After leaving the meeting room the Prince's butler hands me a large sealed envelope and says "His royal highness instructed me to hand this to you and guide you to a salesman of a sort that may be of some use to you sir"
Thinking I don't really have much to lose I wave him on where he leads me around several alleys to a courtyard with a large tent and several metal cages with a large variety of creatures inside
"So butler actually I just realized never asked your name how rude of me"
"My name is Johnson sir thank you for asking and to answer your next question before you even ask sir the merchant here has a couple of rare creatures that my liege purchased as a gift for you""Well that is nice of the king so I suppose it's time to go inside" I say while we walk in the flap of the tent where I see a chubby man with very pale skin and a monocle wearing a finely made bespoke suit and a top hat"
"Welcome to Rondo's slave bazaar I am Rondo how may I help you gentlemen today" the slave merchant says with a smile
Johnson answers while pulling out a coin with a snarling demon on it "We are here for the special reserve I bought in advance for this gentleman here"
"Ah yes your merchandise is right over here" the merchant says as he leads us to a flap in the tent where there are several tarp covered cages a sitting in a half circle "You reserved some of my best stock"After he finishes speaking he pulls the tarps off the cages showing a very young cerberus puppy, a small treant, and a very unique looking wingless gryphon with a powerful looking body and massive talons
"Powerfully built animals but what is that " I say while pointing at a roughly human sized cage that is thumping around as if whatever inside is trying to smash it's way out
"Oh yes that one isn't ready for sale yet and I don't know if it will ever be" he says while waving to two men with satves who approach the cage and stick the staves inside of the cage causing a loud crackling noise and a blue glow before both guards slam into the bars of the cage as if someone pulled on their staves to bring them in"Okay now that I am interested in, Rondo what is in that cage" I ask
"Well that is new it's a shokon female I got from some traveling slavers who caught it near the Dwarven capital and brought it here"
"Well take the tarp off then I want to see this Shokon you are talking about "
After saying that the guards pull the tarp down revealing a woman of at least 7 feet tall with reddish amber eyes with slit pupils like a dragon, shoulder length silky black hair,, large full breasts, black and white stripped skin like a tiger that also has armored dragon like scales, many scars, and a stump where the top right of her four arms used to be.
I ask Rondo " Why does she have a muzzle on Rondo"
" Oh yes that I don't know if you know this but the Shokon being decended from dragons can breathe flames capable of melting steel given enough time and nutrition so the muzzle is necessary for the safety of me, my men, and my customers because otherwise it might burn everything to the ground""Three things Rondo first is that the it is a she because she a person and second take the muzzle off of her because I'm taking her with me and third what happened to her arm and do you know where I can get a replacement for her because even I know that for a shokon to lose an arm is a massive disgrace but I figure that if I get her a replacement it won't be as bad"
Rondo nods his consent and waves to one ofthe guards who moves to undo her shackles while the other runs off to fetch something while a third guard removes the muzzle but as soon as it is removed she roars and charges Rondo screaming Bastard!!!!! and taking three powerful swings at me, I dodge the first by moving my head, duck the second, and grab her arm on the third using it for leverage for an over the shoulder throw tossing her onto the ground where I throw two jabs and an elbow strike to her face after which I pull my dirk from my boot and put the edge on her neck after I see her start readying another blast of flame which she stops upon seeing the blade on her neck and bares her teeth at me.
"So Barbarian what happens next" she asks with a grimace"Well provided you don't try to kill me again I am prepared to offer you a job and give you a new arm if you wanted "
"What is the job and your name human"
"I am Jaeger Wolfheart at least in this language and to answer your other question you would be the bodyguard for my beloved WarQueen Althea while I'm not there and serve as one of my trusted advisors when I am there" I say while holding out my hand for a handshake
She thinks on it dor a minute and firmly shake my hand saying "I am Etain Stonefist and I would be honored to be your right hand "
After accepting my offer she actually lifts me up off the ground and gives me a deep kiss and places me down with a giggle
Rondo interrupts saying "I apologize for interrupting but I have all of her possessions including her weapons and I actually do have a replacement arm if she wishes but be warned the process can be painful "
Etain nods her consent to which Rondo has her sit on a stool where he puts what look like the arm section of a suit of plate armor , several needles, tubing, and a jar of some kind of metallic fluid on a table "Now the process is simple first we put on the arm, then we push the needles gently into the flesh of the patient at the connection point, after which I attach the tubing to the jar which is filled with a mixture of her own blood and extract of metal slime which will make the arm a permanent piece of her body so are you ready ma'am " he says shamelessly acting like he wasn't selling her a minute ago
Etain nods yes and afterwards performs the procedure exactly as described causing her a minimum of pain all things considered and packing the animals onto my cart where we make our way home to the castle so I can introduce Etain to the family