Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 311 - 23 Store_1 in District 9

Chapter 311: Chapter 23 Store_1 in District 9

The Ninth District is one of the areas in the City of Innocence with fewer shops, and the district itself is relatively small in size. Although small in area, it does not mean that it is desolate here. On the contrary, during the peak tourist season, it is one of the three busiest districts in the City of Innocence. The shops here are all small, and the interiors seem quite narrow and quite unremarkable, easy to be overlooked, only the truly knowledgeable professionals can discover the magic hidden beneath the ordinary shop fronts here.

In front of a dusty grey shop, a carriage slowly came to a halt. Pansies and mimosas jumped down from the carriage, bowing slightly and raising their hands to greet. Catherine and Vivian, with the help of two maids, slowly got out of the carriage, looking at the shop recommended in front of them, while saying to the two maids, "Don’t you find this somewhat strange?"

The two maids blinked in puzzlement, not understanding what Catherine was talking about.

"The actions just now, were strange," Catherine explained, "If you reach out your hand and the person who is greeted by it is dressed in a gorgeous and luxurious manner, then it’s normal. But if the person received is dressed in armor and a robe, wouldn’t it feel strange?"

"Well, we have served professional masters before," Mimosa politely smiled and said, "We see this kind of situation often in the City of Innocence, don’t worry, no one will find it strange."

"But I find it strange," Catherine pouted, "This is what we’ll do from now on, when we go out, if we are wearing battle gear, you don’t need to receive us after getting off the carriage, just wait at the door, if we are wearing formal attire, then everything will be as usual."

Although they were already accustomed to living their own way in the City of Knowledge, and not used to having people serve them, Catherine and Vivian tacitly did not refuse the service of the Pansy sisters. The two adventurers clearly understood that for the Pansy sisters, this was their job, and the highest form of aid they could give them as guests was to comply with their work, rather than denying their service as loud-hearted young people often do. Such behavior, apart from satisfying one’s own cheap sympathy, does no good to the other party, and might instead trouble them. Therefore, Catherine, who had gained deep insights into human interaction through her aristocratic upbringing, would never make such a low-level mistake, she would only make some appropriate requests.

"Yes," As expected, the maids did not resist this small request that was within the acceptable range, they bent down in agreement, "As you wish."

Upon entering the shop, the illumination from the outside sunlight was blocked by the walls. There were only a couple of small windows near the front door on the walls, the rest was tightly sealed, which made the shop’s environment rather dark. The shop could only rely on the dimly lit Crystal Energy lamps for illumination, it seemed the shop owner loved this sense of darkness.

"The shop owner should be a mage, of no low-level," Vivian looked over the shop’s situation and said, "Only mages and thieves would like this kind of environment, the mage has to be of the type that has a deep understanding of dark-attribute magic. Combining this with the way the shop is decorated, the occupation of the shop owner could certainly be guessed."

"You’ve guessed right," Pansy complimented, "The owner here is the most excellent magical items appraiser and strange object expert in the City of Innocence, and this shop is the best among magical item shops. Even when combined, all the shops of all industries in the City of Innocence together belong to a select few organizations, only a small number of shops don’t belong to any organizations, and this one happens to be one of those."

"Not belonging to any organization?" Catherine asked in surprise, "According to what you said before, unless one is already a leader of an organization, such a shop would be quite difficult to manage, and the owner would also find it hard to survive, why is this shop an exception?"

"Because the owner of this shop was specially invited back by the Shadow Hand thirty years ago to provide support in all aspects," Mimosa lowered her voice and said, "This situation is rare in the City of Innocence, only to some exceptionally elite in their respective fields like the shop owner here. The Shadow Hand would go to great lengths to ensure these people’s safety and autonomy, anyone daring to mess with them would face a full-scale attack from the Shadow Hand. Therefore, the other organizations in this district not only do not dare to harass this shop, but also coordinate to meticulously maintain everything for the shop owner, for fear that if anything really happens, they will be suspected of being involved."

"The way the Thieves’ Guild runs the city is really fascinating," Vivian squatted in front of a display case, gently rubbing her fingers on the floor, "The skills of this mage are quite impressive, these arrays have been streamlined and improved, the thought process is quite innovative, there are some things I hadn’t even thought of. Seems like it is worth it today, even if I don’t get anything, just seeing this array makes the trip worthwhile."

"Oh?" Catherine asked, "Is the owner of this shop a magic master?"

