Rebellion the Seventh: Trade
"Any ideas what we ought to do for our second day in town?" Yu inquired as he, Hyde, and Ruby sat at their table in The Journeyman's Reprieve Inn for their breakfast.
For their "leader's" absence, as usual whenever it turned to meal time at the Inn Ragna was hard at work helping in the kitchen and getting his skill to rise. It was long, busy, low paying work, but the Inn had become so busy with hungry customers as of late that the work was plentiful and he could get his Cooking skill up rather quickly. Plus, at least this way he didn't have to worry about spending the team's hard earned coin to purchase ingredients.
"Maybe we should go around town and try to find a more permanent place to put up our handiwork?" Hyde suggested with a cocky smirk as he looked over his shoulder.
On display nearby was the giant head of the monstrous Jade Serpent (that was the name they'd given it) that they'd hunted down the day prior. Needless to say, the four of them had gotten plenty of odd looks from the townspeople as Ragna carried the massive head through the streets. They started asking the townspeople if they knew any good spots to put it up either as an odd but eye catching decoration or a deterrent for bandits hoping to invade the city. They hadn't come up with any answers so they'd considered just putting the damn thing away… though Liza had suggested that they could bring it into her Inn. As such the head (while imposing) had become some form of attraction and had brought more business despite the few tables it was currently taking up.
"I… I think we can leave that to the townspeople, they'll probably know where to put this thing better than any of us," Ruby told them. "But speaking of town, we've already been here a few days but the only parts we've seen of it are the church and this Inn. I wanna explore!"
"We're not here on sightseeing, you realize we've still got plenty of work to do," Hyde reminded her.
"She's got a good point though," Yu decided to tell him, backing Ruby's idea. "After all we might've managed with our equipment so far, but there's no telling what else we could come across out there. Maybe it's worth going into town and at least seeing the services the town can provide. We've been making some good coin lately, so why not head out and hit a couple of stores while we can?"
"You guys want more food?" a smiling Liza asked as she approached the group, the small tub in her hands carrying the dirty dishes of the satisfied customers.
"Nah, we're still working on this, but I think we'll be fine," Yu told her as he ate a small spoonful of oats.
"Gotta say Liza, you've been looking pretty chiper all morning," Hyde input.
"You think so?" the waitress asked him.
"Hell yeah I do, you haven't stopped smiling once at all," Hyde told her with a smirk of his own. "It's nice to see honestly."
"Well it's thanks to the three of you that I've managed to feel this way," she told them as she looked at the monster head nearby. "Ever since you brought that thing into our shop, we've been getting a ton of business and since we've got that friend of yours in the kitchen he's sure to give them a meal that people come back for. I've never heard of half the dishes he's been making and every single one of them's been a hit. If this keeps up we'll finally be able to start that remodeling my dad's been talking about, maybe even add a fourth story to Inn!"
"That would be nice," Yu admitted as he looked around the Inn's lowest level. "Pardon me for saying so, but your place does seem to be a little on the small side."
"It can be, but we're sort of used to that by now," she told him as her eyes turned somewhat sad, but her smile struggled to remain. "But… I have the feeling we'll be getting crowded no matter how many rooms we end up adding."
"Is that really a bad thing though? It seems like it'd be good for business," Ruby noted.
"Maybe… but most of the people that are coming to this town lately have been arriving because they have nowhere else to go. The common people have been running to towns tucked away in the far ends of the kingdom like this one because the larger cities have become too dangerous… Funny, not too long ago I always heard stories about families leaving their farming and mining roots to strike it big in the capital… Now all I hear are stories from families fleeing from it… those that make it here anyways."
"...Maybe it's time that we headed out to the capital then," Hyde suggested. It was clear that Liza couldn't believe her ears.
"N-No one heads for the capital these days," the blonde waitress said, clearly aghast with the idea, as were several of the other patrons who were looking at the three in shock.
"That's why we're going," Ruby said with conviction. "After all we handled that giant snake didn't we!?" Putting one leg up on the table and keeping the other on the chair, the young huntress struck a dramatic pose. "TRUST US! WE'RE HEADING TO SAVE THE PEOPLE OF THE CAPITAL AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP US!" Ruby stayed there for a few moments extremely proud of herself… right until she saw a message pop up.
