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Fantasm - Chapter 23

Published at 19th of May 2023 06:22:50 AM


Chapter 23

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“Zycor, as much as I appreciate you worrying about me, isn’t this a bit much?” Aislin asked in an irritated tone. 

“I don’t know what you mean. I just want to apologize and make up for my actions,” Zycor replied. 

Aislin, irritated, said, “Yes, I understand that, and that’s great… but you have been apologizing for three days… STRAIGHT! You have continually forced your way into taking over chores and duties from me.”

Confused and at a loss, Zycor responded, “And… that’s bad?” 

“Well, no,” Aislin sighed, “It’s not that it’s bad, it’s more so about how often you have been doing it.” 

As if the Goddess heard her inner plea for help, Aisha threw open the guild hall doors. “Alright, where the hell is he!?” she yelled as she locked eyes with Zycor. 

Aisha stormed over and exclaimed, “Alright moron, we’re going out on the shopping day you owe me!” 

Aislin let out a sigh of relief, “Oh thank the Goddess. Yes, please take him, he needs to get out.” 

“But,” Zycor began, “What about you? I still have to help you and-.” 

Aislin cut him off, “No no no, you are going to go with her and relax. You are freaking out way too much over this. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine! And besides, this excursion should do you some good as well.” 

Before Zycor could protest further, Aisha grabbed his arm and said, “You heard her! You're mine for the day! Now come on!” 

And with that, Aisha dragged Zycor out of the guild hall. Adria, who had been listening in from the back room came out and asked, “Are you sure sending him out like that was a good idea?” 

Aislin chuckled, “Eh, he’ll be fine. Like I said, he needs this… as do I.”

Zycor, depressed about leaving Aislin, asked, “So, where are we going?” 

Aisha responded, “Well, I was thinking we could stop by a couple clothing shops. There are some outfits I really want to look at, and you could use some more clothes as well. Is that the only clothing you own?” 

Zycor looked at his attire and said, “Yeah, it adjusts to fit me using magic, so I don’t really need anything else.” 

Aisha stared at Zycor, dumbfounded. “Alright,” she began, “I now know our objective for today.”

“And, what would tha-,” Zycor was cut off by Aisha as she exclaimed, “We are getting you actual clothing!”

Zycor and Aisha then proceeded to go around the shopping zone of the south-eastern district. Aisha tried on a few clothes, but mainly played dress up with Zycor, making him try on a lot of different outfits from many different shops. 

As Aisha and Zycor were walking to their next stop, Aisha smiled and remarked, “You know, I heard there is a really awesome clothing shop in the north-western district. We totally have to go there next time.” 

Zycor began to feel better as he watched Aisha enjoying herself, even cracking a small and brief smile. “You are having a lot of fun with this, huh?” Zycor asked, in a much better mood. 

Aisha replied, “Yeah, and I’m happy to see you are finally back to some form of normalcy.” 

Feeling embarrassed, Aisha tacked on, “About time you stopped acting like such a baby, you idiot.” 

Zycor thought about Aisha's comment about the north-western district, and realized he had no idea what she was talking about. “Hey Aisha,” Zycor began, “what did you mean by ‘the north-western district’?” 

Confused, Aisha repeated, “Well, I meant the north-western district…” 

She took a moment to process what he was asking. Aisha continued, “Wait, do you not know what a district is?” 

Zycor shook his head, “No, I only learned my way around the general area around the guild, and the way to and from the mountains.” 

Dumbfounded yet again, Aisha sighed, “Well, it looks like it is up to me yet again to teach you about the world. Honestly, you would think Adria, Aislin, or someone at the guild would think that this is important to teach a kid, especially a young adult.” 

