A lizardman, an angel, and a dog walked into a bazaar. All three got their fair share of stares. The dog was a dog. Trixie was inquisitive and curious about everything. She zoomed this way and that, sniffing at people as much as items on display. Surprisingly the dog came back when Brivaria called her. Rake had a leash for the dog but no one thought to get it out upon entering the city. The dog was so well-behaved that it felt unnecessary. Even now, Trixie wasn’t getting herself or her two-legged companions into trouble. The angel would worry about the pooch if or when she caused a problem.

Penry was still missing a pant leg along with a boot but that was why they were in the bazaar in the first place. He needed a replacement. There were a couple tailors down one of the streets who could help him out. The trio just needed to make it their destination with coin purses intact. Thankfully Brivaria had all the money from the dungeon in her inventory. They’d tentatively agreed on everyone getting 25 mana coins each and putting the other 17 toward group expenses.

Mana coins had steadily supplanted other currencies. They were exactly what they sounded like—coins made of mana. They had value in almost every occupation from alchemy to enchanting to smithing. More importantly, no nation on Zlithia could produce them directly. They were generated exclusively from dungeons. This was one of the many reasons that dungeons weren’t eliminated immediately upon discovery, as the angels would have preferred. Dungeons supplied valuable goods of all shapes and sizes as well as money. Kingdoms or regions with more dungeons and adventurers capable of exploring them had an advantage over their neighbors.

Being inherently valuable for trade good production wasn’t the only perk to the coins. They were weightless. One could have an entire crate of mana coins and it would feel empty. That’s not to say it was common to see entire crates of them as the other feature of the special coinage was that they could be combined. The value of a mana coin could be determined by the mana stored within. If one combined two mana coins with a base value of one then they were left with a single coin that had a value of two. It was trivial to have all sorts of denominations floating around.

Fans of old money were still present and, indeed, the old currency was still used alongside the mana coins. The ancient coins of different metals minted by the more long-lived kingdoms had yet to fully be displaced. The fact that mana coins only came from dungeons meant they weren’t able to replace the entire world’s currency overnight. That and plenty of nations didn’t want to have their success tied to dungeon ecology. Finally, the value of the smallest mana coin was still several times that of the smallest form of old money. The result was that a lot of trade between poor towns or regions was still conducted with regular coins. That was precisely how Brivaria began acquiring some herself.

The angel had the equipment provided by Balthazar and her people but it was wholly insufficient to live a normal life. She was missing a good deal of amenities such as the all important soap or an equivalent magic item with a cleaning spell. The brief trek back to Keaton had given the angel a good idea of the items she needed while conversations with the party, particularly Meia, helped her understand some of the more delicate items she would need.

Penry, Brivaria, and Trixie made a number of stops on the way to the tailors. There was a little haggling to be done here and there but Penry’s ability to fold his arms and glare at anyone up-charging the nice angel was a reasonably effective deterrent. Brivaria obtained small quantities of the old money as she made purchases. At the same time, she grew more comfortable trading the currency for things. Her people had long since moved beyond the need for trade of any sort but there was a sort of charm in shopping that wasn’t present in Heaven where anything one desired could be obtained as needed.

Some time later they finally ended up at the tailor. The sign above the building’s entrance read “Bernard’s” and the man who greeted them when they entered was Bernard. He was a Lephori man with darker hair similar to Tamarin. Most residents of Keaton were human or Lephori. There were a smattering of other races but those were the most prevalent. That was partially why Brivaria got so many looks, she realized. She stood out, not as an angel but simply as a girl with wings.

“Welcome to my shop,” Bernard greeted them as they walked in. He took in the man and woman and then his gaze slid down to the dog. Trixie barked a friendly hello and sat down. The dog was a potential shedding nightmare. While the Lephori regarded Trixie as a natural disaster waiting to happen, it didn’t stop him from meeting his customers. “I am Bernard. What can I do for you today?” The Peshmari man gestured to his missing pant leg and boot.

“Had a run in with some unpleasant plants. They didn’t appreciate my impeccable taste in fashion. I’ll need another pair or two. After we’re done here then I’ll head over to the shoemaker and smith to get the rest in order,” Penry gave the man a wide smile and the angel suppressed a laugh as the rabbit man’s ears went up. Brivaria couldn’t tell if it was simply unfortunate that a man with such a scary smile loved smiling so much or if he loved smiling that much because he knew how it affected others. Either way, she’d seen firsthand how Penry’s smile could galvanize someone into action and it did so now.

