--------///----Reina's POV----\\\--------

After the entire talk about whhat happened last night, we all went about our day to check with Nillio. We had some breakfast and head out for his shop. The streets didn't seem to be much different, but there were people talking about a "skirmish in the warehouse district", which was obviously about the raid. There was gossip flying around but it didn't seem like anyone knew the exact details of what really happened.

(Reina) " Gossip always spreads so fast. I don't think i'll ever be surprised about that. "

(Mina) " Well people will always talk about anything that interests them. Even if they're not supposed to know about it, the gossip is always going to find a way to get out. "

(Endis) " It's kind of like how secrets are never really secrets. Someone is always going to know what they shouldn't. People aren't supposed to know about criminal orginizations but we do. "

(Reina) " I feel like we just had this kind of conversation...  Oh well... It's still amazing how it happens. "

(Endis) " Ehh, i guess. Though shouldn't you be used to it? I mean, you did grow up in a royal enviornment. "

(Reina) " Hmm? Yea. Though gossip in the courts or at gatherings was always centered around smearing the other, causing problems for anyone they saw as inferior and other crap. It was always so... Toxic. But the gossip here is just different. "

(Mina) " Well with how nobles are, it's no wonder that noble society is so toxic. "

(Reina) " Haah... Can't really get rid of idiocy and a superiority compex. "

(Endis) " Hours of torture would say otherwise. "

(Reina) " Huh? "

(Mina) " Ignore him. "

(Endis) " But i'm right? "

(Mina) " For the sake of this staying a normal conversation, you're not. "

Endis just clicked his tongue and sighed. We talked about a bit of other stuff untill we made it to Nillio's shop. Mina knocked on the door and let him know we were here. He seemed to be in the forge since we could hear the clanging of steel before we got to the door.

(Nillio) " Geez! Give meh a moment! "

We heard something drop, which was probably his hammer considering how loud the sound was, and the heavy footsteps that came after. He swung open the door with beads of sweat streaming down his face that almost took my attention away from his grumpy mood and gaze.

(Niilo) " Get yer asses in here! I thought ye would be coming back yesterday but nooooo, ye wait for the day afta! "

(Endis) " Well we did just come from a sewer. That and checking out the city sounded way better then being near a hot as hells forge. "

(Nillio) " Ah whatever! Follow meh upstairs. " 

Nillio turned around and flipped up the desk part so we could follow after him. We started going up the stairs and made it into another room that seemed to hold the higher qualitty stuff since everything in the glass casses and on the racks just exuded a stronger vibe then everything downstairs. Mina started examaning the weapons while Endis let out a whistle. Jelly seemed to want to go up to them but i had to stop her since i was pretty sure everything in this room was worth more then all the money we had. 

(Nillio) " Try not ta touch any of my shiet in here, if you do you'll be workin here for the rest of yer lives. "

(Endis) " Not even a little touch? "

(Nillio) " Don't test me child. "

(Endis) " Welp, whatever you say old man. "

(Nillio) " ... How do ye put up with this cunt? I want to punch him and it's only been a minute... "

(Mina) " Ehh... He grows on you... Kind of like the way mold does. "

(Endis) " Wait a minute... "

(Mina) " Yes. "

(Endis) " Haah. "

(Reina) " Umm... Anyway, what'd you want to talk to us about? "

(Nillio) " Wait. "

He kept walking and eventually made it to a wardrobe at the end of the room and put his hand on it. The thing glowed for a second or two until it stopped. Then he opened it and walked in... Which made my brain stop for a second until i realized it was bigger on the inside. On the other side, there was an entire bedroom complete with a bathroom to the side.

(Mina) " So you're where he got it from! "

(Nillio) " Huh? "

(Mina) " My father has a similar thing in his forge. He even made a space for mom in her lab. Though mom would leave stuff in her space rather then her lab so i'd end up grabbing stuff that i really shouldn't have. "

(Nillio) " Ahh, the whelp took my design and ran with it eh? "

He started cracking his knuckles and had a scary look on his face while looking at Mina.

(Mina) " Uhh... "

(Nillio) " Looks like i'll have to beat some sense into him. "

Mina and Endis just looked at each other but Endis just shrugged his shoulders while Mina let out a sigh.

(Nillio) " I can save his beatin for another time. Now go grab a chair an sit. "

We grabbed chairs and sat infront of the bed, where Nillio sat and looked at us.

