Back to Basics - 1.4
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After finishing up our registration, the next thing on our to-do list was procuring supplies. Whether we decided to stay in Liscor or make the trip to the nearest Human city, we were going to need to stock up. To that end, we headed to the marketplace. Klbkch and Relc told us to find them if we needed any help and continued on their patrol.
"Do we even have enough money for supplies? How much is a gold coin even worth?"
"Don't worry, I have a plan to make enough money to get us started."
"Then why are we going to the market right now?"
"That's part of the plan. Here's what I need you to do…"
***
As we headed into the market, I took the time to look for any stalls that would suit my needs. Glares followed us as we walked, though they were equally mixed with looks of hungry avarice. My craftsmanship was far from professional, but spiders were natural weavers and I could tap into their instincts. Combined with many hours of practice and fine silk, I was able to make outfits that gave off the impression of wealth. The Drake merchants were practically drooling at the opportunity for easy profit. I was more than happy to disappoint.
"Hello, my companion and I are new to the city but we didn't bring much with us. We were hoping to find everything we need for our new home in the market."
I walked straight to the stall of the Drake who was displaying the perfect combination of greed and derision that I needed for my plan to work. As we approached, he seemed to have a fierce internal battle between his desire for money and his disdain for humans.
"Then you've come to the right place! Welcome to Lism's Lot, you won't find more affordable food prices anywhere else in the city!"
Looks like money wins.
The surrounding shopkeepers were almost frothing at their mouths with envy while I did my best to keep a polite smile plastered on my face.
"We must be lucky then! We were worried about finding a good deal since neither of us could read the prices."
The Drake's smile grew sharper and an almost feral glee danced behind his eyes.
"Yes… very lucky. Why don't you tell me what you're looking for?"
I proceeded to list all of the things we were looking to buy and the Drake hurried to comply as if worried we would change our minds. The items piled up until there was more outside of the shop than within it. When the mound started to reach my shoulders, I was sure there was enough for our purposes. It was Erin's turn.
"Unfortunately, you two have come at a tough time. Bandits have been wreaking havoc on our suppliers recently so food prices have shot through the roof. I'll give you the best deal I can but… it might be a bit higher than you'd expect."
He looked surprisingly sincere as he lied through his teeth. So sincere that I started to question whether he was lying. Maybe he really was trying to offer us a fair dea—
I bit down on the inside of my cheek and suddenly his deception was clear again.
Shit, he must be using skills on us.
This world was dangerous. I had to remember that there were no normal people. Everyone was a potential Master. Defenses against skills were already at the top of my research list, but now it seemed even more urgent. For now, there was nothing I could do about it. I would simply have to hope his skills weren't good enough to see through Erin's acting.
"See, I told you it was a good idea to bring extra money! And to think, we almost missed out on a great deal because you were worried about thieves! We don't need to worry about being robbed! Isn't that right Mr. Lism?"
She laid it on a bit thick but I'm pretty sure all Lism heard was the sound of clinking coins hitting the bottom of his pocket.
"That's right! I can give you all this for… 30 gold!"
The rest of the shopkeepers exploded in outrage but I pretended not to notice their indignant shouts. I did, however, take note of those who seemed outraged on our behalf rather than angry they weren't the ones emptying our pockets.
"I don't know, that sounds a little high…but you did mention there were bandits."
"Yes, yes, dastardly bandits! As it is, I'm losing money on this deal!"
"That's so generous of you! It seems like this is our best option."
"Excellent! So—"
"Oh no! I just realized we have no way to transport all of these goods back home!
Lism paused and turned to look at the daunting pile of purchases and then back at Erin's small frame and my skinny one-armed self.
"Well—"
"That's right! We live so far outside the city! There's no way we'll be able to carry all this stuff by ourselves!"
"I know! Mr. Lism has a big wagon right there! He's been so kind to us, I'm sure he wouldn't mind us borrowing it for the day. Right, Mr. Lism?"
The thought of letting a human borrow anything he owned caused him to waver for a moment, but it didn't last long in the face of Erin's [Charming Smile].
"Err...of course! I wouldn't want you to have to leave something behind!"
"Thank you so much, Mr. Lism! Here, for the wagon."
Erin tossed him one of our gold coins and he scrambled to catch it as we hopped into the driver's box of the wagon. As soon as we hit the seat, I whipped the wagon's reins and sped off towards the city gates. Lism's smile lasted a whole ten seconds before he realized that we hadn't taken the goods with us. His look of confusion lasted ten more seconds before he realized he hadn't even been paid for them. Then he got angry.
"HEY! COME BACK HERE! GUARDS GET THOSE HUMAN THIEVES! GUARDS!"
