Vergil’s eyebrow rose slightly when the girl forcefully slapped away the arrogant boy’s hand.
Only now did he take a quiet moment to properly examine her appearance.
She wore a plain, well-fitted beige wool sweater over a crisp white skirt.
Her face possessed soft, almond-shaped features, while her peculiar, navy-blue eyes stood out vividly beneath loose strawberry-blonde hair fanning around her shoulders.
She’s beautiful, Vergil thought instinctively.
Then, his internal alarms blaring, he immediately took a small step backwards.
Beautiful women meant trouble.
Actually, from what he remembered across two lifetimes, women in general were far too troublesome for the kind of peaceful, lazy life he wanted to cultivate.
Of course, he had absolutely no intention of becoming a secluded monk.
But avoiding unnecessary complications remained a pillar of his survival strategy.
The girl turned sharply toward the arrogant boy, her navy eyes flashing with irritation.
“Daniel,” she snapped, her voice cutting.
“I told you not to interfere in my business.”
“Mind your own goddamn affairs.”
The boy named Daniel did not even glance down toward the fallen silver sterling lying in the dirty street slush.
Vergil’s own eyes briefly drifted toward the abandoned coin.
Only then did he notice two adult men and another younger boy standing silently behind Daniel.
One of the adult men bent down and casually picked up the sterling coin, brushing off the slush.
Vergil narrowed his eyes slightly, focusing on the men’s attire.
The structural accents of their uniforms looked extremely familiar.
Hill Family guards.
Daniel stared coldly at the girl, his posture rigid.
“Aurora,” he said stiffly, his voice tight with forced authority.
“You’re going to become my wife.”
“Your business is my business.”
The girl instantly exploded, her cheeks flushing with rage.
“Who’s becoming your wife?!”
“You’re just an unacknowledged illegitimate child from some third-rate branch family!”
Daniel’s face darkened instantly, looking like gathering thunderclouds ready to break.
Vergil noticed the boy’s leather-gloved hands clenching into tight, trembling fists.
At the same time, more and more nearby pedestrians had begun slowing down on the cobblestones to watch the dramatic argument unfold.
Trouble.
Vergil immediately tugged lightly on Sam’s damp sleeve and whispered quietly into his ear.
“Let’s go.
Now.”
But before they could take a single step to slip away, Aurora suddenly turned her sharp gaze directly toward them.
“Wait.”
“I haven’t compensated you properly for my clumsiness yet.”
Then, she spoke with absolute, overriding decisiveness.
“Come with me.”
Without waiting for their verbal agreement or checking to see if they followed, she turned on her heel and began walking back toward the entrance of Sterling House.
Sam, still clutching the remnants of his ruined package, instinctively followed behind her.
Vergil sighed heavily in the privacy of his mind and walked after them as well, cursing his bad luck.
As he stepped back through the grand doorway of Sterling House, he glanced backwards over his shoulder once more.
Daniel and his armed group were still following them, maintaining a tense distance through the crowd.
Inside the bright warmth of the building, Aurora looked back toward Sam while leading the way up the grand staircase.
“Are you buying ingredients to treat Frozen Bone sickness?”
Sam looked visibly surprised by her medical knowledge.
“Yes.”
Aurora tilted her head curiously, her loose strawberry-blonde hair shifting.
“I know most standard treatments for Frozen Bone sickness.”
“Why did you buy Ink Squid blood?”
“That specific ingredient usually worsens the cold condition instead of easing the symptoms.”
Sam answered quietly, his eyes fixed on the wooden steps while climbing.
“I prescribed a double dosage of intense heating medicine to break the core chill.”
“A small, calculated amount of Ink Squid blood protects the internal pathways from damage caused by that excessive heat.”
Aurora’s navy-blue eyes widened immediately in pure fascination.
“Are you a practising healer?”
“Me too!”
Her cheerful, vibrant energy contrasted so completely with the angry, vicious girl from moments earlier that it caught Vergil off guard.
Then, she suddenly asked with immense excitement:
“Are you going to participate in the upcoming Mirror Lake Academy test?”
Sam’s steps visibly slowed at the question, his shoulders tensing beneath his worn cloak.
After several heavy moments of silence, he quietly answered, his voice dropping an octave.
“No.”
“Probably not.”
Vergil instantly understood the underlying weight behind that response.
Sam clearly desperately wanted to participate in the spirit or physical trials.
But because of his severely sick mother, he could not bring himself to abandon the village so easily for his own ambitions.
As they continued climbing past the landing toward the second floor, Aurora enthusiastically tried persuading Sam to reconsider, listing the benefits of the academy.
Listening quietly from a step behind them, Vergil gradually realised something about her character.
