Jack's POV
"So, we've got a bit of an interesting situation," she said, crossing her arms. "Yesterday's ore delivery had a little surprise."
Everyone gave her intrigued looks, and Zek asked, "What kind of surprise?"
"Mithril," she said.
Ark's ears perked up.
Orin looked shocked and confused.
Zek was wide-eyed.
Araki's tail twitched in excitement.
Aaron raised a brow but said nothing.
Winona continued, "Since you lot brought the ore, I figure it's only fair to split the profits. I can give you the coin, or you can use it as store credit. Your choice."
"Store Credit?" Ark asked.
"It's like a tab at a bar, but in reverse. She keeps the ore, and no coins are exchanged. We can take stuff from the store, and she will take the cost from the credit until it is gone. Nice and simple," I said with a smile.
"I thought most stores don't do this," Orin said.
I nodded and said, "Most don't, as not everyone trusts a shopkeeper to remain truthful and honest about how much is left on the credit. But Winona works with the guild, and you have me. If she tries to take some out, she would get in big trouble, so it isn't worth it."
Winona raised an eyebrow at me but nodded and said, "He is right. I work directly with the guild and supply most low-rankers with weapons, so if they find I've been scamming adventurers, I would lose a lot of business."
A brief silence passed before Aaron shrugged. "If that's the case, then we might as well get some gear."
The rest of us nodded in agreement.
"How much do we have?" Zek asked.
"2 gold, 40 silver," Winona said, shocking everyone. "I doubt you will spend more than 1 gold today, so just get what you need."
I looked at everyone and could see their brains going haywire as they realized they had enough to buy new and better equipment. They spread throughout the store.
I grabbed the ball bearings and needles I had asked about earlier and showed them to Winona so she knew I had them.
When she nodded, I stepped back and watched everyone else.
Aaron was the first to finish picking out his items—two well-balanced daggers and a roll of steel wire. He ran his fingers along the edge of one blade, testing its sharpness before nodding in approval.
'Considering he is a stealth-based class, it's not surprising... I wonder how many daggers he has on him. By my count, I found 4 so far, and this makes 6,' I thought, curious, and turned to Orin.
Orin, after a moment of deliberation, grabbed a crossbow and a quiver of bolts.
'Ranged for our frontline? Guess he realized he might need to get someone on a wall eventually.'
Araki picked up twenty blunt arrows and five lacerating ones, inspecting each with practiced ease before wrapping them in cloth and grabbing another sling as well.
"Don't you have a sling already?" I asked.
Araki nodded. "I do, but in case it breaks, I have an extra."
I nodded and turned to Zek.
Zek, however, shook his head when Winona and I looked at him. "I'm a mage. I don't need weapons."
Winona shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Orin turned to Zek briefly and, as stealthily as he could so Zek wouldn't see him, grabbed a light shield and tucked it under his arm without a word.
'He must have gotten it for Zek,' I thought, amused.
Ark hesitated, shifting awkwardly as his tail flicked nervously. His ears twitched, and he turned to me, his eyes filled with uncertainty.
"Jack… could you help me?" he asked in a quiet voice.
I nodded, put an arm around him, and guided him through the shop, which caused him to get a little flustered.
I did notice Winona look confused at Ark's ears and tail, but she shrugged and walked away.
(Yes, now that Ark's wolf features have been revealed, he will normally have them out. The group makes him feel safe enough for him to do so.)
"What kind of weapon do you think you'd like?" I asked Ark.
Ark rubbed the back of his neck, looking away, embarrassed. "I… don't know. I've never really used weapons before… I mean, I know how to swing a knife and throw a punch, but that's about it."
I hummed in thought before grabbing two simple daggers and some leather gloves and handing them to him. "Then let's start with these. You can figure out what works for you during combat training when classes start."
Ark took the daggers and gloves, giving an embarrassed smile as his ears drooped slightly. "Thanks, Jack."
When we all finished, we put our stuff on the counter and let Winona start counting.
"5 daggers at 5 silver each, 1 crossbow, plus 30 bolts, 31 silver, 20 blunt and 5 laceration arrows, and 2 and 10 silver... light shield at 8 silver, leather gloves, 8 silver... in total that is 84 silver. You have 1 gold, 56 silver left," Winona said after adding it all up.
