Herb Street [2]

"Come in the shop first….. Alone" The old man walked in the dimly lit shop as he spoke.

Derrick thought for a second and entered the shop.

Some time ago, Derrick really wanted to find the Chiea herb, but now he wants to know about this old man.

In the shop, Derrick could see a lot of rare herbs. The shop was completely made of wood from the inside. There were even spider webs in the corners.

Derrick walked towards the counter, where the old man was standing.

"Now, why can't you sell Chiea to me old man, I am your customer after all" Derrick said in a mocking tone to the old man who was always talking in an indifferent tone.

"First, I have a name, Nebeus, second, I don't sell things to people who can't identify herbs and just come to buy herbs based on a list provided to them."

"Fine, show me the herbs and I will identify them. I need Chiea quick so just wrap up with it"

After this, Nebeus took out a total of 7 herbs and Derrick was only able to identify 5 of them. Derrick before was very confident that he could identify all the herbs the old man shows since he had the memory of 200 years of being a wandering mage.

"Hey Old Man Nebeus, what are the last two herbs?"

"They are not from around here so you may not have been able to identify them."

"Uhmm. Can you give me Chiea herb now?"

"....No"

Derrick was completely confused right now.

He cleared the kind of test the old man made for him but the old man is still not giving him the Chiea herb.

'This person is a little too weird… What is wrong with him?'

Derrick was getting annoyed.

He didn't have much time to waste here. Although he told his mother he was going out, he still had to go back before it got completely dark outside.

"Why will you not sell the herb to me now? I even identified them as you said."

"Hmm alright, I'll sell them to you, just answer my one last question"

"What?"

Derrick was getting very impatient. He now did not care about how weird Nebeus was, he just wanted to take his herb and go back home.

"Who are you and how old are you?"

"Although they are two questions, I am Derrick Warren from the Warren Family and I am 6 years old"

Nebeus heard what Derrick said calmly and finally moved his hand, putting it right beside Derrick's shoulder.

From the shelf right there, he picked up a jar and took out 4 dried leaves out of the jar.

"There you go, that is your Chiea. It costs a total of 800 silver pieces"

Derrick did not say anything, the price was a little high but he ignored it.

"Here, take this wristband, it will be helpful in the future."

Nebeus handed out a Black coloured wristband to Derrick.

Derrick accepted it.

"What is its use?"

"You can say it is a kind of defensive charm. It was from the time I used to be a fighter. Now that I am old, this band has no use for me. You should take, it may prover useful to you kid, who still has to grow and has his entire life left"

Derrick put the Chiea herab and the wristband in his pockets and was about to exit the shop but just as he crossed the door, he heard Nebeus say something.

"You know, kid, it is a bad thing to lie. If you are really only 6 years old, why do you have the memories of a 200 year old man?"

Derrick had just left when Nebeus ended saying. Derrick was frozen for a moment. He turned around and tried to open the door of the shop but was unable to open it.

After trying for a while he went to Raia, who was standing on the opposite side of the street and asked him to break the door.

Raia was confused on hearing Derrick's request but in the end he agreed to it and broke the shop's door.

"Hey, old man Nebeus, you there?"

The shop now looked like a proper antique, it was even dirtier than what he previously went in. The dust was literally frozen on the surface of the counter where he was talking to Nebeus.

Derrick looked in his pocket and the Chiea herb and the wristband were still there.

'This means that everything that happened was real'

Derrick got out of the dirty shop and asked Raia if he had seen the old man get out of the shop.

Raia's answer made Derrick completely stunned.

"There was no old man here, Young Lord. Even the shop you went in has been abandoned for 10 years after the death of its previous owner."

Derrick felt that Raia may be making a mistake. Nebeus was standing out in the open, it is not possible that no one else saw him.

Derrick started asking people on the street about the shop and Nebeus, but everyone had only one answer, the same as Raia

"The shop you are talking about was abandoned and there was no old man standing in front of it"

Derrick got tired and left Herb street.

Although Nebeus was weird, Derrick would not like to get scolded by his mother for being late.

On his way back in the carriage, Derrick was thinking about what had just happened.

"What happened was possible in only one way. Old man Nebeus first was there, in front of everyone and when I left the shop, he was able to make everyone in the market forget about him without hurting them… This was something that only Demi-God or above ranking Psychics could do according to my memories..'