章節 23: Chapter Twenty Three - And I spend my first silver

"Where d'ya wish t'go next?" Mino asked as they came back out onto the street. Leon's plan for this visit was to purchase kitchen pots to cook in. He also could do with new pottery, seeing as he had to share his eating bowl with Jin Li at the moment. Jin Li had only one destination in mind at first.

"This Lord wishes to go to the Transport Portals."

Mino tilted his head staring at the man as if he had grown two heads. "You won' find a portal here," he said finally. "Those sor' of things is in the city." Jin Li deflated slightly, before regaining his proud posture and suggesting a different place to go.

"A clothing store," Jin Li decided.

"Hmm?" Mino was startled by the turnabout. "Ah, wha' kind?" It was Jin Li's turn to glare at him. What did he mean what kind? Surely there was only one kind, a place that could provide him with quality garments that suited his taste and were tailored to his body, of course.

"What is this?" Jin Li pointed in disdain as he saw the very plain, one size fits all robes on display.

"Clothes," Mino replied, giving him a similar expression as Leon was also. Leon had been checking the workmanship of the clothes rather than the style. As long as it was well made and he could wear it frequently without needing to replace it, that was enough for him. He'd never been one for fashion, usually sticking to cheap, but hard wearing jeans and plain T-shirts.

The seamstress came over and chatted to Leon, who became so comfortable in her presence, his stutter lessened considerably. This irritated Jin Li for some reason, almost as much as the boring outer robes he was examining.

"So plain!" He complained and touched the garment in Leon's hold, surprised by how rough it was. "What sort of material is this?"

"Hemp," the woman told him. "All of the clothes here be made of hemp. ''Tis hard wearin' and cheap. If you be wantin' silk, you be wantin' to go to where the rich folk shop. Nought like that here."

"Ah, s-silk is too expensive f-for me," Leon said with a slight chuckle. His small laugh gave Jin Li pause, but he dismissed whatever was going through his mind instead he contemplating trying to wear this awful stuff. Leon began to negotiate a price with the woman, though it was a half-hearted barter. The woman did not seem to wish to take advantage of the boy, so the price was fair. "And f-for him." Leon added to the order.

"Forget me," Jin Li interrupted him. He refused to wear it.

"Y-you n-need it too!" Leon argued. "Or d-d-do you wish t-to w-walk around the w-woods n-naked when I w-w-wash your clothes?" The woman's eyebrows rose upward upon her forehead as she stared at one man then the other. She blinked a few times as they bickered and thought; well, well!

"I have somethin' that might suit your taste," she murmured, before slipping into her back room. She retrieved a long, dark blue robe with simple patterns embroidered about the hem. "It's still hemp, it was mean' for a wedding, but the groom.. well it was called off anyhow." The three men looked at the robe and glanced at each other with varying expressions. "He ain't dead! And the bride found 'erself another fella, so…" please don't look at it as if it is cursed!

"Alright," Leon agreed. In the end, he spent a couple hundred brass shy of 2 silver in the store, making sure that he had a full set of robes for himself and new inner garments for Jin Li along with the embroidered robe. The man might protest, but that was over the issue with the cloth rather than the fact money was being spent on him.

Leon spent just over a silver purchasing a cooking pot, kettle, cups, a plate and bowl for Jin Li and a pestle and mortar (he currently pounded herbs and seeds between a flat stone and a rock)in a shop selling random housewares. He noticed a metal tripod, to place over a fire and stand a cooking pot on it and realised he already had one in the chest. He had wondered for a while what it was for! Before he could leave, Jin Li began to barter for a large tub, just big enough for a grown man to sit in and take a cramped bath. He had to part with another two silvers as the man never wished to bathe in cold lake water again.