I started walking down the stairs of the inn while adjusting my clothes to fit my sword underneath the cloak. Along the way to the dining area I saw the exit and almost just walked out of the door but stopped myself and continued to the dining area. After I found the place I started to scour the area to find the two. I notice several other tables filled with two to four people each before my eyes fall on Chelsey and Vaero and I start to make my way over.

As I got to the table Chelsey looked at me with a smile “Those clothes look good on you!” and followed up with “You came in a good time, I just ordered us some food.”. As I sat down Chesley then bluntly asked “Do you remember anything at all? Or do you just wake up in the forest?”.

I think back to the note with the name on it and mention it “Well when I woke up there was a note on the sword” and gesture towards my back. I then followed up with “It had a name on it, Serval Grue”.

Chelsey’s eyes widen with curiosity while claiming “Wait we don’t even know your name! Is that your name?”.

I think to myself about the name, it does give me a weird feeling but doesn’t feel like my name. While I was thinking about it Vaero injects with “No that can’t be right, he wouldn’t have the same name as Lord Grue.”.

Chelsey looks like she just remembered something as she listened to Vaero “Oh right, isn’t that the Baron of Trennet Village, the place we are going to next?”. As she finishes Vaero nods his head. There was a moment of silence before Chelsey shot up with a face as if she made a realization “AH! That means you could come with us then uh.”. She pauses for a moment before she tilts her head in confusion towards me “What is your name? I just realized you haven’t told us.”.

I look at her with a sigh and shrug while saying “I don’t know, like I said, I have no memories of my past.”

With a smile perched on her face she claims “Then we’ll call you Crim!”. I look at her in confusion and she notices and starts to explain “Well I thought of your sword and cloak, both are crimson so I thought Crim would be okay.”.

Vaero looks at her and exclaims “You can’t just give him a random name! I may not like him but he's still entitled to his own name.”.

Chelsey looks over to him and answers “Well he might not have thought of a name and I figured it suited him.”. She then peers towards me while saying “Vaero’s right though, in the end it’s your name, if you already have something we can call you thats okay.”

I think to myself about the name Crim, it isn’t that bad of a name and I only thought of survival while I was in the forest. I look over to Chelsey and answer her with “I didn’t have time to think about a name in the forest and it isn’t bad so I don’t mind it.”.

Chelsey looks at me happily “Then it’s settled! We will call you Crim from now on.”. She then claps her hands while saying “Now back to what I was saying. Would you want to come with us Crim? It would be faster for you to find Lord Grue, he might help with your memories if you meet him.”.

While she gazes at me eagerly waiting for my reply I think about the situation, it does make sense if we are both heading to the same place and maybe if I do meet this person I might understand something about my past. I think for a short while and before I answer the wench started to place our food in front of us.

“Yay the foods here.” Chelsey exclaims. “I hope you are okay with the food” she says while following up with “I don’t really know what you like but I’m certain it’s a lot better than anything you’d have out in the wild.”.

I looked at the bowl of beef stew in front of me, I felt drool slipping from the corner of my mouth while thinking “Anything really would be better than monster remains.”. I pick up the spoon beside the bowl and get lost in the food. When Chelsey sees that, she lets me be while I start to gulf down the food.

The table was quiet while we all were finishing up our bowls. After I finished with my bowl and was content with myself I broke the silence with the answer Chelsey wanted to hear “Okay, I’ll be your guard, but only until we get to Trenent Village”.

She looked up to me with a smile on her face “That’s okay, even if it’s just to Trenent Village I know for sure that we will be safe with you around!”. After announcing that I couldn’t help but see Vaero looking quite dejected. After a short moment Chelsey also noticed it too and tried to reassure him “I don’t mean you can’t Vaero but you even said it yourself that Crim is exceptional with a sword.”

Vaero looked off to the side with a sight and started muttering to himself “If I didn’t slip I would have been fine.”.

While looking at him Chelsey mentions “But earlier you were saying you were no ma-”.

She was interrupted by Vaero standing up from the table. While looking at her he claims “I’m going to check our equipment.” and walks out of the area.

There was an awkward silence but it didn’t last long with Chelsey breaking it “Don’t mind him, he’s always hard on himself when it comes to protecting me. After we got back to town he's been training outside until late night”.

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While I was trying to figure out what the relation between those two are Chelsey breaks my train of thought “Well there's still several things that needs to be done before we leave, do you want to come with me?”. I look at her in confusion wondering what she would need. Chelsey notices my face and elaborates “Like I said before, I’m a merchant, while you were out I spent a good bit of the time tending your wounds, I was able to sell off the medicine and healing potions but I haven’t had much time to buy the goods I wanted here.”. She then adds “Also who knows, maybe you’ll remember something while we are out.”.

Chelsey looks at me patiently waiting for an answer “I got nothing better to do other than wait now so I’ll accompany you.”. I was curious about what she deals with since she claims to be a merchant.

With a smile on her face she announced as she got up “Okay, let's not waste anymore time and get going then!”.

After paying for the food we made our leave.

While observing the surroundings as we walked to her destination she began talking about the town “Here in Last Haven is a great place for adventurers since it’s the last settlement before the Badlands down south, that's the area you most likely came from.” “Monsters with intelligence and that can use magic too are more common the farther south you go.”. I noticed that the village we are in indeed had a lot of people who would presume to be adventurers as she continues on “Since this area is more dangerous with such monsters there is also more higher quality materials in a greater abundance here, I wanted to take advantage of that and buy some here and when I get to the Capital which is in a more safer area I could make a great profit and that's why Vaero and I ventured out here.”.

