Mr. Gregory took a step forward and introduces himself,
"Hello Val, as Mark said I am Mr. Gregory, I am a merchant. I see that you are a half-elf, which along with your ability to have tamed a Light Ray Lion makes you quite an interesting young fellow. May I ask where you are heading?"
Val shifted his gaze to the older gentleman, who was wearing what Val could only guess were luxury clothes, he had a nice white shirt, with light brown trousers and a light brown jacket to match. It was a stark difference to the adventurers who were both wearing light armor over regular dark brown and black tops and pants. Mr. Gregory's hair was neatly combed and a dark brown color that matched his eyes. He was above average in looks, but still less handsome than Mark. Mark had shoulder-length blonde hair with blue eyes and was quite tall at 1.87 meters. Mark was the generic handsome adventurer, which in coordination with his personality would make him a big hit with the ladies. From Val's perspective, the question seemed to come from a place of genuine curiosity and was not an attempt to gain information for nefarious acts later. Thus Val responded politely,
"Hello Mr. Gregory, I am a half-elf as you can see from my ears. I am heading to Loka Town."
As soon as Val said he was heading to Loka Town, Becky's eyes opened wide and she spoke,
"Oh, you are heading to the dungeon town on the border of the Barony and the Viscounty. That is a good place to go for new adventurers. There are a lot of opportunities and is a good place to meet other young adventurers. A cute boy like you should not have any issue finding a party."
Becky gave a sly smile as she finished what she was saying, Mark burst out into a hardy laugh and Mr. Gregory gave a wary chuckle. Val's gaze had focused on Becky, and after focusing on her, Val noticed that she was very pretty. Becky had light brown hazel hair, big green eyes, a toned but slim body and decent size breasts, and a toned but fairly curvy ass, she was around average height for a female, around 1.65 meters.
After a brief pause of conversation, to which Val did not know how to reply, Mark was laughing and Becky was giving Val a sly grin, Mr. Gregory decided to save Val from his awkwardness.
"If you are heading that way, you should travel with us for a couple of days. After two days we will be moving in a different direction from you, but for those two days you can travel with us, it will be safer for you, and I am sure there is a lot you could learn from these more experienced adventurers."
Val was surprised, he did not expect to be invited to travel with this group. He was taken off guard and did not know how to respond, he knew it would be beneficial and safer for him to travel with the group. He could tell that they did not have bad intentions towards him, they were significantly more powerful than him right now, so if they wanted to they could have done whatever they wanted and he would not have been able to stop him, all he could have done was run away. Though it was the smarter choice, Val was struggling to agree, he does not trust people and strongly believed that anyone could betray him at any time.
Mr. Gregory noticed Val's hesitation so he spoke up, providing him with another option,
"You don't have to answer right now, how about you camp alongside us and get to know us and then tomorrow morning you can make your choice."
Val was still hesitating, not knowing what to do, however before he could refuse again a pleasant smell made its way over, it seems like the merchant caravan had been cooking dinner and it was finally ready. Leo could not contain himself, he was no longer worried about these unknown people because he had seen that they held no hostility towards them, and was drooling at the smell of the food they had prepared, he came next to Val, looked up, and gave a cute meow, expressing his desire to camp here and eat the delicious smelling food.
This was also obvious for the three others, even without a link. Mr. Gregory used this opportunity to make Val stay.
"Common, dinner is ready, we don't bite. You will be much safer alongside us than by yourself."
Val finally relented and agreed but he was also curious as to why Mr. Gregory wanted him to stay so badly, Val knew merchants were always looking for opportunities and profits, and he could not see what Mr. Gregory would gain from this. But regardless Leo had already decided they would join the camp, so the 5 of them headed back to the camp.
As the food was being finished and dished out for everyone to enjoy, Val quickly set up his tent on the outer ring of the camp. Once he finished that, he went to hang the rabbits up to drain the blood, he had a general understanding of how it was done but was not confident in his abilities as this was his first time completing the task.
As he was struggling with it, Becky came up to him and gave him a hand, it seemed they were both a bit awkward, so not much was said, but Val appreciated the help, and appreciated that they did not need to speak much.
Once they were done Val genuinely thanked Becky,
"Thank you for your help, I appreciate it."
Becky just looked at Val with her sly grin and replied,
"No problem, it's nice to be able to help such a cute little boy."
Val frowned, it was clear she was teasing him, but he did not know how to retort in this sort of situation. Becky saw him unable to respond and laughed as she walked off.
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After everything was prepared and the food was served, everyone sat down together to eat. Val was a bit uncomfortable, but it also reminded him of the orphanage's community dining hall.
As they were eating, Val was introduced to everyone and introduced himself and Leo, who was stuffing himself with the delicious soup and fried meat which was seasoned very nicely.
There were 10 merchants in total including Mr. Gregory, they were part of the Blue Trident Trading company, which was a large trading company that traded throughout the entire Kingdom and even to other countries. Mr. Gregory was actually a manager, who oversees all the companies trading in the County. The reason he was here so far from the capital was that they had to make a very important deal with someone important, but did not give any further details. There were 4 adventurers and 1 other man, who did not speak much, the man was in charge of protecting Mr. Gregory in case the adventurers were incapable of doing so. The man was a part of the company and had been sent by the Board of Directors of the company to make sure everything went smoothly. Val could tell he was extremely powerful. Far stronger than the 4 adventurers combined. Val guessed he was probably equivalent to an A-Rank adventurer.
As for the four adventurers, they were Mark and Becky and their other 2 party members. The other two members were a burly man with a big hammer and a slim woman who was fairly attractive even though she was not that curvy. the man had black hair and eyes and he was about 2 meters tall, the woman had green hair, both were human. Everyone in the caravan's group was human, but Val guessed that the green-haired woman had an ancestor who was an elf or of another race because humans don't usually have green hair. Humans can usually only have black, brown, blonde, or red hair, and also grey/white when they get old. So for her to have green hair means that she is not 100% human. The 4 adventurers were all 18 years old and were also once orphans but they had been raised in the capital of the County.
Everyone was getting along well when Mr. Gregory suddenly asked Val a question,
"So Val, I was wondering if when you found Leo you happened to acquire the eyes of an adult Light Ray Lion?"
Val raised his head and looked at Mr. Gregory, he did not reply though. Mr. Gregory saw this and continued,
"Don't get me wrong, I am actually in need of them for a client, it is not every day that someone finds a beast with A-Rank potential, and it's even less likely that someone will be able to kill it and secure the eyes, so I have not been able to secure the product for my customer and was wondering if you had a pair. If you do, I will be able to make a very good deal with you to purchase them."
Val listened to what Mr. Gregory said and thought about his options for a moment. He took his time before responding,
"Are the Light Ray Lion eyes valuable?"
Mr. Gregory heard what he said and smiled, he understood that Val was being cautious, and the fact that he did not reply with a 'no' indicated that he most likely did secure them from a corpse.
"Yes they are fairly valuable, I'd say they are worth 3 gold for the pair or 1 gold individually."
When Val heard this, his eyes opened wide, he had thought they would be valuable because they were from a beast with A-Rank potential but not this valuable. Val took a deep breath before asking,
"If i did have them, what offer would you make for them?"