Chapter 17: A Bag

Before Teo could say anything the orange haired clerk immediately said

"Of course if you could provide an academy identifying stone, you could receive a discount"

Teo had almost no hope 'how much discount could there possibly be?'

But he still tried to see how much he could get the items for. If for some miracle he could get them all, that would be best. If not, he would have to weigh his options.

Which is more important? Advancing through Sensing stage or getting revenge on those people who tried to harm him?

'Why am I even considering the other option, its obvious which one I should choose' he thought to himself

Both his fist and teeth clenched together

'Of course revenge is more important!'

May it be his sister's influence, his blood or his youth, he wanted revenge more than anything. It was the first time he experience actions with such malicious intent ever done against him. They all had to pay!

He reached inside his bag and took out his identification stone and handed it to the orange hair clerk

The woman took the stone and performed a small ritual. She had a small table behind the counter with 10 lines going going outwards forming a circular pattern. She placed the identification stone in the middle of the circle and a small part of the lines suddenly glowed.

As the clerk saw this she quickly took another glance at the masked man. A smile appeared on her face.

The ritual she performed was a divination ritual.

The identification stone proved that the masked person was a student of the academy, and after performing the divination rite, she instantly knew who this masked person was. There was only one pure generalists in the whole academy, maybe even in the whole prefecture.

Teo who was watching the ritual also understood what had happened. If he wasn't wearing a mask, his dumbfounded look on his face would be seen by everyone.

He quickly looked at his surroundings. The other customers didn't seemed to have notice the ritual. Even the other clerks was too busy.

Only the orange haired clerk who was helping him knew his identity.

His face was full of regret 'Why did I give her my identity stone?!' he mentally shouted at himself

Seeing the smile on the orange haired clerk, Teo knew that if the Silver Sword hear about him walking around and about after being beaten, they would find it suspicious.

It would be understandable if he was only going to class or going to the cafeteria to eat since they were both close to the residential area but he went to the Emerald Pavilion, which was quite a distance from the residential area would only mean one thing. He wasn't that injured at all!

'Should I pay her off to keep her silence?' he thought but with only 32 silvers, he might not be able to buy anything if he were to bribe the clerk

As he was thinking of what to do, the clerk's attitude changed. Could it be she planned on blackmailing him?

She motioned her hand, gesturing for Teo to get closer

"He he he" she snickered "I didn't think it was the famous, little brother Teo, that had come to be my customer today" she whispered

She still had a huge smile on her face, even though she called him "little brother", her previous respectful attitude was gone. It was replaced by this friendly attitude which made Teo even more suspicious.

Seeing the beads of sweat on Teo's forehead, she could generally guess what Teo was thinking.

Her face instantly tighten, it was as if her mouth was going to explode. She tried to quickly close her mouth and even blocked it with her hands.

Teo could hear a muffled laughter as he saw the orange haired clerk trying really hard to hold back her laughter. Tears formed in her eyes until she could not hold it any longer. She gave out a few loud laughs, followed by a few muffled ones.

Everyone in the room turned to look at who was laughing loudly, they saw the orange haired clerk who's laughter eventually died down.

After a while, the orange haired clerk was finally calm. Everyone else in the room looked at her for a few moments and then continued with what they were doing

Her hands reached out a pinched both of Teo's cheeks through the mask

"Little brother Teo is so cute, just like Rowen said ha ha" she said

'Rowen?'

"Do you know my sister?" Teo asked

"Of course I do, ha ha, we've been friends from the first year. I am called Riss, Riss Tofen. Of course... unless you want your secret exposed you have to do one thing for me"

Teo was kinda relieved to hear that the orange haired clerk was his sister's friend, but after her sentence his hope vanished.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Call me 'Big sister Riss' of course. Its not fair! I heard from Gina that you called her 'big sister' already and Rowen hasn't even introduced us together yet"

She then leaned over the glass counter, and quickly pulled Teo's shoulder. She looked around and then quickly pulled down Teo's mask and quickly put it back on

"Ha little brother Teo is so handsome, just like Elder Brother Aran"

As she mentioned Teo's brother's name, her eyes looked as if she was reminiscing the past. It was as if hearts started appearing behind her. Then quickly returned focus on Teo "Maybe you should call me Sister-in-law that would be good too"

"Sister-in-law?" Teo was confused as he asked

When she heard him 'call' her "sister-in-law" she was extremely delighted

"Alright! Since my little brother-in-law is purchasing some stuff, I'll give you a good discount. The total will be 31 silvers and 50 bronze coins"

'31 Silvers and 50 bronze coins'

the amount echoed in Teo's head

What luck is this? From 3 gold and 50 silvers to 31 silvers and 50 bronze coins.. is this discount even right?

"Are you sure thats the right price?" Teo could not believe that this price was actually true. She might just be messing with him

"Of course I'm sure, if you want the break down here it is" She quickly wrote on a piece of paper and showed it to Teo

"Student discount is 25%. Since you are an elementalist, The school pays 60% of all elemental materials, this includes stones and powders. Finally, since I am your sister-in-law, I can give you a 6% family discount. All in all, its a 91% discount, which is 31 silvers and 50 bronze coins" She explained as she pointed her fingers on the paper where she wrote the breakdown of the price and discounts

"Elementalists are so lucky don't you think? normally an elemental stone is worth 30 silvers each and a bottle of elemental powder is 50 silvers. Thank goodness the academy highly values elementalists or else elementalist students won't even be able to buy so many elemental materials"

As Teo listen to the explanation, he tried to calculate it...91% of 3 gold and 50 silvers but 91% is such an awkward number and he only knew basic math that his parents and uncle taught him.

He also felt a little guilty by being given a 'family discount' but what Riss did not tell him was that it's actually a 'friends and family discount'.

'Oh well, I guess I might as well accept this miracle' Teo thought to himself.

He didn't want to make Riss change her mind, so he quickly pulled out 32 silvers and Riss took out the items that Teo needed from the cabinets behind the counter, put it in a bag and gave it to Teo with 50 bronze coins as change

"Thank you big sister Riss" Teo smiled, but he saw one of Riss' eyebrows raised and quickly corrected himself "I mean Sister-in-Law"

Riss was happy she wanted to shout but she had to keep talking quietly so others won't hear

'Hmph, Rowen didn't even tell me that Teo was fine"

For some reason, Rowen didn't want Teo to meet Riss. It was probably because that Riss was madly in love with Aran. She was afraid that Riss might even fall in love with Teo, since they had similar features. Teo and even Aran was not handsome at all, but not ugly either. They had average faces that you could easily forget in a crowd. But in Riss' eyes, Aran was the most handsome man alive.

Ever since Rowen, Gina and her were saved by Aran from a few bullies when they were in their 3rd year, she became head over heels with Aran. She even got enough courage to confess to him a year before he had to take his expedition outside the academy, but he never gave her a clear answer before he left.

....

After buying what he needed, Teo started going back to his cave.

'50 bronze coins left until next my next pay, I guess I have to go eat in the cafeteria until then'

The food provided by the cafeteria was free for all students and staff, a lot of students eat from the cafeteria, but those who could afford not to, didn't. It was because the meals were always the same.

After eating the same food all day for a few days, one would get tired of the menu, so they chose to go to restaurants instead.

When Teo arrived home, he quickly got the bag full of items and he mentally said "Mr Cien, I would like to put this one bag in there"

[Author's Note: I did not explain in properly but, the currency system here is 1 gold = 100 silvers, 1 silver = 100 bronze]