"How does getting conned feel?" Caleb asks.

At the moment, we're waiting in line to enter Caniton, the town a few days' travel north of the twin villages of Finlar and Finlum. The town itself sits on the mountain, and we could tell as we approached that the town has several 'layers' to it as a result of the slopes it was built on. It seems that instead of building it on the more level ground in front of it, the builders decided to simple level several areas and construct stairs leading to them.

As a result of this design, the road coming from the west joined up with the one coming from the south, the combined road going straight north to the town's southern gate. We've passed by several farms as we neared the city and are now waiting behind beastkin of a few different varieties in an area that is clear of farms and trees. I suppose the people on the town's walls want a clear view of anyone approaching the place.

Adam and I left the twin villages a few days ago, after I convinced the two villages to compete in a more healthy manner, and Caleb decided he was going to accompany us. His claim is that he's keeping an eye on Adam and will eliminate him if he finds that traveling with us is less profitable than collecting the bounty.

Unfortunately, the two of them really don't like each other and I'm breaking up a fight between them nearly every few hours. There was some quiet as we waited in line, but I guess Caleb got bored because he decided to start in on me.

"We didn't get conned," I say. "The villagers were just idiots."

"No, they definitely knew what they were doing," Caleb says. "Those chiefs outsmarted you."

"Caleb," I roll my eyes. "Almost no one in the villages knew the contents of the Dungeon because the villages were peaceful, even if a bit off in the head. They didn't do much hunting at all. Between the eight hundredish members of them combined, there were only six who had combat ability."

"Sure," he says. "But the elders knew you wouldn't be able to do the Dungeon!"

Both villages let us run the Dungeon the day after I completed the challenges, but Adam stopped us from entering. Apparently, he could tell once we were at the gate that it wasn't a low-tier Dungeon at all and that we'd need to be several times as strong as we were to run it. Caleb nearly went into it on his own anyway, but decided not to "because I need to keep an eye on the beast".

He was pissed I didn't invite him into my Party.

"Keep telling yourself that," I tell Caleb. "Maybe one day, you'll actually convince someone of the truth. And it's almost our turn. Why don't you go harass other people?"

"I'm keeping an eye on-"

"Between Adam and me," I say. "Is there one of us you'd be hesitant to fight?"

"Neither," he answers. "I'm able to take on both of you in a match. Even fighting both at once. My magic is more than twice your Constitutions."

"Then I'll make sure not to wake you when I rip your heart out of your chest for annoying me one too many times."

Adam snorts as Caleb pales.

The rest of our wait to enter the town is pretty quiet now that I've silenced Caleb, and the check to enter is mostly just to verify we aren't criminals. There's no attempt at searching my bag or Adam's.

"So I really can enter?" Adam asks in surprise once the check is done.

"Yes," one of the guards answers. "You showed us a token that allows it. Make sure to show it when looking for a place to stay as well to increase the odds of them allowing you to rent a room there."

"Whoa," Adam breathes out in awe. "I was thinking I'd have to go around Caniton. That would've been a hell of a trip."

"You do know there's nothing past us, right?" The guard asks. "Just mountains and wilderness."

"Yeah," Adam answers. "I'm looking for someone who might be up that way. Might not be. Won't know until I check."

The guard seems confused by that but waves us through so that the next group can be checked.

Adam's presence draws a lot of stares from the natives as he stands out rather well due to not wearing a top of some sort. His scales being on full-display only make his status as a demihuman dragon evident since people are more likely to notice something higher up before they notice the tail. While it's evident the people here aren't comfortable with him, they at least don't appear to be hostile.

"Where are we going first?" Caleb asks. "To get some food and sleep? It's getting late."

"You can go fuck off and do your own thing," I tell him. "You're not a part of our group. I'm serious about ripping your heart out of your chest while you sleep. Actually, I'd probably just stab you first to make sure you're dead, then cut it out. Adam and I have been enjoying a quiet, peaceful journey and you've done nothing but bother us ever since you decided to follow us around. Either try to claim the bounty and leave or fuck right off. I'm tired of your bullshit and you will regret it if you don't stop."

