Yemi led Jack to an area at the back of the shop, where there was a greater selection of clothing stored within wardrobes upon wardrobes, stacked on top of each other all the way up to the ceiling. What's even more interesting was that these wardrobes seemed to magically move and shift around, rising and lowering between the levels. Jack figured that this feature was probably implemented to make it easier to access a large selection of clothing. Instead of climbing up a ladder, one could simply command an upper wardrobe to lower down to their level. Not only was it practical, it also looked cool as heck, like something straight out of Harry Potter.
"Riti! Leti! We have a new customer!" Yemi called out.
As if on command, two young girls immediately popped out from within the crevices of the shifting wardrobes, charged with eager youthful energy. "Yes, mama! Hello, customer! Riti and Leti at your service!" they replied in perfect unison as they performed a cutesy curtsy.
Jack noticed that these two girls were actually identical twins. Both were around 14 years of age and were as fashionably dressed as Yemi with their colorful robes of green and orange and various decorative jewelry. On the surface, they looked nearly identical to each other, not only in the way their faces look but in the way they dress. Well, to be more exact, they look more like mirror versions of one another. Each of them had their ginger dreadlocks tied into a side ponytail but at different sides, with one having her ponytail on the right side and another having hers on the left.
"Jack, these are my two daughters, Riti and Leti," Yemi introduced as she pointed to which girl having which name, with Riti having her ponytail on her right and Leti having her ponytail on her left. "They help me out in the shop on occasion when they're not in school. Even though they are still apprentices in enchantment magic and tailoring, they are already quite skilled. As their mother, I couldn't be more proud."
"Mama, you are too kind." Riti said with an innocent smile.
"We still have much to learn." Leti said, also smiling innocently.
The way their sentences flowed so well with one another made it seem as though they are mentally synchronized, like how twins are typically portrayed in most fictional media. Seeing it firsthand, Jack thought of it as being quite bizarre, even in a fantasy world with magic and anthropomorphic animals.
Yemi let out a delightful chuckle before patting Jack on the shoulder. "Girls, this is our new recruit, Jack. He came by with Dingo and the others just now."
"Uncle Dingo is here?! Hooray! Hooray!" Both of them squealed as they leapt joyfully in the air. "We want to see him! Where is he?!"
"You'll get to see him later. For now, we're here to help Jack pick out a couple of things that he needs. Make sure to be nice to him, okay?"
The twins grimaced a little but then turned to Jack with a sense of renewed interest.
"So, a new recruit, eh? How interesting," Leti said, rubbing her chin.
"You don't look that impressive to me," Riti said with a skeptical frown.
"Oh, trust me, I'm more impressive than I look," said Jack. "So, twins, huh? You two must be very close, then."
"Of course! We may be two separate people-" said Riti.
"...but are of one mind and soul. We can practically-" said Leti.
"...finish each other's sentences-"
"...because we know what the other is thinking."
"And, in some cases, talk at exactly the same time!" they both said in unison.
Jack thought that there was no way this wouldn't get endearing and/or annoying very quickly. Despite that, he's quite curious about the bond they share and decided to test its limits. "So what you're saying is you two can basically read each other's minds and thus can pretty much agree on anything, huh? I don't quite believe it. There must be something you two can disagree with."
"Nope. There really isn't," Leti said confidently.
"Go ahead and try us," Riti said with equal confidence.
"Ask us any question and we'll give you the same exact answer!" they said in unison as they held hands and do what was akin to a short ballerina dance.
"Okay, then. Uhh...what's your favorite color?" asked Jack.
"Lavender Violet!" they answered together.
"What's your favorite food?"
"Mama's roasted boar!"
"Which one of you is Dingo's favorite?"
"I am!" they both said in unison, but of course each of them was referring to themselves and not to the other twin. Upon realizing the contradicting nature of their answers, they glared intensely at each other before starting a heated argument.
"Hey, what are you talking about?! Clearly I am Uncle Dingo's favorite?!" Riti said jealously.
"No, you're not. Clearly, I am!" Leti said, also jealously.
"Well, I am the older one, so obviously I'm his favorite!"
"Only by a couple of minutes. Also, just because you're the oldest doesn't mean your his favorite. Besides, I'm slightly prettier than you, so I'm undoubtedly his favorite."
"No, I'm prettier. Also, I'm better in enchantment magic than you are!"
"No, you're not! Stop lying! I'm Uncle Dingo's favorite!"
"No, I am!"
"No, I am!"
They went at it back and forth for a while until they start flailing their tiny fists at each other, sort of like how two cats would playfully swipe their claws at each other. While Jack didn't expect for this kind of reaction from them, he honestly didn't mind it as he found it kind of hilarious. Eventually, Yemi stepped in between the twins to break them up, stopping their play fight.
