15 The Opening Tailoring Quest
After finishing all the fabrics' transactions, Mathias took the route back to the shop while Fayrene was fiddling her fingers, saying to herself.
"This is, I suppose, my luckiest day in the market. I wasn't scammed or pickpocketed by any thief. I only had to spend 23 gold for everything."
Mathias just smiled, saying to her.
"You have to understand that bargaining too much wouldn't lead you anyway. You have to make a smart investment that would let both sides profit. The merchant has his profits while we got most of it."
"Most of it? How come we profited?"
"Well, that merchant for sure invested a lot to get his goods all the way here. If I were him, I would have asked far more, but because of the competition between sellers, the prices are kept to a decent low. Sucks being a merchant these days. You should diversify your businesses, so you make profits, like one great banker Jakob Fugger who financed emperors in their wars and spendings. He was said to be the richest man of his era. The noteworthy aspect was that he comes from a commoners ancestry."
"Was this Fugger really so wealthy?" asked Fayrene beside Mathias, curious about the figures he was mentioning.
"Just imagine it, Fayrene, an emperor, someone holding such great presence having to bow his head to a commoner and ask for money, clothes, jewels. Even when he wanted to get rid of that banker, he just couldn't because he lacked money."
Fayrene listened to what Mathias said, and while walking beside him, she seemed to be impressed by the banker's backstory.
"I might not even be able to count all that money if I ever get to that point in my tailor shop."
"No worries, don't you have me to do your accounts? For now, before I start my journey around Saharan, I will teach you the basics of mathematics, economics and how to administrate your business correctly, so you can make higher profits. Also, here, take your little pouch."
Ended Mathias saying that, later bringing Fayrene's leather pouch in his palm from the inventory and placing it in her hands.
"Ahhhh, my sweetheart!" cried out Fayrene when holding and weighting the pouch in her hand before counting all the coins inside.
Her violet eyes were shining with excitement and relief when she saw that she still had a decent amount of gold coins. She turned her gaze at Mathias, who stared at her with a calm expression and some lurking smile.
"What? Do you want my pouch back?"
"No, not at all. You remind me of myself when I first started earning money. So, will you ever tell me the reason you reacted like that in the market?" added Mathias while having his hand up and down to deny her question, filling her with more information about himself.
Fayrene expression soured a bit, and as she walked back to the shop, she kept her quiet.
Only after they got to their district did she say to Mathias. "It was something that happened when I just arrived here in Titan two years ago. I didn't know anything about this place, only hearing stories about how grand and fascinating it would be. I only had my Mana Core awakened when I arrived here. I couldn't even use spells, so I was easy prey for those thieves who attacked me."
Mathias frowned a bit, and with a calm tone, he inquired. "They took only the money or?"
"Only the money. Lucky that person, Michael intervened and saved me. Otherwise, I can't imagine what could have happened to me. This is why I told you to not go out at night because of those bastards." said Fayrene with a stable voice, turning her gaze at Mathias after she told him that she could see his green eyes becoming a bit cold.
"I see, so this is the reason for the warning. Nothing to worry, I shall see who those people are and deal with them if they are left to their own laws."
Fayrene thought of stopping Mathias, but she understood something about him in the market. He was someone with a deep view of things and could keep his calm in the face of adversity.
Meanwhile, Mathias, who listened to Fayrene's small story, had a notification appear on his face.
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[Thieves and Bandits lurking in the shadows]
Difficulty: Unique
Fayrene shared an event of her life that marked her about the bandits and thieves who attacked her. She doesn't want revenge on them. However, she believes that no person should be subjected to such a mishap.
Quest Clear Conditions: Solve the problem of bandits and thieves in Wallmor District
Quest Reward: [5] levels + 500 Reputation points in Saharan Empire
Quest Failure: Marked by the thieves and bandits in the entire Saharan Empire
**** Accept[Yes/No] ***
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'Are you kidding? What question is this, if I accept it or not?'
[Yes].
' I never liked scums lurking behind buildings and attacking you from the back. How many punches haven't I got from those bastards, yet the police did nothing whenever I would make a complaint. This situation seems similar. Those highly regarded knights are blind or corrupted and don't care about the periphery district and the people living here.'
'I might not be able to do much in real life, but here? When I come back to town, they will be first on my list.'
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Getting back to their shop, Fayrene went to cook some food while Mathias began arranging the fabrics on a table at the backside of the front room.
Soon, Fayrene called him to eat with her, where some porridge was made steaming hot in his face. He took a bite and was pleased to find that it had a taste, not being just a bland porridge.
"Good food, Fayrene. Thank you for taking care of me."