The tailor worked fast. Bernard couldn’t create a set of pants instantly with his skills but he could resize them nearly instantly. As long as the pair in question wasn’t too far away from the client’s size, Bernard could have them ready in a jiffy. Penry was a tall man but not tall enough to cause a problem for the tailor. There were enough existing options that fell within Bernard’s skill range for Penry to have some freedom in his choices.

Soon the lizardsman was trying out a pair of cream-colored slacks that were nearly the color of his sandy scales. The angel thought they looked very good. Despite being from a race that didn’t need clothes in their true forms, Brivaria appreciated them and understood their purpose for the various races of Zlithia. Not everyone had a trait that mitigated temperature nor shielded against the sun. Brivaria had enjoyed all of the pretty clothes and armor she’d seen during interventions as well as what she’d seen just today in town. She’d need more than one set of clothes if she was going to live on the planet for a time. Also her current clothes were starting to smell and that presented a new set of problems.

“Say, could you fit me for a couple sets? I’ll need a few, I think.” The angel voiced her question and Bernard came over to examine her, particularly her wings.

“How big do these get?” The man didn’t touch her wings but he did examine the slits in the armor and clothes for them to easily fit through. When she looked surprised at the question, he gave her a friendly smile. “These cutouts look very large. Far larger than what these dainty little wings would need. I’m guessing you have a skill to change their size.”

“I do. They’re normally six or seven times their current size,” the angel replied after hearing the explanation. It was her turn to delight in surprising the man. Brivaria had used her Lesser Shapeshifting to make the wings tiny. They weren’t even half the span of her arms now. It was incredibly convenient. Despite the weird class advancement the skill unlocked, Brivaria really liked it.

“Okay, let’s have you look at a few things I have available. I can resize them and make the cut outs for the wings based on what you’re already wearing.” Brivaria fluttered her wings in delight and thus it was her turn for new clothes.

Everyone left the tailor with new things. Penry was wearing a shirt and pair of shorts. The tailor convinced him that getting out of the old clothes and into something new would be good for him. Brivaria stored his armor and old clothes in her inventory though she wasn’t sure if she could store his pack so he kept it on. The big lizardman was just happy to be in some new clothes. Brivaria had picked out a couple sets of comfortable traveling attire, modified for her wings, as well as a cute black dress for more formal occasions. Finally they’d gotten Trixie a couple cute doggy scarves and she was wearing a pretty purple one.

The rest of the shopping was done without incident. Both lizardman and angel returned to the inn where the party was staying. The group bought Brivaria a room even if the angel didn’t sleep. It would have been too weird for the three adventurers to let her wander around town with nowhere to go at night. She didn’t mind at all.

The angel unloaded all of Penry’s items from her inventory into his room and then looked into bathing. There was a communal bathhouse that most people in Keaton used but the inn had a very small place to bathe of its own which Brivaria took advantage of. There was a supply of water for bathing, an enchanted bucket for heating it, and a small but private area to clean off. For a slightly stinky angel, it was wonderful. Afterward she went back to her room, dressed in one of the newly-purchased sets of plain, brown traveling attire, and headed downstairs to meet the party.

“No sword or armor?” Rake asked as she approached him and Penry where they stood by the inn’s entrance.

“I can pull them from inventory if I need them. I don’t have to wear my armor or carry my sword unless I think I won’t be able to access my inventory for some reason,” she explained.

“Man, I’m so jealous. I want an inventory skill. That’s the most convenient thing I’ve ever seen. How does it work if you store food or something in there?” Rake’s question caused Brivaria to tilt her head in thought.

“Well, it doesn’t affect my rations if that’s what you mean. For something like the meal Penry brought me earlier, I assume it would just be stored as normal. If I put something hot or cold into inventory then it will stay hot or cold. It will be exactly as it was when I put it in.” Rake’s eyes went wide as she spoke.

“We need to try it with a plate of food. Can you imagine having a freshly-cooked meal on the road? I wonder if I can find a class researcher to tell me what class I need to take to get that skill.” Rake stroked his chin in thought as he spoke.

“Rake, I’m pretty sure you need at least 30 years of experience to get there or need to become a battle angel,” Meia said, now coming down the stairs to join them herself. “We ready for dinner?”

