a shopping trip

After being given the potions and notepad I made my way out of the labs. As I was walking back to the portal my Abyscreen started to ring.

"Hey, Veronica! Good job!" It's Gwyn. "The request has been marked as complete, thanks for dealing with Trem."

"Wait does she not like you."

"Kinda… Anyway, it has been brought to my attention that you're somewhat low on supplies."

"No, not really."

"Oh? Then what do you have to heal yourself with? Do you have any anti-poison, smelling salts, food?"

"...fine, I'm low on supplies…"

"Ok, meet me outside the Hall, we'll make our way to the commerce district."

Suddenly a second voice cuts in. "Wait are you two going shopping without me?"

Gwyn sighs. "Nim you do realize that you're a part of both of our screens right? Technically it's not "without" you."

"Still it's not the same, I would love to go shopping in person with my favorite manager and trainee."

"Fine… if you want you can tag along… but only if Veronica also agrees."

"It's fine."

"Yay! I'll meet the two of you in front of the hall." Nim cuts out of the call.

"Sorry about that, Nim can be insistent sometimes. Anyway, you're also short on cash so I'll lend you some money."

"...thanks for the reminder."

…

Once I got back to the hall I popped into a restroom to change into my casual clothes. A pair of jeans and a hoodie, the only things I still have from home… I guess it should be somewhat somber, but eh, they are just things that haven't been destroyed yet. Items are meant to be used if they break then they served their purpose. Still…

I step out of the restroom and into the plaza in front of the hall. Gwyn is standing next to a lamppost, he's wearing a button-down shirt and pants. "Ah good, you're here."

Nim pops out of a nearby bush. "She's here?! Yay!" She rushes at me but I sidestep and she faceplants on the ground. "Oh… boo..."

Gwyn walks over to her and pokes her. "Please control yourself, we are in public." He turns to face me. "Anyway, now that you're here I guess we can start or trip."

There's a muffled "yay…" from the still face down Nim.

"So how do you guys get around?"

"Oh, we take the rail." Gwyn gestures his head towards a larger building.

"Wait, rail? There's a rail system here?!"

Nim pops up from the ground. "Oh yeah it's fun you dummy, it connects most of the city! You haven't been walking everywhere, right?"

"No?"

Gwyn looks concerned. "Wait how have you been getting around?"

"I'm not really sure what to call it but I kinda fly and/or jump using wind magic. Why?"

"I'm just making sure you aren't doing anything illegal. You're fine, just keep the property damage to a minimum." Gwyn starts reaching into his pocket and grabs his card. "Anyway the rail is free as long as a person is an active member of Abysia. You'll just need to scan your card."

We enter the station and Gwyn and I scan our cards. Nim just jumps over the barrier.

"Nim please stop…" Gwyn seems more tired than anything at Nim's antics.

"What am I going to do, arrest myself? :3"

"Wait is Nim law enforcement?"

Gwyn sighed. "Yeah, she's in charge of enforcing the rules determined by a council of leaders from different guilds. She's helped out by some managers like me and some smaller guilds."

"How does she effectively do it, she seems too… jovial?"

Nim chimes in. "Oh give me more credit, Vevi, I can easily destroy any guild."

"Wait, Vevi?"

Gwyn facepalms. "Yeah, she came up with that nickname for you."

"Do you not like Vevi?" Nim seems almost sad.

"No it's fine I just never had a nickname before…"

Nim seems to perk up and blush in response… wait can an AI blush?

The train arrives and we step inside. We are the only ones in the cabin and once the doors close Gwyn speaks up. "Say, Veronica, what did you do before you arrived here? Your file gives no clear homeworld."

"Oh well, let's see," I think for a bit. "I got kicked out of my family because I "manifested the wrong powers or something" so I acted as a hunter until I messed something up and fell into a different world. I worked rescuing people there and exterminating threatening beasts. Got bored of that place and left for a different world. Rinse and repeat until I ended up here. Some worlds were better than others but I managed." I look up and Gwyn is typing stuff down into his screen. "Wait are you writing this down!?"

"Yes because this is useful information. Anyway it makes sense why no homeworld was determined, you jumped through so many worlds you don't have very much of a trace left of your homeworld. Do you happen to know its name?"

"No, sorry…"

Nim suddenly hugged me. "Don't be sorry Vevi, you've had a rough time."

"Eh honestly it's fine, it was not bad." I turn and look out the window. For some reason, in the distance there was a pillar of smoke. "Hey is that supposed to be there?"

Gwyn also looks out the window. "No? See if there's anything on the screen."

I pull out my screen… There are a few trending links… A sale… Some random pet video… Ah, here we go, a live stream. I open it. "...oh no." The live stream shows a half-destroyed bar, and in front, Mila and Elias are arguing over something. The sound quality is bad but they probably got in a fight over drinking.

"Well, I guess I should deduct some money from their accounts…" Gwyn sighs heavily. "At least you haven't destroyed anything yet…"

"Oh come on you two, at least we know they are exciting people to be around. :3"

Gwyn is just done now. "Nim, they just committed arson, aren't you supposed to stop breaches?"

