“Thanks."

Zanto said to the lady who was carrying an ill smelling basket left her sight. He looked at the crumpled paper on his hand and tried to make sure he was at the right place. A weird sense of worry was creeping inside him which caused him to check the address he got more than necessary for sure. He sighed and fixed his coat that was hanging on his shoulder. "Where the hell is that street." he said bitterly and used his left hand’s bandages to get the very slight amount of sweat which's amount was rising up more than to his liking, despite being really low. He would change the bandages later on.

The streets of Oak were starting to be more and more similar to him, for the past few days he was doing missions and the momentum has helped him feel a bit better than his first days in the town. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the paper once more, and he was glad he did, as this was the exact place he was to turn right into a spiraling alleyway that would look more intimating if it wasn't daylight outside. He continued to walk with the desire to arrive his destination while resuming his paused thoughts at the moment where he checked the address.

Would this town lose it's novelty at some point? Zanto wondered so. The small adventures he had here were making him think about travelling more often, maybe even becoming a nomad of some shorts. But the dream of having a rich life in a guild was also quite alluring to him.

He stared at a brown door with dark red framing, two glass panels separated by wood, a brass handle that was peeling of it's coating, which Zanto grabbed and twisted in order to open the door. A small bell was hung above the entrance of the shop, and let out a small and sharp jingle as the wooden floor boards creaked beneath Zanto’s steps. When Zanto closed the door however, his senses opened up to his new environment, before he could ask to see if anyone was inside, several things assaulted his sense, his eyes teared up from the dust floating all around the shop, taking his sight attention to the books that gained another layer of cover thanks to the canvas of dust on them. The next was his nose, as he took quick sniff due to the strong smell of mixed herbs that teared his eyes up and diluted his irises, he almost felt light headed and had a huge sneeze, that was quickly followed by a loud sound of crashing and a row of swear words that was extremely creative. "W-why." Zanto managed to mumble, questioning the aromatic atmosphere of the magic shop and the noise that came from within.

"Ah hexes..." the old man said grunting, slowly stroking his head that had a red mark on it. "Why would you make such  sudden noise, damn it." he said, giving an angry look towards Zanto. "You are Dr. Stephan." Zanto said, eyeing the guy up and down. "Yes, yes." the doctor spoke. "That's me and you are Xander or whatever." the old man spoke, already giving attention to something else behind his counter, opening and closing drawers at high speed and force. Zanto was confused at the wording of his name and looked at the ceiling blankly for a few seconds to understand what was going on. "Zan... Xander.. Xandy?" he asked and then tilted his head with a sour face. "It's Zanto you old fart." he muttered, his face showing more weird amount of annoyance than anger. "Yeah whatever, I'm your boss for a while so don't call me that." the doctor said and then went "A-ha!" as he showed his face again, raising up from behind his counter. "Here, look at this." the old doctor said, pointing a piece of paper towards Zanto, that described the mushroom he had to find with a sketch.

After looking at the paper and discussing the price with the doctor, Zanto had to leave for the outskirts of the town to find the mushrooms his client doctor was looking for. He sighed as he fastened his steps. He wanted to be done as soon as possible. "Illegal mushroom, huh." he muttered as he walked. The air was getting cold so he out on his coat to take caution, and reached the outskirts of the town. It couldn't be that hard, right? He had quite the details about the mushroom so...

It was hard.

"The fuck is this." Zanto complained. That wasn't suppose to happen, no? There were so many mushrooms, all so similar. He could notice slight differences here and there but even then it would require some good amount of time to truly realize which mushroom was the right one. He didn't have any initial care for the old man and his job but... the problems that could arise from the following made him dread it ever happening. There wasn't any other way out of this, so he rolled up his sleeves and started to work. He loved nature, but hated getting dirty. But at this time he had to make the best of the situation. "Think of the jewels." he said to himself, trying to reassure himself as he continued his search.

"No... no... this one m- maybe? No..." Zanto hissed as he looked at one mushroom to another. The nature lover inside made him refuse to pick them to look at them in case it wasn't the one needed, so the process was taking longer than normal. Tall, skinny, completely gray except for the glowing green dots... it sounded kind of beautiful, however, there were too many similar ones that was making him spend more time, or waste, depending on how you look at it.

Finally, however, it seemed as he found the one. He smiled at the sight of the correct mushroom. No black parts, no hidden spots that showed it was different, nothing. Better yet, they were in some short of vein, and he found the required amount quickly near the initial one. Green being his favorite color, he enjoyed carrying them back to his old doctor client.

He opened the shop, the same bell ringing. The old doctor was delighted to see his request being completed, and Zanto could care less about his devilish smile. He took his reward and lighted a cigarette on his way home.

WC: 1,104