Chapter 42

"Al, you've done a great job. This is your reward."

Ten days after entrusting Luella to Barbara and the others, the caravan arrived safely at the border city of Lester in the evening. As Al was about to get off the carriage at the South Gate, he received a small leather bag from Eric.

"Thank you."

Al accepted the reward from Eric. Inside the leather bag were five gold coins, far more than he had expected.

"Huh? Is there some mistake...?"

Al couldn't help but ask, but Eric shook his head.

"It's fine. The bag also contains the rewards for the sheep-eating eagles and other barbarians we defeated along the way. I rounded up a bit, but you've earned it."

Al's face lit up at Eric's words.

"By the way, Al, do you plan to change your base from this border city of Lester to somewhere else?"

Al tilted his head and said he had no such plans. Eric then asked if Al would like to practice magic with Reta. According to Eric, Al had mentioned that he could consciously learn magic options by changing the intended image during the learning process. Eric wanted Al to learn the same spell with Reta to compare the differences.

"You said that when learning magic, you can be aware of the options that can be changed by altering the intended image. I want Reta to learn the same spell with you. Of course, I'd like to use spells that I or Fitz have already learned. By doing this, I think we can thoroughly compare and verify the options you mentioned. What do you think?"

Al nodded in agreement. If they did this, it might clearly show how he differed from others. Plus, Eric would show him spell books he hadn't seen before, which was exciting in itself.

"I'd be happy to."

Eric asked if Al would like to learn the telepathy spell, the floating eye spell, or the shield spell. The first two were useful during the day for caravan protection, and the shield spell had proven useful in combat against the bandits. After some thought, Al chose the floating eye spell.

"Then, please come to learn when you have time. However, I don't want you to delay too much. The floating eye spell is a third-tier spell, so it should take about a year to learn. Since you'll be working, I'll give you two years. During this time, I also want to verify the magic options you mentioned. I'll need to check various things, so is that okay?"

While other matters might be different, learning spells takes a considerable amount of time. Two years is generally a short period, but it felt more than enough for Al. It was also great that Eric would investigate the options. Al responded enthusiastically.

"Then, Reta will also be learning a new spell. Good luck."

Reta, who was in the carriage, pursed her lips and nodded seriously. She was undoubtedly determined not to fall behind Al in spell learning as a disciple.

"Then, I'll come again. Sir Eric, thank you very much."

Al took his luggage from the carriage, slung it over his shoulder, and bowed deeply before watching Eric's carriage leave. Barbara had asked him to come when they arrived, but they probably hadn't arrived yet. Deciding to head home, he suddenly remembered that Lala's magic item shop wasn't far away. The jet spell he bought from her wasn't fully learned yet, but it seemed to be of good quality. It had been about three weeks, and there might be new spell books. He had just received his reward, and he still had some gold coins left from last time. Although he wasn't sure if the shop was open at this hour, he really wanted to get a new spell.

There were very few shops like Lala's that dealt with unofficial spell books called "garbage scrolls." Of course, the Magic Guild was against them, but they also had quality issues. Indeed, Al had only successfully learned two out of five attempts with these books. If he could learn the jet spell, it would be his third successful attempt.

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"Hello, Lala."

When he asked around, he quickly found Lala's stall, which had moved to just outside the South Gate today.

"Oh, you're the boy who bought the jet spell the other day. It's too early to have finished learning it, so what brings you here today?"

She remembered him. When Al said he wanted to buy more if the quality was good, she looked a bit surprised.

"It hasn't even been a month... But that's fine. I'm glad you think my spell books are good. However, the sleep spell, paralysis spell, and flight spell you mentioned haven't arrived yet."

She told him that she had three new spell books: the acceleration spell, the analysis spell, and the magic control spell. The acceleration spell cost 8 gold coins, and the other two were 4 gold coins each. The acceleration spell was popular because it increased not only the speed of swinging a sword but also walking speed. The analysis spell revealed the composition of objects, and the magic control spell replenished magic stones, both of which were more useful for craftsmen than in combat. Al was hesitant. If he could learn them for sure, the prices seemed reasonable. However, there was no guarantee he could learn them. He only had about 20 gold coins, including the reward he just received. If he bought all three, he would only have 4 gold coins left.

"You don't have to buy them if you don't want to. By the way, are you interested in selling any spell books? I'll buy them at a good price if you can repair them properly."

Spell books often got dirty from detailed reading during the learning process. Especially the crucial parts of the spell diagrams could become unusable with even a small stain. Al had experienced this with a borrowed spell book during his middle school days. Spell books were delicate. At that time, he had learned a lot from the instructor who lent him the book and had it repaired, but he knew that only the person who learned the spell could repair the book.

"How much would you buy them for?"

The Magic Guild also bought spell books, but the price was about 1/30th of the selling price. They bought them at that price, repaired them internally, and sold them at the original price with a certificate of inspection. According to them, the price was fair because the repair process was time-consuming, and they conducted multiple checks, plus they used packaging spells to protect the books.

"Well, I buy them for about 1/10th of the market price. In return, I sell them for less than 1/3rd of the market price. Pretty reasonable, right? But I can only confirm the ones that are repaired."

Al was impressed. For the transportation spell he bought, the price was 18 gold coins with the Magic Guild's guarantee. If the market price was correct, the Magic Guild would buy it for 60 silver coins, while Lala would buy it for 1 gold and 80 silver coins. She sold it for about 6 gold coins. If he could buy and sell at those prices, he could learn many spells. Lala would also profit. However, according to Lala, the business was still tough. Few people wanted to buy garbage scrolls, and even if they were repaired, they were still considered expensive. Al was hesitant. Three new spell books... He really wanted them. In the worst case, he could sell the spell books he had already learned.

"Alright. I'll buy all three spell books you have. But I need to think about selling my own."

In the end, the allure of new spell books was too strong, and Al decided to spend almost all his money on them. He took the package from Lala, who was beaming, and hurried to the "Red-Faced Sheep" inn, which he hadn't visited in a while.

Here ends Chapter 4. I'll post character and setting notes at 11:00, one hour from now.

They are for reference, so feel free to skip them.

Regarding the reuse of spell books, I apologize for the detailed explanation. You don't need to worry too much about it.

Thank you for reading.

I plan to post twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays at 10:00. Thank you for your support.

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