The Odd Tinkerer was still rather packed with people when Gaius entered the artefact shop. Most of them were looking through the graphs and the files nearby, and no matter how the boy cut it, at least half of them were so frail that they looked more like clichéd professors than warriors.

Casting another look at a particularly fervent old man, Gaius made his way to the counter.

“Oh, it’s you,” said the old man, who’d sold the Astral Wind to Gaius. “How’s the Engine treating you?”

“Fine, thank you.” He glanced at the crowd, which was filled with more old men than warriors looking for weapons to fight with. Gaius couldn’t help but think back to the old man at the Exchange…and then concluded that old men were an important subset of artefact-buyers.

“What do you need today? Surely you didn’t come to pay this old man a visit out for the kindness of your hearts?” He glanced at the crowd of other old men, and rolled his eyes.

“I’m looking for cheaper Engines. The younglings in my House want to give them out to their followers, so they told me to get some souvenirs,” replied Gaius. It was an excuse he’d come up with as he walked towards the Odd Tinkerer, but that was the easiest reason he could use to get his grubby little hands on two to three more Engines.

“Cheaper ones, eh?” The old man gave the little boy a onceover. His eyes lingered on Gaius’ shirt, and a faint light shone in his pupils.

Gaius nodded. “They wanted those with odd abilities. These Engines don’t need to be as impressive as the Astral Wind, but they want abilities that are uncommon on them.”

“Hmm.” The shopkeeper thought for a moment, and took out three velvet boxes. “These Engines are eight thousand gold each, and their abilities are…calling them niche is somewhat of an understatement. Take a look.”

None of them had a name, and Gaius could understand why no one wanted to waste brain cells to name what amounted to defective Engines. First, like the Astral Wind, none of them had any other ability — including the standard Flight and Sigil Manifestation — and their only ability seemed problematic by the description alone.

The boy opened up the first box to reveal a feather-shaped crystal. This Engine allowed the user to grow wings on their back, which might sound great at first glance. But as the note pinned inside the velvet case pointed out, most beastfolk and humans alike generally didn’t have the right muscles to operate them, nor were their skeletal systems adapted to allow muscle-based flight. And those that did already had wings in the first place.

It probably looked impressive, the sight of an adult with wings, but that was it. Gaius gave it a hard pass after reading that note, and turned to look at the second one. It was a simple round disc of purple crystal, and taking in its simple looks, the boy looked at the note.

“Shopkeeper,” said Gaius, “what’s the deal with this one? Background Music?”

“The story behind this was quite fascinating, actually,” replied the old man, his eyes particularly interested in the boy’s tunic. “This old man had the honour of being approached by a Constellation, Aries, who wanted an Engine that had the ability to could play whatever music he was thinking of in his mind. I managed to meet his requirements for that ability…but it was an odd enough ability to prevent me from adding on more abilities to this Engine.”

The boy’s mouth twitched wildly, but he had to admit, there was indeed something attractive about having your own music score play when entering the scene. He reached out a little hand and pulled the nameless Engine over to his side.

“You’re interested?”

“Yeah, my…brother would be pleased if his henchman began to blast music when he showed off.”

The old man shot a gaze of pity at Gaius, to which the boy could only smile sheepishly back. After a moment of guilt and pity, he reached out to the third box and opened it to reveal a small crystal in the shape of a knife.

Gaius rolled his eyes as he read the note stuck on the inside of the box. This Engine wouldn’t have been defective if it had Flight and Sigil Manifestation, which meant that it wasn’t as problematic as the others. The ability it had was Floating Knife, which when activated would create a sharp blade of qi, that could be manipulated mentally by Gaius, or by an intelligent defence system.

“I’ll take this too then. My sister would like it,” said Gaius.

“Very good, Your Excellency. That’ll be sixteen thousand gold, then.” The old man kept the last Engine, before going into the room behind the counter to bring out a rectangular box. After sticking his tongue out at Gaius, he motioned for the boy to toss the stack of notes inside.

“Come to think of it,” said Gaius, “why didn’t anyone bother creating more Engine Augments with Flight and Sigil Manifestation?”

“Why would anyone do that?” The old man shook his head. “The products you brought from me are defective in the first place. Don’t go thinking that these Engines are the norm. There’s no market for them. Houses don’t even usually get the followers of their scions Engines, unless they’re Knights too.”

“That’s odd, since there seems to be an abundance of these flawed Engines.”

“Most of these flawed Engines you see on the market are the useable ones after experiments,” the shopkeeper replied sternly. The old man glanced at Gaius’ tunic and said, “The rest usually end up being too dangerous to even bond with. If anything, you and your House are the odd ones, to actually buy not one, not two, but three of these baubles!”

The boy took an involuntary step back. “We’ll probably look into getting more Engine Augments for these Engines.”

After saying that, Gaius retreated hastily from the shop. He could feel the old man’s eyes on his back the whole time, as though as the shopkeeper knew something about his secrets. It was only after the Odd Tinkerer was out of sight that Gaius finally relaxed. The feeling that someone was onto his trail wasn’t a good one by any measure.

“That old man isn’t simple.” A voice came from his tunic. “But again, old people never are simple…”

“Old men manning the counter at artefact shops definitely have their own history. I should have picked up that lesson long ago,” replied Gaius. “I had the feeling that he could actually sense your existence too, for some reason.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one with that feeling. He kept sending glances at me through your shirt.”

“He did?”

The sculpture chuckled ominously. “Bet on it. Anyway, let’s return to the inn for now.”