Chapter 58, Ruby, Sapphire and Borts

"So, we'll buy these, you guys get those." Liam siad and I nodded.

For now we need to stop up on supplies before going out to meet with Gnome on Diamond Mountain. It'll be a long and arduous treak so we need to stock up.

As we're going through the shops and stalls in the makret place I catch the eye of an old friend. Ruby. He waves us over and we come over to his stall where many good products are.

"Lowest price guaranteed. Pick whatever you like." He said.

"Hmm... let's see what's on the list." Adonis said. "Spices, dried fruits, fresh herbs and seasonings."

"I've got all that, how much?" Ruby asked.

"Let's see here, five packs of spices, seven jars of dried fruits, twelve bundles of herbs and ten jars of seasoning." Leon said. "How much will it be?"

"Around one gold coin." He said.

"Here you go." Alistar handed him the gold coin. "Do you want something Arata?"

"Huh? Ah! No!" I answered in surprise. I thought they wouldn't notice what I was staring at but looks like he did.

"What is it?" Rienhardt asked.

"That..." I pointed to a jar of assorted sweets.

"You and your sweet tooth." Leon sighed and payed for three jars of it. "You haven't had anything sweet since we departed for our journey so I'm not surprised you'd want something sweet.

"Sorry." I apologized.

"If you want something speak up, we can't exactly read your mind." Lucas said. "If it's something we can get you, we'll get it for you, dummy."

"Everyone seems to really treasure Arata." Ruby smiled. "Take this on the house."

"This is?" He handed me a small jar filled with yellow liquid.

"Honey. My brother, Padparascha runs a farm and he sent me tons of honey but most people here don't like sweets." He said. "I'll give you the whole crate if you promise that whenever your here, you'll only but goods from yours truly."

"Sounds good to us." Will said as he appeared with the rest of the team. "When we asked where we could buy these, people pointed us to Corundum Company."

"Welcome, what would you like?" Ruby smiled.

"Here's a list." Andrew handed him the list.

"Oh, you're going up Diamond Mountain?" He asked.

"Yes. We're going to meet Gnome and The Priest of Earth." I answered as I opened the jar of sweets and popping one into my mouth. "Ooh! So sweet!"

"Oh? You think you'll get to see Sir Gnome?" He asked.

"I'm pretty sure the moment hears that I'm here he'll descend from the mountain himself." I answered chewing sweets happily. "I completely forgot what the current Priest of Earth looked like."

"Oh? The Priest of Earth is a young man with long black hair tied in a tail down his back and jet black eyes with white skin." Ruby answered. "He comes down often to buy things."

"Ruby! Over here!" A girl shouted and I turned to see a girl with deep blue hair and white skin with blue eyes. She was dressed in a simple black skirt with white blouse. Beside her was a man dressed in a black cloak. I can't even see his face because of it.

"Sapphire, come on over!" He called out. "My little sister, and the man beside her is our old friend and the current Priest of Earth."

"Hello." Sapphire bowed her head. "I'm Sapphire, this is Borts."

"Hello."Borts bowed his head and I smiled. His eyes immediately grow big and he bows his head. "It's been too long, Le Fleur."

"How's Gnome doing, Borts?" I asked him as I popped another mouthful of sweets into my mouth.

"Oh, Borts do you know him?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. He is an old friend of my master." Borts answered. "If you're here that means... you've come for the Earth Key."

"Pretty much." I answered. "How is Gnome doing?"

"Very well. He has been very busy creating weapons and tools lately." He answered.

"Here you go, all the things you'll need to climb Diamond Mountain." Ruby returned with large bags. "That'll be three gold coins."

"Here." Theo handed him the coins. "Argent, can you carry these?"

"Yeah." I answered and took the bags.

"These are heavy." Ruby said but I just stored them in my shadow. "Oh? A storage space?"

"Well, since Borts is already here, why don't we all go up the mountain together?" I asked.

The others immediately agreed and after Borts finished his transactions with Ruby, he told us to meet him at the base of the mountainn in an hour.

For the meantime, I chatted with Sapphire about Borts and about Gnome.

"Ehh? You're training with them to be a master craftsman?" I asked. "That's good. I'm sure you can do it. After all, you made a spirit stone the size of a marble."

"Ehh? How'd you known bout that?" She asked.

"He bought it from me." Ruby said. "Still, I didn't expect you to be acquaintances with Sir Gnome."

"Sapphire... are you a Brave?" I asked as I noticed the Vi swirling around her.

"Ah, yes. I'm the Brave of Crafts." She answered. "On that note, Ruby is the Brave of Trades."

"Oh, I see, no wonder I felt Vi swirling around you." I said.

As we chatted the hour away, I learned more about the two and after the hour passed we went to meet with Borts at the base of the mountain.

"Are you ready?" Borts asked and I nodded. "Clear a path, reveal what was hidden and grant passage through the depths, Hidden Tunnel."

The base of the mountain begins to waver and then a path is revealed. I see, a hidden tunnel only for those who serve Gnome.

We enter the depths of the tunnel and I notice the beuatiful crystals that line the wall. They sparkle in hues of red, green, blue, yellow and violet.

"We're nearing the peak now." Borts said after hours of climbing.

When light begins to shine what I see is something that takes me by surprise. A full on Chimera attack.