Usually, early in the morning, the streets of Pavagar were already bustling. That morning, when Aria and Willow left the inn after breakfast, it was no different.
As a city in the far south of the Kingdom of Aethoria, Pavagar wasn't that commercially relevant. It wasn't on any of the kingdom's principal trade routes, but it still had a high volume of carriages and wagons crossing its long avenues every day. Of all the surrounding towns, Pavagar was the largest and oldest, so it carried the duty of being the meeting point for the other smaller towns, villages, and small communities. As such, many merchants from all over the far south would pass through Pavagar to resolve issues and buy supplies.
From all parts of the city, you could see the White Mountain Ranges, a veritable natural wall that separated the entire south and southeast of the Aethoria Kingdom from the Lianz Guo Theocracy and also from the Kang Empire, both of which were even further south on the Great Continent.
Willow explained all this to Aria, and she was impressed.
"You're someone much more learned than I imagined, Willow." She said, looking at the mountain ranges as they walked.
Running a hand over the back of her neck, Willow laughed and thought:
'She just can't know that all my knowledge comes from listening to lots of random NPCs looking for quests when I was just an Explorer. Since Ether Online doesn't have the option of skipping dialogues, I had to listen to them being explained for several minutes.'
"Ow! Look at this, Willow! It would suit you!" Aria suddenly stopped walking and put her face in the store window.
Willow approached, looking for what had so impressed Aria as to make her exclaim. It was then that he saw a suit of black leather armor, with a long white cape and a scabbard for a sword on the back. It wasn't one of the most glamorous pieces of armor Willow had ever seen.
"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about this!" She put a hand on his chin and turned his face a little more to the left of where she was looking.
When Willow saw it, he too was impressed. It was a metal staff so twisted that it resembled wood, and the core was a green gem like Willow's eyes and the surrounding thorns on the head of the staff seemed to desperately want to reach the green gem that floated alone in the center of the core.
"Fiu~" whistled Willow, impressed by the beauty of it.
His eyes traveled down to the bottom of the staff and then saw the price.
[30,000 Drakis.]
"Urgh, how despicable." Willow said and started walking again.
Aria laughed as she trotted to get back to walking beside him. "You shouldn't make such an indigestible expression. Didn't you say during breakfast today that you want to be a wizard? Then at some point you'll need to buy a staff like that."
"Is it really necessary? I'd have to take out a loan or finance it."
"I don't know how much of what I'm about to say applies to humans, but all the great mages of my country had a staff or a wand." She explained as she walked with her hands behind her, looking like a delicate girl.
"Speaking of which, I was curious about something. Why don't you use magic like the other elves? As far as I know, humans and other races started using staffs and wands because of the elves."
Willow was right. Thousands of years ago, even before magic was so widespread among humans, the elves already used magic and in order to gather more mana in a single spell, they began to use pieces of sacred trees. From this custom, these magical weapons evolved.
"Well, my family is different." Aria gave a short answer.
Still curious, Willow looked at her out of the corner of his eye. He noticed that she didn't seem uncomfortable or irritated by the question, so he pressed the issue.
"Is that so?"
"Yes... In Sylvanor, there are many elven settlements. We are one kingdom, but each village has its own unique way of seeing the world, individuals, and magic. My people, the Valenwood, have lived in the valleys of Sylvanor for five thousand years. So we're not as attached to the forest as most other elven peoples. Of course, we still care a lot about the forest, as Sylvanor is made up of more than 90% dense rainforests, but in the valleys, my relatives have developed unique customs."
"And one of those customs is archery?" Willow asked.
"That's right. We are taught from childhood how to use bows. When we turn fifteen, we are taught how to use the power of the spirits to make our arrows more powerful. A small number of elves can imbue special elements into their arrows, such as turning an ordinary arrow into a Flaming Arrow."
Willow had heard that the act of imbuing magic into an object was a type of ability exclusive to the dwarves of the Ferrum Kingdom, so he was slightly surprised to discover that this was a characteristic of some individuals in Aria's family.
"But... what you did wasn't just imbuing." Willow put a hand to his chin and said. "You literally created a magic arrow."
"Well... how can I put it? I'm the only person in my family who can do that in this generation. My grandmother taught me how to do it before she died twenty years ago."
"Oh, twenty years? It's been a long time, but my pea- WHAT?! HOW OLD ARE YOU?!" Willow shouted, startled, as he turned to Aria.
At that moment, he realized that he had spoken too loudly, because everyone around them stopped to look. Both the people on the sidewalk where they were, those on the other side of the avenue and even the giant lizards pulling the carriages.
"Excuse me..." He grabbed Aria's right wrist and began to pull her along so that they could walk a little faster.
When they turned into a street that connected with the primary avenue, he let go of her wrist, stopped, cleared his throat and asked more gently this time:
"Aria, how old are you?"
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Twenty-nine."
"I'm not talking about your elven age, but your normal age." Willow nodded, ready to hear something between 200 and 300 years.
It was only then that Aria realized why Willow had spoken so loudly. She turned red with embarrassment. "Humph! I'm 29 normal years old, counted from 365-day cycles like humans do."
"... What? But..."
A smile appeared on her face and she touched the tip of his nose with her index finger. "You were thinking I was a young-looking old woman, weren't you? Well, you should know that I'm the only Knight of Sylvanor of my generation. The others are over 100 years old."
"But, Aria, you said that your family only teaches you to use spirit magic when you turn 15. It must take a few years to perfect it. Then you said that you learned the technique of creating magic arrows from your grandmother, who died twenty years ago. Of course, I thought you were older than you look."
"What can I do if I'm a rare genius, even among elves? I mastered the Imbuition of Elements at the age of six, then began my training with my grandmother. She died after I finished training."
"That's... a lot to process. Shouldn't you elves take a while to look so grown-up?"
"Of course not. How many elves have you met? We age identically to humans up to the age of 25. After that, our aging slows down dramatically. Anyway, this subject is already making me hungry. When are we going to get to that market you mentioned where we could find that blacksmith of yours?"
"What are you talking about? We've already arrived."
Aria looked around and noticed that the street they entered after leaving the main avenue was long and lined with stalls of the most different colors. There were traders selling delicious meat skewers, while others sold fresh fruit, cereals, clothes and many types of handicrafts, from carpets to clay bowls.
"I don't remember exactly where I found it, so maybe I need to walk a bit. It's crowded in here. Come on, give me your hand so we don't lose each other." Willow said and offered his hand.
Aria looked at his white palm and blushed slightly. "Sure, why not?" She took his hand.
An instant later, Willow received a new notification from the game system.
[You have received +1 Heart with Aria Valenwood.]
'It's with actions that I can gradually win her affection.' Willow concluded as she walked with Aria by his side.
Unfortunately, he didn't get to enjoy this moment of walking hand in hand with a girl very much, because he soon heard the harsh tone of that short salesman.
"Ha! You here again, boy?! I hope you've come to pay what you owe me!" said Norian Silverchest.