Preparation For a Journey

"This "Tournament of The Chosen King", can you give me the rundown one more time? Just making sure I have all the details right, you know," Blake asked. 

Johannes stood firmly in front of the staircase that the young man sat on, adjusting the collar of his suit as he spoke, "I didn't think one as excited as yourself for this would need a reminder. It is a worldwide event that begins upon the death of the current ruler of Arcana–the Kingdom of the First Dragon."

"Kingdom of the First Dragon?" Blake repeated with a raised eyebrow before stuffing the remainder of the bread into his mouth. 

"As you know in our history, the founder of Arcana was not a king by the right of blood, but by strength and favor. It was the Dragon God that gave him the strength to conquer this land from the dark ones that held it," The old Mather explained, "In exchange, the Dragon God made it so that when the king passed, an event would be held to decide the next king. Not by lineage, but by strength–hence the Tournament of The Chosen King." 

"Yeah, I remember that," Blake lied, taking in all of the new information. 

It confirmed for him that he was indeed filling the shoes of the real nephew of Johannes Mather, going by the old man's assumption he knew of the event closely. 

As he tightened up his boots in preparation to set out, he looked up to find his newly-appointed uncle standing before him. 

The old man held a rather large sack, handing it over, "Here. This should be more than enough for your expenses." 

He accepted the gift, finding it to be full of shiny, gold coins, "…Woah." 

"You will need to hire a carriage driver to take you to the foot of Emerald Mountain. Before that, I'd recommend visiting the Lunar shop in town to find boons for your upcoming trials," Johannes advised him. 

"Thanks a lot, Uncle," Blake thanked the man that was merely a stranger the day before with a light hug. 

As he got ready to leave the bounds of the mansion, waving off to the maid and the owner of the estate, he was stopped once more. 

Johannes hurriedly spoke, "—One more thing! If you have money left over, consider hiring an adventurer from the town's guild to accompany you!" 

"I will," Blake said, waving off as he stepped out of the manor. 

Being greeted with the sight of the luscious courtyard of the Mather estate, with a sword on his back and a bag of gold on his belt, the sunlight felt particularly inspiring. 

'This new life has been an S+ start…Let's kick it up to an SSS rating,' he planned. 

As he left the gates of the estate, he didn't feel like an outsider now as he walked amongst the people of the small town. If anything, he felt that people looked at him with higher esteem, going by his noble attire and the sword on his back. 

Even at such an early time in the morning, the streets were busy with merchants and owners of small, street-side shops peddling their wares and adventurers passing through. 

An aroma of fresh pastries filled the air from the bakeries that were just opening up, with his ears filled by the constant ambience of chatter and footsteps. 

He looked around for a shop that resembled the one that Johannes advised him to visit, looking past the rows of restaurants. 

'He said it was a "Lunar shop", for boons used by adventurers. So, the clientele should be…' He thought, walking through the street as he looked around. 

What caught his eye was a shop built of marble that had customers of a certain appearance coming-and-going: swordsman, robe-wearing mages, and even ragtag adventurers who had no true identity. 

'That's gotta be it,' he thought. 

As he approached the store, he found a moon-shaped sign greeting him before he walked in. The interior took him by surprise, finding an assortment of glowing, magical orbs on display amongst tombs undoubtedly of mystical writings. 

It was all foreign to him, finding himself holding up a sapphire orb that began to produce a light as it sat on his palm. 

'What is this? Some kind of materia from FF7?' He jokingly questioned. 

"May I help you, sir?!"

The cheerful, hyper voice of a girl met his ears as he looked over, nearly jumping as he found himself looking at a short, young woman with braided, silver hair and large, round-rimmed glasses. 

"Apologies, my name is Eveline. I am one of the keepers of this shop," the braided-haired girl in baggy, dark-blue robes with a large hat atop her head introduced herself. 

"Err, well…I'm about to head out on a bit of an expedition. I haven't been to a place like this before, so–" Blake began to explain to the store worker. 

