Chapter 12: Chapter 9 – Exploring the Village

Every time we pass someone, they step away from us.

Yes, it’s pretty obvious that the villagers are avoiding us. No one has been openly hostile, but you can tell from their eyes that they obviously would rather we weren’t here. The malice and disdain are clear as day. I do wonder why, exactly. Is it travelers that they dislike, or is there something about us in particular that they find so distasteful?

Avilia doesn’t seem to let it bother her. That’s good. She’s more interested in checking out what services the village has to offer than to be bogged down by the behavior of its inhabitants. Then again, she probably has a better idea why they are the way they are. Even with her occasional childish bouts, she’s still my age.

Maybe I should ask her sometime?

She points at a building a little bit ahead on the left. “That looks to be a clothing shop!”

I perk up. “Oh, that’s great! I do need some clothes.” I take a good look at the sign so I remember which place it is. Not like there’s a huge number of buildings here, but I’d rather not go to someone’s home or the wrong store by accident!

“And that is…” She points to the right and stops. “A magic shop of some sort?” She looks puzzled. I’m guessing she didn’t expect that in a village like this?

I turn to give the shop a better look.

What’s this?

The sign has a striking resemblance to the one I saw in the ghost town. Interesting.

“I think that store could be a good place to start,” I whisper, leaning my head towards Avilia. “I saw that sign in the town. It’s an almost exact match.”

“But that does not explain how it eluded me until now.” She tugs on my hand again, taking a step towards the shop. “I agree. We should investigate.”

I match her step. “Are you sure you didn’t just miss it? It looks like all the other buildings here, excluding the sign.”

She blushes lightly in embarrassment, and she tries to hide it by walking just a little bit ahead of me. “… It is possible, but we still should investigate.”

I just nod in response. I suggested the same, so no objections here!

As we approach the door, she releases my hand and I open the door for her. She enters the store ahead of me, and I make sure the door closes behind us.

The layout looks rather similar to that of the ruined store I saw just yesterday. The counter is right there, in the middle, with displays both to the left and right. The fireplace still has embers in it. Sheesh, to think that was just yesterday! I can tell even from this distance that the displays contain jewelry. Magical, if the quick flick of the magic particle filter is to be believed.

The store does look quite cozy. But I can’t keep Avilia waiting, especially since the shopkeeper is just there!

Based on the information supplied by my implants, the shopkeeper standing behind the counter looks like she’s probably a few years younger than either of us. Early to mid-twenties. But on the other hand, she looks a bit older than we do. It’s an interesting difference.

The more we travel, we’ll probably end up running into this all the time. Really driving home the fact that we’re the strange ones.

She’s wearing a fashionable looking flowing dark blue robe. Very stylish. Regardless, I can still tell she’s slender, rather pale and her hands look smooth, her nails well-manicured. Her hair is pitch black and goes down to her waist. Her eyes have an unusual golden hue to them.

She doesn’t look like she’s done a day’s worth of physical labor. She’s quite out of place in a farming village like this. It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that she’s probably wealthy. Not just an employee, but the owner, perhaps?

“Welcome to the Strophie Magic Shop!” The girl starts with a chipper voice, staring at us with her golden eyes. “We sell all kinds of magical goods for your adventuring and domestic needs!”

She places her hand on her chest and bows slightly. “I’m Karine Strophie, the owner of this store! It’s always nice to see new faces here!”

After that overly dramatic and practiced welcome of hers, she takes a good look at the two of us standing in front of the counter. It reminds me of Avilia’s gaze when we first met, although in Avilia’s case, it does seem like she was just trying to figure out if she could travel with me or not.

Now this, this gives me the feeling that she’s thinking whether we are worth sending to our possible deaths or not. It’s cold to a completely different degree. All the while she maintains an absolutely dishonest smile.

I guess people know the basics of customer service whatever the world, but you’re really broadcasting your intentions here, shopkeeper! Of course, I have an advantage in guesstimating emotional states thanks to my augs, but it doesn’t take much to see what’s going through her mind.

