Chapter 23: CH. 23 | Lily The Priest

They arrived at a shop that wasn’t too crowded, but not too quiet either. One thing was certain, it wasn’t the same shop Theo had visited when he first bought his gear.

Plenty of different gear types were on display, ranging from light armor to chainmail to thick iron plate. Beyond just armor sets, he also spotted swords in various styles and colors.

Theo often saw adventurers wearing bulky armor to protect themselves. But for some reason, he wasn’t particularly drawn to that kind of gear.

Heavy armor like that was bound to be weighty, stifling, and hard to move around in, especially given that Theo’s build wasn’t exactly suited to carrying something that large.

He figured he’d probably lean toward light armor or chainmail instead, something to protect him from stabs and sword slashes without weighing him down.

"Please! This is all the money I have. I need to buy this priest’s staff, I really need it."

A woman’s voice rang out through the shop. Theo caught a glimpse of her, dressed in a long white robe, the telltale mark of a priest.

The girl had come alone, clutching a broken priest staff and a handful of copper coins.

"No can do," the shop owner answered, "That’s the price, if I lower it, I take a loss."

The man turned his attention to Thalia, who had come in to buy herself a new wand. Theo overheard the shop owner offering a trade in deal for Thalia’s wand, probably figuring her old one could still be salvaged.

"Sure, so how much?" Thalia asked.

"For a mid quality wand, you just need to add thirty copper, while a high quality one would come to fifty copper."

"No need to worry, miss, a high quality wand can cast spells over 500 times, I guarantee it," the shop owner said.

Thalia turned and looked at Theo, "What do you think?"

"If you want something practical and cost effective in the long run, just go with the high quality one," Theo said.

The woman took his advice and bought the wand, paying the extra fifty copper. The shop owner beamed, taking Thalia’s cracked wand along with the money, then headed to the back room.

Meanwhile, Theo came back carrying the gear and weapon he needed. He had no idea how much it would cost, but he made sure this purchase wouldn’t be pulled from the money they’d earned selling the loot items earlier.

As far as he was concerned, that money needed to stay as the party’s fund, meant for the party’s needs and its members in case of emergencies.

In this case, Thalia needed it since she didn’t have any extra money for her own gear.

"Here’s the money," Theo said, handing over the pouch from the earlier sale, which Thalia accepted right away.

"What about you?" Thalia asked.

"I’ll cover mine with my own savings," Theo answered, "Keep that money with you, we’ll use it for the party’s needs later on."

"Okay," Thalia answered.

While the two of them waited for the shop owner, they caught the faint sound of shouting coming from outside the shop. It was loud enough to catch Theo’s attention.

The sound resembled some kind of dispute between a few people, probably scolding that priest girl from earlier for failing to get a replacement for her broken staff.

The shop owner came back with a new wand for Thalia, asking her to hold it. His attention then shifted to the gear Theo had brought over, and he started tallying up the total.

"That comes to eighty five copper total," the man answered.

Theo pulled out his savings and handed it over to the shop owner. The light armor and chainmail weren’t expensive on their own, the real cost came from the black bladed sword Theo had picked out.

Thalia paid for her wand as well. Both transactions went through smoothly, and Thalia even helped Theo strap on his new armor.

Once everything was set, they walked out of the equipment shop with fresh gear and weapons in hand. Thalia turned and suggested they head out for a solo hunt.

"Wait!"

Theo’s attention snapped toward another shop down the row of equipment stores, where a girl in a white robe was being shoved roughly out the door.

People just stood there watching, not a single one of them stepping in to help. Theo shook his head, genuinely baffled by their lack of empathy.

"The priest class always gets pushed around, like they think priests aren’t really needed in a party," Thalia said.

"At least she has a class, unlike me," Theo replied.

Theo acted right away, walking quickly toward the girl to break up the confrontation. Thalia came along too, trying to calm the crying priest girl down.

"Stay out of this, kid!"

"She came into my busy shop and tried to steal a priest’s staff off my display wall," the shop owner insisted.

The young man glanced briefly behind him, noticing the girl’s clothes and body weren’t in great shape, and he found himself wondering just how her party had been treating her.

"Let me buy it, a new priest staff, mid quality," Theo said.

"That comes to thirty copper."

Theo dug into his pocket and took the priest’s staff from the shop owner’s hands. The dispute ended there, and the onlookers started walking away from the scene.

The young man turned to the priest girl and held out the staff to her.

"I heard you needed this. So I bought it for you."

The girl stopped crying, her eyes going wide at the sight of the priest staff in Theo’s hand.

Her hand trembled as she reached out to take it, as if she couldn’t quite believe she was actually getting a brand new staff.

"T-Thank you... I’ll pay you back later."

"By the way, where are your party members?" Theo asked.

"They left me behind since I couldn’t get a new staff," the girl answered.

"Couldn’t any of them buy it for you first? You could’ve just paid them back later," Thalia said. The pink haired girl shook her head.

"We’ve already failed three guild missions in a row, we’ve had to cut back just to afford food. So none of us have any extra money," the girl said.

"I already knew there was no way they’d help me out. So I didn’t bother arguing much," she added.

Thalia stood beside her, offering support too. She glanced sideways at Theo, her eyes seeming to plead for something. Theo went quiet for a moment, then made up his mind to ask the girl something.

"Let me just make sure. You don’t have a party right now?" Theo asked.

The girl looked over and nodded. Theo glanced back at Thalia, then reached out and gently patted the pink haired girl’s shoulder.

"A priest would have a really hard time running missions solo. We’re a newly formed party. We’ve only just finished our first guild mission," Theo said.

"Right now it’s just me and this girl. I’m Theo, and this is Thalia."

"So, would you want to join my party?" Theo asked.

The pink haired girl went quiet for a moment, glancing back and forth between Theo and Thalia. Right as she was about to answer, her voice caught in her throat when someone shouted her name.

"Hey, Lily!"

"Did you get that priest staff yet? Let’s go hunt!"

A man in light armor called out to the pink haired girl, whose name turned out to be Lily. Lily started trembling, her voice hoarse, her expression strange and unsettling.

Without answering Theo’s question, Lily ran off with her head hanging low. But right before reaching her group, she glanced back and looked at Theo one last time.

"There’s a good chance she’ll never pay you back," Thalia said.

Theo let out a short breath, arms crossed, his sharp gaze fixed on their retreating figures, "I don’t know... but something about the way she acted felt off. It’s gotta be tied to that party."

"Should we follow them?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah. I want to know what’s going on with Lily."