When he entered Potions and Such, Ryuji was treated to the sight of the old dwarf holding a lanky old sun-elf by the waist and cursing him for all he was worth. Once he got closer, he could tell the old codger was trying to get ahold of the slices of bread Ryuji had left for Dorn. “I just want a bite, you stubborn old boulder biter! You wouldn’t miss one bite!”
“Rust me toes, I’ll be a bitin those boulders before I’ll be a givin ye any of tha treats me apprentice left fer me! Now Get ye goin’. E’ll be back any time an ye need’na be botherin’ im. Go on now, ya ol’ bush muncher!” With his harsh words, Dorn gave another concerted effort to evict the very stubborn old elf.
Ryuji couldn’t help but snort a laugh at their antics and blush slightly at an alternate meaning of Dorn’s words from his old world. “Oh, no need to worry. I’m already here. Dorn… Master, sir… *another uncontrollable snort of laughter* Who’s your guest? I have more of the Nut bread by the way. And I even have butter now. Why don’t we all enjoy a bit while the two of you calm down before you hurt yourselves.” More unintentional laughter.
As the two untangled and got embarrassed, Ryuji pulled out a few more slices of the nut bread and the butter. The old elf graciously accepted the slice he was handed and Ryuji buttered the other two pieces of bread for Dorn. When they bit into them, they both seemed like the were much younger. Ryuji had to reassess his master after what he had seen when he walked in and now. Dorn wasn’t the cold old codger that he acted like most of the time and now Ryuji had glimpsed his childish side, twice!
It turned out that the Old sun-elf was named Silas Moonmeadow and was an old war buddy of Dorn’s. The two of them having served in the same mage corps for a number of years and they had a bunch of war stories. The two chatted back and forth about old times and recounted old battles for hours. Ryuji took notes and would occasionally ask questions that both were only too happy to answer.
About noon, Ryuji told them that he would have to excuse himself but the two insisted that they would go with him. He just shrugged and invited them to come along if they really wanted. He pulled his book back out and propped it open on his left arm while holding the inkwell with his left hand. He then used his right hand to write the continuing notes with. To say he got strange looks would be an understatement.
The strange procession made its way through town. The old dwarf and the old elf semi-leading the way while Ryuji followed and took notes. He only interrupted to give directions or ask questions. The pair got a lot of attention as they walked past the mercenary’s guild. They were apparently rather well known. Thankfully, they didn’t stop long enough for the mercenaries to congregate around them.
A few minutes later, the three of them arrived in front of the tax collector’s office. The older five cat beastfolk were waiting nearby. As soon as they saw Ryuji they all hurried over. “Okay, I’ll be a moment. When you come in, don’t get too loud, okay? As discussed, I’ll introduce you but you’re going to have to do the negotiations yourselves.”
He put his book and writing utensils away. He was careful to lay the sheet of linen inside the book to draw out the excess ink before it could smear when he closed it. He then went to the door of the tax collector’s office and knocked. It was only a moment before the soft melodic voice of Aleen answered from the other side telling him to come in.
Ryuji opened the door and stepped inside. The parlor of the house was just as he remembered it but he didn’t think it would change in a couple days’ time. The big wooden desk sat to the right under a high chandelier and the overstuffed armchair sat on the left surrounded by bookshelves and facing the desk with a lamp overhanging it. Her butler stood, as per usual, right next to her chair with a tray and a drink of something steaming hot.
“Good day Aleen!” he said to the elegant late-middle-aged woman in the chair. She turned her porcelain white face framed in a halo of long, curly, chocolate-brown hair towards him with a smile that moved the mole under her left eye into the shallow laugh lines, the only wrinkles on her face.
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“Why, if it isn’t lord Ryuji! And what brings you by today? Going to purchase even more properties? Keep that up and you’ll end up owning the entire city. Do try not to run out of fortunes too soon milord.” Ryuji smiled at the jab but secretly thought to himself how impossible that would be.