Avilia returns the expression with her own wicked little smile. “What a quaint little shop you have here! I did not expect to find one here, of all places. Especially one run by a family of your stature.”

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She glances at me, as if that’s supposed to mean something to me. As if I’d know what special meaning her family name holds! At least I can keep my expression completely neutral. My confusion stays with me alone.

She obviously struck a nerve, though. The girl’s smile has growing hints of annoyance in it now. She finds the power to suppress it. Good job!

“Oh, it’s a time-honored tradition in my family to keep this store!” She says, dramatically opening her arms as if to present the store. Seriously, how long standing a tradition can that be, if you had a store just a few kilometers away in the forest just fifty or so years ago?  “In fact, you could say this village exists because of us!” As she says that, she deliberately half points at me and winks.

What a strange boast. It’s a farming village. I have no idea if that’s supposed to be impressive or not, but it sure doesn’t sound very impressive. But hey, it’s exactly the sort of information that compelled us to enter this store in the first place.

We’re already getting somewhere!

“That sounds interesting,” I say, “Please, tell us more about it!”

And tell us more she did.

Karine told us about how there was nothing here but a few displaced peasants and her family after the nearby town was ravaged by some calamity, and how her family decided to make a replacement for the town’s store right here to support the refugees… And because they lost things in the town they can’t just replace. Her family is also the reason why the inn is here, and why it’s so cheap, too. They sponsor it, since that supposedly makes adventurous types more likely to help them.

So, we’re already indebted to her.

Great.

There apparently was a time when adventurers, scavengers and the like would come here to try and explore the town, but that’s not really the case anymore. The risks posed by going there remain as high as ever and the rewards you could get just get worse. Not only was the town haunted, but thanks to the corruption present there, the forest itself changed. Monsters appeared.

I’ve already seen some of those. Just thinking about them makes me feel uneasy.

Originally, the reward promised by the Strophie family for bringing back their family heirlooms was enough to bring people to the village, but ever since the rumors about the dangers got out, well. No one’s really taken up that quest again. Back when Karine’s father still ran the store, there were some people willing to go, but she hasn’t been able to get a single person to go there.

That makes a lot of sense. Based on what Avilia told me earlier and what she’s telling us, it sounds like a death trap, and the chances of getting ahead from going there are miniscule.

Oh, and apparently getting rid of the corruption would require the town to be obliterated to the last brick in one go, or it’d just reappear as if it hadn’t even happened. There are at most half a dozen mages of that caliber in the human realms, and none of them would bother to do such a menial task. The town just reacts differently to human attempts to destroy it than natural decay.

I feel a bit dumb for having asked about it. They probably would’ve done it by now if it was that easy!

“… And that brings us to today. We’d still pay the reward, but no one’s even trying anymore.” A theatrical sigh. “And all this for some documents!”

Of course, not even once has she said why some old crusty documents would be so important for her family, and I guess it’s better not to even ask right now.

“What is the reward, anyway?”

She raises left hand, and extends her index finger. “First, the eternal gratitude of my family.” Middle finger. “Second, several months’ stay at the inn, free of charge.” Ring finger. “Third, money, obviously, including what should be with the documents. We’ve set aside ten mythril coins.” Pinky. “Fourth, whatever is within my means to give.”

“Oh,” I say, opening my shoulder bag and glancing at Avilia, “That isn’t too bad, right?”

The two of them give me a confused look. I expected that from Karine, but Avilia, too? Did I forget to tell her about what I found with the coins we’ve been using?

Well, no matter. I just smile at her reassuringly. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing!

I pull the weird documents I found in the safe in the ruined store out of my bag and place them on the counter. “These are what you’re looking for, right?”

“Um, let me take a look.” Karine picks up the papers. “They look a bit damaged, but that’s in line with the expected age. There’s our family crest, and…”

Her eyes widen. She puts the documents back on the counter and tries to look as calm as possible. But she remains entirely incapable of hiding her excitement. “Yes, these are what we’ve been looking for.”

Things are looking up for sure!

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