The skewers were of three different varieties and each tasted different depending from the part of the the Fire Chicken it was made from. The meat piece of a Fire Chicken was turned into a skewer and tasted similar to barbequed chicken with some differences due to the spices added.
The other variety was made using liver pieces, so tasted sour and bitter .It could probably only be eaten by a people who liked eating liver.
The last variety was made from taking out the skin of a Fire Chicken and turning into a skewer. It oily and slimy in taste and Jasper developed a liking to it and ordered five more of this variety. In total, Jasper paid 120 Arcadian currency and started looking for his next stop to find exiting and new stuff.
Jasper was in a good mood after eating a scrumptious dish and was exited at the thought of finding more of such rare finds which could only be found in Vestalis. His great mood started dimming when he wasn't able to find anything special even after searching for an hour.
It was then that he came across a bakery called 'World's Best Bakery'. Jasper was surprised to find a shop with such a audacious name, but such a name made him curious about the shop and he could not help but have a look at it. The shop had even posted a board claiming to sell the best cakes in Vestalis.
The poster made Jasper disinterested since he was reminded of all the hypocrite shops he had gone to in the Blue World. These shops claimed to be the best but the truth could not be further from this. Jasper was now conflicted between going inside the shop or passing by it. In the end the large crowd gathered near 'World's Best Bakery' convinced him to at least try one of their sweets.
Jasper entered the shop and was greeted by the sight of 50 different types of sweets arranged in different racks. He was dazzled by such a sight while at the same time confused.
There were too many choices of sweets to choose from and Jasper had no clue about any of their taste. He put his hopes on a chance to be able to taste every sweet being soled and pick the one he likes the most.
Unfortunately, this was not allowed in the 'World's Best Bakery'. As, Jasper confusion about which sweet to choose, a small fairy came to help him.
"What are you going to buy? Personally, I would go with the milk tartes."
"Who are you? And this is my first coming to this shop so for now I am just looking at all the sweets. I do not plan to buy any."
"Hmm, but mister sweets are for eating not for looking at it. If help is all you need then let me help you. My name is Allora and right now you are standing inside my shop."
"Oh, so little miss is the owners daughter."
"Right you are, now let me start by introducing this sweet which is known as 'Bread Pastry'...."
Allora spent 30 minutes explaining all the sweets sold by the 'World's Best Bakery' and even managed to convince Jasper into buying one of their sweets. It was a roll made by wrapping sweets with bread crumps and unlike its tough appearance it was soft and tasty.
Jasper spent 200 Arcadian currencies in buying 4 of them and said his goodbyes to the cute Allora before again loitering around the shopping complex in search of his next surprise.
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Jasper finds an antique shop that was older than his great-grandfather. The shop had a disgusting appearance along with rotten smell and anyone with a sane mind would run away from the shop.
However, Jasper was influence by the friction medias he had read in the Blue World. Upon finding the shop he was reminded of a story where a young unfortunate protagonist enters an old antique shop and finds a treasure that allows him to change his fate.
Although the chances were close to zero, Jasper did not want to leave an opportunity to earn a wonderful treasure and entered the shop ignoring its appearance and stench.
The shops inner appearance was even worse than the exterior. You would need a lot of disgusting word to aptly describe it. The stench was so bad that Jasper had to keep his hands on his mouth the whole time to prevent himself from vomiting. Also, the shops foundation was breaking down.
But, unfortunately all of this paled when compared to the shop owner.
The shop owner smell was so foul-smelling that people would be led to believe that the poor soul had never ever taken a bath in her life. She seemed to want to compete with her shop in terms of disgust and smell.
This was the last straw that was very close to pushing Jasper out of the shop but he did not want his hard work of coming so far till the counter to go to waste. He resolved himself to at least check the products sold by the shop before leaving.
Jasper plastered a fake smile which took a lot of effort before he was able to ask," Hello, could you show me some ancient magic scroll your shop may have?"
The old woman had one look at Jasper and started crakling like a maniac and spoke in a rusty voice as if it had been ages since she had spoken ," Sure, boy. What kind of scrolls are you looking for?"
"A scroll which can help me have an explosive effect on my strength without being harmful to me."
"Well I do not have any scrolls that fit the criteria but I do have a potion called the 'Strength-Increasing Elixir' that can fulfill your needs."
"How do I know that you are speaking the truth??!"
"You simply don't know, boy. You can either take it or leave it the choice is your and its not that expensive. Also, if you buy the potion I can give an offer for a precious scroll which would only cost you 500 Arcanees."
"Ok, I will take your offer."
The statement 'the choice is your' was in fact a lie because the shop owner had used her magic arts to interfere with Jasper's consiousness . Although the influence was very faint it made Jasper lose a small portion of rationality.
After the transaction was completed Jasper left the shop with a scroll and a potion. Jaspers rationality also returned to normal and he never realized that he had been influenced by an unknown entity.
Jasper was lucky that the unknown entity only took away a small part of his rationality and even returned it back to him. If the unknown entity had tried influencing Jasper's mind completely then he might have turned into a vegetable.
This experience proved the point that there hidden tigers and crouching lions everywhere.
Jasper met up with Jennifer and explained his travels from beginning without ever knowing that something might have been changed inside him. His sister was a strong Magic User but the spell cast by the witch of the mysterious shop was too powerful even for her caliber and she could not sense any changes in him. The truth of this matter would come to light later.
"How did your joy tour around the shopping complex go?"
"It was fun and filled with tasty dishes and delicious treats, one of which I have especially brought for you." Jasper hands over one sweet box he had purchased from the 'World's Best Bakery. Jennifer looks at the box of sweets and thanks Jasper.
"Thank you for bringing this sweet to me. Its actually one of my favourite sweets I like to eat whenever I find myself in the Vestalis City. I had thought I won't be able to get a chance to have it this time but you brought it for me."
"Why didn't you come with me? I searched for a long time before I could even make a few choices for eating and some other purchases. It would have gone smoother with you around."
"I am sure it would have but I wanted you to experience the felling of exploring an unknown city on your own. The feeling you get from exploring alone and with someone who already knows the area is completely different. "
Jasper was not convinced by Jennifer's reasons but did not pry for further details.
" So, how much did you spend in total Jasper?"
"A total of 950 Arcanees." Jasper replied back while handing over the remaining 50 Arcanees to Jennifer. Jennifer had an expression that said ' Come on '.
"You can keep it with you. Anyway let us be on our way to the next location."
"Where are we going know?"
"Its a fun place to be, Jasper. Do you care to guess where we might we be headed?"
"Don't start the mysterious act and just tell me where are we going already?"
"Yeah I could tell you where we are headed but I like to see the frustrated look on your face."
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