Going inside Adrest was surprised to see what looked like a stereotypical dwarf behind the bar. As they walked inside the surprisingly warmly decorated space, the man behind the bar noticed them, speaking behind a long and thick dark brown beard, “Welcome to the Stoneworth Inn! You look like new faces, need a room?”
Adrest took a step forward to speak for everyone, “Good eye! We just came in today. How much is two rooms with meals for let's say, five days?”
“Fifteen gold Trevil per room, per night, meals and drinks are included.”
Adrest flinched a bit at the price, but pulled out a platinum trevil, along with some gold. In return for the pile of coins he got two sets of keys and the Muscular dwarf said, "Rooms 211 and 212. Second floor, turn right and go to the end on the hall.”
“Thank you sir.” Adrest always tried to be polite, but the older man waved it away.
“Enough with the thanks and the sirs, my father wasn’t a sir and neither was his. Just call me Ron and I’ll be happy.”
“Nice to meet you Ron. My name’s Adrest.”
The two shook hands, and Adrest’s pale soft hand was nearly crushed under the vice grip of a callused and sandpaper fist over his own. Adrest twitched, feeling like his almost year of training amounted to nothing, it wasn’t his fault the Lodestone was always removing calluses as he fixed himself.
Trying to hide the pain radiating up his arm, Adrest ushered the group up the wide staircase to find their rooms. As they ascended, he handed Rin her room key, “Let’s drop off our stuff, and I think we can walk around for another hour or so if you want.”
Rin was happy to come along, and nodded to show as such. She skipped to her room and quickly unloaded everything she could, meeting back up with the others as they opened their door.
An hour wasn’t enough time to see much more than a few streets, and other than a few clothing stores and more inns. The only thing of interest they found was a sign taking up an entire wall of a building, advertising a huge trade show to celebrate trade opening back up for the year. It was due to start the day after tomorrow. For a sky-high price anyone could set up a booth to sell whatever exotic goods they’d found.
They were all excited to explore the show in a few days but decided to go back to their hotel rather than wander an unfamiliar city late into the night. Adrest could see the reason for the sky high price as they looked over a dinner menu, there were all kinds of beasts and mana rich meat, each meal would cost a few gold just for the meat alone.
Everyone was feeling tired after the long day, Alissa still not having completely recovered, and decided to sleep early, planning to find out more about the city in the morning.
The first thing they did after an early breakfast the next morning was find the local Guildhall, nearly an hour’s walk away. There, after a short wait, they were given a complementary map with all sorts of shops and attractions labeled, Alissa chatting with the worker at the counter while Adrest and the others looked over the available missions.
Alissa was in charge today, her curiosity in overdrive as she led them out of the massive hall. They stopped at several famous bakeries with huge, chilled displays showcasing their signature desserts. After several such stops, everyone was feeling lethargic as they marched on behind Alissa. Feeling bad for the light eaters, Alissa switched it up and they made their way to the merchant district, their first stop at a high-end magic artifact shop.
The beautiful blonde sitting behind the counter smiled at the group, “Welcome to The Artifact Repository, may I help you find anything today?”
Alissa glanced around, looking slightly disappointed, “I was looking to buy a few spacial storage artifacts, but I don’t see any large enough here.”
Alissa turned around disappointedly and started walking out the door. The woman who looked to be in her late twenties didn’t want this huge paycheck to get away. “Please wait! We don’t keep the expensive products on the first floor, please follow me to the private collection.”
Alissa gave a huge smile as she turned around and gestured to the rest of her party to go up the carpeted staircase. The thick carpeting led them directly to a huge open room with heavy wood and glass cases displaying all manner of trinkets. The woman hurriedly guided Alissa to a case off to the left, in it were a few dozen rings, pendants, necklaces, and even earrings.
“Now what size and shape are you looking for exactly, miss?”
Alissa carefully inspected each row of items and eventually settled on three, pointing to a green jade crystal embedded into a gold necklace, a small circular black disk with a dark metal fine chain, and finally an orange pair of earrings. “The three of those please.”
The shopkeeper’s eyebrows shot up at the choices, three of the most expensive items in the store, she praised, “You have a great eye miss. The jade was produced in a cold mist cavern, making a great spiritual material base, the gold holding it is Deep Sea gold, making it difficult for those under S tier to break. The black metal is actually Stained Silver, it sat submerged in dark mana for thousands of years and can repair any damage on their own. And the earrings are more like a pair than a set, they were forged together before being separated so you only need one to access your storage, we recommend leaving the spare in a safe space as a backup.”
