Magic Shop System

The group entered the city without any problem as Barret had predicted. Though the registration took a lot of time and the city guard's question frustrated them, in the end, they entered Orddono's colossal gates, nonetheless. Kadyn looked at the gigantic walls in awe and excitement. He had never seen walls this high ever before. 

The torches were burning above the walls. As they entered, Kadyn was greeted by the wide roads and green hedge on either side of the road. The flowers waved as the gust of wind passed. Every ten meters there was a street light. And they were working, unlike Avibria City. In all directions tall buildings stood, the city looked as if it was twinkling with light.

After that, they didn't go to find an inn. Rather, Hot Rod led them towards a certain place: a wide-open space, hundreds of tents were standing in front of them — it was already eleven o'clock, but the light still illuminated from every tent, the people were talking and laughing and some of them even dancing around the campfires. The atmosphere was merry and pleasant.

Kadyn and the people beside him looked surprised after seeing the atmosphere around them. This was so… refreshing. None of them had seen anything like this before (Except Barret and Hot Rod).

"The gathering will start in the morning." Hot Rod said. "All kinds of people—nobles and people from other kingdoms— would gather here." He paused and then went on. "Don't look down on anyone here, they might be working for a powerful lord. I would suggest everyone against offending people here. It would do us no good to provoke them."

"Alright, let's find a place to build our shop." Kadyn nodded towards Hot Rod and walked deeper. As he walked around he realised that tents were only at the edge of the gathering, but deeper he saw wooden and even concrete buildings—they were all shops—he wondered how they built them in such a short time.

Hot Rod saw him frowning while looking at those shops and explained. "This is the capital of the Shado Empire, Orddono. There is no shortage of Rank 1 magus here." He paused and went on. "People could hire bricklayers to build shops for them. The more you pay the better the quality of the shop. The customers would be more attracted towards genuine shops instead of stalls that the people inside the tents would build tomorrow."

"Bricklayer? I have never heard about them." Elora asked in confusion.

"They are the Earth Elemental Mages." It was Zelie who replied. She puffed her chest out when she saw that Kadyn and Elora were completely clueless about them. "Thye use magic to build houses and shops and castles and all kinds of building-related stuff." 

Barret saw Kadyn's thoughtful look and said. "Don't belittle Bricklayers just because they aren't proficient in fighting. They could build mazes and imprison someone for the rest of their lives. The Magic Association has built many scary prisons with their help."

Kadyn was amazed when he heard about Bricklayers. They seemed fascinating people. Then, he eyed Barret and asked. "What is the difference between Bricklayers and normal Earth Elemental Magus? Both of them have Earth Element."

Barret glanced at him and replied. "The main difference is that the Bricklayers are poor souls."

"What do you mean?" Elora chimed in. She seemed curious to know more about it. Kadyn also turned towards the man and waited for him to explain.

"I'm also an Earth Elemental Magus," Barret replied. "Do you know how many spells I can cast?" Though Kadyn had some knowledge about his spells he remained silent and waited for him to explain. "Three spells." He turned towards them and continued. "I'm the leader of one of the Magic Association's branches. However, I have only three spells. How many spells do you think those people would have without any background?"

"None," Kadyn replied unconsciously.

"Correct," Barret nodded. "Therefore, they could only control the earth element forcefully and crudely without the support of spells. And the most they could do is build buildings and win against ordinary people. They would be asking for humiliation if they were to battle against someone with a spell."

"That is such a waste of manpower," Kadyn said. "Why can't the Magic Association recruit them? It will increase their strength tremendously."

Barret eyed Kadyn and shook his head. "If they recruit them, who would build their castles and gardens and bridges and prisons and many more things? The Magic Association Alliance is made of ten kingdom's nobles and most of them are racists and narrow-minded and petty people. They would never allow peasants — or commoners — to sit alongside with them."

Kadyn was surprised by Barret's words and asked. "So you are also connected with some powerful noble families."

"Though I'm a noble," Barret shook his head. Then continued. "I'm not a high-level noble as I was also a peasant once upon a time." He sighed and explained. "It was my father who saved Elder Jyn when he was injured in the fight against a magical beast. At that time Elder Jyn discovered me. I was talented from my younger days in magic. So, to repay my father's kindness, he taught me magic. When I reached Rank 1 magus five years ago he made me noble and then appointed me as an Association Branch Leader. Though that is as high as my status could be alleviated. I won't be able to get a promotion any further."

Kadyn patted Barret and joked. "Why don't you join my shop? You can also get a promotion as high as you want."

Zelie, who was standing at the side, rolled her eyes. However, Elora and Khrom's eyes flickered. They knew what Kadyn was talking about.

"Should we also hire a Bricklayer?" Hot Rod chimed from the side.

Kadyn glared at the man for being untactful and then smiled. "No, we don't need one." 

Barret rolled his eyes at him. My fate. He sighed — Kadyn saw his crestfallen look and shook his head. He knew that the man had misunderstood his meaning. However, he didn't explain. They would understand in a moment.

They arrived at a place where no tent or person was present, a wide-open space. "Good place. Though we are far away from the centre. It is still a good place." Kadyn looked towards the centre and spotted a large building. Some of them had two — or even three floors. Those shops must belong to a powerful noble family. He thought

"It is a nice place." Barret nodded. "Furthermore, even if we could capture a spot towards the centre, it would do more harm than good to us."

Kadyn nodded. Those arrogant nobles would never let a nobody like him stay near the centre of the convention. This place was ideal for him.

A cold gust of wind passed and made Kadyn shiver. He stared at everyone and smiled. "Now, we need to build our shop."

"Ai ai, I will do it," Barret said half-heartedly. It was the work of Bricklayers. Now, he needed to do it by himself. He felt like an errand boy while Kadyn was a cruel lord that would torture his subjects on a whine.

Kadyn rolled his eyes at him. "Did I say something like that?"

"Then?" Barret halted and peered at him in confusion.

"Just wait and watch." Kadyn chuckled and extended his arm in front of everyone's confused faces. Then, a light flickered on his hand, and a small structure emerged from the light within his hand. Kadyn grinned when he saw their dumbfounded expressions and pointed his hand towards the ground. Then, the tiny structure on his palm started to float and landed on the ground. Before anyone could ask anything, their eyes widened in shock. The small structure started to enlarge and in no time it became as large as any building and stood in front of them majestically.

The two life-like golden lions sat on either side of the large gate and a huge board hung at the top of the gate. That read Divine Lion Magic Shop. Kadyn looked at the shop and nodded satisfyingly. Then, he turned towards everyone else and chuckled, spotting their wide-open mouths. "Close your mouths or fly would find a way inside." 

"This… this…" Hot Rod came to his senses and pointed towards the shop with a shocked and bewildered look. He had never seen something like this before. "Is your shop some kind of powerful artefact?" he asked.

Barret's face also turned grave as he looked at the building in front of him and asked. "Now I know why we were completely helpless at that time."

Kadyn was stunned hearing Hot Rod's words. He gazed at the shop one more time. Artefact? Can it be true? He found it inconceivable.

However, he hurriedly drove those thoughts out of his mind. This wasn't a time to think about that. "Alright, let's go inside." He opened the gate as he entered and everyone else followed from behind.

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