Abe the Wizard Chapter 4 - Fort Lee

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Fort Lee. It was supposed to be just the na of an old fort, but people started building a town around it and made it into a densely-populated town. Right now, the old Fort Lee was used as a residence for Lord Rex, who was the current mayor of this town.

It was about noon when Abel and Norman arrived at Fort Lee. After a brief discussion between themselves, the two decided to go to the church for so treatnt first. For the priest to perform a ‘healing for light injury’ on Norman’s leg, they spent a total of ten silver coins.

Sothing stood out to Abel while they were walking out of the sanctuary building. As it turned out, holding a church was actually a very profitable business. Ten silver coins were enough to feed a family for a month, but a priest could ask for the sa amount for performing one divine act. Actually, just look at how tall the church was built.

Under Norman’s guide, Abel ca to a leather store on the eastern side of town. It was, frankly, the right place to sell the shadow panther they killed.

The store manager was shocked when the two brought the animal in. It was hard to bring down a dangerous predator without doing too much damage to its body. That was exactly what Abel and Norman did, though. Apart from the long streak of the wound on its backside, every other part of the panther was left untouched.

That being said, the shopkeeper was more than happy to buy it for ten gold coins. While Norman seed pretty content with this deal, Abel just nodded with him. He didn’t know how the leather market was like, but the ten gold coins sounded like quite a good sum.

Ten gold coins. Along with the one coin he got from Zach and the other five he had in saving, Abel had a total of sixteen gold coins. Just like in the previous world, having gold ant great purchasing power. This ant that Abel wasn’t exactly penniless now.

Just to be clear, he didn’t co to Fort Lee for a day off. He ca here to do so shopping. So of which he had sent Norman to retrieve, and so of which he must buy without letting others know.

Which was why he decided to head to the center of Fort Lee. After sending Norman away, Abel ca to the Fort Lee Shopping Centre, which was a large shopping place marked with a logo of the old fort. It was about noonti here, so there wasn’t a lot of people.

Abel wasn’t sure what he could buy here, so he went to ask at the counter. From what he could see, this was kind of a more high-class version of a general store. There were daily commodities, jewellery, clothes, etc. He wasn’t sure if he could find the stuff he was looking for here.

“You must be sir Abel,” a fat, middle-aged man walked out from the counter. While wearing a big grin on his face, he greeted Abel with a bow. It was a weird bow, and the timing was pretty weird as well.

Despite the unconventional (and sowhat inappropriate) display of etiquette shown towards him, Abel returned the favor with a formal greeting of his own. He knew how hard it was for commoners to learn the proper etiquette, so he wasn’t going to ask too much here.

” I am. Do you know ?”

“Forgive for calling out your na, Sir. My na is Tim. I’m the owner of this establishnt,” Tim bowed again, but still in a very bizarre manner, “I’ve noticed the Thorned Shield on your attire. Your brother Zach had the sa mark on him, and I happened to know him so ti ago.”

The Thorned Shield was the coat of arms that represented the Bennett family. To be a competent royal, one must learn to morize as many coats of arms as possible. It was a mandatory part of Abel’s knight training, along with literature, music, and other talents.

“Do you have any single pieces of gemstone here, Mr. Tim?” Abel inquired. Now, Abel didn’t have to but referring to Tim as ‘mister’ was quite a respectful thing to do. Judging from Tim’s reaction, he must’ve been extraordinarily pleased by this act of acknowledgnt.

“You’ve co to the right place, Sir,” Tim responded with a wider grin than when they had just t, “Yes, we provide a variety of gemstones here in Fort Lee. What were you after, Sir?”

On his command, Tim ordered his n to unlock a big box stored in the counter. There were several rows of gemstones inside this box, all of which were very small pieces. Most people in Fort Lee couldn’t afford jewelry. Plus, the bigger gemstones were to be moved to sowhere else. They had other uses than being sold off as luxury accessory items.

“How much do I need to pay for these, Mr. Tim?” Abel asked as he picked up six evenly-sized rubies from the box.