Gained Three Ranks to Sex Appeal
Her face started to glow crimson as she looked around and took notice of all of the young farm boys and merchants that were staring at her. She then quickly took a seat and roughly pulled her hood over her head before her entire body curled up in embarrassment.
"Done cooking," came the casual announcement of one Ragna the Bloodedge as he headed out of the kitchen with his treasured red coat slung over his shoulder. He seemed pretty pleased with himself, until he took a look as his partner. "...Okay, why is Ruby's face even redder than her clothes?"
"You've got us there," Yu told him as looked at his still half filled bowl of oats. "You mind giving us a minute to finish up here?"
"Don't need to; I'm heading out alone today." The Reaper rolled his eyes as he noticed the concern Yu and Hyde were showing him while Ruby was still embarrassed at the attention she'd gotten. "Okay seriously Rubes, what's with you?"
"I-I-It's just that-" Ruby was about to come up with a cover (lie) for her complexion, but then focused on something entirely different. "What did you just call me?"
"Rubes? Just a nickname I made for you; since you're probably tough enough to where I can't call you kid," Ragna told her, showing Ruby a rare display of appreciation and praise. "You don't like it?"
Gained One Rank to Sex Appeal read the screen in front of the Reaper who only stared at the message before turning away, refusing to look Ruby in the eye. At the very least, this text was for his eyes only.
"Now Ragna's looking like his clothes too," Liza whispered to Yu and Hyde.
"Was it something he cooked?" Hyde suggested, looking at his meal with a touch of suspicion now.
"That's probably not it," Yu reasoned before deciding it was time to drop the banter and move on to the more serious issue. "But you're heading out alone? That can't be safe."
"Nothing around here is that "safe", 'sides I won't be gone long," Ragna told them before he headed over to the job board and ripped off one of the bounty postings, one of the human bounty postings. "Take a day off, enjoy the city; go get a break from my abysmal luck at least." Without giving them any room to argue, the Grim Reaper exited the premises.
"Well… have fun in town," their waitress awkwardly wished them before heading back into the kitchen.
"...I guess we're exploring Heavencliff then," Yu said, though it was clearly obvious. "Guess Ragna doesn't think that we're ready yet."
"Normally I'd hate anyone looking down on me like this… but I think a break from all of the fighting sounds kind of nice. It's the least we deserve, right?" Hyde's calm smirk had everyone slowly nodding their heads.
"Then it's settled OPERATION: FUN DAY, commence!" Ruby said with energy. "Well… more fun than usual, at the very least we're not spending all day hunting or *shudders* harvesting monster corpses."
"And that's the real victory for you here," Yu and Hyde muttered in unison.
It wasn't much later that the crew had managed to finish their meal. Leaving their money on the table (along with a considerable tip for Liza), the party of three exited the Inn to start their tour of the city.
"Let's see… where do we even start?" Yu thought to himself as he crossed his arms.
"Excuse me?" a voice asked. Turning their heads, the three of them saw a girl with short brown hair that was dressed in grey clothing that appeared well kept and slightly decorated by an occasional oddly shaped insignia and a metal piece light a chair or plate, but they could hardly call it flamboyant given their own apparel.
"If I remember things right you're the one that handled our job completion yesterday, am I right?" Hyde asked and the woman nodded. "Figured, what can we do for you?"
"I was wondering what the four of you had planned for today," she told them. "You piqued my interests and I was wondering what you'd hoped to accomplish today… though it seems one of you is absent from the group."
"Our leader, yeah," Ruby explained. "He just headed out to take care of a job by himself, so you sort of just missed him."
"I see." The woman appeared to be considering what she'd been told. "And he's confident he could get it done alone?"
"He's… sort of the loner type… we basically shackled him with the leader role," Yu admitted. "He should be fine though, I doubt he'll do anything too risky." 'Not that his luck is going to give him much of a choice either way.'
