章 18: Chapter 18 - Magic Scroll

Now that Mana had not only obtained chocolate and vanilla but also managed to find people who could grow them and more or less lured them into working for her, she was very satisfied with herself.

"Do you have anything you want to buy?" she asked Raven.

The boy shook his head. "Do you need something else, too?" he asked her instead.

Mana shook her head. "Let's just look around," she suggested. "If we find something we like, we can buy it."

Raven was happy to oblige.

The other merchants from the Pearl Kingdom who had set up their stalls near Vanilla's were quite polite (although still visibly scared) to Raven, having witnessed what happened at the first stall and seeing that the youngest daughter of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom was standing firmly on Raven's side. Since they wanted to do business in the Emerald Kingdom, they couldn't afford to anger a member of the royal family – besides, they had long heard that King Jaren was a fair and just king, and seeing his daughter act like this and even paying in full for what she purchased, these merchants were very impressed and looking for an opportunity to sell things to her.

Mana, who had no idea about the impression she had just made, silently praised the quick adaptive skills of the merchants in this age. She was just glad that these people treated Raven with respect now, albeit still a little fearful.

They walked around in the foreign merchants' area first, since they were already here. Mana picked up a few small trinkets for her family members which she thought they would like. She was still wondering what to buy for Raven, when she caught sight of a luminescent jewel shining softly with rainbow lustre.

"Opal!" she exclaimed, hurrying to the shop. This would be perfect for Raven – the stone matched the colour of his eyes.

"Welcome, young Princess," the shopkeeper greeted. It was a well-dressed middle-aged woman. "Would you like to take a look at our jewels? We have a large collection of precious stones."

Mana nodded. She had learnt that it was customary in the Emerald Kingdom to give your spouse or sweetheart a jewel which matched the colour of their eyes. Papa still wore the emerald ring her mother, Queen Dora, had crafted for him with her own hands. Grandpa and Grandma had told her how both her parents had searched and searched until they found a perfect stone for each other, and then crafted the rings with their own hands. Papa's ring had an emerald which was the exact brilliant green of his eyes, and Queen Dora's ring had two stones, one for each of her mismatched eyes: a uniquely coloured of a shade of fiery orange matching her amber eye, and a clear grey-white diamond matching her silver eye.

Mana thought it was really sweet and romantic. More importantly, she had seen the yearning expression on Raven's face and the desolate look in his eyes.

Well, as her fiancé, he deserved a bit of care, she thought, picking up the opal she had spotted from a distance.

The shopkeeper introduced herself as a native of the Sapphire Kingdom, and she was quite pleased with Mana's choice. She immediately began to narrate a long story about how the opal had been found in the cave of an ancient master in a small, remote village of the Sapphire Kingdom by some hunters, who had discovered the cave entirely by chance a few weeks ago. They had gone hunting in the mountains as usual, and it had suddenly started raining heavily. Looking for a shelter from the rain, they chanced upon an old, crumbly cave. It was only after they went inside that they found a lot of writing on the walls of the cave, as well as a lot of gold, jewels and other magical artefacts. The group of hunters had been overjoyed at their discovery, and split up the treasure amongst themselves. This opal was the only thing they couldn't figure out – for none of them had seen a stone like this before. This stone had been in a simple wooden box along with a magic scroll – but no one was able to open the scroll or take out the stone from the box. They had brought back the box with them anyway, and this shopkeeper had happened to pass by the Sapphire Kingdom. She recognised the stone as an opal and had bought the stone, together with the box and the scroll.

Mana and Raven were equally fascinated about the story. Seeing Mana pick up the opal out of the box without any problems, the shopkeeper was naturally very pleased.

"Princess, would you like to try the scroll, too?" the shopkeeper asked in an ingratiating manner.

Mana had a feeing that this opal and the accompanying scroll was tailor made for Raven. So, she picked up the scroll and handed it to him. "Try opening it," she said.

Raven gave her a surprised look. "Don't you want to try?" he asked.

"My instincts tell me that you're the only one who will be able to open it," she told him.

Raven chuckled and unwrapped the aged leather tie around the scroll and unrolled it. His eyes widened in shock.

Mana and the shopkeeper peered over his shoulder curiously. The shopkeeper saw nothing, and her face fell – if it there had been a secret magic technique in it, she could have priced it highly.

Mana, on the other hand, was able to see a few things, but the rest of the scroll appeared blank to her. However, from the astonishment and excitement on Raven's face, she could easily deduce that it was a good thing. Perhaps this ancient master had been a five elemental attributes magician like Raven.

"We'll buy it," Mana told the shopkeeper.

"But the scroll is blank," the older woman said.

Mana shrugged nonchalantly. "Perhaps there would be more information about it in the cave," she murmured. "I'm willing to pay a high price – but could you also draw me a map to that cave and let me know how to get there? Also, was there anything other than gold and ordinary jewels found in that cave?"

The shopkeeper brightened immediately. "Princess, if you would like, I can ask those hunters to sell everything found in the cave to me. My husband is still near that area; he can go and pick up the things from them. I can also ask him to visit the cave, copy the writings on the cave walls and set up a transportation array there, so that it will be easier for you to travel."

"Excellent," Mana said approvingly. "I am happy to pay twice the market price for everything in that cave, and please set up the array to accommodate four people." She called one of the maids forward and offered a huge bag of gold to the shopkeeper. "I will make an advance payment. Would this be enough for now?"

The shopkeeper opened the bag and tears pooled in her eyes. "Princess…this is enough to cover the full amount. I wouldn't dare to ask for more than this, especially since the scroll turned out to be blank and what the hunters showed me at that time was nothing extraordinary."

Mana shook her head. "You husband would be making an extra trip on my request, and he may find additional things in the cave, too," she said. "I would consider this to be a fair amount to cover for half the total. Of course, if your husband chances upon something good in the cave, I'll naturally pay extra for that."

The shopkeeper didn't protest any longer. She accepted the gold gratefully and asked Mana and Raven to pick up another stone for free, while she pulled out a small box, took out a sheet of paper from it and started writing to her husband.

Mana was very curious about the device. Sapphire Kingdom was known for its engineering and machines which ran on magic – and this one seemed to serve the same function as a fax machine, from what Mana could see.

The shopkeeper giggled at her curiosity and quickly finished writing. A few seconds later, reply from her husband appeared on the same sheet of paper.

"This is how my husband and I communicate," she said. "My oldest son is a bit of a fool, but he is good at making little trinkets like these."

"Why don't you sell these?" Mana asked curiously. "This is very useful!"

The shopkeeper shook her head. "There are too many conditions on how to make it work," she said. "I don't even know half of it, and my eldest is not a very social person."

"I can make a set for the two of you if you want," a young man of about twenty, with turquoise blue eyes and long, untidy blond hair announced, appearing from the back of the shop.