“Hmmm. What is this? Amazing! Wonderful!” The dwarf muttered as he started looking through our treasures. We all sat on one of the couches, smugly watching him work. Everyone except Shadow of course, she was asleep on Linn’s lap. They probably hadn’t seen this many old empire items in quite a while. “Where did you find this wonderful collection?” The dwarf asked, not pausing his inspection of the loot. “We just got lucky.” I answered, winking at the girls who smiled in return.
We weren’t about to disclose that we had gotten them from the cursed city. It was possible we may go back someday and didn’t want a rush of people descending on the city to pick our honey hole clean. I was sure some would put two and two together and figure it out but there was no need to advertise it. “You have a selection of perfectly preserved high grade potions, old empire jewelry, and exquisite gems. Those pale in comparison to this however.” The dwarf said, indicating the lightning rod.
“We weren’t sure what that was made of, but it seemed valuable.” Ann replied. “It is indeed. What you have here is a rod of orichalcum with a core of mythril. This could be forged into legendary weapons if you found the right smith.” The dwarf answered, stroking the lightning rod creepily. I cleared my throat and the dwarf snapped out of his daze, removing his hand from the orichalcum treasure.
“That is good news.” I said, trying to sound excited. I had heard of the fantasy metals but didn’t know how rare they were in this world or their properties. Lux and the girls had huge smiles on their faces so they must be worth a pretty penny. I didn’t want to sound like an idiot in front of the dwarf so would ask Ann later. It was an impressive piece of metal. It was longer than the table and as thick as my forearm. I had to chuckle when taking it out of the bag as it made me feel like a magician performing a magic trick.
“So, I take it that you find our items acceptable for the auction.” I continued, smiling along. “Of course! I don’t mind telling you that they will undoubtably be the star of the auction.” The dwarf replied, looking like he wanted to continue fondling the lightning rod. After that the receptionist returned and we had to fill out some paperwork and discussed the finer details of the auction. The auction house would of course take their expected percentages and fees. On the plus side they were giving us a V.I.P. booth to view the auction.
I grabbed a pamphlet that detailed the items that were already scheduled for the auction. The list would be finalized one week before the auction date. I would have one of the girls read it to me later. My fingers were crossed that there was a magic bag on the list. We left the auction house feeling pretty good. The receptionist had even pointed us in the direction of a good inn so that was where we were headed next.
Lux led the way once again through the confusing streets. I was glad someone knew where to go. I doubt I could have found the place, even with the directions from the receptionist. Soon we found ourselves in front of the Ash Inn. I rolled my eyes as we walked into the establishment. It did look rather up scale from the outside, notwithstanding the horrible name.
The inside was even fancier, it was good to be rich. We booked the usual two rooms although the beast kin lady behind the counter acted like we wouldn’t be able to afford it before Lux plopped down enough coins to silence her. I suppose our appearance left much to be desired. A nice soak and a set of clean clothes would alleviate that problem.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The rooms were huge and luxuriant as to be expected from the hefty price. Shadow immediately jumped onto the oversized bed and made herself comfortable. She meowed and looked at me, seeming to say where are you going to sleep. I chuckled and headed for the attached master bathroom. There was a good sized tub and a sink with tile flooring. It was time to clean off before heading for the hot spring. I was so filthy that I wanted a prewash before going to the actual hot spring, especially at such a fancy establishment.
The girls were in agreement and decided to share the bath with me. I wasn’t sure how to fill the tub so Ann had to show me how the magic crystal controls worked. The tub was big enough for all three of us so we took turns washing each other’s backs. We didn’t stay in long as we had just wanted to wash before heading to the hot spring to soak.
The hot spring facility was located behind the inn through a connecting hallway. It was mixed bathing evidently as there were no separate baths for men and women. I had somewhat expected this but was still shy and had to be ushered in by the girls. Shadow had stayed curled up on the bed and it looked like Lux had beat us to the hot spring. It was a shock to see the musclehead relaxing in the water with a towel over his head. Evidently we didn’t have to worry about thieves at the inn and Lux mentioned it would be safe to leave our belongings in the room.
I carefully looked away, not wanting to be scarred for life. Speaking of scars, he had quite a few. The place was mostly empty at this time of day with only a couple other people besides us. The girls and I found a spot and slipped into the water. I let a sigh escape my lips as the heat soaked into my body. This was more like it.
I glanced over and the girls were also sighing in contentment. We had submerged ourselves with only our heads poking out of the steaming water. My sore body slowly relaxed and I could feel the girls scoot closer to me on either side. Their naked bodies were pressed up against mine with their heads on my shoulders. If this wasn’t heaven, I didn’t know what was.
They had each put their hair up into buns to keep it out of the water, which exposed their delicate necks. I put my arms around the girls, giving each one a kiss. The girls giggled cutely at my affection. I could definitely get used to this. Relaxing, I looked around at the hot spring. We were currently in the main pool which was inside but there was also an outside pool you could get into. I would have to try it later. There were several smaller pools with different temperatures or so we were told and they even had a sauna room. I didn’t know how to tell the difference between the smaller pools besides just testing the water but was content to stay in the large pool.
The other guests were at the opposite end of the large pool and looked to be a couple who were relaxing together. A steward stood by the door in case any of the guests required anything. The hot spring was as upscale as the inn with statues of marine life here and there and even a fountain in the corner. As I relaxed, I idly wondered how expensive it would be to have a hot spring installed in our future mansion estate. I was probably getting ahead of myself, but it was fun to dream.
I wanted to stay in longer but was getting kind of lightheaded from the heat so decided it was time to get out. I was also starting to get hungry. The girls looked kind of red and agreed it was time to cool off. Lux had beat us in and left before us as well. We grabbed our clothes and headed back to the room. Instead of putting them on, the girls just wrapped a towel around their torsos, leaving their chests exposed. It was distracting to say the least. If you’ve got it, flaunt it I guess. We would definitely be back, hopefully every day that we stayed at the inn. Too bad Shadow didn’t like water, she didn’t know what she was missing.