Chapter 18

I'm about half way back to town now.

Walking through the green tranquil forest with the calm breeze brushing up against my face. The scenery of orange light pillars from the setting sun piercing through the tree canopy.

It creates the perfect atmosphere for a relaxing stroll.

Or rather, that would be the case if I was alone… the little fairy is still following me...

She's not really doing anything to disturb me, but just her following me still sets off the mood.

I turn back to her, "Sigh..", and just stare at her.

When our eyes met, her response was just a "Oh. Hehe..." with a smile.

"You can follow me if you want, but you know that I'm going to a human town right? It might be a dangerous place for you." Please just go back to your village.

"Uhmmm." She smiles, smugly. "Not to worry, because I can do...This!" And she twirls around, some sparkles appear around her and moments later, she's gone.

Though I can feel that her magical presence has increased by a lot, so I know exactly where she is.

"We fairies can use pixie dust to make ourselves invisible like this. Cool right?"

"Sigh... alright, sure. You can come with me, but stay quiet and don't let anyone see you." Great… now I'm her babysitter.

Why did I have to say that.. I mean just telling her to get lost would be cruel, but still..

(Roger that!) Her voice speaks directly into my head.

(How did you do that?) Wait, now I'm doing it.

(Hu hu hu. It's just one of the spells I know, called 'Telepathy'. I can use it to talk to people without actually saying a word. Very useful right?)

"Yeah... that is useful." I wonder if I can learn it?

Nothing is popping up prompting me to learn it. So maybe it's a race specific skill?

While picking my brains, thinking about the possibilities, we continued walking to towards town…

When we get close to the edge of the forest I pulled the boar from last time out of my inventory and sling it over my shoulders.

Piccy, "Wow! How did you do that? You just pulled that boar out of thin air."

Ahh… I was so lost in thought, I forgot she was here with me.

"It's just one of the abilities I can use, but don't tell anybody, ok."

(Oh! Roger that. My lips are sealed.) she speaks into my head again.

I give her a smile and we continue heading to the gates.

Guard, "Oh, hay there kid. Another big catch today huh?"

"Yep. Another big boy today." I try to make it look like the boar is heavy. Even thought it didn't really feel like anything.

I mean I can feel some pressure, but it's like the weight of a pillow. It lets you know it's there, but it's just a passing thought, you know.

Guard, "Well, we appreciate you helping out around town. With the expansion and all, we'll need all the help we can get." He throws his thumb back, gesturing me in.

I give them a nod and head inside, going straight towards the guild.

When I pushed open the door, there at the receptions is Silvia, waving at me as promised.

She looks completely normal now. Looks like what ever effect that berry had on her has worn off.

I walked to the reception and toss the boar on the counter, making it look as heavy as I can, along with all the required nectar pods before slipping her the three commissions parchments.

As she's handling the parchment, I ask. "I don't see Malakai here. Did he go home already?"

Without taking her hands off of the parchment, she answers. "Oh, yes, Malakai is at home with his family. He's already retired, so he doesn't come to the guild building very often anymore. He only came out today because I asked for help with the commission."

"Oh, are you two are close?"

"Yes, we used to be in a party together when he was younger."

When he was young huh? That makes it sound like she's very old or something. I guess I can assume that elves here have long lives just like in typical fantasy.

I won't say anything tho.

A short glance and a gentle smile tells me that she already knows what I'm thinking. Making me in able to keep eye contact.

She fills out all the parchment and slides me 80silver. "Thank you again for saving us today. That fight really could have gone badly if you hadn't intervened. Those boars were tougher than anticipated."

"Don't mention it. I'm just glad that you two are safe." I take the silver and put them in my bag. Before throwing her a glance, "Umm.. about those bags..."

"Oh yes, I haven't forgotten. I don't really have anything for you to look at, but I can tell you about them. From what I know from my time in the scholars guild, there are 3 standard sizes for the bags, small, medium, and large. What I have right now is the small one. It can comfortably fit about 3 of these boars here." She slaps the boar I brought in.

That made a really satisfying sound for some reason. I kinda want to do it too now.

"The medium bag is two times bigger than the small one and the large bag is about five times bigger than the small one. But keep in mind, the bigger they are, the more expensive they become."

"Do you happen to remember the price range?"

