The next morning, a little after 7 in the morning, Jax woke up. Going downstairs to eat at the buffet, he took a few pancakes and strawberries along with a glass of apple juice.
Right after finishing eating, Jax left the hotel and decided to spend some time walking around. He couldn't just pop up at their door at seven in the morning. They were probably still sleeping or having breakfast.
Walking in the town, Jax saw the civilians starting to get active and soon enough, there were people everywhere. As the silver-haired boy slowly visited the city, Jax found a magic shop. Seeing that he had time to spare, he went inside. After all, maybe the young boy could find something interesting in it? Before taking jobs from the guild, he had no money. The guild would give him accommodation, food and other necessities, but he didn't have any luxuries such as entering a magic shop previously.
As he entered the shop, he noticed that there were only two other persons in the shop. One of them was most likely the owner of the shop. He was a small white-haired man, little enough to be competing with the master on their height. He had a short trimmed beard, wore a pair of black glasses and a yellow mage robe.
When Jax saw him, his first thought was how weird he dressed up, but after thinking about it, everyone could dress however they wanted, and with this, he brought his attention to the other person. The teenage girl was, in his opinion, in her sixteen or seventeen. She wore a yellow floral dress, and she was holding a small brown purse with one hand while the other had a little pale blue ring. With her tanned skin, brown eyes and brown curly hair, she was pretty.
After giving a quick look at the two other persons in the store, Jax started looking through the merchandise. There were many things, but most of them were subpar and would only be useful for ordinary people who didn't use magic. As for the other items, there was a lacrima crystal ball, a magical sheet that transferred messages over short distances as long as half of the sheet was with someone else or even a magic pillow that allowed the user to have a better sleep.
All in all, those items were mostly useless for the majority of mages but was quite helpful for regular civilians if they could afford them. As Jax looked around, he quickly lost his interest in searching for something useful. So, he decided to buy a 'colorS' and a second grade 'gale-force reading glasses.' The first one could get pretty handy in the future. Just changing the colour of one's clothes seemed pretty basic. However, it was perfect for tailing someone as they just had to change their clothes colour and put on a hat or something, and no one would notice that you stalked someone. Of course, currently, it wasn't needed but maybe in a future mission.
As for the second-grade reading glasses, they were the highest grade this shop had, which allowed one to read 18 times faster. These glasses would help him in reading his seemingly endless book.
Going to the counter, he stepped behind the girl who was bargaining with the boss about the price of the ring of protection she bought. As Jax glanced at it, he saw that the item was well made and just by feeling the magical power in the ring, he could tell that it would be able to block a few B rank magic but not more than that.
Jax lifted an eyebrow at that since such a ring would undoubtedly cost around fifty thousand Jewels. However, it merely interested him a few seconds as in the end, he knew that it could block a few B rank attacks but as long as the magician was there, he could attack more than a few times. In other words, this ring could be of use for a limited defence. However, if there were no means of attacks, it would merely push back an irreversible result.
Just as Jax lost his interest in the ring, the girl in front of him glanced at him, and after brief eye contact, she turned back to bargaining with the boss. Seeing that they were not close to being done, Jax simply took out his book from his bag and started to read it. Of course, he didn't use the reading glasses as he hadn't bought them yet, and he was only reading to pass the time, not to cram stuff in his head.
Finally, after ten minutes of intense bargaining, the girl paid and made her way to the exit. Seeing this, Jax made his way to the counter.
"Hello, young lad, I'm sorry you had to wait for such a long time." He said as he deliberately raised his voice so that the young girl would hear him talk.
"It's fine sir, it wasn't that long," Jax answered as he closed his book with one hand making his long silver hair slightly move due to the wind-generated.
As he finished answering, Jax put the two items he was planning on buying on the counter before hesitating for a few moments and asking another question.
"Do you have any celestial spirit gate keys by any chance?" Asked Jax as he did not understand his obsession with those keys.
"No, I don't have any in my possession. While celestial keys aren't rare, they aren't common either and considering the gate key's high price. I don't own any." The older man said while shaking his head.
"I see, it's fine. How much will it be for the two items?" Continued Jax as he saw from the corner of his eye the previous girl was going out of the shop with an angry red face due to the way the shop owner treated her.
"The colorS cost 2,000 Jewels while the glasses cost 3,000 Jewels for a total of 5,000 Jewels." Answered the man while looking wearily at Jax, scared that he would also try to bargain.
"Alright." Answered the latter as he took out five bills of 1,000 Jewels from his wallet and left them on the counter before taking his items and leaving.
Looking at the time, Jax stored both new items and his book before making his way to the villa of M. Rais.
The villa was on the East side of the town, near the ocean. So, Jax spent close to twenty minutes walking towards the requester's location. Arriving near the sea, he walked silently on the road for almost two minutes before noticing the same girl he previously met in the shop walking in front of him.
Frowning slightly, Jax knew he was currently on the private land of M. Rais. However, the young boy didn't do anything and merely continued towards his destination. From all he knew about the girl and the job he had received, he was confident at 95% that she would be the young miss he would have to protect on her two-week trip. However, this didn't matter as he merely had a job to do and continue looking for pearls and gate keys if he met any.
A minute later, as he finally saw the vila, the girl in front of him turned around and fixed him as he continued to walk towards her. She frowned as she had expected him to stop, but he merely continued on her way until she finally started talking to him.
"You know that this is private land, right?" She asked directly.
"Yes, I am fully aware of this fact," Jax answered her as he stopped walking.
"Then why do you continue following me?" She asked with an even deeper frown.
"I think you are mistaken. I am not following you. I came here at the request of M. Rais." Jax answered back at her.
"What? What does my father want with a kid?" She exclaimed at Jax.
"I am here to protect a certain young miss named Sara during the duration of her trip of two weeks to Caelum. I am a mage of the Fairy Tail guild, Jax." He answered as he looked up at her.
"Huh? How could a kid protect me? It was stated on the job that there might be weak dark mages coming after me." She said in a haughty tone.
"Oh, I am well aware of the job content, miss. However, I fail to see how my age is the problem here. I have the strength to deal with dark mages since the guild master sent me here to complete the job." Jax answered lightly. He was already aware that most would find it troubling that someone of his age could take jobs, especially for escort jobs where their security depended on the mage.
"Moreover, in the end, all that matters is strength. The dark mages won't care whether I am young or old. They will simply take care of me. However, due to my young age, they will look down on me, which gives us the advantage, and on the other hand, they will never think a mage's guild sent me to protect you. Meaning, they will search for someone who doesn't exist while I stand right in front of their eyes." Explained Jax as he was confident in his skills, even more so after obtaining the water pearl.
Looking at Jax for a moment, she snorted and turned to walk towards the villa. Jax, not bothered by her comportment at all, simply continued on his way towards the estate as well.