I took in a breath once again and slowly let out before going into the crowd myself. I was like a fish in the river, you know, going against the current.
I don't know why but everyone is going to the opposite end and only a few guys are going to the other.
Occasionally bumping into others, my nose caught different scents of different people – some nice and some….so not nice.
After a few minutes of…well, walking I saw a crowd gathered together.
"What's there?" I asked no one in particular, but a person wearing a sweater and a scarf on his head turned to look at me.
"Street magician." He said in an old and grumpy voice.
My eyes widened and I heard my heart beating against my chest. Blood rushed to my cheeks as a wide smile pulled my lips apart.
'A magician! I can finally see magic!'
Since I was a child I always wanted to see magic but maa told me it was just a few tricks. But so what if it is a trick, magic is still magic!
I walked into the gathered semi-circle crowd and struggling a bit I got into the front of the crowd.
There! There is the magician! In front of me!
He held a hat upside down, plunged his hand in and took it out with a dove . My eyes widened in disbelief. The crowd around me turned into a fit of applause for the great trick the magician just did. I also clapped my hands looking at others with a goofy look on my face.
The magician walked towards the children in the front of the crowd, his face– half painted white, stretching into a smile. He raised his yellow and red striped skirt and bowed slightly before giving the dove to a child.
'That skirt is pretty, wait– skirt!?' I looked at the magician as a whole for the first time, he was wearing a skirt and shirt under a waist length leather coat. His brown hair tied behind him in a bun. And his smile was beautiful.
'That's a girl!?' My mouth dropped as I kept looking at the magician, 'Maybe it's just an old man with weird tastes?' My thoughts raised inside my head, I looked around and saw none of the others in the crowd were dumbfounded as me.
Suddenly the magician turned around and frowned before walking towards me. The magician stretched their arm to the side and then–poof– there were flowers in their hand.
The magician offered me the flowers, "why do you keep your mouth open? Close it before a fly gets to build a nest inside it." They giggled, their voice soft and sharp as that of a female's.
"Are you a girl or a man?" I asked without taking my eyes off the flowers as I accepted it.
They didn't answer as they giggled and left to the centre of the crowd. Even though she didn't say anything I knew it was a girl. I looked at the flowers before sniffing them.
"Hmmm..this scent is– why isn't there any smell?" I was suddenly caught out of guard. I squeezed the flowers a bit when the flowers in return spit water at me. The crowd around me rumbled with laughter and shouts. But not at the magician but at me.
"THAT'S PAPER YOU FOOL!" someone from the crowd shouted as all of them laughed at me.
I laughed wryly with the crowd before wiping the water on my face with my sleeves, "You got me good." I said to the magician with a smile.
She smiled back at me without saying anything and returned to do her other tasks. There was a sheet spread on the floor with all the items of the magician and people would throw coins or notes in it.
There were bronze coins and silver notes. I checked my pockets to see if I had anything but luckily I didn't have any.
I sighed slightly as my eyes stood with the coins on the floor for a bit.
'Even the rich don't flash gold these days.If it was me, I would have definitely paid her a gold but ... .I don't even have a bronze to spare.'
I am lucky in a sense– I don't have to donate anything and no one would think ill of me. That's nice..I guess.
I was pulled out of my dream world when a bell chime echoed in the streets. I subconsciously looked at the clock tower a few metres to my right, it was half past 7 already. And I have to get to Brighthold and find Peter's wardrobe before 8.
Realising there's no time to watch more magic, I bowed slightly at the magician before running through the crowd and horse carts in the streets.
The streets were paved with stone bricks and because of the lack of proper smoothness, I almost tripped and fell. There was rainwater in the middle of the roads.
Mud would catch my shoes and run its dirty arms all over it whenever I accidentally stepped on it, "ughhh.." two little girls heard my grumble as they walked past me giggling.
Shaking my head helplessly I continued my rush to Brighthold. My nose picked up the smell of fish, meat and decayed vegetables as I got closer to the market. I have to go through the market to reach the west end of the main square.
The crowd here was way worse than on Lomere. Shouts, curses, and even beatings were common here, at least anybody would start fighting at any time everyday.
The nauseating smells hit me as soon as I entered the market, making it harder to breathe . I raised my head into the sky to get some fresh air, however met with failure.
Trying my best to tolerate the smell, I kept walking through the crowd– why are there so many people!?– I kept my head low and didn't dare to look into anyone's eyes as that would make someone angry.
After a few minutes of walking through the crowds and wastes, my eyes couldn't see more than ten meters ahead. The smog was so thick it felt like the sky had merged with Brighthold.
After turning a few times, I finally reached the centre of Brighthold. The smog here was even more terrible. They say , even a blind man would need two walking sticks to pass through here. And I agree.
I covered my nose with the collar of my trench coat and walked to the third Street block thirty-two. I made sure to walk slowly, the last thing I want right now is to bump into some young woman and fall in love with her.
I walked till I saw the board saying, 'Thirty-Second Street.' After moving past a few fashion shops I finally saw Pete's wardrobe shop. I exhaled deeply before stretching my lips into a smile and gently opened the door.
The inside was designed in wood and green paint on the walls. It gave a calm and serene feeling. There were dolls dressed nicely looking out of the window or greeting customers.
An old man wearing a green checked shirt and blue pants with shoulder straps walked out of a room, carrying a big stack of clothes.
I rushed to him and offered to take it from him with a smile, he gladly gave it to me and said, "please put it on that table." He pointed to a table in the middle of the room.
'This is heavy!' I thought as I felt my eyes bulging out of their sockets by the forces of the strength I'm using to carry this.
After putting it down nice and slowly, I heard the old man saying, "Thank you for the help young man but we aren't open yet."
"Hahaha..I'm not here to buy. I'm here to see Mr. Peter." I said as I gasped for breath in between.
'I have a feeling that this old man is Mr. Peter.' Ithought.
"Oh I will call him here right away." The old man said, his voice was low and raspy. Muttering something under his breath he went inside a room.
'yeah…I knew he wasn't Mr.Peter.'
The old man went inside a room and came out with a short and plump bald man. He looked at me sternly up and down and when he saw my shoes he raised his eyebrow.
I was confused when his gaze suddenly stopped at my shoes, subconsciously I looked down and saw what it was– the mud.
My shoes were fully covered in mud. Maybe it could be considered another layer of shoe that had a lot of mud and dirt. And it wasn't just the shoes but it'd also splattered on my pants and the back of my coat.
"Uhh…Nice weather, huh?" I asked, breaking the silence.
The short and plump man was clearly unimpressed as he looked at me with half lidded eyes, "Quite." He said, his voice heavy and his tone serious.
He once again looked down, but this time his eyes trailing the path the mud had walked in the shop.
'These damn muds won't stay in their houses! So rude to crawl and make other nice shops dirty!'
"Umm…..That wasn't me." It was clearly me but I chose peace over blame.
"Clean it and leave." Mr. Peter said as he walked back into the room. I sighed as he turned his back on me and shut the door.
Well…There goes another job. And without any changes I have managed to fail another day.