“I am simply here to show the way to my tenants today. I’ll be waiting to the side as they do the talking.” As he said that he ushered the Five cats inside and they were followed by Dorn and Silas. Ryuji motioned the very nervous cat beastfolk forward.
The older of the two husbands looked at him with almost pleading eyes and this prompted him to speak. “I told you, I would come but you would have to be the ones to speak. It’s your store and you are the ones who need the services.” With the last word, he waved his hand to indicate Aleen who for her part seemed rather amused by the whole affair.
When none of the other seemed ready to take charge, the bolder of the two sisters stepped forward and cleared her throat, gathering her courage. “H-how do you do? My name is Marlise ma’am. I, well we, need your help. Uhm…”
She shot me a glance and I just gestured toward Aleen. When Aleen saw this, she smiled again before asking her to “go on”. “We have a storefront that is… it needs a bit of work. It needs to be fixed and well, We were hoping you could arrange for a work crew? We have the money to pay for it!”
Marlise’s last sentence was thrust out as though she were worried that everyone was looking for a chance to toss her and her family out the door. She then took the four small gold from her father and held them out on her right palm in front of her. Ryuji could tell how nervous she was but he was determined that they had to do this on their own. Ryuji saw Dorn’s eyes go wide as he saw the gold and he almost thought he heard something whispered under his breath but he couldn’t make it out.
Aleen got up and walked over to her desk in no particular hurry. This time Ryuji spotted the moment when she made eye contact with the butler and he took the meaning without the need for words. He bowed and headed off to the back while she settled into her chair behind the desk and gestured for the other woman to take the seat across from her.
Marlise looked terrified but took the seat as she had been instructed. The rest of the cats gathered around behind her; probably just glad they weren’t the ones having to do the talking. He was a little surprised that Gato didn’t step into that role. It was then that he noticed a warm smile on the oldest of the beastfolk and realized it was like the one his own face. So that’s what was going on.
Once she got started, Marlise was fairly competent and gave a rather accurate description of the condition of the building. She made sure to tell the reason that the building was as moldy as it was and from her description, it was fairly certain that the cats had been through every room of the building, regardless of how dangerous or insignificant. Once it came to the price, he was only a little surprised when the price stated was roughly three times what he was quoted for the bakery. It made sense. The storefront was in much worse condition than the bakery had been.
At the mention of money, Ryuji could see that Marlise wanted to turn and ask his permission but to her credit, she stopped herself and made the decision herself. She agreed to the price and the handling charge without complaint. he was impressed. As they were getting to the contract portion, he decided it was a good time to excuse himself and he got a look of gratitude from the cats before he left.
Dorn and Silas immediately started chatting about how cute the two daughters had been. Though Ryuji could agree it wasn’t really a conversation that he could jump into. Shortly after that, the old guys started walking off and Dorn looked back at Ryuji in thought. “Laddie, I dinnae be thinkin’ I’ll be openin’ tha store again today. I’ll see ya in tha mornin. Not too early, mind ye.” With that they walked off and it wasn’t long before he heard them start yelling at one another.
After only a few minutes, the cats all came rushing out of the door and they began talking about different ideas about how they could change the interior. He guessed that it was mentioned to them by Aleen that they could have modifications done while the building was being renovated. Ryuji smiled at them and began walking towards the meat skewer stand and they all followed right after.
Once he got to the stand there was a bit of commotion. The boy at the stand wanted to give him the meat but he insisted on paying. He told the young dog beastfolk boy that he had already collected the twenty skewers that he intended as payment until the next eightday. The boy reluctantly accepted the coins and passed out the skewers.
Ryuji did his customary trick of leading the group over to Lizbet’s stand and ordering a big batch of bread and slipping his skewers into buns during the resulting confusion so that nobody saw him eating meat. Apparently, sun-elves in this world didn’t eat meat but he absolutely craved it. He had of course bought enough skewers and buns for them to take home to their children. He then said his goodbyes to the cats as he left them to eat his meat buns in peace. If only he had some mayonnaise!