(Nillio) " Now then, first i hafta say good job on finding my shiet. Secondly, i'll start selling my shiet to ye as promised, but only the shiet ye've proven ta be able ta actually handle. So don't expect to see any of the shiet from that room for a long time. "

(Mina) " We can handle that. My father does something likke that too. Though don't blacksmiths usually just sell to the highest bidder? Whenever i tried to ask him about it he never gave me a real answer. "

(Nillio) " Ugh fuck em. Sellin to the highest bidder is such a shiet way to handle the craft. A masterpece deserves someone capable of usin em. What's the fuckin point of spending hours to craft a weapon or a piece of armor only for it to pick up dust? To rust? To be used as an ornament? Fuck that. Whatever i made will be going to whoever deserves it. Unless it's shiet i can't scrap. That just gets sent off towards whatever mercanary or local government that wants them. Atleast they'll get sum use. "

(Mina) " Huh... That makes sense. "

(Reina) " Anyway, how would you compare your goods to other blacksmiths? "

(Nillio) " Hah? I can easily say my wares are superior! I just don't sell em to brats that aren't worthy of em. The only thing that i know i'm inferior in is production time. All those other cunts have apprentices who help them during the process or to mass produce shitty gear. Ye can easily take a look through my shop and see no two blades are identical. "

(Reina) " Actually i was wondering about that, why don't you have any apprentices or helpers here? "

(Nillio) " Easy, i haven't found any cunts with the talent. The whelp was one outta three disciples i've ever had ere. "

(Reina) " Really? Where'd the others go? "

(Nillio) " Kicked em out afta they learned everthin. Can't feed an cloth em foreva. They'll get their own jobs afta all. "

(Endis) " Well... That's interesting... Anywaaaay, how do you go about crafting daggers like i use? "

Endis flapped open his cloak and showed the daggers he had, and seemed to be missing a few. Nillio looked over and clicked his tongue at him.

(Nillio) " Ye toss em like a monkey don't you. "

(Endis) " ... Yes? "

(Nillio) " Ugh, types like ye are the ones i hate the most. Just tossin shiet out and not bothering to pick em back up. "

(Endis) " Hey! I resent that! It's just that tossing daggers and moving on after they kill are more efficient then going back after every kill to pick them up. Besides there were some that i just couldn't get back. "

(Nillio) " Whatever, save yer excuses for yaself. And to answer yer question, i'd just make em return and give em durability and sharpness runes. "

(Endis) " Really? Wouldn't that be too expensive? "

(Nillio) " *Snort* My wares speak for themselves. As soon as ye realize how good they are ye'll keep comin back. That'll fill up whatever funds or materials i use. Besides, any reason that i can get to work on new shiet i'll take. "

(Mina) " Then can we also count on you to repair our gear? "

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(Nillio) " Eh, why the fuck not. Just pay my fares and i'll do ya shiet. "

(Endis) " Guess we don't have to look for a shop to handle that for us now. Though how do we prove that we can handle your weapons? " 

(Nillo) " Simple, do party shiet. Since i dun know what yer capable of, i can't give ye the good shiet, Since i haven't heard of ye before you must be new. Do sum shiet like huntin or bounty quests and the more quests and the harder they get, the better shiet ye can get. That's how ye'll prove ye are worthy of my wares. " 

(Mina) " Well we were going to do those later after dealing with some local quests to get a lay of the land. " 

(Nillio) " Hmm? So yer the brains of the group... Ye sure yer the whelps kin? "

(Mina) " ... Yes. "

(Nillio) " Hmm... Ok. Anyway, go deal with sum shiet and i'll be ere when ya want shiet. "

(Mina) " Well ok. We'll be back whenever we need repairs. "

(Nillio) " Mhm. N next time ye come here tell me if it's important instead of botherin me in my forge. "

(Mina) " We will. "

We walked out of the room and left the shop. While we were on our way back, we stopped by a pub, which Mina was about to object too until Endis said it was a relay. We got what he meant and let him head in while we waited outside. Endis wanted to see if there was any information about last nights raid that was picked up. He was there for about 10 minutes before he came out. He nudged for us to move so we did.

(Endis) " There was some chatter about the raid that they picked up, not much but enough. Turns out the organization we hit has branches like what we found here all over the continent. Though that's just what we know of them. They could have branches on the other continents but we're not sure. The branch that we hit last night seemed to have popped up four months ago without anyone having noticed until it was already there. "

(Mina) " Huh? How does a whole branch just appear out of nowhere? "

(Endis) " That's what i was interested in, but the relay here didn't seem to know. Which should be pretty much impossible since they've been in here for way longer then that branch has. The idea of them not knowing that another organization was setting up a branch in their territor. So either the relay's hiding information from me... "

(Reina) " Or there's an official that's in on it. "

(Endis) " I was expecting cous to finish that, but yea. Anyway if there is, then there's going to be a problem when the guild master hands over the goods. I doubt they'd start a fight in the guild itself but i wouldn't be surprised if they get "lost". "

(Reina) " Then we should tell Mr.Ganton. "

(Endis) " No, I'LL go tell him. You two can stay downstairs and check for any quests for us to do. "

(Mina) " Trying to not make us targets isn't going to work, you know that. "

(Endis) " Ehh, i can still try. "

(Mina) " Haaah. Fine, we'll look for quests downstairs. "

(Reina) " Ok. "

We kept walking and talking until we eventually made it back to the guild. Like we talked about, Endis went upstairs to fill in Mr.Ganton about what he found out while we stayed downstairs and looked for quests to help us get information about the nearby areas. While that was happening, Jelly started moving again, probably for food.

