"What's this, then? Is this the rare item that you want tested out, Khalash Saton?" Houren asked; he had grown accustomed to calling Mr. Khalash Saton by his full name, it just rolled off the tongue better than Mr. Saton or just Khalash, the latter form of address could be seen as rude too due to the great age difference between the two of them. Houren was fine with making the extra effort to say the man's name though, he considered them, at this point, to be fairly close, maybe not as platonic friends but in the way that Houren's occasional visit seemed to make Khalash Saton happy, as though he were being visited by a grandson.
"You've got a reasonable eye, Vanadis, aye you do," Khalash Saton began to stroke his chin as though he had given an eye transplant to Houren a few years prior and this was the reason why Houren seemed to be so perceptive. "In any case, I want you to take this sword and go downtown to find this lad named Tyler. I want you to test this weapon against him, and tell me how it goes. I want to make sure it's not faulty; can't be too careful after what happened last time, don't you agree?" he gave the Fire Dragon Slayer an uncharacteristic wink. Of course, this was almost like some sort of inside joke between the two of them now since Houren seemed to be the one that ended up helping Khalash Saton whenever he was in a spot of trouble. For example, when Khalash Saton needed to go deep into the forest to get some herbs from an old hermit who happened to be an old acquaintance of his, Houren was the one he had sent although he had been duly rewarded for his service on that occasion. Then, when Khalash Saton needed help with brewing some potions, Houren had come to the call once again, helping him with creating the potion and even getting a taste of it as well. Then, when Khalash Saton was going somewhere to find new wares for his store, Houren had been tasked with being its vendor for the day and defending it from thieves. And then the next request, which would have been around a few days ago, when Khalash Saton had ended up purchasing a bootleg or faulty uncommon item, it was Houren who had managed to receive the refund for him. In other words, Houren had proven himself to be a reliable man, and Khalash Saton seemed to trust him a great deal.
In any case, Houren decided to take the man's deal at face value, and took the package in his hand, knowing immediately that it was a sword just by feeling it and by examining its shape. Apparently, his job was to go to town and find a guy named Tyler and fight him with this sword. Tyler would be using a fairly weak sword, a common item if you will, so if this supposedly rare sword were to be destroyed when going up against Tyler's supposedly common weapon, then Khalash Saton would obviously reach the conclusion that this one was faulty, just like the uncommon weapon that he had gotten a while ago. Of course, it wasn't unreasonable for Khalash Saton to be so cautious, especially not after he had already been sold a faulty good. A light bulb went off in Houren's head, and he couldn't help but wonder whether Khalash Saton had actually purchased this ''rare'' sword weapon from the same guy as before, and that was why he was being so cautious about it. In any case, Khalash Saton did not know that Houren had threatened the guy in order to get the refund, so likely, he wouldn't attempt to scam Khalash Saton anymore. The Fire Dragon Slayer from Fairy simply shrugged his shoulders though as he unwrapped the weapon, before wrapping it again since it would have been weird if he was caught holding this kind of thing in public. He gave Khalash Saton a reassuring thumbs up as he set off to find Tyler, and best him with this new sword
Khalash Saton left Houren with one last warning. "And Mr. Vanadis, my friend, don't think you can get away with stealing that sword, ya hear? I'll know if you don't return it, and I'll know if you replace it with some bootleg, so do me right, aye?" the Fairy Tail mage did not even bother to give that kind of warning a reply, and jaunted out of the door to the town square.
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