A little over an hour later, in a village at the foot of the mountains, in a potion shop…

Crrreak…

「Mornin'.」

An old man sticks his face in through the door and shuffles in with an old woman trailing in behind him.

「Ah. You two… What do you need? I didn't restock yet.」

The old potion seller briefly perks up from beyond his counter before returning back to his weary, bored slouch.

「No, no… We're not here for potions…」

The woman shakes her head as the two approach.

「No?… Then what is it?」

The potion seller inquisitively lifts his brow.

「…You ever see one of these?」

The old man places two paper notes on the counter and slides them forward.

「Oh. Yeah. Where'd you get this?」

The man behind the counter asks, quickly raising his eyes up from the bills.

「Some travelers stopped at our home and gave us these… Is that their money?」

The old woman asks, furrowing her brows slightly.

「…Yeah. Would you be willing to part with these? How much do you want for 'em?」

The potion seller nods, and taps the drakes with his fingers. The old couple exchange a confused glance.

「…How much are they worth?」

The old man asks, also furrowing his brows.

The potion seller winces at the question and grimaces for a moment while he thinks.

「…How about two gold?」「Two gold!?」

He replies, and the woman perks up in shock. She looks at the old man with her beady eyes wide open.

「Hold on… There's two of these, and they're the same. How can two be worth two gold and still be of value to you?…」

Sticking his wrinkly index finger out, the old man asks with his eyes narrowed in suspicion. The potion seller grimaces again.

「Look, take it or leave it. Two gold-」

「Alright, we'll get a better deal elsewhere.」「Huh? But?…」

He replies, and the old man scoops the bills of the counter. The old woman furrows her brows in surprise.

「Wait wait wait!…」

The potion seller quickly stretches his hands out for the old man and grabs his arm. He turns back around, and the two look at each other.

「…Two gold, five silver, and a discount on potions. How about that?」

The man behind the counter says with a pleading tone.

「…Two and a half? How much are they worth really? You better answer honestly.」

The old man replies in an annoyed tone and places his wrinkly fists on his hips as he returns to the counter.

「…Three gold… But that's at the palace town! I need to make a profit too! You know you're both too old to make the trip there!」

After some reluctant grimacing, the potion seller relents and explains with a shrug of his shoulders. He throws his hands apart, and leans onto the counter in exasperation.

「…Two and a half is a pretty good coin. I think we should just take the deal.」

The old woman tugs at the man's sleeve and beckons him closer. He leans his ear down to her, and she whispers into it.

「But, uh… They're genuine, right? The palace issued a warning about fake foreign money some time ago.」

Leaning over his counter again, the potion seller chimes in.

「We think that they are?… We didn't ask them for a payment. It'd be strange for travelers to give us fake money…」

「One of the boys gave us dried meat and berries too!…」

The old man replies with a shrug, and the woman nods along.

「…We'll take it. But what does the palace need foreign money for? Isn't this worth two gold in their land? Why are they overpaying so much?」

He places the bills back down onto the counter, and the potion seller quickly swipes them away.

Clunk clunk… Clunk…

「Don't ask me, I don't know. Maybe it's an order from her Divine Embodiment, or they very badly want a stock of foreign money… I heard you can just buy it in gold there, but…」

The potion seller drops three coins onto the counter as he pulls his hand out from underneath, and slides them over to the old couple.

「…They must have their purposes. And if they don't, their loss. We need to be crafty, no one's going to help us if we don't help ourselves.」

He adds, shrugging his hands as the old man scoops the coins up and pockets them.

「Ain't that right. Doubt they'd lift a finger if the demons came here… We'll hold you to that discount later, so don't act like you forgot.」

The old man nods, turning for the exit with the woman, and he wags his wrinkly finger at the potion seller as they depart.

「Yeah yeah yeah…」

The potion seller rolls his eyes and returns to his weary, bored slouch on the counter when the door shuts…

…

Around the same time, in a city nearby a mountain pass…

Greaves and his party are aimlessly wandering the streets of a foreign city. Lian and Greaves attract attention from the citizens, drawing curious gazes and starting hushed conversations amongst the people as they walk past. Will and Alicia are mostly ignored, owing to their relatively unassuming looks and clothing. Will continues staring at lanterns and his paper sheet scribbled full of notes and crossed out words.

