After our shopping was done, we stayed out of sight in our high priced inn until the day of the auction. It was kind of boring but lazing around with the girls wasn’t so bad. By this time in our relationship I knew all their weak spots, especially how sensitive their ears and tails were, and took full advantage. Even though they were still stronger than me, they ended up putty in my hands. At least that is what I would like to say but it never lasted very long before they got back at me. They knew all my weak spots as well unfortunately.

Lux only left the inn once to meet with our mercenary companions. They were going to stay in a much more modestly priced inn. The rest of us would meet them later when we were ready to leave the city. The only thing Lux would say was that they seemed competent. I trusted his judgement so left it at that.

Soon enough auction day arrived and we sat in a V.I.P. booth to watch the proceedings. Shadow came with us this time and sat on Linn’s lap. The auction room’s layout was the same as the previous auction house only on a bigger scale. Once again it seemed our items would be the star of the show. Even with a ton more seating the place was crowded. With any luck, the last of our loot would make even more money than the previous sale.

The rest of the auction items didn’t interest me too much. Magical weapons were nice, but I didn’t see any that were better than my sword and there was nothing that would fit the rest of my party’s needs. The expensive looking jewelry and clothing seemed to at least partially interest the girls, but that wasn’t why we were here. I made a note to myself to get them something nice as a gift later.

We had worn our good clothes so fit in pretty well with the rest of the crowd. Once again the bidding on our treasures was impressive. From what I could tell things were selling higher than before but I couldn’t tell by how much since they were going by so fast. It looked like we would easily have enough for all our trip expenses and then some.

After the auction, we collected our earnings and headed back to the inn. I still wasn’t sure if we were being watched or not. If so, they weren’t bold enough yet to make a move against us on the crowded streets of the capital. Just in case, our mercenary friends met us outside the auction house and escorted us back to the inn.

The two mercenaries were an odd pair. Torg was a heavily muscled human that seemed about my age but was almost as tall as Lux. He had short cropped, military styled brown hair and was clean shaven. He had already acquired an impressive amount of scars, telling of previous battles. I could tell he would get along with Lux just fine as he didn’t say much.

The other was a short, slender cat eared girl with shoulder length black hair. Her ears and long tail had white tips at the end. Her name was Nix and she was insanely cute while also seeming to like to chat. My current girlfriends/wives couldn’t help but notice the look on my face and became instantly jealous. I tried to calm them down but Nix winking at me didn’t help.

I could already tell it was going to be an interesting trip. I just hoped she got along with Shadow. I also secretly wondered if cat kin and dog/wolf kin got along with each other in general. I didn’t know enough about the world to know how the different races interacted. I hadn’t seen any other housecats or dogs for that matter since being in this world, but the girls didn’t seem to find her too unusual. Shadow was starting to get pretty big for a housecat though.

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Being from another world, I was always excited to see different peoples. It was hard not to stare at the different varieties on the crowded streets of the capital. I was especially interested in the fae like folk that were definitely in the minority and of course the elves. Like the dwarves, the fae were shorter than the rest and had translucent wings like that of a dragonfly. I didn’t know if they could actually fly or not.

The elves were always taller and skinnier than humans and beast kin with different vibrantly colored hair and the traditional pointed ears. The fae had vibrantly colored hair as well so I wondered if they were somehow related. From what Ann told me both the fae and elves lived long lives but only a couple hundred or so more than the rest. So it was unlikely any of them had lived long enough to remember the old kingdom’s capital.

I wasn’t sure why they were in the minority on the island. They didn’t seem to be looked down upon or harassed. I wished we had more time to look around East Harbor but that would have to wait until we returned. In the meantime, I would have to ask Ann about the elves and fae. I’m sure she probably has a book on the subject.

We returned to the inn safely and made plans. Lux had received word that luckily the ship would be able to pick us up in East Harbor but it would be a couple more days until it arrived. Until then we would collect the rest of our supplies and finish preparing for the voyage. Our new mercenary friends would deliver the payment for our supplies which would be delivered to the dock. At the same time, we would visit a local restaurant to keep any potential eyes on us.

Aside from that we would be hunkering down in the inn and keeping out of sight as usual. I was still itching to explore the capital but it was not to be. The girls thought they had caught sight of stalkers while we went to the restaurant. I didn’t notice anything but trusted their keener senses. The mercenary duo had no trouble getting our payment to the respective shops that had our orders. They would continue staying in their own inn while we waited for the ship to arrive.

The day arrived for us to met the ship at the docks. The previous day a fight had broken out at the front of the inn where some people had tried forcing their way inside. The staff had handled it until city guards arrived to haul them away. I was sure it was related to us but couldn’t prove it. My guess was that someone was getting impatient as we hadn’t moved.

The mercenary duo met us at the inn and we all headed to the docks. The ship would be leaving as soon as possible since they were just here to pick us up. They did their normal trading at West Harbor. It seemed they were a little too unsavory to be able to do business in the capital. As soon as we left the inn, even I could tell we had followers.

They were no longer trying to hide their presence. Several rough looking individuals in adventurer type gear appeared around us out of the crowd. I wasn’t sure if they were trying to rob us, kill us, kidnap us, or just prevent us from leaving the capital. We quickly hopped in our carriage and sped off before they could surround us. It was a ways to the docks so it was a good bet that wasn’t the last of them.

Sure enough, once our carriage turned down the main road to the docks we came upon two carriages blocking the street. Once our carriage came to a stop several more armed individuals stepped out from behind the roadblock. It looked like we would be hoofing it from here on. We quickly piled out of the carriage and took off down a narrow side alley.

Getting bogged down in a battle in the middle of the capital wasn’t a good idea. All we had to do was make it to the ship and we should be home free. We had of course already planned for this eventuality and had studied the street layouts beforehand. We just needed to make it to a certain warehouse where our escape plan would unfold.