"Yes, the small ones are around 40gold, the medium ones around 90gold, and the large ones is around 230gold. You could also custom order bigger bags and bags for specific purposes, but those will be significantly more expensive. Not to mention, if you plan to order a big bag, they might not even have the materials to make it in the first place."

"Wow... that's a lot of money." I guess. It is the most expensive item I've seen so far. "Why are they so expensive?"

"It's mainly because Mithiral is used in the production of the bags. The purer the Mithiral, the greater the capacity of that bag. As you may know, Mithiral is a very rare material, and it's extremely hard to process. Even for the dwarfs of Kalsakith, the greatest smiths in the world, it's very hard to make pure Mithiral. Furthermore, the production of the bag itself isn't a guaranteed success. From what I know, only every 4 out of 5 bags made are successful. Further more, only about half the Mithiral used to make the production can be extracted in the case of a failure."

Pure Mithiral, huh? Don't I have some of that?

But more importantly... She said DWARFS!! DWARFS! Those fantasy races famous for being master smiths! She even said they were the best smiths in the world!

I mean, there are elves here so it shouldn't be that surprising, but DWARFS! Oh how I want to meet them. I can already imagine all the amazing things they can make.

Ouhuhu.. it tickles the collector in me and sends a shiver down my spine just thinking about it.

If I can meet them, then maybe I can get my hands on some of those fancy fantasy weapons and armor I've always wanted. A holy sword… no, maybe a holy lyre or a holy bow would fit my appearance better.

But back to the matter at hand. I guess now that I have a giant inventory I don't really need the capacity from the large bag. For now anyway. My main goal for this was only to use it as cover for my inventory anyway.

"Then, please get me the small one for now. I give her 50gold in a small pouch."

"Alright, I'll send word to the nearest Scholars guild and I'll inform you as soon as it arrives."

"Thank you Silvia."

"You don't have to thank me for anything, it's the least I can do." And as I start to turn away, she puts both her hands on the counter, "Ummm... I... I don't mean to be rude, but could I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course. What is it?"

"Umm... that... berry you gave me earlier. I didn't realize back then, but... that berry was filled with magical energy, wasn't it. Not only did it heal my wounds in an instant, I also feel myself being empowered. Even now, the effects hasn't fully faded. May I ask where you acquired those berries?"

Oh no... I really didn't think that through. She looks extremely eager to know, but I can't exactly tell her that I got it from the game. Ahh man... what do I do.. what do I say...

I never through that it would have an empowering effect. That wasn't in the description!

"Oh... ummm... it's... ahh... I ah... I was lucky enough to come across some in my travels. But I don't really have a lot so I'd appreciate it if you could keep it a secret between us yeah?"

"Oh, I see... that's unfortunate. I'm sorry for asking." She looks very disappointed, and I really want to help her but...

"No, don't worry about it... ... ... well... if you want some more... I.. could probably... part with a few more... maybe..." Sign... I hate myself. I just can't help being nice to people who are nice to me.

Her face lights up at the sound of that, "Hoh! Really?!"

"Shhhhh.." I try to get her to quiet down.

"Oh, my apologies. But are you sure? Aren't they very valuable?"

"They are." Since I only a limited amount. "But if you really want some, then I guess parting with a few won't be that big of a deal."

"Are you not able to get more?"

"No, unfortunately I don't think I can." I don't even know if you have it in this world. And even if you do, where would I even find it?

"Oh, that is unfortunate. Hmmm... I wonder if I could plant them..."

Plant huh... it could be possible and it would be very beneficial to have a source of Wolf berry, but I don't know about introducing a new, unknown species of plant to this world.

Plus, back in the game, Wolf berries were monster drops, I don't know if they could even be planted in the first place.

"It would be great if we could plant them here, but I don't think it would be a very good idea, for various reasons. I don't even know if they'll even grow here in the first place."

"Oh, is that so. That's too bad then. It's a shame. It's is such a wonderful plant. Now that I think about it, a plant with this much magical energy would need an environment with similar magical properties in order to grow. Such places are few and far between."

"Well, I still have a little left, so if you want some just let me know ok."

"Yes, thank you Ether."

After that, I decided to look around town for dinner before heading back home.

I haven't really explored the town on my own all that much, so this is a good opportunity.