Chapter IV.VIII (4.8) - Sack of Coins

  “How much will you pay me for this?”

  Kizu set down a fist-sized sapphire on the counter. A familiar bald scalp of a gnome with a bright pink beard popped up from behind the counter. His eyebrows rose in surprise and he climbed up to get a better view of the gemstone.

  “Kaga Kizu! What a pleasure! Welcome back to the academy! You have new spoils from your journey over the last few weeks?” Before Kizu could answer, Jeri snatched up the stone and immediately began fiddling with it, his false eye glowing slightly. “Magnificent! What an absolute find! Purity is wonderful and it’s as if it was cute and cleaned by an expert lapidarist! And the size of it! There’s the slightest bit of an old enchantment lingering on it, something water related unless I’m mistaken. Easily stripped or compounded on depending on the buyer’s wishes. Wherever did you find something so gorgeous? Wait, wait. I’m overselling this, now aren’t I? I should close my mouth and let you speak before I dig myself too deeply into debt. Ha!”

  “I recovered it from the insides of a mimic in the World Dungeon.”

  “Ahhh, now that does shed a bit of light on a few of its initial mysteries.”

  “Does that lessen its value?” Kizu asked, his heart sunk.

  “On the contrary! If only every gemstone could spend a decade or five bathing in the stomach acid of a mimic! It’s been utterly cleansed of any deficiencies it once carried. Though that will mean stripping this enchantment might require a tad more effort. However, hardly something to concern yourself with!”

  “Then…you’ll buy it? How much is it worth?”

  The gnome paused for the first time since popping up. For over half a minute he scrutinized the gem even harder. Meanwhile Kizu stared around the store at the odds and ends being sold.

  “Hmm. Normally, I could offer up to fourteen percent higher, but with the current market in a recession after the invasion over in Edgeland, I can’t risk offering too high of a price. Perhaps…one point three two million?”

  Kizu stared at him, mouth agape.

  “That’s likely as high as I can afford to buy it for. And I highly doubt you’ll find anyone locally who will pay more than a range of two percent higher than that appraisal. Far more likely, they’ll offer you significantly worse either in an attempt to swindle you or because they’re fools who can’t fully appreciate the value of an object such as this. I can offer you one point three two million.”

  “One…million? Yennies?”

  “Point three two. If you want to take a gamble, you could always hold off in hopes of the marketing righting itself in the coming months. Personally, I believe it will get worse before it recovers, but that’s simply my rather pessimistic viewpoint based on the Ooze invasion. This may very well be a more stable situation. At the very least, the Dragons in Edgeland do display enough intellect to form trade agreements without outside forces.”

  Kizu simply stared at the old gnome as he continued to jabber on about market speculation and financial trends.

  One million yennies. What could he do with that kind of money? And that was only for the largest of his gemstones. He had several more small gems that he had planned to grind up to use in new brewing experiments.

  “Uncle, I’m afraid you may have broken Kaga Kizu,” a new voice said, snapping Kizu out of his thoughts.

  Faible, the transfer student who’d joined last semester, stood off to the side, having quietly descended a spiral metal staircase in the center of the shop. Kizu watched with surprise as the staircase collapsed in on itself, each step folding up and compacting upwards until it was simply a metal circle on the ceiling.

  “I apologize, Kaga Kizu!” Jeri declared. “Mouth runs off. Old habit. Do we have a deal?”

  “What? Yes! Definitely!” He took the old gnome’s offered hand and shook it. A split second later the sapphire was replaced with a fat sack of coins. Jeri offered to count the coins in front of him, but Kizu waved off the offer. He had complete faith in the shopkeeper’s integrity.

  Now, for the fun part. Kizu scanned the shelves looking for new toys.

  “Looking for anything specific?” Faible asked. The young gnome approached and fiddled with his spectacles. “I know the shop pretty well and I’m not as likely to make your ear fall off as my uncle.”

  Kizu considered. “For one thing, I want to start a garden. An indoor greenhouse. You wouldn’t happen to have something like enchanted soil?”

  Faible laughed. “You’re inside a magical shop full of wonders and you want dirt?”

  Kizu floundered for a response but Faible just shook his head.

  “Yes,” he continued, still chuckling and readjusting his glasses again. “We do in fact stock dirt. Over here. What type are you looking for exactly? Some are designed with specific plants in mind. You’ll want to be careful, especially if you’re growing magical flora.”

