Half a week after arriving in Magnolia, Eva decided it was time to visit Khalash back in his shop again. She woke up fairly early that morning, went down, had breakfast, and went back up to get ready. Eva had to go through a bunch of different bags to get her new white shirt and black pants out. It was similar to the ones she would wear if she knew she was going to be fighting except these were a lot more expensive and of different quality altogether. This shirt had long sleeves cuffed at the ends with little metallic chains and the front was simple yet stylish with a few chains running diagonally. The black tight jeans fit her perfectly and matched the shirt in the design with the chains. She pulled on a pair of black ankle boots with silver chains on them as well and released her hair from the tight knot she had it on.

She went down again when she was finally satisfied with her appearance. She gave the inn owner a quick bye before going out. The streets were busy as usual and she even managed to spot captain Devon talking to some new recruits from a distance. Rounding a few corners, Eva stopped when she found the familiar board saying Mad Drug with a few pictures of fancy vials and items at the ends. Eva ignored the chime of the bell as she entered but saw Khalash running in from the backroom. The wizard looked energetic as usual with his strange pointed hat and even stranger pattered blue robs. Eva gave him a bright smile but Khalash looked relieved.

“I’m here to test that item out for you again,” Eva said as she placed a hand on the counter. Khalash smiled back but shook his head. “No, dear. If you don’t mind, I would need your help with something else today,” he told her. “You see, there is somewhere I have to be but I can’t find anyone to look after my shop in my absence,” he gestured to the racks behind him. “I have some valuable items in here. I don’t want to leave my shop unprotected,” he finished, giving Eva that pointed look which was asking if she would help him or not.

She gave the odd items behind him one look and nodded. Looking after a shop wasn’t a job that really appealed to her but this one had all sorts of items that she could maybe find more out about and Eva was in it all for the experience and knowledge she may gain. “Sure, I’ll look after the shop for you, sir,” she agreed. In a few minutes, Khalash was out the door, running towards wherever that weird meeting place was. Closing the door behind her, Eva looked excited at all the items inside the shop, especially the scrolls and smiled deviously. It wasn’t like she was going to steal them. She was just going to understand them. That was not a crime.

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“Please come again!” Eva chimed with a smile on her lips. When the bell rang again and the door closed behind yet another customer, Eva let her smile fall to a scowl. Meeting the requirement of having to smile at everyone and everything that came into the shop was something Eva was starting to find really tiresome. But it would have been ok if she didn’t have to do it every second. Khalash’s shop was super popular among the magic as well as non-magic community. Almost everyone visited to get one odd thing or the other and Eva had her hands full with all the items, some familiar and some that she had never heard of before.

She heard the ring of the small golden bells again and emerged from behind the counter where she was trying to sort the items out. “Welcome to Khalash’s Mad Drug!” she smiled brilliantly but stopped immediately when she saw a bunch of drunk teenagers stumbling in. “Whoooo what a shooop,” one of them drawled. “And a pwreeetty assistant,” another eyed Eva with a smirk. Eva had to bite back the urge to gag as one of them closed in, heading towards the backdoor. “I wannna see what’s iinnn theeere”.

“I’m sorry, sir, but that place is not for the customers,” Eva warned as she rounded the counter to get in front of them. “I’m going to have to ask all of you to leave,” she spoke with whatever fake civility she had. When they still proceeded, Eva grabbed the first one by his hand and with effortless ease, dragged him towards the door. Others followed her and the struggling boy in hopes to make Eva release him but she found it pretty easy to shut them off with a simple glare. She had to tighten her grip when the boy struggled harder. He pushed and pulled, trying to get away from her until Eva had enough of it and applied enough pressure to make her grip almost painful

“I said this once and I won’t say it again. Get out,” she spoke with an icy edge as she threw the boy out along with his friends. “If you guys come here again, you can expect the worst,” her contract symbol glowed a deep red as she threw a sharp glare at them. She heard an audible gulp and they trembled under her gaze. She had already established that they weren’t playing around with some ordinary person and that would be enough to keep them off the shop for a while.

For the rest of the day, everything went smoothly until evening rolled in. Khalash came back when the clock struck 6 in the evening. He gave her his thanks for looking after the shop when she briefed him on the day’s happenings and rewarded her. “If you don’t mind, I would like it if you would come back tomorrow. I have a few things I would need your help with again,” he said as she got ready to go back. Eva nodded with a smile.

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