"Girls, girls, stop fighting, please," she urged. "You're here to help Jack find suitable gear, remember? Let's stay on task, alright?"
"Yeah, sure. But first-" Riti said.
"...you need take a bath," Leti said, pointing at Jack.
"A bath?" asked Jack.
"Of course! We wouldn't want you filthy body-" said Leti.
"...touching our clothes as you try them out." said Riti.
"There's a bath at the back of the shop," Yemi offered. "You can use it to wash yourself if you like."
----------------------------------------
They led Jack to a bathing area that was essentially just a small room with a wooden bathtub in it. It was by no means anything fancy but he didn't mind as long as he could get himself clean. Right as he slowly dipped himself into the hot bath water, he gradually felt all the stress in his body melting away. He can hardly remember the last time he had taken an actual bath. All those days surviving in the wilderness had made his body felt unimaginably grimy, so a bath like this was much needed.
After the bath, Yemi and the twins had him try out a selection of clothes. After an hour or so, Jack managed to have a set that fits him both practically and aesthetically; a simple set of light leather armor with a dark-teal cotton shirt and pants underneath. Overall, not too shabby, if he could say so himself.
Once the attire had been selected, it's time to choose a weapon. Oren guided Jack through the weapons area to see which weapon would suit his needs the best. Similar to the wardrobes, the weapon racks were able to shift and rotate themselves, allowing for the whole selection to be displayed in front of them in a fairly convenient manner. For such a small shop, the choices in weaponry was surprisingly large and diverse, so much so that it almost made Jack felt a bit dizzy.
While they were looking, Dingo was having a fun time playing with the twins, who were more than delighted to interact with the white-furred mage. Dingo was using his wind magic to summon a miniature whirlwind around the twins to make them float and tumble playfully in the air while they giggled and squealed. Jack was a bit pleasantly surprised to see that the infamous Howling Wind, in addition to being a dashing rapscallion, also has a way with kids.
"So, young one, what is your choice of arms?" Oren asked Jack, grinning with the smile of a used car salesman as he presented each weapon like they were his prized trophies. "Do you fancy yourself a sword? Or maybe you're an axe guy like me? Or how about a spear? Or a mace? A halberd? A warhammer? Would you like a shield to go with that? I even have some bows and crossbows if you fancy that."
Every weapon presented was of such unique and varying designs that it nearly crippled Jack with indecisiveness. There were obviously a lot of factors to consider when choosing a weapon. First of all, he had to know how to use such weapon with at least a good amount of proficiency. Secondly, the weapon had to be versatile, able to help him out in a variety of situations. And then there was the price range that needed to be taken into account. Even though Dingo told him not to worry about the price too much, it was evident from Raven's previous comment that they weren't exactly rolling in coin. Whatever weapon he chooses has to not only be a good fit for him but inexpensive as well. With these limitations put into place, it should narrow the choices down quite a bit.
"Well, I'm more of a sling guy myself," said Jack. "Though I do like to get myself a short-range melee weapon for when things get up close and personal."
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He randomly picked up one of the swords from the rack and swung it a couple of times to test out its weight and balance. It was then that Musashi took notice.
"Your form is poor, sporeling," the mushroom samurai said. "Have you ever been trained in handling a sword before?"
"Uhh, not really. Hardly even touched a sword until now." Jack didn't think that wielding poorly crafted plastic replicas at a cosplay convention would count as 'handling a sword'.
"I see. Then perhaps you should hold off on purchasing a sword until you learn some basic swordsmanship. I can offer to teach you if you like. In the meantime, you should probably get yourself a dagger. It's more user-friendly for a novice."
"You're willing to teach me? Sweet! Thanks a bunch!" Jack put the sword back and picked up a simple steel dagger from the rack.
"You'll probably need more than that, mate," Dingo pointed out. "Since you didn't even know about mana dampeners, I reckon you're pretty much a greenhorn when it comes to the fundamentals of magic. We'll have to give you a brief overview, fill you in on whatever knowledge you're lacking."
The twins simultaneously gasped at that comment.
"He doesn't know about mana dampeners?" Riti said with a condescending look at Jack.
"What a dummy." Leti said, also with a condescending look.
"Dummy! Dummy! Jack is a dummy!" they both mocked in a cheerful melody.
"Shut up!" Jack snapped, embarrassed at his own deficiencies.
----------------------------------------
After everything had been picked out, Oren went to the counter to calculate the total price of the gear. "The total comes downs to 2 gold 50 silver."
