Back in Ivell and with everybody gathered, Pier’s preparations for becoming an Adventurer begin, starting with the illustrious clothing markets and shops! Nearing a dozen markets ran side-by-side all selling various clothing ranging from shirts to pants and, naturally, undergarments. Pier watched as various customers came and went, some buying from these vendors and some just window shopping like Pier.
“Hey, come this way,” Lyos said as she dragged Pier away by his arm away from all of the markets.
“W-Where are we going?”
“We’re going to a tailor shop, that’s where all of those clothes are coming from. Those guys just buy his clothes and resell them.” Letting go of Pier in front of a shop with an extremely extravagant design. Upon entering the shop, Pier found a complete mess. With piles of clothing and several rolls of cloth, string, and other necessities for making clothing strewn about the floor and two tables on either side of the store. All the way to the back of the store was a countertop and a loom where Ser, Gourd, and who Pier could only interpret as the store owner were talking.
“Oh, there they are. Pier, this is Dos, the owner of the shop here,” Ser said as he waved Lyos and Pier over to him. “He’ll be the one preparing all of your clothing, Pier.”
“Helloo, howw aree youu?” Dos asked. His hair was that of a dirty green and his eyes were an equally dirty red. Despite his hair being not at all maintained and his face looking akin to an overworked office worker, he wore a wonderfully clean and fashionable dress shirt, pants, and incredibly shiny shoes.
“P-Pretty good, I guess,” Pier hesitantly said.
“Your hearing isn’t wrong, Pier,” Ser said as he watched Pier stick a finger into his ear, “That’s just the way Dos speaks.”
“Whatt wayy?” Pier awkwardly laughed as he heard the confused Dos, “Serr, youu wantt mee too makee himm somee clothingg, correctt?”
“Correct.”
“II see, givee mee aa momentt.” Dos turned towards Pier and stared intimately into his eyes. Pier, who was confused by the situation, wanted to break eye contact but felt compelled to continue to stare into Dos’s dead eyes.
“Hmmm.” Pier noticed Dos’s eyes making small movements, as though he were searching for details in Pier’s eyes. “Hmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmm,” Dos took a breath of air before continuing, “Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.”
“So-”
“II seee, yess, II willl gett too workk immediatelyy thenn.”
“What it is it, Dos?” Ser asked.
“II musn’tt tell noww.”
“Eh? O-Of course, yes, not now,” Ser affirmed despite being extremely confused by both Dos’s sudden declaration and denial to elaborate. “So, when do you think it’ll be done?”
“AA weekk.” Ser stared into Dos’s deadpan eyes with equally deadpan eyes as he realized that tailoring clothing was a terrible idea.
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Moving on, the party now finds themselves at a smithery shop to buy Pier both armor and a weapon. The cornershop found itself in a peculiar spot being surrounded by restaurants on all fronts, making the working blacksmith seem unsettling to those new to the area. The blacksmith stood up from his stool as he noticed the familiar party of four–save for one–approaching.
“Good afternoon, Zinc,” Gourd took the initiative of the conversation, greeting the blue-haired woman as she stood. She towered above everybody in the party, even having to tilt her head down to make eye contact with Gourd–the tallest of the four. Her shirt’s short sleeves showed off her incredible muscle mass that oozed both the time spent and experience gained as a blacksmith.
“Hello Gourd!” Contrary to her intimidating figure, Zinc’s silver eyes radiated with glee as she spoke with Gourd, “Whatch you here for? You break one of my weapons~?” Zinc said with a sly smile crossing her face.
“Thankfully not. We’re actually here to buy our new member a new weapon and some armor.”
“New member? What about going and finding that one manic mage you guys had with you?”
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“He’s helping with that, but he…lost his gear before joining us…” Zinc didn’t speak as she stared into Gourd’s hesitant eyes.
“Welp, Don’t know what kinda secrets your little guy’s got there, but you better tell me after you rescue your mage,” Pier, Lyos, and Ser repeatedly shot glances at each other, silently panicking that Zinc saw right through Gourd’s lie. “So! What kinda weapon are we looking for?” Zinc’s question was targeted at Pier, who panicked upon realizing that he was being questioned.
