Swaying wildly, the small carriage was rolling towards the peaceful Gaul village...

A smiling face, surrounded by long, blue hair, turned around to face the other occupant of the wagon.

"So, we're here... think we're able to make some good money here?"

The female, pink-haired girl smiled back at her male companion. "Those Gauls are nothing but barbarians... they don't know the first thing about precious items. We'll be able to buy everything valuable they own for next to nothing. Believe me, this will be our big chance..."

When they arrived at the gate of the palisade wall surrounding the straw-covered huts, the man leaned forward to have a better look at the guard standing at the gate.

"Please, tell your chief that the merchants Ailus and Ena would like to speak to him."

Shortly afterwards, they were standing in the middle of the village square, while Setsuna was approaching them... of course, standing on her shield, which was being carried by Hotaru and Chibiusa, as usual...

"Ave, chief of this village," Ailus greeted her. "We are travelling merchants and would like to make your life comfortable by relieving you from any unnecessary stuff you won't need... like that shield! Please, let me take a look at it, you two..."

CRASH!

Setsuna had another close encounter with the floor, when Chibiusa and Hotaru presented the shield she had been standing on to the Roman merchant.

Setsuna spit out some sand. "You... are you having fun doing this to me?"

"Sorry, Puu..." Chibiusa grinned. "We totally forgot about you."

"Very nice," Ena nodded after taking a good look at the shield. "We offer you XX sesterces for it."

"Sorry," Setsuna said. "It's not for sale... but, if you want to buy something second hand... you could ask Haruka if she has some fish for you."

SPLAT!

A big fish came flying through the air and smacked into Setsuna's face.

From the other side of the street, out of the Fish Shop, a furious voice shouted: "Call my fish old again and you'll be sorry!"

Ena grimaced. "They don't give their chief much respect, do they?"

"By Jupiter," Ailus suddenly gasped. "My dear, take a look at this magnificent piece of art..."

And he hurried towards the bow-wearing girl that had just stepped out of her hut, accompanied by a white cat.

Ailus had a wide smile on his face as he approached the blonde bard. "What a fabulous instrument, my dear... Please, entertain me with your playing..."

"Oh no," the cat groaned. "Anything but that..."

Minako was beaming. "Perhaps you want to hear my beautiful voice as well?"

"Why don't you sing while playing?" Ailus suggested.

Minako raised her instrument. "Why, I'd be delighted to, my dear friends..."

"Here she goes again..." Artemis whimpered.

And while strumming the strings of her harp, Minako's beautiful voice echoed throughout the village... and it sounded truly horrible:

"A-a-a-a-all the leaves are bro-o-o-o-o-wn, aaaaaand the skyyyyyy is gre-e-e-e-y-y-y-y..."

Ailus and Ena grimaced and put their hands on their ears.

"Mama mia!" Ena groaned.

"What a horrible sound," Ailus muttered. "Perhaps we should bring this harp to Caesar... it would make an excellent weapon!"

"Please, Ailus... Caesar is no barbarian, you know?"

CLANG!

The music ended abruptly, when suddenly, a giant sledgehammer came crashing down on the harp.

Minako gasped and looked up at the brown-haired wielder of the hammer.

Makoto smirked. "I told you: One more time and that's the end!"

Minako quivered as she stared down at the remains of her instrument. "M-m-my beautiful harp..."

Artemis sighed in relief. "Finally... peace and quiet..."

"Well done, my lady," Ailus nodded. "You have quite the interesting tool there... would you care to sell it?"

Makoto frowned, then smirked and hefted her sledgehammer. "Wanna try it out?"

The two merchants smiled nervously and stepped back. "Um... that won't be necessary, I think..."

And after leaving Makoto and Minako behind, Ena gulped. "I tell you, those Gauls are crazy..."

Ami was just walking along the village path, reading an interesting book, when she saw Usagi stumbling towards her, balancing a big menhir behind her back. Luna was walking alongside her, shaking her head.

Ami had to giggle at that sight.

"What's so funny?" the odango'ed Gaul grumbled. "I may be strong, but for a delicate girl like me, it's still no easy task carrying such big stones..."

"Delicate?" Luna huffed. "If you continue to stuff your tummy with all that pork roast, you will become pretty fat sooner or later."

Usagi stuck out her tongue. "Well, is it my fault that they taste so good?"

Ami grinned and closed her book. "Usagi, what do you say you put down that menhir for a while and join me for lunch?"

Usagi beamed. "Great idea!" And with a loud 'WHAM', she dropped the menhir next to her hut and followed her smart friend.

