Exploring the Town (2)

"Do you want to take a quick loo—" My words got cut short by Erik's grin as he sniffs the smoke coming from the flue... I found it disgusting in some way. His face reminds me of a pervert peeking in the lady's bathroom, at the same time, his face also reminds me of my brother who got excited about his first console on his birthday. I don't even know what he's yearning for him to be that excited.

"Hey, let—" As I was about to tap his shoulder, Erik jumped off the building to the entrance.

When he got down, he called my name. "Hey, Claude! What are you doing? Come down!"

"Okay, kiddo..."

We stood at the entrance. The despicable foul smell coming from the shop almost killed my nose. I pinched my nose tightly. "What the heck is this smell?"

"The smell of hard work," Erik said confidently.

"Hard work? Molin's workshop doesn't have this kind of foul smell!" I grunted.

Erik opened the door. There we saw a robust, large man, swinging his hammer with brute force in spite of his old age. Then next to him, there's a boy, watching him from his behind. As soon they heard the door opening, their attention immediately went to us. The old man rested his hammer next to his seat and stood up. He slowly approached us with the young boy following him from behind.

"How can I help you?" He said coarsely.

"Can I look around?" Erik said with great enthusiasm.

"What about you?" He locked his gaze on me.

"I will also..."

He keenly scanned me from top to bottom. It made me uncomfortable obviously. There's a subtle change in his eye pupil once he used his mana which I quickly took notice of. After assessing me, he pointed his hand to Erik and said. "You. Go in."

"Yahoo!" Erik entered the shop.

"Then you. You're not allowed to enter." He pointed his finger at me.

I stood there, dumbfounded. "Eh? Why—"

-Bam!

"Huuuh?! Seriously?! Did he just slam the door on my face...? Rude... But what the fuck?!"

The old man closed the door in my face without saying the explanation behind why I'm not allowed to enter his shop. I'm standing in front of his shop, perplexed. It was definitely one of the strangest interactions that I had ever encountered. I took a few steps back and scanned the entire building. It's a shabby building. The old man obviously hasn't taken care of it for a few years, as to why it became like this which fits his rude personality. Other than closing the door on me, I saw his eyes looking down on me. He didn't have any problem letting Erik in.

So why only me? Did I do something wrong? Was it perhaps my remarks about the smell earlier? I think that would be it...

"That fucker... What do I do now...? Do I just wait?"

While waiting for Erik, I sat on the bench across the street. Out of boredom, I'm observing the people around me and the cloud in the sky. Then I shifted my attention to the street lamps, inside of them are these tiny creatures that light the street from the night sky. I forgot what Stephanie told me about these tiny creatures. However, one comes to my mind upon observing them, a sprite, they're tiny entities that don't have any distinct appearance, they're closely related to fairies from the books that I've read. They're quite fascinating creatures.

I sensed someone coming out of the door.

"Hm? Who's coming out?"

Unexpectedly, the boy from earlier, or the son of the old man came out of the building. He stopped in front of me and bowed to me. "I'm so sorry about my father earlier! He has his own reasons and I hope you can understand! I apologize on his behalf!"

"Eh, wait. Why are you apologizing?"

"Because what my father did to you was rude. He always kicks our potential customers... Please, forgive my father!"

I'm perplexed. But the first thing that came to my mind was 'Is he seriously a kid? Not an adult? Because he acts more adult than any of the adults in here!'. Out of all the people that's I've met earlier, he's the most decent one. The kid apologizing in his father's stead warms my heart and I appreciate it a lot.

"I don't why you are doing this, you're a good kid." I patted his head.

"Um... Didn't you hear me? Um... To apologize? Are you not mad with my father because I was expecting you would lash out?" He asked me out of confusion.

"No. Why would I lash out at you? You're a kid and I'm not a psycho."

"Why?" He's doubting me from the look of his eyes.

"Why? No reason? At this point, I'm not sure why are you asking these questions... Okay here, I offended your father when said those remarks about the smell earlier."

"I see..." He bobbed his head. "The smell... It has always been the complaint of every people who visited our shop."

"Now, tell me, are you seriously a kid?"

"Yes, I'm currently 9 years old. And my name is Evarius."

"You sure... that you're a kid? Sorry for annoying you. But nonetheless, you have a wonderful name. I'm so jealous of your name..."

"Hehehe, people always say that." Evarius scratched the back of his head. "Ah, thank you very much! Um, also, if you don't mind, I need to leave now because I lied to my father to apologize. I hope my father's actions won't give you a bad impression of him... He's one of the greatest blacksmiths here and I will do my best to convince him to let you in!

"It's fine. I'm not even looking for a weapon. I just accompanied my friend earlier."

"But still! We won't know what's ahead in the future! Perhaps when the time comes, you need a weapon! And we're here to help you!"

"Yo, tell me, are you really a 9-year-old kid?"

"Yes? I've already told you."

"Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What do you think?" Evarius's eyes were glistening.

"About what?"

"Visiting us in the future!"

"Yeah, I don't mind. Once I need a weapon, I will surely come to your place, unless your father won't shut the door to my face."

"I promise that won't happen again!" He shook my hands in excitement.

"You sure are lively."

"Well then, I hope to see you around again..."

"Claude Weiss."

"Oh! Hope to see you around, Mr. Weiss!" He bowed before leaving.

In retrospect to his father, the kid's demeanor was completely the opposite which made me think whether they're really blood-related to each other, so I came to the conclusion that the mother did everything because there's no way in hell that the father raised and taught him.

