19 Chapter Five - 2 || Darren (1/2)
She placed the silvern pynce back into her bag and saw that she had five of them. She also saw four smaller silver coins, and two even smaller copper ones. Since the pynce was silver colored, she figured it might be an eythe pynce. So, she took it out and placed it on the man's open palm. The man gave a suppressed snort when he saw the coin.
”This is hathe pynce, princess.”
Essairyn's eyes widened in embarrassment, and she snatched the coin back from his palm. She returned it to the bag and retrieved the copper coin.
”There you go, princess.”
She snapped her head toward the man and glared at him as she handed the coin over to the shopkeeper. She then turned to the stunned shopkeeper, curtly thanked him, spun on her heel and left the stall.
It was a good thing that the money system here followed the value of metals from Earth; otherwise, she would've felt very foolish if the copper coin was yet another missed guess.
The hooded man easily jogged after her.
”As a newcomer, you should be careful with these vendors, princess. They'll spin all sorts of stories to sell something,” he friendly advised.
Essairyn flicked her eyes up at the man for a second and continued speed walking.
”Thanks, I will,” she replied curtly.
”You're welcome, princess.”
”I'm not—” Essairyn began to retort but then cut short when she saw that the man had disappeared from her side. He had left just as suddenly and mysteriously as he had came.
She felt an odd ambivalence rising up from her chest. On one hand, she wanted to swiftly flee the embarrassing scene, but on the other, she wanted to properly thank the man and make his acquaintance.
Even though their meeting was fleeting, he felt uncannily familiar. The more she tried to grasp the impression, the more enticingly it danced away. She stood still for a moment in the middle of the street and then slowly turned and left the market.
The stalls and vendors gave way to quaint stone houses and buildings, and the dirt streets became lined with cobblestone sidewalks. Essairyn treaded attentively along the cobblestone on the left and searched for the Knight Mage Academy regional school.
After a couple minutes, she reached an intersection. She peered down each street, and on the left, she noticed lettering above a door on the right side of the street. It was a few buildings down, and it read, ”The Academy, Reisparte Regional School.”
Just as she began turning the corner, she heard a loud commotion from behind her on the right.
”A man just fell from the sky!” a passerby proclaimed to the surrounding people as he stomped past Essairyn.
She swiveled in the direction he was going and saw the people amass in the middle of the street.
”Is it another traveler? They sure have been appearing frequently,” a woman commented to her friend as they hustled over.
At the mention of traveler, Essairyn rushed over to the growing crowd and nudged her way inside.
”He landed in the middle of town no less!”
”It's a wonder he didn't injure his back falling. Perhaps because he's a traveller?”
”Aww, the poor boy looks so confused. He's rather cute, don't you think?”