"Towns don't put bounties on people for no reason," Caleb states. "Which means that he deserved that-"

"Right," I say. "Are you sure that the bounty wasn't put on him for no reason? Because in the time I've known him, Adam has been a rather decent person who's tried to abide by the laws. From what he told me, that town was just pissed at him for what amount to no good reason."

Adam wouldn't tell me the actual reason, but I'm fairly certain he's honest with me.

"How do you know it isn't lying?"

"Caleb," I step forward and place my left hand on his shoulder. "With all due respect, fuck off."

"Unk!" He gasps-squeaks, eyes widening in shock and pain.

I pull my knife out of him and use his pants to wipe it off, then I sheathe it.

"If you continue to follow and harass us," I tell Caleb as several people stop to stare. "And if you continue to attempt to bring harm to my traveling companion, then any actions we take against you will be in self defense. Leave. Us. Alone. This is your final warning."

I turn and continue down the street, leaving the stunned and bleeding snow leopardkin behind. Adam stares at him for a few minutes before hurrying to catch up with me.

"That's going to come back to bite us in the ass," Adam tells me.

"Let it try," I tell him. "Caleb's attempted to kill you on at least one occasion and has repeatedly talked about how he's going to kill you. Only someone willing to admit they're corrupt would attempt to take action against us for taking action to lessen the odds of us being killed without reasonable cause."

Adam looks pretty uncertain about that, and I sigh.

"Caleb's not going to kick up a fuss about it," I say. "As big as he talks, he's trying to prove himself. He's got skill, but also a need to be validated and prove his worth. I don't know what his backstory is, but he's not going to call for help and admit he got bested like that. He's going to tough it out. Now. Let's find a place to sell our shit."

Though Adam still doesn't look sure, he nods and starts looking around. Almost everyone here is either a wolfkin with grey or brown hair, a dogkin with black or golden-blond hair, or a foxkin with white hair. The wolfkin all have gold eyes, the dogkin all have brown eyes, and the foxkin all have green eyes.

I stop a few different people in different areas to ask about places to sell some loot and get some equipment commissioned, then use that information to pick a place. Most of the people continue to appear uncomfortable with Adam while accepting his presence. At least the kids here seem more curious about him than anything.

One even cries when her mother pulls her away, the girl wanting to ask the 'strange man' if his scales hurt.

"This isn't any of the locations we were given," Adam tells me as I push open the door to a shop. "Not one of them at all."

"I listened to what the locals told us," I explain. "Factored in that they were probably sending us to less-quality places based on not being comfortable with my traveling companion's species, and then picked a spot that seemed quality based on that."

"I'm not so sure about your logic."

"Just let me handle the stuff," I tell him as I approach the counter. "You might be a good haggler, but most of the loot is mine to sell. If you want, you can handle the sales for your shit."

The shop we're in isn't all that large, with an area for customers in the front section of the room and a counter running the width of the room about three-quarters of the way in. A few items are set up for display on shelves behind the counter, most of them monster parts. There's a section of counter that can lift up to allow for passage between the front and back of this room and a door on the back wall to allow access to the back of the shop.

Standing behind the counter is a wolfkin who looks to be in his late forties or early fifties, though his grey hair probably comes from his wolfkin race rather than his age.

"How can I help you young men?" The shopkeeper asks, his wary gaze focused on Adam.

"We've just had a bit of a long journey and have some items to sell," I answer as I pull off my pack. "Do you only accept monster parts here, or will you accept herbs and plants as well? They're mostly dried out as we couldn't preserve them, but we did find a few rare ones. My name's Jamie and this is Adam, by the way."

"I'm Ryan," the clerk responds. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I mostly handle monster parts, but can also do plants in some cases. If I can't take them, I can direct you somewhere that can."