(Reina) " Hungry? Want some magic? "

I felt Jelly alowly bob up and down to both so i reach up to give her some fire, a small bit but enough for her to enjoy. She ate it up and apparently just went to sleep. Jelly hadn't really been active other then when i woke up and wanting to try to go after Nillio's weapons. I couldn't tell if she was sulking but i tried to console her to see if that would work. It worked a bit but she didn't seem to change much so maybe she was just tired.

We went back to looking for quests to take and eventually we found three quick quests that we could handle in a day. Mina found a quest issued by a cartographer which we could use to get a map, and another about the local jail needing someone to help transfer a prisoner to a courthouse. Then the quest i found was about helping subdue a beast at a near by zoo, which i had mixed feelings about but it would help us get an idea of what kind of beasts were in the area and if there was something we needed to be aware of.

Mina agreed with the quest i grabbed and went with me to register for them. After we registered our quests with Alice, we sat at a table and waited for Endis to come down. There were people that tried to come up to us but Mina turned them away wthout breaking a sweat. Eventually Endis came down and we left the guild. 

(Mina) " So how'd it go? "

(Endis) " Better then i thought. Turns out that there's been suspicion of corruption in the higher ups but there's never been enough evidence to start a full blown investigation of everyone. They've tried to be covert and search for any evidence that way but they've kept coming up short. Though with the raid and information i gave, they can start up an investigation backed by the local government that can use more resources then just secret investigators. "

(Mina) " Hmm... For now we should just handle our questts and work up to hunts and bounties. We're not going to be here forever so we don't have to get deeply involved in the politics and government. "

(Endis) " True. Let's just get these over with and get to the good stuff. "

We went on our day and handled the quests. The transfer quest was the easiest, though having guards and inmates trying to hit on me and Mina was beyond irritating. The cartographer wanted people to help with his library modifications, which took us an hour since his library was filled to the brim with book shelves that held maps, geographical books, local and foreign history, books related to legends all of these books were focused on specific regions on the continents.Mina managed to get thhe mapper to compensate us with maps and books rather then money, then we went off  to the zoo.

The zoo was... conflicting. When me and Mina walked into the zoo, a majority if not all of the beasts seemed to get scared. At first we were confused but then Mina remembered about what Ms.Losine told us. Beasts weaker then Ms.Losine would instinctively fear us even if we didn't have any hostile intentions. Thanks to this we ended up dealing with the zoo quest faster then we expected. As soon as me and Mina got to the Silver Lion's enclosure, it cowered like a baby and tried to look as small as possible. The keepers were dumbfounded and started giving us weird looks but that didn't really matter.

We went back to the guild and turned in the quests for our rewards. We came out of that 3 silver richer and got a good amount of information to boot. We had a decent map and books to help with geographical information that might come in handy. Though we had a slight problem...

(Mina) " We're going to need satchels with the amount of stuff we'll be carrying. "

(Endis) " Ughh... Do i have to come along for the shopping? "

(Mina) " Not really. Me and Reina can handle it. Besides, you already know you're not gonna be carrying most of the stuff outside of a city. "

(Endis) " Yup. Feels good to be an assassin. "

(Mina) " Whatever. Let's head out Reina. "

(Endis) " What am i going to do? "

(Mina) " Whatever you feel like, we'll only be gone for an hour at most. "

(Endis) " Ughh... "

(Reina) " Why not just cash in your bet with that other assassin you told us about? "

(Endis) " Genius! I'll see you two later! "

Endis just ran out of the guild with a smug look in his eyes and left me and Mina blinking at how sudden his mood changed.

(Mina) " Welp, let's go check out what satchels we can get. With our books and Jelly, we'll need two. Maybe a third smaller satchel for any books you want to carry... We'll have to make them cheap but worth it. "

(Reina) " We're going to have to find a good store first. Though are you sure an hour is long enough? "

(Mina) " Normally? No. But i don't think we'll have to keep checking other stores to find the best satchels. I've got a plan. "

(Reina) " Really? What kind of plan? "

(Mina) " The easiest plan. "

(Reina) " ... Asking Alice? "

(Elaine) " ... Yes... "

(Reina) " ... "

She didn't even give me time to say anything before she started walking over to Alice, who wasn't busy and already saw her coming. She asked Alice, who seemed to think a bit before a collegue answered for her. Alice seemed to agree with him which was good enough for Mina, who waved bye and came over to me.