Ailus and Ena were just coming from the village square, looking back to see if that crazy girl with the sledgehammer would still follow them.

When they suddenly bumped into two other girls.

"Oh... excuse me, I didn't see where I was going," the blue-haired Gaul apologized.

"Oh, that's okay," Ailus coughed. Then he took a good look at those girls. Maybe he could buy something from them...

"My ladies, you look like you have the potential to be successful businesswomen... Pardon my question... but is there anything in particular you'd like to sale? I believe we would be able to make you an adequate offer..."

Ami thought about it. Then she grinned. "You know my friend here might have a nice collection of old stones for you..."

"Huh?" Usagi asked. "What?"

"Excuse me for a moment," both Ami and Ailus said at the same time.

After Ami whispered something to her blonde friend, the menhir delivery girl began giggling.

The Roman merchants didn't hear it. "Did you hear that?" Ailus asked with glee. "They must have precious gems... and, being the barbarians they are, they have absolutely no idea of their true value..."

"You were absolutely right," his female partner giggled. "Now we're gonna be rich..."

They turned back to face each other.

"We have decided to accept your offer," Ailus said, trying hardly not to grin.

"Good, but we insist on making a valid contract," Ami nodded.

Ena raised an eyebrow, but pulled a blank contract out of her bag. "This is the standard contract we make with most of our customers," she claimed.

Ami read it carefully. Then, she nodded. "Good, but the whole collection of stones will cost you MMM sesterces."

"Agreed," Ailus nodded and pulled out a big pinfeather to put in the corresponding value in the blank space. Ami took the contract and filled in the corresponding 'goods'. Afterwards, both parties signed the contract.

"Please deliver the goods to our carriage..." Ailus said. "We parked it next to the village gate."

"Understood," Ami agreed, while in the background, Usagi was still giggling madly.

After the two girls and their cat have left, Ailus grinned. "I told you: Those fools don't have the slightest idea what their precious gems are worth... MMM sesterces, that's nothing! We can sell those gems for more than twice the amount of money."

"Coming to this village was the best idea you ever had," Ena snickered.

Then Ailus' gaze wandered over to the most graceful example of femininity he had ever seen in his life.

"Will you take a look at her..." he mumbled. "Such grace... such beauty... and someone like her lives among those barbarians..."

Ena's gaze followed the raven-haired girl as she entered one of the huts. "But... have you seen her clothes? Looks like she is the village's druid..."

"What a waste..." Ailus shook his head. "We should follow her... that kind of girl surely is ready to exchange her old, but valuable goods for some newer things..."

Rei put down the bag of collected herbs and wiped her brow... Collecting those plants every day surely wasn't an easy task. But, as they were important for her potions, the work had to be done...

Suddenly, someone knocked at the door. "Come in," she said absent-mindedly.

She was surprised, when suddenly two Romans stood in front of her. The man bowed and said: "We have followed your trail of elegance, beautiful Gaul..."

"Uh... okay..." Rei said irritated. "What do you want?"

Ailus continued: "We want to assist you... Helping you to have a better lifestyle... in short, we want to relieve you of your old junk and..."

"Old junk?" Suddenly, an elderly man, dressed in similar robes as his granddaughter, appeared next to her. "Did you say: Old junk?"

"Well, yes, we..."

Yelling with anger, the old man grabbed a broom. "THAT'S IT!" And he began pounding the poor Roman merchant with his broom, chasing him out of the hut.

"OUCH! Hey, what's the big... OUCH!"

"Stand still and take your punishment like a man!" the retired druid yelled.

Ena chuckled nervously. "What's wrong with him?"

Rei groaned. "I believe grandpa thought your friend was referring to him..."

"Well, now that was a letdown..." Ena mumbled as they were walking back to their carriage.

Ailus groaned. "That old man surely could pack a punch... and I didn't even get a chance to explain what I meant..."

Then he smiled. "Oh well, at least we have this awesome contract." He grinned and unrolled the scroll. "Imagine, we only have to pay them MMM sesterces for..." His face fell. "For... for..."

"What's the matter?" Ena asked curiously and looked at the contract.

But when she saw just WHAT they had bought, she grimaced. "You... you..."

"Hello there," the cheerful voice of the blue-haired girl shouted. "You still owe us MMM sesterces!"

"Here are your stones, Romans!" her blonde friend grinned.

The Roman carriage was on its way back from the village, swaying under its heavy cargo.

Ena was fuming. "GEMS, HUH? AN AWESOME CONTRACT, RIGHT?"

"How... how was I supposed to know..." Ailus murmured meekly and looked back at their purchase.

A really nice collection of 10 huge menhirs.