“I think this one suits you.” Max declared while watching Erion’s stance with the sword.

The cook had lost count of how many blades they had tested. Although some did felt too heavy or too long, most were dismissed by the Cavalier for unknown reasons.

“Finally! Can I just pay for it now?”

“I don’t understand your impatience. Harmony must exist between the blade and the wielder, otherwise the weapon will be no better than a stick.”

“But how do you know there’s harmony?! It’s just steel!”

“A swordsman knows, Erion, a swordsman knows...”

“Ok, ok.” Erion turned to the blacksmith “How much for this one?”

“Handle it to me, I’ll check” The blacksmith carefully took the sword out of the youngster’s hands, squinting to evaluate his own creation.

“I’d say this one would go for 10 gold pieces, but since it’s your first I’ll throw in a 2 gp discount.”

“Wow, thank you!” He proceeded to reach one of the bags attached to his belt, only to have his arm interrupted by Max.

“I’ll pay. It’s good luck to receive your first sword as a gift.”

Erion blushed.

“Oh, you don’t need to… I have enough money.”

“No, I won’t have someone with bad luck in my mission.”

Before the chef refused once again, Max’s money was already on the blacksmith’s hand.

“Thank you for the business!” The old man said.

“Good. Now that we’re finished here, let’s go to the meeting point, I bet they’re already waiting for us.”

Again, without waiting for Erion’s reaction, the Cavalier walked out of the store. He wasn’t a bad guy, the young cook though, but his harsh and abrupt personality kind of bothered him as if he was purposely shrugging him off. Still, he followed him to the crowded streets, crossing lots of alleys and tight passages to reach the entrance to the Farmer’s Market, a huge construction housing dozens, if not hundreds, of people vending all sorts of food and spices.

Right as the two arrived, they noticed a woman taller than the flowing mass of people waving for their attention. Not a lot of investigation needed to be done to realize it was Rasla.

“Choosing a good sword took a while, huh? We were almost going to the blacksmith to see if you were still there.” She sounded slightly annoyed, but mostly at Max than Erion.

“This matters can not be rushed. I told Erion and I’m telling you now, Rasla.”

“Oh, god. Why do you always talk like the hero of a chivalry novel? Let’s just go inside and pick some nice ingredients for the chef here.” Harry, with a few new stitches on his hat, said.

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Max assumed an offended expression and was ready to talk back. Luckily, the Barbarian started talking before he could articulate his first word.

“Harry’s right. We told Wagil that we’re leaving early so the sooner we’re finished here, the better.” Ending their discussion, she turned to Erion:

“We’ll follow you now. Just pick whatever you want and we’ll pay for it.”

He nodded.

“Okay. Any preferences?”

“I like potatoes. But not fried. And not too soft.” Harry told him.

“I’ll be fine as long as it’s not vegetarian food.” Max said afterwards.

“Personally, I wouldn’t mind some spicy food.” Rasla said.

When the three finished voicing their preferences, the chef started looking at Anda, waiting for her response.

It did not come soon as it took a while for her to notice that she needed to say something.

“...Just food will do.”

“...Alright.”

The five entered the huge Farmer’s Market, getting dazed by the sheer amount of smells and colors presented in the shops and small restaurants. Erion guided them through large corridors full of fish and other sea food and sectors consisting of mostly cafes and snack bars. After a good amount of walking through walls of people, they finally reached their destination: a hall with basically every ingredient possible for a meal. Hanging cows, bushes of herbs, baskets of spices and bags of vegetables. Harry separated from them as soon as they reached it, looking for any kind of free sample he could find. Erion pointed at a specific vendor and said:

“That guy sells traveling supplies. We won’t buy food from him as I’m inclined to get everything fresh, but he sells an enchanted chest capable of preserving food for a long time. We’ll definitely need it.”

After getting a quite expensive container, the group spent at least an hour buying all sorts of stuff even though the trip was supposed to be short. They bought large cuts of cow meat, potatoes as asked by Harry, vegetables ranging from carrots to stuff only Anda had heard about, a huge block of cheese and a crate of mixed spices with extra pepper.

When the vendor sealed the crate, their last acquisition, Erion sighed.

“I… definitely did not expect to buy so much food. If our mission is indeed short, this should last for at least one more.”

“Sorry, we got a little carried away by the fact that we’re going to have a field chef.” Rasla said “Hey, at least we won’t have to worry about running out of it.”

“Unless we eat like we just did at the tavern…” Harry reflected, rubbing his filled belly.

“Uh, yes… We should control ourselves.” Rasla agreed,

“Hey, Erion, if you see that we’re out of control, eating everything we see in front of us, start making the food taste awful. That way we’ll remember the rations and our stomach will instantly close!” Harry said, smiling and waiting for laughs.

“Uh… Okay. Is there anything left or we’re straight off to the road?”

“I believe so, yeah. While you two were buying swords we were setting up everything so it’s only a matter of walking to the gate.”

“Can we carry all of this by ourselves?” Erion asked.

“Don’t worry, I bought a cart for the food. Since I doubt we’ll go too far from the road, it shouldn’t be a bad idea. We’ll just have to carry everything to the carpenter’s shop…”

With each of them carrying a good amount of their purchases, the party slowly walked to the carpenter’s, where he was waiting for them in the front with a brand new wooden cart, just enough to support everything.

Everything was finally set up. Rasla, without hesitation or too much force, grabbed the cart’s grips and guided it through the streets, her friends right in front, talking and laughing about the possible dishes they would eat. Erion felt comfortable and confident, although he wasn’t sure if he should introduce them to the Slime soup right on their first mission together.