Shades of the New World

Chapter 213: A small misunderstanding

Evin got rid of his illusions and entered an empty hat shop. The shopkeeper seemed to be a bald old man, who was deeply engrossed with a hat on his desk. Hearing the door open, he looked over and found Evin.

"Are you lost, little boy?" he said, an awfully fake smile on his face.

"I wanted to buy a hat, and I was wondering if you could help me," Evin replied, sounding as mature as he could.

"Really? And tell me, with what are you going to buy any hat?" the old man replied, with a cynical, almost mocking smile on his face.

'Shit, I'm really glad I didn't go physically old as a spirit,' Evin thought, but decided to be patient with the elder. He was sure any other store would treat him the same, unless he flaunted his Mage Seal around. 

"Please don't worry about money," Evin said and brought out a sack of golden coins from his Storage Ring and jingled it a bit.

The old man's face turned serious after seeing the magic that Evin performed and put down the hat he was working on.

"What kind of hat are you looking for, young mage?" he asked, all serious now.

"One for a 14 or so year old girl and another girl between who's either 11 or 12, I can't quite remember," Evin said.

"Is that so, then may I interest you in this hat over here," the old man began to talk, flaunting his extensive knowledge of hats. 

The old man was almost abnormally fashion savvy and was extremely helpful to Evin who was like a caveman compared to the old man when it came to matters of style.

In the end, he bought something akin to a white muffin hat for the Olevyn, a black cotton bonnet for Arelyn and headed towards the Earl's mansion.

'Finally'

Although Evin's incident with the girl took some time, it was still the afternoon, so he could definitely pay a visit to the Earl's mansion before the day ended. At worst, he could set up an appointment for later.

A few minutes later he appeared in front of the Earl's mansion. 

But he could notice that something was different this time: the mansion seemed completely empty and unattended. He knew that the servants of the Earl couldn't be called the best around town, but they at least pretended to work in front of the Earl himself. 

'Surely, the Earl wouldn't let things get to this state,' Evin walked towards the mansion's gates, wondering what happened.

Sure enough, the doors were locked shut and Evin couldn't hear a single sound coming from inside the property.

He searched around for a guard and asked about the Earl's whereabouts.

"Oh, the Lord's moved to outside the city, to his winter mansion," the guard explained and told Evin that it was on the outskirts of the forest.

Evin didn't wish to waste any time so he promptly made himself invisible and flew towards said mansion. Twenty minutes later, he found the place hidden behind a thick group of trees, surrounded by a large fence.

As he was thinking why would anyone prefer to spend winter in the forest instead of the town, he saw an array of Earthen needles flying at his way with respectable speed. It wasn't anything too special, so Evin could understand that it was just a warning shot.

'Hmm,' Evin thought and dove down to dodge. He then activated his eagle eyes to see who was firing at him and saw a short ashen-haired man, standing under a tree, glaring at him with a pair of deeply judging eyes. Evin didn't bother to throw any spells back and simply flew towards an open area, keeping an eye on the mage who just targeted him.

The other didn't seem interested in bombarding Evin anymore, perhaps learning that Evin was interested in talking things out. 

Evin landed on the ground and removed his illusions and walked towards the direction of the mansion, expecting the mage to come and greet him. Just like he imagined, the mage came over on a floating rock platform, with two other mages floating next to him: a droopy-eyed middle-aged woman with ponytails and a young male with a sharp chin who was riding on a rock platform as well.

Evin took another good look at the man in the middle with his eagle eyes and saw that the man was somehow managing to meet his eyes head on.

'Can he actually see my features?' Evin thought and noted down the man's appearance in his head: short ashen hair: sharp, almost hollow eyes, a slightly curved longsword on his side and an array of pellets constantly floating near him.

"State your business," the young mage asked after coming close enough to Evin. At least the man wasn't treating him like a child, so Evin could be happy about that.

"I'm here to deliver a personal item to Earl Borna," Evin said, not wishing to tell them that it was a letter describing a spell.

"And what would that personal item be? A knife to his damn throat?" he continued his questions.

"This is just a misunderstanding," Evin calmly denied the accusation.

"Then why would you fly at the mansion, disguised under an illusion?" the young man asked again.

"I don't like attention, so I usually move about like this. If you don't believe me, you can check my Seal," Evin replied perfunctorily and waved his Mage Seal in the air. 

"A Northerner?" the man in the middle muttered, reaffirming Evin's suspicions about the man's incredible eyesight.

"My mother's from the North, but I was born in the town close by," Evin explained.

The man paused a bit, unhurriedly eyeing Evin with silence. Evin didn't mind the pause, but he was ready to fight if the need came to be. A while later, the man in the middle spoke:

"So be it. But you can't meet the Earl today, you need to announce your arrival at least three days in advance."

"Alright, then I'll come back in three days, is that fine?" Evin asked.

"You want us to act as pageboys to do your bidding?" the young man snorted.

"Sorry, uh, should I fly over to the mansion and tell them that I'll be coming back in three days, then?" Evin asked, genuinely confused about what he was supposed to do.

The droopy-eyed female smiled a bit, and replied in the group's stead.

"We'll inform the Earl about your arrival in three days, don't worry about it. Though, who should I refer when I speak to him?" she offered and brushed off the glare from the other mage.

"Eviendra. If he doesn't remember me, then perhaps Bellaslayn will," Evin said, receiving a knowing smile from the female.