A Journey through Kingdoms

CHAPTER 16- GEMSTONE

"Hmm..." Derrick hums in thought as he inspects an object in his hands while he walks through the city. "What's that?" Tetsuga asks as he walks right beside him. Looking perplexed as well, but not because of the object in Derrick's hands. "It's a gemstone. I found it back when we were searching for Gerald, and I accidentally dropped a vase with it inside," Derrick explains to him as he flips it around a bunch, showing off every angle of it. The gem stone was maroon red, with cracks and scratches lining its body. Despite the sun shining down upon it, the gem seemingly didn't glow at all. As if eating the rays up completely. "Y'know, you should really warn people when you drop things accidentally next time," Tetsuga says as he stops looking at the gem stone and looks back forward. His statement puzzled Derrick for a quick second as he tried to understand the logic behind it. "Anyways, what're you going to do with that thing? Are you going to make it into a potion? Or maybe turn it into a thingamajig?" Tetsuga inquires about Derrick's plan for it as he assumes possibilities. "Oh, I won't be doing any of those. I'm going to sell it!" Derrick tells him as he stops walking. Tetsuga does so as well before glancing up to see the local pawnshop in their part of the city district.

"Oh, that's kind of underwhelming. I mean, I would've done the same, but it's surprising coming from you," Tetsuga admits as he and Derrick proceed to enter the shop. The bell above the doorway dingles, alerting the shopkeeper to the two as he turns around to meet them. "Ah, Derrick. Back again, I see. And with a friend no less. That's refreshing to see," the shopkeeper says as he flashes the two a friendly smile. The shopkeeper was an old man. He wore a robe that reached towards his feet, as well as a pair of circular glasses that went well with his silver hair. It was obvious to the two that the man had seen some long years in his life, as the wrinkles on his face wouldn't say otherwise. "Nice to meet you, lad. My name is Ecrucio Dalfinger, collector of rares and goods, and the shopkeeper of this fine establishment." Ecrucio introduces himself to Tetsuga as both shake hands. "Tetsuga. Katsugoyo Tetsuga." He reciprocated before both ended the shake. "You got a lot of stuff here, Ecrucio. Loads of doohickeys and whatnot," Tetsuga commented as he admired the interior of his shop. The walls were lined with swords, shields, and other weapons, while glass shelves were adorned with rocks, minerals, and gems alike. The store was full of variety and colorful items, which intrigued him.

"I do. All of these things you see are items that people have pawned off to me throughout my years in this kingdom. I got so much that my old memory can't keep up with all of it, haha," Ecrucio says as he chuckles. "Anyways, to what do I owe the pleasure of my best customer this time?" Ecrucio states as he meets eye-to-eye with Derrick, who walked up to the counter with a big smile on his face. I am happy to see the old man again. "I'm here to pawn off this red gem that I found!" Derrick exclaims as he shows him the gem he had found back in Solomon's House. The gem didn't look too extravagant; more so, it was mysterious. But this gem had taken the interest of Ecrucio so subtly that you could see his face perk up at the sight of it. "Unfortunately, it's a little cracked and has a lot of scratches on it, so I doubt it'll sell for much," Derrick admits, as he himself could see that the gem didn't look all that expensive. "Could I inspect it for a short while, young man? I'd like to confirm something if you won't mind," Ecrucio asks of him as Derrick happily hands over the gem stone to the old man for inspection. "Sure! Take as long a look as you want!" Derrick exclaims happily. Ecrucio holds it in his hand, while the other goes on to grab a magnifying glass to really see the details of it more fully. While this was happening, Tetsuga was roaming around the shop, taking a closer look for himself at all the things the old man had collected over the years. "Well, I'll be... this is quite the find..." Ecrucio mutters under his breath. After he is done confirming the gem for himself, he places it down on the counter gently and meets Derrick's gaze once again as he strikes up a deal for him.

