Chapter 4

4.1

As I headed down the hill and towards the road, I could see some signs. This is my first time being here, so I don't know my way around. The path is right in front of me. Looking to my left I can see a sign it says, "15 minutes to Kibukiko". That's good, it means I'm heading in the right direction. As I make my way to my destination, I take the time to look around me and get a good look at my environment. It's beautiful. There are small islands floating.

What was that noise. Tilting my head upwards I can see a dragon. It's massive. It has red scales. It's wings are at least as wide as a bus. It must be a unique species. Looking even closer I can see a rider on the ferocious beast. His armour is covered in red and black. The amour is surprisingly thin. It must be made of something incredibly strong. Oh, I had a feeling the rider looked familiar. He is a member of the Amaterasu guard. Despite the name guard they act more like enforcers. Thronrean intelligence has deduced that they're not the main enforcers. They are just the one shown to the public. I wasn't told about this, I just happened to overhear this from a few of the higher ups on my way to work one day. The main enforcers are members of the ninja clan. They are elites who slip in and out without any member of the public getting a chance to see them.

Moving forward, I can see a cart tilted over. There's an old man next to the cart. He struggles. The cart looks massive. It's covered in crates and metal boxes. It's likely to have something valuable. Most likely jewellery. Why is an old man carrying around something so valuable with little to no protection. I walk towards the cart. I pick the cart up with one hand. It is heavy but it's no big deal. I would assume it weighs something along the lines of 50kg. I'm surprised this man was even able to push it in the first place. The old man goes to pick up the boxes that fell on the ground. I was going to help with the fallen boxes, but he has already picked them up. He turns around and looks at me.

"Thank you, very much young man." He speaks.

"It's no big deal." I respond. I'm going to cut him off quickly before he offers me something. I feel bad about taking something and I don't want to offend him by refusing.

"Do you know where the closest shop is?" I ask quickly.

"There should be one around the corner." He responded with.

Before the man was even able to finish his sentence I was already down the corner. I had my thumbs up to indicate that I heard what he said. I hope he understand what the thumbs up was meant to mean. It's fine, it's not like the thumbs up is going to be on his mind for too long.

Heading forward I can see the shop in front of me. That's good I'm starving. In all honesty the food on the train wasn't the greatest. It does make sense though. I mean the train is a business-oriented train. Not in the sense that it is meant for people who can afford business class but in the sense that it is meant for business people. That's why the food was tasteless and small yet some how filling. Any added flavour would mean that the food would lose its important qualities which was the ability to make something small, yet it would be enough to stop your hunger. Surprisingly it had all of the right kind of nutrients and you could eat that instead of normal food for the rest of your life and you would still be able to retain a healthy body.

I headed inside the shop and looked around. The stuff here looked alien to me but I'm going to assume that it's mostly edible. There's something that looks like some fruit. It is covered in weird scales. The scales remind me of the dragon. If I remember correctly this was called a Crozon fruit. I hope it's edible. I grabbed two of them and turned my attention towards the drink section. The drinks were inside of plastic. It looked hand made. I heard that the majority of items that are in this country were made by hand as a pose to most of the other countries that rely on factory-built products. I picked up a green drink and headed towards the counter. In front of me there was 2 old ladies who gave me a funny look. Perhaps it was to indicate their disgust towards me or a sense of confusion.

The first old lady looked to the woman on her left and whispered

"Does that boy realise he has weird highlights"

The woman next to her giggled and spoke

"Kids these days"

I didn't realise my hair was changing colour. I forgot to look at it before. I opened the concealed pocket on the right side of my book and took one of my formulas out. I already knew that I had around 6 left. Each one lasts for around 72 hours. I opened the top of it with my teeth and drank the blue liquid. It went inside and no matter how many times I took the formula it still felt unnatural. That was because it was. I tilted my head towards the drink section. There was a mirror in that direction, and I could see my hair turning from grey to light brown. The two women looked stunned as if they had never seen something like this before. Their probably used to seeing people throwing flames with a flick of the wrist as a pose to witnessing peoples appearance change at a moment's notice.

They turned their heads back to the front and paid for their items. They headed out of the shop in a speedwalk. I didn't know that something as small as an appearance change would be enough to cause such a reaction. I walked towards the front of the counter and placed the fruit and drink in front of me. The man placed the food and drink in the bags and accepted the money. He gave the change. I looked at the money and thought about how this was a unique currency that was incredibly different to the one at home. Due to recent events the value of the currency in this country has gone down. I think it will take some time but I'm sure I will be able to figure out its value and what is the right price. I don't want to be ripped off.

As I headed outside, I looked back at the shop. I wanted to get a good look at what this place would look like. It would be beneficial to know this place properly just in case I get lost. The shop is a weird mix of modern and old. Judging from the wood it is likely this place is only around 3 years old. The place was made to attract tourists. It's a weird mesh of every countries design in a way that is looks good and feels familiar. After a few seconds of observation I took in the whole scenery and memorised the layout of the shop.

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