"I see…" she said, appearing to be the serious business type. "My name is May Greenfreed, as you're aware I work for the governor's office. Sorry for you belated introduction."
"Not a problem; name's Kido Hyde, but you can just call me Hyde," the blond introduced himself.
"Narukami Yu, but Yu's preferable," the silver hair stated.
"Rose Ruby," the huntress introduced though it felt a little awkward to use her last name first. "Call me Ruby. And the guy that you just missed was Ragna."
"Yes, I already know your names from yesterday's paperwork," May told them seriously.
"We just wanted to be polite," Hyde sighed. "So May, if you work at the Governor's Office I take it that means you know your way around Heavencliff."
"That would come with the job territory, yes," she admitted.
"Cool, with all of the fighting we've been doing, we barely know our way around this place. Mind showing us around?" Hyde asked, getting a rather quizzical response from May. "I mean… if you don't mind. If you do though, do you know someone else that could be our guide?"
"It's not that I have a problem with it, it's just…" May prepared herself. "This town isn't much different from your standard farming village; we've got a blacksmith, a leather worker, an herbalist, and a general goods store. We don't even have an alchemist, much less a magic shop."
"Maybe…" Yu had to agree, though his mind did devise an easy cover story. "Though if you work for the governor's office would you mind introducing them to us personally; they must have dealt with you at some point or another given your role."
"I suppose I have no objections to this plan," she admitted. "I do have the day off from work, but this could be classified as part of my duties… Very well, I suppose you have yourself a guide."
"Great, the more the merrier and this beats just wandering around the place," Ruby told her. "So what's the first place on the list?"
"Our very own forge; it's the pride of the city and has access to some pretty decent work with the steel… though you may find better if you felt like venturing into the Dwarven city in the mountains," May admitted as she lead the group to the blacksmith.
"Yeah, I guess a Dwarven city would have to have the best… wait, Dwarves?" Hyde asked, trying his damndest to hide the shock in his eyes. "You've got Dwarves in the mountains?"
"It's not too surprising; the inside of a large mountain range like the one to the east of our town is a common place for a Dwarven civilization, much the same as the forest would be the perfect home for the Elves."
"...R-right, I just never knew you had them as neighbors," Hyde tried to cover as he reconsidered that he was in a fantasy world. "Come to think of it, we haven't seen any of them around the city? Do they not live here?"
"We had some living here a time ago, but all of them have moved themselves back to their city… Though if you stick around for their trade shipment of ore to arrive, you'll be able to ask them about the city yourself… just know that they'll usually ask for at least a few drinks in exchange for stories about their city… or anything else."
'And Ragna won't let us drink,' Yu thought to himself. 'Guess that means he's the only one that will be able to have dealings with the Dwarves.'
It didn't take the group long before they we in at the town's Blacksmith Shop. The setting was a basic open air forge to let the smoke and steam out of the place and allow fresh air into the building. Several men were hard at work crafting a few weapons, but most of their focus was on farming tools and the occasional line of chains. This left their weapon lover more than a little disappointed at her prospects of fantasy weaponry, but they figured that this would at best limit her excitement.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" an especially burly man said as he approached the group. "May Greenfreed, what brings you to my forge on your day off? And with a group of minstrels no less."
"Minstrels, really?" Hyde sighed, a little disappointed that he'd been mistaken for being just your run of the mill performer.
"I'm just showing these three around the city; apparently they didn't have enough time to explore with their busy schedule of slaying goblins, spiders, and giant serpents."
"...You're pulling my leg," the blacksmith said as the other forge workers paused in their work. "These are the folk I've heard about? I thought they were all giants of men, a single one able to hoist that giant serpent's head over his shoulder with his bare hands."
"That's our leader…" Ruby decided to explain. "And he didn't hoist it over his head, he sort of awkwardly slumped it over his shoulder."
"Oh… Well anyways you three can call me Grudard; local blacksmith and forger of dreams," he said with a smirk.
"You realize that slogan taking off is more a dream than anything else," came May's blunt observation, which made Grudard grunt in emotional pain. "But yes, he's your man to go to for forging weapons around the city if you can find him good ore. He can also improve your current gear if you have enough monster cores."