  Kizu started listing off the different seeds he’d managed to collect while Faible flipped through a tome to find the best soil and fertilization combinations for the plants. In the end, Kizu purchased four separate sacks of dirt. Faible scrawled the names of the plants on their designated sack, the enchanted ink glowing blue on the burlap.

  “We have a wheelbarrow in the back if you want to borrow it,” Faible offered.

  “Won’t be necessary,” Kizu said with a grin. He waved his hand and created a barrier of force under the sacks and lifted them a meter into the air.

  “Impressive!” Jeri said from the counter. “A new piece of enchanted gear?”

  “No. Just a spatial spell.”

  “Just a spatial spell,” Jeri repeated and chortled to himself. Then he disappeared back behind the counter.

  “Anyway,” Faible said with a roll of his eyes, “are you shopping for anything else? I know the shop pretty well now and can help you find whatever.”

  “Furniture would be nice.”

  “Oh? Are you staying at a new place in town?”

  “No. Well, I guess technically yes. But it’s actually not for that. It’s been long overdue for me to buy stuff for my…study area.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “My uncle doesn’t stock a ton of non-magical items, but we have a few interesting amenities.”

  The young gnome guided Kizu as they weaved through the shop’s piles of knicknacks, until they reached the back. On the way, Kizu snatched up a lantern. Not only did it glow a nice light green shade, but it remained suspended overhead, floating.

  “So we’ve got a few options here,” Faible said. “If you want something more in Hon fashion, we have a futon that’s the epitome of plush. You can sink into it deeper than its actual physical depth. We’ve also got an automatic window which you can just stick onto a surface to create a window. Easily removable too if you don’t like the placement. There’s a couple adjustable chairs over there. Designed to fit to anyone’s size. Gnome, human, troll. Doesn’t matter. And a portable desk that can shrink to fit in your hand. I think they go along together pretty nicely. And another stabilization desk that resists shaking movements. This rug here blocks out all sounds from outside its area. And if you want something pretty to look at there are a number of different paintings with all sorts of different uses.”

  Kizu was browsing through the selection of paintings, flipping through the different frames when he spotted a moving one of an old lady teaching students medicine. He caught just a snippet of their conversation, but it sounded like legitimate advice on a rejuvenation spell.

  “Wait, are these paintings sentient?” Kizu asked.

  “Which one? Oh, that? No, it’s just a recorded painting. It cycles through the same ten minute sequence. They’re really expensive to enchant and require a lot of effort so they haven’t caught on. My family actually has one upstairs from a performance my parents did with their acting troupe.”

  “You can watch the performance over again after the fact?”

  “Just a snippet.” Faible smiled wistfully. “I wish I could see it all again.”

  Kizu’s heart skipped a beat as he realized the context of the statement. Faible lived with his mother and uncle here. He’d never heard anything about the gnome’s father before. And…most gnomes died on the genocide back in Ilosin-Don.

  “Your family’s troupe…” Kizu trailed off, not knowing how to phrase his question.

  “All dead except my mom. She was negotiating a travel contract for the troupe in Tross at the time of the invasion.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Faible shrugged. “It was a long time ago. And there’s about to be a lot more people just like me coming soon. Hold on to that sympathy and give it to them. It’ll be a fresher wound.” There was a pause in the conversation. “Sorry. That’s a bit of a downer subject.”

  “No! Not at all. You’re right.”

  “Why’d you ask about the painting’s being sentient? You know, there are ancient tales of necromancers trapping souls inside paintings. That’s somewhat similar. I know a play where it’s a major plot point.”

  “Ah. I was just thinking I might be able to find a tutor for history and politics. A sentient tutor in a painting would have been convenient.”

  “You’re struggling in the classes?”

  “A bit,” Kizu admitted sheepishly.

  Faible adjusted his spectacles again. “You know, I do happen to know a thing or two about historical events.”

  Kizu blinked. He’d completely forgotten. Faible wasn’t just decent at history, he was the top ranked student in the academy. Forget asking Aoi for help, his savior was standing right in front of him.

  “Would you help me? I can pay! I just got plenty of money.”

  “Actually, we might be able to help each other. Can I get back to you later this week? I’m in the process of setting something up and need to get more clearance with the academy before I can discuss it openly.”

  Before Kizu could ask him about more details on this favor, Faible changed the subject and began discussing the different uses of curtains. How they could be used for a variety of dimming options and even go see-through on demand. They could stiffen and divide a space into multiple rooms, serving as makeshift walls.

