“Another girl!? And why is she naked!? What did you get up to!?” We walked into Jot’s shop, he was still excited about his new skills, he seemed to have fixed up his stock, a bunch of the metal helmets looked brand new and the leather chest plates weren’t worn anymore.
“Get your head out of the gutter, this is my new familiar, her name is Umi” Did he see me as some pervert that only recruits girls? My party might only have girls in it, but that wasn’t by choice
“Hello, my name is Umi, I am Miko’s rival” Miko’s rival? The hell?
“What!?” Miko shouted out sounding confused as me, Umi just smiled back at her
“Oh, so it’s like that, aren’t you a lucky fellow Udon” Now Jot was talking nonsense.
“Vnaa and I are going to buy some clothes for her, she will be staying here with Miko” I walked into the spare room and put the bag on the bed and grabbed the coin pouch out of it.
“Sure, who am I to say no to two beautiful young ladies to keep me company” Jot had a rather large grin on his face
“You could learn how to treat us properly from this Dwarf, Sir Udon”
“You two behave yourselves, bye you pervy Dwarf” If he was going to speak the part might as well call him out on it.
“Pervy Dwarf!” Jot widened his eyes in rage at my remark but I had already picked up Vnaa and left the shop.
“Where should we go Vnaa? I forgot the map so we are just exploring here” I looked around the town, it had a very beach side town vibe to it, the buildings were all white rock and palm trees lined up the path, everyone was wearing summer type clothing.
“There should be a tailor around here right?” I looked down at Vnaa, she seemed off, why was she acting so strange? She wasn’t purring or looking around either, is it because Umi joined us? Does she not like Umi? Or is something else up? I wonder…
“Ocean Accessory Maker, hmm, lets go in here Vnaa, there might be something useful” We walked into the store and saw a merfolk lady, she had pink hair and pink fins, she didn’t have a tail but she had fins on her wrists, she wore glasses and had Pink eyes, she wore a white top with a Pink shrug over her shoulders and white frilly fabric at the end of them, she wore white loose shorts with a pink cloth tied around them.
“Hello there! Welcome!” She had a loud and bubbly voice, she was probably in her mid 30’s
“We are interested in some accessories, do you have any that will help with magic or magic defence”
“Certainly, come over here” The cheerful lady walked over to the left side of her shop and showed us the accessories, they were all shaped as the element they supported. The Fire accessories was shaped in a flame while the water was a water droplet.
“Hmm, I have a similar one to this that I created” I mumbled to myself picking up the water accessory. I had made a water droplet accessory when Ragar showed me the basics.
“Really? You don’t find many players that make their own accessory, may I have a look” The cheerful lady smiled at me while pushing up her glasses.
“Umm, if you want, its nothing special, it was my first attempt” I pulled the water droplet accessory out of my pocket and showed her.
“Oh my, the emotion in this accessory is incredible, and you said this was your first time? You have a natural talent Sir” The cheerful lady said putting the accessory I made around her neck and then…
“Oh my, this sadness, this despair, its overwhelming, I can’t handle it” The cheerful lady started to uncontrollably cry, she quickly took the accessory off of her neck and wiped her tears.
“Please excuse me, I didn’t know it obtained that much power, how did you make this Sir?” Power? Ragar said it was a good first attempt but he wouldn’t pay anything for it.
“I learnt the basics through a Trade Skill Book then I learnt from a Merchant named Ragar”
“Ragar you say? Interesting, his actually an old student of mine, back when he was a little boy” She taught Ragar? Really? They seem like completely different people, how did Ragar learn from her, the age difference didn’t add up, Ragar looked older.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Isn't Ragar older than you?”
“Oh my, how nice of you, you’re a natural at flattery to huh” The cheerful lady blushed and gave a little giggle, I wasn’t flattering her, I wanted to know
“Merfolk age differently to humans, lets just say I’m more then double Ragar’s age” I had read about other species ageing differently in manga, even on earth, animals aged differently than humans.
“Did you say you learnt from books? How interesting, the emotion you have put into this accessory is incredibly dangerous, did little Ragar not teach you how to control your emotions? It’s amazing that someone has this much despair in them.” Little Ragar? He wasn’t little anymore.
“No, he didn’t, what do you mean by despair?” It seemed like she was making fun of me, she had taken a couple of shots like that so far.
“Who are you? And what has happened in your life to make that Gem of yours Crystal Clear?” Damn it! She saw my Gem, how? I covered it up under my sleeve.