Aurora’s underlying personality seemed genuinely warm, naive, and lively.
That boy Daniel must have irritated her far beyond the limits of human endurance earlier for her to unleash such venomous insults in public.
Vergil quietly stayed in the background, keeping his head down while watching Aurora purchase exact replacements for all of Sam’s damaged medicine.
Not only did she replace the crushed items, but she even stubbornly insisted on paying the full price for the rest of the undamaged medicines as well.
Sam repeatedly tried to refuse her charity, his pride bristling.
But Aurora simply ignored his stammered objections, continuing in her persuasion until he reluctantly accepted the neatly re-wrapped package.
Eventually, the three of them finally exited the warm interior of Sterling House.
The moment they stepped back out onto the cobblestones, Vergil immediately noticed Daniel and his armed group still lingering across the street.
Aurora caught sight of them too, glancing toward them briefly before muttering a sharp curse under her breath.
Then, shifting her mood instantly, she turned back toward Sam with a bright smile.
“Where are you two going next?”
Sam, unsure of how to navigate the city alone, instinctively looked toward Vergil for direction.
Aurora followed his gaze, her navy-blue eyes adjusting.
Only now did she seem to properly notice Vergil’s existence for the very first time.
Her boundless attention until this moment had been almost entirely and single-mindedly focused on Sam.
Vergil answered calmly, his voice steady.
“A clothing store.”
Aurora immediately wrinkled her nose in playful distaste while looking both village boys up and down.
“You two seriously need better clothes to survive the winter here.”
Then, she pointed down an intersecting thoroughfare.
“Follow me.
I know the perfect place.”
Vergil internally sighed, a weight settling in his stomach.
He truly, desperately did not want to remain around Aurora any longer than necessary.
Daniel and his group of guards continued shadowing them from a distance, their footsteps crunching in the light snow.
The longer they stayed near Aurora, the greater the statistical chance that a violent trouble would eventually explode in their faces.
But Aurora’s overwhelmingly enthusiastic, fast-paced personality made it strangely difficult to refuse her directly without being outright rude.
So, out of options, Vergil reluctantly followed behind her alongside a quiet Sam.
Aurora led them through several crowded main streets and winding narrow alleys, effectively weaving through the traffic before eventually stopping in front of a small, quaint shop.
The painted wooden sign hanging above the entrance swayed lightly in the cold winter wind.
Aurora immediately pushed the door open and stepped inside, a bell chiming overhead.
“Sister Sofia!” she called out brightly into the warmth.
“I brought you two customers!”
Vergil entered behind her, immediately letting his eyes scan and map the entire interior.
The shop possessed a cosy L-shaped layout divided cleanly into two distinct sections.
The longer side of the room contained sturdy wooden racks filled to the brim with folded clothes and heavy winter garments.
The shorter section near the front street-facing window held the checkout counters and several display shelves holding smaller household goods.
Among those miscellaneous goods, Vergil’s focus immediately locked onto thick bundles of paper stacked neatly together.
His eyes lingered there instinctively, his heart beating slightly faster.
Behind the counter stood a blonde woman with a remarkably voluptuous figure.
Vergil’s teenage gaze unconsciously drifted downward toward her impressive chest for a brief second before he caught himself and immediately forced his eyes upward toward her face instead.
Unfortunately, his sharp reflexes were not fast enough; he instantly caught the faint, highly amused smile already forming on her lips.
Vergil’s face instantly reddened in pure embarrassment, a rare flush heating his cheeks.
The blonde woman casually stepped out from behind the safety of the counter, her movements graceful.
“My dear Aurora,” she said, her voice dripping with teasing affection.
“You actually brought boys to my shop today?”
Her sharp eyes slowly swept across both Vergil and Sam, evaluating them.
“Which one do you like?”
“The tall, handsome one?”
“Or the pale, cute one?”
Aurora instantly bristled like a startled cat.
Her face turned bright red as she shouted defensively, waving her hands in the air.
“It’s not like that at all!
We just met!”
Sofia simply smiled wider at her reaction, clearly enjoying the drama, before turning her attention back toward the boys.
“What kind of clothes do you two want today?”
Sam immediately shook his head, taking a half-step back.
“Not me.
I don’t have the coin.”
He pointed a finger directly toward Vergil.
“Him.”
Vergil glanced toward Sam’s frayed, thin cloak.
Honestly, his friend’s garments were barely in any better condition than his own worn-out rags.
“Sam,” Vergil said calmly, his tone brooking no argument.
“You’ll fall severely sick wearing that thin fabric in this weather.”
“If you freeze, then who will take care of Aunty back home?”