"2 gold 50 silver? That's ridiculous!" Dingo argued. "I thought we had the Crimson Flame discount."
"That was including the discount. Our shop is going through tough times. You know that."
"You think the Crimson Flame isn't suffering as well. Our funds are running dry." Dingo put on his signature charismatic grin. He might have the face of a dog but, at that brief moment, he displayed the slyness of a fox. "Come now, mate. Give me a break here. We're best buds after all. Can't you just lower the price just a bit more?"
Oren folded his arms, his gaze rigid and indifferent. It made him feel like an immovable mountain, something that no amount of Dingo's charm could overcome. "2 gold 50 silver. That is final."
Dingo scratched his head in frustration. "How about...2 gold 10 silver?"
"2 gold 50 silver."
"2 gold...15 silver?"
"2 gold 50 silver."
"2 gold...17 silver?"
"2 gold 50 silver. And not a single copper less. We could do this all day, you know."
"Dingo, forget about it," Yemi said. "You know how stubborn he gets, especially when it comes to things like this."
Dingo sighed. "Alright, final offer. How about 2 gold 50 silver, but then I'll pickpocket that 50 silver off of you afterwards?"
Oren narrowed his eyes. "You even try to steal from me and I'll skin you alive and turn you into fur coats for my daughters to wear."
"Hooray!" the twins cheered.
Raven groaned. "Don't feed into his kink, Oren."
"How about I throw in Frilbert's tail?" Dingo bargained. "You ever tried grilled scalyfaun tail skewer before? I heard they're pretty tasty. Plus, it's a highly prized alchemical ingredient with some pretty good medicinal properties. Isn't that right, Musashi? You're the healer of our group. Back me up here."
Upon hearing the offer, Frilbert immediately panicked and held his tail in a protective manner. "Hey! Leave my tail out of this!"
"Relax, Fril. It'll grow back, wouldn't it?"
"That's not the point!"
As they were arguing about the price, something caught Jack's attention. A large pile of tools---pickaxes, wood axes, and gardening hoes--- all gathered at a corner of the shop next to the forge. He noticed, from the color of the metal, that all these tools were made of bronze. Moreover, they were all damaged or broken in some shape or form.
"Hey, Oren. What's up with all those broken tools over there?" he asked as he walked towards the pile.
"Oh, those?" replied the dwarf. "Yeah, I've been having a whole bunch of repair orders on tools like those, mostly from the locals and whatnot. People kept breaking them and I keep fixing them. There are so many orders coming in that I pretty much have my hands full just repairing them."
"Well, duh. Of course they break so easily. They're all made of bronze. Couldn't you make them out of steel or something?"
"We've been having a major steel shortage around here. Almost all the steel had been confiscated by the Dorencor military for the war effort. Because of the scarcity of steel around here, the price of steel have skyrocketed pretty much overnight. I practically have to fight the guards to keep my share of steel in the shop or else they'd empty out my entire weapons collection."
"And it's not just Grumgrod either," Yemi added. "Pretty much every city in Dorencor is running low on steel and divinium nowadays, all diverted to fighting the war against demons."
"Really? That's terrible," Jack commented. "I didn't realize things got that bad."
Oren scoffed. "Yeah, no kidding. Why else do you think I have to charge you so much, even though you're only buying a measly dagger and some leather armor? Anyway, that's why most townsfolk around here are forced to use bronze tools, at least for the time being. They couldn't afford to buy steel anymore so they resort to using inferior equipment. Honestly, at this point, it'll be less expensive to just fork over some coin to buy a good set of steel tools than paying over and over again to repair the bronze tools, even with the inflated prices."
Just as Oren was explaining the situation, something popped up in Jack's vision---a small circular icon of a wrench and a string of words floating on one of the bronze pickaxes. The words read:
[Repair: Bronze Pickaxe]
Ingredients:
* 3 Bronze
Repair Time:
* 2.0 seconds
Wait, did it just give me the option to repair this tool? Jack thought to himself as he discovered this new function. Might as well give it a try.
He tried pressing the icon to prompt the repairing process but the icon briefly flashed red and produced a soft low beeping noise, after which a line of words appeared over it.
[You do not have sufficient materials to repair this item.]
Hmm, so I need the appropriate materials in order to repair something.
While this was going on, Oren and the others were watching Jack curiously. In their point of view, he was simply pointing and maneuvering his finger in mid-air next to one of the broken tools like some sort of crazy person.
"Uhh, mate. What are you doing?" Dingo asked him.
Jack ignored the question and instead turned his attention towards a stack of bronze ingots at a table nearby. The pop-up said he needed bronze to repair the pickaxe, so he might as well get the bronze from somewhere. "Hey, Oren. Can I borrow one of these bronze ingots over here?"
