The city was indeed rather beautiful but it also had some odd quirks. Namely, the people were always smiling. Even when bad things happened, they smiled. They didn't laugh. Just smile.
"This is starting to creep me out," the boy said. "Are they ill?"
"Something like that," Lenora said. "Let's try out our quick money making scheme," she said.
"Hunt one of those Nichu things?"
"What? No. That'd take too long. We can just sell some items."
"We don't have any good items," Drifus said.
"Sure we do," Lenora gave him a glance and a smile.
"What?"
"You."
"What?" He thought she'd been joking and he laughed a bit but when he realized she wasn't joking and was entirely serious, his smile more or less cracked. "You're not serious…"
***
"Come all, come all, see the beautiful elven tramp!" the boy declared. "Fresh from the forest of Dale!"
A crowd gathered before the elf in white cardigan. She had makeup on and her hair wasn't tied for once. Red lips, fair skin, rather alluring glare and that sultry expression…. A bit broad and flat chested but elves were known to be on the flatter side and she was just a big girl, and a fairly attractive one.
Mostly men, but quite a handful of women also joined.
"Two silvers to get a closer look!" The boy declared holding a large hat upside down. "Five silvers to touch her hair!" He got some coins. "And 1 gold for a kiss!"
He got some more coins. Mostly silver so the elf was still somewhat relieved. When Lenora had first brought this up, he for sure thought she was joking. But as he was sitting on a stool pretending to be a female elf (who were a rather rare sight outside of Elfrieda), he not only felt out of the world surrealism, but also kind of stupid. He could have made money like this the whole time? Not that he was eager to.
First gold coin! And from a woman!
Again, relieved, Drifus let the woman kiss him and go.
But then another gold coin dropped. Another woman.
No problem.
The third one, however, was from a man. A rugged large man with a huge belly. Hairy arms, and face. He bent down and smooched Drifus on the lips. Drifus froze and didn't blink, he couldn't.
Once it was over, he still sat there, frozen.
And it wasn't just one man….
Some more coins dropped and by the time the boy yelled it was all over, it was already getting closer to the afternoon.
The show was over and Drifus still sat there, frozen.
"This is a lot of money," the boy said. "Probably eighteen gold in total," he marveled at the stack of silver and gold.
"I expected more," Lenora said. "But should be enough to fetch us a ride to Alaison." She smirked. "What do you think?" She poked Drifus' cheeks.
His lips widened into a smile but it was more like a grimace. "I have been violated…."
"Ow come on, it was just a kiss."
Of all the things Drifus expected to find on this journey, getting kissed by random dudes on the street while wearing makeup like a woman, wasn't one of them.
"Then why don't you do it the next time?"
"I would have but unfortunately I don't have your good looks," she whispered, sexily.
Drifus sniffled but held the tears in. "You look plenty good enough."
"Why thank you but I don't think so since I'm no elf, and we got all the money we needed so there's no need to do this for now."
"Almost as though you'd make me do this every time we need money."
"If you have a better way, I'm listening."
Drifus didn't say anything. Lenora flashed a triumphant smirk and with that, they headed to an Inn, not to stay the night but mostly to clean up and rest for some time before heading off to the harbor to catch the night ferry.
So, they cleaned up, or rather Drifus cleaned up, took a long cold shower and headed to the other side of the town. It was a fairly straightforward half an hour walk.
On the way, he saw many things but Drifus didn't bother focusing on anything. His mind was still spinning. Even now, he could taste the smell. He could… feel.
And every time he thought about it, he nearly gagged.
He didn't have any particular interest or dislike of men. But he wasn't necessarily into kissing men either. Women were one thing but men? He didn't enjoy that.
"I would really appreciate it if I didn't have to do that the next time," Drifus said.
Lenora sighed. "Alright, we'll find a different way to make money."
"Can we get something to eat?" The boy said.
"Sure."
They stopped by a street vendor and bought some fried meat. Mostly wild stuff and kind of gamey but it was better than starving or spending a good chunk of their money in a restaurant.
Once they were done chewing for forever, they resumed their walk and reached the port sooner than later.
Wooden boats. Mostly small fishing boats. With two large boats about the size of a large room, enough to carry maybe a dozen people at once.
"We're taking those?" Drifus groaned. "We'll be up all-night you know."
"I know," she said. "But we don't have a choice. It's either we stay up all night or you two hold on to me for about half a day as we cross the sea."
"I'm fine with holding on to you. It's fun," the boy said.
Drifus stared at the sea, at the ships, thought about all the things and sighed. "Let's take the sky."
Now Lenora sighed. "You could have just saved us a day, you know." She paused. "And all that kissing business," she mumbled softly enough for the other two to probably not hear.
Drifus' ears twitched and although not dreadful, a frown did manifest. But he let out an exhale and just accepted his fate.