7. A Lateral Move

I guess I don’t need to worry nearly as much about whether or not I should sleep at night if I haven’t ever actually slept. It at least means the nights won’t be quite as boring, but at the moment I don’t really have much to actually do in lieu of sleeping. I can enchant some rocks with my personal magic for a bit of practice, but it’s so easy it’s barely interesting … although it’s still better than doing absolutely nothing. I could make decorations again, the guild had rules against a shop showing magical items that weren’t for sale, but if I’m not a guild shop anymore then it’s not an issue. I’ve never been much for random decorations, but if I have nothing better to do then I could give it a shot. I’d just been thinking it would be nice to go outside more often, but what if I bring the outside in here? I pop outside and pick up a few dozen rocks to use, getting them in the right places will probably be the hardest part of this, but I should be able to tweak the enchantments to compensate. It’ll be fun, at least a lot better than sleeping … sorry, lying in bed with my eyes closed since there’s apparently a difference.

It’s probably about morning now. Looking around, at least my room has a decent aesthetic to it now. I’m still not quite sure whether my old storefront is fair game for decorations so I focused on my private room first, but it looks really nice. The ceiling is a pretty good representation of the night sky, and it even casts enough light that I could read in here without creating another light. The walls in contrast are modeled after ruins, and the illusion covering them appears like moss covered stone that would normally be thousands of years old. I’d debated for a bit what to make the floor look like. Visually a grassy meadow would be nice, but there’s no way to get the textures right for that, and the disconnect would be weird especially for something I use every day. Instead I just stuck with a wooden floor, but fixed up the visual blemishes and other oddities, just making it look like a much newer, much fancier version of itself. I toyed with a few different decorations, a lot of things would be nice in theory, but wouldn’t make visual sense with the ceiling looking like the night sky. A cobweb for instance would tie together the room really well, but it would look like it was hanging unsupported from the sky. Instead I added in some illusory potted plants, although getting some real plants would be nice too. I wonder if I can do anything with my other enchanted rocks, maybe somebody will want a cobweb decoration … or more likely I can just keep them around for decorating the other rooms, my workroom could absolutely use some cobwebs.

As I’m working on the workroom there’s a knock on the door to my ex-shop. Right, Bridget said she’d send some people over about magical items. Either that’s them, or someone from the guild who didn’t hear about the change. Well whoever it is I walk into the reception area, and call out to them. “Come in.”

I actually recognize the person who comes in since he fairly recently threatened me with a sword. If I thought Willard looked awkward after Bridget yelled at him, it really pales in comparison to how awkward he looks standing in the doorway. “Good … morning. Bridget sent me, she said you were offering to make magical items. I … thought it would be a good idea to try and talk as well given my … questionable introduction.”

I’m not really sure why I was making fun of how awkward he’s looking, I feel about as awkward just standing behind my desk. Still, I have a lot more experience with uncomfortable customer situations. “No worries sir, what can I help you with?” I sort of slipped into my customer service voice there, hopefully he doesn’t pick up on the difference from how I talked with Bridget.

He definitely doesn’t look more comfortable at that. “I know this isn’t related to anything important … but I would prefer you not refer to me as sir. It makes me sound far too much like stuffy nobility, and I would feel a touch ridiculous referring to you as ‘miss’. Regardless, I didn’t intend that to sound like an excuse.”

Alright, I’ll tone down the customer service voice a bit. “Apologies, it’s a force of habit. The point still stands, what are you looking for me to make?”

He seems to get a bit more relaxed at that. “The Apology isn't needed, it’s not of any great concern, merely a preference. Regardless, I had a few things I wanted to ask about. First off, how much would liquid life be?”

And there it is, the more things change the more they stay the same. “That would be ten … sorry, eleven gold, as well as a day’s work.”

He nods at that. “Makes sense. I’m also looking to get a knife enchanted, something that would make it better for utility and blocking strikes.”

That’s … interesting. Using a knife to block is mostly useful for fighting other people. It’s pretty hard to block a claw swipe with a knife. “It would depend on what you’re looking to block with that. There really aren’t any materials that can help a knife stand up to a Dark Mage.”

He suddenly starts looking around the shop awkwardly without responding. This honestly might be a good time to get more out of him. “Obviously I can’t say all that much about going after Dark Mages, but if you’re not a Light Mage, I can’t imagine blocking with a knife would go all that well.”

