The Greatest Sinner

Evan wanted to call out the old man, but he noticed that the gate was not locked as it had moved a little shifted from a strong gust of wind. He didn't think long and went inside immediately. The old man did not immediately notice Evan, he calmly continued drinking his tea.

When he noticed Evan, the young man smiled and waved his hand, said: "Old man! Aren`t you bored alone?"

"Good afternoon, young man, my name is Eric Lenero, can I help you?" The old man slowly said taking another sip of tea.

The old man reacted very calmly to Evan's appearance, even though Evan came inside without asking.

"I'm Evan Lynch, I want to rent this house," Evan explained the purpose of his visit.

The old man nodded and said leisurely: "I am leasing the house for a minimum of three months, it will be 900 "Moon Coins", do you agree?"

Evan didn't expect to have to pay for three months at once, but he quickly agreed. In any case, he wasn't planning on moving anywhere soon and was planning on staying in the third zone for a few months.

"Evan, are you a student of "The Last Moon"?" Eric suddenly asked.

The young man nodded silently. He understood that the old man was just curious.

"Then, instead of the former price, you'll be charged 1,000 "Moon Coins", I don`t want to be rude, but you, magicians, get "Moon Coins" a lot easier than ordinary people," Eric said calmly.

Evan wanted to object, but after a second, he sighed and said: "Well, there's some truth in what you say. Well, let`s bring a little more justice to this world, I agree."

A hundred "Moon Coins" wasn't much price for bargaining about. Even more so, the price for renting the house wasn't the highest of the other offers.

The old man smiled and said: "Have a seat, I should treat my guest and the new temporary owner of this beautiful house."

Evan did not refuse. Besides the tea, there were also some cakes on the table, and they looked quite appetizing.

When the young man sat down at the table, the old man carefully poured him some tea from the porcelain teapot.

"How do you like your tea, Evan?"

"Not bad, old man, I like the place even better now." With a smile on his face, Evan replied and took a bite of the cake.

Eric loved to relax this way: just drinking tea and admiring the surroundings.

"Good, then it's time to pay." Said the old man and at the same moment pulled a gray card out of his pocket. A bright blue moon was drawn on the edge of the card. Evan did the same, he expected Eric to bring out a special plaque like the one in the stores of Mossy Vulture. But, instead, the old man asked puzzled: "Evan, did you just get into the Academy?"

Evan shrugged his shoulders and just nodded. He didn't see anything strange in that.

"I see, so you don't know how to use the card in this town. Look, put your card to mine, so that the moons are touching. Then pour in it some mana and transfer the required amount of coins." Eric explained.

The young man nodded and did what the old man had told him. This process was very different from the one he had seen in Mossy Vulture. It was much more comfortable and faster. A few seconds later, the blue moons glowed and 1,000 "Moon Coins" were debited from Evan's card.

"What, are you surprised?" With a smile on his face, the old man said, returning the card to his pocket.

"Not much, but there's something I don't understand. If I wasn't a magician, how would I pay for something in that case? The cards just wouldn't activate." Evan asked puzzled.

"HAH, every store has a special plaque with an inlaid mana crystal. One crystal is enough to conduct thousands of transfers. Of course, when your customer is a magician, things get a lot easier." Eric calmly replied as he finished his cup of tea.

After a couple of seconds, Eric put a big old key on the table and said: "This house is yours for three months. I hope everything will be all right."

Evan nodded affirmatively.

The old man was about to leave as he had already finished his tea and by some coincidence found a customer.

Suddenly Evan stopped him, "Old man, you don't look like a common man, what do you do?"

Magicians didn't surprise anyone in this city, but Evan could clearly see that Eric was used to dealing with them. Evan thought the old man might be some kind of blacksmith or alchemist or something like that.

"I don`t work myself anymore. I just have a few of these houses and rent them out, and well, I also own one small alchemy store." Eric said calmly.

He wasn't an alchemist himself, but he had connections with some alchemists who made good quality goods for his store.

Eric talked about having an alchemy store like it was an everyday thing, yet it was a rarity, especially in the third zone. Creating pills and potions took a long time and required good skills. Moreover, it required special ingredients that were sometimes difficult to obtain.

Evan smiled and said: "Old man, do you have the potions or pills that can cure a wounded beast of a zero rank?"

Eric nodded: "Sure, if you want the wounds to heal in a few minutes then prepare a few thousand "Moon Coins." But, if there's no urgent treatment needed, 500 "Moon Coins" will suffice."

< Well, 500 "Moon Coins", that's not much. I need to finish this story and never come back to it again.>  Evan thought. He placed the key in the spatial ring and followed Eric.

"Okay, then, old man, can you show me where your store is."

"Of course, but I'm not going to treat you this time, you've had enough." Eric said calmly and walked out the gate.

Evan quickly followed him. Now he had a home, which meant he had two more things to do: to cure the one-eyed raven, and finally go to the library.

All the way to the alchemy store, Evan and the old man were silent. They walked leisurely to the alchemy store that Eric owned. The building was small, of rare mahogany wood, it looked rather old, but well maintained.

"Come in." Said the old man stepping inside.

Evan stepped over the threshold and found himself in an alchemy store for the first time in his life. To Evan's surprise, everything inside was quite simple. Potions and jars of pills stood neatly on shelves with small signs in front of them.

<Well, actually the store looks pretty good, I'm just used to the pomp of Marcel`s stores> Evan thought.

"Man, I don't need a pill that will cure all wounds instantly. Give me the one that's worth 500 "Moon Coins" that you were talking about."

"Alright, I'll get it for you, you can look around for now."  Said the old man and headed for the warehouse.

Evan decided to take a closer look at the store's merchandise.