Chapter 128 - Shopping

The shop was fairly large, but still smaller than the taverns here. The wood of this building was fairly dark. While most houses seemed to look light brown, this one was dark brown. It almost gave off a feeling of luxury.

However, the place was simply too weathered to look that nice. This went for the sign as well. It said 'Refined Writer's Shop' in exquisite cursive writing. The sign itself was a large piece of parchment with ink for the lettering.

However, the letters themselves were worn. Not only were they faded, but several cracks appeared within the ink. There were even some missing pieces, though the words themselves were still legible. It was as though the letters were actually shattered statues.

The door was also dark brown, but had a silver handle.

After standing there for a few moments, I grabbed the door handle and pushed it aside.

"Mm? Are you certain this is the store you intended on entering?"

I blinked a few times in confusion.

"Uh, I think so?"

There was a fairly young man in front of me. While he was definitely older than me, it shouldn't be by too much.

He had glossy dark hair that stuck out in every direction. His face was a little pale, but not enough to warrant that he was sick.

A set of glasses rested on his face. The glasses themselves consisted of two lenses and worn dark wood. There was a piece of metal in the center of the glasses that seemed to act like the elbow of an arm. The glasses pinched the bridge of the man's nose that had several red marks.

In contrast, his clothes were fairly ragged, just like most of the people in the village.

The man raised an eyebrow.

"This is a store that provides ink and paper for purchase, not a tavern. If you want to go to the tavern, it is across the street and a few blocks to the right."

I scratched the back of my head.

"Uh... I didn't want to go to the tavern. I came here to buy a feather, ink, and a piece of parchment."

The man furrowed his brows, still not convinced.

"Is that truly the case?"

I blinked a few times.

"Uh... yeah."

After scrutinizing me for a few seconds, the man let out a soft sigh.

"Well... greetings. You can view the prices on the wall to your left."

I looked towards the left, and sure enough, the prices were listed there on a piece of parchment. The prices were the same as what I had been told. 

Parchment, fifty coppers.

Ink, one silver.

Feather, fifty coppers.

The writing was in ink. The strange thing was that the prices were scratched out, while a poorly drawn number was done on top.

I could just barely make out that the parchment was in the price of silvers before. However, I couldn't tell how much.

There were also several other items on the parchment, but they were scratched out altogether.

I turned back to the man, who already seemed to lose interest in me. He was writing something on a piece of paper.

I tilted my head to the side.

"Say, why did you think I came into the wrong place? It would be pretty hard to mistake this place for a tavern with the sign saying it's a writer's shop."

The man chuckled, but continued writing down something on a piece of parchment, not even bothering to look up at me.

"Frankly, there are only a few patrons that actually buy the goods of this shop. There is only the occasional fool that wanders in if they aren't part of that group."

I nodded.

"Ah. But you had to have gotten new patrons at some point. Why do you think that will never happen now?"

The man shrugged his shoulders.

"The only others that purchase goods are nobles that wish to experiment with ink and paper. However, experiment is the most they do. I've never seen one of those nobles return after buying once."

He took a moment to glance at me.

"I am fairly confident you belong to this group."

My eyelid twitched.

"...Well my plan is to buy a parchment each day. If nothing crops up, that should be the case for a while now."

The man raised his head in laughter. After he calmed down, he continued writing something while shaking his head.

"I suppose something will 'crop up' for you then."

The man clearly disdained me, which felt a bit unwarranted.

I mean, it's not like I did anything to him, right?

A sigh escaped me.

"Anyways, can I buy a bottle of ink, a feather, and a parchment?"

The man nodded, but didn't stop writing.

"If you have the payment, of course. Hold on a moment."

After a few more seconds, he put his feather down.

He walked into a back compartment of the shop. After a few minutes, he came out with everything I asked for in hand.

The man set them down on the counter and looked at me.

"A total of two silvers."

I nodded and pulled out all the coins from my pockets. For a few seconds, I felt emotional parting with them. But I was definitely looking forward to finally acquiring the drawing tools.

After setting the coins down on the counter, I reached for those tools. However, the man grabbed my wrist.

"I said two silvers, not one silver and one hundred copper."

My eyelid twitched.

"Are they not the same price?"

The man cleared his throat.

"Yes, but if you do not have two silvers, you cannot purchase these."

I blinked a few times. It took me a few moments to gather the words.

"...I don't have any silvers. Is there really no exception you can make?"

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Surely you have two silvers. You are a noble, no?"

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"Not really... These coins are all I have."

The man stared at me for a good few seconds. He then began counting the copper coins by setting them aside in groups of ten.

After confirming the amount, he nodded.

"Alright, you can take the feather, ink, and parchment."

My eyelid twitched.

"Huh?"

The man shrugged his shoulders.

"I just wanted to see if you were a rich noble."

I furrowed my brows.

"...And how does that make any sense?"

The man chuckled.

"Only the rich carry around several silvers. As for the rest, they mainly deal with coppers. That much should be clear once you've dealt with money for a while."

I blinked a few times.

"Oh..."

The memory of Mildred dropping down several silvers for a drink flashed into my mind.

...It seems she really was rich.

When I really think about it, I realized that Mildred was an exception within the bar. Most of the people that ordered alcohol from the bartender then moved to a table. From there, they wouldn't order another.

Most of the people even had small mugs, as opposed to the large one Mildred had. There was the occasional medium-sized one, but they were the minority.

After letting out a soft sigh, I picked up the feather and parchment in one hand, while the ink bottle was carried by the other.

"Thanks for the stuff."

The man nodded.

"As long as you have the payment."

He proceeded to pick up his feather once more and began writing once more with his head down.

With that, I walked out of the store while inspecting the new goods I purchased.

The feather was quite stiff, probably because it was made for writing. The tiny hairs of the feather were limp, like the stalks of a withered plant. However, that part wasn't important for writing, so I didn't mind.

The ink bottle looked like it was made out of metal, but the outside was dull, without any metallic sheen to speak of. There was a cork at the top that sealed it.

As for the parchment, it was rough and thick. However, it was still decently large. Although it would be an exaggeration to say it was longer than my forearm, it was near that length. The width was a little over half its length.

By the time I finished inspecting the three things, I found myself at the palace entrance.

The sun was about to set, signaling the coming of night.

After such a long day, I was very tired. However, I was too antsy to sleep now. After all, after so much time, I finally got the supplies I needed to draw the spell.

And so, I stepped into the palace and made my way towards the seat with the 'Control Vines' spell next to it.

After setting the supplies to the side, I pushed the spell diagram up and brought the paper over.

I slowly drew in a breath.

Now.... it was time to memorize this spell.