It had been another two days since they left the laboratory, Lulu whined every now and then from the pain her back gave her. Still, besides whining she never really voiced a need to rest which did worry Tenpao, while yes this was supposed to be a punishment for her problems affecting them but that didn't he wanted to torture his companion. But now they were at the border of the city, he needed to leave these thoughts behind for now. Just like the journey began Tenpao stood at the front, Dwelm and Bushy at the sides preparing for any monster that would attack.
Their steps close in between aiming to cause the least amount of noise possible, Lulu's ears swiveled trying to hear any suspicious movement, Bushy had a spell ready on the go as she learned from previous fights that casting a spell right after a fight starts is quite disadvantageous. Dwelm had his crossbow out with an easy-going smile but his eyes were set ahead, ready to fire at anything, and Tenpao held both swords tightly, his instincts still giving him a pang of anxiety at each step he took.
The bushes ahead moved, all the party tensed up for combat. The earth shifted, growing out and molding into a humanoid shape nearly ten meters tall, a giant stone club stood on its hand. Bushy was about to release the spell but just as sudden as the appearance of the earth giant, a grey hybrid cat came, jumping from one of the tree branches. In one swoop her zweihander made a perfect slash at the torso, the top half of the golem fell backward then his form slowly turned into magila.
"Kocia!" Lulu shouted, running towards her new slash old friend with open arms for a hug! Kocia didn't have time for that however, she dodged Lulu's hug and quickly stared back from where she came from, Lulu stared at her tail still and high, her ears flicking, and was quick to a theory, "You're worried!"
Kocia turned back and nodded, the rest of the party felt left out as the conversation between the two evolved from Lulu asking how her past day went to Kocia doing some weird gestures with her hands. "Hey! There are people over here!" A shout echoed from the woods, Kocia jumped into a bush like a tiger was behind her tail.
The party was without a doubt even more confused, but eventually, a group of seven mercenaries came in front of them, most human but one gnoll that looked like a husky mingled with them, "Have you seen a grey hybrid cat sith?" the gnoll said while taking the front, "She looks like this..." He pulled a drawing of Kocia. Tenpao stared at Lulu for a hot second while the gnoll repeatedly shook her head, Bushy face palmed and Dwelm kept a still expression.
"No, I don't think I have. What did this person do?" Tenpao asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Dumb shit, that's what she did!" An older-looking human mercenary pulled the gnoll mercenary by the shoulder, taking the front. He had a badly shaved beard, grey hair balding from behind his head, and a saggy old face that always looked angry. "That fuck not only stole a precious gem from the Kiwi noble house but also fucked with the head of the house!" Lulu's mouth dropped.
"She had an affair with the mayor?!" Everyone looked grim at Lulu's words, the human mercenary mouth dropped to the ground.
But he was quick to recompose, "Course not dimwit! A fair noble like Darle Kiwi would never be interested in such scum! She punched him in the face with enough force to shatter his bones on the wall!" Now Tenpao's party looked pale at the group of mercenaries.
"Is Darle okay?" Dwelm asked, that man had done a lot for Oddtown and nearly everybody liked him.
The old mercenary sighed, "Yeah, thankfully. He'll be back to full health in a month or so." Then he looked back at his group, "Let's get movin' then, Dazy you better get that nose of yours fixed else..." Their voice slowly disappeared into the woods.
"..They believed you quite easily," Bushy said, her eyes full of suspicion directed at Tenpao.
"Because I'm a baron," Tenpao said before he moved forwards leaving the elf to her own thoughts.
====
Tenpao, Bushy, and Dwelm went to an antiquarian that worked inside the adventurers guild to examine their findings and possibly sell them while Lulu went with the acorn staff to find the squirrels. The adventurers' guild was brimming, a sea of hopeful and brave souls with their companions for the next step of their adventures that promised a bountiful of coins. They walked for a few minutes before finding the antiquarian, an old imp woman and like most of her kind she barely stood as tall as a chair. Nevertheless, the ringing of the door opening made her jump to the counter, Tenpao put their backpack down and began taking their items out.
Lulu had asked them not to sell the encyclopedia of potions or the mana training method yet, so they started by putting laboratory tools on the table, there wasn't much to argue there about the price so they got paid two silver and four bronze for all of those items, next came the ink and pencil that could aid beginners enchanters.
The imp lady picked up a magnifying glass and checked each of them, tapping her chin before saying, "Fifteen silver."
Dwelm shook his head, "These runes are still working, they are worth at least two hundred silver!"
"Two- Two hundred?! Are you crazy young man?!" She jumped down and grabbed the bottom of Dwelms armor, then jumped straight to his face, "You can't scam this old lady, these items are old by ages!"
"And they are worth two hundred silver," Dwelm answered firmly, the imp stared straight into his eyes before jumping back at the counter by kicking his head.
"Preposterous! Never would anyone buy something like this for Two hundred- fifty silver at least!" Her feet rapidly tapped on the counter.
Dwelm still shook his head, "One fifty."
"A hundred." The imp glared at the dwarf.
"One. Fifty." Dwelm kept his stare even.
"One twenty. I won't go any higher." She said. The dwarf looked at the uninterested Tenpao and impressed Bushy, before nodding. The imp grumbled and promptly grabbed a bag full of silvery coins.
Then came the books he had found, the imp was quick to read through the gibberish he didn't understand, her eyes widening by the second as she looked back at the dwarf bewildered "W-where did you find this?!" As soon as her words left she shook her head, "Three hundred silver!"
"Five-"
"Taken!"
The imp, with a bit of difficulty, lifted a bigger pouch with a huge amount of coins almost fifteen times her weight then threw it at Dwelm who had to put it down because of how heavy the bag was. Then came up the magnifying glass and the magical beverage cup, Bushy decided to keep the bracelet.
"Hmm... One hundred each..." The imp said in a defeated tone and for once Dwelm agreed with the price, the exchange was done and they soon left the store, Dwelm with a sack of coins hanging across his shoulder while the rest were just as happy, they decided to go out to eat fancy stuff tonight.