Chương 2: Departure

After finishing his plate, Locus went to his room to get his stuff that he was planning on taking with him.

Although it wasn't that much...

He packed a brush for his moderately long, dark hair, as well as a toothbrush and an additional set of clothes.

Since he was only about 5'8" [or a little over 1.70 meters], it would have been rather easy to find clothes for him to buy in Unipolar City, which is not that much of a surprise considering that Unipolar City was the capital of the Berthram Guild, which reigned over the whole area, but he didn't want to spend his funds immediately after acquiring them.

The extra weight of some clothes wouldn't hurt.

While most people who deliver goods as valuable as rare ores would carry a weapon or sometimes even get an escort for protection since bandits were quite common these days, Locus didn't have any of that.

The reason wasn't money or something like that.

Locus just didn't see any benefit in spending money to protect himself.

During his time as a delivery guy, he was robbed only once. When the bandits saw that he was carrying what looked like planks to them, they left without any loss on the goods' side.

He obviously wasn't transporting wood but rather silk, which he turned into wood.

Still being a teenager, Locus saw no reason for a second mugging to go differently.

Of course, he was aware of the other valuable concern he was carrying with him, with that concern being his own ability.

Converting one material into another could be used in a much more lucrative way than just carrying stuff around.

Locus himself settled for a rather common life without abusing his ability in any way that could be deemed illegal and embracing the possible risks. His life was decent enough.

To solve the problem of dangerous people trying to get their hands on him, the village kept the content of his ability a secret from outsiders.

Mr. Andersson, Locus' employer, never mentioned his ability, and neither did Locus' family, which ruled out the two main risks.

When laying a delivery in Locus' hands, Mr. Andersson would just mention his "very capable employee" to the customer without further elaboration.

Anyway, without the need for protection and therefore the absence of potential costs resulting from the former, Locus managed to save Mr. Andersson money on every end, which was another one of the main reasons for Locus' reputation as a supplier who was worth the money.

Locus closed his bag, shouldering it, and then went downstairs.

On his little journey, he took a pouch with about 200 silver to pay for his stays in the inns along the way.

There were rarely any well-situated people taking this road, so the expenses could easily be kept at a minimum since the prices were quite affordable, even for people who had a lot less than Locus did.

When he left the house, a fresh breeze welcomed him to the outside of his house.

He still had some spare time, so he relaxed for a moment and turned around to take a look at his house.

Regardless of the fact, that it had already had a few decades on its back, the sun made it look just like it was brand new.

The dark wood shone in a dark brown tone, and it looked like it was bathing in the sun. The windows invited the sunlight in, making it fill all of the rooms.

While glancing at the sight, Locus noticed his mother standing at one of the windows upstairs and waving goodbye. He waved back and Mary put on a big smile before returning to her chores.

Locus took a deep breath and turned right, proceeding to walk down the street to Mr. Andersson's shop.

The streets were a little bit more crowded now that everyone had woken up. Stand owners were out and could be seen advertising their products. Some stands smelled like fish, some others like warm bread, and one or two smelled like some kind of metal.

When Locus finally arrived at Mr. Andersson's shop, ladder had already prepared the wagon with the ores and harnessed two horses to it.

"Hello Locus!"

Mr. Andersson's face lit up when he saw the boy coming his way.

"Are you ready?"

"Of course, should I start right away?"

Mr. Andersson's smile got a little bit bigger.

"And there I thought you maybe wanted to have a little chat before departing, but no, not you."

Mr. Andersson was already well past 50 years old. He had gray hair and a short beard, and he wore small glasses on his nose. His forehead, as well as his mouth and eyes, were a little bit wrinkled. Locus thought it must be because he's always smiling so much.

"Well, if you don't want to waste any time, then be my guest in preparing everything. While you do your thing, I'll go get the bread I baked just for you to take with you on this job."

"Mr. Andersson, that wouldn't have been necessary-"

But Mr. Andersson was already on his way inside.

"Well, I might as well 'do my thing' while I wait for him." Locus said to himself.

He walked around the carriage to take a look at the ores.

"Yep, safe and sound. Let's make sure it stays that way."

He climbed into the wagon, picked up one of the ores, and focused.

Centimeter for centimeter of the stone in his hand transformed into smooth, light brown wood. After he was done, he put the hunk of what had now become wood down at the other end of the wagon and proceeded with the next ore.

About 20 minutes later, he was all done with the transfiguration.

After saying his goodbyes to Mr. Andersson, he controlled whether he had everything with him and departed with Mr. Andersson waving from afar.

By that time, Locus had no idea that this departure would go on to change the fate of the whole world...