We sped down the streets as fast as safely possible. Well, maybe a little bit faster. My experience riding insects didn't exactly transfer to steering horses. Fortunately for us, the market wasn't far from the city gates. We left Lism behind and rode straight for the guards at the city gates.
"That was fun and all but… aren't we going to be in a lot of trouble? What do we even need a wagon for?"
"There shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as we return the wagon. We did pay him to borrow it after all. Besides, I don't think any of the other merchants would take his side. With how jealous they were of him getting to scam us, they're probably glad that we scammed him instead."
"That still doesn't explain why we need a wagon."
"We already needed money and now that we have an adventuring team we need to build up our reputation. I thought of a way to kill both of those birds with the same stone. We're about to collect our first bounty."
"What do yo—"
"Halt! State your business!"
"We have something we need to pick up just outside the city. We should be back within the hour."
The guards were very thorough with their inspection. Unnecessarily so. Once they realized they couldn't charge us for anything, they begrudgingly waved us through. The other guards we met today were probably outliers in their friendliness towards humans.
Once we were out of earshot of the guards, Erin turned to me with a look of concern.
"Taylor? Are you okay? What happened when we were coming in?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine now. You know how my power lets me use the senses of my bugs? When I first got my power, all the information overwhelmed me. Something similar happened when we approached the gate."
"So you connected to a really complicated bug? What are you gonna do if that happens again? We don't have any of those healing potions."
"I don't think it was just another bug. I couldn't make much sense of it, but it felt… different. As for it happening again, I should be able to shut it out now that I know to watch for it."
I had a few theories about the source of the signal that nearly fried my brain but I needed to do more research before I could be sure.
"We still need to look into getting some healing potions though. I can't count how many times they would've come in handy back home. I don't know how expensive they are, but we should be able to afford some with the payout from this outing."
I didn't regret not joining the Wards but it would've been nice to get patched up after every battle by Panacea. I wondered how she compared to the healing in this world. The potions were clearly inferior given that my arm was still missing but I doubted the healing potion I used was the best this world had to offer. That wasn't even counting the skills a high-level [Doctor] could have.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Are we going to hunt monsters? I don't think I'm ready for that…"
"Don't worry, there won't be any fighting involved. Like I said, we're just going to pick them up."
"Pick what up?"
"Shield Spiders."
"Are those the giant spiders you've been using?"
"Yep. I saw the bounty poster back in the Adventurer's Guild. I couldn't read how much they're worth, but in the quantities I can deliver, it doesn't really matter."
"And how much is that? I've only seen you using a few at a time."
I thought back to when I first appeared in this strange land. My trek towards the city hadn't been long, and my range only covered a few blocks at the time but… there had been a lot of Shield Spiders. If the numbers I saw were representative of the Floodplains as a whole… suffice to say, it would be better for my health if no one knew exactly how many Shield Spiders I could control.
"I have… enough. Enough that the Guild will stop paying out the bounty before I run out."
I brought the wagon to a stop far outside of sight from Liscor's walls. Even with the distance, I placed as many hills as I could between us and the city. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the guards had something like a [Farsight] skill.
"Alright, let's stop here. You might want to brace yourself. I'm summoning the spiders."
"Okay, just… do it slowly please."
To her credit, Erin kept her eyes open through the entire process. Although, being left in the dark with the sound of giant spiders rushing past you wasn't a much better alternative. It didn't take long for me to fill the wagon to the brim with Shield Spiders. Once they were all securely in place, I had them suffocate themselves in unison.
"Monsters successfully hunted. Let's get going."
"They're all dead? How?"
"I had them lock their limbs in a way that prevented blood flow to their brains. They aren't exactly dead yet, but they will be by the time we reach the city."
I felt Erin shudder through the bugs I had hidden in the folds of her clothes.
"That's… interesting."
We climbed back in the wagon and rode towards Liscor. The spiders' chitinous shells clacked against each other in the back of the wagon as it bumped over the hilly landscape of the Floodplains. The noise forestalled any chance of conversation and seemed to worsen Erin's already shaken mood. I decided I would buy her something nice with some of the money we were about to make.
As we neared the city gates, the sounds of an argument reached my ears. An incensed Lism was shouting at the city guards.
"... telling you those stinking humans couldn't have gotten far! What am I paying taxes for if you won— THAT'S MY WAGON! ARREST THOSE HUMAN THIEVES!"
The guards turned to see Erin and I heading down the pass towards Liscor's gates. They immediately raised their weapons and moved to surround the wagon.
"Humans! You are under arrest! Step out of the wagon with your arms raised!"
I complied with their instructions and nodded for Erin to do the same. This would be a good opportunity to test the integrity of Liscor's system. I was pretty sure I could take the guards if it came to a fight and that was without resorting to the still-living Shield Spiders I had hidden at the bottom of the wagon.