「Right… So that one definitely means something akin to tavern, eating place, or food shop… But it's not an inn…」

Will thinks out loud while staring at one of the foreign words copied onto the sheet.

「What's the point of this? I'm hungry, Alicia is hungry… Can we go find a place to eat already?」

Greaves asks, spreading his arms with his mouth heavily scrunched aside in a frustrated grimace. Alicia shrinks a little with an awkward smile when Will glances at her.

「Right, sorry… I'm noticing a pattern, though. It seems like this character here means shop, or place, but in the sense of an establishment… Stuff like that.」

Will seals his inkpot and puts away his writing implements into his backpack, leaving only the language notes in his hand. He taps one of the recurring characters with his fingertip.

「…Okay? And how about an inn place, smartass? Where can we get food to eat?」

Unimpressed, Greaves asks in a mocking tone while spreading his hands at his shoulder level.

「Food, food, food…」

Will mumbles to himself as he looks down at his notes, then adjusts his glasses. He lifts his eyes up, and briefly looks around the lanterns hanging near the sliding doors lining the streets.

「…There, I think?」

He lifts his hand and points at a distant lantern, furrowing his brows slightly, and adjusts his glasses again.

「Pft. Let's go, Alicia… Can't wait to see your face when it turns out to be a smithy, or a cobbler-」

Rustling his mass of hair, Greaves quickly gestures his orange head with a scoff and rushes away towards the lantern in wide, rapid steps. He grabs onto the door and slides it open.

Inside, there is a large, open, yet crowded space with a flooring of woven mats. There are many low tables with no chairs all around the room, which is filled with loud noises of conversations and the smell of food, though it's far too mixed to tell what type exactly. Greaves stares at the scene with furrowed brows for a few seconds before Will and the rest catch up.

「…See?」

Will says with his mouth aslant, lazily throwing his hand towards the open door. He adjusts his glasses and enters.

「Tsk… You just got lucky this time.」

Greaves clicks his tongue and follows him in, gesturing to Alicia with his head.

Will looks around the room with his brows furrowed, he turns his eyes to one of the empty tables, and walks up to it.

「…No chairs? I suppose you just kind of sit down on the floor here.」

He quickly glances around again for a chair, but finds none. The rest of the party approach him, and are equally confused to find the chairs are not there. Lian and Alicia sit down.

「Huh? Where are the chairs?」

Greaves asks while staring down at the table with his fists on his hips.

「There aren't any. Sit down.」

Will replies with his mouth aslant, and adjusts his glasses as he sets the translation sheet down.

「There aren't any!?… How poor is this kingdom!?」

Greaves exclaims in shocked surprise, then sits down across from Will.

「Shush, idiot!… Insult their king while at it, why don't you!?」

Thunk.

Will slams his palm onto the table and hushes Greaves with his finger at his own mouth.

「He could at least give 'em chairs-」「Shut it!」

Greaves scoffs with a smirk and his arms crossed, causing Will to nearly yell at him again. A young woman approaches the table.

「Good morning!… What will you have?」

She says with a smile and leans forward slightly.

「Err… Uhhh…」

Will groans and grimaces as he furrows his brows, thinking.

「…Right, how do we order stuff? I didn't think that far.」

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He says while peeking at Alicia and Lian for ideas.

「Ah. Foreigners?…」

The woman utters out as her brows rise in surprise, but then a somewhat troubled expression appears on her face.

「Uhh… Food? Something to eat?…」

Furrowing his brows, Will taps one of the characters on his translation sheet while showing it to the waitress.

She takes a look at it, then tilts her head, blinking at him with a confused gaze. Will then gestures a spooning motion into his mouth, as if holding an invisible bowl of soup.

「Y- Yes, we serve food here?… What would you like?」

She replies in a confused tone, nodding her head slightly while glancing at each of the four for a second.

「…Nhh… Alicia, give me some money.」

「Huh? Okay…」

Will turns to Alicia and adjusts his glasses. She perks up then reaches into her pack, digging in it for a few seconds.

「…Here.」

She hands Will a thick stack of drakes. He peels away a few, then returns the rest.

「…Any food, please. Will this get us anything?」

Will holds out four drakes for the waitress with his brows heavily furrowed, and a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

Somewhat confused, she takes them. She reads the letters printed on them, tilting her head, then blinking her eyes at Will, who adjusts his glasses.

