Chapter 243 242: Going Shopping As A Family

After another long set of negotiations with the receptionist, we all managed to exit the guild 32 Golds richer...

Yeah, apparently the deeper you go into the Zhu'Rong Caverns, the rarer the materials and monsters are, and the more expensive the prices are.

For instance, the Spartoi bones that we managed to harvest were each a singular Gold, while the Malum Ore was able to be sold for around a Gold and twenty Silvers per chunk.

Though, Anput kept those for her next work, while Leone kept the Qiliarian Stalks that had grown near the Gate of Hades.

Still, the monster parts that we had managed to harvest from the corpses were rather lucrative.

Speaking of, the receptionist had finally shared her name after our frequent battles, a begrudging respect growing between us as we fought tooth and nail for each and every Copper that we possibly could; in fact, I had almost lunged and sucker punched the woman when she had tried to gyp me of thirteen Coppers...

This shrewd, sometimes demonic, sometimes highly murderable woman was a thirty year old Half Elf, Half Fairy mother of one, and she had a knack for negotiations that few seemed to have outside of merchants and sociopathic business owners.

After our third such epic battle to squeeze more, or less, coin from the other resulted in both of us panting as we glared at one another, before I finally got this woman's name.

Ywacla Pixalan; her long metallic gold hair complimented her verdant forest green eyes, while her fair white skin was almost flawless.

Sharp eyebrows contrasted her soft eyes, while her plump lips were always pulled up into a small smirk, like she knew that she was damn good at what she did.

Bitch.

Besides that, while my girls all stood around me looking bored, I had to admit that whilst we negotiated the prices, during the small time where we would contemplate the offer, we shared quite a few stories about ourselves, attempting to distract and shake the others focus.

Hence why I know that Ywacla was a mother of one; her wife left her for a buff Orc futa instead, leaving the Half Elf-Fairy rather bitter and angry.

Though, her two year old daughter Ophelia had become her rock, and she was doing her damndest to provide everything for her little girl.

That was where the respect between us began to grow, as I told her about how my mother had done her best to raise me on her own in a new place after running from danger for so long.

The parallels  between Ophelia and I were apparent, so I think Ywacla began to see that overlap, which provided a difference in treatment.

Anyways, after giving my new annoying, silver tongued, hard working friend a glare and a nod, we left the Guild with quite a fortune piled between us.

"Ugh, finally! By the Goddess is that SO annoying and tedious..."

Turning to Anput, I held out my hand, making the Jackalkin confused.

"What?"

Narrowing my eyes at her, I spoke in a flat tone as I said "Hand me three Golds and fifty Silvers then."

The woman took a few steps back, her posture on guard as she covered her coin purse with her hands, warily staring at me.

"Why?"

Taking a step forwards, I cocked a brow as I told her "Because I got you those three and a half Golds from my 'annoying and tedious' hard work... so, hand it over."

Shaking her head, Anput slipped behind Jahi, peeking her head around the Demoness' broad back as she muttered "Nope nope nope..."

Jahi sighed and crossed her arms across her chest, taking a look at the sky.

"Alright, lets get going... the sooner we're in a bed and I'm listening to the combined moans of all three of you, the better..."

Each of us glanced at the woman, her obvious arousal making us blush slightly as we nodded, the previous argument forgotten.

I was beginning to believe that my Nymphomania skill transferred to Jahi, but I guess that my large blue Demoness had managed to make the other two addicted to the pleasure that she was capable of doling out.

Glancing around, Jahi looked for the smithing section of the marketplace first, since Anput was a quick shopper, before we would make our ways to the herb gardens and alchemical section to let Leone browse.

Finally, anything that I thought we might need grocery wise or, on the very low odds that I wanted something, we would go grab that.

With that in mind, the Demoness cut a path through the crowded marketplace, each of us following behind her like ducklings, swiftly finding ourselves inside the cloth covered section of the forges.

The sounds of hammers falling onto anvils rang around the area, while men and women shouted out orders to one another as they set to work.

Burning coals added to the sweltering heat, and the stink of sweat merged with the scent of charred metals and smoke.

The milling crowd conversed in hushed whispers as they tried to not distract the working smiths, hoping that by doing so the smiths would create a better quality work for them to purchase.

As for us, Anput swapped with Jahi as she began to venture towards the forge that she bought most of her materials and coal from; Dwarven Master of all Things Metal.

Odd name, but there were worse...

Hammered Like Metal was another storefront...

Going inside, we were greeted with a short bearded man, a long pipe hanging from his lips.

"Ah, the Jackalkin's back~! Hows the forging been?"

The smell of sickly sweet vanilla drifted around the store, and I wrinkled my nose as Anput sighed.

"Lorkai, must you smoke the shop up like this? Hah, anyways, I got some coin recently, as well as some Malum, so I need-"

I lost interest in moments, instead focussing on the various weapons hanging on the walls around us; the technicalities and intricacies of Anput's work, and Leone's, had begun to fly over my head recently.

The magic involved was interesting, but it was always paired with complex practices that had no use anywhere besides their respective fields, so I decided to leave those to them, while I continued to pursue my own interests.

What I do know is that Anput left the store thirty Gold poorer, a large bag of materials slung over her back as we journeyed forwards, towards the much more interesting, and much better smelling herb gardens.

Leone drifted between gardens, purchasing a stalk here, a bushel there, a petal here, a bundle there...

It was much more time consuming with Leone, but each of us added ingredients for potions we wanted her to make.

Anput wanted a muscle relaxer that worked as she worked, keeping her body limber, while I wanted a potion that focused the mind and steadied my mana output, making enchanting easier.

Jahi wanted stamina potions, and lots of them.

Like, dozens of vials.

We bought the ingredients for her, but the Vampire was also paid on top of that, just usually in another way instead of coin.

For instance, Anput would relinquish her position as a top for the day to Leone in exchange for the potions, whilst I gave the Vampire whatever she wanted inside a singular hour timeframe for each potion.

Leone had readily agreed to that, while the rest of us were quite happy with what we gave her for those potions.

Having a resident Alchemist, Smith, and Enchanter was rather nice, and Jahi was slowly reaping the benefits from that, as we all gifted our wife various things when we were done working, and our professions fed into each others.

I could enchant items for either of the women; a cap on how hot or cold a container could be for Leone, or a weight enchant for Anput.

Leone could give us potions, while Anput could forge equipment for us.

As for Jahi...

Well, considering the woman's golden eyes as we were grabbing groceries, it wasn't hard to figure our where she fell into this equation.

Her 'sweetness' was rather addicting...

Anyways, with each of us having finished our shopping, we were on our way home when we grabbed another paper, this one discussing the newest news not from Tragon or the West, but instead more local.

There had been a string of murders inside the Capital recently, and the killer had been found and detained, but oddly enough they don't remember killing anyone, despite being found with the murder weapon and being arrested next to the most recent victim.

That person had been...

Not someone we knew, but it was rather interesting, especially because they claimed to have seen various people with green sashes before they would black out, after which they were known to have killed someone.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Sariel's and Kameiel's were up to something, but for now the common people were dismissing that as the ramblings of a madman...

After all, why would a murder have any ties to a Noble House, let alone a Duchy?