We head downstairs and into the restaurant where we are taken into a private room. Our waitress is very attractive, she gives me a smile and a wink where Lin can't see it. I just shake my head and take the menu from her. Lin and I order drinks and a dozen dishes for dinner.
The waitress looks surprised, but doesn't say anything as she leaves to fetch our drinks. The food is great and we eat everything the waitress brings us, then order another set as well as two of every dessert. The extra set of food goes into the pouch as well as one of each dessert that we like.
In the end, the meal costs over a hundred gold, plus tip, but I feel that it is worth it. After all, adding a bunch more delicious dishes to the pouch is far more useful than some gold. When we are done eating, I pay for the meal, then Lin and I head back up to our room.
After we return, I open a soulscape, then I watch anime with the girls while the kids play. After closing the soulscape, I spend some time moving Bones' connection out of my soul. It only moves a little bit each time I work on it, but it is slowly moving closer to the edge of my soul.
I still don't know what exactly will happen when I free Bones, but I guess I will find out. When I end my meditation and open my eyes, I find that Lin has been busy. Our suite has a fireplace, but no rug, so she has taken the quilt from the bed.
She is lying on the quilt in front of the fire and is currently reading, but she is naked. I quickly join her and we read together for a while before moving on to other things. After a while we move to the bed and then later we actually go to sleep.
In the morning, we both sleep in quite late, but it is alright since we aren't in a rush. When we finally wake up, we get dressed and head down to the restaurant for a leisurely breakfast. After breakfast, a single question to the clerk on duty gets me the location of the merchant group's building.
It is on a side street, just off of the main square and only takes us a few minutes to find. It is a big, fancy stone building, standing at six stories it is almost as big as the hotel we are staying at. When we walk in the inside is like a supermarket, with isles full of cases of materials.
It looks like about half of the store is for demon materials, which makes sense. Demon hide, bones, horns, weapons, and even cores are available for sale. However, my confidence in having enough money vanishes as I see some of the price tags.
Considering this city is the source of materials, I don't even want to know how expensive they are once exported. Although, if they sell well, that probably makes enough money to support the whole city. That would also explain why there are so many adventurers in this city, demon hunting must be good money.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
One thing that makes me curious though is that I haven't seen any products made from demon materials. Not even in the magic kingdom, which logically should be the best place to export them to. Aside from that, it should mean that if I need more money I can just hunt demons.
That is something I wanted to do anyway, so now I just have a valid reason to do so. Although Lin will probably know it is just an excuse, but she will probably go along with it. First, I need more information, so I take out my VIP card and go looking for a clerk.
Clerk says "Welcome to our store! How can I help you?"
In answer I hold up my VIP card and after seeing it the clerk leads us up to the second floor. She hands us off to someone else who takes us to a luxurious sitting room. We have barely sat down when someone else brings in a tray with tea and snacks.
We have barely had time to try them when a well dressed gentleman enters. He is tall, about six feet, with dark well groomed hair, and a clean shaven face showing signs of age. He looks to me like he is in his late fifties, but he has taken really good care of himself.
Owner says "Sorry to keep you waiting. My name is Zachariah and I am the owner of this branch. From descriptions I have heard I am guessing that you are Lord Ash?"
"Just Ash is fine. It is a pleasure to meet you. This is my fiance, Lin."
Zachariah says "It is my pleasure to meet you both! I feel it is safe to assume that you are here about the job you gave Henrietta?"
"Among other things, yes. Can you update me on the status?"
Zachariah says "The caravan bringing them here is due in a week and a half to two weeks. I also took the liberty of purchasing fifteen elves that were here in the city."
"I'm surprised that many elves were brought this far."
Zachariah says "They were not brought here to be sold, they were brought by people who purchased them elsewhere."
"That was probably more expensive, are we still within budget or do I owe you more money?"
Zachariah says "We did go over budget, but the slaves here were purchased separately. The amount over budget and the cost of the local purchases I am willing to waive in return for a favor. I am given to understand that you have the ability to create unique rings that hold large quantities of materials?"
"Yes, I can."
Zachariah says "Excellent! I have collected three sets of the required materials. I will cover the extra money spent and pay you one million gold per ring. Is that acceptable?"
"Absolutely. In fact, my skills have improved and I can make an even better ring now. Although, you don't need to bother collecting the gold, store credit will be just fine. I saw plenty of materials downstairs that I am interested in."
Zachariah says "That's even better! Since that is the case, the prices for you will be half of what's listed."
"Great. If you have the materials on hand I can make the rings by tomorrow."
Zachariah says "So fast?! That's amazing! I will have the materials brought to you immediately. How would you like to handle the elves? Will you take them now, or make other arrangements?"
"I will take them now, if you have a room that I can use. It needs to be protected against observation magic."
Zachariah says "That can easily be arranged. I take it you have some way to magically move the elves that you don't want anyone trying to steal?"
"Exactly."