Alissa nodded along like she already knew this, but the woman noticed her friends looked dumbstruck, she wasn’t so sure about the sale, especially seeing how impatient the violet haired woman was acting tapping a foot on the ground.
“I’m honored you chose to do business with us, now there’s just the matter of payment. Since you’re buying so much, I can give you a 15% discount. Let’s say 34,500 platinum Trevil.”
She couldn’t keep the doubt out of her eyes as she said the ridiculous number. It was a little more than a week’s income for the entire store, on just three items. She also made sure their security was nearby, making eye contact with a man in a suit sitting in a leather chair reading a thick leather bound book.
Alissa either ignorant of their doubt, or just didn’t care, pulled out simple spacial bag of glimmering cores, “This is 40,000 Platinum worth of beast and monster cores, is that a fair trade?”
The seller took the bag and carefully inspected a handful of crystals, feeling increasingly giddy inside. While normally it might be a bit annoying to offload the cores and turn a profit, they’d do it for an extra few thousand. But, it just so happened that since it’d been so long since a beast tide in the south of Radagon, cores were getting increasingly high prices. She could earn an extra 8-10,000 platinum easily if she slowly sold them in batches.
Stolen story; please report.
“Haha, we’d be happy to!” She carefully bagged up each item individually and handed the ornate boxes to her favorite customer, bowing respectfully, “Please come back if you need anything else!”
Alissa nodded and waved everyone out and back into the street. Once outside, she handed the containers to the stunned group. Belle with the green jade, Adrest the black silver, and Rin the orange earrings.
Adrest felt a little awkward accepting such a gift, but remembering what kind of support Alissa dreamed of giving them, he knew this was just the start and put a drop of blood on the cold metal. Able to see the space inside his mind, Adrest was stunned to see it was about as big as the entire barroom in the hotel they were staying at, close to three of their living rooms at home. Now he knew why the gift was so expensive, especially as he thought about putting it on and a link in the chain melted, allowing him to put wrap it around his neck before it fixed itself, adjust to sit just under his shirt perfectly.
Belle followed suit under the encouraging gaze of Alissa, accepting her help with undoing the complex lock and putting it on her neck. Belle looked herself over in a mirror Alissa had taken out and couldn’t believe how nice it looked, she tightly hugged Alissa for such an extravagant gift, which was all Alissa could ever want from the rabbit in return.
Rin simply stared at the earrings in shock, going from Alissa to the box, and back again. Adrest just put a hand on her shoulder, “Don’t think too much about it, I’m pretty sure this is just the start of it. Just think of it as payment for looking after Belle and I.”
Rin gave up and nodded, then looked from the small but beautifully carved orange gemstones to Adrest. “Umm… could you do it? It’s the same gold as belle’s necklace so it shouldn’t have a problem going through but I’m still a little nervous about doing it myself.”
“No problem, which ear do you want it on?” Adrest grabbed one of the set and undid the backing, revealing a fine point.
Rin brushed aside her chestnut hair, revealing a small pink ear below. “This one please.”
Leaning in closer to get a better angle, Adrest measured several times to make sure it would be centered, “Ready?”
“Ready!”
“Then I’ll do it on three. One, tw-!” Adrest shoved the needle through the skin on two, getting all the way through before Rin could twitch. As she heard a loud “Pop!” in her right ear, she jumped, but Adrest’s hand kept her still. He locked the back securely and turned Rin by the shoulders a little to get a better look at the ear.
Satisfied with the placement he nodded, proud of his work. “Looks great on you Rin!”
Rin blushed at the compliment and brushed back her hair nervously, “Th-Thank you Adrest. Alissa always has great taste.”
As if on cue, Alissa arrived to break any sort of atmosphere, wrapping a tight arm around the flustered Rin. “He’s right Rin. You are cute with earrings, and my taste is pretty great.”
Adrest laughed and saved poor Rin by giving the dragon something new to latch onto. “Where to next boss? I’m sure you have a full day planned.”
Alissa swung from one person to another as she forced Adrest to walk with her pace, “You’re right Ady! The next store should be just up ahead and to the left.”
This time, they walked into a small and cramped blacksmith shop set in front of a large smithy. The back was open so walking in the constant clang of metal on metal was all the group could hear. Belle pulled her rabbit ears down uncomfortably. Adrest stepped behind her and put his hands over her ears as she leaned back comfortably to smile at him.