「…One second, please.」

The waitress says, briefly flashing her extended index finger at the group as she hesitantly backs away towards the kitchen area in the distance. Will nods, and the waitress jogs away.

「…What did she say?」

Greaves asks while watching the waitress stand in an open doorway. A man in a white apron with a thin mustache on his face emerges, and the two begin discussing something.

Pop.

「I don't know… But I think she wants us to wait a moment?」

Will uncorks his inkpot and replies while busy with taking another note. Greaves scoffs, shaking his orange head with a jiggle of his hair.

When done, Will glances at the waitress. The two are looking at the group while talking. The woman hands the mustached man the drakes, and he briefly looks at them. He shakes his head with a shrug of his shoulders, gives them back to the waitress, and gestures his head towards the group as he returns into the kitchen.

The woman quickly jogs to another place in the apparent restaurant, where there is a woman standing at a small counter, and a bulky man with a curving sword at his hip is warily watching the patrons with his arms crossed. The waitress shows the woman at the counter the drakes, briefly saying something to her. The woman returns a nod, reaches under the counter as she takes the drakes, then hands the waitress something.

The waitress then jogs back up to the party's table with her hands cupped together, kneels down beside Will, and places three gold and a silver coin down in front of him.

「Please wait a moment, I will deliver your food shortly.」

The woman bows her head with her hands on her legs, and stands up. She rushes back to the kitchen area in a hasty half-jog.

「…Huh. Looks like they took nine silvers?」

Will remarks as he looks down at the coins, and adjusts his glasses.

「Are we going to get food though?」

Greaves asks with his arms crossed and mouth aslant in frustration.

「They wouldn't just take our money for nothing… Right?」

Alicia says, and glances at them both as her face grows somewhat troubled.

「I would think so… The people here have been surprisingly kind. I partially expected to be chased out of the village just for being strangers.」

Will shrugs and adjusts his glasses again. He crosses his arms and waits while looking towards the kitchen.

The waitress disappears inside, then re-emerges with her arms lined with plates. She expertly makes her way towards the party's table in a steady pace.

「Sorry for the wait… Here…」

Clunk… Clunk… Clink…

The young woman says as she sets down a plate with a roasted fish in front of Will, and begins laying out the rest of the meals for everyone else.

「…If you need anything else, please raise your hand and I will attend to you.」

She adds with a gentle smile, raising her hand slightly to demonstrate as she stands back up. Will peeks at his translation sheet.

「Thank you.」

Will bows his head as he replies in his attempt at using the local language. The woman's head perks up. Greaves furrows his brow and narrows his eye at him with a ridiculing smirk.

「…You're very welcome!」

The waitress replies in a cheery tone and a warm smile, bowing before turning to attend another table. She peeks over her shoulder at Will as she departs.

「Pft…」

Greaves scoffs, shaking his head again as he reaches for his utensils while Will is scribbling down more notes.

「…Eh? Where's the fork?… What is this?」

Furrowing his brows at the wooden sticks, Greaves takes them into hand and stares at his cutlet slices.

「…No spoon?」

Alicia tilts her head at the sticks set on top of her bowl of noodle soup, then looks at Will with confused eyes underneath furrowed brows.

「Ah… So it's like that…」

Lian remarks with a smirk on her face as she takes the chopsticks and places them in her bodysuit-covered hand with natural ease.

「…In our land we had something similar, but we used metal instead of wood. You skewered meat like with a fork, but could also pinch things…」

She says as she raises her bowl to her chin level and scoops some noodles out, slurping them up to demonstrate to Alicia.

「…Only slaves used wood, though. I wouldn't try skewering meat with these. It's probably why that cutlet is portioned out into slices.」

Lian adds, pointing her chopsticks towards Greaves's plate.

「I see… It makes sense. They serve a lot of people, and someone eventually would steal the utensils. If they're made of wood, they're not worth stealing.」

Briefly lowering his chin between his thumb and finger, Will nods and takes his chopsticks into hand. He looks at Lian, blinking at her hand and trying to mimic her grasp.

「No, no… Hold it like this, Alicia. You don't need to hold them tight.」

Lian notices Alicia is struggling with the chopsticks, and sets them in her hand properly. Alicia gingerly tests her grip, then nods her head in reply.

