A few days later, the trio decided to go to the flagship store of the Mercantile Guild in Moon City to purchase supplies for their long journey ahead. They would depart for their mission tomorrow and it would take them at least five months until they returned to the academy.
Currently, Adam was standing in front of the store's entrance with a complicated expression adorning his face. In front of him, the store employees were carrying large wooden chests and carefully keeping them inside a horse carriage.
These chests contained all sorts of herbalism ingredients as well as material components for all the spells in his arsenal. Moreover, he had also bought a handful of Rank 1 Spells from the store. All of which were quite expensive.
On the one hand, Adam was very happy that he was able to buy so many ingredients for potion brewing. Moreover, he was also looking forward to casting the spells he had bought.
But on the other hand, it pained him to spend so many platinum coins to acquire everything. This was despite him using the crystal card given to him by Edward's father, Viktor, which gave him a flat 35% discount.
However, most of Adam's grievances vanished when he saw one of the store employees carrying a small chest inside the carriage.
"Hehe!" Seeing that, the youth couldn't help but excitedly chuckle. This was a pair of gauntlets that he had just purchased. Although it wasn't a magic artifact, it was made of a strong metal and was very durable.
The gauntlet was the weapon of choice for those who practiced the magic combat technique of the Astral Tyrant Manual!
Adam had already begun strengthening himself according to the instructions of the Astral Tyrant Manual. Moreover, he had also started implementing its combat style in his daily training. He couldn't wait to use it in actual combat.
Just as he was fantasizing about using the metal gauntlets and slaying bad guys, Lisa and Edward exited the store and walked up to him. The latter saw all the boxes full of ingredients and couldn't help but helplessly sigh.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"You bought all these ingredients and material components, yet you didn't buy a single piece of garment."
"Huh?" Adam snapped out of his reverie and asked in puzzlement, "Why do I need to buy clothes? Mine are fine as it is."
Lisa looked at Adam's plain tunic, cotton pants, and bamboo shoes that only commoners would wear and decided to finally speak up about this topic.
"Adam, I know that you don't care about appearances, but as a Magus, you should at least have the decency to dress up nicely. Has it never occurred to you why most Magi you come across look down on you? It's because of the type of clothes you wear!"
"Ugh, you and your Magi standards again." Adam rolled his eyes.
However, Lisa still tried to persuade, "Adam, think about it. If you dress properly, at the very least, you'll look decent and also feel good about yourself. Moreover, others also won't look down on you. Maybe they'll even come to respect you instead."
Adam nonchalantly started digging his nose, completely unmoved. "Who cares about what others think of me? If I want respect from other Magi, I just have to become stronger than them. What's this nonsense about dressing up nice? You must think I'm…"
As Adam went on and on about why he didn't care about appearances, Lisa felt as if her head would explode from anger.
Edward couldn't help but chuckle at Adam's incoming misfortune. He now knew exactly the type of person Lisa was. She was as elegant as they came and cared a great deal about being presentable. Moreover, she was also a clean freak!
"…And that's why you shouldn't bother about appearances." Adam finished his speech and flicked his booger at Edward.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Bastard!" Edward narrowly dodged it and glared at Adam.
Adam simply chuckled and turned back toward Lisa. But what greeted him was a fist.
POW!
Lisa punched Adam in the head, causing him to miserably fall to the ground. "You nasty dog! I've had enough of you!" She viciously grabbed his ear, twisted it, and dragged him across the street. "Come with me this instance!"
Adam kept screaming as he was dragged across the street. Seeing this, Edward couldn't help but laugh in schadenfreude. He instructed his employees to deliver the respective chests to his and Lisa's dorm rooms. Then, he hurriedly followed after his friends.
…
"Huhu, Lisa, If you didn't mention this boy was your friend, I would have taken him to be your servant." A beautiful elf with blonde wavy hair cascading down her shoulders chuckled in amusement.
The elf, Lisa, and Edward were currently inside a luxurious clothing store in North Ward and were sitting by the table and having tea.
Lisa felt embarrassed to even reply. She simply glared at Adam whose body measurements were being taken by a few elven girls in the store. Moreover, it even seemed that Adam was enjoying it as he was constantly blushing while the girls were giggling away.
Edward respectfully replied, "Madam Mira, Adam's very stingy when it comes to such matters. Especially so when you consider how much money he's made as a Herbalist."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Oh?" Mira's interest was piqued. "The human boy is a Herbalist? So young and already so talented. How interesting!"
If earlier she thought that Adam was just another cheap bugger, now after learning that he was a young Herbalist, she only felt that Adam was an eccentric. After all, all Herbalists were.
She got up from her seat and walked toward the youth. "Magus Adam, was it?"
After learning that he was a Herbalist, her attitude toward him changed. After all, Adam was a budding Herbalist and it was always nice to build good relations with people with such sought-after skills.
"Y-Yes Ma'am!" Adam couldn't help but become a little nervous when he saw Mira approach. As an Elf, she was naturally very beautiful and charming.
Mira carefully looked at Adam from head to toe, circling him a few times. This caused the boy to blush intensely. Seeing him act in such a cute manner, the elven girls around him couldn't help but laugh coquettishly.
But Mira acted very professionally. She asked Adam with a smile. "Do you have any preferences in terms of clothing?"
"Y-Yes, black clothes would be nice," Adam replied nervously.
"Hmm." Mira nodded. "Anything else?"
"I'll leave it up to you," replied the youth.
Mira thought for a long time and then smiled. "Very well, I have the perfect outfit for you."
