Astoria
We round up the 13 monsters and then we grab our bags. As I take out my extraction tools. Wrapped in leather, I take out a sharp iron knife and an iron prying tool. I also take out a few empty pouches from my bag and begin approaching one of the bodies.
The weird guy looks at me, wondering what I am doing. “Oh yeah, nobles and shit.” I open my mouth and speak to him. “You can sell their parts to most mage dealers in the tower or you could sell it on the black market, your choice.” He nods in response.
He takes out his fancy knife and begins taking out the teeth from one of the monsters. As I take the teeth and eyes, I begin to think to myself, “Thankfully, he’s the one who heard my whistle. I could have probably taken out all of them by myself but if I fail, I would have need to go back to Bellken for supplies and that would be more than enough time for somebody else to kill them and that’s something I didn’t want to risk.” I take out another tooth forcefully using my prying tool to pull it out whilst my knife cuts deep into their gums.
The guy approaches me and tries to hand me 14 teeth in near-perfect condition. Just looking at it made me want to take it, unlike mine where some of the teeth cracked. His would probably fetch for a higher price. However, I was the one who called for his help. Anything apart from splitting it would be unfair so I shake my head and let him keep the ones that he takes out.
I watch him go to another and the way he takes out each tooth with such precision was almost suspicious, but then again, I don’t know anything about nobles. Observing him further, his face doesn’t even change much, maybe he’s still experiencing shock or something. With good precision, he also takes out the eyes but he didn’t take them for some reason.
I toss him a pouch and I guess correctly as he begins putting the eyes into the pouch. After a considerable amount of time, I managed to extract 26 teeth and 4 eyes, the rest is with him. “Hey, thanks for this,” I say as I hand him his broken spear back. He takes it and nods.
He didn’t say a single word as we headed back to Bellken, whether he was mute or something was not my business but at least he could understand me. We arrive at the tower before entering, I clap once then wrap my hands with each, leaving only my index finger from my right hand to point up. “Praise be the ascension,” I murmur to myself and then we begin to step foot into the tower.
At the very middle of the tower is a peculiar building by a homunculus. The story says that she has the body of the 15-year-old, meaning she died at that age and then was revived. How many years she’s been living as a 15-year-old, I don’t know. All I know is that she’s older than me, that’s pretty obvious considering her shop is on the base floor of the tower.
Makes me pretty nervous honestly, I never talked to anybody older than me before. I turn the knob and then open the door. The creak did not help to make me feel better as the sight of a humble shop came into view.
Shelves of monster remains as well as books we lined up on each side of the wall. The room was only illuminated by a single candle on the counter. There was not a single ray of sunshine inside. “What do you want…Astoria, was it?” A girl sitting on a high chair said to me.
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I show her my pouches full of monster parts. “Hmm…show me.” She commands. Garbed in pure black pants, a turtle neck, and a pure white coat, she was definitely intimidating but not in a scary way, however. I don’t feel her intent and her expression is quite relaxed.
Seeing that, I relax as I hand her two pouches. She takes one tooth with a gloved hand and with her other hand, she covers her circular glasses. The next moment, I expected some sort of magic to occur but nothing happened. She pours the rest into the table and begins inspecting them.
She had an expression of dissatisfaction; I could not help but feel shame. “In my defense, this is my first time collecting parts…” I try to smile while looking away. “Yeah, yeah, you are a mercenary as Alcor stated. But next time, bring the entire tooth, I don’t care if there’s still gums on it.” She responds.
“I’ll try.” I smile slightly. She looks at me for a brief moment before putting the teeth back into the pouch. “We always do…” She murmurs. It took a few seconds for her to inspect the eyes. If I remember correctly, Alcor said it like this, “Oi dumbass, treat every part with precision, for eyes specifically, you just need to make sure that the eyeball isn’t damaged.” I remember nodding at that information before insulting him back.
“Here, 14 hellnarius.” She hands me 14 silver-colored coins. “Thank you,” I respond as she turns her attention to him. He hands her his pouch and inspects it before giving him about 16 hellnarius. Both of them did not speak a single word to each other. Her I can understand, nothing much to say job well done but him? “Like talking to a wall.”
We both left the shop and went our separate ways. “See ya around,” I say, in response, he nods and bows to me. Kind of weird seeing someone bow to me but I wave at him as I walk away. “Hmm, I’ll buy the arrows later,” I say to myself as I head straight to the drunken crow.
I opened the door and felt a lot more energized than before. It’s almost nighttime after all. Aldia already poured a beer for me the moment I sat at the counter. “Ughhhh.” I groan as I drink from my mug. “Told you monster hunting is not easy,” Aldia comments as she cleans some mugs.
“Yeah, awkward too if you’re with that weird noble,” I respond, drinking some more. “Ooh him again, he’s quite popular for somebody nobody knew for a week ago.” She responds, intrigued. “Well yeah, that guy wears decent clothes, can fight, and sleeps on a roof. Everybody wants to know what’s his deal is!”
“Well, you know that’s not all.” She smiles with a hint of sadness in her eyes. Looking around, everybody here is wounded. Despite the atmosphere, the state that all of us are in is quite depressing. “Yeah, everyone here is fighting to survive whether it’s killing monsters or pouring beer.”
I drank a bit more. Alcohol works its magic as it goes down my throat. Not many stories of happiness come by here so a few rumors here and there are not so bad, at least we have something to entertain ourselves with.
The doors open and a bard steps inside. All of us turn our attention to him as he sits on the stage. Aldia hands him water and he begins clearing his throat. He strokes his lute and begins his poetic singing, “Fire, fire, o the bird rages…Betwixt the horns, Kioi wages…The war upon the walls, arrow purges him…His eyes set upon Bellken, his fire still within. His army rises from the catacombs and leaves their grave…for their land will always be for the brave.”
“…” Nobody cheered. We throw a rellnarius to the stage as thanks and after collecting it. He tunes his lute and begins singing the usual tavern tunes. “Kioi huh? Looks like your necromancer problem isn’t done yet huh?” Aldia turns to me, handing me another mug of beer.
“He seems new,” I comment looking at the bar. “Yeah, being a bard in Bellken is not easy after all, this city isn’t nearly big enough to have an appreciation for the arts.” She comments as she looks at him with wonder. “Someone has a type. But do you think he can even withstand your father’s intimidation?” I tease her.
“Oh, shut up, still though he looks wounded.” She murmurs to herself. “Well yeah, being a bard isn’t easy here, the value you have here is whether or not you can give us mercenaries information that might give us a new source of cash. And to do that, you have to risk your life making sure your information is true.”
I finish my mug. “Here,” I throw her a rellnarius. “Throw this coin to the stage and strike up a conversation. You only have one shot though, unless you want your father to find out where some of his few coins have gone.” I leave the tavern. It turned night and people were starting to go home. “Guess I’ll go take a nap somewhere…I wonder how it feels sleeping on the roof.” I say to myself as I wander around.