The night passed uneventfully as Victor slept allowing him to be woken up by the sun as it shined into his eyes as it had the day before. Working for the store had been easier compared to his job back home, even if it was a one time gig instead of a permanent part-time job. Despite this, between the long hours and the discovery regarding his card, he felt like he could sleep a few more hours, despite sleeping as much as he had.

Pulling on one of the new outfits he had gotten, he went downstairs to eat and do some work as partial payment for this room, before asking how much to just cover the usual price of the room.

Once he had a price, he paid the difference right away so he could have full control of his days.

After everything was dealt with, Victor went to the guild to turn in his finished quest document. It was just a sort of wax dripping that had been stamped with something he didn’t get a good look at to make a shape. While he hadn’t been told about it he felt certain that it was what the guild would be looking for. Especially, he told himself, because of the fact the people seemed to do it without any hesitation like he would expect from someone trying to rip him off.

When he got to the guild he stood in line to get paid for the job. While waiting in line he heard about the group that had tried to recruit him. It seemed that they had gone without him and he was a bit relieved that they had done so. He didn’t think they seemed like bad people, but he wasn’t ready to try what they were offering.

The employee who took the verification documentation and guild crystal from him did some work before handing them back to him with the reward. While he waited Victor noted that it was the same woman who had drawn him the map the day before. While she seemed to be acting as she had the day before, he noticed that she had the pen she was given set on her section of the counter and was lightly holding it when her hands weren’t needed elsewhere.

“It looks like you were able to successfully complete the request. The requestor said that you did quite well and were very proficient with your numeric skills. I made sure to make a note that you are numerically gifted in your guild profile. Until you take an official guild test we can only say we heard that you have the skill. The next academic testing day is in twenty-eight days. We had one twelve days ago so if you wish for it to be known and verified try to appear for testing on that day.”

“Now as far as your pay goes the man who made the request is giving you a mild bonus because apparently, thanks to you they were able to finish the job early.”

Reaching under the counter the woman produced a small container that was barely bigger across than the length her thumb and held all eight of the large copper coins that he had been promised along with five smaller ones that Victor took to be the bonus.

“He left an extra bit of copper for you in addition to some weapon polish. You will want a cloth of some sort, but he said, and I agree, that most young adventurers forget about maintaining their equipment properly. This is something everyone should know how to do. This is even truer if you are working alone since you won’t be able to see someone else doing their maintenance to remind you. Now do you have more to do at the moment or can I move on to the next person in line?”

The line had a total of four people behind Victor at this point and, from how they were talking to each other, he was assuming it was some sort of party that had been working together.

“Ah not right now.” Victor replied, “I was planning to look for a shop that sells magical items though if you know about one nearby or that you might suggest. I’m mostly curious about certain items though.”

The start of a smirk started to spread over the woman's lips before it went back to normal, “Magical items, while useful, can also get to be costly and don’t make up for a lack of skill. If you are going to look for one you can find some that don’t cost too much at a shop that has their sign as a burning potion. They mostly deal with minor magical items. If you want more serious items, look for one with a sign that has a staff, a wand, and some magical looking effects on the sign, but they tend to prevent people from being lookers. If they suspect that the person has no chance of being a buyer they will tell you to leave unless you can prove you have the funds.”

Placing the money and weapon polish into his pouch, Victor thanked the woman before leaving. He got the feeling that if he stayed around too much longer to ask more questions than he would be seen as a bother to the woman.

“Alright.” He said to himself once out of the guild hall, “First things first find either one of those magic shops to see how much and how good the magical storage is. If it is something that hasn’t been figured out yet than all the better.”

Without a map this time, Victor found himself struggling to find either of the shops he was told about and ended up asking someone if he knew where the places were. A bit of luck and patience aided his efforts in finding one of the shops before to much time had passed. In this case, it was the one that had more of the smaller and not as flashy magical items.

Both of the people working seemed to be busy with other people when Victor first entered. Being the closer of the two the woman was the one who called out to him a greeting.

“Welcome to fire in a bottle. I’m almost done with this person so if you want to look around I can get to you in a moment. Just don’t mess with anything you don’t already know about if you don’t mind.”

The woman looked slightly frazzled, albeit not nearly as much as the other worker. Her outfit was a little loose and her cheeks a bit sunken as she worked with the customer.