(Mina) " Don't give me that look! It's just easier to ask Alice! "

(Reina) " Hmm... Oook. "

(Mina) "  Ughhh, come on. The best place is atleast a half hour away. "

(Reina) " If Alice says so. "

(Mina) " ... I miss the nice Reina who couldn't come up with snarky remarks. What happened to her? "

(Reina) " I spent time with you and Endis that's what. "

(Mina) " Haah. Oh well... Wait... Me? What did i do? There's no way i'm as bad as an influence as he is! "

(Reina) " Hmmm? Don't worry about it. "

(Mina) " I'm definetly going to worry about it! Wait, Reina come back! "

I left the guild and had Mina following me and trying to get me to answer what i meant by that but i kept that to myself. We went to the place Alice recommended and eventually Mina stopped trying to get me to say what i meant. The way there was just uneventful but that was fine with us. Eventually we got to a massive building with three floors and slick white interior that didn't look like wood despite knowing that it was. The first floor had racks, tables, cloth hangers and other things that displayed their stuff. There was a check out space to the left of the front doors where people would line up with the clothes or other products that they were buying and wait till it was their turn to check out. There seemed to be sections that were for kids at the back of this floor but since we weren't here for those, i didn't pay much attention to them.

On the right side of the doors, there was a layout of the building and what could be found on what floors. The first floor was for simple clothes for any species, the second floor was more specific and had different sections for different species that would need clothes specifically for their size or their features. Then the third floor was for simple equiptment like rain coats, winter / desert clothes, satchels and other stuff. Now that we knew where we had to go, we made our way up to the third floor. Thankfully the stairs were wide so unless people were intentionally walking side by side to give people a hard time, we wouldn't bump into each other. I took a glance at the second floor before we passed and noticed that even though it looked just like the first floor, the racks, shelves, and desks that had the clothes and other stuff were sized differently. The smaller clothes and items were closer to the front while the bigger stuff was further back. 

The 3rd floor was just as big as the first floor and had a layout to help navigate it too. The area that the satchels were at was the same area that held the seasonal / enviornmental clothing, which was at the far left side of the floor. There were a few people on the floor but none that were bothering us or anything like that. We made it to the part where the satchels should be and started looking. There was a double sided shelf that held clothing and other minor items but the satchels were on the other side. Me and Mina spent time comparing satchels from the shelf with others on other shelves and were stuck on deciding which we should buy. 

(Mina) " We should definetly get the fine leather satchels, their nice and durable and they don't even cost that much. "

(Reina) " But it's just normal leather. We could probably chop it up with our hands, there's no way they'll hold up while we fight. "

(Mina) " Yea, but we can just replace them easily BECAUSE they're simple leather. "

(Reina) " But that'll just keep eating at our funds. We should get something that's more durable then some simple leather. It might cost more but the gater skin is gonna last longer. "

(Mina) " Then we're gonna just use even more when it comes to replacing them. "

(Reina) " We'll have more money to use before that happens. If we just go with the simple leather ones then we'll have to replace them constanttly and eat uup our funds way more. "

(Mina) " ... Haaah. I'm not winning this am i? "

(Reina) " Nope. "

(Mina) " Welp... Looks like we're going to eat up a silver... I hope these are worth it. "

(Reina) " It's going to be fine. As long as we don't accidently destro them then they'll last us a long time. "

(Mina) " I hope you're right. Anyway did you find a sathel for Jelly yet? "

(Reina) " Not really, though these satchels are big enough so maybe she can fit into it and just stay with my books. She doesn't destroy them or their ink so it shouls be fine. "

(Mina) " Hmm, well atleast we won't be using up anymore of our money. "

(Reina) " Yup. Anyway let's go pay for these and head back to the guild to meet up with Endis. "

And that's what we did. We went down to the first floor and got in line to pay for our new satchels. It took a bit but we didn't mind since we just passed the time by talking about stuff and eventually got to the counter. The lizard kin took our silver and checked out our satchels. After that, we headed back to the guild and grabbed a light snack on the way. When we made it back to the guild, we saw Endis sitting at a table with a bunch of different beastkin who turned to us as he waved over to us. We went over and sat with them and found out that they were the party that he met before, though the minotaur was missing probably because he didn't want to be near Endis, and the hyenakin seemed to be at the bathroom. 

(Hari) " So you're the princess we've been hearing about. I'm Hari, nice to meet you. "

She extended her hand out and i shook it. She looked just like Endis described her and so did the twin birdkin that Endis had met too. They seemed nice enough and were easy to have a conversation with, so we ended up talking for a bit. Though after some time, the official convoy that was meant to take care of transferring the crates from last nights raid had finally come. But for some reason that i couldn't understand, i was getting a bad feeling from them.