A “hmm salty” was thankfully what came out of his mouth instead of screaming at me like I somehow destroyed something akin to the Monalisa again.

“I can see how these snacks of yours may truly work up a thirst in someone, but do tell, where did you find these delicacies” He continued eyes still wide open though holding a more inquisitive nature than they did before.

“It must have been quite expensive to procure these snacks of yours judging by the purity of salt used within them” he said marvelling at another mini pretzel in his hands.

“Oh, they were no trouble at all, actually I have a pretty stable supply network which would allow me to procure such things for cheap and fast,” I say stoking the flames for a possible new customer and by extension a great advertiser of my goods if he sells them here.

By now, I had caused however, enough of a commotion that the rest of the inn’s clientele had decided that I was no longer a passing interest to be looked at and then forgotten about in favour of their drinks. No, now I seemed to have caused at least every one to begin to crowd around the bar to get a better look at what was causing the barkeep to erupt in such a fashion. This did allow me to get a bit of a better look at the other group I had seen when coming in, they seemed to be of a different race to the halflings within the village and while I may not be an expert in fantasy races them being around the same height as I firmly placed them in the “tall folk club” as the halflings seem to put it. Another thing separating them from the regular townsfolk was that they wore types of armour and capes, maybe these guys are like those adventuring guys you hear so much about in tabletop games. Of the 5, 2 were large, green-muscled brutes with tusks protruding from their lower jaw (orcs I would presume) this was in contrast to their other 3 companions who were slenderer with white porcelain-like skin and pointed ears (and these would be the elves I guess).

The adventuring party as I am mentally calling them are in a formation with 1 of the elves in the front two others flanking them having the 2 orcs right behind them.

“What’s all this racket about” said the elf in the front of the group who I would wager is their leader. Looking at the leader a bit more they had long blond hair, an attractive face but one that still screamed “not human” and wore a green tunic with a leather breastplate over that and a green cloak on top of that. Judging from her just jutting out a bit more than her two compatriots behind her I guessed her to be female and the other two male which was somewhat hard to do as they all had an androgynous look to them. Before I could further muse about the particularities which separated male elves from female elves their leader spoke once more.

“I have had it up to here with being stuck in this backwater town and your extortionate prices barkeep” oh did I forget to mention the aura of haughtiness exuding from her and the other two elves “and the least you could do is not disturb us with your incessant yelling”.

“A thousand apologies mistress Alyn it will not happen again” the barkeep seemed to quickly reply with some fear hidden in his voice.

“But my newest guest here had just brought some exquisite snacks which simply surprised me with their quality is all” the man said reaching for the snack bowl and offering it to the elf “it is something you must try”.

The man to the left of the now-named elf Alyn intercepted the offered bowl taking it from the barkeep and inspecting its contents. He picked up one of the cheez-its taking a closer look, then giving it a lick, then popped it into his mouth after seemingly passing some sort of test of his.

“While I can’t say I enjoy this type of flavour, I must accept that it is well made and full of flavour” the man said turning to his companion.

The leader Alyn turned to me saying “you are no elf for you do not have our grace, but neither do you have the primitive look of these halflings, what are you?”

“I´m a store owner, to be precise I’m the owner of the general store out of town to the west where I have many wonderous things to sell.” I say speaking grandly to maybe pique their interest and have them check out my store if only to see what kind of nutjob I am, hey anything to turn a profit at the moment.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Pulling up my backpack and placing it on the counter I begin with my sales pitch while I have everyone’s attention, (hell I should have done this while I had the bigger crowd of halflings all looking at me) and begin displaying my items. First I pulled out more food stuffs like the packed jerky and granola bars opening them and displaying them for all to see.

“The snack mix is not the only thing I have available to buy in my store but also jerky, granola bars and other long-lasting travel food”

The elf to the right of Alyn now spoke up eying the jerky unimpressed “We are aware of this dried meat, dried fruit and nuts they are commonly used travel rations and so far the only fantastical element is how you managed to get the fruits and nuts shaped into something resembling a plank of wood.”

“Ah but this is no ordinary jerky for it is actually palatable, tender and has flavours other than simple salt” I tap on the packaging with brown letters spelling teriyaki “and these granola bars are a wonderfully sweet treat, sweater than even fresh fruit.”

While doing my best car salesmen impression the elf who I was talking to finally picked up the granola and bit a piece of it off nodding enthusiastically once the food hit his tastebuds.

“Miss Alyn he speaks the truth it truly is sweat, it is as if it were slathered in honey” at this the other two elves began to split the granola bar between themselves all nodding and seemingly savouring the taste.

“What about the meat” spoke one of the orcs in a deep low but booming voice, “you said it to be tender and not taste of salt”

“Of course, my good sir have a taste of it yourself” I say handing a slice of jerky to him which he accepts with one of his two great big hands and began to inspect it more closely.

First, he felt the dried piece of meat around in his hand, satisfied that my claim or it not resembling a bit of leather in texture he ripped a piece off and popped it into his mouth.

While still chewing he made an affirmative grunt and said: “you speak the truth I do not require much to chew it and it has a sweet taste.”

At the mention of the jerky having a sweet taste the elves snapped to him in unison startling the orc a bit, then looked at the remaining bit of meat in his hand and then slowly turned to face me with a stare that said “gimmie”.

“Have no fear there is enough for you all” I say as I began to hand bits of the jerky to their now outstretched arms as well as the other halfling customers who had decided that they too wanted to be a part of this taste testing session.

While everyone was busy enjoying my meat (heh) I pulled out my remaining things and started to lay them out on the bar counter as well. After the crowd was finished enjoying their new treats I allowed them to look at my other wares occasionally asking questions about the purpose of it or speculating about their uses. The adventuring group was very interested in the tent kit, though the orcs were the most enthused about learning of it, while everyone was enraptured when hearing about the hunting matches even more so when I told them they could even use them when wet.

The flashlight was another surprise as while the oil lamps that were lighting up the area were by no means weak; they were comparable to those early energy-saving light bulbs. The flashlight surprised the poor halfling who had the light end pointed towards his eyes and accidentally turned it on the flood light setting. Soon, however, the questions went from asking about my goods to asking about my clothes and what material they were made of. After attempting and failing to try and explain what polyester was I just told them that they were made of a material that would not absorb water and instead simply have any liquid slide off its surface. Though the questions did increase in intensity when I absentmindedly mentioned that the camo pattern was meant for the desert and the subject of their questions returned to what I was and my origins. Knowing about how I would look if I told them I came here from a world of technological marvels through a pair of magical portals I needed to figure out how to stop them from asking those questions. This is gonna be a headache.