I smiled to myself as I walked through the streets, taking in the various sights. I honestly felt that the festival was kind of silly, but wasn’t about to complain that there was such a happy event when I decided to explore on my own. It wasn’t often that I did stuff like this, and I wasn’t about to waste it.
While I was out, I felt various powers sweep over me, feeling as if they were investigating me. Thinking that this seemed rather normal, I didn’t mind as long as I didn’t feel any malice or killing intent. If that happened, I would have more than happily led them along and let them walk to their own demise.
Instead, I found myself enjoying various roadside snacks, some of which seemed familiar to my old world, bringing back a sense of nostalgia. Tsubaki was a great cook, don’t get me wrong. However, most of the cuisine she makes is from this world. Every now and then, she’ll make a recipe she learned about from Aurivy or Udona, though these occasions have become more frequent over the last few days. No doubt she was taking advantage of being able to access Udona’s library directly in the Admin Room.
I heard a bright laugh off in the distance, seeing a set of games set up to give the younger audience something fun to do during the event. A small smile crept over my face, and I couldn’t help but appraise the participating human child. To my surprise, their levels were already over three hundred in total, despite looking to be no more than twelve years old.
That must be the effects of introducing level spheres to the education system… I thought to myself, nodding in satisfaction. As I did, I saw an elven child run over towards me.
“Hey, mister!” He called out, waving at me. Surprised, I turned to face him.
“Yes? Is there something that I can do for you?” Given his race, it was hard to appraise his true age. It was possible, even, that he was more than fifty years old.
The boy gave a cheerful smile. “I wanted to invite you over to my family shop! You seem like you would need what we have!”
“Oh?” I blinked in confusion. “Why is that? What is it your family sells?”
“Enchantments!” He proclaimed proudly. “My family have the best magic shop this side of the city! You don’t have any enchantments on you, so that’s really risky to be running around like this! We’ve got a bit of a problem with crooks around here, after all.”
“That so?” I chuckled, assuming that must have been some of the powers I felt earlier. “Alright. In that case, I’ll be in your care.”
The boy nodded his head with a bright smile, turning and running down the street, beckoning me to follow. I couldn’t help but grin as I followed him. “Aren’t you worried I might be one of those crooks?”
“Nope!” The boy shook his head. “Mom says I’ve got a good eye for people. Even got an achievement to show for it! I can look at someone and get a sort of idea if they’re good or bad. Mom says it’s karma, but I don’t know. I’ve heard the Empress of Bloodhaven can see it with her own eyes, but I can’t do anything like that! It’s just a kind of feeling, I guess?”
“And what do you feel from me?” I was genuinely curious about that, as it had been a while since I last asked Scarlet about my karma.
“Nothing special, really! It’s like you’re just another person.” The boy sook his head again, leading me into a large store a couple of blocks from where we had met. “Mom, I brought a customer!”
“Danny, I keep telling you not to bother people like that…” An elven woman spoke up from behind the counter in exasperation. She had long, orange hair and violet eyes. At a glance, I could tell that she had walked the full path of perfection, showing that she was quite powerful in her own right. She walked over, offering me a gentle smile. “I am sorry, I hope my son hasn’t caused you any trouble. My name is Dorian Grey.”
Seeing her polite bow, I couldn’t help but shake my head. “No trouble at all, really.”
“Yeah, mom! I had him come over because he’s walking around without any protective enchantments! It’d be bad to let someone like that get in trouble, right?” Danny spoke up to defend himself, causing Dorian to smile somewhat bitterly.
“Danny, if you can’t sense his enchantments, they’re probably above your level.” After she said that, she turned to look at me again, before blinking. “You… really don’t have any?”
It seemed she was quite confident in her own level as an enchantress, given her tone of voice. “Afraid not.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Your son said that I could get some here?”
“Oh, yes, of course!” Dorian nodded her head, quickly moving back to the counter. “First, I’d suggest checking your inventory. If you were walking around completely unprotected, you might have already encountered trouble without realizing.”
I blinked at her words, opening up my inventory to check. “No… everything’s where it should be.” Granted, all I brought with me was enough money to ensure that I’d be able to enjoy myself.
Dorian let out a relieved sigh, nodding once again. “That’s fortunate. They probably saw you and assumed that you were a martial expert. Most ursa that travel these parts are.” It took me a moment for that to click, and remember that I was currently using an ursa body as my avatar.
Letting out another chuckle, I simply shook my head. “Either way. What sort of enchantments do you offer here?”
Dorian thought it over for a moment. “For the general public, we have anti-theft and defensive charms. If you are licensed, we can sell you offensive enchantments, or customize your equipment for you. I try to keep my prices as affordable as possible, since I don’t have to worry about paying any staff.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
I raised an eyebrow, looking around the store. “You work here alone?” This store was easily the size of a normal supermarket, with over a hundred aisles containing various goods as well as storage rooms.
“Not quite.” The woman shook her head. “I suppose I should clarify, to prevent confusion.” She snapped her fingers, and a clone of herself appeared next to her. “I studied the Maid avatars, and created a spell that allows me to create similarly self-aware copies of myself. This entire store has a mana-gathering array built into it, enhancing the effects of my magic so long as I am here, while allowing me to tap into it to replenish my reserves.”
I nodded my head, genuinely impressed. “In that case, can you take me through your different defensive charms?”
