The Bank and The Mage

Toma woke up, peeled his eyes. For a second, he forgot where he was, but then his memories rushed back; it was not a dream.

“Right….” he sat in his bed.

He could hear the morning bustle from outside his window.

“What should I do now? I have shelter, money, and food; the basics are covered for now.” Toma pulled a pouch of money from his pocket. “Right, I can’t wander around with so much money in my pocket. I need to keep it safe somewhere, the bank !” he thought to himself.

“I can ask the inn lady, Lysa! Let’s go!” he muttered and broke his second cube.

Toma quickly changes into the clothes that Lysa delivered at night with dinner, a long-sleeved olive tunic and deep brown leggings, high leather boots, and a brown belt and shawl with a black checkered design.

When leaving the room, he saw something under his bed, something twinkling, refracting light. It was a fine silver chain necklace, with a raindrop or teardrop-like deep ocean blue gem shining like sapphire.

“Ha. It looks unique. I could sell this for some more coins, but on the other hand, I think I should give it to Lysa. There is a chance that its owner will come back to inquire.” Toma puts the necklace in his pocket and leaves the room.

“Good morning, Lysa!” Toma greeted her.

“Good Morning, Toma! Did you get a comfortable sleep?” Lysa greeted him.

“Yes! I like your Inn. The food was also great!” Then he stopped for a moment. “Lysa, got a moment?”

“Yes!” Lysa replied with a gentle smile.

“Where is the bank? And what is the procedure for depositing or exchanging money?” Toma asked.

“Yes! The Bank is on the central gate road. It’s not far from here. You need to register with the bank by filling out a simple form!” Toma is carefully listening to Lysa’s every word; her sweet voice calms his mind.

“Toma, Toma, are you ok?” Lysa asked him, leaning forward towards him a little with a concerned look.

“Y-Y-Yes! I am ok!” Toma startled and snapped out of his zone. “Ac-actually, I don’t know how to write. I am using these magic cubes to communicate. I am a traveler from very far lands, you can say!” With an awkward grin on his face, he grabbed a cube from his pocket and showed her.

“Oh my! Traveler, what a surprise! I would have come with you, but I can’t leave the Inn unattended, sorry, Toma!” Lysa was a little surprised by these new revelations. “Ohh! Your clothes are also very different from here, I just realized! So, where are you from, Toma? ”

Before Toma could come up with a story for her question,

“Excuse me! The day before yesterday, I forgot something important at your Inn. Can you help me?” One girl walks in to interrupt their conversation.

She lowers the hood of her brown leather coat, which covers her full body. Her staff was as big as her, wrapped in cloth straps. Her skin was like a polished pearl, a girl in her twenties maybe. Her height is a little shorter than Toma's. Still, she surely has a more charismatic and expressive face, and from her golden and blue heterochromatic eyes, only worry and a fear of losing something very important, like a memory of a dear one.

“You are ?” Before Lysa could complete. “Yes! I am Elira. I stayed here the day before yesterday. I think I have left my necklace here. Could you help me, please ?” She was about to cry; her eyes were filled with tears.

“Whoa…” In their whole conversation, Toma just forgot about the world around him, half hoping it wasn’t obvious he was staring.

“Wait for a second, let me check in the lost and found box,” Lysa replied, trying to calm her down in a reassuring tone.

Elira noticed Toma, just staring at her. “What are you staring at? ” she was annoyed.

Toma comes back to his senses. “Nothing, I heard you were looking for something, so I was interested.” With his awkward grin, Elira also knew he was just trying to come up with something.

“By any chance, are you looking for this? I found this in my room this morning under my bed.” Toma pulled out the necklace he found in the morning.

Looking at the necklace, Elira’s face glowed up like the first rays of the morning sun, her sad expressions replaced with a warm smile. “My necklace, Thanks!” Toma hands over the necklace to her.

“This is staff, right? You are a magic user, right? Does this necklace hold some special powers? ” Toma was curious to know, and for him, this was the best chance to know about the magic.

“Yes, allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Elira Redmarsh, a great mage. It is just a pretty necklace. No, this necklace does not have any special powers, but it’s far more precious than anything to me. This is the only memory of my mother.” With utmost care, she gently put the necklace around her neck. Tears of despair changed into tears of joy and happiness and rolled down her cheeks.

“Thank you, Really Thank you. I want to repay your kindness, please… Tell me what I can do for you? ” she expressed her gratitude. Toma also accepted it with a smile, but then a thought came to his mind.

“Do you know how to read and write?” Toma asked, with a poker face.

She was a little taken aback because of Toma’s unexpected question. “What type of question is this… I am mage. Of course, I can read and write.”

“Yes, this is a chance… I will ask her to fill out my form at the bank, and then she can also teach me the language of this world. She can even teach me magic.. This is a jackpot,” he thought, but for Elira and Lysa, he was just looking in the void with a greedy grin on his face. Both Lysa and Elira were a little worried that he would ask something weird.

“Accompany me to the bank. I’ll need your help with the registration form.” Toma demanded.

“I was ready to blast you with a Magic blast if you had asked anything weird. It’s fine, I will help you out. let’s go.” She said calmly.

“She is scary.” Toma thought he was scared of her in his mind but assured cause she was on his side at least.