As she finished talking we arrived at a peculiar building with a sign that had a picture of a sphere and claws. “And here we are, the Monster Parts and Essence shop, where all adventurers sell their monster mana essence and parts.” she says while looking as eager as a kid about to enter in a candy shop. Before we go inside Chelsey turns to me with a worried expression “I’m going to use a fake surname, I’ll tell you why when we leave, just don’t use my surname.” she says as I peer at her with confusion seeping out of my eyes for a moment before I agree with her.

We make our way inside to find the shop lifeless except for the one at the counter. As we approached the counter the presumed shopkeeper welcomed us warmly “Greetings! Welcome to my shop, are you here to buy or sell monster essence and parts?”.

Chelsey greeted the man back with a gentle smile back and answered with “I’m here to buy, how are your quantities in medium grade essence?”.

He returns the gentle smile as he grabs a book from underneath the counter and as he opens it up he starts flipping through a few pages before answering “Well from what it looks like, we have forty four medium grade essences for thirty Silver Coins each.” he says to Chelsey.

She nodded while he gave her the answer and asked another question “How about low grade quantities and pricing as well as high grade?”.

The shopkeeper flips through a couple of pages before responding with “For low grade we have eighty nine each ten Silver a piece.”. He then proceeds to flip through several more pages before continuing “As for high grades, we have six three ringed essences, each priced at two Kings Coins.”

Chelsey nodded along as he talked. She then placed a finger on her lip and asked “If I were to buy forty low grades, thirty medium grades and two high grades, would you give me a deal?” she says in a sweet voice.

The shopkeeper stays silent for a moment while studying Chelsey before breaking the silence with a question “Before we continue on, I presume you are a merchant? May we properly introduce ourselves.”. He pauses for a moment before introducing himself first “I am Igird of the Bizbell merchant family. And you are?”

With a smile Chelsey answers while doing a curtsy “I am Chelsey from the Trello merchant family.” She then gestures towards me “And this is Crim, my bodyguard.”.

Igird looks at us with a bright smile “Ah good, I heard word that there is someone from the treteros, gold hungry Hishtof family so you can never be too safe.”. I looked towards Chelsey to see her face not waver but her hands were shaking from clenching her fists. Quickly after Igird continues on while clapping his hands “Now back to business, that was forty low grade, thirty medium, and two high grade?”.

Chelsey agrees to him while he thinks to himself for a moment and starts writing down several things on a piece of parchment. After a short moment he breaks the silence with “I can do nine Silver each for the low grade, twenty five Silver for the medium, and the lowest I will go for the high would be One Kings Coin and ninety Silver each. That would come to a total of.” he pauses for a moment “Fourteen Kings Coins and ninety Silver.”.

Igird looks to Chelsey hoping she would agree with that deal before it being shattered by her response “Mmm, could you possibly do eight silver coins for the low grade and twenty for the medium grade?” she says in a cutesy voice.

He looks at her with his face slightly pale “Young Miss, I still need to make a profit out of this deal too!”.

She then claims with “I can understand that but I must say and this is only by speculation but in this small village, which is the last before the Badlands, wouldn’t have many buyers since it would mainly be adventurers coming by your shop and those same people would rather use their own so there would be far to few deals of the medium and low grade no? I honestly think it is still a great deal for you since it would take a long time to sell the same amount of low and medium grade that I would be purchasing.” she says while nodding to herself.

I look towards the shopkeeper who looks like they were defeated “You are right Miss… Business in selling has been slow in essence…” he sighs before continuing “I do see that I am making a profit but barely so that you can’t even call it one.”.

While still looking dejected Chelsey presses on with “That may be true but unless you are willing to wait for the same things to sell for the price you want that would take over a year and by then you would have even more.” she doesn’t leave much breathing room before continuing “And there aren't that many merchants that come to this outpost since it’s very dangerous. Like I said before, even if the gains don’t seem much, it’s still a good deal for you.”

I don’t really understand much of what's going on between the two but from my point of view it looked like it was a one sided fight, in favor of Chelsey. There was a long pause with Igird resting his face in his hand while furrowing his brows before he broke it “Okay, you’re right, I’d be crazy to turn this deal down.” he responds in a reluctant tone. He looks at Chelsey once more “I must say, you may look young and naive but you're more like a wolf in sheep's clothing, I can tell just from this transaction that you will be a great merchant in the future. From what merchant family are you from again?”.

She looks at him with an innocent smile “I am from the Trello family, you may have not heard of it since it’s a very small one.”.

He studies her for a moment before sighing while saying “You’re right, I haven’t.”.

Chelsey then questions “Shall we begin with the paperwork then?” she says while bringing out a quill pen from her belt. He sighs while agreeing to her and starts grabbing a few things from underneath the counter.

After they start working on the paperwork I take that opportunity to look around the shop. There were many display cases containing claws and hides from monsters in the lower sections and with spheres with visible strains of energy spiraling around them, many with different colors and intensities of energy higher up.

While I was exploring the shop I heard footsteps coming behind me and I naturally rested a hand on my hilt while turning around. “It’s just me, why are you always so defensive?” Chelsey says with a smile before continuing on “I’m done with what I wanted here, we just have to bring the carriage over to pick up the goods. Are you ready to go? Or is there something that interests you?”. I drop my hand down from the hilt and shake my head. While looking at me with a gentle smile she proceeds with “Okay, there isn’t much left to do in the village so we can start packing up the carriage and get ready to leave.”.

I nod to her and we start heading towards the exit. As we neared the counter again I heard the shopkeeper muttering to himself “I can’t believe such a youngin from an unknown merchant family at that…” it became inaudible the closer to the door we got. I gaze over towards Chelsey and see a mischievous smile on her face as we walk out the doors.