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THE following day, a fresh breeze rustled the curtains in Olivia’s room as she bustled busily about getting ready to leave. She had on a white blouse and a navy skirt that was a little more casual than what she usually wore. Standing in front of the mirror, she pulled on a navy hat and tinted sunglasses to finish her disguise.
Yeah, that’s good. I wouldn’t even recognize myself.
The day before, after returning from Sally’s, Olivia stopped by the Artificers Guild.
“Could I have the names and locations of all the magic item shops in the capital specializing in magic jewelry?” asked Olivia.
She kept saying she wanted a signature product you couldn’t find anywhere else, but she didn’t actually know what other shops had as their signature product—therefore, it made sense to go looking.
“Just a moment,” replied the bespectacled clerk. She flipped through a heavy registry book and jotted down the list of names before handing the piece of paper to Olivia. “These are all the magic jewelry shops in the capital.”
Olivia took the paper and looked it over. “There are four?”
“Yes. Two are men’s only, and the other two offer both men’s and women’s jewelry.”
Olivia thanked the clerk and left. Based on the list, the four shops were scattered around the capital in all directions. Considering Olivia’s penchant for getting lost, making it to all of them seemed a challenging task.
But then, a helping hand came from an unexpected place.
“I can accompany you if you’re going tomorrow,” offered Rose since she was so familiar with the capital.
The pair visited Gordon’s office and requested permission to work outside the shop for the day, which was how they ended up conducting their market research day and the need for a disguise.
Olivia spun in front of her mirror. She’d changed her appearance so the artificers of the other shops didn’t recognize her, but it was odd how she looked like a completely different person with a hat and tinted glasses. She was in high spirits, perhaps because she was doing something she usually didn’t.
Hee-hee, I’m kinda looking forward to this now.
There was still some time before meeting with Rose, but she couldn’t sit still. Instead, she left her room, locked the door, and skipped down the stairs in a rhythm.
Once on the second floor, she peeked into the magic jewelry showroom. There wasn’t anyone in as the store wasn’t open yet, and the morning light filtered softly into the shop. Olivia quietly entered and stood in the center, where she spun around, looking at everything around her. She saw display cases, polished essentially every day, and shelving on the walls, neatly organized for ease of use.
I can’t believe that in three months, I’m going to be leaving this place to work in another shop.
As that thought flitted through her mind, she heard the sharp click of narrow heels coming up the stairs behind her. She turned and saw Rose in a white hat and aqua-colored dress with a white purse in hand.
She smiled softly. “Good morning, Olivia. I thought you might be here when I heard footsteps on the second floor.”
“Good morning. I came down early. I was feeling restless.”
Rose gave a ladylike chuckle. “Well, it is a little early, but shall we discuss today’s plans?”
“Yes, let’s.” Olivia reached into her bag for the map of the capital she had prepared last night and unfolded it on the counter. “According to the worker at the Guild, there are four shops in the capital specializing in magic jewelry. I’ve marked them with circles.”
Rose murmured in thought as she followed along between the circles on the map with a manicured finger. “They’re quite spread out. The clientele and shop atmosphere will be fairly different because of that too.”
Olivia nodded. She was certain they’d be able to see all sorts of different signature items.
The two continued discussing the best route and settled on starting from the shop furthest out of the center of the city and working their way in. They went downstairs and stepped out of the shop into bright sunlight and a pleasant spring breeze.
“Let’s go to the horsebus stop,” suggested Rose.
They walked down the bustling street to the horsebus stop, then waited for a few minutes beneath the blue sky before an eight-person horse-drawn carriage with a sign saying “City Center<->South” pulled up.
Olivia peered inside and saw one man sitting there. “Good, there’re open seats. Let’s get on.”
“All right.”
They paid the driver, climbed in, and sat together by the window. Their conversation wandered from topic to topic as Olivia inattentively watched the sights pass by outside. The bus crossed a large stone bridge over the river running through the capital, which was when Olivia noticed that the buildings tended to be shorter.
“This is probably the area we want,” pointed out Rose. She requested the driver to stop, and the two disembarked on a fairly wide street flanked by two-story buildings.
Olivia pulled the map from her purse, which Rose opened.
“Hm. If we go straight this way, we should see it on our right,” Rose explained. She set off with the map in one hand, and Olivia followed shortly behind, her head turning this way and that as she took in her surroundings.
