Chapter 170

Chapter 170<~> Chapter 170

"I don't know Lilith... I was thinking about starting with something a little more... basic."

Bella and I were staring at the wall of different colored paints. Most of the warmer colors were available but shades of purple and blue weren't available on this wall here. If they had them at all they would probably be locked up behind the counter or something, I remember blues and purples being expensive to make in Earth's past. I would think magic would be able to deal with that limitation but maybe it isn't a high priority.

"Yeah... painting is a bit of a jump, isn't it? Still, maybe some of the cheaper colors might be fun to play with a little," I replied.

"Maybe we can start with chalk? I don't want to waste something as expensive as paper or canvas for learning," Bella said nervously.

I tapped my chin. "That's not a bad idea. Let's see if they have colored chalk."

"Colored chalk? Yes, we have some of that! Do you need a good chalkboard as well?" the overly enthusiastic human man asked. The store was small and not very busy. Unlike most of the stores in the area, they weren't running out of supplies, they were running out of customers. There was a hunger in his eyes to get any sale they could and it made me a little uncomfortable but I suppose I couldn't blame the poor guy.

He came back with a set of multicolored chalks and the set even came with a stick of light blue chalk, which seemed pretty uncommon among most of the common pigments.

"This one's blue," I said pointing it out.

The shopkeeper nodded. "Yes, I'm told it's made from a toxic rock found during copper mining. It's heavily thinned when it's used to make chalk but I wouldn't stick it in your mouth," he said with a nervous chuckle. "Handling the rock is somewhat dangerous so it hasn't been used widely in paints yet, though one of my suppliers is experimenting with it."

I nodded, sounded like cobalt then. There were plenty of oil and watercolor paints that used cobalt from my old world. "How much for the set?" I asked.

"Well, these chalk sets aren't carried by anyone else in town but with things being as they are... How about eighty silver for the set?"

I scratched the base of my horn. "How about sixty silver each for two sets, one-twenty total?"

Bella turned toward me looking nervous. "We don't need two, we could just share, I don't mind..."

"Deal!" Spurred on by Bella trying to talk me out of it he jumped on the sale. "One-twenty silver! I'll have two sets ready for you in a moment!" He placed the set he was showing us on the counter and ran into the back to bring out another.

"I feel as though you're too loose with money sometimes..." Bella said.

I laughed as I dug my coin purse out of my backpack. "I know, but we'll get use out of these. I don't feel bad spending money on stuff like this from time to time. I'm just kind of happy to find someone who shares this common interest with me. I really haven't had time to enjoy drawing lately, spending some time teaching you to draw sounds like a lot of fun for me."

Bella leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder. "I suppose that's fair. It's not like we're exactly hurting for money. Oceane has even put us up for free all of this time."

"Exactly!" I said with a grin. "And who do we have to thank for that hm?"

Bella looked away and smiled bashfully. "I was just glad I could help."

The man came back with another wooden box filled with the chalk sticks and set it on the counter. "Two sets of colored chalk! You- you can pay today correct?"

"Yes, no problem. Can I buy a small chalkboard as well?"

For the first time since we entered the store Bella's excitement waned. She got so caught up in picking things out that she didn't realize just how much stuff we actually grabbed. She gave me a worried look.

"How much are we talking?" I asked.

The shopkeeper let out a sigh and started looking over everything we set out. "Hmm, if you buy all of this now I can give it to you for five gold."

Bella's eyes widened. "F-five gold?"

The shopkeeper shrugged. "Look around, we're having trouble keeping enough poles in stock, let alone bait and tackle. People are doing anything they can to eat right now, I know the prices are high but we're running out of stuff too fast. If you're just a hobbyist starting from scratch you should come back once things are settled down again. Maybe we can work something out if you need to put some of it back."

I felt the pang of insult Bella felt when she was called a hobbyist but she quickly let it go. She turned to me. "I-I dunno about—"

I turned to the shopkeeper. "We'll take everything. Give me a second to dig out five gold."

The shopkeeper's eyebrows raised and Bella gaped. "Lilith, I... don't exactly want to talk you out of this but that's a lot of money for this stuff..."

I shrugged and smiled. "After seeing how excited you've been since we've come in here I wouldn't dare hold out on you now. Besides, I think this is the first time you've ever shown this much interest in anything. You were more excited in here than I was in the art store." I set five gold on the shopkeeper's tray before she could argue any further.

The shopkeeper smoothly switched to a smile as she examined each of the gold pieces. "Five gold, I've confirmed the amount. Thanks for your patronage. Let me help you pack your new tacklebox."

Bella and the shopkeeper spent some time packing the supplies into the tackbox while I held onto the two poles. I got a weird feeling and noticed a few of the scruffier-looking people watching us. I pretended to look away and noticed one of them signal another.

Crap, looks like my show of wealth backfired a little.

Once the two of them finished and everything other than the poles were loaded neatly into Bella's new tacklebox, she took back her pole. She was beaming now and couldn't help staring over at her new fishing pole. The look on her face made a little bit of overspending totally worth it and I'm sure the others will be happy if she did manage to supplement our food with fish along the way.

As we were walking toward the exit I placed my hand on the guy's shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"Don't try it," I rumbled out.

The guy's face went white and I had to stop him from falling back all over one of the shelves.

Bella did a half-turn when she noticed I had stopped. "Hm? Something the matter Lilith?"

"Just bumped into this guy on accident. Sorry man," I patted his shoulder but he didn't reply, still frozen stiff.

I held the door open for her as I looked at the person it looked like he signaled. He didn't seem to be interested in following anymore either but it was better to be safe.

Once we left the tackle shop I took her hand and pulled her along quickly. She didn't seem to realize anything was up, she just laughed and giggled at me being silly, pulling her through town. I smiled and laughed with her, treating it like a game.

I looked over the notification I got.

[Intimidation lv. 1 unlocked - Successfully intimidate someone into doing what you want.]