The silence quickly grew.
Without someone to talk to, Alex had to just sit there and wait. He grabbed one of the books off the shelf to read for a bit, but he wasn't into the whole alien and ghost thing.
'Good reading material for when I'm really bored, but not now.' He sighed, plopping his elbow on the counter and leaning into it. Sure, it's only been about twenty or so minutes since Momo and Okarun left, but they were so fun in that time!
He could have potentially been squished by an invisible hand, but worth it to interact with fictional characters, no?
"Ugh, I need something to eat." He mutters to himself, standing up to go and grab something off the shelf.
...
Only to be met with the makeup from earlier.
"...oh." He blinked, looking around to see that all of the food has been replaced with books, makeup and other weird items. "That's not good."
'How am I supposed to eat now?' He thought, panic starting to rise within him-
A flash of light forced him to close his eyes, rubbing them a bit as he looked around again. Everything switched back to how it was before, food on the shelf, water in cooler, no magazines anymore.
"Ok... convenient I think?" He questions out loud, figuring out what was happening. "So was that the upgrade then? I guess focusing a bit more on what people like is pretty good, but it's still pretty mundane." He critiques, picking up a bottle that just said 'Water' on it.
"Eh, free foods' free food." He shrugs, opening it and taking a drink, grabbing a bag of chips on the way back to the counter.
*Ding*
Right as he sat down, he closes his eyes instinctively, only to crack them open when he feels a wave of magic flow without the blinding light. Looking around, the store seems to have turned into a magic shop, grimoires and different magical plants on the shelves. He's pretty sure that flower is on fire.
"Welcome to the Multiversal Pawn Shop." He calls out, before shutting up as the elf walked further in.
With signature pointy ears, long white hair tied back into pigtails as her dull green eyes stared at him. She was wearing some black and white shirt covered with a small white cape, gold trimmings along it. Her top melded seamlessly with the bottom of her dress, flowing slightly over her black leggings and brown boots.
"Hello. How long has your shop been open?" Frieren calmly asks, head tilting slightly as her hair flowed.
"Uh, a few hours maybe?" He squeaked out a response, before coughing a bit. "Why do you ask?"
"Some stores come and go so frequently, I wasn't sure if you were more established or not." She quietly stated, walking to a nearby Grimoire. "Hmm. I think I already have this one."
'Yeah, probably.'
"Do you have any high-grade magical items in the back?" She asks, looking over.
"Nope. Sorry, gotta make some more sales before I can carry quality stuff. You wanna help me get there?" He asks, relaxing a bit easier now.
"I'll take a few of these grimoires." She grabs two from one shelf, then crosses over and snatches another from the other side. "Quite the collection you have here. Where'd you obtain so many?"
"Uh, around?" He shrugs as she walks over with her small collection. "It's a 'Multiversal' Pawn Shop, or store whatever. I don't know where any of it actually comes from, I just sell it or trade it whenever someone wants something."
"Huh." She blinks at him. "How much would these be?"
He looks at the three books and couple of plants.
"How about fifteen Copper coins?" He states as the conversion pops into his head out of nowhere. A hidden upgrade maybe?
"So cheap? It's a wonder you can do business." She deadpans, dropping the coins in his hand, watching as they disappear. "Hmm, spatial magic? Is it in a separate dimension now?" She calmly asks.
"Gonna ignore the comment and take it as a compliment." He deadpans right back before letting out a sigh. "Spatial magics' probably the best way to put it, sure." He nods in agreement. "Honestly? The more I sell the more I'll be able to sell in the future. Don't suppose you're filthy rich and wanna buy a bunch of stuff?" He smiles jokingly.
"No, definitely not." She shoots down. "Though I'll make sure to visit in the future if I ever need something lower quality, or to see if you've gained better stock."
She leaves elegantly, leaving him dumfounded at whether or not to take that as a compliment, an insult, or something else.
'Eh, it's Frieren, what did I expect?' He brushes it off, standing up to look at the interesting books around.
...
Well, if you consider being able to remove rust from any iron product interesting.
Well, she likes it, so maybe she knows something he doesn't?
Oh yeah, magic.
"I wanna learn magic." He grumbles, running a hand over one of the Grimoires. "It'd be cool. Get to shoot out fire, maybe fly a bit, create materials out of thin air."
Ah, to dream.
"Hey System, don't suppose I can learn magic, can I?" He casually asks the air, not expecting anything as he drops his hand from the book.
The small *Beep* surprises him.
*Owner may obtain average defenses to protect the shop when necessary*
"Wait, I can have magic?" He utters, stunned. "Magic. Really?"
Silence.
"Oi! Don't go quiet on me now!" He stares at the floating text box. "Come on, spill! I wanna learn magic yesterday! Last year even! Give me!"
*To learn a power system, you must find an adequate teacher*
"Thank you for actually answering." He immediately bows his head, knowing that asking was a Hail Mary at best.
"Wait... did you purposely wait until Frieren was gone to let me know I could have learned something from her?"
More silence.
"Bastard."