The glasses-wearing girl got up too close, clearly excited about his own lack of experience, "Your first time here?! Allow me to help you, then! What sort of expedition are you going on? A bit of a goblin-slaying excursion? Hunting for a lost heirloom? Maybe taking out some dire wolves that have been ransacking a nearby farm?" 

It felt like the eccentric woman was spewing out a dozen questions all at the same time, all too passionate about the subject as Blake waited for her to finish. 

"Well, I'm not too sure, to be honest. I'll be going up Emerald Mount–" He tried to answer. 

"Emerald Mountain, you say?! I see, I see!" Eveline said while adjusting her glasses. 

Before he realized it, the woman with a brain that seemed to move faster than her mouth was dragging him along to another part of the store. 

She reached up, struggling as she had to stand on her tippy-toes to retrieve a bright, scarlet orb. As she got it in her grasp, she turned around to face the perplexed rookie, "This! Since Emerald Mountain is home to goblins and some rather formidable ogres, a Firana Orb will serve you well."

"What's it do?" Blake asked, letting the eccentric woman place it into his hand to feel. 

The spherical object held the appearance of ever-burning flames within it, though that fiery essence didn't burn his palm, but only provided a slight warmth. 

"When you grip it tightly and yell "Firana!", it'll manifest the fire spirit tied into that orb. Well, don't do it here! Obviously…but, goblins are dumb fiends that love the dark and are deathly afraid of fire," Eveline explained. 

"Good to know. How much?" He asked. 

The shop worker held her hand to her chin, "Hmmm…It's usually ten gold, but since you're a first time customer, let's call it eight even!" 

"How about five!" He bargained. 

With all intent, he used his hypnosis ability to haggle the young woman. Perhaps it was because of his own upbringing in his previous life, having to penny pinch, but he didn't plan on spending anymore than he had to. 

[Hypnosis failed.] 

"Hrm…That's weird," Eveline mumbled to herself, rubbing her head as if feeling a light headache. 

'A simple command like that failed? Is this girl actually powerful or something?!' He questioned. 

"Ah, well, five sounds fair enough, I suppose," Eveline continued speaking, agreeing on the haggled price. 

"Wait, what? Really?" Blake asked in surprise. 

Even though the hypnosis had failed, he found his suggested bargain still being accepted, somehow. 

The girl with glasses laughed, "I'm really bad at haggling! If I'm being honest, I just want to see newcomers succeed!" 

"Well, how about this…To make it more even, I'll give you ten gold even if you throw something else in," Blake offered, "I'll let you pick, since you're the expert and all." 

The deal seemed to delight the magic-enamored woman as she clapped her hands together in excitement. 

"Oh, leave it to me!" Eveline claimed. 

He watched as the passionate shop keeper ran around, rummaging through a variety of magical tools. 

Meeting the woman at the counter, he found alongside the fiery orb was a silver bracelet. There was a single, cerulean gem inlaid in it, catching his eye. 

"That's a Bubble Brace! I take it you're not very knowledgeable when it comes to magecraft, right?" Eveline asked. 

"Correct," he confirmed. 

"It'll let you conjure water in the form of magic bubbles!" Eveline claimed, noticing the unimpressed look on the customer's face. "Woah, I see that look! It's more effective than it sounds, trust me! Besides that, it's a great tool for beginners to help you get a feel for your own mana." 

Though it hardly sounded like an all-powerful boon that would decimate his enemies, he decided to listen to the much more knowledgeable person's advice. 

"Alright, I'll take it," he said, opening the sack on his belt as he retrieved the appropriate currency. 

"Great! Best of luck on your journey!" The shop worker bowed her head. 

"Thanks," he said, stuffing the orb into his pocket and slipping the bracelet on his right wrist. 

Leaving the store, he felt completely in line with the adventurers he saw roaming the town, equipped with his own mystical gear to lead him on his way. 

'I'll need to find a ride to Emerald Mountain soon. I don't know a damn foot of this world. Before that, the old man mentioned something about hiring somebody from the town guild,' he recalled. 

It just so happened in the direction he was staring off at that he saw the prominent, large building made of fine stone with a large sign: "TOWN GUILD." 

"Bingo," he quietly said.