Stolen novel; please report.

Probably based on how much he likes us when he makes the recommendation.

"Thank you," I open up my pack and pull out some of the monster parts Adam and I have acquired during our journey. "Adam has some in his pack as well, but we'll bring those out once this part is done."

The clerk nods, then examines each of the items I've set out. There are the antlers from the [Flamethrower]-using deer, the horns of a rabbit that could shoot stone spikes from its horn, the beaks and claws of a few birds we encountered, the scales of two snakes that tried to attack us early in our journey, and the skull of a wolf. I almost hesitate on putting that last one out in case it's considered a slight of some kind, then decided that it's better to find out now than to not try and sell it only to learn later that it might be even more valuable than Adam claimed.

"Hm…" The clerk examines the goods. "Oh? A stoneeye wolf skull? Don't see those too often."

"We ran into it in the forest south of Finlar and Finlum," I tell him. "It tried to attack us while we were sleeping. Adam said its pelt was useful, but we weren't in a position to actually harvest it and bring it with us."

"Yes," the clerk nods. "Harvesting, treating, and transporting pelts can be quite an effort on a journey and there's no guarantee they would make the trip in good condition. Many a novice hunter has tried to do that, only for the hides to rot as they weren't properly treated."

"Yeah," I say. "But Adam said that the skull was good."

"Their magic is focused in their head," the clerk tells me. "So the skull is the bone with the most magic within it. This can be used to make a variety of things, the earth element within it helping to enhance. Though the eyes would have been best."

Adam dismissed the wolf's eyes as being "just weird stones with no real use", but maybe I should have looked at their information in the System?

"Ah," I say. "We weren't aware of that, but we'll keep it in mind should we run into another."

The clerk nods, then continues to inspect the goods. Other than the skull, the only objects of note are the antlers. Much like the skull, they have enough magic to make them worth buying.

"That's not to say I won't buy everything," Ryan tells me. "They all have magic, and even the ones with weak properties can be used for something. A novice adventurer would be better-able to afford an item made of cheaper materials than more expensive ones, after all."

"Indeed," I nod. "That's why we collected some of the items. Even weak, someone could find use for them."

"For the snake scales," the clerk tells me. "I can offer you twenty copper for each set. Five copper for each stoneshot rabbit horn and for each beak, and six for each claw. For the skull, I can offer you fifty copper, and I can offer you thirty for each antler. In total, that would be two silver and twenty-one copper for the lot."

"Round it to twenty-five copper and we have a deal," I tell him.

An extra four copper won't break the bank for him and I'm not really in the mood for more intense haggling like Adam likes to do.

"Then we have a deal," the clerk tells me, then pays me before gathering up the goods and setting them on the back counter. "Now, you mentioned your companion had something to sell?"

"Yes and no," I say. "His stuff was mixed in with mine. The thing in his pack is actually all mine – he wasn't around when I caught it. Someone else killed it, but… well, it's mine."

Adam pulls off his pack and pulls out a sack from within it, the objects inside clacking together as they move. The clerk raises an eyebrow as something catches his attention.

"That smell," he says. "Fish scales? Those don't sell for much, even in a high quantity."

"They're rather magical scales," I say as Adam sets the sack on the counter.

I open up the sack and pull out one of the scales inside. It's a bluish-green scale with a light silver metallic shine to it, the scale itself about an inch tall and half an inch or so wide.

[Whisperwater Gill Scale] Quality: 3 This scale comes from a whisperwater gill, a rare breed of fish believed to grant good luck to whoever catches it and wherever it is caught. Innate to these scales are light-bending and water-slipping magics, reducing water's effect on the scales while bending light to turn the wearer invisible. This property allows for the whisperwater gill to swim around quickly and without being noticed by others. The whisperwater gill this scale came from was over a century in age and over twelve feet in length, making it more rare and more powerful than most.

