Odd, but Gentle | Wattys2016

Part 11 - "A Blissful(?) Day in Elder Village... I Know, Let's go Shopping!"

We continued our adventure and after another day, we made it! We finally arrived in Elder Village!

At the sight of the city we all let out sighs of relief. "Finally!" said Raven with a smile. We hurried to the gates and stood there. A guard stood and asked, "Who goes there?!" He tightened the grip on his spear as he looked us over. "We were sent from Elsword Academy, it's sort of confidential." I replied. He looked me over, as if to trace any sign of lying, then nodded. He tapped the gates with his spear and turned towards, then motioned toward the gates. The gates slowly opened as we walked towards them. We entered the village and looked around. The village was paved with stone and had many streets full of stores, carts, and houses. There were people everywhere, all carrying bags -- which were probably bought recently. There was also children playing all over the sidewalks. I looked around in awe at the beautiful village as we walked through it. Rena nudged me, snapping me out of my day dream. "Do you think we'll have enough time to look through the stores?" she asked eagerly. "I hope so!" I replied with a smile. We continued to the chieftain hall. We move to a giant building and stood there for a second. "Is this it?" Rena asked. Eve pulled out a slip of paper, looked at it, then nodded. I pushed the door open. In stood a bunch of men, and what seemed to be knights. "Hello!" boomed the big man. "We have been waiting for you." said another. "I'm Hoffman, chief of merchants." said an older big fellow.

We shook several hands and greeted many people. Just then a man with white hair and a moustache came in. "Let the meeting begin." He said as he sat down at the head of the room. Without hesitation, all the men quickly sat down on each side of the table. We quickly joined, Eve sat next to Rena and I next to Add. The man cleared his throat and scooted closer to the table. "First off, I would like to greet our guests from the fine, Elsword Academy. My name is Wally." He greeted as he flashed us a smile. I nudged Add, who glared back at me. "What?!" He angrily whispered. I rolled my eyes. What a grouch. I thought. "Well, isnt this the man we were sent to investigate?" I whispered. No one said he was the chief! I thought as Add nodded. It was as if Rena could read my mind. She looked between me and Wally with a confused and shocked look. I shrugged and turned my attention back to Chief. "Okay, as I was saying," Wally continued. "We have been dealing with a lot recently. There has been too many disappearances here. So I have called upon this group." he motioned for us. We stood up and waved and sat back down.

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The meeting dragged on and after, maybe an hour, the meeting was finished.

