"Thank you for your patronage. Please come again at Ned's consumables." The male shopkeeper exclaimed after Kyle had bought the stuff he needed and left the store with a relieved expression on his face. As he was walking, he couldn't help but sigh as he remembered the shopkeeper's intense personality.
-5 minutes ago-
"Ummm... Hello? Is anyone in here?" Kyle asked with a nervous expression as he looked around at he shop. As for the shop itself, it had a few racks for bags, cloths, sundries and all kinds of knickknacks, some of which he didn't know what they were and the whole place looked like a medieval convenience store. As he looking around with a nervous, albeit somewhat curious expression, a young, loud voice was heard from behind, which nearly caused him to jump:
"WELCOME TO NED'S EMPORIUM. HOW MAY I HELP MY ESTEEMED CUSTOMER?"
"Jesus, calm down a bit, you nearly gave me a heart attack." Kyle answered back with a shocked expression, as he was holding his hand in front of his chest.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm so sorry for the scare. It's just that I haven't had a customer all day and y'know..." The shopkeeper answered with an apologetic expression, as he was bowing down. After a couple of seconds, Kyle exhaled with a calmer expression and looked at the bowing black-haired shopkeeper, before saying:
"It's alright. I just want a week's worth of supplies for traveling."
"Alright, for how many people? Do you need the bare minimum necessities or with some extra gear? Will you be traveling on foot, on horseback or on a carriage? Do you need any equipment for material collection? Or maybe..." After the shopkeeper got up, he started asking question after question and it didn't take long for Kyle to feel like his head was being overwhelmed and quickly yelled with a panicked voice:
"Wait, stop! Just stop! I can't answer if you keep shooting questions like that. At least give me a bit of time to think."
"Sorry..." The shopkeeper apologized with a disheartened expression, as he slowly went to the counter.
"I just need a week's worth of traveling supplies for myself. Mostly food, water and sundries and some clothing as well. Just keep it under 10 silvers." Kyle gave his order with a tired expression, as he sighed inwardly and rubbed his head from the headache he was having.
"Alright, be right back in five minutes." The shopkeeper exclaimed loudly, before he disappeared to the back of the store and came back with a big leather bag and said:
"That will be 870 Tils. This bag contains a weeks worth of jerky, a leather bag for water storage, a soap block, a cleaning rag, a couple of pairs of undergarments and an extra change of clothing."
...
'I swear that I'll never shop that place ever again. Unless I'm extremely desperate to do so, of course.' Kyle thought to himself with a tired expression and quickly made his way back to the inn he was staying. The moment he entered, he saw that the reception was slightly busy, since there were a couple of tall armored people who were talking with the old innkeeper, so he decided to wait at a corner, until the armored people left. While waiting, he decided to check on the contents of the bag and he saw a couple of smaller pouches, a block covered with a thin cloth, a thicker piece of white cloth, a shirt and a pair of pants as well. One of the pouches was empty with a small pipe hole on top and the other one was full of hard, brown strips and the block that was covered in cloth was a white solid block that gave a faint aroma of herbs.
'Those are definitely my supplies and it seems that he didn't scam me, seeing how everything is accounted for.' Kyle thought to himself with a relieved expression, as he quickly put everything back in the bag and waited for his turn at the reception. After waiting for a little while, the armored people left the reception and Kyle quickly went to the reception to ask for his room key. The old man gave it to him and Kyle quickly went to his room to pick up the stuff he had left behind, of which was just the bag of money he had obtained from selling the fancy clothes on hand. After he took the bag of coins and put in his supple bag, he closed the door and gave the key back to the old man and left without looking back. As he was leaving though, the two guards were secretly staring at him, before they disappeared from the alley they were staring from.
After a couple of hours of waiting at the plaza, a small white carriage had suddenly made its appearance from one of the nearby alleys and quickly stopped at one of the corners of the plaza. After it stopped, a person with long white hair had gotten off from the carriage and approached Kyle, who was sitting and staring at the purplish clouds in the sky.
"Seems like you have a lot of thoughts in your head, for you to stare at the sky like that." Balor commented with a carefree smile, as they turned his head towards the cloudy sky as well.
"Nah, just zoning out and questioning my life choices. Heh..." Kyle answered jokingly, as he left a weak chuckle and sighed afterwards, before continuing:
"So, is it time to leave?"
"Do you wish to stay here for another day without a reason to stay?" Balor asked back, as he raised an eyebrow.
"I have no reason to stay, so no, I don't wish to stay here for another day." Kyle answered back with a smug expression, as he turned his head towards Balor.
"I don't playing along with a skit or two, but once we arrive at the academy, don't expect to have any chances to mess around with." Balor answered back with a serious expression, as he crossed his arms. After he said that, Kyle could only sigh with a defeated expression and asked:
"So, what you tell me about this academy, aside from being a magic academy?"
"Do you want the short explanation or the long one?" Balor asked back with a calm voice, as he put his hands down and looked around.
"Ehhh... The-" Kyle tried to think for a dew seconds, but before he could answer, a carriage had suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of him. The carriage itself had 4 white horses in front and there was a mannequin on the front part of it, aside from that though, it was just a wooden carriage without much else to it, no symbols and nothing else to separate it, unlike all the other carriages he had seen, due to the many symbols embed on their sides.
"It's better if we talk in the carriage. Besides, a storm is approaching." Balor exclaimed as he quickly entered the carriage and Kyle saw him enter, he quickly joined him and closed the door. As he closed the door, the two armored people who had talked with the innkeeper previously, had appeared from a nearby alley and watched as the carriage flew away. After it flew away, both of them stared at each other for a moment, before nodding and disappearing within the shadows.