“I apologize. It was wrong of me to fight you and wrong of me to walk away when you were attacked. All excuses are meaningless.”

The young woman bowing towards Ana was Autumn Hayes. After what unfurled at the Academy, she swore to make amends if ever possible. Not in her wildest dreams would she have thought the girl that was beaten half to death just a few weeks ago would be perfectly fine and shopping here of all places.

“It’s fine. I accept your apology.” Ana wasn’t one to hold grudges anyway. She raised the girl’s shoulders and gave her a friendly smile.

“Good.” Autumn recovered rather fast. “To make things official, let me buy you one of the items here.”

“There’s no need…”

“Nonesense!” Autumn cut her off. “If you allow me to atone with my pocket, then I won’t have to do it with my body.” The girl was referring to mercenary work, but who would think of that?

‘Well, I don’t swing that way, so ok...’ With a shrug, Ana turned towards the weapons’ display and started reading the labels.

“Freezing sword, Staff of a dozen flames, Piercing screamer, …” She could barely understand what any of these meant. Noticing her confusion, Autumn stepped in.

“What exactly are you looking for? I have a good eye for this.”

Though the weapons all seemed excellent, Ana had always fought using magic. She wouldn’t know what to do with a sword, so…

“What does that knife do?” she asked thinking about a certain someone.

“Nonesense.” A certain someone cut in. “You must be Autumn Hayes. I’ve heard a lot about you.” said Ethan with icy eyes.

“I’m sure you have…” the girl dropped her gaze. “I apologize for the harm I brought upon Ana.” She bowed towards the boy as well.

‘Should I cut her off the list? Anyway…’ “Girl, if you want to make amends by buying her something, then make sure it's related to earth magic.”

With these words, he and Oliver moved farther away. Olivia joined the girls and they all began an endless talk about pills and weapons.

“Why do you sell weapons here?” asked Ethan after putting sufficient distance between the groups.

“The Gibson family has agreed to sell us some things at a discount. It’s not their best work, but they get a steady stream of coins and we get to expand our inventory. Plus… it also allows us to sneak in our other weapons/armors.”

‘Illegal goods? Great...’ murmured Ethan.

Eventually, the girls finished their shopping and Ana got back to the boys.

“She got me this.” a bright brown bracelet with a small silver pentagram accompanied the dimensional pocket one. “If I store mana in it, the pentagram will summon an escape tunnel whenever I want.”

“Well, you can certainly use that.” smirked Ethan.

“Ha, ha.” She lightly punched his shoulder.

“Oliver, how come she’s here?” asked Ethan. “I thought she was amongst the lower nobles.” From what Arthur told him, Autumn Hayes shouldn’t have the coins to enter such a place, let alone make gifts.

“Her father and grandfather are long time customers of our weapons' section. They can’t quite afford the Gibson family’s prices, so they usually come here. Though after recent developments, that will probably change.”

“How so?”

“The Wilson family was their main competition in the farming business. With them losing half of their fields, the Hayes are bound to prosper.

Too bad we didn’t have more dimensional pockets in that place. With all the grains stored in that cave, we would’ve made a mint.”

No response came to Oliver’s words. Both Ethan and Ana seemed lost in thought.

“Hey, you’re not thinking about going back there, right? It’s suicide.”

Again, silence.

‘So, he knows about Autumn.’ thought Ana. ‘If so, then what else does he know? When did he find this out? From who? And, the Wilson family’s crops… Could he...?’

While hundreds of thoughts ran through Ana’s mind, Ethan was stuck in his own. After awkwardly standing between them for about a minute, Oliver tried to make his escape.

“Oliver.” Ethan stopped him. “Is this chest anything special? As in, easily recognizable?” he pointed at the one holding his pills.

“That one yes, but I can bring you a simple one if you want.”

“Please do.” he nodded. “And also… some old paper and a pen.”