I stood up and stretched as everyone started to clear out of the meeting hall. Rena, Raven, and Eve walked over to me. "That was unexpected." Raven muttered. "Yeah it was." I agreed. "No one told us the person we were investigating was the chief!" Rena exclaimed. Add shot her a glare. "W-What?" she asked. "Shut up, unless you want to give us away. It seems that Wally doesn't realize HE is being investigated." he muttered. She looked around to see there was still a few people. As she made eye contact with a few of the people, she put on her best fake smile, they returned one and finished talking. "Okay, so what are we gonna do?" Rena asked as she returned her attention to us. "I don't know." I replied in a whisper. "Well, we can decide tomorrow!" Rena said energetically. Raven sent her a confused look. "Wait, shouldn't we start on it today?" Raven asked confused. "Nope!" Rena said with a carefree smile. She linked arms with me and Eve. "We are going to go shopping." Rena said with a smile. "Well, I did want to check out what they had." I muttered as Add gave us the death glare for a split second. "Whatever." Add muttered. Raven nodded. "Well okay then, I'm up for a little shopping." he said with a smile. Add scoffed and rolled his eyes. We all walked out and headed down to the marketplace. "Woah." I muttered as I looked around. Is this place bigger than before?! I thought as I looked around. "So what do you think of this-" I said as I looked over to see everyone was gone. "Oh." I muttered. I looked solemnly at the ground. Wait, this is no time to get down! I thought as I looked up and fist pumped the air. "Time to some shopping of my own!" I said out loud, apparently too loud because several people walking by game me a strange look and whispered. I blush from embarrassment and hurried off. I looked around and noticed they have almost everything; they had stuff like, necklaces, pets, mounts, shirts, pants, and even wands! I got giddy when I saw how cool their wands were. I carefully inspected all the wands. "Found anything yet?" asked the merchant. "Not yet." I said with a smile. He nodded and went back to reading his magazine. Hmmm, they are all so nice. I thought. Finally, after several minutes of browsing I came across one I liked. "Um, how much is this one?" I asked pointing to the one that looked like a star with a pink star mounted in the center. "That is 700,000 ED." he stated. I frowned and opened my wallet. Inside was 20,000 ED and a piece of candy, which I ate. "Do you want it?" he asked. "Sorry, no." I replied solemnly and walked away. I sighed and trudged away. Just then I bumped into someone. "Oww..." I mumbled. I looked up to see several teenagers in front off me. "Hey watch were you're going!" one of them said. "S-Sorry." I said as I got up quickly and bowed. They chuckled. "Aren't you a cutie." One of them said as the reached up and lifted my face. "Wanna have some fun with us?" asked another one. "N-No I'm looking for my friends." I stammered as I backed away, just to bump into another one. "Come on lil' lady, we will keep you company." he said as he snaked his arm around my waist. "N-No!" I yelled, I slapped him in the face. He scowled at me and raised his fist. "Why you little!" he yelled. I closed my eyes and waited for his fist to make contact with my face. Ugh, I'm gonna be hit! I thought in fear. "Hey!" yelled a familiar voice. I opened my eyes to see Add standing in front of me. "Leave her alone, she's with me." he said. He pulled me closer to him. "Oh, really? And what are you gonna do to stop us?" he said. Add scoffed and pulled up his sleeve. "Is that really something a vermin like you need to ask." Add said with a chuckle. "You little punk!" one of them grabbed him by his collar. "Kekeke..." he cackled. "Nasod Dimension Link  - Guardian Type." said a familiar voice. All of a sudden a giant nasod  appeared and blasted a wave of fire that spread across the ground, splitting the guy from Add and hitting a stand behind us. "My cabbages!" yelled an elderly man. "My precious cabbages!" Add got up and dusted himself off. The guys in front of us stared at us awe-struck. They stumbled to get up and ran away. The crowd murmured as they stared at us. The crowd split apart as Eve walked towards us. "Targets, location unknown. Retreated. Victory confirmed." she said as she swiped across the screens that were in front of her. "Annoying. I could've handled them." Add said. Eve looked up at him and closed her screens in front of her. She then turned around and merged back into the crowd, without a word. "Umm, okay then." I said. "Are you okay?" Add asked, breaking me from my trance. "U-Uh, yeah. Thanks for saving me back there." I said. He slowly approached me. "Uh, what?" I muttered. He pulled me into a hug. I could feel my face heating up. "I was so worried." Add muttered in my ear. He then pushed himself away from me and cleared his throat. "So, um, anyways. I will stay with you the rest of the time. In case they come back." he said with a slight blush on his face. "O-Okay." I stammered, also with a blush.

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We walked around for half an hour till we came across a small stand. "Oh, wait lets go over there!" I said as I grabbed Add's arm and dragged him over to the stand. It was covered in barrettes of all kinds. "They are so cute!" I exclaimed as I looked them over. They had animal ones, such as bunnies and cats. They also had people and skulls and such. "Excuse me sir, are you gonna buy a lovely barrette for your girlfriend?" asked the woman behind the stand with a giggle. Add's face flushed. "S-She isn't my girlfriend." he stammered as his face turned dark red. I giggled at the sight of his face. "Oh, I'm sorry." she replied. "Will you still buy one for your FRIEND that is a GIRL?" She giggled at her own joke and resumed to adding more barrettes. I looked through the barrettes and came across a cute skull one. "Oh this is so cute, isn't it?" I asked as I showed Add. He nodded and grabbed it out of my hands. "We'll take this." he said. The woman nodded and told him the price, he passed her the ED and waved goodbye. We walked away a little then we stopped. He  then turned me around and placed it in my hair. "It looks great." he said with a smile. I blushed at his statement. He smiled then leaned in closer to me.

"W-What?" I stammered. He leaned in closer till our faces were only inches away from me. He leaned in and my eyes widened as his lips touched mine. He pulled away with a smile. "Let's get going, the others are waiting." he said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me away. I followed him with a blank mind. All that I could think about was what just happened.

What exactly did just happen?!?!?!