Chapter 7: Suspicious Shop (3)

The shop's ambiance crackled with intrigue as I and my stalwart companion, Egil, stepped into its interior. 

A treasure trove of curiosities lay before us, each item whispering tales of forgotten lore and untold mysteries.

Egil's eyes widened in curiosity, a silent observer unlike his usual self. His presence, though incongruent, added an unexpected dimension to the scene, a blend of brawn and burgeoning intrigue. 

 He began to eagerly look around the shop, even though he definitely didn't seem to understand anything about them. He's what people called muscle brain after all.

My explorative gaze swept across the eclectic display, familiar items mingling with novelties. 

Unfortunately, there's nothing particularly appealing among the displayed. There're only normal antiques or things that are useless to me.

Grrr!

Suddenly, the shop resonated with a loud grumbling sound.

I looked at the source of the sound and saw Egil; staring seriously at the painting with a contemplating look even though it's obvious he's the one that making the sound.

"Starving, aren't we?" I jested,

Egil scratched his cheek, and spoke with an embarrassed expression, "…Don't mind me."

"Want some cookie?" Bon looked at us with a small smile and offered to us while pointing to a plate of cookie on the counter. 

There're also three cups of steaming tea, which I don't know when the hell he prepared them.

It's a weird sight, but like any other sane people, I just ignored and assume its normal and went to take a sit. 

Egil's eyes shined when he saw the treats and quickly went along with me. He doesn't to care whether they appear out of nowhere or not. 

"Wow! Can we really eat this?" Egil asked Bon in an excited tone. His mouth was already drooling.

Well, I can't blame him. These treats smell heavenly.

Bon looked at us with gentle eyes akin to neighbourhood grandpa and said, "Please feel free." 

"Thank you." I thanked Bon with a slight bow for his hospitality and took a sip of the tea first. 'Delicious.'

The tea, contrary to its dark color, is not bitter at all. The tea was light with a flavour that remind me of white tea on Earth. A smooth and easy-to-swallow blend with a hint of fruitiness and subtle sweetness.

I was tempted to gulp them all down, but the enticing tea fragrance made me want to enjoy them slowly. What a dilemma. So I pick my cup took another sip.

 "Huh…" a satisfying sigh escapes my mouth. I could feel my body relaxed after that sip.

"Hmm, nice tea" I looked at Bon and compliment the tea truthfully. 

"Thank you for the compliment." His word was light, but I could feel his mood rose a bit.

 It's like an intuition I develop along the way in my life. I think to be able to guess what other really think is an important skill to have anywhere you are. Human generally have more than one face than the one they show. 

"Hm…Hmhm…"

By the way, Egil is gobbling on the cookies on the plate with a very visible pace. He keeps stuffing his mouth from piece to piece without missing a beat. Are you a kid?

Looking at Egil eating with such vigor, I grew curious and pick one up before it all disappear into Egil's mouth and took a bite. 'Hm…'

It was good. The sweetness of semi-melt white chocolate permeated the mouth, and its crunchy and slightly chewy texture made it fun to eat. 

It's not bad in any way but I think it's too sweet for my preference. If dark chocolate is used instead of white chocolate, it might be a better fit for my taste.

I tossed the leftover into my mouth and took a couple more sips of tea when I notice arcane in my body recovering in faster rate than before.

My eyes widen in realization and turned to look at Bon. 'As expected, he's really not normal.' Egil must not feel it since he's not reacting at all. Maybe because my arcane is in a depleted state right now.

Casually serving this kind of food to customer made realised once again how mysterious this man he is. That's why I made a request to Bon. "Can I take some back with me? I'll pay, of course." 

"Oh! I also want to ask the same! These cookies are tasty!" Egil also chimed in from the side.

Bon expression became troubled a bit when we asked that.

I know it's kind of rude of us. We just met for the first time today and Bon already host us with such hospitality despite us just being customers, but I can't help it. 

With these cookies, I can save a lot of time in training.

