Volume 8 Chapter 2 What's The New Spell(Ask)
After leaving the Levy merchant guild, Al visited the nearby spellbook shop as usual. Recently, it seemed the shopkeeper understood Al's questions better. Just by peeking out, they replied that the 'Fly' spellbook hadn't arrived yet. Since earning from Raindrop, Al hadn't made enough money to buy other spells from this official shop.
Now, Al already had a place to go next. Al was heading to Lara's stall near the south gate. He often visited, especially on days when the Levy merchant guild held tea parties and he didn't go on adventures. Al had a reason for this routine. Since he bought the 'Dispel Magic' spellbook, Lara hadn't mentioned any new spellbooks. There hadn't been any news about ancient ruins, which are usually where spellbooks come from, for the last six months. Also, not many magicians were selling spellbooks to Lara.
"Ms. Lara, have any new spellbooks come in?"
"None."
Today, Lara's reply was just as curt.
"More importantly, how's your magic tool training going? You're keeping up with the magic circuit homework I gave you, right?"
At Lara's question, Al smiled brightly.
"Yeah, it's similar to spellbooks, so it's easy to read."
"You're not saying you've already finished it, are you? If you're just making things up, I won't sell you any more spellbooks."
Lara looked surprised. The magic tool she gave to Al as homework was quite complicated. Even Lara took about a week to understand it the first time. She had given it to Al 3 days ago.
"I'm not lying. There were some symbol images in it that I don't know from any spells, so it took me a bit of time, but I finished reading it. That tool changes the temperature of the air around it, right? Do you use it by attaching it to your clothes?"
"Yes, that's right. You're used to reading spellbooks since you're a magician, but it seems you also have a talent for special magic tools. You should come by again when you have time. I can check how much you've read. But since you've read that much, you should be fine."
Al scratched his head at that. He liked reading spellbooks, but the magic circuits inside the magic tools were similar. Plus, Glee helped him with analyzing the symbols, making it even more fun lately.
"Then, you should try researching the magic tool you were going to ask me about. I don't think it will act weird."
"Yeah, but... the magic circuits are really detailed and packed in there. It's tough."
Lara smiled wryly at Al's words. It was like he was admitting he had already started analyzing the magic circuit without waiting for her advice. Normally, analyzing a magic tool could cause parts of the circuit to malfunction, so it's dangerous for beginners to do it without permission from a mentor. But even if she explained that to Al, he probably wouldn't stop.
"Right now, there aren't many spellbook purchases until the festival. Use this time to study magic tool analysis properly. And help me out, okay?"
Lara said this as if it was a big deal, nodding to herself. Maybe she wanted Al to help her with the magic tool analysis. If he could analyze it and get paid, that would make Al happy.
"Is it ten silver coins for each one?"
"Once you finish analyzing one, it's easy to tell. We call it appraisal at that price, but I won't pass those to you. It's for the more difficult ones that you haven't analyzed before. Those are tough. If you can analyze it and explain the results to me, I could pay you 50 silver coins for each one. But there won't be many of those."
Lara continued speaking with a serious face. According to her, most of the magic tools brought in for appraisal were things she had already seen before, so there was no need to analyze them in detail again. That's why the price was set at ten silver coins each. However, about one in a hundred times, a magic tool would come in that Lara had never seen before. Analyzing those took a lot of time, so she wasplanning to ask Al for help. Normally, this would seem like a hassle, but Al smiled instead.
"That sounds fun. I'll do my best to take it on!"
"Hehe, I'm counting on you."
* * *
That night, Al had dinner at the usual (Red-Faced Sheep) tavern. Madoc and Najira were out on some guard duty, and the only long-term guests there were Al and Orson.
"Al, Cody sent another job our way."
Orson said to Al while biting into a piece of meat on his fork.
"Oh, the one where we have to get the stone for tanning hides? It hasn't even been 6 months yet."
Al replied while spooning some carrots from the stew into his mouth.
"Apparently, tanning the hide from that Six-Legged Tiger was really tough. She used up a lot of the good stuff. She want more now."
Al was eating and thinking. He remembered he needed to ask Malachi, Tempest's assistant, about the crystal on the collar he took from the goblin mage. He had forgotten about it while focusing on learning spells and studying magic tools. Since his tea party with Patricia was free for about a month, he thought he could make a trip before the mushroom festival, even if it was a bit far.
"Do you want to go with me? Or should I go alone?"
Orson thought for a moment but shook his head lightly.
"It's pretty far. It's not the outskirts, so you can handle it alone, right? Can I count on you? I'll tell Cody."
Al nodded. There were towns along the way, and he didn't need any special preparations.
"Alright, I'll set off tomorrow then."
Saying that, Al reached for the bread.
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