Turning away from Philly, Olivia looked around the room. She could see a few other shoppers as well as Lyrika and Milly, both of whom were looking through the bottles to see if anything took their fancy. Each of them were holding a bottle but they were still perusing, likely trying to see if there was anything better than what they had found.
Before long, Philly had finished and had grabbed several of the healing potions that she said would be very helpful. The only problem was that being as good as they were, they were being sold at prices that matched that. One or two had been undervalued, according to Philly, but the rest were still pricy. They had enough money thankfully, but they would definitely need to get some more income before their next trip to an apothecary.
From the bottles she chose, she told Olivia how they worked. For a couple of the ones she chose, she stated they were strong enough that you only needed to pour a few drops on minor injuries like a cut, which would then cause it to heal up in a matter of seconds to heal up. It would also work like alcohol, disinfecting the area to stop infections.
The rest were for more serious injuries, where they did different things ranging from closing up large wounds in a matter of minutes to stopping the bleeding in the area it applied. These would all end up working in conjunction to help stop you from losing a limb or dying from blood loss.
Olivia was very pleased with what she had chosen, them all sounding like they would be essential for the road to come, even though she hoped they wouldn't need them. So, figuring that was it for today, Olivia headed over to the counter with Philly. But as she was nearing it Lyrika intercepted them, with Milly joining as well once she saw everyone was together.
"What do you think about buying this?" She said holding a bottle out in front of the group.
The substance inside was a murky brown, which immediately brought her mind to the jar in the general store. Thankfully, they were not the same as each other.
"Monster repellent, really?" Olivia asked with a sceptical look. For some reason, it just sounded like a scam. She wasn't sure why. Probably because of some novel or TV show she had read or seen before.
"Yeah, I mean we don't want any monsters to attack while we're dealing with the guards, right?"
"Guards? Wait, are you actually kidnapping someone?" Milly whispered to the group, trying to understand what was going on.
Not wanting things to be blown out of proportion, Olivia quickly explained the situation, which thankfully alleviated her fears.
"Ok good. I was worried for a moment there. Why didn't you just tell me before when the little bunny brought it up."
"I just…I thought it would be better if you didn't know. Deniability and all that."
"Huh…ok."
Turning back to Lyrika they got back to the topic of the monster repellent.
"I mean it's true that having monsters attack while we're trying to grab Ameril would be a problem. But I mean, does it even work."
"We could open it and find out," Milly said with a slight grin on her face.
A grin that Olivia was not happy about.
"How could we-" and then it hit her.
She quickly turned towards Lyrika.
"No don't open-.
But it was too late. With an audible pop, the cork came off the end.
"I can't smell anything." Was Lyrika's response as she breathed in deeply.
But right after she said this the eerie silence that was present for only a short while was soon replaced by the sound of gagging.
A strong and pungent odour hit Olivia like a truck and assaulted her senses. So much though that she could taste it down the back of her throat.
She coughed and sputtered, gagging at the rancid terrible smell. Her eyes started to water and the only thought in her mind was to get as far from it as possible.
Thankfully, Lyrika quickly put the cork back on, but the smell lingered in the air, causing Olivia to have to run and open the door to the shop to get some fresh air.
In the open she gulped down the untainted air, and after several deep breaths, she could breathe properly again.
'That was horrible. What sort of sicko creates something like that.' She wondered to herself. It didn't however occur to her that generally, monsters were not the sort of creatures to end up being part of civilized society like herself. There was cause to have repellent like that in this world when monsters usually wanted to eat you.
Heading back inside, she was treated to the sight of the three girls dashing over to the door, all looking at her with worried looks on the faces. Except for Milly who, while still looked worry, did show a slight hint of amusement.
As she walked over to them she just stared Milly in the eyes.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know it would be that affective. I just thought it would make you wrinkle your nose or something."
With the look of worry on her face, it did in part sound like she was being honest. But after that, she wasn't willing to just take her word for it.
