Pilot/introduction part 4
As soon as the castle gates were open the duo was out and on their way to the shop which was on the complete other side of town. Kieth ran ahead of Raven to marvel at the town, it was his first time actually seeing it for himself in detail as he rarely left the castle, it's not that he wasn't able to, it's that he had no reason too. Raven rolled his eyes and walked at a normal pace,having already seen the town multiple times.
Kieth smiled and waved at all the town's citizens and even kicked a ball with some children until Raven yelled at him to hurry up. Kieth groaned, "C'mon rave, let me have some fun." Raven sighed. "First of all don't call me Rave, my name isRaven and you can come outside on your own time, we have to do something important right now." Keith rolled his eyes "fine I'll follow."
After a short while, Raven looked over his shoulder to check on Keith. Kieth met his gaze and questioned, "what's up?". Raven thought for a moment before shaking his head "its nothing I was just checking to see if you were still following and haven't wandered off anywhere." Kieth, although confused for a moment, just shrugged it off as nothing. He then looked around before spotting a shop and asking, "hey Raven, is it alright if we stop here for a few minutes? I need to get something for later". Raven stopped and looked at the building Keith was pointing to. By the looks of it, it looked like a general store although it was quite small. Raven sighed "fine, but only because I need to get something as well." Keith cheered and spouted out a quick thank you before walking to the door. Raven followed and entered the building behind Keith.
"Hello! Welcome to the sleeping giant! Feel free to look around and order when you're ready! I'll be here if you need assistance". Kieth smiled at the girl behind the counter and gave out a quick thank you before heading straight to the snack shelf. Raven waved at the girl as well and set off for the small alchemy section of the store looking for some ingredients. After a while, Keith went over to Raven with his hands full of various snacks and a magic wand. "Hey if we are going to an alchemy shop anyways won't it be better to get what you want there instead of here" Raven shook his head and picked up a bag containing a special type of leaf. "Alchemy shops only hold the major or well-known ingredients, if you want more uncommon things or homemade things it's always best to get them from a nearby general store like this one. This place is actually really useful as it has things that I have been looking for quite a while now." Raven then held up a bag to show Keith, Keith looked at it and gave a look of disgust. "Really? What would you even need pig's brains for?" Raven picked up one more bag and headed towards the counter. "That will be a secret for now." Kieth rolled his eyes and followed "a very disgusting secret if you ask me" Raven put all of his things down on the counter and motioned for Keith to do the same. "Oh, no don't worry ill buy these myself". Raven sighed before taking everything out of Keith's hands and putting them down next to him. "Don't worry it's on me, I don't even think you would have enough money for all of this stuff unless you have a secret job you're not telling me about" Keith sighed "fine but I'll allow you to do this once, next time I'll pay for your stuff as well!" Raven ignored him and talked with the girl before handing her 2 gold pieces. Raven then picked all the things up and used a spell to transport them to the duos room in the castle. Kieth looked in amazement "wow that's so cool! When will you teach me that spell?" Raven smiled and headed towards the door "you already want to learn master-level spells when you still have trouble with novice spells? In your dreams" Raven then exited the building. Kieth sighed and looked towards the girl behind the counter. "Please ignore my teacher, he is not exactly a people person. Thank you for helping us, and before I go here's a tip" Keith then threw her one gold coin before speeding out of the store. The girl took it and yelled thank you as Keith left.
Raven looked towards Kieth before walking again. Kieth followed and made sure to stay close to him. They both noticed that it was dark now, the sun has just set and the town is getting ready for its daily nightly routine. After a while, Kieth decided to ask Raven a question to pass the time.
"So, what's the king really like? Do you know any secrets of his?" Raven thought for a moment before responding. "Well, he has 2 children" Kieth stopped for a moment to process that before catching up to Raven again. "he has children!? I never expected that part, what happened to his wife?". A look of sadness took over Raven's face before he answered. "Her majesty the queen died during the great magic war that took place 20 years ago." Kieth was shocked "oh, I never would have imagined that. I'm sorry for me asking" Kieth then looked at the ground. Raven sighed "well you asked so I answered, just make sure not to mention it to the king. Anyways you want to know about his 2 sons?" Kieth looked up again. "Uh, yea I do!" Raven chuckled a bit. "Well, the youngest one is 17 years old while the oldest one, and the next in line for King is 24. The king has them both away on missions right now but as soon as they come back I'll introduce you. The older one's name is Kieran. And the younger one is named"
Raven suddenly stopped in his tracks and stopped talking, Kieth ran into his back before looking up confused. Raven quickly motioned for them to hide in the alley next to them. Once they were both there Raven pointed at a group of people. Kieth looked and noticed that the group of people was kicking and punching an older man on the ground. "Raven we have to help him!". Raven sighed "as much as I hate distractions like this I have to agree, it could be good training for you" Raven looked out once again before saying "alright, how well can you do your invisibility spell?". Kieth thought for a moment before responding, "I don't know, I only ever used it once and I wasn't able to keep it up for any longer than a minute" Raven nodded and responded. "Alright, I want you to make yourself invisible and set yourself on the left of the group.Since I don't have invisibility ill teleport myself to the right of them. Once you see me, hit me with a nimbleness enhancement. you got all of that?". Kieth gave a thumbs up "okay good, go as soon as I give the signal" Kieth nodded and waited. Raven looked out once more, waiting for the leader to put his hand up.
