Algernon was enjoying his second day of experiencing the novelty of the big city, but he was staying out of sight. It was not the city he actually liked; that was way too loud and filled with obnoxious Humans.
No, what he enjoyed was their lake; filled with jumping pink-bellied fish who made it so you did not even have to get wet to fill your mouth with some of the most succulent flesh he’d ever gotten his beak on.
Ah. This is the life. Behind his new love of psychedelics, food had always been his primary goal in life, tasty and easily obtained food. Mmm.
He had probably eaten a whole fish on his own every two hours for the past forty at this point, then he returned to a tower and scared away some bloated pigeons before sleeping it off and getting two fishies next time to make up for the meal he missed. Those damn gulls weren't lying, fish are somehow even dumber than insects, hah.
The most beautiful part was how there was no worry of danger; the water was crystal clear and you could see every fish, big and small, swimming for miles all the way to shore.
He was probably gonna spend his whole week like this, for some strange reason there were barely even any competitors once you made your way past the small pier and busy harbour. So far just a bear and a pair of older women who had come by to fish from the shoreline in the early morning. All three at the same spot one by one, for some reason.
Now Algernon did another spin around the extensive city shores, and then decided in the spur of the moment he might as well explore the far shore as well.
It was not too far off, no more than an hour. But it seemed like forest-life was more abundant here because he saw all kinds of animals frolicking by the vital waters, the parents drinking calmly and letting their kids play.
Maybe it was simply a wariness of the [Hunters] that came from the city that kept them on this side; it was likely to take thousands of the bastards to hunt the amounts required to feed the millions of naked apes living and leveling in that anthill of theirs after all. Hardly seems effective, most of them could find better homes in the forest.
Pleased to see that it was just the city being the source of the strange calmness after all, he started flying back, enjoying the warm summer breeze all the while.
Of course his hunger was aroused once again from his little outing, and so before returning to his chosen towers he dove down for a meal to bring with; and that’s when he spotted a particularly juicy fishy.
Algernon extended his talons and started reaching for his target, if he was a mosswolf he would have been slavering; but despite the high speed it was a controlled dive. That's what saved him, the split second nudge, courtesy of a backdraught gust and his egg-given wind affinity.
That, and his eyes.
Emerging in a burst of violent gushing, the large sharp teeth bit down with a force to crush far stronger bones than those covered with feathers, making the large, transparent and mutated creature miss by half an inch as it exploded out of the water. was that a Zundul, crocodile-eel?
Algernon's sway had saved him at the last second; the only warning having been a dead spot where the sun glimmering off the water was conspicuously absent–He started flapping his wet wings in a full blown panic to get away.
Now that its head was out of the water the sun was reflected off its scales, and the flickering glint was enough to tell that Algernon had seen the shape correctly. It was a fish of sorts, with a long body and a crocodile's jaws… But this specimen was like no other the young owl had spotted throughout the days spent on this lake.
Somehow this one was using the refraction of the water to remain hidden, even in plain sight, even to him. He saw now that the lethal, yellow teeth were the only part to not seemingly turn ethereal once it was back in the water... Not that Algernon studied it for long, his heart was beating like it wanted to run ahead and was trying to create a path straight out of his sternum.
When Algernon finally landed back at the tower on his shaky, twiggy-legs he was both wet and hungry.
The bastard must have been just about to nab the same fish, only to spot Algernon diving and see they could get a two for one.
The clever bird shuddered at the close call. Then he swore never to return there without proper preparation and backup, and that would have to wait until he was older.
The darn thing had been fifty times his mass.
For now Algernon turned out to be the first to quit the city, refusing the noisy bustle and finding their only redeeming feature to be a trap; he returned to where he felt home.
Doc Forrest–and the young owl found the north side was not so different.
Not so different at all.
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Livia had been prepared for day 1 to end with nothing but hearing about the fun adventures of the others; but yeah, no such luck.
Oscar and her had apparently been a lucky exception, together with Kalle.
Meanwhile Harold had found no teachers that would not require a proper commitment, and Hyde was disliking the crowds and being bored with having to ignore all the other animal companions, since they were very plainly ignoring, him for the bumpkin that he was, too.
Alfred and Elin had no luck finding good herbs for cheap; apparently everything was overpriced to ridiculous levels in the capital. And their older brother Felix had taken off, and apparently been accepted when he coughed up his savings, straight away–with the welcome addition of being offered dorms–so now the two siblings remaining had a big decision to make.
Sure, Albert was content, having gone on a six hour bar run after a hefty lunch; happy to sample the many famous brews he had not had access to in Salcret. While Redd and Ronia had a decent enough day, and did not really get the room to complain in any case. Not before they had to head off if they were gonna make it out to the farm before dark, a venture which Harold gladly hooked on to after his disappointing day.
But Sten and Jane were the ones to really bring down the average. Not that Jane was suddenly talking, but Sten had obviously related all that had happened to Livia.
So in that way they all had a decision to make. What to do about Jane.
They decided to sleep on it, and then decide on the matter the day after, thereby giving Elin some extra time to check out if there was a place for veterans who struggled to cope with life on their own.
That was where Livia was headed this late morning; to their market booth, to check if maybe there was an easy solution coming their way that Elin had found. While Sten had gone back to the adventurer’s guild to see if Jane had been recognised, now that things should have calmed back down.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
But when she arrived it was to the sight of Elin on the receiving end of a sort of haranguing–apparently over not being able to provide the correct answer to yesterday’s questions. “They told me yesterday you were the one, wait for a young woman they said, now you say wait once again, what is it with this place? With this complete lack of professionalism? My business is urgent and here you are giving me the run-around, I just now saw another peon walking off from here with an exclusive Brunner piece. Look, it's happening again as we speak! Please, please, please. Would you just get this matter settled to a reasonable satisfaction? No more funny business, I will not stand for it!”
