Your Chair, Please

The man hurriedly flew, observing the nearby stalls. He had arrived at his next destination, only to find that the stall had disappeared. In retrospect, he should’ve known this would happen. The area had a slight decrease in mana. It was so small that it would be practically unnoticeable to anyone, people or manaform. But to her, that difference was more than enough to relocate.

The Mixing Market had an infinite number of stalls that expanded an infinitely large area. Unless you had some idea where you wanted to go, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, only the needle was somewhere else entirely. It would be impossible to find a stall that decided to pack up and move somewhere else.

However, the man hadn’t given up hope. There were two things that could narrow down the stall’s location. First, he just needed to find the place with the most mana. High concentrations of mana tended to move towards lower concentrations, so he could follow that flow to its source. The other was…

Tink!

A small noise echoed from the distance, barely perceptible to the ear. It sounded like a hammer hitting a metal object, exactly what he was looking for. The man focused, listening for the direction of the sound.

Tink!

This way! The man sped off, correcting his orientation with each subsequent tink. It wasn’t long before he found the stall in question. He touched down, transforming back into a person once again.

The stall was manned by a stout woman with coarse gray hair. She was so short she had to stand on a chair to reach the countertop. In her hand was something that could only be described as a toy hammer. It looked to be made of plastic, with red rubber-like mallets on either side. She slammed the hammer down upon a wooden rod she likely picked up off the ground. Weirdly, each hit made it sound as though both objects were made of metal.

At a glance, it was completely ridiculous, as if a child was playing blacksmith. However, anyone with even a modicum of mana sensing could tell that the wooden rod was strong enough to level a city in one swipe. After all, each item was imbued with so much mana that it didn’t matter what it was made from.

The man stood perfectly still, making no attempt to interrupt the woman as she worked. She was the type to hold a grudge. There was no doubt that if he interrupted, she would likely end up opening a hole in his chest, much less let him buy anything.

So, there he waited until she was done.

~~~

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, given there was no sense of time in this place, but eventually, the woman slotted a polished jewel at the top of the rod. She sighed, wiping off the sweat on her forehead, and smiled. Then, she tossed the tool carelessly behind her. It seems like it didn’t meet her standards again. I suppose only having enough mana to destroy a city wasn’t enough, the man thought.

The woman glanced up, noticing the man in front of her. “Hey, been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, it has, Smith.”
“So, are you actually gonna buy something this time?” the woman, Smith, asked, giving him a piercing stare.

“Do you think I just came here to talk?”

“That’s what you did the last hundred…or was it a thousand? Ah whatever, that’s what you’ve always done!”

The man scoffs in response. “Well, I will be buying something this time–”

“Really?! Do you mean it?!” Smith jumped onto the counter, creating a creaking noise, and pushed her face into his. The man didn’t move away, maintaining the same perpetual smile.

“Yes, I will.”

“Woo!” Smith hobbled to the ground and ran behind the stall. She quickly returned with a box, dumping its contents onto the counter. A wide variety of objects were displayed: dolls, sticks, broken weapons, toys; the list went on. Needless to say, none of them looked like something a blacksmith would make. And yet, each was powerful enough to alter the world in some capacity.

Still, there was something that bothered the man.

“I see your desire for aesthetics hasn’t improved.” Yes, each tool looked comical, as if straight out of a child’s brain. Even though he knew how deadly they were, the contrast was still startling.

“When does aesthetics matter? As long as it works, it’s a good weapon.”

“Fair enough.” The man couldn’t really fault her logic, no matter how much he wanted to. So instead, he lazily inspected each object. He didn’t care about any of them, particularly because the man already knew what he wanted to buy. Though, he was pretty sure Smith would split him in two with a leaf if he didn’t at least look at them, hence his cavalier attitude. It only took him a minute to finish examining everything.

“So, which one do ya want? I’m rather curious,” Smith spoke, a bemused expression on her face. The man raised his hand before pointing at something behind the counter – more specifically, what Smith was standing on.

“Your chair, please.”

“Oh?” Smith was rather pleased. “What makes you want my chair?”

“None of these objects even compare to the amount of mana flowing through your chair. Your chair is like a diamond among these stones.” Smith remained silent for a brief moment. Then, she hopped off, pulling the chair around to the front before handing it to the man.

“Okay then. Give it a swing.” The man lifted up the chair by its rail, as though it was a sword. Then he swung down, stopping just before he hit the floor. The expanse in front of him shattered for a brief moment, revealing a forest bathed in fire. A fireball entered the opening before it sealed shut, flitting directly toward the man. He made no effort to dodge. As if it were intended, the fireball veered off to the side, shooting off into the distance.

“Hmm, didn’t expect it to cut mana,” the man said, impressed. “This works perfectly.” He fished around in one of his pockets before pulling out a vial containing a white, viscous fluid. He tossed it over to Smith, saying, “Does this work for payment?”

Smith opened up the bottle and tasted the liquid within. A red blush appeared as her entire body twitched. “Y-yes, this will do n-nicely as a bonding agent.”

“I’ll be off then, act–”

“Wait a moment,” Smith called out, interrupting the man, retaining her composure. “What do you plan on using it for? The world has no need for such a power.”

“...it’ll be a nice gift,” the man said ambiguously, changing the topic. “By the way, do you know where your trash pile is?”

“Around the corner, but–”

“Okay thanks!” The man ran away before Smith could get out another word.

She sighed, muttering, “I hope you’re prepared for the consequences, –” She called the title of the man, as she never knew his real name.