Victoria knocked on Greg's door. "Greg, we need supplies!"

"Supplies?" Greg muttered, opening the door. "What do you need supplies for?"

"To help Cecelia figure out what she wants to do." Victoria replied, gesturing to the halfling hiding nervously behind her.

Greg frowned. "Okay… that still doesn't tell me what you need supplies for. Like, what am I making? Games? Books? Yarn? Wood and carving knives?"

Victoria glanced at Cecelia. "I think… Do you want to try sewing? We can make you something nice to wear."

"That- that sounds nice?" Cecelia agreed.

"Okay, then make us some thread and needles, then a few different colors of fabric… Red, black, and gold." Victoria turned back to Greg, listing off supplies.

"You got it." Greg agreed, making the requested supplies, before pausing. "Not a great start on the whole 'don't use our abilities' huh?"

Victoria rolled her eyes. "We're just not being overt about it. Don't go around turning buildings to smoke or starting a business around making food out of trash."

"Yeah, no, I get it. It just amuses me that we come in all determined to lay low and the first thing we do is kidnap a woman." Greg chuckled. "Anyway, I'm going to explore the town a bit, see what I can find for us to do."

"Bring Andrew." Victoria insisted. "I don't trust you on your own."

Greg clutched his chest. "You wound me! How could you ever think I would carelessly blow our cover?!?"

"Knowing you for more than five minutes?" Andrew offered as he came out of his room.

Greg paused. "Yeah, that'd do it."

"So where are we taking Andrew?" Andrew asked, looking between the two.

"Just out and about." Greg shrugged. "Exploring the town, seeing where we can fit in. We're supposed to be merchants, so we need to look like we're building up money to get another wagon and wares…" He trailed off, glancing at Victoria. "Hey, what's our end goal, here? I get we're trying to blend in with the Elves, but… why?"

Victoria pinched the bridge of her nose. "Greg, this was your idea! We're investigating to see what the political situation is and how we can manipulate it to protect the City! We're traveling merchants because it gives us an excuse to pick up and go whenever we need to. Right now, what you need to focus on is investigating what Elven industry actually looks like, so we know what to actually sell. Get samples of the common foods, see what their craftsmanship looks like, the kinds of metal they like to work with, etc. Once we have an idea of all that, we'll enter the next town with a wagon full of wares and slowly make our way deeper into the kingdom."

Cecelia tugged on Victoria's arm slightly. "Could- could I help?" She asked hesitantly.

Victoria paused, glancing down at her. "In what way? Clothes?" She gestured to the fabric.

Cecelia hesitated. "I- I'm not sure, but… I've always wanted to travel?" She replied tentatively, as if she could somehow get her answer wrong.

Victoria smiled slightly, getting flashbacks to some of her first interactions with Beatrice, before she'd gotten confident and still felt awkward interacting so casually with nobility. Not that she thought Cecelia would be another Beatrice, but it was adorable seeing someone slowly gaining the confidence to stand on their own. "Sure, you can help. We'll figure out something for you to do. Though… you would have to pretend to be a slave if you did that." She muttered, frowning slightly.

Cecelia blinked, caught off guard at the idea of needing to pretend to be a slave, instead of actually being one. "I- think I can do that?" Cecelia agreed.

Victoria gave her a skeptical look. "We can try I suppose…"

"Alright, you two handle that, we're going to see the town." Greg interjected, heading for the door. "Come on, Andrew!"

"And'rewal." Andrew corrected. "We should get used to using our Elvish names."

Greg grimaced. "Ugh, but I already learned your names. I don't want to learn new ones."

"Greg, we barely changed our names. It isn't that hard." Victoria rolled her eyes.

"You mean Gre'gorin." Andrew corrected.

"I will bite you." Victoria growled at him.

"I think strange bite marks might be suspicious… you know I can't heal while we're here." Andrew replied, smirking slightly.

Victoria glared at him. "Would you just go already?!?"

Andrew smirked as he followed Greg out the door. Greg chuckled, mussing up Andrew's hair. "You cheeky little shit. So proud of you."

Andrew's expression twisted. "Not sure whether I should consider that a compliment or not."

