Chapter 42

After meticulously chipping the ice away, they turned up a large haul of gold pieces, silver pieces, and several diamonds of varying value. Aloe managed to sneak in the diamond she took from Spade Echo into that pile without anyone noticing. After dividing up the loot between them, with the diamonds split up between the two clerics, Botan headed straight for the dragon body. Much to their amazement, the archer borrowed Aloe's daggers and miraculously carved the dragon's body up.

"Woah, what are you going to do with all that?" asked Nene.

"Ah… I'm thinking of getting some stuff made," stated the lion girl as she struggled to try and remove the wing, unfortunately snapping the bone and breaking the wing's hide, "Ah, crap. Hng, I need to be a bit more gentle with the other wing then."

"We got a lot of stuff already," stated Polka, "We can use the gold we took to pay for it! Hi hi."

It took some time, but the archer managed to get most of the parts out of the dragon. Once she had everything packed and distributed to everyone in the party, they made their way out of the cave system. They made sure to go through as quietly but as quickly as they could. Thankfully, the place was a little emptier and they didn't have any problems leaving.

"So… which way do we go? Follow the path or climb down to that other path?" asked the monk as she peered over the edge, 'I'm thinking of climbing down.'

"It's a long way down," muttered the succubus, "Maybe… just follow the path."

"We still have the rope. Maybe we can risk it," said the lion girl archer.

"This is going to be a bit more difficult since we are carrying a lot more than before," reasoned the half-snow elf cleric, "Following the current path should be less risky."

"I'll go along with your decisions," added the tiefling cleric.

"Alright… I guess we can… climb down," decided the bard. With a grin, she explained, "We follow the same arrangement as before, with Aloe making sure we don't fall off. Miss Choco can be tied between me and Aloe."

"Yosh! Let's do this," cheered the fennec fox girl as she took the rope from her pack.

Things were a bit easier in some ways and more difficult in some ways. Once again, climbing was not their forte and they had to be very careful. Plus, they were carrying more stuff. However, going down is easier than going up. Plus, they had Aloe to catch or steady them should they look like they were losing their grip on the stone. It took them just as long to get down to the goat path compared to when the party was ascending yesterday. A few close calls but nothing the succubus couldn't handle.

"Phew… that was nerve-wracking," muttered Choco as she sat down, leaning against the mountain, "My heart is still beating very fast."

"I think we better take a short break to calm down, eh?" stated Nene with a grin.

After a few minutes, they got to their feet and headed back to the shrine. As they walked, they described what brought them to seek her out.

"Ah, dear Fubuki. This, I am truly grateful for," she exclaimed softly as they reached the shrine, "Also, it is good that you helped the attendants rest in peace. Thank you."

"It was the right thing to do," stated Lamy with a smile.

Then, the tiefling frowned, "Still, the night hag. Even if her coven has been taken apart, I don't feel comfortable knowing she is living nearby. I will have to get some friends and pay her a visit."

"Do we need to come along with you?" asked Aloe with an overly eager smile.

"...It's fine. I can try and contact them later," she replied. Then, she asked, "So… what brings a succubus out to the world?"

"It's a long story, but..." started the bard before she went in to tell the tiefling cleric about how the succubus ended up in their party. It took them quite a while, but the whole story came out as they retraced their steps back to Dusktown.

"Well, that was an... interesting tale," Choco said hesitantly as they walked up to the gates of the town, "I'll go check in with the mayor. Why not drop by the inn to grab something to eat?"

"Hmm, can we sell the dragon meat to them?" wondered Botan as the tiefling walked off.

"Wouldn't hurt to try. I bet they never got this kind of meat before," stated Nene as she led the party to the inn.

Unfortunately, the owner doesn't know how to serve dragon meat. After the refusal, they decided to settle down for something to fill their stomachs.

"Hng… where can I sell this..." muttered the lion girl as she picked at her stew.

"Why not sell it to that restaurant in Rivirapolis?" suggested the fennec fox girl, "You know, the one we got the toad legs for."

"Oh! Nice!" exclaimed the former in surprise.

"Hello, how is your food?" asked the tiefling as she rejoined them.

"Hi! Ready to go?" greeted the bard with a wave.

"Yes."

Quickly scarfing down their food, they headed straight for the stables to hire a cart. The trip took many hours as somehow they got the cart with an old stubborn horse and shaking it awake from its narcolepsy took a long time. While they waited, they asked Choco for stories about her travels. She was a traveling herbalist and had been all over the place, from Merkath to Huan Tuo to Viridis and back again. The party was amazed by the stories; how she met with Subaru and Rushia, how she got to meet Roboco, and of a strange encounter with a sentient mimic.

"And it was from Lord Wilford that I got my mace," she finished her tale, patting the weapon on her belt.