"Are you okay?" Was what she received from both Lyrika and Philly.
"Yeah, I'm-I'm fine now."
"Well at least we know it works." Lyrika stated. But what she said next threw Olivia through a loop. "Let's buy it then."
"Wha-! You want to buy it. I thought you liked having me around?"
"Not to ward you off you idiot. For other monsters, for whenever you head off on your own, like with the bandits." She said with a slightly annoyed tone. Olivia guessed that bringing it up made her remember how worried she got. "Besides, Philly might be able to adjust it, so it doesn't affect you or something.."
Turning her head, Olivia saw Philly just nodding.
"Yeah. I don't see why not. Might take some time though."
"…fine. Just don't you dare use it when I'm around."
By now, while she hadn't noticed it, everyone else in the vicinity had stopped staring at Olivia having seen her run away from the potion and had gotten back to shopping. This was also the point when Milly spoke up again.
"You could also use this." She said bring the potion she found into view.
"No offence, Milly, but I really don't feel like taking a potion from you." Olivia immediately replied.
*sigh* "I said I was sorry. Look it's an invisibility potion. They only had one, but if you're going to take down guards, it might be good to do it so that they can't see you coming." She mentioned as she stretched her arms out further to Olivia. Who, in turn, very reluctantly took it.
Given where it had come from, the shelves with the buffs, she was sure it had a downside. And she was right.
"It only lasts ten seconds, and when it ends it makes your skin glow for an hour."
To her it didn't sound like it would help much.
"Do you need more than that. It's not like your sneaking into a bandit camp or something. You just need it to work long enough so you can reach them before they see you. And what does it matter if you glow after, when you're already in the heat of battle."
She made some good selling points there, but Olivia didn't want to just agree with her like that.
"I'll even buy it for you as another way to say sorry."
"Why that one over the others?" Olivia asked.
"Ah, most of them are for if you need a quick decisive comeback. If you're losing badly, downing one of those potions would help you out and give you a fighting chance. But you've read the labels, you would be useless after a while, so taking it at the start of the fight just means you may get the bad side effect during the fight. You could grab one for if you end up in a sticky situation, but I don't see that happening, and you may not even get a chance to use it then. So, I can't see one of those helping in your battle. The invisibility was one of the few that didn't cripple you after its effects wore off."
"…ok… I'll take it."
Milly lips turned into a small smile at that, happy she had taken her advice and accepted the potion. Thankfully, it wasn't the same as the smile she had during the repellent incident.
"You should turn invisible as soon as you drink the whole thing."
It was a very small bottle, almost smaller than that of a shot glass. Hardly a mouthful so it should be easy enough to take a quick swig when needed.
Taking them up to the counter, they laid them out and Olivia then asked her question for her slingshot plan.
"Do you have any glass bottles we can buy? They should be quite small. About this size," She said holding up one of the smaller potion bottles, "But should be round. Also, the glass should be reasonably thin so that it smashes easily."
"That is a rather odd request. I think we have some, but why do you want them? Most people come here to buy potions. Are you planning to make some?" the woman asked.
"Yes. But none of them are similar to what you sell." Olivia said, figuring she had to add that on. Why would the woman sell them the bottles, if their plan was to save coin may making copies of her potions?
The woman did seem relieved at hearing that, and Olivia was sure she wanted to ask what potions they would be making. But she thought better of it, figuring it was better to not get involved.
She headed into the back of her store and came out holding a basket full of bottles.
"Is this the sort of thing you were looking for?"
Looking through them all, they were about the right shape and size, and after purchasing one, then giving it a little smash test, they found that broke easily when hitting something, but not when you held it tightly which worked quite nicely for a slingshot.
Purchasing a good couple of dozen, which came out to be much cheaper than buying just a couple of the healing potions, they said their goodbyes to the shopkeeper and headed out to their new destination. The grocers.