Aisha took a deep breath and started, “Ok, listen up Zycor, I refuse to repeat myself. The city of Abros is split into five separate districts. The main district inside the circular walls right in the middle of the city is the trade district. That’s where all of the imported goods are brought to be processed and then distributed to the other districts. It is also where all exports are processed and shipped out to the western bay harbor. Outside of the main district are the north-western, north-eastern, south-western, and south-eastern districts. There are not really any main differences between these districts, they all have relatively the same shops with a few exceptions. The city is just so large, having it divided up makes getting to shops far easier for residents than needing to travel across the city. Though, some districts are known for having better quality wares than others, such as the clothing from the north-western district I was talking about earlier. You get all that?”

Zycor remained silent for a while. As Aisha’s patience was about to run out, he responded, “Yes, I understood… most of it… probably.” 

Aisha stared at him, turned around and sighed as she resumed their stroll, “Well, good enough I suppose.” 

Aisha and Zycor continued their shopping day, hitting a few more stores. They purchased food from some vendors, and Aisha prevented Zycor from engaging in fights more than she should have needed too. As they walked through the town, Zycor happened to see a map of the continent and asked, “Hey Aisha, this is a map of the continent right? Where are we on it?”

Aisha dragged her hand down her face. “You would think at some point, I would stop being surprised by the utter lack of parenting. And yet, here we are,” she muttered. 

“Well,” Aisha continued, pointing at the kingdom in the middle of the map, “This area here is the remnants of an ancient kingdom, and is in the middle of the continent. All that’s left of that kingdom is the grand city of Torvalla.” Aisha dragged her finger to the kingdom to the right, “This is the kingdom of Muthgrad, where we are currently.” She dragged her finger to the south-western part of Muthgrad, by the bay, “ And this is the city we are in right now, Abros.” 

Zycor, amazed at how Aisha’s knowledge, said, “You’re incredible, You know so much.”

Aisha, whose ego got a large boost from Zycors comment, responded, “Well, of course I do! Who do you think I am!? Hahaha!” As she laughed, Aisha thought to herself, ‘He must never know this kind of information is common knowledge.’ 

“Alright,” she started, “Time to move on!” 

Zycor spoke up, “Actually, there is something I would like to do. Would you mind if we stopped by the guild hall so I can drop off these things and grab my gauntlets?”

Confused, Aisha questioned Zycor, “Why do you need your weapons? I thought Miss Adria banned you from training? If she finds out you were even attempting too, she would have your head along with mine for not stopping you.” 

Zycor shook his head and assured Aisha, “It’s not for training. After the incident a few days ago, my gauntlets are a bit worse for wear, so I wanted to take them to get looked at and repaired.”

Aisha finally relented, “Well, if that’s all, I suppose it’s fine.” 

The two made their way back to the guild hall to store their spoils of the day. When the two arrived, Adria turned around and cheerfully said, “Welcome back you two! I hope you had fu-.” Adria paused as she was met with Zycor covered from pretty much head to toe with bags and clothing. Adria chuckled, “Well, it seems like I worried over nothing. You two seemed to have enjoyed yourselves. Though, what are you two doing back so early? You have a bit more time I believe.”

“We are here to drop this stuff off and pick up my gauntlets. I was going to bring them to get looked at and hopefully repaired. Is that ok, mom?” 

Adria sighed and, reluctantly, said, “I suppose that is fine. However, If I so much as hear a rumor about you using them to train… Well, I will have to discipline you. Are we clear?”

As Adria’s oppressive and authoritative aura loomed over him, Zycor quickly responded, “Yes ma’am.”

Adria waved them off as they left. “Well, it’s nice to see that he is doing better,” Adria commented. 

Aislin, who walked out of the guild hall to see them walking away, responded, “Yeah, that, and I finally have a break. Goddess, I love the kid but he needs to learn that apologizing too much cheapens its value.” 

In agreement, Adria said, “Someone really should talk to him about that.” 

Aislin and Adria looked at each other and looked back to the two, who were almost out of sight. Adria turned to head back inside as she waved her hand, “Eh, Aisha will take care of it. She’s a good girl.”





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