"Hey, don't push it." Greg warned, though he was still smiling. The two of them made their way out of the inn, taking in the town. It was pretty much exactly what one would expect when thinking of an Elven town. There were trees everywhere, intertwined with the buildings, a fundamental part of how the town was built. That wasn't to say stone and cut wood was absent though, it was just melded with the trees, using some sort of ability. "Alright, where do you want to head first?" Greg asked.

Andrew considered it for a moment. "How about we check out the weapons smiths? We did just survive an attack. Makes sense that we'd be interested in some weapons."

"Ooh, yeah! I wanna see how they make their shit. Always down to learn new methods." Greg grinned, rubbing his hands together excitedly. The two of them made their way towards the crafting quarter. The Elves were pretty underdeveloped technology wise, so their standard weapons were still swords and spears. Of course, the same was true for the City, so maybe abilities just meant low technology weapons were more effective?

"Hello, hello! How can I help you two fine gentlemen today?" The woman behind the counter greeted them cheerfully as they entered the first shop.

"We recently survived an attack that cost us quite a fortune, though thankfully not our lives, so we're looking for ways to defend ourselves, and potentially some business opportunities?" Greg replied.

"Well, I can certainly give you some tools to defend yourself, but as for business opportunities…" The woman trailed off thoughtfully. "What did you have in mind?"

Greg cocked his head thoughtfully. "Well, for now, are there any resources you're in particular need of? Something we could potentially gather nearby? We don't have much to offer at the moment, but we're hard workers. As for the future, again, resources you might need, but rarer ones that we might come across in our travels. Then we could trade those resources for a discount on what you make from them, which we would resell at some point along our route, gaining money to purchase more resources, which we again bring to you, craft more weapons, and so on in a mutually beneficial cycle of profit. Of course that would depend on whether your goods are worth traveling all the way back here to get." Greg muttered, glancing at the weapons hung on the walls. They didn't look bad, but he'd need to take a closer look to really see their quality, preferably with his smoke.

The woman gave him a cold look. "My goods are the highest quality you can find in this entire town!"

"Is that so?" Greg raised an eyebrow, walking over to a nearby sword and running a finger down the blade as he sent some smoke into it, getting a good look at it. "Not bad, not bad. Though, you did let the blade cool unevenly." Greg commented. "Left some minor defects."

The woman flushed. "That- that's a test piece!" She turned, pulling a blade off the wall. "This is one of my masterworks!"

Greg grinned, taking the blade from her and looking it over, before letting out a low whistle. "Impressive." He muttered, frowning a bit as he cocked his head. "Is that… bone?"

"Dragon bone." The woman grinned proudly. "I managed to get my hands on a few ounces a while back."

Greg's eyes lit up, a grin slowly spreading across his face as his smoke latched onto the traces of DNA laced through the blade. "Oh, really?"

Andrew gave Greg a look. "Gre- gorin." He called insistently. "Remember why we're here."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Greg grimaced, suppressing the urge to turn into a Dragon in the middle of the shop. "Yeah, yeah." He sighed, putting the sword down on the counter as the woman gave him a wary look. "Well, you certainly have skills, I'll give you that. And experience with rare resources. I can certainly see potential in a business relationship."

The woman eyed him cautiously as she took the sword back. "Right… but you have nothing to offer me now, do you?"

"Besides a few willing hands? Unfortunately no." Greg sighed. "We were attacked by a wolf pack and lost all our wares on the way here. Last time we transport meat, I'll tell you that. But, seeing as you have absolutely zero obligation until we actually have something for you, that shouldn't be a problem, should it?"

The woman paused thoughtfully. "I suppose not… very well, I can give you a list of things to look out for."

"Outstanding!" Greg exclaimed. "I look forward to a long and profitable relationship."

Greg and Andrew looked around the shop while the woman listed out the material she wanted. Greg used his smoke to get a look at a few of them, getting copies of what she'd used to make them so he could just make anything she asked for. "Alright, here you go." The woman announced as she finished the lists, handing them to Greg. "This is a list of the basic materials I need for my regular work, while this is the list of rarer materials I need for particular projects."