Oren scratched his beard in confusion. "Uhh, sure. Don't know why you'd need it, though."
Jack picked up one of the ingots and absorbed it into his inventory, disintegrating it into particles of light.
[+5 Bronze]
Afterwards, he returned to the broken pickaxe to try to repair it using the icon again. After only two seconds---just as the display had indicated---the broken pickaxe was briefly engulfed in an aura of blue light before turning into a fully-repaired pickaxe. Everyone in the shop watched it happen and were amazed by the process.
"Well, I'll be damned, boy," Oren muttered in disbelief, picking up the newly repaired pickaxe and analyzed it with an intense fasciation. "It's...completely repaired, almost like new! How in Rongor's name did you do that?"
Jack shrugged. "I don't know. I just...did it." He turned to look at everyone with their stunned expressions. "Why are you guys looking at me like that? Come on, it's not like what I did was anything special. You guys can do magic that's pretty much as impressive as mine, if not more. I don't see what the big deal is."
Yemi grabbed the repaired pickaxe from Oren and studied it herself, scanning every surface of it with microscopic detail. "This is not like any magic I have ever seen, and I've seen plenty. It doesn't fit any category of magic that I can think of. Is this perhaps a mana construct, with a solid texture enchantment? Or did you perhaps substitute the material with the wood from the handle and fused it together somehow?" She then took out a small magnifying glass with a purple lens and used it to study the repaired tool further. "No, this is actually repaired. Without any glyphs or runes. And barely any mana residue. This is incredible! Who taught you this kind of magic? Which academy did you study under to learn this?"
"Academy? I didn't go to any sort of academy. I just sort of knew how to do it." He reckoned it'll be kind of difficult to explain that he essentially got his magic from some weird reality-altering dude with a truck for a head.
"I find that hard to believe." The enchantress gave a skeptical look as she passed the pickaxe to her twin daughters for them to study. "Magic of this level must have at least some amount of specialized training behind it."
"Our new recruit here is kind of an oddity for sure. There's no doubt about it," said Dingo. "I once saw him hammer through a stone wall and then put it back together. Not with immense strength or anything like that, but with magic. Whatever magic he's using seems to be cut from a different cloth from what we're used to. This guy is full of surprises."
Riled up with excitement, Oren picked up another broken tool---this time a bronze wood axe---and a couple of bronze ingots and shoved it to Jack. "Here, try it again. Repair this one for me."
Jack did as he asked. He absorbed a bunch of bronze ingots into his inventory---increasing his supply of bronze---before activating the repair icon on the bronze wood axe, repairing it in mere seconds.
"Ooh, fascinating. Very fascinating! Here, another." Oren kept handing him broken tools and ingots and Jack kept repairing them, with each repair adding to the dwarven blacksmith's excitement. In a matter of minutes, all the tools from the pile have been repaired, after which Oren let out a hearty laugh. "Young one, you are certainly a lot of help. It would have taken me days of work to repair all this but you have done it in an afternoon without breaking a sweat. How truly wonderful! You are certainly something else!"
"You have gained Papa's approval," said Riti.
"That is not easy to do," said Leti.
"You have our approval as well!" they said in unison as they both gave him a thumbs-up.
"Glad to be of help," said Jack. "Say, about the cost of the gear-"
Oren waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, that? Don't worry about it! You can have them for free!"
Jack looked at him with wide eyes. "Oh wow, really?"
"Yeah! Consider these repairs you've done for me as payment for your gear. You're good."
"Nice! Thank you so much!"
"Well, isn't that convenient?" Dingo said with a smirk, more than happy to not having to pay when he otherwise would have.
Oren then slung his arm around Jack's shoulders and look into his eyes. "Say, boy, you ever interested in smithing work? Maybe an apprenticeship? I have a position open for you if you so incline."
Dingo pulled Jack away from Oren. "Woah, easy there, master blacksmith. You trying to snatch this recruit off my hands now?"
"What there's to snatch? We all work in the same team, aren't we? All working under the glorious name of the Crimson Flame? Besides, I can certainly see his skills having more use with me in my shop than with you, don't you think?"
"Yeah, thanks for the kind offer, but I just arrived here today," Jack said. "I still need a couple of days to get settled in before I could make any sort of commitment. Although, that offer is not entirely off the table. I'll definitely take my time to consider it."
"I'll hold you to it, then," Oren said. "I'll see you soon."
"Good-bye, Jack. Nice meeting you," Yemi said, waving goodbye.
"Bye now!" the twins waved as well.
"Bye! See you later!" Jack replied with a wave of his own.
With that, the group exited the shop.