"I'll give you 13 gold for it. Final offer," Ecrucio says to the boy, who was overheard by Tetsuga, whose head whips around all of a sudden. Surprised at the amount of gold, the old man was willing to pay for the gem. "By Cerion's grace, 13 gold!? That's so much!" Tetsuga yells from his spot, while Derrick was a little hesitant to take the offer. "Are you sure, Mr. Dalfinger? That's awfully high of a price for this," Derrick tried to say. I want him to reconsider, but he gets his mouth covered by Tetsuga, who comes 'to the rescue' as one could say. "I think what Derrick meant to say is that he'll gladly accept the offer!" He then spoke on behalf of the boy as he flashed the old man with a toothy smile. "Haha! Then it's settled then." Ecrucio spoke as he opened a drawer that held all of the shop's earnings and plucked down 12 gold coins onto the counter for the two to collect. "It was truly a pleasure doing business with you two," Ecrucio said with a smile as Derrick tried his best to take Tetsuga's hand off his mouth, which wouldn't budge an inch. Eventually it did, but what he wanted to say was already way past the window as the two were now outside of the shop. Walking away as they spoke. "Are you sure we should take all this money for that gem?" Derrick inquired, as he was very much doubting the value of the gem despite being a connoisseur of rocks, minerals, and gems alike. "Are you kidding me, kid? Do you know how much you can do with 13 gold!?" Tetsuga exclaims as he looks at Derrick with a dumbfounded expression. "Besides, if old man Ecrucio was willing to pay that much for that gem, then it must've had some hidden value in it that we didn't notice ourselves," Tetsuga tells him as he ruffles his hair with his hand.

"I guess there's some logic in that," Derrick says, who now has messy hair. "Don't beat yourself up about it, kid. Tell you what? How bout we celebrate in the tavern! You and me!" Tetsuga tries to suggest to the boy, who politely declines the offer. "Sorry, Mr. Tetsuga, but I can't today. I have to get back to my lab. I have a project that I've been itching to do!" Derrick tells him as Tetsuga sighs as his chances at having Derrick buy him free drinks were now a no-go. "Oh well. I was going to go there anyway," Tetsuga says. "Then I wish you luck! Hopefully Mr. Cornwall doesn't challenge you again for another drinking battle," Derrick says as Tetsuga immediately shakes his hand in seriousness. "Like, I'll let that son of a gun beat me at my own game!" Tetsuga exclaims. After their little talk, the both of them waved each other off as they went their separate ways for the day. Derrick is heading back to his lab outside the city while Tetsuga heads to the Tavern, where he can continue to drink the day away. But as he walked, he then patted himself down and realized that his satchel was not on him currently, which was very detrimental to his needs since it had all his money in it. "A crab nugget! I forgot my money! I do not want to work another shift again!" Tetsuga says to himself as he makes a 180 and tries to head back to the inn where he had left the satchel. But before he could take off into a dash, he almost bumps over someone, but luckily stops himself from hitting them in his hurry. "Woah! Sorry about that. I almost hit you there!" Tetsuga spoke as he rubbed the back of his head.

"It's all fine. But, while I still have you with me, could you perhaps point me in the direction of the local tavern here?" The man asks of him. which Tetsuga happily obliged, as he immediately pointed in the direction of the tavern. "Go straight there and take a left, then a right, then take another left at the second turn. Big sign on it, can't miss it, Tetsuga tells them as they take note of it mentally. "Thank you," he says formally. "Though, I do have to ask. Aren't you a little overdressed for a tavern? Are you rich or something?"Tetsuga inquires as they go to fix their cufflinks. "Well, I'm only there for a visit. I don't tend to mingle with the barbarian kind." They say a little rudely, which Tetsuga didn't really take into account as he leaves it as a passing comment. "Weird way to put it, but to each their own. Good luck with that, I guess!"Tetsuga then says farewell to the man as he proceeds to rush past him to make his way back to the inn for his stuff. The man glances at him as he disappears after making a right turn. Once he is gone, the man takes his sights back onward as he continues walking. After walking a fair bit, an armored knight spots him and proceeds to salute his presence. "Good day, Royal adviser Blackwell!"They say, revealing the man to be Mortimer Blackwell. "At ease," he tells the knight, who relaxes their stance before dropping the salute. "May I ask what you are doing out and about in the city, sir?"The knight asked, to which Mortimer responded, "I'm in an important business. Speaking of, I could use a chaperone considering the venue," Mortimer says before muttering to himself. The tavern is full of Rugrats and alcoholics, so if he were to head in alone, then he might as well be at risk of getting hurt, he thinks. "You shall accompany me to my meeting today," he says as the knight salutes once again. "Sir, yes, sir!"

"Good, now follow me," he says. A dark shadow hovers over his eyes as a sinister feeling starts to well up as he walks with the knight trailing behind him.