The woman was careful not to speak too loud while others were near, lest she let on how valuable the few works remaining on display was to her; but that was not turning out so well, not once she really got going and forgot her discretion in favor of an audible outlet for her mounting frustration.
At least Elin was used to dealing with customers; but this was no [Farmer] of Salcret, and for some reason the woman had her shaking, despite not getting personal. The woman did sort of have an aura, but it was nothing like the powerful mages Livia had seen walking around, so Elin's reaction seemed disproportional, slightly.
Luckily Livia was there to step in just in time anyway, and she received a grateful nod behind the woman’s back from Elin as she took over. “Hi there, sorry to interrupt. Are you looking for a manager?”
The woman turned around like she was ready to snap at another one woefully unprepared to provide service, but Livia was still talking and the sheer presence washing over the woman from the [Business Guild Master] flaring [Socialite’s Allure] was enough for her to be left gaping instead, if only for a second.
“I’m Livia, I set up a few rules for the staff, I do apologize for the inconvenience, it was never meant to bother one of your tastes and priorities, would you give me but one or two minutes to get the full picture from my employee, and then we can see to it that your wait is over?”
The older, rich-looking woman in aquamarine sable furs, and a bonnet of sorts with a silver lining–still looked miffed–but she accepted this with a nod and finally stepped to the side, her eyes not leaving Livia for a second.
Elin’s update gave Livia all she needed; this was her favorite kind of customer, willing to pay not just for the product but the service they expected to come with. It was no wonder Elin was looking so confused really, if you tried to go the extra mile for a Salcret [Farmer] and then expected to be paid for it–best case you’d be getting paid in moldering onions or not at all. If you got lucky maybe a promise of some return business, but yeah. The young [Accountant] was not prepared for these sorts of expectations.
When Livia engaged once more–this time prepared to fully service the woman–Livia spun her like a plate and gave her every little thing she wanted. Including all their remaining stock of Brunner’s enchanting wooden creations–which consisted of a stove brush and a chimney sweep, an outhouse seat and a bowl-trough thing for pigs–all things she had grabbed at the last second as they were waiting for Harold to show up–just because Brunner told her he could easily replace it.
The woman, who turned out to be the wife of an Albernautic dean at that particular [Enchanter]'s academy, was treating it all like the most precious white gold.
The [Business Guild Master] was prepared to take full advantage; it seemed some of the richer folk were alike everywhere.
Livia even hired the kids that ran errands for people at the market, to go see if they could find the different customers with additional Brunner pieces, based on nothing but short descriptions that other frequenters of the market might recognise enough to point them to the right place, if Livia got lucky and they were well known.
The only further directive they got was to relay the lady's request to purchase the rare goods as soon as possible; if they refused then that was that.
Livia would still be charging the woman for the attempt, the recruiting of the errand-boys and gals, and for the usage of limited information about previous business encounters which only her market shop was in a position to act on without the revealing of private information.
Elin looked aghast at the audacity; but Livia was seriously expecting the woman to thank her for it, and especially for sending a bill and not requiring that the lady come down to the shop personally for a third time.
That was service… And even if some other well-established shops in town probably supplied the like, nobody was as ready to tackle every menial complication that might arise on the way as Livia, since she wasn't here just to make money, but to build on a rising name too.
And there would be money in it as well. Livia knew how to annotate a properly sneaky bill after all; one that should conceivably stand up even against a truth-Skill if someone were to lodge a serious complaint, as Livia could vouch for every detail of every charge–if not how the customer interpreted it in its summarized form.
She had the woman leaving with a smile in fifteen minutes, and Elin looking amazed; in the end the lady hadn’t gotten anything more than they had in stock after all, and they only needed to pay for some errand boys, which Livia assured her they’d get recompense for.
It was just too smooth.
Too smooth a solution for the ugly situation that had been developing. Even if the woman had not seemed high-level herself, somebody acting so genteel would have to at least be the spouse, sibling or child of someone powerful indeed, Elin realized that much very early.
Not that any of them recognised the name she had dropped like it meant something; Tatiana, but the mention of estates had not gone unnoticed, certainly not the third time.
It had made Elin increasingly nervous. People here were more foreign than she had been expecting, and she was not used to dealing with higher level people, or families, not quite yet anyway. This was despite having been hardened slightly by their visit to the Valley, but all she'd needed to do then was observe a history.
When Livia talked to her afterward it seemed that the issue was mostly how she was just not at all ready at the time this happened.
Elin was a supremely structured person by nature, it was where she found her comfort. But here had come a woman who might well have the power to flaunt every rule, and where enforcing them could have dire and far-reaching consequences Elin had no way of knowing.
But again, it had gone away so smooth; and Elin was impressed, but only for mere minutes before she got back to acting the experienced shopkeep, while reflecting on the encounter.
With that bit of business resolved Livia felt like she finally had some breathing room for herself, even with Elin’s negative result from researching ways to help Jane.
She was gonna focus on some personal development for once since she’d come here to Dormata–on figuring out one of the new Skills that not even Mr Beard had heard of for some reason–even if both him and Redd had heard of something similar.
She was going to the library to see about some aid in figuring out [Officer Corps].