Eva’s hand ghosted over the piece of paper with a familiar style of writing. It had been quite a while since she last visited him but the odd merchant was still one of her favorite person to work for in Magnolia. Khalash had put up another request, this time for an assistant and no other details were given. She wondered if he wanted someone to look after his shop again or maybe it was to gather more ingredients. Shrugging, Eva ripped the paper off the request board before walking down the familiar road towards Khalash’s shop. It was a warm day again, summer baring its fangs on the people below.

Thanks to the hot days getting hotter and hotter, some of the smarter people had started setting up small stalls in the streets selling cold drinks and ice cream, something that Eva bought on her way to her job of the day. She got an ice cream in vanilla flavor, slowly savoring the cold, sweet taste of it as it went down her throat. Even she was turning into a child in the summer hear, Eva sighed.

“Khalash san! You here?” she called out, pushing the door open to simply let her head in to peek inside the well kept shop. As expected, the old wizard was behind his counter, polishing something with great care, so much so that he didn’t even notice Eva until she went up to the counter and placed a hand on it. “Uwah!” he jumped back, looking up with widened eyes at an equally confused Eva. “Oh dear!” he wheezed. “You scared me! I’m an old man, you know?!” he scolded but Eva shrugged. “Sorry, what are you working on this time that you didn’t even hear me calling out for you?” she asked, leaning over the counter to peer down at the weird piece of metal that he was polishing just before she got there.

“Ah, by any chance, are you here to be my assistant?” he asked, sighing in relief when Eva nodded affirmative. “Oh, it’s good that it’s you then. You are a Rune Knight, aren’t you?” he asked again, gesturing Eva to follow him to the back room. He didn’t forget to close the shop and flip the sign to “Closes” before he followed her to the back room where Eva found, to her amazement, a fairly sized shield in blue and golden colors. “This was entrusted to me by the council to make. I say it needs to be tested but this old man is in no shape to actually test it out,” he spoke, tugging at his white beard in thought. “This is where I need you,” and Eva could already guess what she was going to do now. “Ah, Am I going to be your guinea pig again, Khalash san?” she asked, chuckling as Khalash laughed along with her. “Don’t worry. I take pride in all the things I make,” he told her and took the shield off the racks, handing it to Eva.
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They went out the backdoor towards an open space behind the shop. “Alright, I’m going to fire one of my best spell at you. Make sure you defend yourself or you might end up getting burnt,” he warned Eva, all in good humor as Eva took the shield. She felt its weight in her hands, moving them up and down as if to gauge its worth. It felt light in her hands. In fact, she didn’t feel the weight of a normal shield on it at all.

“Are you sure this thing is safe?” she asked him, not wanting to get hit with something she can’t recover from. “Of course it is!” he huffed. “I made it myself,” he said proudly and lifted his staff, magic power pooling beneath him. Eva shrugged. She wasn’t quite sure that it would work but it was worth a shot.

As Khalash pointed his staff at her and shot a fireball at her, Eva reflexively brought the shield up, bending her knees to prepare for the force that could push her back. But it never came, much to her surprise, the shield had absorbed the magic along with the impact of it, keeping Eva as safe as a button behind it. She inspected the shield. “Not even a scratch. I didn’t know that you could make such useful stuff, Khalash san,” she told him, handing over the shield to the proud old man that petted it with glee.

“It’s one of my best work,” he said, moving backwards and standing with it placed in front of him. “Now I want you to shoot me with your best spell,” he challenged Eva who agreed with a wide grin on her face. Eva was definitely not the best offensive mage in Fiore but she still had spells that could help her out in sticky situations. She took a couple of steps back, letting her own magic power flow over her. The winds picked up as she shot a stream of wind up the shield that Khalash put up. Unlike the last time, her spell did force Khalash back a few steps but the shield was left unscathed. It got a couple of scratches but that was all there was to it.

“Wow,” Eva was impressed. “You said you are making that for the council?” she asked, running a hand over the metal that barely suffered a scratch from her attack. “Yes, I’m guessing that you’ll get to use it as a Rune Knight at some point,” he confirmed and Eva nodded, happy that might get to use it for herself soon. “Well, thanks for the help. You can go now. I still have a shop to run,” the old man handed over the rewards, walking back into his shop with Eva following. He placed the shield back down on its rack carefully and went back to open the shop. Eva bid him farewell with a smile as she went out, barely tired from the work she did. She decided that she might as well get some more ice cream and get to another job.

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