Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 41: What Friends Do

"Are you ready?" Koko asked, making sure that she herself was ready as she donned a satchel over her shoulder to both hold the coins that she was bringing along with her as well as to carry anything she might buy.

"What are we doing again?" Christina asked while patting her armor to make sure that it was strapped properly.

"Shopping!" Koko declared. "You're my first friend, so I don't really know what we're supposed to do at first, but shopping is always a safe bet! I think... Anyway, now that we're finally on our break days again, let's go to Goldgate and see what the merchants have to offer!"

"But I-" Christina seemed regretful as she spoke. "-don't have any money..."

"I already expected that!" Koko declared with a smile, holding out a small leather bag towards her new friend which held half of the coins that she'd earned from defeating monsters. "Just don't try to give it all away to street urchins this time!"

"I can't possibly accept that!" Christina protested.

"Don't worry about it! You can always just pay me back later." Koko waved Christina's worries aside. "We're going to be killing monsters pretty soon, right? Just pay me back then."

"Are you sure it's alright?" Christina asked.

"Yes! Yes it is!" Koko now moved behind Christina before forcing her friend out of the door. "Now lets just go or we won't make it there until noon!"

Closing the door behind them, Koko didn't know just what experiences waited for them in Goldgate as she'd never taken the opportunity to truly appreciate the city before. However, with Christina by her side, she was sure that it would be interesting at least as the two of them started walking towards the city. Though on their way, they suddenly had to stop as they came across the large trench across the road where Christina's attack had struck it. And even though carriages could still move around it, Koko sighed as she still felt bad.

"I kind of feel guilty about this..." Koko sighed as she saw it, though then she looked at Christina curiously as the girl had a determined expression on her face.

"Let's fix it." Christina declared while looking at Koko. "We were the ones that did it, after all."

"You're right, but in order to fix it we're need tools. Tools that we don't have." Koko explained. "Unless you somehow have a way to transport dirt across large distances, because if we dig for it here the hole might turn into a lake if it ever rains to much."

"Perhaps we can ask the academy's groundskeepers?" Christina asked, apparently still not willing to give up on the subject.

"They'd be insane to let students use their equipment." Koko sighed to herself, knowing that the employees at the academy wouldn't appreciate their asking. "Let's just keep going to the city. Hopefully we can find a blacksmith and get an appraisal on what we need."

"Yeah, that would be best." Christina smiled at Koko, who could only fake a smile in return as she hadn't been planning to use all of the money that she'd earned from the past two weeks on a shovel and wheel-barrow.

Again the two girls continued to the city before they finally reached the gates at mid-morning where they were allowed to enter instantly thanks to the guards recognizing Christina, though Koko couldn't help but return one of the guard's smiles as it was the man who had been standing outside of the blacksmith's before who had given her information.

"Thank you miss. I don't know how you did it, but the entire city owes you a dept of gratitude for stopping the purges." The guard slightly bowed towards Koko as she walked past him.

"Don't credit me, I only helped root out those responsible for it." Koko replied honestly. "It was Christina here who put them in their place."

"Is that so..." The guard looked troubled as he gazed at Christina, most likely still thinking that she had been most of the problem as the girl once again fidgeted nervously from the attention. "Well, I suppose that bit of news will help the people in the city forgive her, but they'll always remember."

"I'd expect nothing less from what I've done." Christina mimicked the man's short bow from earlier. "I know that it will take time to gain everyone's trust again, but I swear that I will earn that forgiveness."

"Well... best of luck with that." Christina's demeanor was now making the guard nervous as well.

"Alright, we really need to get going or we're never going to get anything done today." Koko started pulling Christina down the street with her. "Goodbye! And thanks again for helping earlier!"

Waving to the guard, Koko and Christina left him before they finally found themselves in the merchant's district to see that it was as busy as ever. Though thankfully there was plenty of room on the wide streets for both of them to walk as Koko led Christina to each shop with both of them looking around without finding anything of interest. Even Koko's best efforts at finding Christina something that she'd be interested in was in vain as the girl didn't appear to be interested in jewelry at all, despite wearing flashy golden armor. Apparently, she thought that unenchanted jewelry was just baggage seeing as it didn't help at all and could possibly turn into a hindrance while in combat. And while Koko wanted to tell her friend to expand her horizons, she couldn't really say anything about it as she had the same views.

"Is there anything that you want to buy?" Koko asked with a sigh after they'd just checked their twentieth store without getting anything.

"I believe I have everything I currently need." Christina answered seriously, making Koko look at suspiciously.

"You were supposed to look for things that you might want, not stuff you need!" Koko scolded her. "Haven't you ever really wanted something, like a clear crystal that bends any light that goes through it or maybe even a book to read while travelling?"

"Now that you mention it, such things do sound nice." Christina said thoughtfully.

"Well, it's to late now." Koko put a reassuring hand on Christina's shoulder. "We need to go find out how much the tools we're going to need cost or we wont be able to fix the road before this afternoon. But first, we need to focus on lunch. Do you have any recommendations?"

"The general store offers quite a large selection of preserved foods." Christina answered with a smile. "They're guaranteed to last for years, and there's over seventy different flavors that you can choose from! If you'd like, we can go there and sample which ones that you might-"

"No!" Koko yelled before lightly chopping the top of Christina's head with her hand. "Travelling food is for travelling! We're in the city, so we're supposed to find a cafe or something! Even a tavern's food would be better!"

"O-oh... alright..." Christina seemed dejected again, suddenly making Koko slap herself internally as the girl had finally seemed interested in going somewhere and she'd shot it down.

"If you want to, then we can do that next time, alright?" Koko asked with a smile. "But right now, we don't have the time."

"Sure!" Christina started following Koko, suddenly enthusiastic again before they both found a cafe and Koko showed the hero the wonders of a full meal. Or rather the desert afterwards as this cafe actually had creamed frost, ice cream as most people would say it, though Koko had given up on calling things by their earthen names a long time ago. And so, Koko's first ever outing with a friend ended there with Koko eating so much that she felt as if she were about to burst and Christina groaning in pain from a series of brain freeze attacks. Even if it was awkward at first and they didn't even buy anything that they wanted, Koko couldn't help but feel fulfilled from the experience as she'd had a good time regardless.