“Just six gold coins, Sir Abel.”

It was a reasonable price. After all, no esteed rchants would swindle a custor from the sa region. Also, Abel might be young, but he was still the son of a knight. It was a fair deal made with six gold coins. Plain and simple.

Having received the cash from Abel, Tim went to put six ruby pieces inside a woolen bag. He led Abel out of the store after that. In the most respectful way he knew, of course.

Having left the shopping center, Abel ran off to an isolated alleyway. There, he took out three ruby pieces from the bag and placed them in his Horadric Cube. If he rembered his formulas correctly, three of the sa gemstones could rge into one bigger, finer gemstone of the sa kind.

Having withstood his feeling of excitent, Abel tapped the crafting slots with his finger. He inserted the three rubies in, which quickly vanished in a flash of light. He then saw a big ruby in the uppermost slot of the Horadric Cube.

What a thing a beauty this was. After putting it out in the daylight, every side of this piece was glistening with a clear, red flash. Whether it was the size or the quality of this piece, it was definitely a rank higher than the three other rubies combined. Abel couldn’t tell for sure, but he knew this was worth more than three gold coins.

Having crafted his second larger gemstone, Abel was starting to think of a good place to sell them. He knew he couldn’t go back to Fort Lee Shopping Centre for this. If he ca back to sell them to the place he had just bought jewelry from, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that sothing was wrong here.

Abel walked around the town for a bit more. After walking down the main street, he could see that there was a boutique shop in front of him. It was Edmund’s boutique shop, the biggest business of its kind in the entire duchy. From what Abel could rember, every town in the Duchy of Carl had Edmund’s boutique shop sowhere. It was a very renowned brand, with a history of 500 years since it was first founded. Every year, the Edmund Business would host a big auction event that would attract aristocrats from all over the duchy. Even those from the neighboring duchies would co to bid on the exquisite items on sale.

“Welco to Edmund’s boutique shop. How can I help you?”

It was a young woman who greeted Abel as he made his entrance. She had blonde hair, a standard oval-shaped face, large eyes, and her skin was fair and spotless. The fine dress she was wearing was made of oriental silk, a material that originated from the Far East. She spoke in a soft, gentle voice as she gave Abel a noonti bow.

“Good noon, young and beautiful madam,” Abel greeted, “I’m looking for soone to verify a gemstone for .”

Unlike that fat man earlier, this lady knew exactly the right way to demonstrate her etiquette. She spoke politely, but not in an unnecessarily-wordy kind of way. Her bow was proper and well-tid. As ntioned before, it wasn’t easy for most people to learn the proper etiquette. The Edmund business must’ve done quite an investnt in training its employees.

“Please, call Yvette, my young and handso sir. You can talk to if it’s about verifying your gemstones. I’m the manager of this shop. Please, co with for a chat upstairs.”

Just from a first glance, Yvette could tell that Abel was soone of noble birth. This was precisely why she would have a talk with him herself.

The two went upstairs to have a seat in the guest room. The mont Abel sat down, he was imdiately served with a cup of fresh coffee. Abel didn’t want to appear rude, but walking for several hours in town made him very thirsty. He went to have a sip before they even started talking.

It was good coffee. Abel wasn’t exactly an expert, but his tongue wasn’t completely numb either. Wherever the beans were from, it wasn’t sothing that the Bennett family could easily make a purchase of.

Abel was a very young boy. So young, Yvette could just refer to him as ‘boy.’ Age, however, was by no ans what signified the reputation of a nobleman. This notion was commonly acknowledged among aristocrats, and it was also sothing that their servants followed by when they served.

“How much is this gemstone worth, Madam Yvette?” Abel took out his bigger ruby and passed it to Yvette.

Having taken over the gemstone, Yvette started examining its interior through a small lamp. Then, after a few minutes had passed, she raised her head with a sowhat delighted look on her face.

“This is a perfect piece! The carvings. The structure of it. Transparency. Honestly, I can’t find any flaws in it. How about I buy it from you for 300 gold coins?”