Lycster had never seen so many people fighting and pushing to purchase from a stall before. Back in Timbretune, there was once a mad sale of potions that shook the town. But it was not as intense as this!
People were buying rocks like they were buying vegetables at the market. Some of them were even pushing and shoving each other just to get to the front of the stall. Vy noticed that with the increased demand, the stall has also raised the prices of their rocks.
"Hey! Isn't that the girl who found those geodes?"
"Yeah! That's her! I heard every rock she picked was a geode!"
"Really?"
"How could that be?"
"Yeah, that's impossible."
"You all got it wrong! Only one of them was a geode, but it was huge one!"
"Yeah! She sold it to some guy for 1,000 gold dragons!"
"1,000?"
The commotion caused by Vy's appearance was enough to catch the attention of the stall owner. The burly mechant came running to Vy with a gleeful smile. From his expensive clothes was definitely not what he was wearing when she first met him.
"Ah! If it isn't Black Clover!"
Black Clover? Vy did not remember having changed her name. Furthermore, she was quite certain that the seller was referring to her, as he walked over to her and invited her to purchase more.
All around them, Vy could hear the whispers and gossip the bystanders were sharing with each other.
"So she's Black Clover?"
"What are the odds we would be able to meet the legendary Black Clover!"
"This must be my lucky day!"
The constant mention of the nickname 'Black Clover' baffled Vy for a while. She could understand why she might have gained the nickname 'Clover'. A four-leaf clover was a lucky symbol after all. But why black? It was not until she came to realisation, that there weren't many people around her that shared the colour if her hair. Most of the elves had either platinum or blond hair, while the humans of this world naturally had brown coloured hair. Few had hair as dark as hers, and fewer came to the Elves Alliance.
The stall owner enthusiastically thanked Vy for the business she had brought him.
"Would you like to buy any today? We just got a fresh shipment in from the mines,"the stall owner said.
It was only after he mentioned that Vy noticed that the stall has also expanded, with a whole stock of rocks piled at the back of the stall. A more permanent shopfront was also in construction. With a personal invite from the stall owner, Vy found it a little hard to resist so she and Lycster followed the stall owner and took a closer look.
As they looked at each of the rocks, all of different sizes, Lycster could not understand how Vy could tell them apart. He lightly tugged at her jacket to get her attention.
"Vy," he whispered to her.
"Yeah?"
"How do you tell them apart?"
"You mean the rocks?"
Lycster nodded.
Vy looked around then, making sure there wasn't anyone within ear shot before she winked and whispered, "It's a secret."
Lycster was dumbfounded, but he kept quiet and chose to observe Vy instead. She first walked through the entire area of the largest rocks. After that, she looked at the large sized rocks. After checking prices with the stall owner, she went ahead and picked out a total of 10 different rocks and two basket of smaller rocks.
"Will that be all, Miss Black Clover?"
The nickname was growing on Vy, so she decided not to correct the stall owner.
"Yes that will be all. Oh, do you happen to have any contacts I could sell the geodes to once we cut them open?"
The stall owner chuckled, "oh you need not worry about that Miss! There are plenty of people who would be eager to take these items off your hands once they are opened."
"Also, the stall owner continued to speak, "My name is Mark, Mark Boulder at your service."
After making payment, Vy and Lycster walked out of the stall only to see that the crowd had grown even larger.
"Wow! These people sure are excited over a bunch of rocks," Lycster remarked jokingly.
"It's what's inside these rocks that get them so excited, Lycster." Vy replied.
There was a larger work station set up for the rock cutting and polishing section. Just moments ago, there were people who struck a windfall on their geode finds.
"I wonder who's going to cut their rocks next!"
"I heard it was going to be Black Clover!"
"Black Clover? Who's that?"
"How can you not know! It's the girl who found the star amethyst!"
There were lots of chatter, some misinformation. But that was common among gossip and news that was spread based on word of mouth.
Vy and Lycster were ushered into a special spot where they could see the cutting process without having to squeeze in with the crowd. The worker at the cutting station greeted Vy politely and asked which rock she would like to cut first.