"Eh, but that's not fun. :("

The train slowly comes to a stop and Gwyn stands up. "This is our stop."

We step out onto the platform and make our way out of the station. There's a large collection of buildings. "Vevi, welcome to the commerce district."

Gwyn starts explaining. "The commerce district is a collection of 'malls'. Within each mall, there are independently run stores and stores run by guilds. The malls are broken up by purpose and there's a tier system of sorts, Bronze, copper, silver, gold, and platinum. Each tier is more related to pricing, you can still find some decent stuff from lower tiers. We are making our way over to the silver adventurer mall. A guild by the name of the Gilded Roses sells the excess loot from their dives into the Dungeon and other locales."

Nim seems excited. "Ooooo can we get crepes?!"

"Crepes? You guys have crepes?"

Gwyn pauses for a second. "Sure."

…

It did not take long to get to the mall, it is fairly well decorated and there is a wide variety of different stalls peddling stuff like backpacks and anti-poison and other similar stuff. Eventually, we stop at a stall built into a wall. Gwyn steps up and rings a small bell on the counter.

There's a small voice from the back. "One sec." A small goblin walks up to the counter, he is oddly sleepy looking. "Oh hello Gwyn, oh and Nim is here too… Did I accidentally sell something illegal again?"

"No Steve, you're fine." Gwyn pulls out his screen. "We need to outfit a rookie, have anything on this list?"

Steve looks at the screen. "...I think so? Come on in to the back, I'll check the stock."

We walk into the stall and into a small sitting area. "What's exactly on the list?"

"Oh, nothing special Vevi just a few items to make sure nothing bad happens."

"Yeah, you already have weapons so you're fine on that front." Gwyn thinks for a second. "Wait what do you fight in?"

Oop that an embarrassing question… "A tank top and shorts…"

"Heh?! 8/ That's so dangerous Vevi!!"

"I guess we need to get you some armor. Light, standard, or heavy?"

"Oh, I'm not bothered much by weight classes. I can't wear sleeves in combat though it can interfere with the brands."

Gwyn thinks for a second. "Eh, we'll just get you whatever they have without sleeves."

Steve pops over to where we are sitting carrying a bag. "Lucky you, I found everything. Five health potions and mana potions, three vials antivenom and pouches of smelling salts, ten rations, and a tent."

Gwyn seems happy. "Thanks, Steve, do you have any vest or sleeveless armor?"

"...I'll get my sister to check." Steve turns around. "Clara?"

Another goblin pops her head out from behind the shelves. "Yeah?"

"This lass wants some armor."

"What type?"

"Vest or sleeveless"

"Ok!" Clara disappears behind the shelves. She runs over with a stack of armor. "So what do you like?"

There's a few varieties of armor like a kevlar vest, a plate cuirass, a chainmail vest, a leather vest… "I'll take the cuirass."

"Good choice!" Clara grins, grabs the leftover armor, and disappears back into the back.

Steve waves to Clara. "Is that everything? I'll send the charge to the administration."

Gwyn stands and shakes his hand. "That's all, thanks Steve."

"So… Crepe time? :3"

…

After we left the stall we walked outside a bit till we got to a crepe stand.

"Gods, these crepes are great!" I am currently eating my third crepe.

"Oh definitely. :D" Nim on the other hand is on her fifth crepe.

"Eh, they are fine." Gwyn is still eating his first one.

We are currently seated in a park with a nearby crepe stand. It's nice and peace-

"What do you mean we are on probation!" There's a nearby group of what seems to be adventures arguing with a manager.

"You guys have received a number of complaints from a variety of source-"

One of the larger adventurers flips the table knocking the manager to the floor. "Oh well, I guess another complaint won't hurt.���

I find myself rushing in between the manager and the adventurers. "Stop what you are doing!"

"Don't interfere!" the largest one tries to throw a punch but it's blocked by Gwyn holding a rapier.

"It is against the laws of Abysia to harm a manager." Gwyn sweeps the adventurer to the floor and stabs the back of his leg.

A second adventure stands up. Just from her general air, she seems to be the leader. "Well if it isn't one of the prissy 'enforcers' what is the robot bitch also here? Oh well, I'll end all of you!" She pulls out a sword and starts rushing us, but suddenly she stops moving and I feel a flow of electrical mana coming from Nim. "Oh, Nimueh is here, how fun."

Nim is full of malice. "Stand down…"

"Oh, what are you going to do, kill me."

The flow of mana stops. "I'll let you go but if you try to harm any of them I'll show you that there are fates worse than death…"

The adventure flashes a crazed smile. "Bet." She takes a step forward and there's an extreme flow of electrical mana almost as if-

There's a horrifying cacophony of cracks and the adventurer crumbles to the ground. "Nim what did you do!?"

"Nothing major, I just forced electrical signals into her muscles that caused them to flex and fracture a fair majority of her bones." She kicks the adventure. "Gwyn, call an enforcer and get them to pick these two up. Now, who wants more crepes!:3"