Greg nodded, taking them and studying them for a moment. "Right, we'll see what we can do, thank you." He gave her a smile before leaving with Andrew.

"So, what does she want us to get?" Andrew asked.

"No idea." Greg shrugged. "Can't read Elvish."

Andrew blinked. "That… seems like a problem."

"Eh, I'll make a copy and have Jo translate it for us." Greg shrugged. "No big deal."

"Right." Andrew nodded. "So, should we check out a few more shops?"

"Yeah, let's do it." Greg nodded. They made their way around town, setting up similar deals with a tailor, an armorsmith, a bowyer, a butcher, and an alchemist. The only one they actually had to work for was the alchemist, since they required energy filled plants and ability cores, which Greg couldn't just make using smoke. But that was a problem for later. For now, Andrew and Greg were getting dinner at a popular looking restaurant after a long day. "Well, I'll say we had a pretty productive day." Greg commented as they sat down. "A boring day, but productive."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Boring is good. It means we're doing something right. If it was exciting, we'd be in trouble."

Greg sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it though." He perked up as the restaurant door opened and a certain someone walked in. "Hey, it's the weapon girl. Hey, weapon girl!" He shouted, waving her over.

She paused, hesitating a moment, before walking over. "My name is Ver'varia."

"I'm And'rewal, and he's Gre'gorin." Andrew introduced them. "Sorry about him, he's an uncultured swine."

"I'm a delight!" Greg protested in mock offense. "And I just figured it might be nice to get to know our future business partner a bit better."

"And what about the rest of your future business partners?" Ver'varia asked, raising an eyebrow at them and crossing her arms. "I hear you two have been rather busy, running all around town setting up your little arrangements."

"Is that jealousy I detect in your tone?" Greg grinned.

Ver'varia rolled her eyes. "As long as you bring me rare materials, I don't care who you work with."

Greg chuckled. "Well, that's a relief, but honestly, you're the only one we're actually considering a long-term partnership with. The rest are just what we need to do to get off the ground." Greg's experience from System World had given him a good eye for talented craftsmen, and while the others weren't bad, they weren't on the same level as Ver'varia. He supposed he should be surprised that they managed to find the best craftsman in town on their first stop, but… well, at this point it was practically a given. "Actually, I have to wonder what such a talented craftsman is doing in an out of the way town like this."

"Well, keep wondering." Ver'varia replied. "I'm not about to spill my life story to two men I only just met."

"That's fair… but will you at least share a meal with us?" Greg asked.

Greg felt a hand clasp his shoulder tightly. "These guys bothering you, Varia?" A man growled, glaring down at Greg while his buddy moved up next to Andrew. "We don't take kindly to people who harass our favorite weaponsmith around here."

"Is that so?" Greg chuckled, looking up at him. "I don't take kindly to people who don't take kindly around here."

The man blinked down at him. "You challenging me to a fight, boy?"

Greg grinned, baring his teeth. "Oh, I would love-"

"A-hem!" Andrew coughed insistently, giving Greg a look.

"-to get my ass kicked by a big strong man like yourself." Greg coughed awkwardly. "You doing anything later?" He added with a wink, leaning into it.

The man flinched back as everyone turned to give Greg weird looks. "Wh-what?"

"Ah, sorry, I have a bit of a homoerotic masochism streak that comes out when I get scared." Greg waved dismissively. "Younger me used it to disarm fights and now… well, it just comes out, you know?"

The man blinked incredulously. "You- what?!?"

Greg raised an eyebrow, turning to Ver'varia. "Did I stutter?"

"No… but I'm pretty sure you lied." Ver'varia replied, frowning at him.

"Do you think I lied? Or do you wish I lied?" Greg smirked. "You feel like breaking yourself off a little piece of Gre'gorin?"

Ver'varia blinked. "Huh?"

"Now y'all can't tell where I'm coming from!" Greg cackled.

"I fucking hate you." Andrew groaned, burying his face in his hands. He swore Greg had a manic side that just came out every now and then to cause chaos.

"Plbt." Greg blew a raspberry at him.