"Monster cores?" Ruby asked as she reached into her back and brought out the stone that they'd obtained yesterday. "Is this one of them?"
"Y-Yeah, that'll get you by with an upgrade," Grudard observed with a surprise. "I've never seen a core that big before… where the hell did you get it?"
"From the giant snake that we killed yesterday," Yu told him. "How difficult is it to apply the upgrade?"
"Depends on how good the weapon already is, but I can't guarantee anything until I've actually tried to work with it."
"In that case I think we'll want to hold onto this until we talk it over a little more," Ruby told him. "At the very least we know what this thing is and how to use it now."
"That's a plus," Yu agreed.
"In that case, feel free to come back whenever you feel like it; if you've got designs I might be able to forge a new blade or something for the lot of you."
"Thanks, we'll bear it in mind," Hyde agreed as the three started heading out.
"...Remember you have half a fortnight to finish the order we've given you," May told the Blacksmith as a reminder before walking off.
"Sheesh… that's woman's merciless," Grudard muttered to himself before picking up his hammer and striking it down on the chain he'd been working on.
"What kind of order are you asking him for?" Ruby decided to ask as she followed May down the streets.
"...I'm afraid that's critical information to the governor's office; forgive me but I wouldn't be doing my job if I just went and told you."
"Eh, I was just curious," the young huntress told her trying to show that there were no hard feelings. "But you're really serious about this job of yours aren't you?"
"In my position I have to be; it doesn't reflect well on the Governor if I make careless mistakes and it reflects worse on the town if our Governor is ever cast in a poor light."
"Does the Governor have many enemies to- No, never mind. Forget I even asked," Hyde told her, figuring he wouldn't get an answer.
"...He has a few, and not all of them are in plain sight. Aside from the monsters and bandits in this area, there are those in the courts that would love nothing more than to take Heavencliff for themselves. Our position next to the mines makes us a decent enough trading hub despite our somewhat secluded location in the kingdom… Any noble worth the name would take an opportunity to cast us in a poor light to advocate a change in leadership."
"That certainly sounds like a difficult problem," Yu admitted.
"It is… but I suppose you've helped us in that regard with your monster hunting," she told them as she stopped in front of one of the buildings. "We're here; this is our city's main store for general trading."
"And the next stop on the list," Hyde said as he opened the door for the group, mainly for May in an attempt to increase his Sex Appeal skill. Inside they found a man only slightly older than them with light purple hair sitting behind his counter with his head slumped over, clearly bored out of his mind.
"Really, Morris… May sighed as she sighed and she headed to the front desk. "How are you expecting to do any business if that's the look you make to greet your customers?"
"Like it matters," Morris muttered as he continued to slump over. "I'm still the best trader in town… and it's not like I'm going to get much business until the shipment from the mountains arrives.." He then looked up to the group. "New faces, eh? Welcome to my humble little emporium of goods. You looking to buy or just here to drop something off for some coin?"
"Um… Both I guess," Hyde told him. "First off, what've you got for sale?"
"Plenty; how's about this nice bear rug all prepared for your house?" Morris asked as he gestured to the wall… essential showing a bear pelt complete with the head. "Perfect thing to put your feet on in the morning instead of some cold, frigid floor. Only ten gold and that's a steal."
"We… don't have a house to put it in." Ruby tried to be polite in her declination, but she could barely stand to look at the thing. "...Anything else you've got?"
"If you don't have a house I got saddles, perfect for your horses," he tried to suggest, but the look on Hyde's face made it clear that he wasn't interested. "Leather boots for traveling?" he tried, leading everyone to pick up their feet and show their prefered footwear. "Damn… this is getting tough… how about a nice set of traveling cloaks like the lady's?"
"We're good," Hyde said before trying to put his mind to the test. 'Let's see here… fantasy world… Fantasy game…' "...You have any… I don't know… healing potions?"
"...Are you serious?" Morris asked with an eyebrow raised, leaving Hyde worried that he'd done something stupid in his guess. The was before gave him a large smile and dove beneath his desk. "I've been saving these for a while, since I never thought that anyone in town would be able to afford them, but it looks like I'm in luck."