Sam opened his mouth to argue, but the mention of his mother made him immediately fall silent, his head lowering.
Vergil then looked directly at Sofia, taking charge of the transaction.
“Proper winter clothes for both of us.”
“But please, nothing overly expensive or extravagant.”
Sofia nodded easily, her professional demeanour returning.
“I know just the things.”
She turned and began walking toward the heavy clothing racks.
Aurora enthusiastically followed right beside her, eager to give her input on styles.
While the two women searched through the various shelves, Vergil’s sharp ears quietly picked up Sofia continuing to tease Aurora endlessly in hushed whispers.
And several times, Vergil noticed Aurora secretly glancing back over her shoulder toward Sam whenever she thought nobody in the room was paying attention.
Quietly leaving the others to their fitting, Vergil wandered toward the front counter area and carefully examined the various items displayed along the shelves.
Soon, his eyes landed on a stone mug filled with coarse paint brushes resting beside several small earthenware jars of coloured paint.
Vergil’s tactical thoughts immediately became highly active.
The Painting Skill.
If he truly intended to pursue it to complement his primary craft, then naturally, he would need materials.
A reasonable, justifiable amount of paper.
And suddenly, he realised he now possessed the perfect, flawless excuse to buy a baseline quantity without attracting the slightest bit of suspicion from the villagers.
At that exact moment, Sofia and Aurora returned from the racks, carrying several neat stacks of folded winter clothes.
They placed everything gently across the wooden counter.
“Here,” Sofia said casually, dusting off her hands.
“Affordable winter clothes, just as requested.”
Vergil immediately began sorting through the garments carefully, feeling the weave of the fabric.
After checking the density and quality, he made his selection:
Two thick wool-thread shirts
One pair of sturdy winter pants
One heavy knitted sweater
Beside him, Sam chose a more conservative option:
One heavy knitted sweater
One pair of sturdy winter pants
Sofia pointed with her chin toward a small privacy door located near the back of the counter.
“Go change in there first.”
“See if the shoulders and waist fit your frames properly.”
Vergil and Sam entered the cramped changing area together.
Several minutes later, they emerged from the shop, wearing the new, warm clothes.
Sam held his old, worn-out pants awkwardly rolled up in one hand.
Vergil carried his old shirt and trousers folded together tightly beneath his arm.
He had absolutely no intention of throwing the old clothes away.
They remained perfectly usable for rough labour back inside the village.
The two returned toward the main counter.
Vergil looked directly toward Sofia.
“How much for the selection?”
Sofia answered smoothly, her memory sharp.
“A sweater costs eight bronze sterlings.”
“A pair of pants costs four.”
“And a wool shirt costs three.”
Vergil quietly calculated his personal total within his mind.
Eight for the sweater.
Four for the pants.
Plus six for the two shirts.
Exactly eighteen bronze sterlings.
Relief quietly spread through his chest.
It was highly affordable.
Beside him, Sam carefully counted out and placed several coins onto the wooden counter.
“Twelve bronze sterlings for mine.”
Vergil’s sharp eyes noticed that Sam only had five bronze sterlings and three stone sterlings remaining in his pouch afterwards.
Within the Kingdom of Lume’s structured currency system:
One silver sterling equalled exactly one hundred bronze sterlings.
One bronze sterling equalled exactly ten stone sterlings.
Vergil calmly reached into his collar, pulled out his single silver sterling, and placed it onto the counter surface.
Seeing the coin, Aurora immediately leaned forward across the wood.
“Sister Sofia, give them a proper discount.”
“They came here with me, after all.”
Sofia smiled mischievously, her eyes glinting with a teasing light.
“Tell me which boy you like best, Aurora.”
“Do that, and I’ll make everything completely free of charge.”
Aurora instantly turned a bright, furious red again, her voice cracking.
“Sister Sofia!”
Laughing softly at the reaction, Sofia relented and pushed two bronze sterlings back across the counter toward Sam.
“Consider it your companion discount.”
Sam quickly bowed his head, a look of profound gratitude in his eyes.
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
Sofia then accepted Vergil’s silver sterling before sliding open a secure drawer beneath the counter.
The metallic sound of coins clinking echoed briefly in the quiet shop.
Moments later, she returned exactly eighty-five bronze sterlings in change to Vergil.
Vergil nodded politely, scooping up the coins.
“Thank you.”
Then, his eyes shifted deliberately toward the paper bundles sitting on the side shelf again.
“Sister Sofia,” he asked casually, his tone conversational.
“How much for a bundle of that paper?”
Sofia glanced toward the display shelf before answering.
“One bundle contains exactly one hundred sheets.”
“That will run you four bronze sterlings.”
Vergil’s eyes brightened faintly.
