"Stan," Tristan spoke up and then smiled at Jonas, "I hope we can help each other out here today."
I couldn't help but stare at Tristan with wide eyes when he spoke to the shopkeeper.
I wasn't surprised that Tristan had decided to use his code name. He would never want to reveal his identity to people he didn't trust or who would be a threat to him.
I wondered if Tristan would be able to use the same code name here in town as he had when we had traveled from town to town earlier on.
"We will help each other out here," Jonas replied with a nod before he looked over at me and gave me a friendly smile, "and welcome to our fair town." He then turned to face Tristan and said, "Your partner seems quite taken by our store."
I blushed before turning away from Tristan and smiling nervously at the shopkeeper, saying, "Yeah, she really loves jewelry." He whispered quietly as I felt my cheeks start to burn with embarrassment.
"Ah yes, she is an elegant woman," Jonas replied with a warm smile before he turned his gaze back to Tristan before adding, "She doesn't look like she belongs here."
Tristan smiled back at the shopkeeper before replying, "She doesn't. But she has a good heart, and I believe that you will be able to help her find a specialization in the work field that she will enjoy."
Jonas smiled at Tristan before letting out a small chuckle. "You seem to have a good eye for things. So do you have any particular thing that you are good at, Miss, that might as well fit a pawnshop?"
"Cece," I began with a nickname as my short introduction, "I like jewelry, precious artifacts, and ancient historical contraptions, but I don't really know anything else about them."
Tristan nodded slowly before turning towards me as he told the shopkeeper, "She has never worked before, but she has a very good eye for details."
"Interesting," Jonas murmured. "And how does she feel about working?"
"She is here, is she not? So she is interested." Tristan responded with a slight smile as he added, "So if you have any suggestions or items that you think might suit her interests, then I am all for it."
"Very good." Jonas muttered. He then walked around the counter and stood in front of me as he started pulling out more pieces of jewelry.
Where did those come from? I thought he only had keys.
"It's not much, but it's only open to the public in a few weeks, but would you like to see what we have?" Jonas asked as he turned towards me with a smile.
I nodded eagerly as I let out a small sigh of relief at his words. This was exactly what we were looking for!
Tristan gave me a look as I nodded quickly. He was probably thinking about the fact that he wanted to leave as soon as possible, but I didn't care. I wanted to know what they had here that I could use in my future undercover life in this town.
"Sure," I told the shopkeeper as I reached for the first item on display out of the numerous others. It looked like some kind of necklace with a white lotus at its center.
The lotus was made up of small pearls, and there were some small diamonds on it as well.
I couldn't see them well from here, but I knew that the necklace was made of diamonds too. The design itself was made of small pearls that formed a shape that looked like a lotus flower.
"I think this is perfect for her!" Jonas said as he moved closer to us and watched me as I touched the necklace carefully before turning back towards the shopkeeper with a smile.
Tristan didn't say anything, though, as he continued to stare at me. It didn't really surprise me that Tristan didn't say anything, but it still felt like it should have surprised me that he wasn't saying anything.
"Where did you get this?!" Tristan asked after another moment of silence had passed between us.
"From a client," Jonas replied with a warm smile before he gestured towards the wall behind him. "We just finished it earlier today and were hoping to find someone who would buy it off us."
Watching the interaction between the two of them, I couldn't help but feel something was off about the whole situation.
There were no laws here in town, and no one really cared if anyone stole anything or killed anyone here. So it was not really surprising to see that they were hiding something from us.
But still... I couldn't help but feel suspicious. Something seemed odd about this place.
And there was one other thing that I could feel on the edge of my mind as well:
This was a pawnshop, but it also seemed like something else.
Something else was going on here.
I could feel it. And I wanted to find out what it was...
Tristan seemed to also pick up on this. But he wasn't showing it on his face as he nodded slowly before replying, "I see. So would you be interested in selling this piece?" He asked Jonas with a smile as he held up the necklace with his hands.
"I don't know if we are even allowed to sell it," Jonas said with a shrug as he watched Tristan with curiosity before looking down at his watch. "But we have a little time until our closing time. I don't think anyone will miss it if we put it on display for a few minutes."
"I insist," Tristan insisted as he smiled at Jonas, "and I would appreciate it if you let us buy it off you."
He looked at me as he added, "That way we can keep our business a little private and not show everyone what we have."
He turned back to Jonas as he added, "It might be a little more than what we actually paid you for it, though."
"Fine," Jonas replied with a smile. "It isn't like you can buy everything in this store anyway."
Tristan laughed at this before nodding towards Jonas and saying, "We would be willing to pay you whatever you ask for the piece."
Jonas's smile widened as he replied, "Okay then, how does this sound? I will give you this necklace if you can give me..." He paused for a moment and looked at me before continuing, "One hundred thousand silver pieces."
I blinked at this for a moment before looking over at Tristan as my eyes widened. I knew Tristan had money in his pockets, but I wasn't sure if we could really afford to pay that much for this piece of jewelry.
Tristan must have felt my nervousness because his eyes seemed to narrow slightly before he turned towards Jonas and responded calmly, "Just that?"
Just that? Who asks such questions? I thought to myself before looking over at Tristan again and seeing that his expression didn't seem as calm anymore as it had been a moment ago.
He seemed more tense and worried now, but he was trying to hide it with a friendly expression on his face.
Placing a gold coin on the counter, Tristan then picked up the necklace with his hands and smiled at Jonas before replying, "We'll take it."
Who would have thought that I could share a shocked look with another person? Jonas and I shared one at the same time before Jonas looked at Tristan with wide eyes.
Tristan returned Jonas's look with a raised eyebrow before turning towards me and smiling warmly, "Come now; we need to be on our way if we want to make it back before nightfall."
We left the pawnshop quickly after that, and as I walked with Tristan behind me, I couldn't help but feel suspicious of the man we had just met.
What was the point of us meeting up with Jonas here today?
I couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with it. And I felt that Jonas and Tristan knew more than they were telling us about what was going on in this town.
But I knew that I couldn't really do anything about that now, and I would probably never find out the truth about it unless I decided to stay here and investigate a little more into what was going on in this town.
So instead, I focused on trying to remember everything about the call from Damian in my head as we headed out of town back towards the road leading back into the forest and towards his mansion.
When we reached the forest road, Tristan looked over at me as he asked me in a low voice, "How are you feeling? Did you have enough energy for the ride back?"
"I'm okay," I replied quietly. "I was just thinking about something."
Tristan nodded slowly as he replied, "We still have some time until dark, and there are a few more things we need to pick up at the stores close to my home first if we want to prepare everything for tomorrow. So I will be stopping by the river first before we continue on our way back. Would you like to come along?"