Before she closed down for the night, Rishaki made an effort to change out some of her artifacts on display. She wanted each visit to be a new experience for the customer, so they always felt a subconscious compulsion to come back and see what had changed. Plus, she had literally thousands of them, so it would be a shame not to show them all off. Right now, she was deciding what luxuries to adorn the statue with that she’d just brought out.
She nearly dropped the broad ornamental collar that she tried to put on it when she heard a noise behind her. I thought I locked the door to the shop?! She whirled around but didn’t see anyone. But then her eyes drifted to the floor and she found her small furry customer. Anyone else, she would kick out for ignoring her store hours, but she wasn’t certain if he grasped such concepts. Though, it still raised the question of how he got inside in the first place
Pox was dressed in an adventurer’s outfit with a matching hat that his ears poked through. He had a sack draped over his shoulder, giving Rishaki the impression that he had some items that he wanted to sell. He had been there once before, but that had only been with a single item in hand.
The merchant returned to the counter and sat down, gesturing for him to come forward. She would treat him just like any other customer. Pox hopped on top of the counter but struggled a bit to pull up the sack. He finally managed, but it just made her wonder even more what was inside.
“Ahh, more of these?” Pox laid out a few small white balls in front of her. “Of course I will take them. I turned the last few into a paste as you hinted and then gave a sample to my chef friend at an 8-plaque restaurant. He was screaming at me over the phone minutes later to sell him all I had. But I’m guessing you’re not going to tell me where you get them, are you?”
Pox ignored her entirely and instead brought out the next item. Rishaki’s eyes dazzled a bit when she saw his next trove; countless coins from all over the world. Given the recent destruction of physical currency, these had skyrocketed in value. And to make it better, some of the coins the koala-fox had presented were centuries old. Where exactly had he gotten them, and how did he understand their worth? Too many questions and the creature would answer none, so Rishaki had to let it go.
She dug through the pile, sorting them one at a time. Finally, she picked up a single coin and handed it back to him. “This one is worthless, but I will take the rest.” Pox grabbed the dud coin and instantly shoved it into his mouth as a snack.
It seemed there was only one item left as the animal struggled to get it out of the sack, eventually pulling the bag away while the heavy object sat still. Rishaki jumped back an inch in surprise the moment she saw it, but the fear quickly turned to wonder when she saw the rest.
Her very existence was at full attention—every fiber of her being that made her a collector told her that this was something that couldn’t be ignored, something she had to have no matter the cost. “How did you… this is impossible!” Her fingers ached as she reached for the item, needing to touch it to confirm that it was truly real.
Once glance and she could tell that it was not of this world, but rather, the old world. Roque in particular loved to talk about it: humanity’s second chance, and those who came before that weren’t so lucky.
What Pox had presented to her was a winged helmet, the likes of which she’d never seen before. A collector such as herself had read of every army in history, and this matched none of them—not even close. She picked up the helmet to examine it more thoroughly, and what had given her a brief fright earlier slid out onto the counter.
It was a skull, fully intact and perfectly preserved. How old was it? Thousands of years? If it really was older than human life itself, it could even be millions. Not wanting it to sour her taste any further, and not wanting to possibly damage it, she immediately threw it into her chest. She’d let a historian figure all that out, for the right price.
Her fingers trembled as she brought the helmet closer, even her own reflection in it was made more dazzling. The helmet was made of some metal she’d never seen before, and it felt off somehow to the touch. What would she even call the color? It was like silver and gold blended together but then backed by the brightest white.
She gave it a whiff and recoiled. It wasn’t bad, but it messed with her senses. The base of it smelled like damp stone but with an overpungent saltiness that stung her nose. Was she smelling the old world or simply its demise?
Rishaki quickly stowed the helmet away into her chest, fearing that she’d lose her sanity if she stared at it any longer. This was a piece that she could enjoy forever, and one she was unsure that she should ever show anyone else.
There were a few known artifacts that were also believed to be from the old world that all shared a similar style of craftsmanship. However, she could count them on a single hand. To think that one had just fallen in her lap was absurd. Maybe Cosmos favored her after all, or at least this creature did, but now she was starting to think that perhaps their favor was one and the same.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Of the other ancient artifacts, at least four were hidden away in vaults that she’d unfortunately never see the inside of—two that were in the Central Peace headquarters. Another she knew of belonged to a friend of hers who was also a private collector. They had been so kind as to let her see it. That one wasn’t in as good of shape and looked like it was a mechanized folding fan that would fan the user itself.