As soon as that happened Raven let out a quiet "now!". Kieth immediately turned invisible and ran as fast as he could to his position, Raven watched and waited for Kieth to get into position. Raven then released that would be impossible as he couldn't see Kieth at all and sighed. He waited a few more seconds to be safe, and then teleported himself right next to the group. The group was stunned for a moment, in that moment Kieth hit Raven with a nimbleness enhancement. Raven used that to quickly run around the group and capture all of them using a dark chain he summoned. The chain wrapped itself along the men, tying them all together. Raven stopped and tightened the chain, only for one member to escape it. At that,. Kieth turned visible again and quickly punched the man that was out, knocking him out cold. Kieth recoiled his hand back in pain, but soon after he jumped into the air with excitement.
"That was amazing! You are amazing Raven! Did you see that punch I did? " Raven chuckled "I know I am, but I have to admit you punching him was awesome, and the nimble enhancement, while still a little bad, did help me in capturing these guys. Good job my trainee" Keith smiled and offered Raven a fist bump. RavenShook his head and walked past Kieth. "You're doing good, but don't get ahead of yourself yet. You still have a long way to go". Kieth smiled at that and faced the man on the floor before running straight towards him and used what little healing magic he knew, it was enough to get him on his feet but he was still in pain. "Thank you guys so much i thought i was actually going to die". Kieth took charge of the situation as Raven was gathering up the group and readying them for teleportation to the castle dungeon.
"No problem! What kind of protectors of peace would we be if we just left you. Now look, I know you're in a lot of pain right now but I want to ask you a few questions before we teleport you to the town's infirmary". The man nodded his head, "don't worry, i will answer anything you ask". Kieth smiled "Perfect, okay first thing i want to know is what you did to make them mad at you in the first place".
The civilian groaned in pain but answered the question. "Well you see, I run a food stall in the town center, one day though a group of thieves named The Magistrip raided my stall while I was asleep at home, they ended up taking everything I had. Including leftover food and even my wedding ring that I kept in a tiny lockbox. It dealt a serious blow to my income as it is really the only source of income I had. The day after, while I was cleaning up, a man approached me with a deal. He told me he would cover the cost to repair the stall and even offered to buy back my stock and offer protection to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to it again. Of course as any sane man would I accept! All I had to do was pay them a monthly income of 500 silver. Well turns out it was a horrible mistake, they did do everything they said they would! But this month my stall did really bad and didn't make much sales meaning i couldn't keep up my end of the bargain. I offered to pay them double the next month but they wouldn't hear it! And that's how i got here, i was on my way back from buying some meat for dinner but then they came out of nowhere and cornered me! They would have killed me if not for your help!" the civilian then burst out in tears. Kieth had a look of concern cross his face.
"I see, what's this gang's name if you don't mind me asking?" the civilian looked at him and shook his head. "If i knew i would tell you" . Kieth sighed "allright no more questions. I take it you accepted 2 months ago, meaning you already paid 1 gold coin right?" the civilian nodded. Kieth stood up and helped the civilian up as well. He then took out his coin pouch and pulled out 5 gold coins. "Here this should be enough to make up for what you paid, and also be enough for you to at least put food on the table. And you won't have to worry about the gang anymore, i shall tell the king to have you, your stall, your house, and your family guarded at all times, at least until we solve the problem".
The civilian looked surprised for a moment but then immediately collapsed to his knees and started sobbing, "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! I will forever be in your debt". Kieth smiled before kneeling down as well. He then took the civilian's hand and put the gold in it. "No need, we are just doing our job. Be strong, that's all the advice I have for you. You shouldn't live life worrying about something like this. It's our duty to restore peace to this town. Now, are you ready to leave? I don't want you suffering any longer"
the civilian nodded his head and stood back up, Keith did the same. Raven got down reporting to the dungeon keep and teleported the members away, he then walked over to Keith and asked the civilian he was ready to leave, the civilian nodded his head. "Okay good" Raven then teleported the man to the closest infirmary. Raven looked over to Keith only to see he looked troubled. Raven then walked over to him and patted his shoulder.
"You did good today Kieth, but you do realize you just made a promise you can't keep right?". Kieth sighed "I know, but hopefully the king complies with the big demand I have for him. Why do people like that exist? Beating up a poor old man over a few coins. I gained more questions than answers from that. " Raven smiled and sighed as well. "Don't worry, you'll find all the answers soon enough, you ready to head out?" Keith nodded a slight nod, and then followed Raven once again.
After a short while, they arrived at their destination. An alchemy shop with a wizard hat-shaped roof. Raven entered and held the door open for Kieth to enter as well. The man at the counter looked up to see who entered "welcome to the alchemist storage! It's a corny name i know but i'm not the one who named it. Now what can i do for you boys?" Raven walked up to the counter and made eye contact with the man. "We are here to pick up a special order for his majesty the king" the man's once cheerful expression darkened. "Oh, so you're here for that" the man then went to the back of the shop.
Raven shot a look at Keith and shrugged before looking around the place. It was actually quite big, it had shelves full of glowing bottles and had many plants hanging down from the ceiling which gave the inside a flowery type smell. The man then returned from the back carrying a wooden box. Once he put it down on the table Raven noticed it had DANGER written in red across the top. Raven reached to take the box before the man grabbed his arm. Raven looked at him confused.
"I only have one thing to tell you, absolutely do not open it until it's a full moon" Raven tilted his head a bit but then nodded. He then picked the box up to see it was actually quite heavy."thank you, we will be off now" the man nodded "please do be careful" Raven gave him a thumbs up. "Don't worry we will" before leaving the store along with keith. Kieth groaned as he realized they would have to walk all the way back. Raven shook his head.
"Dont worry ill just teleport us to our room". Kieth gave a sigh of relief before looking at Raven. "Why couldn't you teleport us here?" Raven began charging the spell. "I can only travel to places I have marked. Since I've already teleported so many people today my mana is going to be almost all gone. So please don't have me do anything magical once we get back" Keith just smirked "no promises". Raven rolled his eyes and then readied the spell. In a dark flash, they were both gone.