19 February 2024
Katalysis, 43rd Floor
By the time Tekion had finally finished prepping, the streets were already filled with players in the morning as usual.
I did prefer moving out of the inn before the crowds thicken, but it just couldn't be helped if Tekion hadn't declared he was ready till then.
Though, if he did take that long to get ready, I hoped his shopping list was enough to fill up his inventory to the very brim. At the very least, I think I needed to prepare some empty space in mine as well.
Both me and Rakuno took either side of him as we walked through the streets. The smithy that we were planning to go wasn't that far, but dodging the player jam made it a fairly long trip.
Tekion draped his own hood on: a brownish raincoat that simply covered his entire body.
"So what's on the list?" I asked amid the bustling noises. My voice was really muffled, even when I was right beside him.
"The basic stuff," Tekion replied. "You don't have these basic materials, you're not a blacksmith. I'm not expecting much from that smithy, but my list also contains other stuff I hope to get, but still.....the basic stuff's the priority."
"You ran out of all the basic stuff you have?" Rakuno swerved away from a player with a two-handed sword on his back.
"To make the long story short for you non-smiths," Tekion raised his finger matter-of-factly. "We smiths need the basic stuff for everything we do, crafting, enhancing, repairing and the rest."
I, too, didn't really know what he meant about the 'basic stuff', but the fact that it was a necessity to blacksmiths was blindingly clear to me.
"Ah, that spiky rapier! Time for business." Tekion looked across the sea of heads, finally tracking down the smithy in the simplest way possible.
He basically did all the talking. I didn't think Tekion would click that well with the smithy owner, since he had quite the bad first impression of the place, but I guess the black market smith turned out to be not as different from Tekion himself. Without Tekion, things would get awkward pretty fast, no matter the situation.
The blonde smith did have tactics of his own though, starting off his approach to the owner by complimenting the handiwork of the swords lined up by his counter. I watched him from behind for a while, as Rakuno wandered around the smithy, stopping at a group of katanas hung on the walls.
Her cheerful demeanor has returned to her, it seems. I had half-assumed that my demand for her to keep that promise would have made her to stare at me quietly, probably thinking about the promise that she so desperately has to keep.
I really did need for her to keep it as tightly as possible though, not gonna lie, but I guess my demand might have sounded more like a threat to her instead. Maybe, but I hope it's just me thinking too much about it. If she's still naturally an easy-going air-head on the outside, then I wouldn't worry much.
As long as she never leaks a single word about Kira, I would never have to trouble myself on how I would deal with her if she did.
"C'mon! Why don't you just sell this whole bundle here for like, maybe 25000 col?"
I heard Tekion's request, as he and the smithy owner stood at the counter, with the counter now filled with a considerably large pile of materials chosen by the blonde man himself.
"No can do, brother," The smithy owner replied while twindling his thumb. "You may be a fellow smith, but I prefer to treat most of my customers equally. You should be lucky that I'm lazy to even calculate the total price of all of these that you're willing to buy. I'm rounding the estimate down to 30000 col. Take it, leave it, your choice."
I could say that I'm raising my eyebrows to even watch Tekion ask for a discount in his first time shopping at a smithy run by an orange player. Either his balls were made of steel, or he's simply on the verge of going broke. I really, really hoped it's the latter.
I went over to Tekion and reached out to him. "I'm willing to pay half if you're short on col."
"Thanks, but....." He turned at me with a sheepish smile. "I'd rather you pay me for my services. I'm not really keen on going into debt....."
"Debt? No, no, bro. Why would I demand debt in this kinda situation?" I placed my hand onto his shoulder. "But, if you're really uptight on it, you could make my next few weapon enhancements free."
"I guess I don't mind that....." Tekion's reply trailed off as he stared past me, having noticed something. I turned as well, becoming as speechless as he was.
The front door of the smithy revealed a female player, one who wasn't Kira, but was faintly recognizable from head to toe. The whole smithy, which apart from us was scattered with a few other players, went silent right away.
The only other time I had seen this charismatic woman was during the Gladiorium, where she was the one who hosted the whole thing single-handedly.
The smithy owner left his counter the moment she entered, putting his hands together in a way of greeting. Tekion turned back to the counter, and back at front again, all with an expression that filled itself with question marks all over, spewing "Eh?"s in every time he turned.
"Tori ma'am! Nice to see you! Are you purchasing the usual weekly stock?"
The woman's voice rang through the smithy clearly, as she walked up to where Tekion was standing rooted at the counter.
"Of course! I can never miss your stock for the week! Just make it quick. Making a detour from patrol isn't on my schedule."
It was as if Tekion's movements were automatic, as he slid along the counter out of the way of the woman called Tori, as she planted her hands onto the counter seemingly without awareness of the players staring at her like a celebrity.
