The open yard surrounding the trade house had been filled with trading stands. Merchants' calls, prices written in bold and canopies shielding from the elements invited anyone nearby to at least gaze at the inventory present. The elf had a basket slung under her arm with a hooded Kia walking at her side. She hasn't transferred the basket to the mage yet, waiting until they get back to their room. She didn't think they would get in trouble with the guards if Kia caused the basket to disappear but a talent like hers would attract another kind of attention which she wanted to avoid. Under that hood, the ancient undead was observing the surrounding life around her while wearing a frown. That frown adoring her face like a valley in the otherwise perfectly flat ground was caused by her creation. The tall undead in question was very aware of the girl's annoyance, they had passed two dozen stands and none were selling ready food for the bone-white girl to munch on.
It was unusual for there to be no food stands in a market. Normally a farmer or a lesser merchant would be selling food beside the market. Depending on what the person sold, the price markup was usually small enough that buying food on the street wasn't something unheard of. Buying raw ingredients like Iris was doing now and then making the food yourself was cheaper than buying it ready but for busy city folk who were not scrapping the barrel, they could afford to exchange money for their time.
"Would you like some dried fruit?" Iris asked just as she was about to leave. She had spotted a vendor offering crates of mutely coloured fruit not that far away and she could feel Kia's aura slowly began to leak because of her grumpiness. She already knew the answer so she turned toward it approaching it from the side.
"Damn it." The merchant seemed to not be aware of their coming and grabbed the hat on his head and yanked it roughly.
His behaviour caused the elf to raise an eyebrow as the stand received quite a bit of attention. Maybe I could haggle him down to more than he would normally. Iris found a silver lining to today's shopping trip as merchants refused to lower their prices for some reason. She knew that she wasn't a great haggler but in her experience, she had never faced with sellers on the street who outright refused to bargain.
"Something happened?"
"Huh? N-nothing, nothing!" The startled merchant took a second before putting the cloth hat back on his head. He didn't sound Oriri to the elf nor did the man dress like the people of the city, wearing a thick quilted jacket appropriate for a much colder weather. "Are you here to buy?" The human asked looking confused as the petite mage beside Iris began to devour the man's stock with her eyes.
"Yes," Iris took a look at the plethora of fruit in front of her, the fruit which was harvested in the autumn was fresh but many fruits which wouldn't survive till now had been dried causing all of them to look vaguely similar. "Did the people walking up to your stand didn't purchase anything? There were quite a few of them."
"I know it's strange," The man explained, glad to finally have a buyer for his goods. "Heard that the price of food was climbing up in the city so I bought these and went here as quick as Tilly would allow me but when I got here people came over but did not buy my food, they asked about the price but no matter what I say they leave."
"From where did you come?"
"From Marinya lady, it's the most southern human city." The human said causing the elf to touch the side of her head making sure that the hood hadn't slipped. "See, I know my stuff. Your hood stayed on your crown the entire time, your voice is the culprit. You sound somewhat like my holy memory grandfather."
"Thanks... how much are you selling those?" Iris pointed at the crate of big round apples, they bearly fitted in her palm and seemed to be all healthy with no signs of mold or the like appearing on their bright red skin.
"Ten copper for an apple."
"That sounds like a reasonable price." For a fruit which was no longer in season, such a price seemed fair although high for an average person.
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"I know but the people here simply stare at them the worst thing is that this fruit won't last until the nobles' stockpiles run dry without having them cured which lowers their price and it generally seems like I'm going to lose money. I'm probably trying to sell the remains to their Magical Academy but I'm talking too much probably."
"I don't mind," Iris said as she pulled ten copper coins from a satchel on her belt after giving the inpatient kitten beside her the apple she was holding. "Do you know why the prices of food are so expensive?"
"No idea. Looking from the ship's deck their harvest looked to have been alright and I couldn't learn the reason behind it from other merchants. Heard some theories ranging from mage experiments, and corruption to political strife but nobody can confirm anything it's all hearsay. It's very odd, a colleague of mine left the city because he can't predict if staying here would be worth it at all if no one knows what's the cause of this."
"Hmmm, I guess things like that happen sometimes." Iris nodded as she was picking fruits she wanted aside, examining each fruit for any worms.