"Is there a problem, officers?"
"You have been accused of stealing this wagon. You will be held in Liscor's dungeons until a trial can be held. The wagon will be returned to its owner and the contents will be seized as evidence."
"There seems to have been a misunderstanding. This wagon was borrowed, not stolen. We paid its owner a gold coin to rent it for the day. Isn't that right, Lism?"
"The only reason I agreed to let you filthy humans borrow my wagon was to carry goods that you didn't even pay for!"
"It isn't a crime to not purchase something, is it? We paid for the wagon. We'd be happy to give it back early if you give us back the gold coin."
The guards looked like they wanted to take his side, but it was clear we hadn't committed any actual crimes. The worst they could do was make us give the wagon back without a refund. Seeing that he was losing ground, Lism changed tactics.
"This is ridiculous! Just look at what they've done to my wagon! They've filled it with… with… "
Lism had ripped back the tarp on the wagon to reveal a wall of chitin. He stumbled away from the wagon in shock and the guards tightened their grips on their weapons.
"T-those are Shield Spider! And they're all adults! This must be several nests worth!"
"We were on our way to collect the bounties from the Adventurer's Guild before you so rudely interrupted us."
It felt a little silly but I struck a menacing pose, intimidating Lism and the guards with my [Heroic Presence]. It must have worked because the guards suddenly seemed to reconsider trying to arrest us.
"I… I suppose we could let you off with a warning just this once. As long as you return the wagon after you collect the bounty, you are free to go."
"What?! You can't just let them go!"
"Our decision has been made."
Lism was somehow equal parts fear and fury, but the guards seemed like they just wanted the whole ordeal to be done with.
"This isn't over, Human scum! These are Drake lands! I won't let you sully them your Human stink!"
He continued to rave at us as we replaced the tarp and climbed back into the wagon. His ranting trailed off behind us as we rode into the city towards the Adventurer's Guild.
***
Selys was upset. Worse than upset, she was bored. Nothing interesting had happened at the Guild for months and the one day she didn't take the morning shift, two mysterious Humans had come to register a new adventuring team.
She had already gone to Drassi to see what the [Gossip] had to say about the newcomers. Strange women with white silk clothing. One of them— the one missing an arm— was some sort of [Beast Tamer] that used insects. Rumor had it, she set off the [Dangersense] of every man in the room. Some said she might not even be human. Her body was unnaturally still and her face was blank and emotionless, like her body was just a puppet with unseen strings.
The other one seemed to be more like a puppet master. She almost had everyone fooled with her act of charming innocence. She even managed to fool Lism, stealing his wagon from right under his nose! Her class was an enigma, but most people were betting on an assassin. Why else would she leave her registration form mostly blank? It was obvious she had some secret to keep.
The biggest mystery was why they registered as Bronze-rank adventurers. Were they Gold-ranks using false identities? Ex-soldiers on the run? Human spies sent to infiltrate Liscor? And naming themsel—
"Hello?"
Selys looked up with a start to see two human girls waiting in front of her desk. She was so lost in thought she hadn't even noticed the room going silent. It was them. The Heroes of the Inn.
"H-hello! H-how can I help you?"
The one-armed one just stood there, silently watching her, while the other gave her a wide smile. She barely held back a shiver.
"We're here to cash in our first bounty! How much is a Shield Spider worth?"
Already? They'd only just registered this morning and they'd already taken on a Silver-rank threat?
"Err… it's eleven pieces of silver per verified kill. Do you have the body? N-not that I don't believe you but—"
"It's fine. We've got the bodies right outside!"
"Can you bring it in then? Wait, did you say bodies?"
"Yep, a whole bunch of them in a wagon. It might be a little crowded if we bring them inside."
"H-how many did you bring exactly?"
"I dunno. Taylor?"
"57."
Selys froze. Was she hearing that right? 57 Shield Spiders?! That's it! They must be counting the small ones! They must not have known there was a minimum size and counted the babies.
Selys relaxed a bit and shoved down her terror.
"Why don't I go to the wagon and count them? Don't be disappointed if they don't all count though. We only count Shield Spiders above the minimum size."
"That makes sense. I'll show you to the wagon."
Selys followed the pair out the door from what she hoped was a safe distance.
"Here it is!"
Erin yanked off the tarp and—
Those are not babies.
Selys found herself facing a mound of carapaces interlocked with chitinous limbs. She couldn't speak. Couldn't scream. It was all she could do not to faint.
"So… are you gonna count them?"
In a way, Selys got exactly what she wanted. She was feeling many different emotions at that moment, and boredom was definitely not one of them.