About ten minutes pass before the customer that the woman was working with finished her transaction and left, allowing the woman to come over to Victor.

“Sorry that you had to wait. She was just hoping to get a better deal on one of our ah actually that doesn’t matter. You don’t care about her or what I was doing you came here for a reason so let’s hear it.”

Victor waves his hand a little bit as if to try to dismiss the workers’ concerns, “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t mind waiting or anything like that. You can take a break if you want and I’ll just look around for a little bit. I don’t mind at all I’m just kind of curious what magical items there might be that I might find useful and can afford.”

Touching her left ear the woman shakes her head a little bit, “Can’t take a break unless the boss tells me to. I’m only a little tired so it’s fine just tell me what you want and I’ll see if I can help.”

Looking at the woman's ear all that Victor noticed was she had an earring of some sort on that ear, but not the other. While he did find the earring a bit ugly, he assumed it was some fashion choice he didn’t understand.

Thinking about how much of an asshole some of his bosses and supervisors had been he just let it go. Victor assumed that if he was able to get out of there quickly enough, at least that was one less thing for the workers to worry about, especially since they both seemed tired.

“I’m mostly curious about magical storage and if you have any for a good price.”

An almost exhausted smile can be seen as the woman lets out a single sigh laced with a sort of soft laugh.

“We don’t deal with items that are that valuable. We only deal with minor odds and ends that people might want to use. Fire starters, cold stones, pain relief simple and small things like that. If you want even a small storage item though you will need quite a few large golden coins. It’s a very useful item that mostly gets sold to people who ask for them from the item creators directly. Ah although that isn’t to say they are never sold in places like this. It’s just that they are generally requested items that are custom made.”

“So are items with magical storage rare?” Victor inquired.

“To an extent. Mostly because they usually need to have extra mana cores to keep them magically charged, otherwise the contents burst out when it runs out of mana. This usually destroys the container and damages many of the items as they come out.”

Thinking about his card, Victor began to think about how he would be testing its limits. It may only be able to store one coin, but he already was able to verify that he could get bigger things in it. His empty backpack was able to be stored within it, but when he tried to store while it was filled with things everything that was in it remained behind, leaving him with the question of how big of an item his card could store.

“Is there anything I could help you with?”

“Ah um not unless you are hiring, but even then maybe not,” Victor replied a bit awkwardly.

From how the workers looked he assumed the boss was overworking them. Unless it was something along the lines of Black Friday happening. He remembered when he worked at his local general store while in high school, he had been transferred to work in the toy department on Black Friday and swore never again to work retail.

“Ah sorry sir, but you don’t qualify for what the owner is looking for.”

She was once again tapped her earring, “If that is all though you can look around, I’ll be going into the backroom to bring some stock up to put out. If you need more help you can ask anyone else working or yell towards the back.”

Without any reason to stay behind, Victor thanked the woman and left the building.

With how much food and rent was costing him, Victor decided to try and get a feel for the people he was around and the country he found himself in. With the assumption that the worst that could happen would be that he would waste his time and possibly some of his money, he started to wander around a little aimlessly. He made sure to know, at a minimum, which direction he would need to go to get back to the inn he was calling home for the time being.

Taking the time to look into any shop or stall that he came across he noticed there were a lot more different types of stores and jobs than he expected. This was true of the people with minimal magic and a much smaller amount of people with enough magical skills to stand out.

One shop that caught his eye was a medical shop that apparently was great for when your natural magic couldn’t cure you against it. It wasn’t a hospital as far as he could tell so Victor assumed that somehow magic has a natural curative nature, much like white blood cells. Perhaps a bit more powerful though.

Eventually, he found himself in a shop that looked like it would sell weapons and armor. The sign had a sword resting against a rock that had been cut in half. Apparently this shop's main concern was weapons but would buy and sell used armor for cheap.

After a quick look around Victor realized how true this was since the weapons were put on display along the walls or different stands to be more eye catching, while the armor was placed in boxes hidden under shelves or tables that the weapons rested on.

“Do you mind if I look at some of the armor you have? I was thinking I might get something soon and I thought I might get something if it fits well.”

The shop keeper nodded her head as she was using a whetstone on an ax, “Feel free to try it on or anything but it is all sold as you find it. I sell goods I don’t actually make or adjust them.”

