I yelled “Father!” and ran up to him. The boy named Art was still sitting at the table. Instead of looking at the book, he was looking our way.

My father asked “I hope you had a fun day Wendy. We will see you tomorrow Marv and thank you again for this.” He was looking at me at first and then finished when looking at Marv.

Marv replied with “Not a problem, I just hope she remembers what she learns, as it will help her out in the future, I am sure.” He had a smile on his face when saying that.

As my and my father where waking out of the room, I yelled back into the room “Bye Marv. Bye Art.” The door closed with a ‘bang’ before they could respond.

My dad looked at me while we walked through the hall and said with a puzzled look “So that was the boy’s name. Art. I hope you two are getting along. You are shy, but he seemed to be a little shyer. Which is surprising, considering his father is an adventurer.” I just looked at my father as we walked and talked. We made it to the front desk and my father stopped to talk to the man at one of the desks.

My father then said with a quizzical look “Excuse me sir, my name is George Zala. I apologize, but I overheard your conversation earlier and it seems you are looking for some books on teaching basic magic?”

The man looked at my father and said with an affirming nod “My name is Alex Grinfold and yes. I am looking for books on the four basic types of magic, as well as a couple other books on general magic training.”

My father had a very bright smile on his face “I may own the local bookstore and would be able to get those books in stock for you. I do not have any right now, but I doubt any other stores have them in stock either. I doubt anyone would have a better price than my store, but I would be happy to give you a price if you would like one. You could use it to compare with the other shops that might have them. I would just need the names of the books and I can have the price for you tomorrow. I was also wondering if I may know why you want the books, as I am sure the guild has some magic training books.”

The man looked excided and responded with “Sure. I will be around the hall somewhere tomorrow. I want them for personal use, we cannot exactly take the books from the guilds reference section. I will write down the books I need, give me just a moment.” The man writes something on a piece of paper and hands it to my father.

My father takes the paper and chuckles a little. He says “These will be easy to get and should not cost much. As the books are mass produced by the academy city for the students there. Since you know the names of all three, I assume you went there?” My dad now looking at the man with one eye perked up. I was also staring at the man in anticipation.

The man chucked and said “Yes, although that was some time ago.”

My father just said “I see. Well, I will have a price for them all tomorrow. However, based on how common the books are they will not cost a lot.”

The man nodded and responded with “See you tomorrow then.”

My father and I left the man. As we walked, I was thinking about the man. It was the second time, I have ever met anyone who went to the magic academy. The man was also a guild staff member. I wonder if he was also an adventurer, as he looked like one. The first person I met was the towns healer, who went to the academy to study healing magic. As we walk, I looked over at my father and asked, “What books was he looking for?”

He looked at me and laughed so hard he almost fell on the ground. He could barely speak, but managed to say “You lasted.. hnh.. longer than I thought.. hnh.. you would.” He was trying not to laugh when saying that. “Since it was about magic and the magic academy, I figured you would have asked the second he could not hear you. You did not ask immediately, so I will let you see the list.” He pulled the list out of his pocked and handed it to me.

“Thanks.” I said, while looking at the list on the paper. The list showed ‘Basics of Magic’, ‘Basics of Four Magic Types’, ‘Basics of Everyday Magic’, ‘Basics of Adventuring Magic’, ‘Basics of Mana’. I asked my father “So these books are for the people who go to the academy?” While looking at him.

“They are the books for first year students. Normally you can get a copy for free when you attend the academy. Which is surprising that he does not have a copy when he attended the academy.” He said.

We just walked silently for a while until we reached my father’s shop. I seen two men walking out of the shop. After they spotted us, they sped up. My father grabbed my hand and we rushed in. My father looked angry.

As we entered my father said to my mother “They came back again Martha? That damn baron will just not take no for an answer. I will have to find a way to make him stop.” My father looked extremely mad.

My mother said “Yes. They said they will keep coming back in the middle of the day and driving off the customers. There were a few customers in here, that left when they noticed them.” She looked shaken.

“I will find some way of dealing with this, don’t worry.” My father said has he hugged my mother. My father then said “Wendy. I am going in the back to check for those books. Would you like to join me?”

I yelled “Yes!” We went to the back to look for the books. We spent about an hour trying to find them. We found all of them. My father was not surprised. I asked him “Why are you not surprised?”

He responded “They are fairly common, as every first year of the academy gets a set. They can also be bought in the academy city, from the academy itself. Which also makes then cheap.”

I asked, “so what will it be for all five of them?”

