4 SHOPPING IN TOWN

ARGENT looked at the small piece of paper she held. It was a list of things she planned to buy today. After careful deliberation, she finally thought of a way to approach her twin sister. Everything lay in that stone, nullum. It could block the flow of Mana. It was also the tool used by their mother to somewhat stop the continuous leaking of Aurum's Mana. Her idea was to make some kind of shield that could prevent Aurum's Mana from reaching her. She would also make a bracelet that could regulate the flow of Mana. With that, Aurum would surely be able to control her Gift. And the main component of those two things was the stone, nullum.

With those ideas in mind, she spent two whole days reading everything she could find in the library about nullum and its properties. Not only that but also about other stones and magical tools she could use to reinforce the things the she planned to make. If it's in her original world, Argent would probably immediately build the things that she wanted to make as soon as the idea formed inside her head. But now, she's not in her original world. Here, she had to understand how things worked first and thoroughly study its composition.

And now that she's done with that, she's ready to buy the things she needed. She had to go to town in order to do that. The Hanover manor was located at a small county. She couldn't buy what she needed here. The only place where she could buy all the things in her list was in the capital which was a good three hour carriage ride away from the manor. She was just not sure if her mother would allow her to go out without her supervision. But Argent has to convince her somehow. She wanted to solve the problem with her sister as soon as possible. The longer Aurum stayed locked up in that tower, the longer her plans would be delayed. So for the sake of moving along her plans, Argent has to approach her sister as soon as possible.

She folded the piece of paper and put it inside the pocket of her trousers. Then she went outside her room. She just walked downstairs when she ran into the butler. Gregory Jones was tall and reed-like. His black hair was slick back and his brown eyes were behind half-moon spectacles. His hawk-like nose made his appearance more severe and gave the impression of strictness. He looked to be in his early thirties but Argent knew he was much older than that, considering Felicia's age. But that's not really something strange since people in this world tend to have longer life span.

"Good morning, Your Grace," he greeted, calling her in a proper manner befitting her title instead of calling her 'Young Lord' which was what his daughter usually called her.

"Good morning. Have you seen Felicia?"

"I believe she's cleaning one of the rooms upstairs, Your Grace."

"Could you call her, please? And tell her to go to the study. Thank you."

She didn't wait for his reply and walked straight to the study. Once there, she knocked on the study's door. Argent knew that during this time of the day, her mother was usually in the study checking on the estate's account books and probably replying to some correspondence.

"Come in," called the voice of her mother from inside the study.

She opened the door and came inside. "Good morning, Mother."

Anthea immediately smiled when she saw her. "Good morning." She stood up. "Let's go eat breakfast?"

"Mother, before that, I have a request."

"What is it?"

"Could I go to town? Just for awhile? I just need to buy some things."

"Sure. We'll go after we have breakfast."

"You don't have to go with me, Mother. I know how busy you are. Besides, if you leave, then who would deliver Aurum's food to her?"

Anthea furrowed her brows. She wanted to argue but she knew her daughter has a very good point. She's the only S level Gift user here in the manor. Which meant she's the only one who could resist Aurum's Mana. Since the moment she consented in locking up Aurum, she decided that she would never be far away from her. That's the least thing Anthea could do since she really couldn't be a proper mother to her. But she also couldn't let Argent go out by herself when she's still not sure if her exposure to Aurum's Mana has some sort of after effects to her mind.

"I'll be fine, Mother," Argent said before Anthea could refuse. "I'll bring Felicia with me."

After she said that, there's a knock on the door and she knew that was Felicia. So she opened the door herself.

"Young Lord--"

Argent didn't let her finish and immediately pulled her inside. "Felicia, you're going with me to town today. You won't let anything happen to me, right?"

"Of course, Young Lord!" Felicia immediately answered even though she didn't really know why they suddenly had to go to town.

Argent looked at her mother. "See, Mother, Felicia will protect me. So you can be rest assured."

Anthea sighed and had no choice but to give in. Maybe she's just worrying too much. "Fine. You can go to town."

"Thank you, Mother."

Anthea looked at Felicia. "Felicia, make sure that you won't remove your eyes from Argent and that you will protect him with everything you have."

"Yes, Duchess! I won't let anything happen to Young Lord."

And that's how Argent and Felicia went to town after she and her mother had breakfast.

----------

Argent looked outside the carriage's window. They were already on the street of Londinium, the capital of Albion. If she could compare the scenery outside to anything, then it could only be 19th century Europe. From the shops down to the dress that people wore. It almost felt like she traveled back through time.

"Young Lord, what are you going to buy?" Felicia asked.

"Just things."

"Then can we go buy some sweets after you're done buying those things?"

Argent looked at the excited look of Felicia. It almost seemed like she was the child between the two of them. Of course, technically, she wasn't really a child. But still. "Sure."

Felicia squealed. Argent just returned her gaze back to the street. When she saw a certain shop she immediately told the carriage driver to stop. Once the carriage was parked, she went down and Felicia followed her. She walked straight to the shop that she just saw. It was a shop that sold magical tools.

