The air was humid but even though the sun was out, it wasn't too hot. I decided to take a look around the market before heading to the auction house. An incredible, fresh smell that originated in some small stall selling unique bread, made me crave some food. The red sauce on this mysterious bread he's making is what caught my attention, that, and also the mildly strong aromatic smell.

"Excuse me, what is this bread-food you're making?" The smell was just incredible, the olive oil with onions and some unfamiliar spice made my mouth water profusely even though I just ate an hour ago.

"Ah, customer welcome welcome! This is my special recipea for a type of food from my family in the autonomousa city, Waterbound!" Tch, the way he speaks is annoying, I heard this dialect before and I hate it… "The bread is called Focaccia, I make it with tomatoa saucea but it is originally with justa holive hoil." Autonomous city… Is everything out of the capital just autonomous? What's even the point of having a kingdom?

"Waterbound? Where is it? And please give me 1 piece of this focachia."

He shielded his face from the heat of the improvised-looking flat stone stove as he lifted 1 piece of his special bread with a big metallic stick that had a flat head sort of like a big spatula. The young man placed it on his open palm that now glowed with white as a small piece of fabric emerged.

"Waterbound is a zmall autonomousa zone justa houtside of the capital of Rintiya, it is a city hin the middle of a circular river, the only waya to get hinside is through the zmall city Waypoint just north of Waterbound. Waterbound is alsoa called 'City of Freedom' becausea it is ruled by the people and not a king."

Ahh, I saw this place a bunch of times before, didn't know it was an auto-zone though.

He handed me the piece of bread and said it costs 15 coppers. The thin fabric he created with what I assumed to be a Seal felt like some kind of a cheap type of fabric to keep the heat away.

After complimenting the man that looked no more than 2 years older than me for his incredible recipe and handing the 15 coppers I owed him, I started making my way to the auction house.

To a bird looking from above the big market would probably seem like a small red carpet leading to this huge palace-looking building. I wonder if they purposely placed the auction house just at the edge of this red-market.

"Go away kid, this isn't a place for some sewer's rat like you, though I wouldn't mind kicking you out by force." One of the 2 guards at the entrance to the bright, soft yellow palace spat toxically.

Fucking nasty attitude, I'm here to do business muscle-head, fuck you.

"Excuse me mister but, I'm here to sell goods, is that really a way to speak to customers?" I said in a condescending manner to piss this piece of shit off.

"Wha-!" he was cut short by some tall, important-looking person coming out of the building.

"Good day to you Owner!" The burly guard lowered his ugly head to greet the walking tower, his low-pitched, threatening voice sounding mild and tame, he's like those dogs that bark a lot but get scared easily.

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"Yes yes, whatever. Now, what might we have here?" He turned towards me with a curious expression.

"I apologize mister Owner sir, I'll get rid of this nuisance at once!" The bowing guard pulled out a sword as he walked in my direction.

"Hello mister, I'm here to sell goods, I heard your auction house is the most prolific when it comes to evaluations and price." I said while giving him a curt bow.

"Guard, please refrain from insulting our customers, this young man clearly came here to do business." The angry clown turned and went back to his post, face as red as a tomato.

After I showed Walking Tower the colossal water wolf's fur and the letter of recommendation, he told me to follow him towards the leather evaluation room.

"Ho-ho, what do we have here, high and mighty mister Blin Owner bringing some kid into this reputable establishment? How intriguing." Some old lady said when we entered one of the many rooms inside of what I assumed to be the storage area of the auction house.

"Johanna, a customer is a customer, surely you jest, thinking I would turn down an opportunity to make profit." He said in his indifferent tone before turning to me.

"Young man, would you please give the goods to this… elegant young lady to evaluate?" He smirked at her.

After giving the old lady the fur, I took a look around the room while waiting for her to finish her tests.

It was filled with all sorts of different types of cloths, in particular though, there was a type of silk made out of a sea creature's skin, apparently it was this city's specialty, the owner even said that this city is named off of the special silks' name 'Silkar', original if I do say so myself.

"Oh my, that's quite the piece of fur you've got here, how d'you manage to get it?" the old lady asked after a few minutes of examination.

"I killed the beast myself, though the fur was extracted using other methods that I don't trust you enough to explain."

It might cause the goblins trouble, so I'll keep their methods a secret for now.

"Unfortunate…" Miss old lady's voice trailed off.

"Be that as it may, what is your evaluation for the price Johanna."

"Ah, yes, Blin my dear, this is incredibly high quality, hell, this is the highest quality I've ever seen. To my estimation, anything less than 120 gold pieces is not enough." Both my and the owner's jaws dropped to the floor.

"Unacceptable, I shall not pay 120 pieces of gold for a simple piece of fur." He looked at me with annoyance while his façade started breaking, what an original response…

"Listen her darling, how long have we known each other for? 20? 25 years? Trust me when I say this, that fur belongs to the very rare Colossal Water wolf species, not only that but, the quality of this fur is also the highest I've ever seen, you should buy it."

"Ah-Hem, I apologize for my unsightly behavior just now, I will purchase the fur from you young man, is 120 pieces acceptable?"

His crumbled façade was being built back up right in front of me as he gave me a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Of course, thank you very much miss Johanna, I owe you one." Winking at her I took the small pouch of gold the owner handed me.

"Don't be silly boy, you said you don't trust us, someone with access to this level of leather-working has to become an ally to this place and trust, like any piece of architecture, always needs its fundamentals." She ended with a genuine smile that made me feel fuzzy inside for some reason.

"Young man I do hope we meet again, I will also add that I put a little gift inside of this leather pouch in order to purchase your precious trust."

A gift? We'll see about that, you're kinda annoying so I wouldn't count on it. Although I really appreciate how direct these people are.

*Giggle* "It's probably just more gold." Johanna whispered from behind him.

"Right… Well, either way, it was a pleasure doing business with you, I'm not sure if I'll ever visit this city again but I will remember your kindness." I concluded before walking out of the room. I felt like such a noble with that ending haha!

As I walked out of the building, I tossed a silver coin to the hot-tempered muscle-head of a guard.

"For your trouble, bad sir, have a terrible day." I grinned at him while walking away.

I swear I could hear something snapping inside of his brain before the other guard broke into a fit of laughter.

Maybe we can explore the city for a bit seeing as I have almost 2 hours to spend before the meet-up.