When I enter Percivil's shop, there seems to be one other man looking around at weapons. Percivil is in the front of the store talking to him.
When Percivil sees me, his eyes widen in surprise. I respond with a reassuring nod, as if to say, 'take your time'. I walk around the store aimlessly. After a few minutes I hear the door, and I notice that the man has concluded his business and left.
"Nice to see yah, Mizuki, I wasn't expecting yah back so soon. What can I do for yah?" (Percivil)
By all accounts, he is acting completely normal. I guess we're pretending that conversation earlier never happened.
"Good to see you as well. Yes, I wasn't expecting to be back so soon, but I had kind of an odd request I thought you might be able to help with." (Mizuki)
"Oh, by all means, I'd love to help yah if I can. What's the request?" (Percivil)
He still seems completely normal, and his smile is warm. His statement seems genuine.
"You mentioned that you make magic weapons, so I was wondering if you have any tools to measure magic power?" (Mizuki)
"Aye, I do. Knowing the magic power of the wielder is important when making such items, so I keep a tool like that around to make sure my weapons match the customer. Why do yah ask?" (Percivil)
"Can I use it?" (Mizuki)
He's silent for a moment. He seems curious, but he doesn't press me for clarification.
"Hmm…I'm guessing yah know that this could be done at the guild, so yah must have a good reason for not having them do it. Very well, I won't pry. Follow me." (Percivil)
He leads me away from the storefront into a back room. It's just a room with a large workbench in the center and boxes of miscellaneous tools stacked along the back wall.
He walks over to one such box and pulls out something. When he turns around, I can see it's another magic thermometer like the one at the guild. He places it on the workbench.
"Aye, there yah have it. Just grab the bulb at the end and it should do the trick on its own. I think somewhere around two notches is normal for adventurers. I'll be in the front if yah need me, so yah can have some privacy." (Percivil)
Before he can leave, I respond to him.
"Actually, you're welcome to stay for this if you'd like. I've decided to trust you this much." (Mizuki)
He looks quite surprised, but he smiles softly, nods, and then moves to a corner of the room quietly. I guess he's staying then. No turning back now.
I walk over to the workbench, and grab the device as instructed. Like with Melanie, the base begins to softly glow white. Then, the light begins to rise up the stem. It passes notch one…two…three…it's still climbing.
At this point, I notice Percivil has gone stiff and he's wearing a solemn expression on his face. I look back at the device and the light now completely fills the stem past the fifth notch.
Instead of turning off, however, the light from the device grows more intense. After a few seconds, it fills the back room and eventually blinds me all together. A moment later, I hear a piercing sound and the light begins to fade.
I blink my eyes repeatedly trying to adjust. When I can see again, I notice that the device has shattered everywhere, and a piece of the glass has left a small cut on my hand.
Percivil quickly walks over and wraps a white cloth around my bleeding hand, and he trembles slightly as he does so. He's gone completely pale and appears to be in a cold sweat.
After he finishes wrapping my hand, he takes a deep breath, as if steading himself. Then, he smiles up at me, returning to normal.
"Well, it's too bad I'm getting so clumsy in my old age. I can't believe I accidentally dropped such an important tool while organizing my storage room. I'll have to let the guild know about my ageing hands and I'm sure they'll let me purchase another to replace it." (Percivil)
He looks at me with an earnest expression. Yeah, the message is clear – he won't say a word.
Grateful, and feeling a little guilty over his broken tool, I pull a silver coin out and place it on the workbench. I raise my eyebrows at him while nodding towards the broken glass, like 'will that cover it?'. He nods back appreciatively.
Without another word, I exit the room and head to the store entrance. Before I open the door to leave, I look back and see Percivil watching me with a conflicted expression.
"Hey, Percivil?" (Mizuki)
"Aye?" (Percivil)
He looks like he wants to say something else but remains silent. I smile at him reassuringly.
"It's nice to have someone who knows me." (Mizuki)
Hearing this, his expression relaxes into a warm smile. I nod at him, then exit the store.
It's finally time to test the limits of my magic.