「…Can't believe we paid nine silvers for this.」

Will says as he lifts a piece of the still steaming fish into his mouth.

「Right? This is a feast!… I think we've lived around the capital for so long that the normal prices are weird now.」

Alicia leans past Lian and nods in agreement, then slurps on the noodles from her bowl.

「Stupid… Sticks… Damn it…」

Clunk.

Greaves mutters to himself angrily while trying to lift a cutlet into his mouth with one chopstick in each hand. It slips out and unceremoniously drops back to the plate…

…

A few hours later, just a little past noon, on the busy street of the snack lane…

Stripe bites into a fish-shaped cake and chews with instant glee on her face. Her woolly hat flutters briefly.

「Mmnnhhhhhh!… I missed taiyaki so much!」

She squeals with joy and quickly takes another bite, stepping aside a little out of the way of the crowd. Straf and the rest join her.

「As a cat, does the fish shape make it tastier?」

Straf asks with a snide smirk, and bites into his own taiyaki with one hand remaining in his pocket. Cycelia and Nona nibble into theirs.

「I'm not a- Ghnnnh…」

Stripe begins to protest, but quickly gives up with an annoyed groan and bites into her snack instead, chewing angrily. Her ears flutter again as a smile reappears on her face.

Having had gained more confidence in the fish-shaped snack's flavor, Cycelia takes a larger bite. Her brows rise as she chews.

「Hm?… There's something inside?」

She blinks her emerald eyes at a dark, reddish paste within the bitten chunk.

「Bean paste, Lia. It's actually not as gross as it sounds.」

「…Yeah.」

Straf quickly explains and adds a casual shrug of his shoulders before taking another large bite. Stripe nods her head, concurring, and takes a bite as well.

Cycelia takes a small bite of the paste-filled part and tests for its flavor. She nods her chestnut head in approval then takes another, larger bite.

「Say… What's with all the displaced serfs and homeless bums? What displaced them?」

Straf asks as he turns his gaze to a man sitting curled up by a building, wrapped by a canvas sack repurposed as a blanket.

「…From what the old man told me, demons. Apparently things were bad for years now, but the north has been pretty much razed to the ground not too long ago.」

Stripe replies as her golden gaze turns to the serf as well. A troubled grimace appears on her face.

「What, and nobody is doing shit about it?」

Raising an inquisitive brow, Straf asks and takes another bite.

「Tsk… They are. Imagine the mess from a while ago when that city was suddenly taken over. It's like that, but the daimyo don't have a vampire to help them.」

Stripe clicks her tongue in frustration as her eyes turn to Straf. She explains with a shrug, and bites onto her fish with a guilty look on her face as she lowers her head.

「…You're kind of missing out, Lily.」

Straf says as he turns his gaze to Lily, who is simply standing beside the group with her arms crossed, and empty-handed. She lifts her scarlet eyes up to meet his.

「Hmpf… Nonsense. Food is a waste of time, energy, and money. A pointless necessity of the living.」

Lily replies as Straf throws the tail-end of his fish into his mouth.

Snap!

「Absolutely, Lily! You're right on!…」

Straf snaps his fingers and nods along, pointing at Lily. She lets an amused huff out of her small nose.

「Hmpf. Of course, naturally-」

「…It's also very tasty, so it's kind of a null point.」

Lily says with a smug smirk on her face, but Straf cuts in as he leans down right beside her, looking at her with a patronizing and mildly amused smirk.

Though appearing a little indignant, Lily says nothing as Straf straightens out. The rest of the group finish their snacks, and Stripe gives her fingertips a quick lick each.

「Right. I'm kinda tired of sweet now, maybe something salty?-」

Straf asks, looking around and peeking at Stripe as his hand snakes its way back into his coat's pocket.

「Straf…」

Lily calls out before he can even finish his sentence.

「What's up, Lily?… You made a sound argument, it's just that I don't care… Want to argue about it some more?」

Turning his amused smirk back to Lily, Straf shrugs his shoulders as he asks. She looks down the long street ahead, slightly upward, then turns her pale and serious face to Straf.

「No… There are demons about, Straf.」

Lily nonchalantly replies, and briefly glances at the rest of the group…