It was a crowded street, bursting with life and lined with eateries, clothing shops, and general goods stores that felt friendly and inviting.
The mood is really different from the main thoroughfare with all its famous shops. I think we’ll see some completely different items here.
They walked on, anticipation building in her chest.
After some time, Rose stopped and announced, “Found it.” She pointed to a shop further along. “That’s it.”
It was a cute little magic item store. The sign above the door read “Dicke Magic Jewelry.”
I like the feel of this place.
With that thought, Olivia followed Rose across the threshold into the store where a surprisingly large showroom opened in front of her, filled with display cases and counters.
There were several customers inside, listening to employees in brown uniforms.
Olivia peered into a nearby display counter.
The jewelry on display is on the lower end in terms of cost bracket. I wonder if they have many unique pieces.
They wandered along with eyes peeled when a bubbly worker with orange hair approached them with a smile. “Welcome! Are you looking for anything in particular?”
“We are. We heard you have a famous signature item. We were hoping to see it,” explained Rose with a quick glance at Olivia to check she was saying their rehearsed script correctly.
“This way, please!” answered the worker, and she showed them to a display case on a raised area in the center. “These earrings with blue stones are our signature item!”
“What sort of stone is that?” asked Olivia.
“Sky shine stone! The owner was born in a neighboring country and acquired the stones through his connections there. They’re incredibly rare, and you can only get them here!”
Olivia slipped her tinted glasses low and looked closely at the earrings. The worker was right about the stone; Olivia had never seen it before.
They asked a few more questions, then told the worker they’d think about the earrings and left.
As they walked to the horsebus stop down the road, Rose questioned, “What did you think?”
“Well…” began Olivia, thinking. “I think it was a very good signature item. The fact that they’re the only place you can buy them in the capital is a strong selling point.”
“And there are quite a few people who like rare magic stones.”
“I also liked the calm atmosphere inside.”
“Me too. I liked that shop.”
They exchanged opinions as they waited at the stop, then boarded the bus and headed toward the northern part of the city.
In complete contrast to the previous shop, this one was glittering with gold and located on a huge street lined with tall buildings. The door and window frames were painted gold, and there was a mannequin in the display window covered head to toe in magic jewelry.
Rose looked up at the shop’s sign and murmured with curiosity, “This is quite flashy.”
“It is. It feels like the epitome of a high-end shop.”
Rose led them into the store, where the first thing they saw was a shining wall of gold. The gilded shop was quite large inside, filled with rows of display counters decorated with gold in addition to the gold shelves along the walls.
Wow. Everything is shiny and gold.
While the two stood there, overwhelmed, a woman with large gold earrings approached them. “Welcome. Can I help you find anything?”
“Yes, actually. The talk of the town is that your signature item is incredible, so we came to see it,” Rose told her.
The woman smiled. “Oh, how flattering! Of course, this way, please.”
She led them to a display case on a dais and smiled as she reached inside with bright red tipped fingers. “This is our signature item: a gold ring.”
It was a chunky ring that looked like a snake wrapped around a skull with a large crimson stone set right in the middle.
Olivia nearly gasped in surprise. She’d never seen such a unique ring.
The woman smiled and held the ring out to Rose. “Please, try it on.”
Rose grimaced ever so slightly as she slipped it on her finger. “It is incredible, but maybe a bit too much of a statement for me to pull off.”
“That’s not true at all,” countered the woman. “It looks great on you. You look very stylish.”
Olivia chuckled secretly to herself at the expected sales pitch. Rose looked apologetic as she responded, “I’m sorry. I just think it’s out of my budget…”
They were at the point where they were trying to use the lack of money as a reason to leave, but the smiling woman wouldn’t let them. She doubled down. “This piece is so popular you might not have another chance to buy it even if you do decide to later.”
Olivia felt put off by the saleswoman’s overbearing attitude. Rose gave a strained smile and turned her down with another, “I’m sorry.”
With a look of disappointment, the woman showed them out. Once outside, the two of them let out sighs.
“That was something else,” let out Rose.
“I was shocked. Her persistence…”
Rose looked at Olivia’s expression of surprise and chuckled. “It was interesting, however. I’ve never seen a piece of magic jewelry quite like it.”
“Me neither. It left a huge impression, that’s for sure.”
After that, they took a lunch break at a café before heading to the two remaining shops in the afternoon.