Except she wasn't being surrounded by players asking for her autograph or whatnot, but was still popular in an entirely different way altogether. Anyone who visits the city of Katalysis has seen her in the center of attention at least once, and a central figure she had really made herself to be.
Tori turned to me and Tekion, who were simply staring as silently as the others. She took notice particularly at me, probably due to my shaded face under my hood.
Well, even being under my hood didn't seem enough for me to feel 'hidden' in the face of this woman's strong gaze. If I were to make a guess of her height, she would be a bit taller than me. In the case for Tekion however, she would easily tower over him by half a head.
"You seem to make a good Vanguard. Are you new here?"
What was the word that can describe her tone? Ah yes.....'Casual'. And it's because of such a tone that unsettled me without any clear reason whatsoever. Like those kinds of instincts or intuition that were unexplainable in any way possible.
But still, it would strike me as far from ideal to not reply to her, as much as I would like to speculate about her.
"Yeah, only been here a few days."
"Hmm.....," Tori rested her left elbow onto the counter, as she leaned with her head sitting on her left hand. "I haven't had any luck finding Vanguards lately. Seriously need them for my party. Oh wait, you probably don't know what I'm rambling about, do you?"
Before I could make another reply, the smithy door burst open. A redhead that I was most definitely familiar with brisked in with a sense of subtle urgency in her voice.
"Tori! I thought getting the weekly stock wouldn't take more than a minute! What're you doing there this...time....."
Kira slowed down, her eyes blinking furiously at the sight of me at the counter. Tori stood straight and turned her head back, all while her smile still plastered onto her face.
I was sure Kira never expected to see me in such a conicidence, before the meeting that she had promised me. After all, me neither. And it seemed natural that we should act like we never met each other as well.
If Kira never told anyone about her encounter with me, that is.
"Something wrong?" Tori asked.
"No.....I just didn't expect the stock to take that long." Kira regained her composure rather quickly with her reply.
"Honestly, don't go barging in here just because I took more than a minute!" Tori tapped the counter, though with a carefree attitude. "You gotta let the owner take his time with it. He's busy today, it seems."
She turned to Tekion, who couldn't seem to push himself off from leaning onto the counter with his back, standing as straight as a pole. It didn't seem he was going to move even a muscle.
"Ain't it, customer?"
Tekion must have felt it too. The instinct of playing it careful around the woman with a smile that was a bit too elaborate for mine and his liking.
The smithy owner came back to the counter in front of Tori, and put up a transaction window. She did the same, entering the amount of col to be sent. A long list of items came up on the recipient side of the window, as she happily closed it with satisfaction, turning around and strolled straight ahead to the smithy door.
Not once did she ever indicate her awareness of the players' stares fixated onto her. It was clear that she had put up such a strong air around her, that she could easily do what she did without even a thought.
As my stare followed Tori's stroll, I took notice of Rakuno, who was still standing at the katanas. Her gaze wasn't directed at Tori, but rather at Kira by the door, who was holding the door open for Tori's exit.
Her eyes weren't blinking much, as at the moment when I noticed her, her left hand had just left her mouth, slowly landing onto the handle of her sheathed katana, where it gripped the end of the handle rather greatly.
Did she.....almost call out at Kira?
However she reacted to Kira at that moment should have been my immediate concern. Though, I was too distracted by Tori to even have that thought strike me at such a moment.
Either way, a close shave was a close shave indeed. It might have been hard on Rakuno to control that side of hers, but I was just glad she did.
"We'll be back next week!" Tori waved at the smithy owner. "And that's all folks! Thanks for watching!"
The door closed shut. Footsteps could be heard, as the customers continued whatever they were doing. Rakuno turned to me, as she placed her right hand onto her chest, took a deep breath, and let it out, before returning to look at the katanas.
"What?! Only 15000 col for that long list of stuff?"
I turned around to see Tekion in shock, clutching his head while having his mind blown.
"Tori's my favourite customer." The smithy owner smirked. "In fact, she's my most regular one too! What an honour!"
"An honour? Because of the Council?" I asked.
"Of course! Without them, I wouldn't have had a chance to set up shop anywhere! Now, are you buying your stuff or not?"
Anywhere? As in, any other safe zone in Aincrad? That would make complete sense. In fact, the orange players I'd seen in Katalysis until now most likely came here for the same reasons.
Which also fueled the influence that the Council was clearly getting in this city.
This city, despite being located in the middle of a field dungeon few players could ever avoid getting lost in.
I was starting to understand it. The reason why the city of Katalysis could even start to exist in the first place. And it wasn't just the massive surge of the population of orange players which had contributed to its development.
Because if that was the only reason, then the Council wouldn't have been respected as the way it was now.
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