Chapter 9: The mystery shop
" What about your missions? Are you getting through it? Tell me if you're encountering any struggles. I will help you."
" How?"
Mainu slightly turned at me before looking out the window again. He was standing back to me, gazing at the distant scenery.
" By using what I am best at…"
"Which is?" I insisted.
" You don't want know…" He moved towards me, his eyes set on me. " But I assure you that I will help you."
He cupped my face, encircling it entirely, intensely observing me.
I felt uncomfortable being manhandled like that but I didn't say anything. At times-for reasons I didn'tget- I often find myself indulging the "special" sixteen years old boy. Maybe it was because he was still young so I didn't put my guard up or because he reminded me of my silly brother…
Nonetheless, I didn't mind because he never went any farther than that. He just seemed to be genuinely amazed by…my face?
I knew that he had no ulterior motives.
Finally letting go, he uttered his last greeting before going.
As for me, I was still nailed to my chair, unable to move. I didn't know if should feel angry or unmoved…
- All of this is so weird…I just hope it will stop soon…
" Goodbye I guess?"
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One an hour later, I was into town. I was in the middle of my mission-finding the reasons behind the strange disappearance of a particular neighborhood's pets and animals.
From the report I got, the people were complaining that some thieves kept stealing their pets.
At first, it was only a few families losing their cats or dogs but quickly it grew down to the entire neighborhood. People felt unsafe, fearing it would escalate further…maybe coming to human trafficking.
Because the mission was relatively "mild" as they said, they let me took charge of it.
Sometimes I wondered about the moral compass of the people of this world…why would you send a fourteen years old investigate such a suspicious occurrence-however how talented you thought they were?
- Yet another pain in the ass!
To make sure I got through this mission to the end-if I didn't want to have my point deducted- while safe, I had decided to go shopping a little first.
I needed some powerful tools and potions and also some candies- just because I craved for some.
I went into a mall in the shopping district. There I found many magical items, weapons, potions and pills.
The place was brightly lighted and had a serene vibe to it. On my left, I found rows of books from different kinds: They were in all languages, magical attributes and origins.
I took a few minutes to look at them before moving to the potions and weapons.
On a low a table, behind a screen, I saw a beautiful blue hairpin. It had a few flowers on top but what made it perfect was the knife hidden beneath.
It symbolized perfectly the sentence " behind each beautiful thing lays a threat."
I had found my new gem, my symbol.
With a little bit of transformation magic and a quick stop to a black-smith, I will be able to convert it as I see fit as a magic sword.
"Hi…I want those." I said to the seller, posing the hairpin and the potions on the counter.
" And here you come!" He said with a big smile, giving my changes back. " Come again!"
After that, I went to the black-smith, indicating him exactly what I wanted and if nothing wrong, he said it would be done by tomorrow.
Having transformed the hairpin into a sword, he just has to modify it a little bit to make it more usable. Moreover I needed a magic sword and only black-smith could make those by using magic stones. Even as a mage I did not have the ability to do that.
Proof that mage were not kind of omnipotent creatures. We could not do everything…
Having effectively achieved my goals for today, I then went to take a walk into the shopping district, sightseeing.
In the streets you could see a lot of people. They were humans and even magical beasts or creatures like elves. Something that I still cannot get used to.
The district rassembled people from all different origins and backgrounds, making it a peaceful place for the travelers.
Walking ahead, I saw various stalls and open stores of all kind, having people going in and out.
Through the visual appearance of the relatively clean buildings, one could guess that this was a well kept street. In addition, mostly of them were new from few years ago.
As I walked and walked, I soon found myself without knowing to a quieter zone, away from the bustling crowds.
Here there was less stores-only two- and no stalls. It was also darker and damper, contrasting to the sunny hot streets of earlier.
- It must be because of the shades. I thought speaking about the shadows made by the huge buildings surrounding the entire area.
Not having anything else to do, I entered one of the first shop.
This shop was old and rundown. Having no lights, they used generated artificial lights to see. The roof was low and the floor cracky, making sounds at every step I took.
There was no one in there…not even a seller or host.
I looked around curious.
Just like any shop it had items and so but only, this shops contained much dangerous one.
Having grown accustomed to that despicable environment since a long time, I instantly figured that those items were dark objects- supposedly banned from the country. Habitually, you could only find them in the black market but here they were, quietly displayed in front of the world.
Looking more closely, they were also poisons and witchcraft spells.
Laying my eyes on a particular silver dagger, I held it between my hands while analyzing it. His color reflected the light above my head and had clean and sharp cutting edges.
On the handle was written some sort of engraving from another language…probably a lost one. When you touched the words it shone slightly before disappearing.
Strangely enough, the dagger seemed to have a conscience of his own…calling for me…
- I wish I could buy this but there is no one here…
" Hello? Is there someone in there?" I began hesitantly.
" I am a client…I want to buy something!" I said rising my voice higher.