"These are… and so huge!" The clerk exclaims. "A century-old one? And if that sack is full of them…"

The clerk upends the sack to dump out the rest of the scales onto the counter. Some of the fall onto the ground to either side of it, and he picks up the ones on that side while Adam and I pick up the ones on this side.

I don't need to see the clerk's tail to know it's wagging, I can hear the air being shifted by the speed. After seeing the quality of these scales, I mentioned to Colby that I was surprised the fish was weak enough to die just from getting punched like that and he admitted that he was actually a lot stronger than he'd revealed. It seems he's a bit shy about being Level 47 and had only told Yai the truth before our discussion.

Even if he's the one who killed the beast, the credit for the catch goes to me so I was given all of its scales. The sack of them that Adam pulled out actually filled up nearly his entire pack, leaving room for pretty much nothing else.

To absolutely no surprise of mine, the clerk spends awhile excitedly examining each and every last scale. He mutters to himself as he works, bringing the scales up to his eyes to inspect them before setting them to the side, sorting them out as he goes.

"Well," the clerk looks at me after finishing. "It's been a long time since I was able to handle something so rare. However did you find such an old specimen of the whisperwater gill?"

"Er… it actually kind of slammed into me," I tell him. "I was swimming down off of Dungeon Island at Finlar and Finlum and the beast whacked me with its body. On instinct, I grabbed it and threw it onto the shore, then one of their few hunters killed it. Since I caught it, they let me keep the scales to sell off. Considering its abilities, I'm assuming they sell for a decent amount?"

"The scales can be turned into useful armor," the clerk tells me. "Or crushed for use in alchemy. Based on their size and quality, I can offer sixty copper for each scale."

"Sixty seems a bit low," I say. "From what I've heard, light-bending properties are pretty rare in magic beasts and armor made from this would be good for if you have to swim in a Dungeon or something."

"Hm… yes," the clerk nods. "While that is true, it wouldn't be as simple as just stitching the scales onto armor. The effects are heavily reduced as they're no longer a part of the living beast they once were. I can bump it up to sixty-five copper per scale, however."

"Even if their magic is reduced now," I say. "And might need some extra work to draw out more of their power, they're still Item Quality 3. That's worth a fair bit. How about ninety copper per scale?"

"They may be of a high quality," he says. "And the light-bending property is rare, but that in and of itself is rather limited in use. One isn't likely to find an aquatic battle around here, either. Most of them will likely be used in alchemy instead. Though I suppose some might be bought by collectors to add to their collections of rare monster parts. Seventy-five copper per scale is the best I can do."

"Seventy-five a scale it is, then," I say. "Just out of curiosity, but what is the legality of making armor that can bend light?"

"Hm…" he thinks about it for a few moments. "Well, the legality depends on where you are. Here in Caniton, you need a license to make such gear and the buyer needs to register that they have it. So if you brought in any invisibility gear, you should get it registered now."

"We didn't," I say. "I was just curious about it since the scales have that property. Something I noticed was that you didn't mention it was limited to when the scales were in contact with water. Does that mean that doesn't hold true for these? They still bend light when wet."

"Raw, they do," he nods. "But they can be treated to separate out that property so that they bend light when Mana is channeled through them."

"Huh," I say. "Interesting. Now, considering the number of scales there are, will the payment be too big to handle at once? If so, then we can take the scales and come back later for the full payment."

"If you don't mind waiting about twenty minutes," he says. "I can have the payment here."

"We can wait," I tell him. "Should we leave while waiting, or-"

"I've got someone else here," he says. "Reynold! Come watch the front!"

A twelve-year-old wolfkin boy with grey hair comes out of the back of the shop, dressed in dark brown pants, a light brown tunic, and a dark brown apron. His hair is ruffled and looks annoyed.

"What?"

"Watch the front while I get payment for these young men," the clerk says. "I don't have enough on-hand to cover the payment for the scales. It shouldn't take me more than twenty minutes."

