Year 584, New World
"No! No! No!" Shouted Allen Greyer. "You don't want your store and half of Fons to be wiped out do you?"
"Nonsense." laughed Oliver Earl "Its just 'Ignis' after all"
Sirius smiled to himself and raised the wand in his hand. Before Allen Greyer could finish saying "Stop!", Sirius shouted "Ignis!"
A bright orange red flame appeared, licking the tip of his wand.
"See Allen? Just a small flame."
"But...But..Before...I...thought." stuttered the magus "W-We'll take this wand then"
"Alright. Elvish cedar wand. Dwarven polished. 20 gold pieces."
"14" bargained Sirius.
"18"
"16 and 10 silver"
"Done"
Sirius took out his money satchel, withdrew 16 bright gold coins and 10 silver coins and handed them to Oliver.
"Very good, Very good." murmured the shopkeeper while counting the coins. As Sirius and Greyer stood up, he said "Now hold on, sit back down, I'll bring some tea. We still have much catching up to do, old friend. And please stay too Mr. Cromwell."
The moment the shopkeeper left the room and the door slam closed, the magus turned to Sirius and asked in a hiss "How did you do that. I thought you were going to blow up the store?!"
Sirius said with a grin "I recalled what you described back at the manor about the small flame and thought of the form my magic should take."
Silence filled the room. Greyer thought to himself 'Since the Fotial archetype is descended from Fotia primordial magic, it would make sense for the boy to use both'. However, he was still unnerved.
"But what if you had failed, you would have died of mana deficiency. You could've tested this after you have recovered your mana." said Allen Greyer.
"But whats the fun in that?"
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Oliver returned with a tray with three cups of tea and cakes. The tea was not as potent as to the ones Sirius had in the manor, but it still had a refreshing taste. He listened to Allen and Oliver talk about their lives and learned that they both are scholars, not just in magic, but in arithmetic, philosophy, economics, language, politics and also, gambling.
"Like I said, number 362 is going to win because the steed is part unicorn. I'll prepare to bet half my savings!" declared Greyer.
"Just because its part unicorn? Surely not! There are dozens of steeds that can run faster than full unicorns!" contradicted Oliver.
The pair were discussing this weekend's upcoming steed racing event, called the 'Fons Prix'. It was apparently a large festival hosted once a year, with people all over Blackthorn as well as from neighbouring countries gathering in Fons city to watch the racing of steeds.
"Alright! Lets have a wager. 3 gold pieces."
"I'm in! Sirius my boy, which steed do you think will win the race?"
He contemplated the matter for a few seconds and said
"578."
"Odd choice," admitted Oliver "By God, this horse has the largest odds in all of the 600 horses! 300 to 1! only one other person has bet on this horse!"
"I'll bet..." Sirius scrambled for his satchel and took out 10 bright yellow coins. "10 gold pieces!"