She didn't answer back, continuing to eat, nevertheless, her face started lighting up a bit.
After both finished eating, they walked back to the materials bought, and immediately Fayrene walked to her private room to take a bundle of paper that she was spreading out on the counter.
Mathias also got to the counter and peeked at the paper, where his eyes turned big, something Fayrene noticed.
"Hey, what is that expression? You don't like my drawing?"
Taking a sheet in his hands that had a lady dress with many detailed decorations and delicate finishes sketched on. The draw had more pieces of the same dress that complemented each other, all being done with unimaginable talent.
"I think this might be too hard for me, Fayrene."
"Hah?? Do you think we will make such an advanced dress with the materials I got? Those sketches are for the noble ladies who can afford to pay for my work. Look, we will do this one." explained Fayrene, later showing Mathias the dress she chose to create with the materials at hand.
It was a dress similar to something he saw on medieval shows, worn by most ladies who could afford some good clothes. The colouring on the sketch wasn't something detailed, but Fayrene described the colors she would choose according to flowers names.
"Will you do it or not?" asked the young woman again.
"Fine, I will do it, but again I don't even know how to sew properly." replied Mathias with a defeated tone.
"I will teach you, come, let's get started. Can you get me the silk, leather, scissors, the ruler, chisel, white chalk and measuring tape, please?"
Mathias put down the sheet and walked back to the table where all the materials were placed. Without asking any questions, he grabbed them along with the equipment she asked for on a cabinet under the tailoring table.
When he grabbed the materials, he received another quest from the system.
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[Assist Fayrene in her tailoring work]
Difficulty: Rare
Fayrene is looking forward to creating new clothes for her clients and will require your assistance in the tailoring process.
Quest Clear Conditions: Assist Fayrene until the completion of the dress.
Quest Reward: [1] level + 'Unlocking' Tailoring Technique Lv -Beginner
- You can't reject the quest
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'Not a problem. While it might be annoying at first, who was born and learned from the start? Let's do it. Maybe I will finally be able to sew my underwear and socks properly.'
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Getting the equipment to Fayrene, she took a deeper look at the sketch and later spread out the fabrics and diligently placing the equipment close by.
Mathias was by her side, looking at her serious face as she started working on the dress planned to be tailored.
Like this, the process of creating a dress started for Mathias as he watched the careful movements of Fayrene, who was marking the silk fabric with the chalk after she measured the proportions of the cuts.
She would take some breaks to explain to him what she was doing and the reasons for the measuring, which surprised him by how detailed she could be.
They worked until the night when they started to clean up and prepare for another day of working.
When they were cleaning, Mathias opened up to Fayrene, saying with a calm tone.
"I would never expect that you would know this work so meticulously. It is really a pleasure to my eyes seeing your work. Also, who knows, maybe after we end this dress, I might have some tailoring skills to boast about."
When hearing this, Fayrene started chuckling. Arranging her hair and removing some sweat from her forehead, she said to him with a grin.
"Don't say to future people that I was the one who taught you to sew. It will drop my image down immediately."
"Haha, you still haven't seen my steady hands in action. Just you wait." laughed Mathias, with a wide smile.
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Then, as night settled, he arranged his bed on the counter and placed himself in a sleeping posture, disconnected from the game.
He looked at the clock and saw that it was 12 AM, the moment he walked to heat up some food.
After finishing eating, he turned to walk to the bathroom and take a shower.
From the hot water, he slowly began to turn it colder until he was under chilling water that made him tremble. However, his body soon calmed down, and he could feel invigorated and clear-minded.
"I need to prepare for work tomorrow and sort of my schedule. Still an enjoyable game. I could never believe if someone would tell me that there is a virtual reality game that is so realistic you can't even tell the people inside."
"From Reid and the simple citizens of Titan to Gabrils, Corvus, and to not forget. Fayrene. I don't even feel bad for spending my money on the game after encountering them."
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After finishing his shower, he walked to the capsule entering inside and searching for the recordings of the writing he had done inside the game. He had a transferring feature of the files linked to his 'Satisfy' account on the web platform with recordings taken from inside the game.
Opening the videos he took, he started to transfer the writing of the video back to a word format. He did this until the clock showed 01:10 AM, and he suddenly stopped, closing the laptop with a pleased expression.
"To think I could write 3 chapters inside the game. I edited them a bit, but they still need to be proofread when I get some time."
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With everything closed, and the capsule giving off some lights from the LED which were on standby, he walked to his small bedroom and with the alarm fixed to wake him up, he started sleeping, unperturbed by his noisy neighbours above him. (A/N: I almost wrote here LSD instead of LED)