“Elira, going into the bank with a full-body cloak and staff will be suspicious. You can collect it from here later.” Lysa suggested to Elira.

“Right, here you go.” Elira gives her leather cloak and her staff to Lysa to keep, which reveals her sand color coat covering her shoulder and falling about mid-thigh length, fastened with a small knot at the neck with bright red thread. Under that was a white tunic dress flowing outward like a skirt, fastened at her waist with a black leather utility belt with four pouches, navy blue tunic leggings, and footwear matching her attire with low heels.

Now, at the bank….

“Here you go. Submit this form at that counter and do your transactions. I will wait here.” Elira pointed towards the counter to guide Toma.

Toma goes to the counter and deposits five gildens, and exchanges one Gilden for a Thousand Silvdens.

Suddenly, Four Thugs enter the bank, in Typical Leather and iron armour, and axes, swords, and a big Hammer. They were like typical bad Adventurers who just wanted to get rich quickly.

“If anyone moves from their place, I will kill you all. Hey, give us all the money you have!!!” He shouted and walked towards the counter.

“Tsk. What the hell, things were just starting to move smoothly, now this…” Toma curses his luck. Then he looked towards Elira, standing behind the crowd. They make contact with eyes for a second, then she looks down again, fidgeting with her fingers.

“Yes, I have Elira with me. I have nothing to fear!” Toma observes Elira just fidgeting with her fingers. And takes it as a clue to charge in action, Toma sneakily walks towards Elira and between the crowd.

Then, with a proud and determined look, Toma steps ahead of the crowd.

“Hey, rats, I, and this great mage Elira, will defeat all of you.” Toma challenged them and pulled Elira forward, holding her hand.

“huh…What…? Toma, wait….” Elira realized the situation.

“She will throw all four of you with a single spell…Just wait and watch!!” Toma continued, puffing his chest.

The leader of the thugs' gang started laughing hysterically. “Oh really, you are going to stop us? As you wish, we will kill both of you first, then,” he ordered the other three thugs to kill her with just a gesture, and all four stood against her.

“Toma!... Stop! Idiot! …. staff!” Elira was about to cry, trying her best to stop Toma from making the situation worse.

“Come at once, no issue! Hey, Elira stage is yours! Show us your strength!” Toma gives her a gentle push on her back.

Elira looks towards Toma with tears in her eyes, embarrassed. “Idiot!.... Listen to me! I don’t have my staff!”

Toma looks at her. “What about that?”

“I….I can’t…” she mumbles, in a very low voice.

Toma leans forward to hear her, and in a low voice says, “Hey, why are you suddenly talking like this?”

“I said, I can’t cast spells without a staff! Stop embarrassing me! I tried to stop you many times. Why can’t you listen!!!” Elira snaps, grabs his collar, and yells at Toma.

“Hey, Kid, getting scared of us?! ” The thugs taunted Toma.

The Toma, who was proudly challenging thugs for four vs one a minute ago, is now so scared that he is shaking in his legs. he turns toward them, but his legs give out, and he collapses on his one knee, supporting his body with one hand. “What a useless Mage! I had a fight with them, because I thought I had a mage on my side!” he was frustrated!.

“Hey, guys, let's think it over again. We will go to the corner and stand like good kids!” He tried to persuade the thugs, but with the effect of the cube worn out, the only way of communication was gone.

Thugs only understood something along the lines of “Let’s go.”, Thugs ready their weapons.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! Take away everything, even I will help you if you want! Just spare my life!” Toma tried to stop them by waving his hands.

Thugs stopped in their way, a little confused due to this sudden change. “What is this? What is he saying?”

Elira also did not understand it, but she quickly came up with an idea. In a firm voice she said, “He is my apprentice, you have to defeat him first before fighting with me, he is currently casting a forbidden cursed spell lost to time which will turn you into….” she thinks for a moment, “into slimes!” and gave them an evil grin, then she looked at Toma with a smug smile and thumbs up.

In panic, Toma did not realise that his words were unknown to them. Looking at Elira giving thumbs up to him with smugness, he freaked out and started yelling loudly, “Hey, what did you say? I can’t understand a thing!”

“See, the spell is almost ready!” she bluffed to Thugs.

“I will kill him, before he completes his incantation!” Leader of thugs, charged at him, with a large hammer lifted above his head.

Elira’s heart skipped a bit, seeing her plan backfiring. In his last effort, he tried to back away, but one of his cubes fell from his pocket. Seeing the cube, he realized “Yes, cube!” and quickly turned and picked up the cube.

While standing up to run, he slipped, both legs in the air, and fortunately or unfortunately, one leg placed a kick right between Thug leader’s legs, knocking him out. And the hammer fell right in Toma’s back and almost knocked him.

But barely he held on to his consciousness, just sat there, completely in shock, unaware of surroundings.

Seeing Toma’s courageous actions, Crowd also charged on the three remaining thugs, who tried to make a run but got apprehended, and were tied with rope, making quick work of them.

“Toma… Toma…. Are you listening? ” Elira tried to call Toma, literally shouting in his ears, but got no response. From all this chaos, one muscular man came to Toma’s side. “Good Job, Brother!!” He patted him on his back.

With his pat, Toma just fell flat on the ground, out cold.

From this, one thing was sure: Toma has a chaotic life ahead.