It’s significantly cheaper when bought in bulk.
Then, he continued calmly, maintaining his cover.
“And the basic painting supplies beside it?”
Sofia answered immediately, pointing to the items.
“A standard paint brush costs ten bronze stone sterlings.”
“A small jar of colored paint costs five bronze stone sterlings.”
Vergil nodded, completing the mental math.
“I’ll take one bundle of paper.”
“One paint brush.”
“And one small jar of black paint.”
Sofia nodded and turned toward the shelves to gather the requested items.
Beside him, Sam looked over with a curious expression.
Vergil calmly offered a pre-calculated explanation before Sam could ask.
“I want to try learning basic painting while the winter freeze keeps us indoors.”
Sam simply nodded, completely accepting the logic without questioning further.
To a common villager, it seemed like a completely reasonable, mundane hobby to pass the cold months.
Soon, Sofia returned and placed the supplies neatly on the counter.
“Give me your old, folded clothes too,” she said kindly.
“I’ll package everything together for you so it’s easier to carry.”
Vergil and Sam handed over their worn garments.
Using a thin, flexible sheet of tanned leather, Sofia neatly wrapped the clothes and the new supplies into a compact, weatherproof package.
As Vergil watched her hands bind the cord, a profound thought quietly surfaced in his mind.
If leather can wrap and protect items this well under physical tension…
Then, using thin leather instead of standard paper for my puppets would make them far sturdier in combat.
After paying nineteen bronze sterlings total for the clothes and the art supplies, Vergil picked up the finished leather package.
Then, the group finally stepped back outside into the freezing, snow-dusted streets once more.
The moment Vergil lifted his head, his eyes immediately narrowed slightly, his body tensing under his new sweater.
In the middle distance, Daniel and his grim group of Hill Family guards still stood there, silently watching their every move.
The moment they stepped outside the store, Aurora immediately turned back toward them and asked again,
“So, where are you guys going now?”
Sam answered honestly, gesturing down the road.
“We’re returning back to our inn.”
Vergil added calmly, looking down at his worn-out footwear,
“I still need to buy proper winter shoes.”
Aurora immediately pointed her finger down another intersecting street.
“Come with me.
I know a reliable cobbler.”
Without waiting for their verbal agreement, she began leading them away through the snow once again.
Vergil quietly followed behind her alongside Sam, keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings.
Soon, Aurora brought them into a modest shoe store near the edge of the market district.
After checking several different pairs for durability, Vergil bought a pair of sturdy winter shoes perfectly suitable for travelling through heavy snow and muddy village roads.
Once they stepped outside the warmth of the shop again, Aurora’s stomach suddenly growled loudly, breaking the quiet.
At nearly the exact same moment, Sam and Vergil both realised they were incredibly hungry as well, having marched for hours from the mine.
Aurora laughed awkwardly, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
“My treat.”
Before either village boy could find a way to refuse, she aggressively dragged them toward a nearby restaurant emitting savoury aromas.
Meanwhile, farther down the street, Daniel’s expression worsened visibly with every passing second he watched Aurora laughing and speaking happily beside the two commoners.
Finally, his patience snapping completely, he turned coldly toward one of the younger boys accompanying his group.
“Jerry.”
Jerry immediately stepped forward, bowing his head slightly.
“Yes, Master Daniel?”
“Go back to the estate and bring Thomas and Nigel here immediately.”
Jerry nodded quickly, understanding the dark look in his master’s eyes, before hurrying away through the crowded, snowy streets.
After a long lunch, Aurora finally stopped outside the restaurant entrance, the grey sky indicating late afternoon.
She smiled brightly toward Sam, ignoring Vergil entirely.
“Remember what I told you on the stairs.”
“You really should participate in the upcoming Mirror Lake Academy test.
Don’t waste your talent.”
Sam gave her an awkward, conflicted nod, his fingers tightening around his medicine package.
Aurora waved a final goodbye, turned on her heel, and disappeared into the swirling snowy streets.
Daniel and his grim guards immediately trailed after her, keeping their designated distance.
Watching the noble group finally leave, Vergil quietly released a long, deep sigh of relief from his chest.
Finally.
The political trouble was gone.
Or at least, that was what his deeply cautious mind desperately hoped.
Vergil and Sam then turned around and started walking back toward their inn through the increasingly cold afternoon streets.
But along the narrow way back, Vergil’s sharp, hunter-trained senses gradually noticed an unsettling pattern.
Three young boys were deliberately following behind them, keeping pace with every turn they made.
And the specific boy leading the trailing group looked strangely, terrifyingly familiar.
Stay tuned for the next chapter, it will be in the next few hours.