When Annan reached out, Archbishop Tomark instinctively tried to dodge. But a slow-moving old man was no match for a young man, and Annan settled the eyeglasses on his nose.
"How is it?"
Archbishop Tomark furrowed his nearly vanished brows and said, sounding dazed, "...Even blurrier."
"Then the prescription's wrong." Annan rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and asked the shopkeeper to bring over the strongest pair.
The shopkeeper soon returned with another case. Annan replaced the first pair with lenses as thick as bottle bottoms.
The way Archbishop Tomark turned his head showed that he could see everything around him. The fact that he said nothing meant he was pleased.
"How much?" Annan asked the shopkeeper.
"How could I charge you? Please accept them as a gift."
"Then I'll thank you for your gift on Archbishop Tomark's behalf." Annan did not presume to pay for the archbishop. He returned the case to the shopkeeper and pushed the Wheelchair out the door.
The shopkeeper watched from the doorway until Annan and the archbishop disappeared, then hurried back inside.
"Quick! Put up a sign saying the archbishop of the Wealth Church tried Wally Eyeglass Shop's eyeglasses and loved them!"
The clerk said timidly, "But the archbishop didn't say anything..."
"Oh, right... Then say the archbishop of the Wealth Church bought a pair of eyeglasses here! Hurry!"
Meanwhile, Archbishop Tomark took off his new eyeglasses and rubbed a lens with his finger, fascinated. "I can't sense any magic in these, but I really can see clearly... Holy Son, how did you do it?"
"Because they don't need magic. The principle is rather like..." Annan searched for the right words. "Have you ever seen flawed glass? Things behind it look distorted."
"All the time."
After all, in Allen World, people used vague