The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith (27 page)

“
The former. The
mind of another should remain their own.”

“
Right, well said.
Go ahead and take a look around while I find what you’re
wanting. We keep spells in the back, thanks to our restriction on
selling.” He smiled and went off towards the back again,
closing the door behind him.

“
Well, he seems
nice.” Denise smirked to me, having noticed how tense I got
earlier from the sounds of those footsteps. “Real scary,
though.”

“
Oh hush you, he
sounded bigger at the time.” I smirked and walked around the
store, casually looking at various items and their descriptive tags.
“See if you can find anything that would help spot traps.”

“
Soul gem, endless
canteen, crystal ball, huh… is this really bottled wind?”

“
I… don’t
want to know.” I shook my head as I searched.

“
Hey, they sell
paper charms, too~!”

“
What? You mean
like, talismans you throw at enemies?”

“
Apparently. There
are a few different types.” I went over to see what she was
looking at. And she was right, there was a teleport charm, various
elemental charms, and a paralysis charm.

At that point, we heard
Finley talking near the door as he came back. “Alright, got
your basic teleport instructions, and a book on beginner’s
enchanting.” He opened the door, and indeed was just carrying a
single scroll and a book.

“
Thanks. For
enchanting, are any special materials needed, or just the magical
energy?”

“
Well, for some
things you’ll need a special material. Like, if you want to
enchant a sword to replace its blade with a pillar of fire, you’d
need to get a flame essence from an elemental. But for the beginner
stuff, as long as you can use the effect yourself, you can put it in
an item.”

“
Good to know. So..
do you know about any dungeons around here?”

Finley raised an eyebrow
curiously. “A dungeon? Why would there be something like that
near here. The worst we’ve got is the Lizardmen fort to the
east. And I’ll discourage you from going there.”

“
Understood. I was
just curious.” I tried to think if there were any other items
we needed, aside from a sword for Denise. “I don’t
suppose you carry anything like a torch whose flame won’t be
extinguished?”

“
You mean an
illusion torch? Yeah, we’ve got a few of them. Won’t set
anything on fire, since their own flame isn’t real, but if its
just an easy light source you want, that’ll do it.”

“
And, anything that
would help locate traps?”

“
You guys are
serious about this adventure stuff, huh? Okay, we’ve got
something here for that too.” He went behind the counter and
dug around in one of his boxes, pulling out a torch that instantly
seemed to catch fire, and then set it on the counter casually. The
next thing he pulled out of the box looked like a pair of glasses.

“
Why, Denise, they
look just your size.” I grinned towards her, having no
intention to wear the glasses myself.

“
Shouldn’t…
fine… I get it. Payback, I warn you. Payback.” She
glared to me as she nodded to Finley. “We’ll take it.”

“
Alright.. the total
for all of this is… 4500 gild.”

“
Huh, cheaper than I
expected.” I reached into my pouch and pulled out several gold
coins, counting them till I had enough.

“
We give a discount
to graduates, to encourage repeat business.”

“
I understand, and
I’ll definitely be back if I return to Coatin.” I placed
the coins on the counter, and he handed me the purchased items. Of
course, I immediately gave the glasses to Denise, and she grudgingly
accepted them.

“
Payback, I tell
you.”

“
Hey, I won the race
earlier.”

“
I already gave you
your prize for that!”

“
Well, consider this
as a bonus prize.” I smiled to her innocently, and we made our
way out of the store. Since it was just one scroll, I decided to use
Speed Reading on the teleport spell. “Don’t worry,
there’s a good chance I’m going to pass out in…
wow, only thirty seconds? So yeah, you can get even with me then.”

“
Thirty seconds..
pass out? Wait, you’re not.. oh no you don’t!” She
quickly turned around and lunged at me, trying to grab the book from
my hand. Of course, I let her. It wasn’t the book I was working
on. “Hah! Now let’s see you do it.”

I waited a couple seconds,
dramatically sighing, and then held up my other hand with the scroll
in it. “Wrong one.” I said with a chuckle, and her
victorious smile faded just as the timer ended.

“
Huh.. not even a
headache that time? Well, that’s a pleasant change!” I
grinned widely, tucking the scroll into my bag, and then held out my
hand for the book. “Can I have that back now?”

“
Nope! Not until we
get the sword. I want to make sure you don’t do anything stupid
that makes you pass out on me.” She held the book away from me,
just out of my reach.

“
You really want to
learn how to use a sword, huh?”

“
We don’t know
what we’ll be fighting in there, and you don’t have
enough magic yet to deal with groups quickly. So one of us has to be
able to fight in close range without going feral.”

“
Fine, fine, I
understand. Well, let’s at least get you something well made. I
can adjust it if I need to.”

