"How did you even know about that?"
"I heard you rambling about it to Ellis"
Two individuals in commoner clothing were walking down the market district having a regular conversation. One was a short, child-like individual with white hair and green eyes, a person who had a beauty beyond that of a noble and yet wore the clothing of a commoner.
Many eyes made their way to the two of them, often in awe by their presence as well as admiring the looks of the young individual.
"Say Lord... I mean Regal, was there a point in wearing commoner clothing?"
The other man was a large individual with a muscular build, taller than the child but looking nothing alike. He looked rather suspicious standing next to the short individual who himself looked like a child strolling through the street.
He looked like a very arrogant child, his each step suggested he was above others, and despite not making eye contact, his gaze was somehow looking down on everything, peering over others indiscriminately. Everyone was within his sight, but at the same time, they were not.
"Of course! It's our disguise", the 'child' exclaimed.
It was Regal and Ruk dressed up in the fashion of commoners for some reason.
"And besides, you said you were going to help me if you lost, and you lost", Regal pointed out.
"..."
The two continued for a while down the street. The gazes never ceased, but it didn't bother Regal. What was more surprising was that there were quite a few people who recognised Ruk along the way, he seemed to have a reputation among the people.
Regal frowned.
"What the hell is the point of going in disguise now!", he complained.
"There was never a need for a 'disguise'. We aren't hiding from anyone", Ruk reasoned.
Regal whipped his head to Ruk and raised his hand in protest.
"We are hiding from the people! We are too famous!"
Ruk wasn't sure how to respond to such a statement...
While it is true that one of them is the Legendary Archmage and the other is the leader of the Stout division of the Kingdom, it's also unlikely for them to be overwhelmed with something like 'fans'.
They are currently walking in the market district, but that doesn't mean that they're surrounded by commoners. The street they are currently in is frequented mainly by nobles, it isn't a place any regular peasant could afford.
Nobles know their place in front of the two individuals, so even if they were recognised, they wouldn't be interrupted during their business.
They eventually reached their destination, Regal wasn't recognised a single time. He was noticed very often, but not for being the Archmage, simply for his good looks. Due to his young-looking body and the feminine features of his face, many actually believed that Regal was a young woman with short hair...
Needless to say, there haven't been many good whispers regarding Ruk because of that, whether someone knows him or not.
"So this is the place?", Regal asked.
Ruk nodded.
The building they were at looked quite fancy, but somewhat lacking compared to the other shops on the street. It chose a deep black primary colour, causing it to stand out from the vibrant choices of the other businesses. It wasn't that large either, it being only a single story.
Regal turned his head to the sign hung above the entrance, causing him to wear a strange expression.
"'Magical items and whatnot'... who the hell named this place?", Regal questioned rhetorically.
"The owner I believe", Ruk responded, causing Regal to turn his head slowly with an unamused expression.
Regal walked forward and opened the door with some force, causing it to swing open at an unnecessary speed. He took a few more steps in and looked around.
'Not too bad', Regal thought.
The interior of the shop wasn't decorated extravagantly, but the furniture and magic items themselves acted as the perfect aesthetic for the shop. It had a rustic look overall, but it was rather comforting and fitting for a mage.
"Can I help you?", a voice asked.
Regal and Ruk turned their heads to the man sitting at a counter who was inspecting some sort of ore. He nudged Ruk slightly with his elbow and whispered:
"Oi... you remember the deal, right?"
Ruk sighed as he led them to the counter.
"Good afternoon Hazel", Ruk greeted the man.
The man raised his head and widened his eyes for a moment, his expression morphed into a smile.
"Ah Ruk, what a pleasure", the man greeted in return with lacking energy despite his gleeful face.
As he greeted Ruk he also noticed the small individual poking his eyes just over the counter.
"...this is a stupidly big counter", Regal mentioned.
Regal was annoyed judging from his voice, but you wouldn't be able to tell from his expression, you can't even see it after all.
Regal turned his face to Ruk for a sort of 'get on with it' signal.
"Ahem... this is a friend of mine, his name is Regal, and he is a mage", Ruk introduced.
The shopkeeper gave a welcoming smile.
"Ah, I see. Welcome young la-... young man." the man corrected before continuing.
"Could I perhaps interest you in some staff's...? Or perhaps you are here for some magic items? An elemental orb or two perhaps?"
It felt like the businessman within was instinctively brought out. Such a good-looking person must be from a noble family, and if he wasn't in one now then he would be brought into one eventually. Regal just gave off that aura.
"No, I am here for some grimoires", Regal responded with an annoyed but contained expression. He didn't want to ruin his purchase because of his attitude, likely one of the only reasons he would ever control himself.
"Yes, I am here with him to buy some grimoires, I was hoping you could be a little lenient on the costs since he has a budget", Ruk continued.
"Haha, of course. Can I help you find anything in particular?", the shopkeeper asked.
Regal looked around the shop and noticed a dedicated area filled with a few bookshelves. They were filled with books of intricate design, each possessing a colour pertaining to the element that they represented.
"I'm looking for a few different ones, so I'll browse through them and get back to you", Regal answered as he walked away to the bookshelves.