"I can't?" looking at his expression, I thought he will decline but Bon just shakes his head and spoke.

"It's not like that. These cookies were homemade, so I can't offer much at the moment. If you are okay with just a bag, I can give them to you as our meeting gift."

"Ah…yes! Thank you!"

"Thanks owner!"

We both thanked Bon after he gave the confirmation.

"Haha! I don't know you two youngsters like my cookies so much. That's made me happy." Bon spoke to us with a cheerful tone before he turned toward the direction of the door in the back, but before he moved, I hurriedly spoke to him.

"Before that, Mr Bon, I want to find a specific thing. May I ask if you have it?"

"Yes, of course. You are a customer, after all." Bon said.

"I want to find a vase with river stone." 

"Hmm, with river stone?" 

"That's right. A black vase around this size with river stone decorating its body. I heard I can find it here." I nodded to Bon and told him about the vase while making a rough shape and size with my hands.

But suddenly I could feel the threatening aura in the surrounding. No more ambiance of the relaxing shop remained.

"…Ah, I think I got it. But I wonder where you heard about it." I can see Bon's eyes sharpen a notch more when he said that. I knew he was staring directly into at me even though his eyes still looked closed. 

When I realized, the surrounding air had become heavier, making it difficult for me to breathe.

'Bloodlust!'

I felt like even arcane in the surrounding were filled with bloodlust that sent shiver up my spine. Goosebumps spread all over my body. However, upon seeing still carefree Egil, I realized that this bloodlust was solely directed at me.

For a moment, I thought I was being stared down by a huge snake; a kind that can kill me in a moment in any way it wants.

At such a display of power, Fear bubbling in my heart. When I look up at Bon, I felt the urge to lower myself to crawl in front of him, cowering in fear.

But I clenched my jaw. Arcane flow inside me and Enhance activated in full force. I stared back hard at him. 

'You want me? The one that's going to be the strongest in the future! To cower in fear here!?' 

My mouth grew bigger into a full smile erratically, showing all my teeth. A twisted smile stretched across my face, a defiance against the looming threat. 

"Do I have to answer that?" I asked back in a low voice. The intense pressure made it hard for me to speak, but I still managed to utter a sentence.

I don't know why he tried to intimidate me, but I don't plan to reveal my source, though I doubt whether he will believe me or not.

Imagine someone said "I played around this world from behind a computer screen before," I would straight uppercut that guy no doubt.

That's doesn't mean I'm willing to do things in roundabout ways just because I'm scared people will feel suspicious of me.

I don't have time for such chores.

Though Bon's figure is seriously scary, I'm not that worried in reality. Why? Because I know he will not do any harm just for this. I know he's not that petty. Right?

When our staring stretch for a bit longer, I began to break out in a cold sweat. 'He will not kill me just because I don't want to answer him, right?' 

Silence hung between us, an unspoken battle of wills. 

Sigh!

But my worries proved unfound when Bon relented with a sigh.

"I apologies. That was rude of me. Everyone has their own secret." Bon said to me with his right hand on his chest and a slight bow. 

His apology is a testament to his respect for personal boundaries.

Despite wanting to sigh in relief, I control my expression and accept his apology with a nod. I'm just glad things do not escalate more. Dying on the day I transmigrated is not what I want.

"Don't worry about it. So, do you have what I want?" I told Bon and steered us back to the topic at hand.

He looked at me with a smile and nodded.

Bon went behind the counter and brought out an enormous something and put it on the counter.

Bang!

A thick book with an old cover could be seen on the counter. Although it appears to have endured for a long time, the book is surprisingly clean.

Looking at our surprised expression, Bon explained, "This is the catalogue of my products."

"That thick?" I asked with a dumbfound voice.

"Well, I have a lot of products."

"With such resources, why not consider renovating the shop's exterior?" Egil retort in a whisper, but Bon doesn't seem to hear it or he just ignores it.

Of course I ignore him too.

