"Master, they weren't worth that much." Raphtalia said, scolding Technoblade for his impulsive purchase without knowing about the market value. "All of it put together was probably only worth a few silver coins."
50 gold was enough to buy a small house. Normally, a fully grown and healthy Filolial would cost 1 gold coin.
"Now you see, that is where you are wrong. We are at war, and war is about four things; manpower, equipment, intel and potatoes. The value of each of them can't be compared to mere gold." Technoblade said as if all of this was obvious.
"...Ah." Raphtalia mumbled, not sure how to react to that.
"I see one! There is a magic shop over there!" Keel said, pointing towards a humble store down the street where a sign that Technoblade couldn't read was hung, which depicted a witch's hat.
"Hm… You two can read this world's language, right?" Technoblade asked, getting confirmation from the pair. "You'll have to teach me how later. Not being able to read for myself is inconvenient."
Technoblade's ears perked up slightly as he entered the magic shop and the door hit a little bell. Looking up at the hanging bell, he started to bat at it, like a cat with one of those cat toy things.
"Alright, alright. No need to keep ringing it, I'm coming." A homely old woman in a witch's hat and robes said as she came out of the back room.
"Hagh? Oh, sorry. Just can't get enough of that sound." Technoblade said, rubbing the back of his head.
"That is quite alright." The woman chuckled before adjusting her glasses and getting a better look at her customers. "Oh dear." Now, this was not an uncommon response from people who suddenly saw Technoblade standing right in front of them. But this person seemed different. "Those runes, they aren't your standard set, but they are clearly a functioning enchantment. Sir, would you mind telling me where you got that armor?"
She was just full of professional curiosity. Her eyes shining with what was likely a magical aura as she looked over Technoblade's armor.
"This? Made it myself. Not the best quality, since I'm lacking enough paper for the runic compression steps, but it's a start." Technoblade said, puffing out his chest.
"Even if the enchantments are only of an average grade, I've never seen any like this before. Would you mind telling me where you learned them?" The woman asked.
"An old friend of mine taught me. Though they are pretty common in the world I come from. Just about everyone learns at some point." Technoblade admitted.
"The world you come from?" The woman said before something seemed to click into place for her. "Oh, you must be one of the Legendary Heroes that were summoned. I was told by the palace to prepare all the crystal balls I could to help on your journey."
"Crystal balls?" Technoblade said, unfamiliar with the concept.
"They are an item which can be used in order to allow a person to learn a low level magic spell without the need to be able to read the magic alphabet, if they have the right magical affinity for it." The woman explained. "Are you not here for that?"
"It's news to me." Technoblade admitted. "I left the city early though and have only came back to grab some materials I'll need going forward. Paper, glow stones and water source stones."
"I have some paper I bought from a local seller. I can either sell it to you or give you their names, and I have some water stones I can sell you. As for glow stone, do you want it as a replacement for a natural light source or a material component?" The woman asked.
"Bit of each." Technoblade replied.
"In that case, I would suggest light orbs over glow stones for a light source. They need to be charged once every few days with mana, but they give off a perfect replica of natural sunlight."
"How much would it be to get four of those and four water stones?" Technoblade asked.
"They are a little time consuming to make, but for a Hero like yourself, I'll sell them to you at material cost, which is 5 silver a piece." The witch said.
"I don't do that. Not when you worked hard to make them and I haven't actually helped anyone yet. Just tell me the normal price." Technoblade said, insisting on not getting a discount. He liked this woman and her grandmotherly charm, and didn't want to take advantage of her.
Not many people talked to Technoblade like he was a normal person since he came to this world, which made him feel a lot less awkward himself.
"...If you say so. The nobility usually buy them for their mansions at 1 gold each." The woman replied.
"I'll take them." Technoblade said, pulling out the gold coins. "I've got 100 gold I'd like to spend on things that would be useful. So I'd also like to also buy the glow stone and paper, as well as anything else you can think of that might come in hand."
"I… Oh my." The witch said, surprised by just how deep Technoblade's pockets were. "Well, there are the crystal balls I mentioned, though… in truth I don't have any left. The Spear and Bow Heroes took all of them already yesterday. Though if you are willing to put the work into it, I have books on the magic alphabet and higher level magic I could sell you."
"Anything worth having always takes time, skill, cunning and maybe a bit of luck." Technoblade said, hiding his annoyance that easy progress had been taken by someone else. This was like when he first moved to Pogtopia, only to find that people had already stripped the area of all the easily accessible potion ingredients, and he had to go on a practical ten day journey to find some.
It was a good thing Jschlatt was such a bro, despite being an evil emperor, and told him where to find some.
"Wiser words have never been spoken." The witch chuckled. "I'll need to check what your attributes are so that I can match the books with your talents. Please, come this way."