“Eighty silver coins for all five.” He spoke. I just looked at him puzzled for a minute. He looked at me and then spoke again “I forgot I taught you about money when you were only two and forgot you might not remember all of it. I will explain again so try to remember, as it is very important. So, one hundred copper coins is one silver coin and one hundred silver coins is one gold coin. Please do not forget this, as it is needed for anything in life Wendy.” He just looked at me with an almost blank stare.

I said “Yes father…” then I rolled my eyes. After that we had some lunch and then the rest of the day was normal around the shop. Just had a few customers come and go. Although, over the last few months there has been less and less customers.

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“I hope that merchant is able to get the books for cheap.” I said to the other guild staff member. “As it would be nice to start teaching Art about magic soon. Maybe I can have him learn some when in training. Although I am not sure Marv would be willing to teach it.” I added while looking at her.

She replied with “Well, he is a merchant so I am sure he will get them. However, I am not sure how cheap they will be with how far this town is from any major cities. Also, I wonder why he was here with that young girl?”

I looked at here and said, “I am not sure.” I paused for a second and then slapped my for head and muttered “I just realized she might have been the other kid training under Marv with my son.”

She glanced at me and laughed extremely hard and said, “Wait… Wait. Your son is training with another and you have no idea who it is? Talk about a caring father, Alex.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

I looked at her and retorted “I was in a rush this morning, as Art wanted to stop and look in every store window this morning. Like usual. I was trying not to be late for work and I trust Marv.”

“That may be true, but still. Also is it not about time you went and picked your son up from training? If you do not go soon, you will not be able to have a long lunch with him. The adventurers will start coming back soon and we know how busy it will be around here.” She said.

I jumped up and blurted out “You are right. Later then.”

I dashed down the hall to pick him up so we could have lunch before I took him home. I got to the door of the training area quickly. I opened the door and went in to see Art sitting at a table looking at a book of monsters. I said “Hey son, how was training?”

He looked at me and said in a disinterested tone “Okay, father.” It would appear he is more interested in the book than in his old man coming to pick him up. This made me feel a little sad.

I told him “We will go to lunch in a few, but I wanted to talk to Marv first. Do you know where he is?” Although I am not sure if he was paying attention at all, with the book he is looking at.

As I asked Art, I heard a “Over here.” From a few bookshelves over. I went over to where he was.

“Hey, Marv. I have a few questions if you have a minute.” I spoke.

He looked at me and said “Sure, ask away while I am putting these books up and I will answer anything I can.” Not looking at me even once and continuing what he was doing.

So I asked my first question “The other trainee, is she the daughter of the merchant George Zala?”

He just replied “Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Oh um, I was just wondering. As I ran into them when they were leaving, he was going to get me a price on a few magic books.” I responded.

The man stopped and looked at me “I see. Well, to be honest you are most likely one of the few people who would still do business with him. As the baron that manages this territory has been pressuring him to sell his store to him. From what I know he has been trying to drive away customers and I get the feeling he does not use the most legal methods to achieve that.”

I was surprised and shocked after Marv said that. I looked at him and thought of what I was going to say for a minute. Then I spoke “So, baron Harten is in town. I would not be surprised if he used illegal methods. I have never liked him. George seemed nice, so I hope he does not lose his store.” I had a frown on my face at this time and was not happy to find out that baron was in this town.

Marv just looked at me and said “Be careful what you say and who you say it to. That baron is not kind to those who he does not like.”

“Yes, I know, but I do not take you as one that would go and tell him. Also, Art and I will be having a short lunch. Would you mind if I brought him back here after lunch? As I wanted to go check on the price of some books.” I said with a grin.

“I am not a day care, however with what is most likely on your mind. I will do it this once, but do not do anything rash.” He said with a scowl on his face.

I said my goodbyes to Marv and promised him that I will not do anything rash. Art and I had lunch in the front of the guild hall. We were having a plain lunch, but the guild master happened to just be on lunch at the same time and come to sit at our table. We talked for a minute and said that she will also look after Art, while I am looking at books. She also reminded me that causing to much of a seen would not be good for Art with how old he is if baron Harten decided to be annoying. I agreed with her and explained that is why he will be staying here. She took Art with her and gave me directions. Then told me she will take Art to her office instead of Marv, as to not cause him the loss of any more hair. She has a point as the man was almost bald as is, I agreed and then left.

I was walking down the street, following the guild master’s directions. When I see the sign for the bookstore and headed in.

I was greeted by a woman “Welcome to Zala’s Bookstore my name is Martha, how may I help you?”

“Nice to meet you, I am Alex. I am looking for George, we talked at the adventurers guild hall about some magic books I was looking for. I figured I would come here during my lunch to look around some.” I replied.