Ver'varia gave them both a weird look, before shaking her head and turning to the man. "Ner'tamar, just leave it alone. They're… business partners."

Ner'tamar looked between her and Greg with a twisted expression before nodding stiffly. "Alright. Just- yell for us if you need us." He muttered, before waving for his friend to follow him back to their table.

Ver'varia sat down at the table. "So… what are you two hiding?"

Greg raised an eyebrow at her. "What makes you think we're hiding something?"

Ver'varia gave him a flat, unamused look, pointing her thumb at Andrew. "That is twice he's warned you from doing something. Once when you were holding my sword, and with Ner'tamar just now. I know you weren't actually scared of him, but…" She narrowed her eyes. "Fighting would be a problem for you, wouldn't it? And with the sword as well… you're hiding how strong you are for some reason, aren't you?"

"No, that- why would I do that?" Greg protested. "I'm just a merchant down on his luck! Barely even a mid-tier, with a simple barrier ability." He explained, creating a small barrier as an example. Since abilities were based on DNA in this World, Greg could determine what abilities they got, then all they had to do was spend a hundred points to get the ability up to mid-tier, since it wouldn't make sense for them to not have any abilities. He had a barrier ability, Andrew had a fire ability, Victoria an ice ability, and 'Chris' could teleport, filling the defense, offense, control, and mobility roles in a party.

Ver'varia frowned at him. "I don't know why you would hide your power, but I'm sure you are. You're too… confident. Too sure of yourself." The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that she was right. No one who'd just lost everything like this man claimed would be so confident in setting up a partnership with her. Like he knew he'd be working with her in the future. "You weren't even attacked, were you?"

"We absolutely were!" Greg retorted. "Look, I'm injured! And the guards are already investigating the remains of our wagon and the wolf pack! How could we fake all that?"

Ver'varia cocked her head. "So you did have a wagon and you were attacked… on purpose? But why? Why would you need to lose everything to come here… an excuse to make deals with everyone in town? No, that's not it… an excuse to get your hands into everything! You- you need an excuse to run all around town. And outside of town… like you're scouting." She narrowed her eyes. "Are you Doppelgangers?"

Greg blinked at her. "No? You have a bit of an active imagination, don't you?"

"You are, aren't you!" Ver'varia exclaimed, actually looking a bit excited. "That's why you were so interested in the sword! I'm sure you'd love to get your hands on some Dragon remains! And you must rely on your transformations to fight, so you had to avoid fighting Ner'tamar!"

Greg and Andrew shared a look. "Listen, Ver- versionia? Whatever your name is, I promise you, we are not Doppelgangers." Greg insisted.

"Ver'varia." Ver'varia scowled. "And if you aren't Doppelgangers, then what are you?"

"Elves. Obviously." Andrew replied, rolling his eyes, giving Greg a look. "You see what your ridiculousness does? If you could just be normal for five minutes, we wouldn't be having these problems."

"I am a free spirit!" Greg retorted. "I must express myself!"

Andrew sighed, shaking his head and turning to Ver'varia. "Look, I know Gre'gorin is… abnormal, but that's just him, not anything to do with who we are. We really are just a group of merchants who've had some bad luck. And eternal optimist that he is, Gre'gorin can't seem to feel the gravity of that."

Ver'varia's expression twisted, looking between the two of them. "Then why do you keep stopping him?"

"Because he's a freak and he causes problems all the time." Andrew sighed. "If we weren't related, I would have gotten rid of him ages ago."

"Plbt!" Greg blew another raspberry at him.

"See?" Andrew growled in exasperation.

Ver'varia frowned. "Then why do you let him talk at all?"

Andrew shrugged. "He's a freak, but he's still good at his job."

Ver'varia blinked at that. She had agreed to work with them pretty easily… mostly because of Gre'gorin. "Huh… so you really aren't Doppelgangers?" She asked, looking almost disappointed.

Andrew shook his head. "Nope. Pure Elves. Sorry."

Ver'varia sighed. "Damn it! I really thought I had something there."

Andrew smiled. "Hey, it was a good theory. I would have believed it if I didn't know the guy. Outliers are a bitch."