Chapter 23 – Shopping Excursion

Monte scowled under his hood. In a dark corner of his warehouse, his employer was shouting at him.

"You should have just finished him off! He didn't have the dryads, he was just using the vines of a tiny little flower creature!"

A flower creature that can use vines? Monte had never heard of such a thing. He always knew that vines would denote dryads. And dryads could wipe out an army if they wanted to.

"The vines were actively chasing me. How could I have known they weren't from dryads. I thought I wasn't going to get out of there alive!"

"You weren't hired to think. Now you've made a bigger mess. How are you going to clean this up?"

"It'll be much tougher now. I can still reach those two royals if I can use the shadows, but getting off the palace property is going to take a lot of distractions."

"If it's a distraction you need, I think I have just the thing. The new guy that saved them, Airey? He will be returning to the palace. I think we can use him as a decoy."

"As you wish. Leave me the usual signal on what day I should enter. I'll be ready for it."

"You'd better be. I won't be paying the remaining half until you've done the job right! Get it wrong and I'll be giving you up to the authorities. I have no connection with you, got it?"

"Understood."

As his employer left him in the warehouse, Monte considered all his options.

"Airey? Never heard of him. He sure knew how to distract in a battle. Flying rocks, spears, daggers, and barriers…what level was that kid? It didn't make sense since Monte was far faster than him. Airey was more than what meets the eye. Barrier specialists were already rare. There were maybe 5 in each kingdom. But then he had boulders appearing in the sky. What kind of skill was that? Did I underestimate the kid? How did the twerp manage to disengage 4 slave collars instantaneously? I still had the keys to the collars, so it shouldn't have been possible. What kind of cheater was that kid? Within minutes, he stopped my horses, distracted me, freed the dwarves, and released the beastkin slaves. While he wasn't that adept at battle, I should not underestimate him. Airey, huh? I'll remember you. My daggers will remember you, Airey.

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It was a beautiful sunny day. The mountain breeze made the air very comfortable in the city of Malduhr. Passerby's were mostly dwarf while there was a smattering of beastkin and humans in the mix. It was a few hours in the city before I spotted my first elf. Apparently, most elves remain on the elven continent.

Lilly was my ever-excited tour guide. Midnight remained by my side as the vigilant guard that he was. The two catkin headed out on some errands. They were apparently interested in getting us some maps to help with our future journey. They were also going to request ownership or purchase of the carriage and horses we had used for the past few days. Technically the carriage and horses had belonged to Monte, but I suspected that it may have been stolen in the first place. They were also selling off some of the spare bows and materials I collected on the mountain. We would need more coin for our future needs.

"This is the bakery! They have all the best breads. Do you want to buy some bread? You have bread on your world, right? Right?"

"No other world talk please. And yes, I am familiar with bread. We can keep some in my storage. That will keep it fresh."

I had quickly gotten accustomed to Lilly's constant excitement over everything. And I mean literally everything. She was even excited to tell me about the local post office. Apparently, they deliver by airship all around Vando so it worked quite efficiently. Once we had reached local grocers, we had stopped at nearly every single one to buy ingredients. The beastkin were shocked when I admitted last night that my Storage skill had no known limit to it. Since then, they had been filling it with cooked foods, ingredients, resources, and even building materials. I was pretty sure I would be able to build my own house sometime soon!

We made sure to stop at one of the best weaponsmith shops around. I asked them if they had any swords made by the queen. Apparently, they did. However, the price was exorbitant. I realized that buying a quality sword would have to wait. Perhaps I could even make my own? In the meantime, I purchased a simple steel dagger. They also sold me a double scabbard that could hold two swords and a dagger on it. I wasn't sure if I would need it with my Storage Vision, but I decided that it wouldn't hurt. When entering places where I couldn't use my skill, having the scabbard may be necessary.

At a clothing store, I was pleased to find cotton and lighter fabrics that I could wear. I purchased 10 pairs of pants, 20 shirts, and an overcoat that I could use in the cold. I also purchased a large amount of underwear and socks. Thankfully, the design they made appeared to be comfortable. I also found myself a spare set of boots. They reminded me of hiking boots. I immediately switched out to my new gear in a changing room. I continued to carry the large bag of clothes out of the store until I was out of sight and could store it all in my Storage Vision. Now I had a comfortable amount of clothing and food. My comfort level on Vando had skyrocketed! A voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Airey, have you thought of how we can keep making an income? Perhaps we can become Adventurers?"