The risen's hand froze in mid-air as the sound of two hard objects hitting each other erupted from beside her. Swiveling around she saw a boy no older than sixteen had run into Kia causing both of them to tumble toward her. With a quick motion, the tall hoplite grabbed Kia's back and pulled toward her. The boy yelped in surprise as Iris pulled Kia away, without the girl to slow down his momentum, he continued forward eventually landing on the cobble street hands stretched in front of him. Iris could hear the boy sucking the air between his teeth as he clenched his palms into two firsts.
"Hey!" A woman's scream pierced the air bringing the attention of the entire yard as she ran toward the two undead adventurers. "What have you done to my son? Look at him, he is bleeding!"
"You have gone mad woman, he had run into the lady here." The merchant spoke up, defending his customer from the lunatic women.
The woman wearing nice clothing appeared very young. She didn't appear so young that being the boy's mother was impossible but Iris's brow rose with suspicion as it was highly unlikely. In addition, the boy wore ragged clothing underneath his similarly well of jacket.
"You blind man, haven't you seen! These hooded creatures had caused my son to bleed. Have you had no heart!?" The woman screamed further, she had kneeled down on the cobble and began to hug the boy who remained on the ground as if he was dying.
"Kia, are you alright?" Iris asked turning toward her ward.
*Sniff* The ancient appeared horrified as she stared at the half-eaten apple which fell from her hands, landing in a puddle nearby. Her expression shifted and turned until her quiet sobs turned into a dangerous snarl.
"Kia you promised," Iris whispered handing another apple into the girl's palm. "I can't protect you from everything in the city."
The master of the dead's expression turned into gloomy confusion as she looked at the elf, her eyes desiring revenge upon the human.
"What are those shouts for?" The women's shrieks had attracted the attention of all the guards overwatching the market from outside.
"Guards! Look at them, this is how this merchant is repaying my son's generosity. Those people have truly no heart to deny my young son's chivalry." The woman showed the guards the boy's bleeding hands before pointing wildly at the undead. "On my family's name do something!"
Yea do something those whores were trying to rob the man blind and I tried to stop them." The boy with teary eyes turned to the guards.
"Alright, we have t-" The guard tried to speak.
"I do not have a heart for those who lie." Iris aggressively yanked the boy by his collar causing him to briefly lose breath. Her aura began to leak as she stared at the human who began to show signs of fear affliction.
"Stop." A guard grabbed the elf's hand after a moment causing her hand to let go of the brat.
"We will have to-"
"Guards!"
"Dam you people can you stop interrupting me? What do you want can't you see I'm interviewing?" The guard who had the most complete set of armour and looked like the leader turned to the man who had run up to him.
"The market is being looted by thugs!" The man shouted as behind him a band of young hooligans stole everything in sight while the guards all gathered around the women and the undead.
"Catch those Gors!" The captain screamed as he ordered his soldiers forward.
The captain's order caused the thieves to begin to scatter using the chaos of the market to disappear into the alleyways surrounding the yard while being chased by guards.
"Aspect protects us," The southern merchant whispered as something caught fire and a column of smoke began to rise into the air. "Hey!"
The woman and the boy scurried away in the chaos. Iris watched as the two ran through the broad street and she contemplated catching the two given that she was faster than them but decided not to. The city's problems were not hers to solve.
"How much for everything?" The risen turned around, humans began to gather behind her either trying to fight the spreading fire or simply attracted by the chaos.
"What are you talking about?"
"How much for everything?" Iris's voice pierced the roar of the fire behind her while her face was adorned with deep shadows from its bright light.
"Ehh... three gold?"
"Kia," Iris asked as she fished out a handful of coins from her belt and gave the rough amount to the man asked for. "Come on, we are going back."
"Yay!" Kia who was watching the humans turned around and ran her fingers across the crates of food causing them to disappear like they were never there, leaving the man with his jaw wide open among the panicking humans to busy with the fire to notice the necromancer's trick.
The sound of panic rose and fell as a wizard casted a water spell which extinguished the fire before it caused any real damage, turning that section of the market into a large puddle. More humans flooded to see what had happened, missing everything that had happened but curiosity drove them further in, squeezing past them was an elf whose frown caused the crowd to split and make way as the tall monster led the elated necromancer to the guild house.