Reynold starts glaring at us and the clerk excuses himself to leave. For about ten minutes, we wait for the clerk to return in silence as the kid glares.

"Is it true that demihuman dragons like to eat the children of their enemies?" Reynold breaks the silence.

"No," Adam answers. "I don't eat people. Well, usually. Sometimes, a parent will offer up their misbehaving kid as a sacrifice. We don't have an issue eating those, their parents willingly gave them to us to eat. It's one less misbehaving kid to cause trouble, after all, and the parent finally gets rid of something causing them stress and problems."

Reynold's eyes widen.

"Adam!" I exclaim. "Don't mess with the kid! Reynold, demihuman dragons don't eat people. They prefer animal meat, just like you. Rabbits, deer, cows, pigs, and chickens are all on their menu. He prefers more predatory beasts, though, like snakes, falcons, and wolves."

"Scott says they sneak into villages in the middle of the night to steal the kids of their enemies back to their own villages to eat as a big feast."

"As if we'd ever sneak around!" Adam's indignant reply causes the kid to jump. "The very thought of that is offensive! Those are lies spread by our enemies to make people fear us! And we don't kidnap people, either! The only thing we do to our enemies is charge in and kill them so that they stop being our enemies! There's no honor in sneaking about to do that! And we only attack to defend our territory or take back what's ours! Or in retaliation for attacking us!"

"Scott said-"

"Let me meet this 'Scott'," Adam stares down the kid, who shrinks back a little in fear. "Why don't I tell him all about how some beastkin poisoned my clan's water supply, then killed off the survivors while they were weak from sickness? How that's a coward's move. How my clan did its best to stay out of the conflicts but was targeted just because we had a Triple-Ranker among our ranks and they were afraid that he'd eventually get involved even though he hadn't for centuries? How they used dragonfire weed to poison us in order to ensure they could eliminate him? A poison known for being incredibly lethal and torturous to those affected by it? How even a single drop of its oil causes agony for weeks? How-"

"Adam!" I snap. "Enough!"

For a few moments, Adam continues glaring at Reynold, then his gaze softens and he huffs, then turns away to take a few deep breaths in an effort to calm himself. That's the first time Adam has mentioned this in the time I've known him. Has this just been bottled up inside of him all this time, Adam ready to burst at the slightest provocation? How has he not ended up killing Caleb over the snow leopardkin's comments?

I'm honestly amazed that Adam has been as calm as he has been all this time, that he's not let out a single trace of aggravation about the conflict.

However, I'm also now concerned about why he's looking for a specific dragon.

"They didn't even finish off my grandpa," Adam mutters, barely loud enough that I can hear it. "They just left him bleeding out on the ground. I tried to save him, but none of our medicines and potions and salves worked. He died in my arms."

The rest of the wait for the clerk to return is filled with an extremely awkward silence and Reynold disappears to the back almost as soon as the boss returns. There's an older foxkin man and a brown-haired wolfkin woman in her late twenties or early thirties accompanying them, the woman carrying a pair of wooden boxes in her hands.

"Sorry for the delay," Ryan says. "Took a little longer than I expected. And I do apologize if Reynold gave you young men any trouble, he's been a bit moody lately."

"It's fine," I look at the other two.

"These are from a guild," the clerk tells me. "I had to go to them for the payment as I don't have enough on-hand to cover it and they'd be the ones buying the scales from me, anyway."

The foxkin man examines some of the scales, nodding to himself for a moment before signaling to the wolfkin woman.

"Here you go," she says. "The amount discussed between you and Ryan here."

I check the contents of the box, verifying the amount is equal to seventy-five copper per scale. Adam's attention is on the coins in the box and I know he's wishing that was his loot.

"Thanks," I accept the payment. "Do any of you have a recommendation for where we can sell some plants that we gathered on our journey? Mostly dried. And for a place to sleep? If it has private bathing rooms, that would be a plus but if not, we can use a public bath to get cleaned up. It's been a bit of a journey for us."