“Mr. Dorgh, you finally returned!” Anne greeted him sincerely.

The dwarf smiled back and sat while placing the covered basket over the counter.

“Is that it? May I?” The bookmancer asked excitedly, her eyes glued on the basket. The manager nodded, barely keeping his own excitement contained.

Anne uncovered the basket, revealing a dozen bottles with a slight glow in light blue and white. She took one and sized it from all sides. The idea of testing the safety of the drink did pass her mind, but doing so would offend the eager dwarf. Fortunately, she had a few counters in case of toxicity.

“How…?” She was prepared to ask the price when Dorgh cut her.

“The first bottle is a gift… that comes with a request.” He explained a little embarrassed. Anne gave him an inquisitive look.

“I hoped to ‘leave’ the drinks here for the customers to buy when they need…” He explained as he blushed through several shades of red. “I think it’s a good option to placate mental exhaustion…”

“Of course, I would pay you a fee for every bottle sold… What about a quarter of silver? Each bottle would sell for one silver.” The dwarf quickly added. He didn’t want Anne to think he was profiting from her.

“Well, that could a nice revenue addition to the business… Let me test this effect first...” The bookmancer pondered while opening the bottle.

Her first impression was a refreshing fragrance that escape the drink. Most of the irritation caused by the previous customer instantly disappeared. Anne gulped and took a sip from the brew. A cool, almost freezing sensation, filled her mouth before giving place to a deep relaxing feeling brought by a cold taste. The bookmancer involuntarily breathed out some freezing air. Her mind paused for a few seconds before completely relaxing. All her worries and problems seemed to transform into merely tasks and considerations as if everything would just work as it should. The mental strain from late night work and early morning lessened.

“Fantastic!” The bookmancer praised.

“Is that a mystic drink?” A mature voice sounded from the storage room.

“It’s, my lady.” Dorgh answered after a moment of surprise. His eyes made a quick inspection of the dwarf who was entering the room before giving her a small bow.

Dorothy was also surprised when she noticed a peer past the basket of drinks that fought to kidnap her attention. However, once she did, the appraiser straighten up herself and returned the bow followed by an introduction as her education demanded when meeting kin.

“I’m Dorothy of Coppercrevice, sir.” She spoke with a dwarven accent.

Dorgh was taken by surprise; it had been some time since someone approached him in the dwarven ways. Unconsciously, he glanced at Anne and considered how to answer without exposing some private information.

“I’m Dorgh of Ironvault, my lady.” The dwarf returned the greeting in dornese.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Dorothy felt her chest tightening when she heard her mother tongue. It had been years since she heard it, and it brought back so many memories. She didn’t give much thought to the other dwarf’s choice of language, after all, it was even more formal to greet their kin in dornese.

“Mr. Dorgh, Dorothy is helping with a few chores in the bookstore. You know how big and deserted this place is… Mr. Dorgh is the town assets manager, he helped me get a good deal on this building.” Anne explained their positions while pretending not to understand dornese. She guessed that the manager wanted to keep his origins a secret, though the reason for that remained unclear.

“Oh… He also started learning to brew mystic drinks recently…” The bookmancer added.

“Really? That’s… so interesting.” Dorothy said while considering what would be proper to add. As a materialmancer, she had a few things to commend him on and some pointers to help him improve. She was also very interested in mystic brewing since it had some common grounds with mystic cooking, but she didn’t want to lay all her cards for a stranger.

“Oh, silly me… I forgot to mention that Dorothy is a materialmancer… Could you appraise the drink for us?” Anne explained when she noticed Dorothy’s hesitation in evaluating the drink.

“A materialmancer? Such a wonderful craft… I would be much grateful if Lady Dorothy could appraise it for us. I’ll pay a fee, of course.” The dwarf stated with overpolite words.

“None of that, I would be honored to evaluate such mystical drink… You can drop the lady, Mr. Dorgh, or else our hostess might get the wrong idea about dwarves…” Dorothy said in a playful tone.

The bookmancer couldn’t say if the change in Dorothy’s accent was deliberate as part of dwarven culture, or if it had been unconsciously triggered by the manager.

“As you wish, Miss Dorothy… I won’t insist on paying but you have to at least accept a drink.” Dorgh matched her tone and added a wink. Anne decided not to read too much into the dubious meaning of the words.

“And I’ll call you on that… Let’s see, this is an ice essence drink, right? I should be able to appraise it as long as it's bellow silver…” The materialmancer explained as she held a bottle.

She placed the bottle over the counter and then her hands on each side of it, only leaving a small gap. The dwarf chanted a simple spell and some almost invisible arcane essence passed from one hand through the bottle to the other hand. The liquid glowed in response to the probing magic while Dorothy analyzed the results with closed eyes.

“Good quality! It’s an average copper drink, only slightly worse than high quality…” She explained after pondering for a few minutes.

“Hum… Thank you, Miss Dorothy. I supposed it’ll get better in the next batches… Is it fair to charge one silver for it?” The other dwarf said, clearly disheartened.

“Oh, nothing of that disappointment, Mr. Dorgh. I believe you’re an amateur, right? If you could start crafting something at high quality, why would we even need masters?” Dorothy reprimanded the other dwarf while offering some light praises. Dorgh wanted to answer, but she continued.

“One silver would be perfect, if not cheap… A potion with similar effects would cost three to four silver. When you improve it to high quality, you can add another silver to the price. I think that with proper cooling and freezing on the brewing process, an improvement shouldn’t be far…” Dorothy offered her opinion and some advice.

Dorgh's expression changed for the better in an instant. Apparently, dwarves can change mood fast like that. Then, the town manager started to pester the appraiser with questions about the quality and effects of mystic drinks and potions. Anne was ready to leave the two and the exhausting conversation when the magic circle warned her of a new arrival.

“Rick…” The bookmancer’s greeting transformed into a concerned call.

The hunter looked as if a beast had tried to chew him, with cuts and bruises all over his body and armor. The wounds looked superficial, but he had dressings in a handful of places which should indicate more serious injuries. In his defense, the boy looked more relieved and alive now that he reached the bookstore.

Then, before Anne and the dwarves could check Rick’s state, the circle warned her of the approaching of several beings. Not a minute later, the golden trio and Asha darted through the door. The group had seen the wounded hunter from distance and were rushing.

Now, everyone was here.

Well, almost everyone.