Gideon and Arthur both reached the entrance of a nearby village approximately 15 kilometres away from their training ground. The evening just ended and the night market was waking up.
Various coloured light crystals were attached to poles and used as street light. Yellow, green, purple, blue, orange, all kinds of colours mixed into one as the market appeared slowly out of fog.
This was a village where mages who preferred peace chose to reside. Away from the capital and 8 great cities around the royal capital.
"Look who it is. This time you arrived in a long time Aldor" an old weak voice came from behind of Gideon and Arthur.
Both Arthur and Gideon turned around to find a really old rank 2 mage in his nineties standing behind them. His back was bent as he supported himself with a stick.
"Elder" Gideon spoke back addressing the old man.
"I came as early as I possibly could and I visited just last month didn't I"
Gideon gave an alias to people of the village. As he posed as a lone travelling trader. Living a quiet and peaceful life.
Under the disguise of a trader, Gideon can easily trade the items He and his team acquire from raiding kingdom carriages and transportation units for mana crystals, potions and other resources.
Though this village was small and didn't have much to offer but since they are just on the edge with southern continent, they could easily acquire the requested items by doing trade with the Dwarvian caravan.
"Hmm, so what did you bring this time for trading?" The old man's eyes fell on Arthur who was standing beside Gideon in his oversized clothes.
Gideon noticed the gaze and before the elder could ask anything, Gideon spoke up.
"No trade this time. Today I am here to get my partner some clothes. His name is Arthur" he points towards the elder with his palm politely.
"Arthur, this is elder. Chief of this village"
"Yes!" Arthur was nervous but even so he greeted the village chief politely.
"I see, I see. Yes this young man can definitely use a pair of clothes of his size." Elder said as he laughed jovially and accepted Arthur's greetings.
The reason he have such low magic rank despite his age was simply because of two reasons.
One is resources and the other is that he didn't desire to advance.
Till rank 4 a mage can directly advance to next rank by absorbing mana from their surroundings to increase their mana density but after rank 4 the surrounding environment Mana can only be used to replenish the mana in a mage's body because the final momentum that is needed to break into next rank is simply insufficient by slowly absorbing surrounding Mana alone and so people will either use catalysts or directly use a mana crystals to provide highest momentum possible. Some people who are extremely rich even use mana crystals throughout their journey.
But this elder didn't even rise to rank 4 because he simply didn't wish to.
Often times the people who just want peace and a quite life lacks ambition. If all the good and peace loving people are out of politics then the only people remain in power are corrupt and violent.
But this does have exceptions. There are people who are so good and love peace so much that their only aspirations is to share it with everyone else but they are quickly thrown out of the game for they lack the cunningness needed to do harm and push their competitors harm. Their mistake is that they play by rules while the one who makes rules plays with them on their fingertips.
"Then if you will excuse us" Gideon spoke as he bowed deeply.
Both Arthur and Gideon bid farewell as they continued their exploration.
Gideon turned toward Arthur as he took out a dark blue coloured bag from his robes and handed it to Arthur.
"Here, this contains 10 gold and 5 silver coins, go buy yourself some clothes. I also need to get some supplies so let's meet back in town's square in 1 hour."
The currency of the human empire or that also goes by the name Ivaria empire is divided into coins made of three materials. Gold, silver , copper.
1 gold coin is equivalent to 10 silver coins. And 1 silver coins is equivalent to 50 bronze coins.
Arthur was still nervous and puzzled. He leans in near Gideon's ear.
"Aren't we supposed to stay hidden from empire. Isn't it dangerous to roam openly"
Gideon laughed lightly. "Don't worry about that. I will tell you once we get back. Don't worry and just get going" saying this Gideon walked off, leaving Arthur behind in the market.
" Sigh..he never tells me anything completely" Arthur sighed as he carefully kept the coin bag in his pocket.
Arthur walked for half an hour but couldn't find any shop for clothes. As he walked through the village he saw some children poor and bone dry in a dark alleyway. Some had snot all over their face and some had messy hairs like they were washed before. Beside them a woman in her early thirties laid almost lifeless.
Arthur was observing from a distance when suddenly a boy hardly four years old turned and looked Arthur directly in the eyes.
His eyes seemed to say something no one could understand.
"Is there no clothing shop here?" Arthur said, retracting his eyes away. He didn't have any interest in looking any further.
A shop then came into his vision that read 'Armaments'.
"Hmm, let me check this out in mean time" Arthur said as he walked over to the shop.
Ting..
A bell lightly resounded as Arthur opened the door but there was no one around.
"Anyone there?" Arthur called out for the owner.
"Yes, coming. Just a minute" A young girl's voice came from inside. The voice gave an impression that the girl was amidst an important task that she wouldn't even be able to attend to customer.
Arthur didn't mind the absence at all as he could now look around the store in peace.
The shop was visibly divided into two sections. One side had all the weapons and the other side had all the armours in it.
Arthur slowly walked towards the weapon section as a sword piqued Arthur's interest.
It's size suited Arthur perfectly. The sword had a cool blue tint near its edge giving it a sense of coolness.
"That's a Dwarvian sword. It can adjust its weight according to the user's intent." the soft voice from earlier came from the counter.
The young girl was finally out as she gently rubbed her hand dry which appeared to be wet from water.
Arthur turned around stunned. "Change weight?"
"Yes" the girl replied "just slightly pour your mana inside it and think of how light or heavy you want"
Arthur focused on the sword.
"Rise" he commanded the mana followed through his intent and poured directly inside the sword without passing it through elemental heart since he didn't want fire element essence right now to perform a move.
With just a thought the heavy mental sword in Arthur's hand turned light like a feather.