Technoblade followed the woman inside to where she had a crystal ball kind of thing, and she instructed them to each take a turn touching it so that she could see what their attributes were.
Being the leader of the party, Technoblade went first. "You have a strong affinity for empowerment-type support magic, a talent for water magic and… Now that is rare. You have a talent for blood magic. The strongest I have ever seen for it."
"Really? Water magic? Who would have thought?" Technoblade mused. Being a native of the Nether, a place where water was more eternally scarous than a desert, having an affinity for water was surprising.
Raphtalia and Keel seemed a lot more concerned about the 'blood magic' part. But to him, that seemed much more natural. After all, in a world with so little water, it was only common sense to drink the blood of your enemies.
"I'm afraid I don't have many books for blood magic that I could share with you, as there aren't many practitioners of it, but I can give you what I have on water and empowerment magic." The woman said.
"That'd be great."
Next up was Raphtalia, who turned out to have a talent for light and dark magic, as well as making illusions, which seemed to be common among her subrace. Meanwhile, Keel would be able to learn healing and earth magic.
"Oh, you kids rolled some good ones." Technoblade said, nodding his head in approval.
"It will be hard work, but they both seem to have an abundance of natural talent." The witch agreed.
Technoblade ended up buying a dozen books on magic, on top of their other purchases, and a minor fire orb, which could be used to warm an area, or heat some water. He'd prefer a stronger one, but it seemed they were limited by the government as they were a huge fire hazard.
Stupid government safety regulations.
The witch then threw in some magic thread and books on this world's style of enchanting, in exchange for the enchanted weapons that the children made. She also exchanged a promise with Technoblade to actually tutor some of his slaves in the future in exchange for some lessons on his world's style of enchanting.
"What a nice old woman." Technoblade said, leaving the woman's store with a smile on his face, having managed to buy everything he thought he needed and still having a bit of money left over. "Now the only place we have left to visit is… the church." He looked towards the massive cathedral and let out a long groan. "Let's get this over with."
Did Technoblade hate the Gods?
Not really.
DreamXD might have broken his table, but he wasn't so bad. After all, he had given Technoblade and Dream a bell while they were trapped in prison together, which was really nice of him. And Kristin had been like a second mother to most of them, never missing an opportunity to embarrass them while she caused her own brand of chaos.
They also made the most interesting stories, like the time Kristin, with the help of Philza, possessed a modified refrigerator and the two somehow conceived of Wilbur together.
But organized worship? That was just another type of government.
He'd maintain that the Church of Twitch Primes was inherently evil, and not just because a one diamond entry fee was highway robbery. …Though he never really had a problem with the Boomers and their Church of YouTube. Though since that had no real organization to it, it wasn't really the same thing.
So Technoblade was not looking forward to having to enter the giant cathedral in order to get the kids their Class Ups.
Technoblade saved it for last, because he was pretty sure that things would happen, the government would be the government, and he would have to make a hasty withdrawal from the city, probably killing a few people along the way… or a lot of people.
Something that became more and more likely as they entered said church's territory, where glares and whispers followed them everywhere.
"Master…" Raphtalia whispered nervously, looking around at the unusual number of paladins that seemed to be around, as well as the priests who also didn't seem to be doing anything other than being around.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure they are just jealous of our magnificence." Technoblade joked, trying to lighten the mood. But all of them were tense, save for Chilza who was looking all about at the grand temple with vibrant energy, his bright blue eyes sparkling.
In truth, Technoblade was as unsure of this as the children were. Not so much for himself, but for the party.
He had no idea what levels the people around them were, but the kids, being level 40 and with their modifiers, were both equal to a level 88, in theory, and while the guards were all in iron or steel equipment with no enchantments, the kids were in mithril armor with tier 3 protections enchantments.
In theory, the kids should be fine taking on any of the guards one-on-one, but how much of an advantage did that difference in stats actually offer? Could they take on multiple enemies? And how would they react to an actual fight against people?
Strong as they were, the children were untrained and unblooded.
Perhaps he should have spent the time to teach them the blade before coming here.
But before he could just call everything off and go home, a group approached them from the front.
Led by an older looking woman in priest's robes, the group wore pure white armor bearing symbols that Technoblade didn't recognize, but seemed to be some level of enchantments. There were five of them, each equipped with either a spear or a sword, and all of them with helmets that hid their faces.
Technoblade wished there was something that hid the woman's face, so that he wouldn't have to see that scowl she was giving him. "What do you think you are doing here?" The woman said.
"Ah, sorry. I'm looking for someone in charge that I could talk to." Technoblade said awkwardly. Doing his best to keep his hands away from his sword, as to not frighten anyone unnecessarily.
