After Aric saw how eagerly Elijah listened to him, he ended his explanation with a laugh. "Dude, why do you know so little? Knowledge of skills is the basics of basics." Elijah felt uncomfortable and didn’t know what to answer. Kael came to his rescue.
"You forget that there are still kingdoms where education of this kind is knowingly denied."
"All right," Aric clapped his hands together. "I have a few things to do. What are you two doing?"
"I'm going to relax today," Kael said.
Elijah smelled his clothes. He smelled like sweat. "I really need some new clothes."
Chapter Begin
A bell rang as Kael and Elijah opened the door to the clothing store. Kael had offered Elijah to accompany him to the store as he had nothing else to do. On the way, he told Elijah how fortunate he was to get a skill like [Wooden Thorn] as a gift from Alex.
The guild leader once invited three members who were triplets to a meal when they entered the guild. Every new member got some kind of gift from Alex but only about a dozen got something as valuable as a skill.
According to Kael it also depended heavily on the circumstances. Alex was in a good mood as they found him two gold mines on the floating island. He had been in a good and generous mood.
Elijah heard a young lady rushing forward from the back of the store before he saw her. A woman of small height with a button nose and thin lips. Her monolid eyes landed on him and lingered for a second before the vendor turned to Kael and nodded at him repeatedly. “Welcome Mr. Heart, it’s been a long time. How may I help you?” She asked and nodded at Elijah too, who nodded back before looking around the store.
Oh man, she’s my type. He threw another glance at her before his eyes moved across the room as Kael returned the greeting.
“Hey, Ms. Dane. How have you been?”
“Everything is in the best order,” she said as her eyes turned to Elijah again, who was looking around the store.
Numerous rows of clothes were spread around and several piles of clothes accumulated at different spots on the floor or small stools. It was chaos at first glance but Elijah knew from experience, that owners of these kinds of stores knew where what was most of the time.
“I’d like to buy a few sets of clothes for everyday life and two or three for traveling,” Elijah answered her initial question. He had asked Kael about the cost of clothes on their way but Kael assured him that he would probably be able to afford a few sets with the credits he got on the island.
“Which color shade would you prefer?” She looked Elijah up and down before she asked as she came forward from behind the counter, going to the right side of the store. That part of the store seemed to be reserved for male clothes and Elijah threw a look at the other side before he followed her.
“I’m Elijah Oak,” he said before he thought for a moment, “natural shades perhaps. Brown, beige, green? maybe dark red? Blue is also possible, but no bright colors please.”
“It’s a pleasure, Mr. Oak,” she nodded as she began rummaging through a pile of clothes.
“I am Isabella Dane,” she added.
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Elijah watched her as she went through several piles and took a few clothes from each. Mid-search, she tied her shoulder-length hazelnut hair into a braid. Elijah’s weakness.
Kael stood near them for the first few minutes before he spend some time going through the clothes on his own. After ten minutes he sat down on a chair and closed his eyes while Elijah started going through the clothes Isabella had picked for him.
They were mostly shirts of various pale colors, she also had mixed a few black clothes in after Elijah added the color to his list. He liked them. His favorite outfit was black pants and a white shirt with sleeves up to his elbows. After that shirt, he took a few more with similar sleeve lengths.
“All these are of excellent quality. I made them all myself,” Isabella explained as she added another shirt with long sleeves to the pile.
Elijah felt the fabric. “It’s smooth.” He looked at the pile of clothes before he added, “These should be enough. A few of them were a bit tight, do you have them in a different size?”
Isabella took the clothes and replaced a few with other sizes before she dumped the rest on the floor next to another pile of clothes. She also made no effort to clean it up. That explains the chaos here. Elijah thought.
They also went through different pants and Elijah chose five in total. Two black ones, a dark ocean blue, a green and a brown one. He put on a new pair of black pants and a white shirt with elbow-long sleeves as Isabella placed his wares on the counter before she moved to another corner of the store where several coats were hanging on display. She squatted down as she opened a drawer before pulling out a folded black cloak.
Elijah placed his old clothes next to the pile of new ones before he went to Isabella. He glanced at Kael who was seemingly asleep.
“Does it have a hood?” Elijah asked.
“Do you prefer one without?” Isabella turned around mid-squad and looked up at him.
Elijah shook his head before she got up. As she was about to go to the counter, Elijah added, “Actually, can I have two coats?”
“Both black?”
“Doesn’t really matter... Which colors do you have?” Elijah said.
Isabella opened another drawer and took out a juniper-colored coat. “How about this one?” She closed the drawer after Elijah’s confirmation and they moved to the counter where she began folding all of the clothes while Elijah went to wake up Kael.
He woke up as soon as Elijah tapped his shoulder and got up.
“It suits you,” Kael said after seeing Elijah’s new clothes before he pointed at the leafy boots. “Those don’t fit, though.”
“I know, but what can you do? They are too useful to discard them because of looks.” Elijah countered before he asked, “She said it’s going to cost 810 credits.”
“How much did you buy?” Kael asked as he glanced at the pile of clothes in front of Isabella who was still folding them.
“About eight shirts, five pants, and two cloaks,” Elijah answered before Kael nodded. Together, they went to the counter to pay for the clothes.
“The clothes have a self-repair engraving on them on the label. If you need anything, you can stop by whenever you want, thanks for your purchase.” Isabella smiled at him as she handed him a fabric bag with all his clothes. “Should I dispose of the old clothes?”
“That would be great. Thank you,” Elijah returned the smile and they said goodbye before they left the store.
“How do I transfer the money I have to my Nexus Watch? My money is not displayed on my Nexus screen,” Elijah said as he glanced at his status screen. They stood in front of the store.
“You would have to go to the bank,” Kael answered as he looked at his Nexus Watch. “I have to go, my mother just sent me a message. What are you going to do now?”
“Probably a few quests, I’m not sure yet.” Elijah raised a finger. “I have a last question, though. What happens if I lose my Nexus Watch? Is all my money gone then?”
Kael shook his head before he answered, “The ID that Fokes gave you is also an identity card. He is the only one in town who can write these runes. Where did he engrave them on you?”
“Here,” Elijah said as he showed his wrist.
“Even if you lose your hand, the ID is engraved on your soul, not on your body. Therefore, it is not a problem if you change the shape of your hand or your whole body like you did on the island. Your soul will not be affected by this change. However, there have been a few cases where the soul was affected by a Trait, and the ID got destroyed. But I don’t know if that is even true.” Kael looked at his Nexus Watch again.
“I have to meet with family, we have guests coming over from different cities because of the wedding. If you need anything, pour some essence into your Nexus Watch and send me a message,” Kael said while he was already walking away with hurried steps.
Elijah watched Kael for a few moments before he turned around. He threw a last glance inside the store and began walking through the city.
He wanted to taste a few of the fruits he had seen before on the market.