Alissa ignored the noise and walked to the counter. A large, hulking man sat behind the desk. The oversized wooden chair under him squeaking as he shifted. He raised an eyebrow at the young woman standing across the counter, at first he assumed the group came in to sightsee.
“Can I help you with anything?” A deep voice echoed out, a bravado that rippled into the listener.
Alissa unperturbed said, “I saw this was the best place to order magic weapons in the city, I’d like to put in a few orders if I can see some of your best work first.”
A vein throbbed across the huge man’s bald head, now sure the young woman was just here to sight see. But, remembering the beatings from the old man he’d gotten for being rude before, he sighed and pulled out a sword they kept at the counter for exactly these occasions.
The sword was crafted from a light blue metal, the three-foot blade ran down into a black leather hilt. Adrest could feel a bitter cold chill as the blade came into the open. “It’s something the owner made a few years ago for fun, but should be enough for you right?”
The man’s voice was colder, but still not rude. Alissa carefully inspected the metal looking for the slightest defects and seeing how the materials were used. While not an expert in forging by any means, she had learned the basics and what to look for.
After a minute passed in silence, the man about to put the blade back and shoo them away, Alissa sighed, “It will just barely do. I need three weapons made for them.”
She pointed to the teens behind her, “I’m hoping for A rank. Use the best materials, I’ll pay up front.”
She placed several bags in front of the man, who was happy to accept them, the shop could use them and sold high this year. “Come back here, I’ll grab the old man. He’ll get the measurements, and then we can get an idea of what you want.”
They took a seat, filling a padded bench off to the side of the many furnaces. They passed the time watching the busy apprentices hone their craft, eventually the man running the counter returned with an older man half the size of himself.
Though over 2 heads shorter and well past 20 years older than the hulking man, the old blacksmith had an air of intensity about him, like a white-hot furnace. He stared the group of four up and down, spending a long time eyeing up Alissa who sat back relaxed, as if she were at home.
“I heard you’re hoping to have some weapons made. A rank might be a little much for your group though. Too good of a weapon can be as worthless as a bad one. I’ve seen over a hundred noble children come in, buy the most expensive sword and armor, then die a few miles into the Beast Forest.”
Alissa nodded along, not offended at his genuine warning. “They’ll grow into it; I’m just making sure they have something reliable when they really need it.”
The man nodded along, already speaking his part. “Very well. You three, get over here!”
He barked at the three closest apprentices and pointed at Adrest, Belle, and Rin.
“Get their measurements while we discuss what specifically we’ll be making.”
As the three were turned and pulled every which way as the apprentices ran around them with a fabric tape measure in one hand and a paper in the other.
Alissa helped Belle and Adrest with their orders saying, “She needs twin swords, on the lighter side and won’t break under harsh impacts and force. She’s good with nature, body, and earth magic if you have anything relevant. He’s easier, just make a better and less gaudy version of this.”
Alissa stole the sword buckled at his hip and threw it hilt first to the wiry grey-haired man, who caught it from the air with ease.
He pulled the ceremonial blade from its sheathe and looked over the intricate carvings and etchings on the blade before sneering, “Always hated smiths that think form over function. It won’t be a problem, and I can give it a similar enhancement to this ones’.”
“Perfect! Rin, I don’t know exactly what you want, so just let him know your dream weapon. I have plenty of cores so don’t be shy.”
Rin had been nervous to accept the generosity but couldn’t help feeling excitement at the thought of new swords. While the ones she had were just barely qualified as A rank and forged by masters hired by the Guild. They were still very much a one size fits all weapon with no frills, just made sturdy and to match her general physique.
“Umm, could I get a set of twin swords similar to what you’ll be making her. But for mine, I need them as study as possible, don’t worry about weight. And I mainly use body and wind magic if that helps.”
The old man nodded along, letting the young men around him take notes. “We aren’t particularly busy right now, and I have some good things sitting around that will be a perfect fit. Let’s say a week and a half to pick all three up?”
Alissa hefted yet another full bag of cores out, holding it out to the blacksmith, “Unfortunately, we’re on a tight schedule. Is there any way we could arrange a rush order?”
Fighting the grin off his face, the old man pocketed the cores while nodding, “They’ll be ready in 5 days, that’s the fastest I can go with the quality of materials you want.”
“Sounds great! We’ll see you then.”