slightly annoyed, mumbled, “What the hell are you on about, YOU were the one who beat me four out of five times…”
“What was that?”
“Nothing miss former ‘queen of bowling.’”
Aisha pinched his cheeks as he walked, “Uncalled for, ya damn orc.”
She released his cheeks and the two remained silent momentarily before they both began to laugh.