"What does it do?" asked Lamy as she looked over the interesting-looking weapon. It had four flanges with gold trim arranged in the four cardinal directions, a symbol of the sun on top of the head, and a symbol of the moon at the center of the head.

"The ultimate weapon against fiends and undead," declared the tiefling with a smile.

"No wonder it feels prickly," shuddered Aloe, who had opted to sit far away from the tiefling.

"I wonder what the hero was like?" wondered Nene.

"Subaru?" asked the tiefling cleric with a chuckle, "A humble girl who wanted to explore the world. It was a joy to look at her amazement and wonder every time she visited a new place. She made a lot of new friends too." Then, she sighed, "In the end, after the dragon battle, she felt tired and decided to go back home. Funny, she never intended to become known as a hero but she became one anyway."

"Hey, Nene. If you want to talk to her, maybe we can find out where she is and we can go together," spoke up a grinning Polka.

"If you want, you can follow me there," offered Choco.

"EH!?"

"After I meet Fubuki and settle some affairs, I'll be going to visit her," she explained.

"Yes!" said the bard eagerly.

The tiefling just laughed, "Alright, I'll find you at the guild house after a few days."

It was at this moment that another cart was nearing them. As the two came close, one could hear bickering voices in the opposite cart. Choco raised a brow when she saw the two passengers.

"Stop arguing! Maybe you'd be paid better," she called out. The bickering voices stopped in surprise.

"Hi! It's been a long time, hasn't it," exclaimed the one with white hair, She wore a witch's hat and purple dress with a short skirt and a midriff window.

"Huh, we actually agree on something for once," muttered the other with purple hair with blue highlights worn in twin, spiral ponytails tied with blue ribbon. It was reminiscent of an onion. She wore leather armor with dark-blue highlights.

The tiefling cleric chuckled and replied, "Good to see you too, Shion, Aqua. I see Roboco hired you. Glad to see she has good help."

"Yup! Wish us luck!" the former said cheerfully.

"I'll say. You better not mess up like last time," snarked the latter.

"You shut up! It wasn't me that..."

And the duo went back to bickering as the carts pulled away from each other. The tiefling just chuckled and said, "I pity their driver. I sure hope Roboco knows how to manage them properly."

"Do you know them?" asked Nene curiously.

"Ah-ha, I do. It was when I was roaming around with Subaru," she replied, and that went into the story about the search for Ayame's swords.

By the time they reached the city, it was already twilight. After saying goodbye to the tiefling, they headed straight for the guild house. After waiting patiently for Lamy to write up the report, they went to relax at Robel.

The next few days, they took it easy while waiting for Choco to show up. Polka made another batch of her alcohol. Then, she spent most of her time trying to learn how to juggle from Camryn with a bit of monastic training on the side with Lord Aruran. Aloe mentioned wanting to learn how to fight with a dagger, so she and Nene decided to ask Yogiri to teach them. They had to pay for it but after it was done, the succubus was happy with the results. Lamy made a donation to the temple and then went around with Botan to help her to haggle prices for the dragon parts. They went to several places, a different place every day.

First, they stopped by the blacksmith to sell off the fangs and the claws. Then, they went to the leatherworkers next door. The archer commissioned a set of armor and a cloak from the dragon scale hide and wings.

"Are you making those for someone?" asked the half-snow elf after they left. They took quite a while to set the price since it required both the leatherworker and the blacksmith to craft the armor she requested.

"Well, I want to go home and visit the tribe one of these days," she admitted with a slight smile, "They are a gift for my family. Imagine getting something made from dragons. I'd like to think my parents and my tribe will be proud of me."

The next day, they stopped by the fancy restaurant to sell off the dragon meat. The chef there was extremely happy to be able to work on dragon meat again. Another delicacy for them to prepare. They were then offered a chance to sample the dish for dinner. Just the dish. Drinks still need to be paid for. They accepted. Lamy had fancy clothes but Botan didn't, so Nene lent her glamoured armor to her. The dish was delicious. They polished off one bottle of fine wine. The half-snow elf bought two more and brought it back with her.

"That's a lot of wine," commented the lion girl as they walked back to the guild house.

"Hu, hu, it tasted delicious and complimented the dish well," stated the half-snow elf with a red face, "I will definitely be drinking it a bit more when we get back."

"Just don't let it go overboard," chided the former, "I rather not come into your room and suddenly find you face-first in a pool of wine."

"Shush! I am not so crass as to do that," the latter retorted with a pout as she leaned onto the other's shoulder.

"Huh, forward," muttered the lion girl.

"Hush, you."

On the third easy day, they went to do their own thing. Lamy went to spend time at the healing temple. Botan went to visit Risu and Baloo. After that, she went to check up on Temma and the griffon, who he had named Haruto.