She looked a little taken back for a second when I said I was looking for George, but then calmed down when I mention the guild hall and looking for books. She said with a smile “He is in the back, I will get him for you. Give me just a moment.” She opened a door behind her and then entered. I could here her yell “Sweetie, there is a man here named Alex. He says he is just looking for some books.” I guess she might be his wife.

The man came out, looking like he was out of breath. Followed right by the woman that was just here. He said “I did not expect you to come by today. As I planned on giving you a price tomorrow.” He was looking at me kind of puzzled.

I tried to reassure him that “I had some time on lunch and thought I would just come and check out some books, to see if there was anything else, I liked.” I smiled at the man.

He chuckled a little and said, “That is fine, but are you sure you are just not excited to try and find those magic books?”

I laughed as well and replied, “You caught me, what can I say. The reason is my son’s birthday was the other day and he got a magic book from a friend of mine. He was excited and I wanted to get him some basic ones, so I could start teaching him.” I then sighed.

“Hah, I knew it must have been something like that. You are in luck though. I happen to find all five of them in storage and since it was your son’s birthday. They are normally eighty silver coins, but I will sell them to you for seventy-eight silver coins. Consider it a birthday discount.” The man said with a grin on his face.

I chuckled and said “Deal, I happen to have seventy-eight silver coins with me.” The man smiled wide, as I was going through my coin bag to get the silver. As I was about to give him the coins, there was a loud bang. As the door swung open with such force, several books fell off the shelf. I still had the silver in hand when several men from behind came in. I had not turned yet.

The first man that entered said “I see you are doing business with someone, in a shop that will not even negotiate with this towns baron.” He said it in a voice that seemed to try and intimidate us. I still have not turned around, but I could tell that was baron Harten talking.

George told the man “I would like to ask you to leave. As you are disturbing my store.” He seemed a little frightened.

One of the two men with the baron spoke “That is not how you speak to baron Harten. You should be punished for such insolence.” I could hear the man approaching slowly.

Then the second man started approaching and said, “We should make the other man leave first, before making his purchase.” he started chuckling as well.

I ignored them and started to hand the silver coins to the woman who worked here. As I was doing so, I heard from the baron “Good sir. I would think about that transaction carefully. As he is not someone willing to negotiate with a baron. Which means anyone who does business with him, will not be able to do business with me. I own a lot of this town and are you sure, you can afford that?” I paused for a second and my grin got bigger.

I finished handing her the money and said, “I am sure I can afford to not do business with you. However, that is not the questions you should ask. The question you should ask, is whether you can afford to not do business with me.” I had said that in a very demeaning voice. Then turned around to see the two men start coming at me quicker. As my eyes met the baron’s, he face became extremely pale and his eyes started to bulge.

The two men were getting close and George yelled to me “Alex, this is not your problem. You should apologize before this starts to get out of hand.” George was getting extremely nervous and so was the woman from the store. Neither seemed to have noticed the barons face yet.

The first of the two men to get close started to raise his hand as to him me, but the baron blurted out “Stop, you idiot.” The man reflexively winced and then looked at the baron, while the other man was still starting at me. The baron continued “If you had done that, not even I would have been able to prevent the repercussions you would receive. Let alone the face I would have received the same fate.” He was still pale as a ghost.

I mumbled “Smart move.”

The baron continued to stare at me and then started to regain his color. “Fine. You win Zala. I will not buy your store.” He said while straightening himself.

I said with a grin “I agree that would be for the best. To leave this store alone, as well as the family.” I glared daggers at the baron and the two men. Then added “I am sure if you did that, then this whole incident would be forgotten. Would you not agree George?” I then looked at George who was visibly starting to shake.

He was barely able to get the words out “Y…es. I agree.” He was still shaking.

Baron Harten nodded with “Very well. Men we are leaving, we will not bother with this store or its people again.” He turned and walked out, his two men followed while looking puzzled.

I just had a smile on my face and then looked at George and said “Well it has been fun, but it is best if I head back to the guild hall. Oh, if he does both any of you again, please let me know.”

He looked at me very puzzled, but less shaken and said “I am not sure what happened just now, but I am sure you just did something. I am not sure what you did or for that matter who you really are to make the baron retreat like that. As a thank you I want to give you those books for free. Martha, please give him the silver back.”

I shook my head and replied “No, I did not do anything. Please let me pay for the books.” He just would not let me pay. He gave me my money back and I left the shop after saying my thanks and goodbyes. I just hope the baron does not become annoying after this.