When she went inside, a salesperson immediately went up to her. She ignored him and looked around the shop. Based on the size of the shop and the lavish interior, she could say that this was probably a very high-end shop. Good. That meant that the probability of finding two of the things she needed was very high. Then she wouldn't have to go and find another store. There were many things on display that she was not familiar with, but she didn't need those so she just barely glanced at them. Then finally, her eyes landed on two things. One was a bunch of Mana conductor, and the other was a group of amplification stone. She walked to the display casing where those two items were.

"Give me two dozens each of your best conductor and amplification stone," she told the salesperson who followed her.

"Yes, milord."

Just after a few minutes, the salesperson presented her with the things she wanted to buy. She inspected each and every last one. After she's done, she told Felicia to pay for it.

"What are you going to do with these things, Young Lord?" Felicia asked while holding the paper bag where the things she bought were place.

"An experiment."

An experiment? Was it an assignment from the Young Lord's school? But Felicia heard that the Young Lord was going to transfer to another school. She shrugged. Well, it doesn't matter. She's much more interested in buying those sweets. "Then are we done buying the things you needed, Young Lord?"

"Not yet."

Argent was about to walk outside when a mocking voice suddenly fell into her ears.

"Isn't this the waste Duke?"

Argent turned around and saw a nine, ten year old boy who just entered the shop walking up to her. She searched the memory of the original owner to know who this brat was. Because based on the way he's acting, they probably knew each other. And she was right. This boy was one of her schoolmates who was constantly bullying the original owner. She sighed. She forgot that it's the weekend, so it wouldn't be weird to run into one of her schoolmates here. After all, most of them were living here in the capital.

"You haven't been to school for more than a week, we all thought you died or something. Turns out you're just frolicking around," said the brat in the same mocking tone.

She sighed again. She probably wouldn't be able to get out of this store peacefully. Since this boy was taking the initiative to annoy her, then she might as well avenge the original owner. "Felicia, drown him. Just cover his head with water. We don't want to wet his clothes," she said indifferently.

"Yes, Young Lord," Felicia readily agreed. She's been wanting to beat this boy since earlier. How dare him call her young lord a waste?

"Y-you- w-what are you--"

The boy didn't manage to finish what he's saying because his head was already covered by a ball of water and fell on the floor. Argent stared without any emotion at his wriggling figure. Felicia was an A level water Gift user, plus, from the original owner's memory, she received rigorous training so her control was pretty spot on.

The crowd started to gather around them and the salesperson who spoke to her earlier asked if she could tell her maid to stop. She ignored them. When the boy stopped moving, she signaled Felicia to stop. The ball of water on the boy's head, disappeared in an instant. She walked to the boy and kicked his chest, making him coughed up the water that he just swallowed. He looked at her with hatred.

"Y-you-! H-how dare you do this to me?!"

"Why wouldn't I dare? A mere Baron's son, talking all high and mighty to a Duke? You've got a lot of nerve. Just be thankful I didn't ask my maid to drain all the water in your body," she scoffed.

The boy's face immediately paled and gritted his teeth in silence. When Argent thought that that would be the end of it, the boy suddenly raised his hand towards her direction. Then three small fireballs appeared and attacked her. Felicia immediately extinguished the fireballs. But one escaped and grazed her arm. Oddly enough, Argent didn't feel any pain. She looked down at her arm, a part of her sleeves were burned but there was no burn on her skin. That was... interesting.

"Young Lord, are you okay?" Felicia worriedly asked, patting her and looking for any injuries.

"I'm fine." She looked at the boy coldly. "Felicia, kick him until he lose consciousness."

"Yes, Young Lord."

Felicia only needed to kick the boy once before he doubled over and fainted. Argent turned to the salesperson and gave him money for any damages that they might have caused. Then she and Felicia went out of the store.

On the second floor of the shop, two figures watched everything that happened. One has red hair and russet colored eyes. His body emit of exuberance and mischief. People would be easily drawn to him. The other has icy blue hair and a pair of pale blue eyes. If the other one was very animated, then this one was almost expressionless. There was almost an impenetrable cold air that surrounded him, making everyone afraid to get close. Both appeared to be ten, eleven years old.

"Was that really the infamous waste duke? I thought he was as timid as a mouse. Looks like the rumors were wrong," said the red head. He looked at the boy beside him. "You're going to stay near their manor, right? Maybe you should visit the Blackbournes. You probably won't be bored out of your wits there." The eyes of the blue haired boy chilled because of what he said. He immediately raised both hands as if in surrender. "Okay, I won't mention your upcoming punishment again. But I really think you should visit the Blackbournes while you're there. You know, just to be polite."

"I don't need to be polite to anyone," the other boy said coldly.

"Yes, yes, your highness."

The blue haired boy ignored him and turned around to leave but not before glancing back to the door where the infamous Duke left.