Everyone was happy to hear that the leftover coin could be used another time. We grabbed our stuff, stored it in my ring, and said goodbye.
Once we were all set, we stepped out of the shop, immediately met by the cold embrace of the rain.
"Oh, right... rain," I said.
'Damn. I wish people had created umbrellas by now so I could just make one, but Brakos made a rule stating I couldn't make something unless I had seen it somewhere else before.' [1]
I looked at Araki and asked, "How much water are you able to control with magic?"
Araki looked away, embarrassed and said, "I don't know how to use water magic."
I turned to Zek and asked, "Can you make a thin ice shield above us? I will hold it up with magic."
Zek looked at me for a second and realized what I was doing.
He nodded and pulled out his staff but added, "I have another idea."
Curious, I stepped back and let him work and also decided to examine his staff as I hadn't gotten a good look at it yet.
It turns out that Zek's staff can come apart in the middle, so he either has a staff or two thick wands with a fire or ice crystal on the end.
(If Zek was stronger, he could use the 'wand mode' like clubs and wands at the same time.)
Zek put the fire wand away and, from the end of the ice wand, created a thin ice shield.
In truth, the ice extended from the end of the wand and formed an umbrella.
'Okay, seriously... no wait! Now that this has happened, I can create one and claim I got the idea after seeing how it worked.'
Orin saw how the ice shield was getting big and said, "That looks like it will get heavy. I can carry it instead."
Zek shook his head and said, "The shield would break if I let go of the wand."
Orin stared at Zek for a second and then had an idea: "Reattach the fire wand to it so it's a staff."
Curious, Zek did so.
Orin nodded, reached down, picked up the kobold, put him on his shoulders, and held the wand up with Zek.
I laughed at Zek's slightly confused expression, but as he relaxed, he realized he liked this, especially since he was technically taller than the rest of us now.
We started walking through the streets toward the north gate of the academy and definitely got some odd looks. However, we also inspired a few mages to try this, as we were obviously dry since we had some mobile cover from the rain.
The guards at the gate asked us some questions and asked how we made this Ice-Rain-Shield.
We all pointed to Zek, and he explained how he basically created a mobile tent out of ice.
The guards nodded and noted that they could use something like that when on patrol. They would ask the city's Arch Mage for assistance.
I smiled, as this was spreading the concept of an umbrella, as for some reason, they hadn't been invented yet.[2]
We rushed to the academy as the rain became more intense. We quickly got inside, attracting the attention of many people who saw our icy creation.
We quickly took off our outer clothing, and thanks to Zek's fire magic, quickly warmed up and dried off.
Now that we were back, we all decided to drop our stuff off in our dorms before we did anything else.
As we walked toward our rooms, I pulled Orin to the side slightly and noticed he had been quieter than usual, likely from our earlier conversation.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry about how I reacted earlier," I said to him.
Orin didn't respond right away, but looked at me as if to get an answer.
I sighed. "Look… I reacted poorly earlier. I scared you, and I'm sorry for that. But I still don't want you getting directly involved. You shouldn't climb the mountain before you know a fraction of what you're getting into."
Orin frowned. "What does that mean?"
I shook my head. "There's Nothing to worry about for now… Just please don't try to pry Aaron about this. I should be able to fix the problem when I get back next week."
Then I walked away, leaving him standing in the hallway, confusion written all over his face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[1]: In order to make sure Jack wouldn't disrupt certain things, Brakos made a rule that Jack couldn't create something unless someone from this world made it first. Only after Jack gets his hands on one of the blueprints can he make his own and improve it.
This was put in so that Jack wouldn't just make guns or Nukes the moment he could, he has to wait until someone invents them or improves the flintlock to something better, as those do exist but are rarely used.
Yes, Jack, for some reason, knows how to make Guns and Nukes. (One of those you can get from a certain science-based anime with Stone in the name.)
No, Magic does not apply to this rule, as custom spells that only the caster can understand are normal, but machines can be studied and replicated.
[2]: The technology of this world is all over, as some things we have in the modern day have an equivalent there, like banks, plumbing and trains, while things that are outdated here are common, like swords, armour, flintlocks and carrier birds
things like phones (reliable public long-range communication), trains and for some reason, umbrellas don't exist.