“Uh, um,” Pier looked to Ser who was covertly pointing into the shop. Following the direction of his finger, Pier’s eyes rested on the end of Gourd’s sheath. “A-A shortsword, please…” Pier could hear Ser slap himself in the face as Zinc nodded her head in affirmation. Zinc stepped away to sit on a stool, to which Gourd followed revealing what Ser had been pointing at: a longsword. Realizing this, Pier could only watch in regret as Ser walked by with eyes akin to those of Dos.
“You looking for one to be made? I’ll throw in a discount~!” Though the offer was tempting, there was simply not enough time for the weapon to be prepared.
“Unfortunately, we’ll have to decline.”
“Time is of the essence?”
“Yes, Zinc.”
“Got you, go ahead and take a pick from my already prepared shortswords then.”
“Thank you, Zinc.” Gourd said as he walked towards the side of the store where racks of weapons were stored, taking Pier with him. The two rummaged through the collection of swords that Zinc had, though Pier didn’t really know what he was looking for so he just pretended to look at the swords like he knew what he was doing. “Ah, this one looks good,” Gourd was holding a basic yet refined shortsword. The blade’s smooth surface shimmered in the light, and its handle was firmly wrapped in a black cloth except for a small portion of it that slithered its way out through the bottom of the handle. He handed the blade to Pier before walking back towards Zinc, “How much will it cost?”
“Well, for you? I’ll give it to you for about 12 gold.”
“Hm, not bad, alright,” Gourd handed Zinc the 12 gold coins before continuing, “Now, we also need some armor for him. Nothing impressive, just enough to stop him from dying immediately.”
“Hoho, well lucky for you, I received a surplus of Alx leather armor and seeing as how nobody’s bought it yet, I suppose I’d be willing to…lend it to you.”
“If you would please.”
“You owe me one, Gourd. Don’t worry, I won’t have you do anything…extreme~” Zinc said before walking through a door into the back of the store. Gourd awkwardly laughed as he turned towards Ser and Lyos.
“Same as always,” Ser said.
“I guess,” Gourd hesitantly said. After a few minutes, Zinc returned holding a set of gray armor.
“Here it is!” Zinc held out the armor set to Pier, to which he thanked her before taking it. “Is that all you wanted then?”
“Yes, thank you, Zinc. I’ll be sure to visit later,” Zinc couldn’t hide her excitement at this prospect as Gourd and the rest of the party walked away.
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After fitting his new set of armor, Pier and the rest of the party were returning to the Bronze Flare. The armor was by no means impressive, but according to Ser and Gourd it would be sufficient in protecting him. The armor encompassed a small breastplate that covered only the chest, shoulder plates, and plating for his arms and legs.
“After we eat some dinner, we’ll go out for some night hunting,” Ser said. With the Bronze Flare in sight, Pier noticed that there was an unusual amount of people crowding around the entrance of the inn.
“What’s going on over there?” Lyos questioned as she too noticed the large accumulation of people. Once they were within earshot of the crowd, the owner of the inn came out to break apart the crowd.
“Shoo! Shoo! Damn nomads, you're slowing down my business here! Either get out or buy some food!” Slowly, the blockade of human beings that covered the front door to the inn dispersed, letting actual customers enter the inn.
“What happened?” Pier asked the owner of the inn.
“Ya see, some Adventurer came in here talking about some big monster that took away his Adventuring partner, then a bunch of other Adventurers started to interrogate the poor guy. As he talked, more and more people started to gather, causing all that stuff.”
“Where’s this Adventurer, then?” Ser asked.
“He’s just in there, still sitting.” Inside the inn, a man in iron armor was sitting, hunched over a table. Pier sat down across from the man, hesitant to question him.
“W-What’s your name?” The man squirmed as he thought.
“...Harris”
“Wh-”
“Your party…they were the ones who lost a member a while back, right?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Mm. I see,” Harris’s hands shook as he spoke, “We were just finishing up a request…to clear up a slime outbreak…and…and…”
“And?” Lyos questioned.
“Sorry…I’m…It just happened…so…quickly…”
“Let’s go, Pier.” Ser solemnly said.
“...Yeah, ok.”