Dorian smiled, nodding her head. “Of course, sir. For anti-theft, there are typically three levels of charms we deal in. The first warns you about unauthorized inventory access. The second allows you to disguise valuable items as something else, to discourage thieves. The third hides your inventory from any outside viewers. Or, rather, it covers it in a black film. A powerful enough rogue, or a god with a relevant domain, will be able to get through this charm, and it won’t stop thieves from taking your belongings. Instead, it stops them from seeing what they’re taking, so they are more likely to take something worthless if they make the attempt.”
“The most common combination is the first and second types, as they will be triggering an alarm if they take the gamble, alerting you while likely escaping with nothing. Though, you’ll need a different charm depending on how many inventory slots you have. If you don’t mind telling me, I can find a price for the necessary charms?”
I thought about it for a moment, before checking my inventory. I had never gone out of my way to request additional inventory slots, so I only had the ones I had gained from my levels. “Just under three hundred.”
The woman blinked slowly at that, before nodding her head respectfully. “I see, I’m surprised. I didn’t realize that you were so skilled. Every hundred slots is treated as a ‘page’, needing its own charm. I’ll prepare three sets of charms for you. Is twenty-five gold coins a convenient price?”
“If the charms are as useful as you say, I think it might be too little.” I told her honestly, setting a white gold coin on the counter. This was four times the price that she had asked, but I didn’t feel that I was paying too much. If anything, the value of these charms should be worth at least that much.
The woman’s eyes went wide as she saw the coin. She knew that I wasn’t asking her to make change, since the inventory system was able to automatically convert the currency. I could easily pay exact change if I had wanted to. “Sir, this is far too much for a simple tip.”
I shook my head, denying her attempts to return the coin. “It’s how much I feel these charms are worth.” In all honesty, I didn’t really need the charms in the first place, but I did think that they were worth this price.
Dorian bit her lip briefly, before nodding her head. “I understand. In that case, please give me a moment.” As she said that, she created two clones of herself, each of which rushed into the aisles of the store, searching around for something.
While I waited, I glanced outside the store, where I noticed that the festivities seemed to have died down. My brow furrowed, and Dorian’s eyes followed my own. “What’s happening?” She muttered, walking out to the front of the store. Naturally, I followed along.
Outside, there were fifty halfling crusaders, wearing a mix of full plate and white robes. They marched down the street with a frightening expression on their faces. The only identifying mark to show their allegiance was the blood red handprint on their chests. “Those are… the Bloody Hand, right? Why would the Church of Travel’s military be marching out?”
“That… is a very good question. Maybe the Goddess learned of a secret that she couldn’t tolerate?” I suggested, my eyes narrowed as I looked in the direction that they were moving.
Dorian merely chuckled. “I do not mean to speak ill of the Greater Pantheon, sir, but there are many things wrong with this world. If a prayer to one of them would solve such plights, we wouldn’t have any criminals to deal with.”
I shook my head, denying her words. “Though it may seem it, the eyes and ears of the gods are not everywhere at once. Or… it could be more accurate to say that they can’t see everything because their eyes are everywhere. It sounds unfair, but most prayers come across as little more than white noise. There are only two ways to guarantee that a prayer is truly heard by one of the Greater Gods. Either you are in a position where they pay special attention to you, such as one of their champions, or the news is delivered to their mortal incarnation.”
Dorian turned to look at me in surprise. “How would you know something like that, sir?”
I blinked, before putting on a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I had the chance to talk with one of them before, and they explained it to me. They don’t like to get involved normally, but there are some crimes that just can’t be tolerated if brought to their attention. For her to make a move like this… someone crossed her bottom line in a big way.”
“I hope everything will be fine…” Dorian shook her head, backing away from the door. It was clear that none of the crusaders were heading for the store, and she knew that she hadn’t done anything wrong to anger Aurivy.
I couldn’t help but crack a bitter smile. Unlike Dorian, I could feel Aurivy’s anger radiating through her representatives. On some level, it had permeated her divinity, and traveled to those who acted on her behalf. I felt sorry for whatever bastard got her this mad, but I knew that they had it coming. Everything okay, Rivy?
Not right now, it isn’t. She answered in a surprisingly firm tone. It will be soon, though. Don’t worry, I’m just doing a bit of cleaning up.
Got it, but be careful. I can feel your anger from all of your crusaders. You’ll probably be scaring a lot of kids who don’t know what they’re feeling.
There was a long silence after that, and the anger I felt from the crusaders slowly drifted away. Sorry… I didn’t think of that. Thanks for the reminder, Dale. There was something in her tone that made it seem like she was truly regretful at the idea of scaring children, more so than normal.
Don’t tell me--
I won’t, so don’t ask. Please. I’m taking care of the issue. Trust me on this one.
My eyes went wide in surprise at Aurivy’s almost pleading tone. She truly did not want to talk about what was going on. She didn’t even want to think about it. “Oh, they have really messed up…”
If she was so against telling me what was going on, that meant one of three things. One, she thought she was overreacting and that I’d try to stop her. That seemed unlikely, given the circumstance.
Two, just thinking about what was happening made her angry, and she truly didn’t want to let any of that leak out. I’d have believed that if it was before I gave her that reminder, but she didn’t even want to tell me before I pointed that out.
That left option three. She didn’t want to tell me because she wasn’t overreacting and knew that I would personally get involved if I found out what was going on. And that if I did so, I would make a much bigger scene of it.