“Don’t be alarmed Sir, if Little Ragar has accepted you then you can’t be a bad person” Ragar’s connections actually came in handy then
“I want an accessory that will boost magic power, earth, light and water please” I needed to get out of this shop quickly.
“Slow down Sir, unfortunately we only have a water and fire accessory, I would like to help you with the others but my skills have maxed out and I don’t have an upgraded skill, I can’t help with the other two accessories I’m sorry” Hmm, she was maxed out, I could make another deal here.
“I can give you an upgraded skill along with a new skill if you will give me this accessory for free” I gave my wicked grin again, the cheerful lady stood back, I must have startled her.
“Upgraded skill? May I ask you Sir, are you in fact Udon?” Huh? How did she know my name? That damn Dwarf Armourer must have bragged to her about his new skills, damn it! Why would you mention my name.
“Are you a friend of Jot’s then” If she wasn’t I needed to get out quick and give the Dwarf a taste of my mind.
“Little Jotty, of course, all us shop owners are close” Little Jotty? I need to remember that, I doubt he’ll like being called Little Jotty, time for some revenge.
“Then you’ve heard of me and what I can do, I’ll upgrade your skills and give you Skill Point Transfer” I wasn’t wasting my own SP for this.
“How lovely, I have 190 SP” …What!?
“How do you have that much!?” 190, how?
“I used to teach Little Ragar remember, we often when into the wild to gather materials, he added me to his party and before I knew it I had maxed out on level 60, normally you’d be stuck on level 60 like Little Ragar and I but if you have connections to a high nobility, they can help you break the level cap.” Theres a level cap? Had I already been told that? I don’t think I had, Jot did say he was maxed out on level 60 as well come to think of it.
“Anyway, lets not get off topic, you can upgrade my skills” The cheerful lady grabbed my hands and had the exact same hope in her eyes as Jot did when I told him.
“Yes, but I need to give you the Skill Point Transfer Skill first, then I’ll upgrade your skill”
“Both my skills?”
“Both?”
“Yes, I currently have Basic Jeweller and Basic Ore Cleaner”
“Yeah, I can upgrade both of them, but I’ll need 3 SP in return”
“Of course, oh, I haven’t introduced myself, my name is Aria Legalone” Aria bowed her head and gave a little kirtsy
“We need to be holding hands in order for this to work” I grabbed Aria’s hand and held them up in the air
“Oh my, buy a lady dinner first” Aria laughed as she blushed
“Lets get over this quickly” I felt my mouth twitch, just the thought of buying a woman dinner brought back memories of that horse bitch accusing me of trying to fill her up when I spilt her lunch
“Hmm, ok” Aria changed her tone completely, she was dead serious now.
“Skill Granter-Skill Point Transfer”
*Zap
“I’m assuming that worked?” I felt the zap, it must have worked
“Oh my, a new skill, how wonderful” Yep, it worked
“Skill Granter-Upgrade Other Skill-Basic Jeweller, and Basic Ore Cleaner”
*Zap
“Ow, that stung a little, oh my! How incredibly amazing! I have Intermediate Jeweller and Intermediate Ore Cleaner, is this a dream” Aria let go of my hands and smacked her cheeks, she was even happier then when I first walked in.
“Now, can I have the accessory please” I didn’t want her gratitude I only did it for the accessory.
“Of course, but I have something even better, just wait here” Aria walked to the back of her shop and came back shortly after, carrying a blue gem necklace
“This is an Ocean Sapphire Gemstone necklace, it will increase the users water magic by +5” I took the necklace from Aria, the centre sapphire gemstone was the biggest, it also had two smaller sapphire gemstones spaced out on either side and was all held together with a thick silver chain.
Ocean Sapphire Gemstone Necklace: Magic Power up: +15, Quality: High, Enhancement: Water Magic +5
“Are you sure, I don’t want to owe you anything, if thats your game then you can take it back”
“Don’t be silly, I don’t know what has happened between you and the opposite gender but we aren’t all like that”
“Gahh” Huh? Vnaa rubbed her head against my leg, what were these two on about?
“Hmm, seems like your little friend there is saying the same thing as me” Aria knelt down and patted Vnaa
“I’m after clothing, do you know where I can find any?” Why did so many people just ramble on about the weirdest things
“Of course, you’ll want to head out and take a right, when you see the big fountain keep following that, if you’re on the side of the market go to the other side and you’ll find it next to the weapon shop” Aria moved her arms around as she explained, I understood her directions but she didn’t need the arm movements.
“Ok, Vnaa lets go” I picked up Vnaa and we walked out the shop,
“Thank you Udon, tell Little Jotty I said high” Aria followed us out and waved to us as we walked off.