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I was a bit worried he’d get angry at that, but he actually seems to calm down a bit. “I know, but I can’t just sit around doing nothing. After everything they’ve done … there has to be something.”

I … ok. I’m thinking about this the wrong way. It’s not a question of how to make him not do something stupid, it’s a question of how to make a bad choice survivable, same as usual. “I’d recommend a more understated enchantment then, some Steel-leaf just to make it more likely to survive when you block with it, and an illusion enchantment to make it easier to escape a fight if you need to block with it. Or easier to launch a surprise attack, whichever you prefer. It would come to a total of … three gold, mostly for labor, and the whole thing would take a day.” I doubt I could make it easy enough for him to control any of my more complicated illusions, but if I set it to trigger on impact he should be able to get mileage out of simpler options.

“Interesting … I could see that being useful, a bit like a pocket-full of sand to use in an emergency. Finally, I was looking to get a better set of armor, what would you recommend?”

I catch myself doing my usual customer service smile. Right, tone it down a bit. “It depends on you and your fighting style. May I ask what type of magic you use?”

“I’m a wind mage, mostly I make myself faster or use it at a range. If I’m fighting up close I’m relying on enchantments to my items more than my own magic.”

So that really leaves two potential options. “Do you prefer for your armor to make it easier to stay at a range, or make it easier to fight up close.”

“I’d prefer to stay at a range. Fighting up close is really an option of last resort, especially if I’m fighting Dark Mages.”

Ah, that’s the trick. I guess even if he’s completely overpowered by a Dark Mage it doesn’t matter if he can just fight at a longer range. A bit like killing a regular mage with a regular crossbow ... and like using a crossbow against a mage it would really depend on the Dark Mage's magic. “Then I’d recommend a mix of either Steel-leaf or even Deep-ore with Shock-weed for the flourish. The usual physical enhancements plus the ability to shock anyone who gets close. The Steel-leaf version would be twenty four gold, the Deep-ore version would be thirty six gold, plus one gold for a set of leather armor if you don’t already have one. Both would take about two days.”

He nods to that. “Alright so Deep-ore armor, the dagger, and five liquid life would come to 95 gold right?”

That startles me a bit, I was really expecting the five liquid life or thereabouts, and maybe one of the other two at most. “Uh … yes that’s correct, would you like me to start working on those?”

He takes out a large pouch of coins and starts counting them out. “I would. I … appreciate your assistance.” He almost seems like he wants to say something more, but holds back.

“It’s no issue. I can’t say I recommend fighting Dark Mages without Light magic, but if you’re really dead set on it …”

I must have said something wrong since that does get him annoyed. “I’m not about to give up.”

I use a bit more customer service voice to try and sound calming. “I didn’t intend to imply that. My apologies.”

He takes a deep breath, and seems to calm down a bit. “No, I am aware of my own weaknesses. I … would certainly have preferred to have Light Magic, but I’ve found that enchanted items are really a great equalizer. Even if nobody makes Light or Dark magic weapons.”

I cock my head at that, breaking my customer service mask a bit. “Unfortunately the materials to make Light magic weapons are very strictly regulated, but the church does make a few using their own magics. I’ve never seen them give out a weapon like that to an outsider, but it would be the best option.” Naturally Dark magic weapons are just incredibly illegal to make, but I doubt he’s actually asking about that.

He goes wide eyed at that. “So someone like you would be able to make a Light magic enchantment even though you can’t use Light magic … with the right materials of course.”

I really hope I haven’t given him a dangerously stupid idea. “It … you would need the church’s permission at the very least just to handle that type of material, and if you’re asking them already then the material’s redundant.”

He seems to calm down again, but he’s definitely a bit less … morose. “I see. Well I suppose I shouldn’t worry about that sort of thing at the moment. I appreciate your help with my current issues. I presume I should return in eight days.”

“Only four days si… Apologies, only four days. The liquid life can be done as a batch in a day easily enough.”

He finishes counting the coins out onto the table. I admittedly wasn’t paying the closest attention as he did it, but he did it so openly I can’t imagine he’d make an intentional mistake. “Then I shall return in four days. I appreciate the help, and the … information on how I might potentially cover for my weaknesses. Keep the change.” He turns to leave before I can ask about that last part.

I count out the coins, he left a hundred gold. I’m pretty sure I’ve made a mistake … I hope he doesn’t do anything too stupid.