He then brought out four corked glass vials, all of them carrying a strange green liquid inside that seemed to have a strange glow to them… almost a magical one.
"These are the best potions that you'll find in the city… in fact I'd say it would be rare if you found another potion anywhere else at all in this town. These aren't cheap at 15 gold per… but it's going to be the difference between life and death."
"Fifteen gold per…" Hyde thought to himself as he considered their funds. While they'd gotten plenty of money with their work and they'd started out with a good amount of gold, if they paid for all four of them that would wipe them out entirely.
"We'll take two of them then," Yu told him. Hyde could clearly see it that while Yu's eyes were directed at Morris, chances were that he was trying something out in his own menu. Hyde gave a sigh before nodding as Ruby handed over their hard earned coin whilst May stood back and let business play out.
"They won't let you down in a pinch, I guarantee that much… mind the taste though," Morris warned. "So anything else I can get from you?"
"That depends, can you buy the spider parts that we've harvested?" Yu asked him, apparently done with whatever he was working with.
"I'll buy 'em, but keep in mind that how much I'm willing to pay you for it depends on the quality of the spider and how well the harvester did on them," he informed. Looking over the bits of spider that they'd brought over, he scratched his chin. "Hmm… Not a bad job I gotta say… Alright, for the full spiders I'm willing to part with five copper per."
"J-Just five copper!?" Ruby shouted in outrage. "Do you know how disgusting it is to harvest those things!?"
"In that case find better targets to get money out of, these things are cheap and they've been found just about everywhere. If I paid much more I'd be run out of-"
SLAM!
Everyone jolt in surprise as Yu slammed his open palm down upon the table, the look of intensity in the young man's eyes as he looked dead into Morris's eyes before him. Even May felt a small twitch of fear, worried of what this young man would possibly try to do.
"...I thought I saw a bug on your table, guess not," Yu told them calmly.
"You almost gave me a heart attack!" Morris shouted at him. "Honestly…"
"Hmm… how about instead of five copper, you up the price to say… fifteen copper?" Yu suggested. "And since you don't want to go out of business from selling these we'll only give you a couple. I'm sure that you and your experience could make a hefty profit selling these off as materials somewhere."
"Fifteen copper is far too much, especially given how many spider there are outside the town walls," Morris protested. "I'd be willing to settle for seven… grudgingly."
"Well, we won't overburden you with countless spider parts. And we were very kind on the prices of the potions you selling to us?" Yu told him, starting to smiling beamingly and work his Sex Appeal's Versatile Charm Skill into this ploy. "How about 12 copper per and we'll only sell you a few?"
"I…" Morris grunted at the young teen, as Yu kept up this facade. "...One silver and I'll buy four of them from you! That's as high as I'll go!"
"Sold!" Yu said in agreement. Ruby and Hyde glanced at each other in concern while a screen in front of Yu read Gained One Rank to Barter. "Now then…" he began before reaching inside the backpack and bringing out the rare snake hide from yesterday, slamming a good portion of it upon the table with great fanfare. "Now that we know what a common spider is really worth, what can we get for this?"
Morris was practically drooling as he saw the material laid out before him; he had to have something this rare, the possibilities of a profit were just too great. By the end the party hard earned back a solid ten gold for the portion of the scales that they'd sold and Yu had increased his Barter skill, quickly earning rewards for the point he'd just invested into it.
"You three certainly know how to trade," May commended as they exited the building. "I can't remember the last time I saw Morris raise his prices that high."
"We have to get coin somehow," Yu told her calmly, though it was clear he was very pleased with these developments. "Now, we still have the Leather workers and the Herbalist to talk to, don't we?"
"Indeed," May said before giving him a smile. "I'm interested to see what other kinds of deals you might attempt at those shops."
"I'll be sure not to disappoint," the silver hair told her with a smile as the group continued walking through the town. "...Hope Ragna's having as much luck as we are."
"This is Ragna we're talking about," Ruby told them. "Chances are he's alive…"
"But he's having a hell of time with whatever he's dealing with," Hyde finished with a sigh.
