Argit's Red blur lit up the sky as he flew towards a large city, slammed into the ground, and broke the paved road as he landed. Bree simply appeared behind him and took in the new sight before her: the capital of Maragon. She smiled as it was the most normal-looking capital out of the three she had seen. Irenfell's had been too clean. Ozama's had been wondrous to behold, but this one looked like an average city, albeit one with a large castle decorating its center.
"Welcome to Vosa, the capital of Maragon!" Argit declared as he spun on the paved road.
"Do you ever stop enjoying yourself?" Bree questioned with a smile.
"Do you?" Argit shot back as he stopped spinning and pointed at her with finger guns.
"Not usually," Bree looked towards the castle, but Argit held his hand up, asking her to stop.
"Can you wait here?" Argit asked. "I want to surprise old Thomas." Bree waved him off, and he spun away like a top, laughing as he headed towards the castle.
Bree looked at the shops that lined the streets. She noted that no one was around, unaware Argit had chosen to land on a shady back street to avoid attention.
The shop she selected was a second-hand shop. Standing at the counter, dusting the knickknacks, was a creature in a long, dark purple hooded robe that covered its entire body. Instead of arms, it had several long black tendrils holding feather dusters and several more acting as legs.
As she entered, the creature turned to look at her, its face hidden by a white mask with four eye holes.
"You break it, you buy it," it informed her before returning to its dusting.
"Duly noted," Bree replied. She saw several different kinds of items for sale. After passing a display of sunglasses, she took an interest in a selection of books and began browsing to see if they had anything on botany.
While Bree looked at what was in stock, three young teenage human boys walked in; they wore ratty clothes and bandanas over their faces, each holding a classic street weapon: a crowbar, a led pipe, and a baseball bat.
The one with the bat walked up to the counter, and the monster behind it looked at them and then turned away.
"I'm not paying you," it snarled, "I don't care if this is your 'turf,' I ain't paying you nothing,"
"Oh, come now," The man with the bat said as he tossed the bat over his shoulders ``We don't want any trouble, just pay up. It would be such a shame for your little shop here to go out of business, and what if some ruffians vandalized the place," The boy leaned forward. "Why, we simply can't afford to keep you safe from them for free, so you have to pay us,"
"Leave," The Monster demanded. Bree looked over at the commotion, holding a book about the different kinds of magical potions that could be created using only magical plants, and inwardly groaned.
"I just want to go somewhere without something dramatic happening once," Bree calmly walked up to the commotion with her desired book and stood behind the three men as they pestered the monster behind the counter.
"Whoa!" the guy with a crowbar said when he noticed Bree. "Check out this chick's eyes; they look like they're about to pop out of her head." Bree didn't respond to the casual insult, expecting it at this point. The lead pipe looked at her for a moment and then backed away, visibly scared of Bree, who appreciated that he didn't just throw an insult at her.
"Hey," He said nervously, "I know we're doing a thing, but I pay attention during Magic theory class, and the expression 'eyes are the window to the soul' is said to be literal with Monsters. Small-eyed monsters have weak magic, but those with lots of eyes or large eyes are crazy strong,"
"Hu," Bree scratched her chin, having never heard of such a saying, but noted that Magic theory sounded like something she should study.
The one with the bat looked towards Bree, and she could tell from his eyes that he was about to do something stupid.
"Well, then, why don't we test it?!" The man swung his bat, and Bree simply stood in place as he stopped just before he hit her. "Ha, pretty slow for a 'powerful' monster," He laughed as he swung his bat up and tossed it back over his shoulder. "How about you skedaddle bug-eyes,"
"Why don't you skedaddle instead, young man?" Bree recommended.
"Are you threatening me?" The teen asked, "I'll have you know I'm a minor; I'm sure the guards would be interested to hear about this, of course, for the right price. I'm sure they'll never find out,"
"That's it," The Monster behind the counter turned with a furious gaze, making the three hooligans jump when it lashed two of its arms against the counter like a whip. I can handle your yapping, but I won't have you hustling my customers. Leave, or I'm calling the guard!"
"Whatever," the one with the bat said. Come on, boys. We have some protection money to gather from people who want peace of mind, and we'll be looking you up later, bug-eyes. You better be ready to pay up when we find you, or there'll be trouble." The teens all laughed as they left, the one with the pipe keeping his distance from Bree, his laughter echoing with nervousness.
"I'd like this, please," Bree said as she put the book on the counter.
"Of course," The Monster said politely. "And no worries, the holiday ends tomorrow; they go back to school and will no longer have time to bother I or you,"