"Sorry about that, Tom," Bruno apologized, ignoring Cinder's misery.
"Oh, it's fine. But that deer…?" Tom rested an elbow against the counter as he leaned in excitedly.
Bruno nodded toward the cold room.
"Am I first?"
"That you are."
"Yes! I call dibs!"
"I can't give you all of it."
"Half!"
"Two pieces."
"What?!" Tom exclaimed in shock. "That's nothing!"
Tom shrugged.
"It's a small deer," he said calmly but with a glint in his eyes.
"Wait, a small one?" Tom's eyes lit up.
"Does that mean…?" He asked in anticipation.
Tom nodded.
"Yep. It wandered down. Not far, but still…"
"I'll take it! I'd like three, but—"
Bruno shook his head.
"Figures. How much?"
"Two pieces. Let's say an even twenty."
"Got it." Tom hurriedly fished out twenty Tokens from his pockets and handed them to Bruno.
"Come back in an hour or two and bring your friends. I'll have it ready then."
"Yes. I won't disturb you anymore." Tom scurried out of the store with a happy smile on his face. He caught a person outside the store by the shoulders and dragged them off.
Inside the store, Cinder looked at the twenty shiny Tokens in Bruno's hand with greedy eyes.
"That…Part of that is mine, right?" He asked tentatively, careful not to sound too eager. He didn't do a very good job.
Bruno raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Cinder.
"I'll give you half of everything."
"Works for me!" Cinder readily agreed. If half of two pieces were ten Tokens, wouldn't half of the rest amount to even more? He had made a great haul this time, even counting the loss of investing in the tools, none of which he used when dealing with the deer except the rope.
Now he just had to sit there and wait for the money to roll in. He could do that. He needed to rest anyway.
Cinder received the Tokens with both hands before carefully stuffing them in his Token pocket, the one closest to his heart.
"What's the big deal with the deer, though?" He asked. He was grateful for the Tokens, but he wondered why a tiny deer was worth so much.
"You've noticed all the boars, right?"
"Yeah."
"How many other monsters have you seen?"
"...None."
"Mm. Boar meat is edible. That's about it. It's tough, gamey, and pretty boring. The cooks are good and do good things with it, but different meat is just a lot better. That's not all, either. That deer you brought back, it's small."
"Doesn't that mean there's less meat?"
Bruno shook his head.
"I mean, yes. But that's not the point. The deers this low down on the Mountain have to contend with the boars. They're big and tough, which means so is their meat. It's better than boar, but not as good as meat from higher up. Not only is the quality of the air and the food better the higher up they go, which leads to better meat, but the environment is different. The deer from above us are smaller but much more tender. The cooks and the farmers go crazy for the stuff."
Cinder's eyes widened. He nodded at Bruno's helpful explanation. The deer he brought was exclusive and a better ingredient than the boars that would have given him a tenth of the Tokens for twice the amount of meat.
Bruno glanced at the backroom.
"It looked like it was in pretty big condition, too. Did you find it like that?" Bruno asked, curious about how it died and why no one took care of its corpse until Cinder found it.
Cinder's eyebrows rose slightly at the implication of Bruno's question.
"No, I killed it."
Bruno's eyebrows wriggled toward each other in a slight frown as he looked at Cinder. Cinder's eyes were clear. Bruno didn't didn't think Cinder was that good of a liar.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah." Cinder nodded.
"How?"
Cinder made a gesture like he was swinging a baseball bat.
"I whacked it."
"You whacked it?"
"I whacked it."
"Was it sleeping?"
"Nope. It hid behind a tree, glared at me for a minute before charging me. I dodged. Next charge—"
"Wait. You dodged its charge?"
"Yeah?"
"You?" Bruno repeated.
"You, who died helplessly to a boar just yesterday? You dodged the charge of a deer from higher up?"
Cinder nodded slowly.
"Yeah? What's the problem?"
Bruno rested his forehead against the ridge of one hand while holding the other in Cinder's direction.
"I won't bother going into the details since you're new. But you've figured out that the higher you climb, the stronger the monsters?"
"Somewhat."
"What makes you think you can take down a deer from higher up on the Mountain without so much as a scratch?"
"I got a scratch, though." Cinder pointed at his poorly bandaged shoulder.
"It bit me."
"Doesn't count." Bruno rubbed his eyebrows for a moment. It was clear Cinder wasn't lying. And while the deer probably didn't come from that high up, it should still be faster than the boars to the point where Cinder shouldn't be able to dodge it.
Bruno glanced at Cinder again. He had a pretty good body now that he looked at it. Muscular but not overly blown up. A little malnourished. Solid foundations. But he didn't have an explosive build. He shouldn't have been able to react to the deer in time. Unless…
Without Cinder noticing, Bruno fished a Token out of his pocket.
"Ifyoucatchthisitsyours." He threw the Token at Cinder's face.
"Wha—" Cinder caught he Token with first his forehead and then his hands, which it mostly landed into. He looked at the Token in his hands in confusion.
"Okay, not that…" Bruno mumbled to himself.
He looked at Cinder again.
"Was there anything off about the deer? Was it limp? Was it blind? Did it ram its head into a stone a couple of times before charging you?"
Cinder slowly shook his head while trying to think about it. But the only thing he could think of was the blow he dealt to the deer's hind leg. But that happened afterward.
"It only started limping after I struck its leg," he said earnestly.
Bruno frowned.
"Ah!" Cinder realized something.
"I was going to ask you about it! But where's the best place to sell pendants in this village?"
Bruno's eyebrows rose.
"Let me see." He held out his hand.
Hesitantly, in case Bruno suddenly turned into a bandit, Cinder took the golden necklace out of his pocket.
As soon as he saw it, Bruno's eyes widened and he snatched the necklace out of Cinder's hand.
"Where did you get this?!"