Author's Note:
...Not much to say on the chapter, was going to make it longer except it would take longer to put out so I decided to split it into two smaller chapters. Anyways, let's handle the reviews and get to the Omake.
Wlyman2009: Pardon, but I don't know what you're calling 'rich'.
The Unplanner: Good review, but the plan wasn't exactly boneheaded.
Guest: No… I think this was more a team effort.
BlackSavior: Here you go.
HeiKitsune: Whatever floats your boat buddy.
AGuyWithAStory: Eh… not like he really needs it.
fernandamichelleraya: I hope to continue to impress.
Not too many review, but here's the Omake.
Not Another One…
-In the Keystone world-
"For the love of GOD!" Ragna shouted in his range as he swung his blade around blocked the incoming hail of bullets Aegis was firing at him. He was about to advance on her with a counter strike, but it then that Vatista shot an orb of energy his way and he had to leap out out of the way. "GIVE IT A REST WILL YA!"
"Target confirmed," came Nu's monotone voice. "No one is allowed to hurt Ragna but Nu… Perish!" Several blades blasted out in a deadly torrent… heading straight towards the Grim Reaper.
"WE'RE ON THE SAME SIDE THIS MATCH DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted at her. "AW SCREW IT! I'M OUT OF HERE!"
"Wait Ragna, we haven't become one yet!" Nu cried as Ragna was about to sprint off the field.
"Become one? Possibilities?" Vatista said as she processed the information. "Possibilities; fusion, soul searching, bond forming… Intercourse."
"NO!" came Ragna's flushed scream.
"It seems that he simply does not want you," Ageis told Nu bluntly. The Murakumo unit had been about to chase after Ragna, but stopped cold. Slowly turning, something about the look her visor was sending their way cause the fellow robot girls to actually shiver in fear.
"...ERASING TARGET." The entire ground started to rumble with the sheer force of her rage as a complete hailstorm of summoned swords began to appear and-
"CALM DOWN DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted as he ran back behind Nu and tried his damndest to restrain her. He might not have owed anything to these robot chicks, but he didn't think they deserved whatever terrors Nu was going to subject them to.
"LET GO RAGNA! NU HAS TO DESTROY THESE GIRLS! WE CAN SNUGGLE LATER!"
"WE AIN'T SNUGGLING DAMN IT!" Ragna shouted as her petal blades continued to impale him, trying to force him to let go of her… that was when he saw the other two charging their attacks now that they'd been giving an opening. "...Try to help someone and this is how they pay you back..."
"...Firing," Aegis announced, creating an explosion that could be seen for miles.
Later
"That sounds… problematic," Ruby told him as she and Ragna were sitting at atop the Monorail as it sped by the mountain range.
"Yep… that's what happened to me in a nutshell," a wounded and healing Ragna muttered as he gave a harsh groan. "I just don't know what the hell it is that makes every robot girl try and off me like that, but I'm damn sick of it… I swear to god, the next one of them that even looks at me funny I'm EVISCERATING THEM!"
"Right…" Ruby said to him with a worried sigh before she glanced over her shoulder and saw a familiar friend. "Is that-?"
"Ruby Rose!" came the sudden call right before the young huntress was tackled. Ragna only watched on, confused at the orange haired girl he'd never met while she was practically strangling Ruby in a hug.
"P-Penny!?" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here!?"
"I was called to this world the same as you were," Penny said with a beaming smile. "It looks like I'll be a part of this event as well."
"That's great! It'll be so good to have you here!" Ruby said with her own beaming smile, happy that she'd been reunited with yet another friend.
"So… this girl's from your world then," Ragna's voice cut in, reminding Ruby of his last threat.
"Why yes I am, friend of Ru-" Penny had been about to introduce herself to Ragna, but that was when Ruby grabbed her friend and took off at top speed.
"RUN PENNY RUN! ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!" she screamed, sailing through the air as she used her speed semblance to flee.
"...Was it something I said?" the Grim Reaper could only ask.
This is why we don't have Penny in CROSS TAG BATTLE. Cross Tag Apartment next time guys. Ciao!