Bon rummaged through the thick-ass catalogue for a few moments until he stopped at a page with a picture on it. On the page illustrated a picture of vase and its complete description like the name, measurement and history.

I don't really care about such a thing, but looking at the picture, my mouth curled into a smile. Beautiful black vase with an assortment of golden shining stone decorating it. The very same item as in the game. 

'Gotcha,'

 "Is it still available?" I looked up at Bon and asked.

"You're lucky, young man. This piece still hasn't been sold yet. In fact, it's been 50 years since I came to possess it."

"Why hasn't it been sold yet?" Egil asked Bon from beside me. Bon look at Egil and said to him with a wry smile.

"Well, its price is a bit pricey for a vase since it's an enchanted antique, but…" 

"But?" 

"The only effect it had is it can reduce stress." 

"Heh?" Egil made a dumbfound face at Bon's reply.

"Haha I get you. They write them like some relic but at the end, the only effect it had was to reduce stress."

"Well, since we'll going to become student back later, maybe it will be useful," Egil laughed and said to me, but I don't care about such thing. 

"But I'm sure this friend of yours is not after that," Bon said that and gave me a knowing look like he knew what I'm thinking.

"Of course," I rolled my eyes and readily agreed with him.

"Do you want me to separate them?" 

"Please."

"Okay. Please wait a moment." 

With that said, Bon proceed and went to the back room while we wait. 

???

I could see question marks popping on Egil's head, but I'm too lazy to explain, so I ignored him.

After about five minutes, Bon came back with a box in his hand. Opening it, he took out two beautiful golden colored stones and put them on the counter. 

One of the key item for one of most OP skill in-games. There're two of them since this is a pair item. But even by itself, its performance is not to be scoffed at.

With excitement in my heart. I went straight to business. "How much?"

Bon raised his fingers and state the price.

My face froze when I heard that, 'I forgot these things expensive shit.'

***

"Thank you for your patronage."

With that word from Bon, I exit the store in a depressed mood with Egil. The sky already took an orange hue in the distance. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the sunset from our position.

I tried to haggle for some discount, but at the end I begrudgingly hand over the full price to Bon. The stones were now safely secured inside my ring.

Oh. We also got a bag of cookies each and he gave me the addition of some tea leaves we drank before, as a freebie for purchase.

Sigh!

"Hm?" Egil asked.

"Nothing, I just realized in any world, businessman will always be businessman." Regardless of worlds, always held the scales of commerce with unwavering steadfastness.

"Ooh," Egil agreed with me, but I had a feeling that he didn't quite get what I meant.

"More importantly, let's hurry up! Before all places got full," Egil said in urgent and ran into the distance.

I hurriedly chased after him. "Your treat! I'm fucking broke!"

Unbeknownst to Vincent and Egil, Bon observed them from behind the antique counter, a subtle twinkle in his half-closed eyes. 

"They are quite interesting youngsters," Bon mused to himself, a wry smile gracing his lips.

The old man had seen countless customers in his years, but there was something different about these two.

Vincent's determination and subtle defiance, despite the overwhelming aura Bon projected, piqued his interest. Egil, on the other hand, with his earnest curiosity, provided a contrasting yet complementary dynamic.

"They possess an air of resilience," Bon whispered softly, 

His mind, attuned to mysteries and the secrets hidden within the fabrics of time, began to weave scenarios about the paths these youngsters might tread.

As Vincent and Egil prepared to depart, Bon's gaze lingered on them, contemplating their potential and the unpredictable future that lay ahead for both of them. 

He leaned back against the counter, a silent observer, allowing a small chuckle to escape his lips.

"Ah, the wonders of youth," he murmured, the enigmatic charm never fading from his countenance. 

With a graceful nod of farewell, he watched them leave, his thoughts wandering into the shadows of the unknown, curious about the roles these two might play in the intricate tapestry of fate.

"I hope they can survive," he muttered under his breath, his graceful smile deepening as he spoke.