Three heads nodded in unison and a dog bark signaled their departure. They went to one of the local taverns named the Grand Flagon. It was arguably not the best tavern in Keaton but it had hot food and alcohol. They toasted to a successful dungeon delve and once more Brivaria marveled at the taste of the food. She was going to have a talk with Balthazar the next time he contacted her. Those rations were not comparable to surface food, at all.

They played around with Brivaria’s inventory skill while they ate. It turned out that she could store a entire meal in her inventory. Not only that but it would come out identically to how it went in meaning the dream of hot, freshly cooked meals on the road was a reality. Brivaria knew there was a racial upgrade to the basic inventory skill that became available somewhere around level forty or fifty. She hadn’t taken it previously but now she was strongly considering it. If she was using the inventory for anyone but herself, it started filling up quickly.

“I have a request I’d like to make,” the angel said once everyone was at least two mugs of ale into their meal and mostly through their plates. That got a different reaction from everyone at the table. Penry was nonplussed. He only had eyes for the food left on his plate. Meia gave Brivaria a searching gaze. Rake was just intrigued.

“And what sort of request would this be?” Rake asked. He set down his mostly empty mug and was all smiles as he looked across the table to the angel.

“When we met, you told me that you got swindled by the merchant who sold you Trixie since she doesn’t have that Treasure Sniffer ability.” Brivaria’s words caused Rake’s happy expression to waver while Meia spoke up.

“Yeah. While we were definitely lucky to have her this past week, I tested her pretty exhaustively the first few nights away from Keaton. She has no ability to discover treasure that I can see. In my tests she was able to find the coins less than half the time. She’s a good dog and I’m not as upset now as I was then but we definitely got scammed.” Meia spoke matter-of-factly about the issue. Rake winced at the conclusion but didn’t deny it.

“That’s what I thought. If that’s the case then how would you feel if I traded my share of the chalice for Trixie?” the angel’s words caused everyone at the table to look at her. That even got Penry’s attention.

“Brivaria, she’s a good dog but the chalice is easily worth 500 coins and potentially a lot more. A dog, particularly one without skills, isn’t worth nearly that much,” Rake explained. The angel just nodded.

“Then how about instead of the whole share, just the amount you paid for her?” As Brivaria spoke, Meia looked a little dubious.

“The amount we paid was for a Treasure Sniffer. Are you saying you’d pay that even knowing she’s not one?” Meia asked the question before Rake could protest.

“Yes. You would be whole again and Trixie would stick with me. Let’s say the extra amount would be so I could have her now rather than later.” Brivaria’s words were hopeful. Penry wasn’t especially perceptive with only middling awareness but he could see Meia looking not at Brivaria but at the angel’s wings which were fluttering nervously despite her calm demeanor.

“Sounds fine to me,” the lizardman said, surprising the other two members of his group. “We made more than enough coin on the delve to come out ahead. If we sell the dog for what we paid then that’s ideal.” Brivaria threw him a thankful look and he winced. The angel was far too earnest in the Peshmari’s eyes.

“I’m good with it too,” Meia agreed. “Trixie seems attached to you as it is. I’m pretty sure that if we split up then we’d have to pry her away from you.” At that moment Trixie put her head on Brivaria’s lap. They’d said her name enough to get the dog curious and she looked up at the angel with big, brown eyes. Rake just sighed.

“Okay, I have some things I can give you when we get back. The merchant had a few notes about what to feed her, what not to feed her, and so on. She’s a golden sunchaser. They’re a very friendly and very active dog breed, as you’ve seen. I also have a brush and some other things,” Rake paused and looked at Brivaria with resignation. “Are you sure about this? I feel like we’re taking advantage of you.”

“I’m sure,” the angel said. She stroked Trixie’s head and smiled. She was very sure.

That night they made it official. Rake wrote up a little note of sale which they all signed then he gave her all the things he’d gotten from the merchant. Brivaria slightly doubted everything had come from the merchant but she gave Rake a reassuring smile. Even if he felt like it was a bad deal for her, the angel felt it was the best deal she’d made all day.

That night Brivaria sat on the bed in the room the group rented for her. Her upgraded light skill bathed the room in soft light letting her read the adventurers manual the guild had given her. While she slowly moved from page to page, learning the rules of being an adventurer, one hand pet the big golden dog that was laying next to her and already happily snoozing the night away.

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