AMELIA OF WHITE HORSE ODDITIES AND TREASURES

AMELIA OF WHITE HORSE ODDITIES AND TREASURES

"I killed them with my Magic Missiles", I told Grammer.

Grammer was shocked at my response, and he had no idea what magic missile that I was talking about. However, the facts were laid clear before him, I killed the bandits who imprisoned him. 

Although I couldn't tell whether he was shocked that a thirteen-year-old kid could kill the bandits or that I killed them without batting an eyelid.

"This little boy must have killed many people before. That's why he is so calm in the face of murder", Grammer probably thought to himself, but he didn't make much of an issue out of it.

After all, he was just glad to be safe and rescued.

"What happened to the bandits?" Grammer asked me, pointing at the bandits who were dead drunk all around the camp.

"The same stuff they fed to you guys I put into their drinks, you would be surprised how easy it is for a boy to run around the bandit camp unnoticed", I told Grammer.

The bandits were careless in their own camp, and they left their stuff around, usually unattended. Even poisons and drugs were left unlocked, so I took them and poured them into the bandit's wines and meads.

"Tie up all the bandits now", I told Grammer and the freed hostages.

The shopkeeper merchant and his men immediately obeyed the command of the thirteen-year-old boy who knew what he was doing. In a way, they were also rather frightened of me, after witnessing my slaughter of the bandits, so they did as I asked without questioning.

"We must report the bandits to the Town Hall in Gaesov", Grammer said to me.

"I already did that and by the way can you collect the bounty on my behalf, I'm underaged they probably won't pay me if I told them I caught the bandits", I told the merchant.

"What bounty?" he asked me.

"The Bounty put on the capture of these bandits and their boss", I replied to him.

"What? You even captured their boss?" he asked me.

"He's somewhere at the back", I replied to him.

-----

It took another two weeks of travel before we finally reached Gaesov town and immediately we took more than a hundred bandits tied to several caravans to the Town Hall asking to claim our bounty. 

"What is happening here?" the clerk at the Town Hall asked us.

"We came to collect on that", I told him as I walked to the Notice Board and pulled down a notice.

It was a notice for the clearing of a bandit camp, the same bandit camp that we just cleared.

Grammer stayed on in the town Hall as he provided the details of our capture of the bandit camp, together with the handing over of the bandits.

The bandits around Gaesov were notorious and there was nothing the authorities could do until now except put up a bounty on them and Grammer, a merchant from an unknown town village cleared the menace.

There was a ten thousand silver bounty on the Bandit Boss and a hundred silver for the regular bandits, so the actual bounty we collected was twenty thousand silver and as agreed with Grammer I would take 80% of the bounty which came to sixteen thousand silvers. 

"It's good doing business with you, Mr. Grammer", I told the shopkeeper as I took the coins from him.

"Likewise, I've made a fortune on this trip thanks to you. The bounty was more than what I would make from my caravan sales", Mr. Grammer said to me.

With the money, I went shopping around Gaesov town. 

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The first place I went to after I collected the bounty was a Conjurer's Supplies Shop, the only such shop in this town, named the White Horse. This wasn't just any shop in town, rather, this was an exclusive shop.

Only registered Conjurers with the Conjurer Court were allowed to shop here.

"I'm sorry, only Conjurers are allowed into our shop. Children have no business in our premise", a guard at the door to the shop told me, blocking my entrance into the shop.

"I am an apprentice of a Conjurer", I said to the guard as I showed him my apprentice badge, that Greenduff gave to me for my convenience, exactly in situations like this.

"I'm instructed to only allow Conjurers into the shop", the guard replied to me, his tone softened a lot after seeing my badge.

"Go ask the assistants in the shop to let me in if you have no authority and don't keep me waiting", I instructed the guard.

The guard quickly ran into the shop before returning shortly with a woman. The woman was a salesperson of the magic shop.

"I am sorry about stopping you, young apprentice. The guard is newly posted here and doesn't know about all the rules", the saleswoman told me.

"Now, can we go inside?" I asked her.

"Of course, we can", she replied to me and ushered me into her shop.

Although only Conjurers were allowed into this exclusive shop, there was an exception for the apprentices of Conjurers, because the apprentices usually run errands for the busy Conjurers and are often tasked to purchase supplies in the shop for their masters.

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I was brought before a large and weathered wooden door, being the door and entrance to the magical shop. The sign above swung gently in the breeze, bearing the faded inscription, "White Horse Oddities and Treasures".

As the saleswoman pushed open the door, a small bell chimed, announcing our arrival to the unseen wonders within. The air around the place as we walked inside was tinged with an otherworldly scent, a blend of dried herbs and the faintest hint of something elusive.

The interior was a sensory feast, bathed in a warm, golden glow. Shelves lined with dusty bottles, ancient books, and sparkling crystals beckoned, while the air hummed with a low, enchanting melody.

The saleswoman brought me to the shopkeeper, a wise-looking woman with silver hair cascading down her shoulders, peered over a pair of spectacles. Her eyes held the glimmer of ancient secrets, and a warm smile played on her lips as she acknowledged my presence.

"Welcome, dear one, my name is Amelia," she greeted me, her voice a soft melody, before adding, "What brings you to White Horse Oddities and Treasures on this mystical day?"

"I came to run an errand for my master Conjurer", I replied to Amelia, the wizened woman shopkeeper who was quite interested in me.

Although her eyes were gentle, the woman's desire was surely to milk me of all my money and she began probing me, finding out more about me, my interests and desires, the moment that I was brought before her. 

"What would you like to see in our humble shop? We have everything that a town like Gaesov would ever need", she asked me.

"I don't really know myself", I replied to her.

"I thought you were running an errand for your master", she said to me when I realized I misspoke.