The craftsmanship really amazed Arthur.
"Magic is just so wonderful."
The girl noticed Arthur's oversized clothes and immediately asked "Are you perhaps interested in a piece of garment?"
A good salesman doesn't sell what the customer wants but what the customer needs because it's much more likely for them to buy it than just window shopping for things they want. A good salesman deduces all this from the customer himself. By their clothing, by their talks and by the weight of their coins.
This young girl has some amazing sales instincts as she immediately realised what the customer might be after just from a look at their clothes.
"Perhaps, perhaps not. Do you have something?" Arthur probed further. Arthur was new to magic society but he wasn't new to the world. He knows that if he shows interest then the price goes up and becomes non-negotiable.
The young girl quickly understood the subtle meaning behind Arthur's words.
"Yes, it's a piece from Dwarvian caravan. It can adjust it's size according to user and have many protection charms embedded in it. Are you perhaps interested?"
The young girl wasn't backing down. Just a slight hint from Arthur could nearly double the price.
"Hmm, alright I will take a look" Arthur responded, squinting his eyes.
The young girl was stunned " so he is not an average customer huh. I have tried to probe him multiple times but he doesn't show interest in anything. In fact the way he phrased his last sentence, now it looks like I am the one recommending him the item and he is simply saying yes, acting on that recommendation."
The young girl thought to herself. But she was still confident in her abilities to handle such customers.
"I am happy to hear that. Please move to armour section then." The girl spoke as she walks up to armour section herself from behind the counter.
"Here it is." The girl took out a charcoal black tunic strapped vest with full sleeves and a completely ink black robe with it. The robe flowed all the way down and only stopped just inches above ground. The robe also had dark blue lining running along its borders.
"These two pieces come in pairs and complement each other. The tunic garment underneath has various protection charms and a sigil that keep the user's body temperature same no matter the temperature outside and the robe too have its uses in camouflage and other fields.
"Perfect" Arthur knew immediately that it was perfect, having both properties of an armour and weight of normal clothes. But Arthur didn't let it show on his face.
"I see." Arthur spoke in an almost uninterested tone. "So does it have price of a garment or of an armour"
"It's only 15 gold coins, dear customer." The girl spoke with a pleasant smile on her face.
"What a scam. It's obviously no more than 7 gold coins" Arthur thought in his mind.
"Alas, I don't have that kind of money. If it was a bit lower I could definitely purchase it. Here and now." Now Arthur showed his interest in the item.
By showing interest in the item now and showing intent to buy it if not for the ridiculous price is an age-old strategy that forces the shopkeeper to lower the price.
Arthur knew that items are always priced at much higher price than what the shopkeeper is willing to sell it for to try their luck with some idiots who don't bargain.
"How much is customer willing to pay"
"6" said Arthur.
"But customer I really can't do that low." The young lady said nervously rubbing her palms.
After much bargaining the final price was set at 8 gold coins. Arthur didn't push his luck for he knew that pressuring her anymore could back fire. It was already a budget deal that Arthur was getting for two pieces of garment with qualities of an armour.
"Why do I feel like I am the one getting scammed?" The girl cried in her heart as she regretted dealing with such a customer.
Arthur hurriedly took out the money bag from his pocket to take out 8 gold coins. He loosened the string but as soon as he saw the gold coins in his hand, some memories surfaced his mind.
He took a long good look at the coins before closing back the money bag and tying the string back.
"What's the matter now dear customer" this time the girl's tone carried annoyance and a bit of boiling anger.
"Hmm, nothing. The weather is really nice today isn't it." Arthur spoke as he hurriedly ran out of the shop without purchasing anything.
"Huh" the girl's eyes widened. "What is the weather??" the girl shouted in anger as she couldn't understand what just happened.
"Why do I always have to deal with these window shoppers and poor people? If he didn't want to buy anything then why bother coming"
The girl was fuming inside the shop while arthur exited it and made his way to the alley he saw before.
"Sigh… Just why am like this" Arthur thought to himself as he stood before poor children he saw from before.
All the children looked at Arthur in confusion as he just stood there silently.
"We apologise, honoured sir. We will leave immediately. Me and my children were just catching our breath." The weak mother spoke as she hurriedly knelt down and apologized
Even if someone is a mage it doesn't mean they all pursue strength or live comfortable lives. Almost 70 percent of human population in Ivaria empire is mages so it's obvious that some mages who suffer internal injuries and can't perform magic have to live a poor life equivalent to that of a normal human.
"Please stop" Arthur took out his money bag and opened its mouth to take 1 gold coin out of it.
"Here you go"
Arthur spoke as he handed the mother an entire bag of 9 gold and 5 silver coins.
"Take good care of yourself and your children. I am sorry I can only help out this much."
The mother couldn't speak anything as she was completely stunned. She accepted the bag without thinking. Her mind didn't have any questions either, it was just so sudden.
Arthur left as soon as he handed down the bag.
When he was little He lived in concentrated camp where normal humans were allowed to live. His life was comparatively much better compared to children who lived in the village.
Young girls were taken by mages used as a tool to please them. Elder were killed by mage in each house to make it easy to manage.
The people in Village starved. They were able to eat just enough so that they don't die.
Arthur didn't know it back ten but today when he looks back at all what he had seen. He realised that he was blessed to be born in his family.
The mother back in the alley finally came to her senses as she hugged the money bag softly, a stream of tears flowed down her eyes without a sound. It was almost like her voice was taken away.
"Why are you crying mom" one child asked as he lightly held on to her old patched dress.
Mother continued to cry as she hugged all her children. The children started to cry too as they saw tears in their mother's eyes. Not knowing that the tears were of extreme happiness of being able to feed food to her children.