There was one more that she suspected was an old world artifact, not that she’d had the chance to inspect it herself, unfortunately. It had been in the Cotagerie museum but was now in the hands of the Fiends For Hire—allegedly. The World’s Heart: a ruby that had passed around since history itself. The problem was that it was too perfect and could never have been made by human hands so long ago.
So if it wasn’t an old world artifact, then what else could it be? Regardless, she needed to get her hands on it, and it was one of her secret motives for moving here to begin with. After all, her own eyes had turned into rubies, so if that wasn’t destiny telling her that it belonged in her possession, then nothing was true in the world. But alas, thus far she’d had no luck in tracking it down.
Roque had also shared intel on an old world artifact he’d come across recently and had shown Rishaki a picture. Like with the helmet, just a glance was all she needed. It was a giant sword in the hands of a Central Peace soldier—self-made enemy of the Fiends For Hire, Jaid Luciri.
However, Rishaki felt confident in her odds of getting to see it sooner or later. After all, in her experience, enemies often made their presence known more than allies. But what was important now was settling her debt to the Koala-Fox.
Honestly, even if Rishaki sold all of her belongings, no amount of money would ever cover the cost of the helmet. She often called many things priceless, but everything had a price until now. This, like the other old world artifacts, were unsellable through conventional means. She’d be indebted to Pox for the rest of their lives, but she’d do her best to appease the animal in the moment. Maybe if she kept him satisfied, he’d bring her even more in the future.
“Let’s get the obvious things out of the way. You don’t want money, right?” Pox merely tilted his head as he stared at her. “Then I’m guessing you don’t want power or women… errr… animal women?” His head tilted the other way.
“Then what do you want?” Last time she’d given him a special comb meant for grooming the pets of the wealthy so that he could keep his tail extra fluffy. He’d liked it at the time, but something like that certainly wouldn’t be enough.
Pox pointed to his mouth and mimicked chewing and then rubbed his belly.
“Of course, you would be thinking with your stomach,” Rishaki’s face unconsciously slipped into a smile. “You like trash, yes? Well I have trash. People throw it into my chests all the time. You’re welcome to as much as you want whenever you like. Hmm, but that’s not enough.”
“Right, you like uranium. Do you like other precious stones, or just the dangerous ones?” Pox mimicked biting at her to give his answer. “Well, I have plenty of those anyways.” She put on some gloves, not that the rocks would harm her as a Fiend, but she took the precaution regardless. Rishaki dumped a giant pile out onto the counter, every single piece that had been in her chest.
Pox jumped in joy and started dancing around the pile. He shoved a bunch in his mouth until his cheeks were stuffed and then began loading his pouch until it was bursting. But there were still plenty more stones left to move.
“I can see that this will be a problem, but I think I may have a solution in mind,” the merchant pulled out her phone and texted someone. “Let’s see how fast one of my runners can obtain something they’re not expecting. In the meantime, is there anything else you’d like?”
Pox charaded the motions for food again, but this time he also spread one of his paws above his head. It took Rishaki a few guesses until she realized it was meant to be a flower. “Ah, your flowery friend. You want something for her.” Pox nodded vigorously.
The plant-creature had never visited her shop, but Rishaki had seen her flying around once or twice. This would be something new, since she’d never thought about what a creature without flesh would desire. But it didn’t take long for something to pop into Rishaki’s mind and she fished out a jar from her chest.
“These are seeds for some of the rarest plants in the world. They’d fetch millions if I sold them properly, but I think your friend may enjoy them more.” Pox happily accepted the jar and set it next to him while they waited for Rishaki’s package to be put into one of her remote chests.
“Ah, it has been delivered,” she looked up from her phone. She pulled out a toy truck meant for children to ride around in along with a lead-lined box. After dumping the rest of the hazardous stones into the box, she placed it in the bed of the truck. Pox climbed into the driver’s seat and Rishaki opened the door and slid the curtain for him to speed away into the night.
Fiends For Hire Text Conversation 14
Date: Quintlyber 22nd 2078
『Kada: Good day, Queen of Commerce』
『Rishaki: I enjoy the title, but buttering me up will not win you any discounts.』
『Rishaki: What do you want?』
『Kada: I found this mosaic sign while I was swimming deep underground. Looks all fancy but I can’t read the language. How much would you give me for it? (Attached: dashiny.pic)』
『Rishaki: Found a translation, apparently it says ‘Septic Room’』
『Rishaki: So nothing.』
『Kada: Huh, maybe I’ll put it up on Xard’s door and tell him it says ‘Hero’ or something』