Duncan woke up refreshed. The fatigue of yesterday was completely forgotten. Looking at the ceiling and the rays of light coming from the window he debated who he would visit first. Elland or Maryka were his targets.

He finally decided on Maryka as he needed an extra set of clothes and she usually ran to the fields early. Elland was in his workshop whenever he was not at Wazsh’s place for all he knew.

Duncan quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth and watched his toothpaste supply reach critical mass.

“Soon,” he said as he checked himself in the mirror and left for the kitchen.

Wazsh was not to be found so he immediately left the bar and headed toward Maryka’s boutique. The Main Street was quiet as usual as the long shadow spread in front of him. He was feeling confident in his new look but he still checked his breath when he was about halfway there.

Passing Clara’s, Elland’s, and Timor’s shops he soon came to the boutique. He tried the door and it was locked. He rang the bell and no one answered. The confidence from before vanished like snow in the spring. Duncan breathed out heavily and suddenly his tense shoulders loosened. He felt like he dodged a bullet.

“Why the hell am I so tense? I am just going to a tailor,” he asked himself in his head as he turned around and started walking to Elland’s.

Once there he opened the door and heard the familiar chime. Elland came out from the workshop a moment later.

“Good morning! I have been expecting you but not so early,” Elland greeted with a smile.

Duncan looked at him with melancholy and replied, “Morning. Where should we do this?”

Elland looked at him dumbfounded before asking, “What ruined your day so early?”

“Don’t ask. Let’s just get this done so I can go…” Duncan replied.

Elland shrugged and stated, “Alright, follow me.”

Duncan nodded yawning and followed behind Elland as he made his way through the workshop to the back of the building into a large room with a tiled floor.

“I use this when I have a lot of things to wash. Just dump whatever bodies you have here,” Elland said and gestured with his right arm.

Duncan quickly dropped the two Ghouls before he turned around and left the room.

Elland turned to the Ghouls’ body parts and Duncan; left and right a couple of times, unable to decide his priorities before once again, shrugging and following. As he came into the workshop, he found Duncan depositing the purified Wraith remains on a clean desk.

“Anything else?” Duncan asked.

“Seriously? What’s wrong with you?” he asked Duncan.

“Nothing. Did you manage to translate those books?” Duncan asked, trying to divert the topic.

Elland nodded before saying, “I translated the first one and half of the next one. Wait, I will go fetch it.”

Duncan nodded as Elland rushed out. He was looking around the workshop and saw a herb he tried Identify on it.

[

Blue stalk grass – good quality

Used for stabilizing excess fire-aligned ingredients in potions

]

Duncan touched it and it was cool to the touch. He tried using it on several others and they all returned descriptions of name, quality, and usage.

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He yawned before murmuring, “At least all that learning didn’t go to waste.”

Elland came back carrying a small booklet.

“Here you go. Now tell me what’s going on!” he said to Duncan.

“Is it safe to learn this stuff,” Duncan replied while ignoring Elland’s question.

“What do you mean by safe?” Elland asked.

“You said it was about dark and death magic…” Duncan said with a whisper.

Elland rolled his eyes, “No knowledge is unsafe. It depends on how you use it. You can find here a lot of information on how to defend yourself against death and dark magic.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I get it,” Duncan said as he raised his arms.

“Forget it. Come back when you come to your senses. I have some more recipes you could learn,” Elland said and waved his hands in order to get Duncan out of his workshop as soon as possible.

“Alright stop with the waving. I am leaving,” Duncan said and made for the door.

Elland stroked his forehead and shook his head as he watched him leave.

“You are a pain in the ass to deal with Duncan. Do you know that?” he whispered as the chimes rang once again.

As Duncan came out, he felt lost for a second. He ended his plans from yesterday way too early. Considering his options, he turned towards Maryka’s boutique again and started walking.

The sun shining on his back and warming it didn’t know the melancholy of the owner. He reached Maryka’s boutique and kept looking at buildings along the way. They were all like a bunch of row houses. Two-story houses which looked almost identical. The person who built them was lacking any imagination. There was a closed occasional shop but otherwise, it was all residential buildings.

Soon he came to a crossroad across which there was the biggest building he saw in this village. Compared to the rest it was made from stone instead of wood. It had two big pillars covered by a roof that reached the second story. Big steps led towards a big double door at the end. The doors were imposing at four meters high and at least three meters wide.

“Those were certainly not made for the dwarfs. This must be the mayor’s house,” he mumbled and went to the left. Soon he came to the end of the village and saw green and yellow fields that stretched to the wall.

There were workers on the field and he went to get a closer look at what they were doing. He saw a lot of males wielding scythes while women and children were picking up something that looked like a grain crop. Women were stacking the cut bushels and children were tying them up for transport.

He found a loose stalk and picked it up to Identify it. He got the result he wanted but he never heard of this grass-like grain.

[

Sorghum – good quality

Food use. No medicinal use.

]

As he walked closer, he saw a familiar figure adjust her hair as sunshine gently stroked her back. He instinctively made a half-turn as his heartbeat quickened.

“No. You went to meet her today. What the fuck are you doing?” he berated himself in his mind.

He used his heels to turn back like a robot and walked nearer.

As he was about three meters behind her and she was leaning over to pick up the cut stalks he coughed.

She turned around with sweat covering her forehead and her moist hair sticking to it. Looking at a man watching her behind she didn’t hide her displeasure.

“You have a problem?” she asked.

“Hello. I was looking for you!” Duncan said.

She looked at the man standing in front of her and saw a vague similarity to someone but was unable to place him.

She asked, “Looking for me? What for?”

“You said I can come and get measured for pants and shirts one morning,” Duncan replied with disappointment written on his face.

“I did? I am sorry but I don’t remember you,” Maryka stated with suspicion on her face.

Duncan looked left and right feeling self-conscious about the crowd of people running about their business, as he was accused of being a pervert looking at her behind.

“Yes. You did. You sold me some old underwear and socks last week. I came looking for you twice at your shop. I now found you by chance here,” he quickly spewed out and looked around if anyone was eavesdropping.

She was taken aback before she said, “Duncan?”

Now Duncan was surprised, “You remembered my name?”

“Well, I don’t get many customers these days. You look totally different though. In a good way. I mean better, I mean I am sorry I didn’t recognize you before,” she said flustered.

“No. No need to apologize. I did change a lot with the new haircut and shave. I see you are busy. Do you have time in the evening?” Duncan asked with a hurry in his voice trying to get away from the crowd as soon as possible.

She puckered her lips thinking before she replied, “Yes. I am free. What do you have in mind?”

“Alright, I will leave you to work right now and come back to your shop in the evening so you can take my measurements,” he said and gave her a thumbs up before he turned and started walking.

She looked at him with a dumb-founded expression when he suddenly turned around.

“I forgot to say goodbye,” he said as he scratched the back of his head.

She shook her head to calm herself and muttered in disbelief, “Goodbye.”

Duncan nodded and left.