A temple, a place usually built to worship divinity or house objects of sacred importance. I have visited quite a few in my previous life, but the one I was standing in front of seemed especially ornate, with architecture reminiscent of greece. I was dressed a lot more noble like, seeing as I was being invited to a meeting in a place that was called the Temple.
I had to ask for help of course to look presentable, and that's where Benno came into play. He helped me pick something out, with a price of course. In order to pay him, I took out a few large gold coins and he seemed immensely satisfied.
I had in my vault space stored a set of papers I needed to give to certain people. As I crossed the threshold, I felt something immense in the air, as if mana seemed to leak everywhere in here, yet was contained in the parameters of the building. 'So magic exists here, I knew from the issue with Myne, but it doesn't seem widespread' I thought.
I then knocked on the door and a person who wore gray priestly robes opened the door. "What business do you have here?" he asked as I showed him the papers with the official seals of each party, mine being a representation of Giants. He looked at it with wide eyes as he ran off, and came back with another grey priest with slightly purple hair.
"Hello, my name is Fran and I will take you to master Ferdinand" he said as he led me off. As we walked, I admired the temples beauty and its construction. As we walked, we passed by a room with a lecturn at the front. The room was composed of stain glass windows, and I could see statues of the gods in a certain order, with the highest elevated being a couple.
"Oh you noticed the room" said Fran as I nodded. "Yeah, its all new to me" I said to him as he looked at me with wide eyes. "You never heard of the gods?" he asked in a low whisper, as if the words he uttered contained a vital secret. "Yeah" I said to him and he looked somewhat disturbed. "Well, allow me to enlighten you, if you don't mind?" he asked.
I nodded and what followed was a seemingly hour long lecture on the creation of the world and the escepades of the gods. My head was swimming with all the information as he stopped in front of a door and told me to wait outside. It was only a few seconds later that he ushered me in.
Inside was a room one could tell was for meeting places. There was sofas, and there was even tea cups and a pot of tea on the table. The room had a few furnishings like a dresser, a table, and lighting which seemed to stem from something in the cieling like a lightbulb.
"Where is Sylvester?" I asked Ferdinand as I sat down on the opposite sofa. It felt suprisingly comfortable and was a dark, gree velvet. "He is occupied at the moment, but he will be here as soon as possible" said Ferdinand as he handed me an object. it looked like a loose bracelet and when I grasped the jewel I felt magic beginning to activate and connect to something in the other persons hands.
"Can you hear me?" asked Ferdinand as I nodded. "Yeah, what's happening?" I asked him as I took notice of grey robed priest preparing tea, and seeing an opportunity, I decided to bring out some special tea. I handed it to the gray robe as he looked at Ferdinand, asking permission through eye contact, and he then began adding the tea leaves which produced a fragrant aroma.
"Quite an unusual smell" said Ferdinand as he took a sip of his tea. His body seemed calm and at ease. "What tea is it?" he asked me as I tried to remember the information I had on it. "Its crystal tear tea, its supposed to enhance magical power and increase growth" I sad to him as his eyes went wide. "Are you serious?" he asked as if he couldn't believe in such a thing.
"Yeah" I said to him as he looked as if he was looking at a mountain of solid gold. "What do you want in return?" he asked me as I looked at him confused. "What?" I said and he looked at me and said "Something like this must have cost a fortune, plus it must be rare" he said and I looked at him wanting to say 'but it came from a vault'.
"look, lets talk about that later" I said to him as he looked unsure but nodded. We waited for a little while until the last member of the meeting came. He was wearing the same blue robes that Ferdinand wore and his purple hair was tied in a low hanging ponytail.
"Sorry Im late" said Sylvester as he sat on the couch with Ferdinand. Ferdinand seemed to ignore his presence while Sylvester seemed to take it as a challenge. "Come on Ferdie" he said, poking him in the side. Ferdinand seemed to have a vein bulging in his head, but he ignored Sylvester.
"Come Ferdie, don't be such a pout" uttered Sylvester as Ferdinand has seemingly reached his limit as he manifested a, wand? He pointed at Sylvester and he was then encased in a shield of wind and was silenced. "Wow" I said looking at the magic performed infront of me. It looked so cool to me, and I wanted to learn it.
"Will you shut it?!" he shouted to Sylvester, his item apparently on the table. "Alright!" said Sylvester as the spell that bound him was released. The situation seemed funny to me so I chuckled a little bit. Ferdinand looked at me with a strange look but sat down as he retrieved his item and gave another one to Sylvester.
