When Luna saw the market he was talking about, she thought that calling it as such was simply a huge underestimation. The massive castle-like market that was named the Trading Association Manor had countless people dressed in luxurious clothes going in and out. Moreover, the loud unorderly market she was familiar with could not be seen as the crowd was properly organized and some were even escorted by workers from the manor itself.
As it was a huge place, Luna attentively stayed beside Akiro. Losing her way one more time would in no doubt infuriate him. 'Don't anger someone who can use magic,' she thought.
"Good afternoon, respectable sir and lady."
A man in blue greeted them after they reached the main entrance of the market. Akiro simply showed him a small silver card which took the attention of the escort. His eyes squinted and grinned as he pointed an arm towards the opened doorway.
"A frequent visitor! It seems that you don't need an escort. Enjoy your visit!" he said and left.
Upon stepping inside, one could see the vendors whose smile would not leave their faces while talking to the potential buyers. Their valuable products were sealed inside a special glass case to attract people as well as for protection while the common goods laid bare on the stand and were allowed to be examined freely.
"What are you buying?" Luna asked while she looked around the place full of various things.
She knew that it wasn't the run-of-the-mill area and even the products outside the glass case would cost a lot. Just from seeing a woman with a bag of gold coins and the men who were playing with silver coins in their hands, the area were targetting the rich people.
The North Village had several smaller shops which would not catch the crowd's attention which she thought he would prefer yet they went into a popular one.
Akiro who was occupied from looking around, answered shortly, "Some things for our current work."
Luna nodded although she did not have a single idea on what kind of product he was so intent on buying. Then he walked to one of the stalls to where his eyes locked on a bottle of potion named the Spirit Potion which was carefully placed inside a glass case.
The merchant smiled widely after seeing him, a lavishly dressed man who set his eyes on the special product which he was waiting for so long for someone to even get interested with.
Meanwhile, Luna's face went blank upon seeing how the merchant's eyes twinkled.
"Young man, you have such good eyes! This is a potion made by a famous yet deceased mage a few years ago. This spirit potion is one of the last ones that he made. It costs just 1 magic stone," he said.
'Expensive!' she thought while her eyes widened upon hearing the price. As far as she knew, it's the highest currency of Magus Nation and she could not even see among the crowd who was having one as all she could see was copper, silver, and gold coins. Even if someone hid it among them to avoid the prying eyes of the crowd, it still meant that magic stones couldn't be taken lightly.
"Give me that," Akiro said. Then he casually opened his palm and showed the merchant a magic stone which was lying exquisitely into his white gloves.
"Faster," he continued.
After knowing that his buyer did not want to attract attention, the merchant quickly opened the glass case using a magic spell and placed it carefully inside a wooden box. Then he put it in a bag made of tiny cloth.
"Here's your spirit potion, Sir! Come back anytime and I'll willingly show you some potions that are hard to come by!" the merchant said.
Akiro only nodded while the merchant swiftly hid his magic stone. Then they walked towards the stairs to reach the second floor. While walking, Luna began to ask questions.
"Is it really that expensive? And how are you sure that he's telling the truth?" she asked as he clearly remembered what the merchant said. According to him, it came from a skilled mage yet there was no evidence to check if he was not lying.
"Don't underestimate the Trading Association. This association won't tolerate fake ones and it's been in the Magus Nation for so long. With its reputation, they would surely eradicate merchants that will try to sell such imitations. Aside from that, we're on the North Village where the Magus Emperor resides and Nobles dominated the area. They won't be able to afford being on Noble's bad side or else they would find themselves being hunted by a couple of noble with close ties in each other," Akiro explained.
"Also, they wouldn't be able to cheat me of course," he added.
However, Luna didn't react at all. It wasn't clear who was underestimating who but she could still remember that he was the one who called the huge extravagant Trading Association Manor as merely a market. Also, Luna wouldn't doubt its credibility if she saw him examine the potion first like asking whose mage the merchant was talking about but he just bought it outright.
Luna badly wanted to say it but she stopped as they were in the middle of the crowd and instead observed the area once again after they reached the second floor. It was almost the same from the ground floor but the raw materials they were selling made the difference. She could tell by just looking at the empty bottles, woods, ores, potion, formulas, and weird-looking vegetables but she doubted if it were vegetables that could be eaten casually.
Meanwhile, Akiro began buying things the way he did on the previous floor, not asking anything about the product. He bought things at his whim that his hands were full of bags made from cloth. She offered to help but he only gave him two of them.
'I don't know if I should be happy or not,' she thought while looking at the two bags. Amidst that, Luna adjusted her mind by thinking that Magic stones were not rare as long as Akiro was her friend.
'Who knows how many magic stones he spent today?' she thought.
Then they walked downstairs and left after that. The manor still had several floors above but they only went to the second floor as Akiro did not need the ones found on the upper floors. After several minutes, they reached the hotel they resided in. Its name was White Castle Hotel which made Luna questioned the creativity of people in the Magus Nation.
However, she remembered that there used to be four separate empires before the founding of the Magus Nation. If the Red Castle Hotel were a former castle of a Royal family, then the White Castle Hotel was the former castle of a Royal family that owned the North Village before.
'Then again, it doesn't change the fact that they casually named it based on colors,' Luna thought.
Upon entering their room on the third floor numbered '3089', Akiro entered a door that was not heading towards his room. Luna remembered that there used to be only two rooms when he rented at the Red Castle Hotel but this time, there were three rooms. Filled with curiosity, she knocked on the door and asked a question.
"Can I enter?" she asked.
He sideglanced and said, "Go ahead before I chant a barrier spell."
Hearing that, Luna quickly opened the door and entered. Inside the room was a long wooden table and wooden cabinets that were placed on the wall. They had transparent glass in front that showed the equipments related to Alchemy.
"Why does White Castle Hotel has this kind of room?" Luna asked.
Akiro did not answer and instead chanted a spell by whispering some words which Luna couldn't hear. A magic circle with red and blue color appeared but disappeared afterward.
'It might be the barrier spell he's talking about earlier,' she thought while she was secretly amazed by the sight of a magic circle.
Then Akiro faced Luna. "I booked a room with an Alchemy room so I wanted to try out some potion and fortunately our mission this time also requires one," he said.
Luna's eyes widened and said, "Really?! But if you have to make a potion then why do you buy one? As far as I know, mixed potions can't be used as an ingredient to another one." Even though she could not be considered an alchemist, she read about it in a book that Miss Zione had given her. The knowledge she knew could be considered as basic knowledge regarding Alchemy.
Akiro faced him with amazement. "You've read enough books to understand some general knowledge in Magus Nation. I envy your great passion for reading. Anyway, I won't use the Spirit Potion in creating one of course. That will be reserved solely for tomorrow," he said.
Luna nodded and didn't think any deeper on how that potion would help them tomorrow. She'd know it later anyway. Then she's told to watch how Akiro made potions while he explained about it to her. Since she seemed so interested in Alchemy, Akiro didn't mind explaining it to her while he mixed and boiled the ingredients perfectly.
Her eyes gleamed but not for his said perfectly made potion as she would just mentally roll her eyes for that and instead, she was curious about what its effect would be.
'I'm excited for tomorrow!' Luna thought.
--To be continued...