Chapter 9 - Gifts

I was now flying towards Alexandra's office. The night sky was clear, and the moonlight cast eerie shadows on the academy's towers. I remembered seeing the owl going through an open window, so I was just roaming the skies trying to find it. It didn't take me long to spot the familiar window and glide through it.

However, there was just one little problem. The director wasn't there. It was the middle of the night, and of course she was sleeping. Now, the real question was, where the hell was she sleeping? I had no idea and I didn't want to go looking for her, so I improvised.

All those magical beasts in her office should be able to understand me. At least, that's what I hoped for since that was all I needed. I spotted the owl, perched above me, its eyes wide open as it stared at me.

"Hey! I don't know if you can help me, but I want to buy gifts for the other professors before they arrive. I just need some information about them to help me figure out what to buy."

"Hoot-Hoot!"

Its wings spread wide as it landed on my shoulder, pointing toward the bookshelf.

I walked over to it, and the owl pointed at one book in particular. It was quite thick with a lot of pages. Reading all of that in one night and going to buy gifts might be a little too complicated.

"Don't you have something…lighter? I just need a summary."

It shook its head.

"Ah, alright. Well, I guess that will do."

I quickly skimmed the pages with the help of the owl and realized that there were a LOT of professors working at the Royal Academy. There were a lot more than I thought. This might be a little expensive.

***

-Dring! -Dring! -Dring!

Who was I calling, you may ask? Albert, the man from the train!

Since it was the middle of the night, there weren't many people I could call to get things from. So, I thought about Albert since he had given me his phone number back on the train to connect with one another. Though, I don't think he expected me to call him at such a time.

"Ugh, who is it?"

His voice was sleepy, but it was an emergency.

"It's Caedrel."

"Caedrel? The guy from the train?"

He remembered me, which already put me in a better situation than I thought.

"Why are you calling me at 2 AM? Are you okay?"

A smile formed on my lips. "Right, sorry about that. Uh, actually, I really need your help. I need to buy gifts for my colleagues and the thing is…most of them are arriving tomorrow. Scratch that, a few hours from now."

He seemed to have distanced the phone from his mouth as I heard mutters from the other side of the phone. It sounded like curses, but the sound was too faint to be sure.

"Gifts? That's all. You called me at 2 AM for gifts?"

I noticed a tinge of anger in his voice. So, I did my best to be as friendly as possible.

"I did! Would it be possible to meet up in a few minutes?"

"Woah. Why are you going so fast? What do you need?"

"Uh…the list is long. I think we should meet. It'll be easier."

Now…the reason I didn't say what I needed was quite simple. The list was so long that there was a very good chance that he might refuse straight away. But if we met up, then he wouldn't be able to refuse me.

I heard a sigh on the other side of the phone. He was hesitating. It was now time for me to pull out my greatest card—lying.

"It won't take long. I only need a few items, you'll be able to go back to sleep in record time. I'm telling you!"

"Alright. Meet me at my shop in five minutes. It's on the main street. It's called Dollar Store."

I celebrated on the other side of the phone while keeping my voice at an even tone. "Great. I'll see you there."

***

It wasn't too hard to find the shop, which was nestled among the quiet, moonlit buildings of the main street. The sign, 'Dollar Store,' creaked gently in the night breeze. I descended from the skies, landing softly in front of the store's huge window. Moments later, the lights flickered on, casting a warm glow on the deserted street. Albert appeared, rubbing his eyes, with dark circles under them making him look like he hadn't slept in days.

Arriving in front of the huge window of his store, I knocked two or three times for him to unlock the door. He quickly arrived with huge dark circles under his eyes. It made me feel bad a little, but it's not like I had any other choices…

"Come in…" He indicated with a wave of his hand. "So, what do you want? I have everything here."

There was no energy in his voice as he just walked me around the store.

"Right. I have a list for you."

I had put the list in my special pouch which had a Spacial Augment on it, making it possible to stock pretty much everything you wanted inside of it. That item was very useful because no matter how many items you would put into it—the pouch would be light as a feather.

I rummaged through my pouch and finally felt the touch of paper.

"Here you go!" I said while I handed the list with a smile.

My list was written on a roll of paper, and Albert started opening it to read everything there was on it, and it just kept on going. His eyes kept widening every time he would see that the list was going on.

He glanced at me while adjusting his monocle and sighed.

"A few items? Really?"

I just smiled at him and made myself pretty.

"Do you have everything on there?"

"Probably. Though, it will cost you a lot."

"Oh, money is not a problem, don't worry about that."

I had made enough money as a soldier to last a few lifetimes. Price would never be a problem.