"So, lets get to the reason I invited you here" said Sylvester as I nodded. "Your shop has access to unusual places and stuff we could use, so I have an offer" said Sylvester. I was waiting for him to continue, but he seemingly was waiting for my permission, drinking from Ferdinands tea glass as if he owned it.
I nodded, showing him I was willing to continue the conversation and he grinned and asked me "Does your shop have access to things like sugar and those special drinks?". I nodded as he seemingly smiled graciously. "So, we are willing to offer things like gold and even knowledge for some of these special provisions and anything else you might be willing to provide" he said with a wide smile.
"So you want a trading contract with me as a middle man with potential buyers?" I asked him as he nodded. "Yep, we can use your shop to aquire goods from other people, and each party can get a good sum" said Sylvester. There was one thing I did not understand from him, was why he was making a contract like this, was he a lord?
I looked at him and asked "Who are you?". He smiled as if a joke was just made and he laughed so hard he couldn't breathe. "Who am I? I am the duke, the Aub Ahrenfest!" he declared with a theatrical pose and my mouth was now agape, my jaw now slamming onto the floor with a almost audible thud.
'A Duke, a person of high rank just below the king?!' I thought in my mind as It suddenly seemed to short out. I mean, a duke was talking with me and was eating and drinking at my bar. I then looked over at Ferdinand and asked the same question. "Head priest of the Ehrenfest temple" said Ferdinand as my jaw dropped again. 'Okay, I quit' I thought as the meeting was still going on and we agreed to terms.
I figured the meeting would have lasted for a couple hours at most, but it has only been an hour and 30 minutes. "Well, now we just have to wait for a contract" said Sylvester as Ferdinands grey robe, a retainer of sorts, brought out an ornate looking ink pot and parchment paper and a knife.
"So, now we just need to solidify the terms with a magic contract" said Sylvester as he began writing it out, and we began to use this phase to negotiate the terms somewhat, things like me getting a bigger cut of profits and such, which they agreed too and they also didn't mind me probing for knowledge, considering my unique nature.
"Alright, now for the critical part" he said after he finished writing our names on the parchment. He picked up the knife and caused a small slash on his middle finger and rubbed it on his thumb before pressing down on his name. Ferdinand naturally followed, signing as more or less a witness to the agreement.
They then passed the knife to me and I was hesitant on doing it. I then sighed as I had to get it over with for the deal to be officialized between our sides. I held the cool metal blade in my left land and pierced my right middle finger, rubbed blood on the thumb, and pressed it on my written name as I watched it burst into magical flames.
"So cool" I said in a whisper, but I could feel that Sylvester caught the words in his ears. "It is cool, but you will probably be learning about it depending on the information you request" said Sylvester as I nodded. "Well that was all I wanted to invite you over for, so what now?" asked Sylvester as I shrugged.
"Well, we can head back to the pub, or we can just discuss some general stuff about your world" I said to them as Sylvester nodded. We sat there for a couple hours and I then began to head home to the pub. It was nightfall as I approached and I opened the door to a blank space, as if everyone went home.
I climbed the railways and such into the higher floors and opened one, leading to the endless expanse of my home, with the scent of fresh grass and the sounds of gurgling streams being able to be heard. My home was unusual, but I found it endearing. As I walked across the soft expanse, I took of my shoes and decided to sit by the flowing rivers off in nowhere land.
The river felt cool and refreshing, and it felt as if my very spirit was cleansed. "Man, this is the life" I said to myself out loud as I sat there for as long as I could before I decided to enter my house which existed not far from the river, and it was like a big complex consisting of multiple buildings with the center being reserved for the living quarters. I modified it but by bit to my standards until I was happy.
I walked into the center building and I slipped into my comfortable clothes and went to my room which contained an assortment of books I decided to take from the library by using the portal method, which involved conjuring a portal and placing them in the designated spots I wanted them in.
I sat down in my bed and picked up a book. It was a book about swordsmanship that I decided to get reading due to the new sword I had with me. 'Man, life sure is fun huh' I thought as the world entered into night, and gleaming skies with glittering stars was abound. I admired it for a moment before I finished a section of the book.
I then laid my head down, and as I gazed at the night sky that was so rare in the industrial world I thought 'Beautiful'. Then I was claimed by the night and began to sleep peacefully.