"You caused an assault in that tavern!?" She demanded an answer from Marcus. The group stayed inside an alley to regroup and to compile the information they had.
"Hey he attacked Oliver, you don't let your teammates get hurt in front of you, especially by drunken idiots." Marcus chastised Calliope.
Clarissa was sitting next to Oliver, trying to heal his wound. He was dazed from the punch with a large open wound on his cheek, he could barely even sit straight.
Calliope groaned out of annoyance.
"As long as we can gain more information…" She started mumbling something to herself, from her anger Colton assumes it's just spiteful words to Marcus.
"At least we managed to get some information. Now for the market." Calliope turned to the exit of the alleyway, but someone stood in the way, a familiar face.
"You broke my nose ya guard scum!" The man spat at them, staring at Marcus with eyes of anger and a broken nose.
"If I may ask you Marcus, is he the one that struck Oliver?" Clarissa stood up, looking at him for an answer.
"Yup, drunk fool." Clarissa nodded to his response.
Without any orders, she walked towards the man, gripping her staff tightly.
"A pretty little lady huh? Step aside missy, I have unfinished business between-" Before he could finish his slurred speech, Clarissa's staff smashed the top of the man's head, knocking him down.
Filled with rage she began beating the man furiously to the shock of everyone.
Colton expected her staff to break with how many hits it took but it still held strong.
With each strike, the man curled tighter into a ball as she kept on her barrage of strikes, periodically kicking him.
Oliver got up and rushed to his sister, hoping to stop and restrain her before more problems come.
As he was getting closer, Clarissa landed a final blow to the man before looking back at her brother, breathing heavily.
"Sit back down, your energy seems to be lower than normal." She calmly spoke to him, as if nothing had happened.
After a few seconds of silence followed while she tended to Oliver. Broken by Calliope finally speaking to the group.
"We'll start moving to the market, hopefully we won't have another of these issues again." he ordered.
Suddenly, Clarissa smacked Marcus in the head with her staff.
"That is for making the drunk follow us, and allowing my brother to be struck. Next time be more disciplined or know when to retreat." She reprimanded in a stern voice.
"Wasn't my fault he just smacked him!" Marcus' response was met by silence, Clarissa didn't want to reply and started walking with Oliver.
With the conversation done, everyone started heading out of the alley, passing the barely conscious drunk.
The civilians in the street didn't seem to realize the group or the unconscious man, not even the posted guards.
The group quickly left, hoping nobody sees them and the man.
The trip took awhile, hearing dozens of loud conversations making Colton and a few others irritated.
But their suffering subsided with the scent of cooked meat. Calliope ordered everyone to step out of the crowd, and they arrived at the bustling market.
"We'll walk around as a tight group. Note down every store and their wares." Heeding her command, everyone started their walk through the market.
Nearly a hundred stalls were set up in this place attracting streams of customers, vendors called to them in a bid to sell what they had but the group remained together.
Everyone scribbled down while looking at each stall. Marcus and Celestine stared long at the jewelry stalls while Quill, the twins, and even Colton stared at the stalls selling food.
Their walk went on, filling up their pages with each stall they could see and their products.. Everyone was distracted by the wares except Calliope, just hoping that they can finish the mission without problem.
On the way, Calliope remembered something.
"Before I forget, keep an eye out for any vendor selling books." Everyone understood and nodded.
The walk kept on, having gone past dozens of stores to little luck. The food of the market was already influencing the group members.
"Man, I'm craving that meat…" Quill drooled, overcome by the smell and desire to eat from one of the stalls.
"If we accomplish more tasks and get more books, I'd consider allowing us to eat there. For now we need to get those books." Calliope responded in a cold tone.
"Aww man, fine. But you better keep that promise." Quill replied before returning to writing.
They walked on, now actively resisting the powerful smell of the food. After a few more minutes, they stumbled upon a stall. Stacks of books surrounded a hooded man sitting on a chair. A table stood separating the man from the group.
"Are you, Gorin?" The man looked up to see Calliope, he was an older man, seemingly 70."
"Yes, why?" He replied in a raspy voice.
"I heard you sold special types of books." The man smiled wide after hearing her speak.
"Interested in them?" He took a book from a stack and handed it to her. Colton realized that all of them are tied with thick ropes.
"Special books that contain knowledge that their wielder can use. Each and every single one is unopened, and rightfully so." Calliope stared at the book in her hands, analyzing it. They all had writings on them that Colton still couldn't understand.
Though Calliope could see a distinct symbol on each of them, proving they're real.
After a minute of awkward wait, she spoke.
"How much for these books?"
"I'd offer 100 for a book." The group was shocked.
"100?!" Marcus exclaims. His mouth was wide open, a high price just for some book. Regardless of the amount, Calliope kept a serious face.
"We'll take them all."
"What!?" The group was now even further horrified, the old man's eyes widened, sharing the same amount of shock as the group members.
"Maam, you can't be serious!" The old man was at a loss of words.
While he was confused, Calliope motioned for Colton to hand her his pouch, to which he quickly did.
She placed it on the table, spilling gold coins on top of it. She ordered the rest to put in what money they had left, all reluctantly obeyed, adding more coins to the pile.
Other vendors and passersby looked at them with widened eyes, seeing so much gold carried by one person.
"How many books can we get with this?"
"Miss Royal Guardswoman?" Celestine meekly tried to get her attention from behind.
"Yes?"
"Perhaps I could help, 100 seems too much for us to sustain. And if we buy everything, we might not have any money left. I can help haggle it down, I have some knowledge of trade." It took a moment to consider, but realizing the amount, she turned to her.
"Alright, you may help." Celestine nodded, she quickly moved in front of her and began talking with the old man.
The two spoke to each other in a formal tone, using heavy and unknown terms only the rich and salesmen would normally use.
Celestine sounded more confident while talking, as if her personality had shifted the second she was given the role.
"This is why I prefer just robbing places or just making deals to kill stuff." Marcus commented, saddened by having the gold in his pocket being taken and the thought of their money being taken away for books.
Colton noticed that the two seemed to be wrapping things up, Celestine kept talking to the man who only nodded in understanding.
After a few more minutes, they finally shook hands and the man dumped the gold next to him, handing the bag back to her.
She walked with a sigh of relief, giving back the bag and preparing herself to say something.
"I managed to make a deal, he'll give us the books for a cheaper price. I managed to haggle for half that we need to pay."
"How much do we pay then?" Calliope asked, Celestine looked up, trying to remember the agreed price they shook hands on.
"1500. We reduced the bulk price by half. That was the best I could do. I'm sorry."
"Cheer up, at least the price is lower. I don't speak rich tongue but you seemed to handle yourself with him." Quill assured with a smile.
"We need to return with about 750 more though." he said. We can meet him somewhere with less people for the books. We can do that right?" Celestine explained. Behind her, the man was starting to pack the books, eager for the other half of the payment.
"We can do that, we can get the wagon and some cloth over it, or just carry the gold ourselves. Let's head back." The group departed the market as soon as possible.
Through the crowds and emptier streets they reached the gate. The group was saddened by losing such a large amount of gold.
But glad Celestine managed to save most of it with her skill.