Regaining Strength

…

Marco and Scias headed to the armory. Marco wanted to get his equipment fixed while Scias wanted to get himself a new sheath for his sword.

"Well you look at that, everyone returned back to their normal lives as if there's nothing scratched them, eh?" said Marco easily.

"Ain’t that the truth, tho? Aredanians are p-powerful people. They didn't even flinch even if the ground's shaking hard,” Scias stated. The people of Areda were so tough that even earthquakes so frequent they won’t care. “Let alone a monster that's not really c-caused any s-s-significant trouble in t-this town,” Scias added.

"Ahahahah, that's righty-o! It's like a normal thing. But there IS a thing that will make us shaking in our boots," said Marco in a high pitch voice.

"Uh-huh,” Scias nodded, “t-the Sacranopolis Empire…"

"Yup, you know it, right," Marco slightly nudges his tall friend with his elbow. On their way, they met a bunch of townsfolk.

"Yo, Marco! You got yourself all up and well, man?” asked one man with a conical hat, “oh, good day, Sir Scias," he added.

"Ayyup! Back to full health, mate!" Marco replicated alongside a thumbs up.

"U-Uh..." Scias replied in his usual manner. That’s right, nod.

"Glad to know. The elemental test will begin in a couple days and it won't be fun without ya. Take care, now, bye!" The townsfolk waved his hand and left.

Elemental test. A test that ONLY exists in Areda Island that determines one’s proficiency in elemental magic usage, it also categorizes them in which level are they right now. “Huh… I did a couple research and some... fool's errand to try practicing some crazy stuff with Scias,” so Marco thought.

"I t-thought you've forgotten about it," Scias asked casually.

"What are you talking about, Scias? Of course I remember an important thing like that!" Marco replied surely. He actually lied, though. If nobody reminded him about the test, he’ll end up messing up the test.

"Oh! Here we are!" said Marco excitedly.

They’ve reached the armory. Inside, they see a bunch of weapons and armors in a large variety. Scias then walks into the counter and asks for a better sheath available. While Marco took his time to look into some neat stuff after giving the list of his needed equipment. Suddenly, his eyes caught sight of a strange armor.

"Huh? This is new… what's this?" Marco scrunched his eyebrows after he saw a strange chainmail. "W-What does it say…? Huh? 'Y O U'...?" Marco got confused.

“Hold up, wait, what? Why the heck the word 'Y O U' is instilled on the armor's breast?” Marco blabbered.

"Ah, Marco! 'dat armor got yer attention, too, eh? Hahah! Everyone does!" said the red-haired shopkeeper as he approaches Marco.

He waves his hand, "Well, I bought 'dat armor from er... well, how do ye say it, uh... good merchant. He sold 'dis armor to me for 6000 zennies. Because of big-assed investment I decided to sell it again to whoever wants it for 7500 zennies!" said the shopkeeper excitedly.

"It doesn't look like an assuming armor, though,” said Marco uninterested. “I'm not into big-badass-armor-thingy like this one, so... not really interested, except for the strange 'Y O U' word," said Marco to the shopkeeper. He’s not a fancy-heavy armor enthusiast, since he depends greatly on agility in battle.

"I don't really know why it’s there, either, but ye know? 'Dis armor... *smack* *smack* ... is super good top-notch quality!" said the shopkeeper with confidence.

“Say… from whom did you get that armor, tho?” Marco asked casually.

“Ach… I don’t remember the merchant’s name. All I remember is ‘dat he’s some oriental-looking guy,” the shopkeeper replied.

“Seriously?” Marco exaggerated his expression, “what if he’s a smuggler?” he added.

“Meh! The hell do I care? Business is business, money is money!” the shopkeeper stated surely.

“W-Well… technically most of you guys are like that, though…” said Marco.

“Gyahaha! Enough of ‘dat, what will ye need now, Marco?” the merchant changed topic into business right away.

Marco then bought himself a new waist bag. It's larger and could store more items in it. Scias bought himself a pair of sheathes: one long sheath while the other is a short one. Scias actually had two swords with him, that’s why he bought a pair of sheathes instead of only one.

Next, they headed to Nina and Aily's house.

Marco showed his jokey-face as they reached the twins’ house. Scias who saw this quickly stomp a word on him,

"No, stop that, M-Marco," he said heavily.

"Hah? There's no harm in doing it, right?" Marco replied.

"Well, that's not the t-thing…" Scias then pointed his finger into the door. "What's with the door? Don't tell me you want to say that the door was magically reinforced," Marco stated funnily.

"Don’t get high now, Marco. T-Those two weren't at home," Scias conveyed confidently.

"W-Wha? How did you know?" Marco wondered.

"I thought you’d know about this simplicity,” said Scias with pity. “I question thy credibility as an explorer, now,” Scias added with a slight smirk in his face.

“Ah, shuddap,” Marco replied funnily.

Scias then explains about what he saw, “I l-looked at the lock on the door there… It's double-locked. It means that both of t-them isn't at home right now,"

"Huh, what the heck was that? What kind of Aredanian that would lock their doors twice?" Marco wondered.

"Oi, they're n-not Aredanians, you k-know?"

"Oh, fridges, I nearly forgotten that, haha," Marco rubbed the back of his head.

Marco took a slight peek at one of the windows… “Huh… it's not covered in curtain so it could've mean that both of them have woken up before me—*BONK*—yeouch!”

"Hmph, peeking into s-someone's h-house is a bad habit," Scias bopped his friend on the head.

"Geez, I know! Like hell I would do some stupid thing!"

"You'll never know what y-you'll see. So don't do it."

"Okay, okay, fine."

"Instead of doing d-disrespectful stuff l-like t-that... use your mana sensing skill."

Marco then activated his ability to a radius of five meters wide… "Aaaand… nope, nothing to be found. They're not at home, indeed,” said Marco disappointedly as he stopped sensing.

"V'well, then. L-Let's head off somewhere else, first," Scias persuaded.

"Huh… okay, then," Marco agreed with his tall friend. On the way, the two rambles:

"First you tried to r-ram their door open… then you tried to take a peek on the windows… now I question their sanity as why t-they liked you a lot, heh," Scias stated with satire.

“Hey, that’s a terrible impression,” Marco frowned at Scias’ joke continued altogether with their laughter.

The two then walked onto the open plains outside the forest. On the way, while having a chat with Scias, Marco wonders: Where did Nina and Aily go to?