The merchant sat at the small shop at the end of the long hallway in the smoke mines, daydreaming.
His ears detected a sound, snapping him from his thoughts. Someone's footsteps. From the heaviness of them, he could tell they were the Batter's.
"Ah, hello, my good friend. Are you looking to buy any of my wares?" he said to the purifier.
The Batter shook his head. "No, thanks, Zacharie," he replied.
Zacharie was confused by this. "Then, why do you come here, dear Batter?" he asked the other male.
"Just felt like talking to someone, I guess," he said, his voice as monotonous as normal. The black-haired man just nodded his head. "Alright, then. Let's talk."
The Batter sat there for a while, trying to think of a conversation starter. He never actually talked with someone before, had a good conversation. The most he's ever talked was right before a battle, and that was mostly it.
He got an idea.
"Zacharie, I have always wondered this. Why are you able to hear me so well, even when I am not talking? The smoke mines are always so loud, with the Elsens talking, and the specters moaning, and the screams of newly born Burnts. How are you able to do it?" he asked.
Zacharie raised his eyebrows from behind his mask. He's never been asked a kind of question like this.
He chuckled his infamous little chuckle, before speaking. "It's because my hearing senses have been heightened, you see. I've never told anyone of this, but, I am blind. That is one reason why I wear this mask. See?"
He began to take off the piece of porcelain, revealing his face full of scars and freckles.
The Batter looked at his appearance, then, seeing his eyes, he realized why he hid them.
They were pale, and glossed over, like a blind man's would be.
"I've always figured that many other people would find me vulnerable and pathetic because of my disability," he stated, putting the frog mask back on his face.
"So, that is why I wear it. Now, you know."
Batter took off his hat, and ran a hand through his blond hair. "Wow, that's pretty interesting. You have so many damn mysteries surrounding you, don't you, merchant?" he spoke.
Zacharie nodded. "Yes, I indeed do," he began, "and there are many, many more where that came from."