As they watched him walk away, the two of them were silent for a few moments.
"...so you recommended someone else for a discount?", Hazel asked.
"..."
Ruk didn't want to mention that he lost in a fight against Regal, though it wasn't entirely true in the first place.
"...I lost a bet", he decided to reply.
The shopkeeper was surprised.
"You make bets nowadays? You should join us on a night out sometime. We always end the night with a few games of cards"
Ruk didn't seem interested, instead, he gazed at Regal to see what exactly he was doing. He saw Regal pulling out books of all the common elements other than plasma. Green for wind, blue for water, brown for earth, red for fire, and purple for lightning.
'What does he need all those for...?', Ruk wondered.
He didn't know much about magic, but he had both seen mages fight and had fought against mages in the past. They always used at most two elements, but mostly a single element is more powerful. Perhaps his disciple will learn all the elements?
He continued to watch as Regal walked over, struggling to hold the pile of books in his arms. He almost stumbled a few times as he couldn't even see in front of him, but eventually made his way to the front desk and chucked them onto it.
"I'd like all these"
Both Ruk and the shopkeeper looked at the piles of books... about nine were laying on the table. Three of the books were for the lightning element, while the others were pairs of other elements.
"Let's see... lightning basics, intermediate and advanced... wind intermediate and advanced... fire intermediate...", the shopkeeper began calculating the cost in his head.
He looked at the small Regal and could only wonder.
"Are you starting a magic school or something?", he asked.
Regal raised a brow.
"What? Of course not. I am teaching someone right now, but most of those books are for me", Regal responded.
'Huh... so this kid is actually teaching someone else? Must be quite the prodigy in front of me'
"Well then... that will be 5 gold for the intermediate grimoires, 7 gold for the advanced grimoires, and 8 silver for the basic grimoire... a sum of 12 gold and 8 silver.", the shopkeeper stated.
Regal flinched.
"Uh... is that with the discount?", Regal asked awkwardly.
The shopkeeper chuckled.
"Ah, that's right, the discount. In that case, how about 10 gold for the lot of them?", he suggested.
Regal pulled a sack of coins off from his belt and started counting them. Each second passed made his face a little bit more concerned. After he was finished, he looked at Ruk, raising his neck at a significant angle.
"Say Ruk... do you have a gold you could spare?", he asked awkardly.
The room went silent for a few moments, Ruk looking dumbfounded and the shopkeeper maintaining his business smile as he waited.
"I'll... uh... pay it back", Regal broke the silence.
Ruk shook his head.
"How about you stop trying to kick me out of your estate? And next time I ask you a question just answer it properly. I'll settle things with that"
Regal nodded.
"Knew I could count on you Ruk, just hand over the gold coin and we can go!", Regal said.
'Did he even listen to what I said...?', Ruk wondered as he sighed and reached into his pocket. Despite wearing commoner clothing, Ruk preferred to be prepared for emergencies so he always carries a certain amount of money.
A moment later, the two of them were standing outside the shop. Ruk was carrying a large bag of cloth wrapped around the books and had them on his back. Regal on the other hand was in a pleasant mood as he was ready to go back and didn't need to carry a single thing.
"Onwards!", Regal shouted as they walked down the street.
Ruk followed along as they had no choice but to walk the way back. Normally Regal would take Pamel on a trip like this, but for some reason, he really wanted to go around in disguise, and Pamel refused to change out of his butler uniform. So, Regal left him behind and they needed to walk back to the estate themselves.
This wasn't a problem for either of them though, they were both physically fit enough to make such a trip. Regal was quite used to taking the convenient teleportation method, a luxury hardly anyone in the world could get the chance to enjoy, but he didn't mind walking every now and then.
Regal looked around as they walked, hoping some sort of stall or business would catch his eye. But even if they did, he didn't have any money right now. All the money in his estate is being managed by someone else for maintenance. This was ordered by Regal himself since he didn't plan to stay in the capital often, but now he hardly has access to his own money.
He could use it forcefully... but he didn't want to dabble in the matters of the servant's wages and the costs of the estate, he was fine sticking to the King's budget.
And that budget was now gone... most of it was used by the teachers for training resources, leaving Regal to use the leftovers for himself and his disciple.
'I wonder if he would give me more...-ugh!'
Someone bumped into him as he was walking silently in thought.
"Hey, watch where you're-", Regal was about to scold the stranger but he suddenly felt strange.
He looked at his arm and noticed that it seemed to be limp. But it wasn't as simple as that, he could move it, but it wasn't acting like an arm at all. It was as if his arm was a balloon that had been filled with water, except that the balloon itself was also water. Like his arm was water being contained without a container, moving around like an arm would.
His mana was moving uncontrollably within his arm and he panicked. He jumped a few metres back from the person he bumped into and started slowing the flow of mana, hoping to stabilise it.
Ruk was alerted to the situation as well but only stood warily, the individual Regal was concerned about didn't have any malicious intent and they seemed just as surprised.
He suddenly opened his mouth as if to speak, but he only ended up saying something a few seconds after opening it.
"You... you're ascending?", he asked aloud. But the question didn't seem to need an answer, no one knew what it meant either, other than the man himself.