Chapter 24: Curios
Kir stared at the door to Corlwin's shop. From what he could see around him, the shop was located in a square lot hidden by the buildings around it, which all looked to be apartments.
Looking down at himself, he saw that his clothes had been nearly destroyed by the flames he'd conjured earlier, even though he was unharmed.
It was a wonder he wasn't completely naked, since whatever those flames he'd produced from his body were had generated just above his clothing, but not far enough away to spare them the heat.
There were singed holes everywhere.
He needed to get out of sight fast, and the only safe place he could think of was the shop of a dead man. A man who Kir had killed...
Kir shook his head, banishing the thought for now.
Reaching into the purse, he pulled out the key and rammed it home, turning it the wrong way first before he figured it out and the door swung open. Hurrying in, he shut the door behind him and locked it.
Despite the fact the windows outside were opaque, inside the shop, he could see out of them clearly. He turned to find the whole place full of various knickknacks on tables and shelves.
Spotting what looked to be some folded clothes on shelves across the room, he made for that side, only to suddenly stop as he passed a box full of various mana crystals in all sorts of colors.
There were about two dozen of them in neat square rows, and he instantly became reminded of his hunger as his stomach growled.
He forgot the clothes as he came to brace himself over the feast of mana. Forcing himself to wait just long enough use some of his remaining mana to examine the roughly thumb-sized crystals. He found that they were roughly organized by mana density, which seemed to correspond to their colors.