"He's looking healthy," she commented as the young griffon peeked out from under a blanket.

The knight chuckled and said, "Yes, he is. I try to take Svasdir's advice to heart. I spend most of my time with him. In return, I am restricted to easier requests for the time being, as is my team."

"Maybe they can do other stuff with other teams," she suggested.

"I know. I suggested that myself," he replied with a smile, "So far, they have been doing alright." He then picked up the warbling young griffon out of its pile of blankets.

"Well, I'll leave you two to it. Goodbye, Haruto," she said as she gave the little monster a few pats.

On the morning of the fourth day, they met up with Fubuki and Choco at the guild house.

"Hello, friends! Thank you for rescuing Choco," the fox girl said as she bowed with a smile.

"Ah, no problem. We were glad to help," replied Nene, the party mirroring her smile.

"As expected of the up-and-coming team in the guild," quipped Miyabi proudly.

"Are they now?" said the tiefling with an appraising eye, "That's quite impressive."

"Hi, hi, it's nothing, really," stated the bard bashfully, "We are just doing what we should, that's all."

"Indeed, it was simply the right thing to do," spoke up Lamy.

"Too bad we didn't get the dragon head," muttered Botan to herself, and she got elbowed in the sides by Polka and the half-snow elf.

"Humble as well. Cute," the tiefling cleric continued, "Anyway, I believe I offered a spot with me to visit a good friend of mine."

"Yeah. Nene would really like that," quipped Aloe with a teasing grin, "I mean, she got to meet that bard group the other day. Meeting a hero would be another thing off her list."

"Hey, stop saying such things," retorted the bard, already bright red with embarrassment.

"Alright, alright, no need to bicker like Shion and Aqua now," chided Choco to calm them down. Turning to Fubuki, "Well, thank you for having me. I shall see you next time."

"It was my pleasure, friend Choco," replied the snow-white fox girl as she bowed.

"Right, everyone needs to have some packing to do," announced the tiefling as she focused on them, her friend leaving the guild house, "Make all the preparations you need. We will be leaving tomorrow morning. Meet me at the school for further instructions."

"Eh? Why the school?" asked Polka, speaking for the party's confusion.

"Ah, ah, ah, now that would be telling," she stated with a wink before she upped and left the guild house as well.

The party looked at each other for a moment.

"Well, let's get on restocking our stuff," stated Botan, "We have a lot to do."

They went to the general store, followed by the herbalist. Rations. Healing Potions. A bedroll for Aloe. More darts for Polka. Then, they went to the hunting shop and tannery to get more arrows for Botan. After that, to the blacksmith to sell off Lamy's old shield.

"Ah, there you are," the grizzled man said, "Your stuff is done, lion girl."

"Oh, you mean from next door?" she asked excitedly.

"Aye, my brother's done with it," he confirmed as he began to ramble, "I shaped the metal pieces myself before I handed it off to him. He looked like you right now. Heh, such rare material like that. I think the only time we got to work on such things was after the black dragon died. The few smiths around the city got together to make something out of its corpse for the king. Heh, wanted to give it to the hero but she declined. Oh, well. Make what you will of it."

"Thank you for telling such a tale, sir," thanked the bard as the party moved on next door.

"Haha, any time, girly. Any time," replied the blacksmith as he waved them goodbye.

"Welcome! Welcome!" greeted the leatherworker happily as they entered his shop.

"Er, hi?" said Botan in surprise.

"Thank you for the chance to work with such rare materials," exclaimed the smith's brother with a grin, "Here, take a look." He placed the two items on the counter.

The armor was a set consisting of a coat and leggings made of the white dragonhide. Large steel plates in the shape of scales were sewn around the outside of the coat, mimicking dragon scales. Over the left shoulder was a single metal pauldron of gleaming steel.

The cloak was made of white dragonhide taken from one of the wings. It was elegant and beautiful, the skin seemingly glittering as the sunbeams bounced off the tiny scales on the hide.

"Woah, cool!" exclaimed Polka in awe.

"Huh, such wonderful craftsmanship," stated Lamy with approval.

The lion girl had the biggest grin ever.

AN: Hello again, readers. Welcome back.

In this chapter, the whole party gets lots of loot. Silver and gold. Trinkets and baubles. Paid for in blood. Wait, this isn't Darkest Dungeon. Anyway, time for them to backtrack down the mountain and back to Dusktown. They take a cart back. Bump into Shion and Aqua, who still argue a lot and yet are a very effective duo. When they get back, some of the loot gets sold. Stuff gets commissioned to be made, mostly from Botan's point of view. Interesting stuff while she goes around with Lamy. Anyway, the next idea for a mini-arc. Holo5 visits Subaru to see how she is doing.

Next chapter, we visit Subaru and find out what happened to her after the events of Wanderlust. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.