She nodded happily at my
agreement, and we went off towards the advanced gear section from
earlier. Of course, we got a few more looks now, because some people
-- I assume just NPCs -- recognized the staff I was carrying. When we
made it back to the stores, we found an armory and looked around.
There were so many weapons that I had no idea what I was even looking
for. So, I did what any self-respecting customer with too much money
does. I asked the owner.

“
Excuse me?”

“
Yes, is there
anything you need help with?” Tall, dark, and muscled glared at
me, obviously thinking I was in the wrong store by my attire.

“
My friend does.
We’re looking to get her a sword. Something that goes well with
her speed.”

He looked over to Denise,
and nodded. Apparently she was much more the type that was welcomed
here than I was. “I’d suggest a scimitar, looking at her.
It’s a good sword for speed, and doesn’t take the
strength of the bigger ones.”

Denise smiled to him,
“Thank you, sir. Do you have any good examples?”

“
I.. uh…
yeah, I’ve got a couple. They’re pricey, but the finest
swords I have.” He opened a drawer behind the counter, and
pulled out a thin curved sword, set next to its sheath. The design
was intricate, and I expected that I could probably enhance it with
my magic by adjusting its properties.

“
It looks great!”
Denise said, her smile growing wider, and she cast a sideways glance
to me, not even asking the price before her next words came out.
“We’ll take it.”

“
Oh, I see--wait,
you will? You didn’t even ask how much it was…”

“
Oh, it doesn’t
matter. My boyfriend is paying for it.” She glared at me as if
saying ‘Yes, payback is a bitch’.

The man just tilted his
head back and laughed. “Wow, what did you do to get on her bad
side? Tell me now so I can not.”

“
I gave her a
magical gift. I guess she didn’t like it as much as I
imagined.” I shrugged innocently. “So, how much is it?”

“
900 gild for the
sword and sheath. Best deal I can offer.”

“
That’s fine.
Like she said, I’m paying.” I held out nine golden coins
to him, and he gave the sword to Denise.

“
Thanks for your
business. And do take care of that woman of yours, you hear?”

“
Oh, don’t I
know it.” I smiled to him and we left. Once we were out, I
chuckled. “That was actually pretty cheap, I think he liked
you.”

“
Well, duh. Who
wouldn’t?” She struck a pose that earned more than a few
looks from the passers-by, and we both laughed. “So, back to
the dungeon?”

“
Right. And, mind if
we take a shortcut? I still haven’t seen an inn here yet, so we
might as well go straight back.”

“
Alright. And what
shortcut?”

I smirked, pulling out my
spellbook, and she got the message pretty quick. “You want to
use this to test your new spell… Fine, I guess I deserve it.
You better not let us end up in the middle of a hall.”

“
I’ll do my
best. It’s only a couple hour’s ride, so even as a first
time use, I won’t need the ritual.” I looked at the words
of the spell to recite them. “Stars of the west, eyes of the
north, bridge of the south, and eastern seas, guide me to the place I
seek.” I focused my mental image on the oasis we visited
earlier, and expanded the spell to include Denise and Midnight.

“
You’d
bett--gah!” A bright light enveloped us and it felt like we
were being pulled through the eye of a needle. But, sure enough, the
next moment we arrived at the oasis. “Warn me next time!”

“
I thought the chant
was a pretty good warning..” I gasped a bit, entirely
uncomfortable with the spell. “Maybe it’ll get easier as
I get better…”

“
It better…
or we are taking the long way.”

“
Agreed. Now, can I
have the book? I don’t think it’s waterproof, and I’d
rather not test it.”

She nodded, handing me the
book on enchanting magic. “But read it properly.”

“
Yes, mother.”
I chuckled and opened the book, taking my time to read through it
diligently.

“
Oh, things would be
so much less interesting if I was your mother.” She grinned at
me and sat down, keeping her eyes on the distance to keep watch.

“
Mind keeping an eye
on the pond? The creatures around here wouldn’t recognize it as
a threat unless something came out now and then.”

“
Oh.. right.”
Denise turned around and kept her eyes on the pond instead. It wasn’t
likely that anything would suddenly appear while I was reading, but
always possible.

I sat there, focusing on
the book for well over an hour, doing my best to absorb the various
formulas and mechanisms for implanting magic permanently into an
object. There were also various buff spells that I could use on
people, too. I decided those would be nice to learn, and studied the
entire book front to back.

Opening my grimoire after
finishing the book, I frowned when I saw that the three new spells
didn’t have a chant to go with them.
Guess
they don’t last long enough to be considered worth a chant.

“
Okay, we’re
good to go now.” I nodded towards Denise, and we both got up.
“Midnight, there aren’t any monsters in the area, and
we’ll be taking care of what’s in the dungeon, so we have
to leave you out here.”

Just get it over with.
The horse glared to me, and I smiled back. I decided to take one last
look at our character sheets before we made our way into the dungeon.