"Of course, any master who is proficient in magical item appraisal could only be an expert in magic," Vivian explained, "They might not be adept at practical operations, but at the very least, their knowledge of theory and array studies must be profound, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to appraise magical items."

"I’m quite curious about how you’re assessing magical items," Catherine asked. "I often see you all glance over them and know their purposes immediately. But then some items have you turning them over, studying them for a long time without being able to identify them."

"If you want to evaluate a magic item, you first need to judge whether it reached the point of enchantment by relying on an Array inscription or whether it was achieved by erosion using mana," Vivian said. She looked excited discussing magic, pointing at a ring in the display cabinet. "Take this ring for example, most ring enchantments will use mana erosion to change the internal magic sequence, from disorder to directing it, to achieve the enchanting effect. But this ring is different. If you look closely, you will find very fine patterns on the surface. Those are inscriptions of an Array. The ring uses the principle of inscription for the enchantment. After distinguishing between the different methods, you use your knowledge of Arrays, dismantling them theoretically into fundamental magic formulas. Knowing these formulas allows you to summarize the nature of the enchantment."

"Oh, I see," Catherine replied, her face blank and lost in Vivian’s explanation. It wasn’t until Vivian reluctantly stopped that she nodded, "Really interesting."

"In fact, you didn’t understand at all," Vivian rolled her eyes, "You were lost from the first sentence."

"Hahaha, the weather is so nice today," Catherine looked up at the roof, nodding seriously. "Such lovely weather, let’s look around the shop."

"That’s Pannis’s line," Vivian huffed out, poking Catherine’s foot with the end of her staff, then turned towards the display case.

The store was dark in the middle with twenty-five separated small display stations, the transparent crystal surface made the items clearly visible to customers. Along the side walls, are vertical display cases, also made of transparent crystal stones, but they are mostly used to showcase larger items such as weapons or armor. There’s an inconspicuous counter at the back, behind which a young employee was dozing off. A small door at the back of the counter leads to the workshop in the backyard.

There were five employees in the shop. In addition to the dozing one, four others were wandering around. However, none of them had greeted the four women since they came in, a very unusual situation contrasting the businesses in the City of Innocence where customer satisfaction is always the top priority. But the two female attendants didn’t seem bothered at all.

"These people are actually apprentices to the shop owner," Pansy explained in a low voice, "They are not professional shop assistants. They are gifted in magic and were chosen as apprentices by the shop owner. The owner is in charge of their education since their childhood, unsullied by the malpractices around here. They are not professionally trained as shop assistants, so they don’t know how to interact with customers and immerse themselves in the study of various items. The shop owner not only doesn’t stop them but encourages them, resulting in such a unique situation."

"Of course they can like this," Nis grumbled about the shop assistants, but envy was clear in her voice, "In a few years, they will leave here, get referrals from the shop owner, go to the mage guilds in small cities for verification, and can then live safe lives outside, never having to return here."

"Can you not do that?" Catherine asked, "Is anyone stopping you from leaving? I always thought you stayed here voluntarily. Since the children born here have committed no crime, wouldn’t it be fine for them to leave?"

"Who would want to stay in a place where you always have to be on high alert, where any mistake could get you killed, where even going out for a stroll brings fears of not being able to return home alive?" Nis said, touching her right ear. The breath that Indulgence had blown into her ear in the morning still made her feel prickly.

"Nis, shut up," Pansy shot Nis a fierce glare. The authoritative older sister made Nis back off a step. After silencing her sister, Pansy gave Catherine a wry smile, "It’s true we don’t wish to leave. There have been people who left, but most of them came back eventually. There’s little difference between the outside world and here. You have to work and live. But who will have us outside? Everything we do carries a special mark of the City of Innocence. We are different from others in everything we do, and experienced people can tell it at a glance. So, we wouldn’t survive there and will likely resort back to our previous thievery until we commit serious crimes and escape back here. So, leaving or not doesn’t make any difference to us."

"They’re right," a stranger’s voice appeared out of nowhere giving both sisters another scare. It was a fellow robe-wearing man approaching them slowly, his eyes twinkling in the light under the hood, "It’s hard for the kids here to live outside, so I can only choose a few unspoiled children as my apprentices."

"An Elf?" Vivian exclaimed in surprise, pointing to the stranger, "This is the accent of an Elf. Who would have thought an Elf would still exist in the City of Innocence."

"I’m just an unfortunate soul who lost fifty years of his life in a wager," the stranger joked bitterly, "I’m the store owner, what would you like to buy?"(To be continued. If you like this work, please go to qidian.com to vote for it. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)