Chapter 133: Stop Touching Weird Things

Several people looked toward them. A woman holding a blue potion glanced over. The shopkeeper stopped what he was doing. Someone near the counter looked at Zishan, then at the bottle Ernest was holding.

Ollie leaned down from his shoulders. "Big Brother, what’s an afro—"

"No."

Ollie blinked.

"Don’t finish that word."

Ernest looked like he was about to laugh.

Zishan lowered his voice and stepped closer to him. "You did that on purpose. You didn’t even think there was a child here!"

"I was trying to explain something."

"You were about to give me advice while holding a sex potion in front of half the shop," he grumbled.

"Half the shop only started listening after you shouted."

"Because you wouldn’t put it back!"

The heat crawling up Zishan’s face grew worse. He reached for the bottle, but Ernest moved it away before he could grab it.

"Give me that." Zishan gritted his teeth.

Ernest grinned. "Why?"

"Because I’m putting it back."

"You seem very concerned about where I’d put this potion. You see, I’m also a customer here, so I could hold it for as long as I want, provided that I wouldn’t run away and steal it. You’re supposed to be some medical student or something. You should be more open-minded!"

"I’m just concerned because you’re holding it while talking to me!"

Several strands of Zishan’s white hair slowly started changing near the roots.

The color was faint at first. Then, a soft red appeared through several strands near the front and spread farther while he continued glaring at Ernest.

Zishan had no idea.

But Ernest noticed. His amusement faded enough for him to look more closely. ’His hair...’

The red deepened slightly. Ernest watched it for a moment, then looked at Zishan’s face. Zishan was still arguing about the potion.

Nothing about his expression suggested he knew what his hair was doing.

Ernest considered mentioning it.

Then, Zishan finally snatched the bottle from his hand and shoved it back onto the shelf. "Stop touching weird things."

"You touched it first."

"Fuck you."

Ernest laughed and adjusted his sunglasses again. His eyes then briefly returned to the reddish strands. ’Strange.’

Though after everything he had seen since meeting Zishan, it was not enough for him to start making a problem out of it in the middle of a potion shop.

Zishan walked away while muttering to himself. "If you come near me with another one of those, I’m leaving you here. Crown Marshal or not, I will pretend I don’t know you."

"You’re the one who shouted what it was."

"Stop talking."

Ernest just shrugged his shoulders and followed.

Elinox had seen enough of the exchange to know what they were arguing about, although the potion stopped mattering when Zishan passed her.

Her eyes moved toward his hair. She frowned. By this time, the red was already fading.

’What was that?’ she thought.

Zishan kept walking, picked up another potion, and started reading it, still oblivious to what had just happened to his own hair.

Elinox glanced toward Ernest and caught the slight shrug he gave before she could even say anything. "You saw it too."

"I did."

She frowned and looked back at Zishan, whose hair was already fading back to white. "And you’re just going to ignore that?"

Ernest followed her gaze for a moment. "He clearly didn’t notice it himself, and I have no idea what caused it. Asking him now probably won’t get us anywhere."

Elinox kept staring at Zishan for another second before rubbing her forehead.

Ernest glanced at her. "You sound surprised."

Zishan’s body had already done enough strange things since arriving in the capital. His growth made no sense; his Affinities kept increasing; there had been that pressure that spread across the city after he saw what Ethan had done to Ollie and Silvy, and now his hair had changed color because Ernest embarrassed him with a potion.

"What was that?"

She had no answer.

Zishan did not seem to have one either. Elinox left the question alone for now and returned to the potions.

There were several things here she could actually use, particularly during battles where injuries or foreign Mana could become a problem. She found one mixture designed to slow the spread of certain poisons through the bloodstream, and another meant to help with the internal strain caused by excessive Mana use.

These potions interested her enough that she bought several of them. And while she was deciding between two more, Ollie leaned forward from Zishan’s shoulders.

"Big Brother..."

Zishan was reading another label. "What?"

"I’m hungry..."

Zishan slowly lowered the bottle.

He looked upward.

Ollie was holding the remains of the pastry Elinox had given him earlier. "You’re eating right now."

Ollie looked at the food in his hand before answering, "I’m hungry for something else."

Zishan stared at him for several seconds.

Elinox walked past them carrying the potions she had chosen. "There is another food stall near the entrance. We can go there."

Ollie’s face brightened at once. "Big Sister!"

Zishan turned toward her. "Why would you tell him that after hearing what he just said?"

Elinox continued toward the counter without answering.

Ollie aggressively patted Zishan’s head. "Big Brother, big brother, let’s go there."

Zishan looked toward Ernest for help.

But the old fucking man just smiled.

They left the potion shop after Elinox paid. And as expected, Ollie got more food. Zishan complained about it, then ended up eating some after Ollie offered him a piece.

They continued through the capital, and what should have been a simple walk toward the guild ended up taking much longer than Zishan expected.

He stopped at another Magic Engineer shop because he saw a weapon that looked interesting. Ernest disappeared into an expensive accessory shop and refused to explain what he bought after coming out.

Zishan asked him twice. Then, a third time, because Ernest refusing to answer made him more curious.

Elinox eventually told him to stop.

He did. Well, for the most part, and for the first time in several days, there was no emergency waiting around the corner.

The rest of the walk passed without anything dragging Zishan into another problem. No alarms, no sudden Quest appearing in front of him, and no one rushing over because something had gone horribly wrong somewhere in the capital. Ollie kept finding food, Elinox stopped whenever something caught her interest, and Zishan somehow ended up arguing with both of them over things that did not matter at all.

He had not realized how much he missed something this ordinary until he noticed that he was actually enjoying himself.

After a while, Ernest began steering them away from the crowded commercial streets, and the surroundings gradually changed with them. The shops became fewer, the buildings older, and the people passing by started looking less like ordinary residents and more like the kind who carried weapons because they actually expected to use them.

There were fewer stores meant for ordinary residents and more places selling equipment for people who traveled outside the capital. Weapons, armor, camping supplies, Beast materials and enchanted tools were everywhere, and many of the people walking through the area looked like they had come back from somewhere dangerous, as shown by how rough their weapons had become.

Zishan saw one man carrying what looked like a large horn wrapped in cloth, while another group had several damaged shields stacked together.

There were people who looked like soldiers, although their equipment did not match Olmost’s military uniforms.

’Guild members?’

He was still looking around when Ernest slowed down.

"We’re here," Ernest said.

Zishan looked ahead.

The establishment in front of them was larger than most of the buildings on the street and stood farther back from the road, with a wide stone path leading toward the entrance. The lower part had been built from dark gray stone that looked old enough that countless years of people walking past it had worn parts of the surface smooth, while the upper sections had clearly been expanded more than once.

Some windows were narrow and set deep into the stone.

Others were larger and reinforced with pale metal.

People constantly entered and left through a pair of heavy wooden doors, and they were not all dressed the same either. Zishan saw armored fighters, people carrying staffs, merchants, someone dressed like a scholar, and several groups carrying materials he could not identify.

A crest rested above the entrance. Several circles overlapped around one point and spread outward like ripples moving across water.

Zishan studied it for a moment before his eyes moved toward the name carved beneath it.

’Thousand Echoes Guild.’