After breakfast, Jin Li was disgruntled to find out that his only option for a bath was the lake; his new servant did not have a tub to hold hot water, even should he demand that he heat water up. Leon continued to carve the small talisman idly as he waited for the man to return. He was in a foul mood when he did, obviously not enjoying the cold lake. Leon decided not to remain around him as he let loose his potent aura and after dressing properly in both inner and outer robes, he collected his things in order to head for the central pavilion of this school.
"Where are you going?" Jin Li demanded to know, leaning against the inside frame of the door as he asked.
"S-s-school," was all Leon could manage to say.
"School?" The man's nose wrinkled in distaste. "This Lord is too well learned for such a common place. I will remain here. Although this place lacks decent spiritual energy, I will cultivate. Do not disturb me." With that he close the door behind him, shutting a startled Leon out. Leon stood there for a few moments before sighing and making his way to the halls.
As he walked, he swiftly forgot all of his grievances and with each step he was calmer of heart. He was looking forward to being able to cook rice at the hut, if he could obtain something to cook it in.
*****
"Eh? You want cooking equipment?" The lady in charge of the kitchens echoed. She was a grey haired old woman, but retained much vitality despite her advancing years. Leon nodded. "Why? We cook all of the meals here for you brats!"
"B-but then," Leon stuttered, feeling slightly cowered by her, "h-how w-w-will I c-cook th-the rice?" She raised one eyebrow, so he handed her the request form and showed her the mushrooms he carried in his basket. Her eyebrows knitted together and she turned to glare at a young man, who had sidled over in the fuss.
"But mam!" The man said, surprising Leon, "I needed to promise summin' in trade or 'ow else would I get th' shrooms?"
"Wantin' rare shrooms and payin' a pittance! Fool!" She smacked him about the ear then turned to Leon and said; "and more fool for you for botherin'." Leon flushed brightly, how was he to know these mushrooms were valuable? Well, it did say in the library book that they were considered somewhat of a delicacy, but it never spoke in monetary terms. "Tell you what, seein' as what's done is done, how 'bout I get my fool of a son to take you down to the town tomorrow. He's headin' there to collect some supplies for the school. He can introduce you to some who owe me favours, get you some stuff cheap like."
"I d-don't really h-have any money," Leon admitted.
"But you're an alchemist student, so surely you 'ave some pills and the like to trade," she pointed out. Leon nodded in agreement and a small smile appeared upon his face.
"Thank you," Leon said, brightly.
"You're welcome," the woman answered automatically, before her lips curved into a generous smile. She had taken a liking to this polite young man, so refreshing after dealing with so many sour, stuck up youths. "Wait here." She ducked back into the kitchen, before reappearing with a warm loaf of bread, a bowl of fresh vegetables, sliced meats and a piping hot roast tuber. Leon blinked and gratefully swapped them for the mushrooms, which her son greedily stole away. "Come back here at dawn," she advised him. "We'll sort out the rice later."
Leon agreed, before taking the food back to his hut, only for much of it to be wolfed down by his forgotten guest.
The cook's son, Mino led them from the foodhall down a path that connected with several others some way down the forested mountainside. Them. For Jin Li had decided to join this journey.
After returning home and losing half his fair to the man, he had begun to refine a few healing pills in order to have something of value to trade with in town. Having become bored of cultivating, Jin Li took it upon himself to interrupt Leon's concentration, which resulted in another miniature explosion within the cauldron's depths and the loss of the herbs there in.
"D-do you have to do such things!" Leon had yelled.
"Yes," Jin Li had admitted. "This Lord is still waiting for you to take one to a town or city, but you are playing around with pill making instead." Leon had scowled at him, which simply amused the man. This little mouse dares to act brave in front of his almighty self! He had watched as Leon cleaned out his cauldron.
"N-not p-playing," Leon had muttered. "N-need Pills for tr-trade."
"Trade?" Jin Li's eye's had narrowed.
"Being t-t-t.. guided to t-town tomorrow," Leon had admitted.
"This is good news! When do we leave?"
Mino turned out to be quite the chatterbox, but this was not necessarily a bad thing, for quite a lot of interesting information spilled from his lips. It was just that Jin Li, who Leon had pretended was a student from the outer school for warriors and an old friend, was becoming increasingly irritable.
"Normally, students go t' Julip town on griffins, with teachers," he rambled on as he guided the oxen drawn wagon along the track. They had boarded it on the outskirts of the outer school, where the land became flatter and more open. Although they were still some way above sea level, the forest trees had been left behind for grassy hills, the track snaking around the greater inclines. "But the griffins take 'em to the heart of town. They ne'er get t'see the best shops n folk."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked, despite the jolting of his bones on this rough ride, he was enjoying the change of landscape immensely.
"Like, the town is a coin," Mino said. "Wha' most folk see is the bit that is for them fancy folk an' top cul-tea-vators." Leon's lips twitched as he heard Mino's version of the word. "So they see pretty store fronts an' shops and think like the wares are all top notch too, right?" Leon nodded, feeling he understood what Mino was trying to say. In new town developments in his old world, the shops would look clean and spacious and tended to attract crowds of shoppers away from older or more run down areas. Chain stores tended to fill these areas. However that just meant there were unseen treasures, smaller, more unique shops hidden away from view and waiting to be discovered. Mino claimed he would show them around an area just like this.
The houses they first came to were made of a mix of wood and stone and were huddled together. A maze of pathways both wide and narrow wove around the clustered buildings. The roads were made of loose and chipped stone, much like the track they rode along for the past few hours and everywhere was slightly stained with soot. Children played happily in the street without care, all wearing hard-wearing hemp cloth sewn into plain dresses and trousers. Adults chatted as they kept one eye on them and another on travellers.
Mino first took them to an apothecary. The shops were scattered in amongst the houses, thus were unlikely to be found if you did not already know they were there. Leon asked why there first; he had planned to trade the pills directly for the items he wanted.
"Ah, Mr Clawse says all pills need come through 'im," Mino advised him. "Summin' 'bout side effects n takin' the wrong amounts?"
"Oh," Leon replied. That made sense. If a person was to take too many of a pill in to short a time, they could do serious damage to themselves. The apothecary was probably concerned about this. Mino led them into the shop to trade.
If anyone has difficulty with understanding the way that Mino speaks, let me know and I will add small translations for him and others x
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