  Kizu ended up spending a lot of money on accessories for Owl’s Respite. But it still only created a small dent in his wallet.

  Even using barriers to carry the furniture, Kizu would need to make multiple trips back to the shop to transport everything.

  He bid Faible and Jeri goodbye and started off with his first load of items. This included the curtains, a window, a cauldron for brewing, and a painting of a coastal city perched on a cliffside. He liked how the waves crashed against the rocks down below and he had the money to be a bit loose and buy things that weren’t completely necessary.

  While walking through the town, he spotted a few peers he recognized, but nobody he knew well. That didn’t stop more than one person from approaching and trying to chat, but he managed to deflect the conversations and escape with a few excuses. He was under no illusion they were interested in him as much as they were his very public friendship with the new Hon Emperor. Two of them even said as much to him.

  The forest around town was quiet. Now that Anata hadn’t been around for a few weeks, monster sightings were likely down quite a bit. Her innate attraction of monsters had inconvenienced more than just him these last couple months.

  When he approached the usual spot he diverged from the path, he frowned. The path now forked and continued forward straight in the direction of the cove Owl’s Respite was hidden in. Alert, he walked down the new pathway.

  When he reached the cove, his heart dropped. Scattered charred wood in an old fire pit. Several patches of flattened grass. Fallen logs dragged up to make a circle. All clear signs of a camping spot. Someone had settled by the cove in the weeks he’d been away. He took a deep breath and prepared for the worst as he dispelled the barrier holding his furnishing and jumped behind the waterfall.

  Owl’s Respite gently rocked on the slight eb and pull of the cove. It stood proudly, looking better than Kizu had ever seen it before. The mast erect and the gunwales in mint condition. He jumped on deck, startling Aoi and causing her to drop a glass vial. White goo oozed out onto the newly replaced wooden boards of the deck.

  “Lich’s ballsack!” Aoi cursed. “Kizu! Don’t sneak up on me!”

  “Lich’s…ballsack?” Kizu repeated.

  “I’m trying out new curses. Basil thinks standardizing undead insults will make them more subconsciously accepted by people.” Aoi knelt and cast an elemental spell, creating a weave of water to absorb the white goo. “Anyway, be useful and get a container out of that ring of yours. This needs to be preserved.”

  Kizu tossed her an empty jar and she carefully bottled the liquid. It swirled around in the jar.

  “What’s this? And why is the ship fixed up? There were signs of a campsite outside.”

  “I’m experimenting with liquidizing bones,” Aoi said. “This was my first attempt. Basil gave me the idea while talking about his fathers. I used his skeletal structure as an example to create this.” She held up the jar proudly. “And the ship is repaired because the Hon government offered. It’s meant to be a favor. Did you forget?”

  He completely had. With everything happening in his life, Owl’s Respite’s renovations had slipped his mind. At least it was a happy surprise.

  “Do you think we can regrow the path here?” he asked. “I don’t love having a direct route for anyone to follow.”

  “I don’t see why it’s really necessary. Necromancy is now legalized in Hon so I won’t be prosecuted here. And now Anata is staying in town with Taroe. No need to hide her out here.”

  “I’d still like to have privacy.”

  Aoi shrugged. “Can’t you brew up some sort of hyper growth potion or get an illusion in place to hide the path?”

  Kizu closed his eyes and sighed. He supposed he could do either of those things. He wished he wasn’t the one doing all the work every time though.

  “You should create more intelligent undead. Ones that can cast spells.”

  “Ha! You think I’m that good? You’re as much of a flatterer as Basil! Intelligence, I’m on the cusp of getting right. But spells cost blood. Undead don’t usually have properly functioning bone marrow or hearts to pump blood and cast spells. Some undead have unnatural characteristics, but they’re more like magical creatures than mages. And this,” she raised the jar, “is my first attempt at anything like that.”

  Kizu listened to her ramble about different varieties of undead for a bit, nodding along. His eyes wandered around the ship while she spoke. Not a spec of dirt or blood to be seen. Which was impressive since he’d been dragged across the deck with his limb lopped off.

  His new leg flexed at the memory. He felt his toes’ claws pierce through his boot’s sole and held back another sigh. He needed to invest in self-repairing boots. Maybe Jeri knew an enchanter who cobbled in town.

  Twelve Blood Curse Academia chapters (6 weeks) ahead of Royal Road on Patreon!