"I am the Cardinal, Kathrine de Melforn." The woman replied.
"...Is that important?" Technoblade asked, not having a clue what the different ranks were within this church. She talked like she was important, and had a well armed escort, but Technoblade couldn't honestly be sure. She did glare heavily at him for his response. "I'm not looking for any trouble."
"Then turn around and leave. Your kind are not welcome here."
"Hey, no need for that. I told you I'm not trying to start nothing." Technoblade said, surprised by the open discrimination.
Not that he couldn't understand. Even if he was different from them, Technoblade was well aware of what your average Piglin was like. A violent brute that was obsessed with gold and dumb as a stack of bricks.
He wondered if he should ask to take to her manager, but it wasn't likely to go any better.
"Our Church offers no salvation for animals like you." The woman said with venom in her voice. Her eyes flickering between Technoblade and a point behind him.
Wow. She was making it really hard to respect women.
"Look, I know I am beyond saving, and that's fine. I'm not here to join your religion. I just want to use the Dragon Hourglass to Class Up my slaves and pets." Technoblade said. "I know how this works so just tell me how much of a donation do I need to make to make that happen."
"...You will need to pay 10 gold a piece in order to Class Up." The woman said with a smirk, her eyes still seemingly following something beyond Technoblade's shoulder..
"Alright, 70 gold then." Technoblade said, bringing out the money.
The woman and her guards looked shocked at the money before she scrunched up her face and glared at him. "You also need permission from the King."
"Hagh? Really? Can't we just skip that step?" Technoblade said, getting frustrated. "Look. I can go get permission from the King, I'm what's called a Hero of the Sword. He'll give me permission, but going through the whole thing of getting an audience is…"
"You are NOT the Hero of the Sword!" The woman cut him off with a hiss. "The Legendary Hero would NEVER be a filthy animal like YOU! You are a FALSE Hero! A Heretic who will be burned in the light of our Creature! And…!"
"What are you looking at?" Technoblade said, turning his head to see why the woman was constantly looking behind him.
Even before his head was fully turned, his ears picked up the familiar sound of crossbows.
Moving fast, Technoblade grabbed the Cardinal, and twisted himself around, positioning her between him and the crossbow bolts.
Five bolts hit her body, with a sixth missing and breaking a tile nearby, and the woman gasped in shock, her eyes staring wide at Technoblade.
The bolts weren't that strong. They wouldn't be enough for an instant kill. But Techno could smell the poison on them.
Moving the woman to the side with his left hand, Technoblade drew the Legendary Holy Sword and launched a counter attack on the black robed figures in the overhanging buttress. "Air Strike Sword! Second Sword!"
The two transparent swords flew, slamming into two of the six snipers, slicing them clean in half and destroying the stones they were laying on, as the other jumped away to safety.
"You bastard! You killed the Lady Cardinal!" One of the bodyguards shouted, drawing his sword. Everyone in the halls seemed to draw swords and staffs, and looked menacingly towards Technoblade and his party. "Everyone! Killing the False Hero! Don't let him escape alive!"
The bodyguard ran toward Technoblade with his sword drawn, but Technoblade parried it with his shield… the still dying woman he had grasped in his left hand. The bodyguard looked horrified as to what he had just did, in the second before Technoblade took his head.
"Hahaha… So. You all want there to be blood, do you?" Technoblade said with a low chuckle, his voice sending chills through the priests and paladins as his black pupils grew into giant discs and a grin spread across his pig-like face. "Alright then. WE WILL HAVE BLOOD!"
Something I neglected to say. Technoblade being able to see just fine in the dark is a reference to how he used a texture pack which made everything look like it was in light, so that it would be easier for the audience to see and won't lag if things got complicated, which also happened to make it so that he didn't need to bother with torches in order to see if he wasn't going to spawn proof a place.
So I'm saying that Piglins (or Pigmen. Whatever you want to call them) have night vision.
Technoblade is also going to make a comment eventually about Piglin women all being gold diggers, but meaning it in the literal sense, in that they all dig for gold.
A real question would be, what is going to happen when the Queen comes back? I can't see Technoblade viewing the Queen as anything but a heartless woman who was corrupted by her position.
After all, she put her own daughter's life in danger and is only turning against the Church of the Three Heroes now because the Country is in immediate danger because of them. Even her pandering to Naofumi, by renaming her husband and daughter to Trash and Bitch could possibly trigger Technoblade, despite the two not being his allies at all, since it would be like how Tubbo exiled Tommy in order to pander to Dream.
She's a Politian doing political bullshit.
So the question would be, would he strike first in order to make a point, like right after the revolution, or would he hold back, because the Waves are still the common enemy. The Eggpire showed that he was capable of uniting against a common enemy.