Looking at each piece Victor was having no luck finding anything that fit him beyond a single gauntlet that fit over his left hand. There didn’t seem to be a matching one in any of the boxes that he looked through and for a moment he touched his hand to his pouch and thought about his card.

Shaking his head he spoke quietly to himself, “Nah. Even if it worked it wouldn’t be worth having just one of.”

Standing up he walks over to the woman behind the counter, “Nothing that really stood out to me. Maybe if there was one for both my hands I would have bought something, but can’t buy what isn’t there. While I am here though could you tell me what sort of weapons most people use? Or that might be good for new people who haven’t used many?”

Setting aside what she was working on she looked at Victor.

“Do you plan to have any magical enchantments put on it or pay to put something on one that will make it easier for you to manage?”

“Well….” Victor hesitated, “I was thinking of just having the basic item. I have a short sword, but I thought I might ask for advice from someone with more knowledge is all.”

“It isn’t often I get asked for advice on which weapons to use.” The woman admitted, “Normally it’s more about upkeep. I would say if you won’t put anything on the weapon keep weight in consideration. For your build I might suggest having a spear in addition to your sword and, unless you are stronger than you look, try to not use two-handed weapons except for spears. An offhand shield with a spiked center perhaps, but nothing more than that.”

“A spear?”

“Yes, a spear.” She confirmed.

“Can I ask why a spear?”

Taking out a spear from a display behind her, the woman puts it on the counter between them.

“It is the best weapon in my opinion and easier to upgrade or repair than a sword if it breaks. If you are just starting out I imagine you are working with a budget. Sure they are a bit big, but this is more for when you are going out to fight as opposed to the worries that it might find you unexpectedly. Especially if you are working with many people.”

Looking around for a bit she eventually pulls up a large mace, dropping it on the counter with a noticeable sound almost like an ax cutting into wood. With that in place, she put the spear on the head of the mace pointing it outwards.

“If you have a lot of people with shields that can stack up you can more easily attack with the spear. It can more easily get into more places than a sword and has a more natural thrusting motion for most people with usually more of a reach and less weight if you don’t use expensive material or enchantments.”

“Another thing to take into consideration is that I have seen spears that were able to get through more armor than any other weapons. The fact there is more thrust and weight behind it often allows it to get in deeper. It might get stuck depending on where it hits, but that is why you want to have an extra weapon.”

Picking up the spear she goes out from behind the counter and, after moving a display to one corner, she starts to spin the spear.

“If you have proper training a spear can also be used as a staff. Being able to swap between the two actions easily is another skill that will make anyone able to compete to a higher degree and have a greater level of success. So not only can it be used to pierce the flesh and armor of another it can be used to knock them around. You can use it to knock off their sense of balance and if you combine that with the reach then you have a lot that you can do. The only time a sword is better, in my opinion, is if you are swiping at many enemies at once. Especially if it is beasts instead of an armored opponent.”

Spinning the spear in her hand she smiles before going to put it back, “Also if you add something to the non-pointed end you can cause the enemy to be distracted. My husband would add colored strips of cloth to try to get a similar effect back when he fought.”

Going a bit quiet she started to put everything back where it belonged.

“When you are ready to buy a spear come to me.”

Looking at the woman, Victor saw a smile that he almost felt was glowing. She looked to maybe be in her early thirties or late twenties. He couldn’t help but wonder why she was so insistent that he would be getting a spear as opposed to might be getting one, but for now, he just nodded his head.

“If I decide to get one I’ll come here sure. I’ll probably get a cheap one since, as you said, I’m going to be on a budget.”

“Good!” She cried out in a slightly loud cry that would draw attention even if it wasn’t there.

“And when you do decide to buy it save a little extra money because I am going to train you to use it.”

“Wait I s….” Victor started.

“No.” The woman said before he could say more, “You will buy a spear. You will be trained to use it. If not and you ever do more than the most basic combat you will regret it.”

“Fine.” Victor conceded, “I will get a spear, but I will only pay for training if you give me a fair price.”

“Good. Now go out there and prepare yourself however you need to. When you ask for a spear that is the day we start and you won’t be allowed to stop the training until I say so.”

The woman took out a dagger and started to sharpen it with a stone, “And I’ll teach you the same way I taught my husband. I just hope you are more successful than he was or you might be my last student.”

A shiver went down Victor's spine as he realized what the woman might have meant. He couldn’t help but wonder if he should return as he promised or avoid the shop in the future.