Not fifteen minutes later the seamstress walked out from the back, now visibly drained, barely walking, holding her back in pain, but still with the same brilliant smile on her face, as she presented them with the finished clothes. Just by looking at them, Mark could tell they were well made.
He took the clothes from the woman to examine them a little closer. The stitches were almost invisible, and the material was very sturdy, while at the same time soft to the touch. Mark tried applying a little force to stretch it, and though it gave little leeway, the moment he let go, it came back perfectly to the state it was in before.
He did not know what it was made of, it was surely not cotton nor silk. The only materials he knew that could be this sturdy and elastic at the same time were advanced polymers and synthetic rubbers. He wondered if it was some kind of animal in this world.
Once again humans showed how well adaptive they were as a species, no matter the circumstances or the environment they find themselves in, and no matter the planet or the universe.
“Here you go lads, check if they are to your liking, if you want them there are yours, thank you for what you did for us, I will never forget what you did for us. Thank you” At this point, the woman started tearing up, the tears slowly falling, across her wrinkle-filled face.
“Very well, we will accept this gift then, thank you”
Hearing the reply, the old seamstress brightened even more, though Mark thought it impossible moments before. She ran up to her overturned and messy shelves and after digging for a bit more, she found two backpacks, made out of some form of black leather, of a very fine make, visible even from far away.
Walking up to them, she once again handed them the items, this time Mark could see, she was barely catching her breath, delicately grabbing her by her arms, he led her to a stool nearby, and gently helped her take a seat.
“Here, you should rest a little, no need to be running around for us this much.”
“Haha, no need no need, sweetie, there is not much left in those old bones anyway, may as well spend it on something that actually matters in life. Why crawl and grasp at straws, when you can live with everything Qamarya gave you, it would be a grievous sin, to waste a gift as precious as Life, cough, cough.
Thank you, lads, for visiting me, and letting me do this one last deed for the betterment of others, I am truly grateful, now you should go, I am sure you will be very busy now, I will take a rest here and watch the ceremony later.”
“Thank you again, madam…”
“Oh my, where are my manners? I am so sorry Mark, you can call me Venefica, it is very nice to get to know you. I wish you success on your path young man, and may the Stars guide you.”
With that Mark and Donny left the happy Venefica and closed the doors to her shop. The moment the doors closed and Mark had his back to the establishment, his face darkened. He knew that his name wasn’t that hard to find out now, he has lived in the town enough, and with the recent happenings, it would be easier to discover.
But most people he went past at the moment, just called him The Hero of Pharia, not many used his name, and he was sure of it, not many bothered to know the name, finding the Hero identity enough.
There was another thing that unsettled him about the older woman, though he did not know how much he could attribute his worries about a language from Earth to this world. The name was peculiar, it was a word in Latin, meaning something poisonous, magical. Often in reference to practices attributed to witches.
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He once again looked at the items given to them by the innocent, little old lady, and could not hold back his doubts. There was absolutely nothing free in the world, no matter which planet you landed on, and from the very beginning he was uncomfortable in the lady’s presence, and he tended to trust his guts. At the same time though, his premonition did not budge an inch in her presence.
Another thing was, it was just a name, in another world, that has probably never in its existence even heard of the Latin language in the first place. Was it a coincidence?
As always, deciding not to gamble with his life, his next stop was the local potion brewer. Maybe he could tell if anything suspicious is going on with the clothes they were given. If not he would sit with it, after the meeting with the Mayor and thoroughly check it over.
After quickly hiding everything in the gifted backpack, Mark spent a moment sending his Stamina to every single part of his body to check for any adverse effects, foreign substances, or anything that was not supposed to be there, but after about five minutes, he felt nothing, just his natural Stamina flow.
A little reassured they went to the potioneer. Walking in, a strong aroma of herbs and spices hit them. The shop was set up pretty much the same as modern pharmacies were set up. At the front, there is a small space for clients, separated from the rest of the shop by a long counter. Behind the counter, there were shelves upon shelves of medicine, hidden in glass jars sealed with wax.
The moment they walked in, they heard a quiet poof from the back, followed by a string of curses that could put a fisherman to shame. Not long after, a small man ran out of the back, with his face covered in ash and soot, two clear circles around his eyes, where a pair of glasses must have been. His eyes darted angrily to whoever distracted him.
The moment he saw Mark, he was about to explode with another string of curses, but he, at the last moment, seemed to remember who just walked into his shop. He gathered his nerves and exhaled a puff of air.
“It's you, sigh, just had to bother me right at this very moment, didn’t you? Don’t you have a Ceremony to attend to or something? What do you want, I am not giving you a discount, just because you killed some bandits boy. So, you buying anything or just gonna stand there.”
Mark could hear a slight snicker come from behind him, he had to admit, the sight of a short man covered in dust, yelling angrily from behind the counter, that could almost hide him from sight, was pretty comical. He walked up to the counter, to not shout through the whole shop.
“I need some healing pills and some common antitoxins. Also if you have anything that would replenish Stamina quickly, that would be appreciated”
The alchemist looked at Mark for a second. His eyes widened.
“Hahaha, haha, that is so good, Stamina Replenishment, hahaha, this guy. Are you serious right now?! Did the Bandit Queen squeeze your head with her thighs as they say?! Stamina Replenishment? What do you think this is, the Capital? Hahaha, man, you bush people can truly…”
He was about to continue, but at this comment, he looked up from the jars he was shuffling about on the little shelves under the counter. Looking into Mark’s eyes his mouth instantly shut. No further sound was uttered, he stood frozen, as if his soul left his body. After a couple more seconds, he shook his head a little and proceeded to take out jar after jar from the shelves around him.
“These are common healing pills and should take care of most scrapes and bruises, though anything more will be too much, for more grievous wounds you will need these.
These are Life Pills, I only got these two left, but should restore you to full fighting capability from near death in a few minutes.
For antitoxins, I only got these three types. The one on the left is Common Antivenom, which works on almost all animal venoms, though the effect is pretty subpar, nothing like a specialized antidote. The middle ones are Forest Grace, able to stop the spread of most types of plant-type poisons. The last ones are for Thorth bites, it is the most common type of snake in the kingdom, so it's the only specialized antidote I bother making reserves for.
If you want anything more specialized you need to place an order and wait. Normally about a month, as the Caravan has just arrived, maybe shorter, depending if they have the ingredients for what you want.
All that together will cost you fifteen gold. I don’t haggle, and prices are always the same, if you want it you can buy it if not, then you can leave my shop.
So what will it be, buying or not?”
Throughout this whole speech not once has the man raised his eyesight again, staring intently at the pills he was describing. Mark could only smile at this when the man looked up before, Mark wasn’t even trying to silence him, he wasn’t even angry. After all, it was just a rant from some random person.
“I will take all of them then.”
Only now did the merchant dare raise his eyes, shocked that the guy was actually gonna pay for all this. Before, when he looked into his eyes, it looked like Mark wanted to kill him to shred his flesh, and scatter his entrails all over his shop, it was as if a beast was looking at him, not a human.
Now, knowing he won’t be killed anytime soon, he became a little cocky again, he packed the jars into a little pouch and stood on a stool, now gaining a little height on Mark, he handed the pouch with an arrogant smile while reaching his hand out for the money.
Mark took out the required gold and handed it to the merchant, when he was about to place it on the outstretched hand, he once again looked in his eyes and smiled with just the tip of his lips.
The man’s arrogance vanished and he stood there still in the same position, but now shaking like a leaf. Not punishing him any further Mark left the money, took the pills, and walked out of the shop.