"Oi, wait—"

Suddenly, I saw the kid trip on the uneven sidewalk across the street.

"What the..."

He faceplanted to the ground but immediately got up as if nothing happened. Afterward, he continued tripping over, so now, I can't help myself but follow him from behind so I can hand him a bottle of healing potion.

"What the... What's wrong with that kid, huh? There's no way he's that clumsy."

Evarius then stopped by a bakery and bought a bunch of bread. While on his way back, a group of kids obstructed his way and pushed him inside of the alleyway when I was about to hand him a bottle of potion to heal his wounds. He held the bag that's containing the bread tightly, so the bread wouldn't fall to the ground.

"After those falls, he's getting picked on now... What an odd turn of events that I witnessed."

Then the group of kids began harassing Evarius, attempting to steal the bread from him. I can't hear them from my spot since I'm too far away from them. I'm still standing across the street. But once, I saw the aggressors raise a hand, I quickly took action and intervened. Before he could even land a hit on the boy, I picked up a small piece of stone lying in the street and flicked it directly to the head of the kid which instantaneously knocked him out. Naturally, Evarius was also confused along with the kids surrounding him.

"Ah... He got knocked out... Fuck, I didn't mean to knock out that kid." I leaped across the street.

"W-W-Wait?! What did you to him!?" One kid raised a voice toward Evarius. They're all screaming the same words to Evarius, asking him what happened to their friend. However, Evarius wasn't able to answer them because he was not even the culprit, so Evarius could only look at them in silence.

"Son of the w—!" Another kid added, but it was cut off because I picked up more stones from the ground and threw it to them, but I targetted their feet so they could leave Evarius alone because they attempted to attack him once again.

They all saw me, standing in the distance. "Aaaaah! Let's get out of here!" A kid screamed out to his friends before running in the opposite direction, leaving their friend on the ground.

Obviously, at that moment, Evarius was frightened and confused. As I was about to approach him. Evarius began running with tears dripping down his face.

"Hey, are you okay?" I stopped in front of him, but he run past me.

"S-Sorry for the trouble!" Evarius bumped into me yet continued running back to the workshop. Therefore, I scratched my cheeks from the situation that I had caused. "Eh, wait! Ah... Instead of helping him... I think I made it worse."

Instead of following Evarius, I looked briefly at the kid whom I knocked out...

"Shit. Are you okay?" I teleported on the unconscious kid, checking his head for bleeding. Luckily enough, it's not as worse as I expected, but it's bruised. I pulled out a lower-grade potion and poured it inside of his mouth.

I heave a sigh. "You shouldn't even bully someone in the first place."

A while later, I moved the kid and rest his head on the wall of the building.

A voice echoed through the alley. "Hey, what did you do to him?!" the man screamed.

"No way... That's him... There's no way."

The voice was familiar. It's Shin's voice even without looking behind me. The timing couldn't get worse for me. Thoughts are flooding through my head as of right now, thinking of ways to escape this situation, but there's only one solution which is the signature ability that I've mastered for years. At first, I thought to confront him to explain everything that happened; however, I know for a fact that he's a pain in the ass to deal with and I'm too lazy for that.

"What's this unfortunate turn of events? I just tried to help." I bit my lip.

"Oi! Why are you not answering?!" Suddenly, I heard his footsteps quickly getting closer and felt a surge of mana erupt from the distance.

"Wait, don't act reckless, Shin!" From the voice, I can definitely tell that it was Ami's voice.

In a matter of a split second, I finally decided that the best course of action would be the usual—escape. Luckily enough, I'm crouching down and my face is hidden from him. Once Shin got close, I teleported above the rooftops. At the edge of the building, I'm looking down below to the alleyway where I'm watching Shin and Ami searching for me. The two looked flabbergasted. The two immediately went to the kid and checked his condition.

"Is he seriously resorting to violence...? I mean, I'm not the one to talk... If I confronted him now to clear the misunderstanding, it would take a while and I don't have the time to entertain him. And, out of all places and times, he appeared now?! What are the chances? What a pain in the ass." I fled and returned to the workshop of the blacksmith.

As soon as I got back, Erik was waiting on the bench that I was sitting on with a big smile plastered on his face while carrying a longsword on his back.

"Where have you been?" Erik asked.

"Somewhere... I just had a situation that I need to deal with... but don't mind it. Anyhow, did you buy that?"

"Yep! I got a great deal from the old man."

"What about your points? How much did it cost you?"

"You won't believe it! It cost me 12 points for this piece of beauty! Isn't that a great deal?! I also told him that once I got enough money, I will come back for the enchanted weapon! So, after the dungeon, I will definitely return and request him personally to craft me a sword that fits me!"

"Good for you... Why did you buy one in the first place? Didn't you bring one?"

"Nope. I forgot my weapon back home. Oh, and also, the old man was kind enough to give me directions back to Ms. Alexandra's store."

"Oh...! That's helpful...! Lead the way."

Erik marched forward and I followed him from behind. I took a quick look at the blacksmith workshop, remembering the kid from earlier and connecting him to Shin who suddenly popped up out of nowhere.

Was it just a coincidence? I didn't even manage to get the blacksmith's name, only his son. Come to think of it, what happened to Evarius? I bet he pissed his pants.

A while later, we really did return to the merchant shop... Stephanie was standing in front of the shop "Where have you two been?! I've been waiting here for ages!"