章 46: Greed
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Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!
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[The night of 20th August 1802; one day before Caitlyn, Snow, Sebastian and Romilda's group reached Paris]
"How can you tolerate that man...?"
Caitlyn spoke to Romilda; who was beside her - ahem, embracing her.
It was a scene that could not be described in this PG-13 novel; one in a hot-spring on the way to Paris; where the group had conveniently decided to stop the night - courtesy of Jacques, their noble escort.
The handsome, black-haired woman was currently soaping the slightly shorter girl; but despite her being taller than the blonde girl, her [omitted] were much smaller - owing to her oriental blood. She tried to play it cool; but one could see a slight flush in her cheeks and hear a tightness in her throat - that is, if they could watch the scene without being killed by the two.
On the other side; the dazzlingly beautiful girl was blushing furiously; completely unused to this situation but doing her best to go along with the flow. She held back a slight moan as the older but still youthful woman washed her [omitted]; and almost pulled away; then remembered the reason they were doing this and decidedly pressed herself back into the gentle woman's embrace.
She raised her head to press her lips against Caitlyn's ear - then whispered - "He's revolting, and obviously trying to curry favour for future political gain. But he reminds me of my brother..."
She had separated from her older brother in Turin; and had been heading to the tomb of NDLDG to investigate the lost contact with Duke Greybeard's group; but the mission was called off once they received news of the gods descent at Manacor; and also with the looming threat of the demon invasion.
Ahem, back to the hot baths. Ahem; they were not there to participate in certain unmentionable activities. But they could not think of another method to avoid prying eyes and perked-up ears; especially in the presence of the semi-divine paladin Roland.
And so they were in a very compromising situation; in order to discuss their plans - excluding Sebastian, of course.
Caitlyn pretended to bite the nape of the smaller but toned girl's neck; pausing to admire and feel envious of how perfect her skin and curves were.
"...It's too suspicious."
"Right." The blonde girl nodded in assent; blushing and holding in her gasps at the new sensations.
(Don't hug me so tight... If you do, my [omitted] will rub against your [omitted]...) But she couldn't find her voice to speak those words, so she just asked further; "I have my own thoughts as well; but what are your suspicions about...?"
"They were too quick to reach. Imagine this; the palace is in turmoil, the Queen still mourning the death of her husband. Then--" Caitlyn kept her hands busy to keep up the pretense of their "activities" together. "--How come those two arrived so quickly? Our message would have taken 2 days to arrive by invisible falcon. They would need to have left immediately! With no delay on the same day itself..."
They exchanged positions as Romilda's body had been soaped, lathered and rinsed completely. This time it was the princess' turn to scrutinise the older woman's body.
(If I can have skin as soft as her's at that age...) She resented that her palms and hands were so rough due to sword practice.
"...Indeed. My senses and precognition have been firing furiously; that something is wrong. I'm not one for politicking or scheming; but even I can see that something is not right."
As they finished off their bath; it also occurred to her.
They had mentioned Sam in the letter - but why was she excluded from the invitation...?
They stepped out of the pool; carefully avoiding lowering their gazes. And also avoiding looking each other in the face.
As they both had nose-bleeds.
* * * * *
At the same time, Sebastian and Principal Snow were [omitted].
The brawny grey-haired man and the short, scholarly balding man were sharing their own secret discussion while [omitted for the sake of my readers and my own comfort...]
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[Lyon, 21 August morning, a day before the steam train was expected to leave]
"Alright, Sam! Let's go!" Jho Low was dressed in a sleazy looking outfit; making him look like a round blob despite him not actually being that fat.
Shiny black leather top. Tight fitting. Deep V neck. Bell bottoms; silver and glossy. Gaudy.
"You look so cool!"
"Geh heh... I have an extra~! Why don't I lend it to you-- mmph OUCH!"
Khadir punched Jho Low solidly in the mouth to shut him up and keep him from corrupting the impressionable girl. Snowie just covered her face with her paws in horror.
"Ignore thar gig'lo! Let's go!"
The inn they chose was only 10 minutes walk to the guild. On the way, the bricks of the road transitioned from lousy and cracked stones to better, more presentable flooring.
Along the way, Khadir and Jho dropped off their weapons to a small blacksmith's store which only occupied the 2nd floor. According to the mercenary leader, they used to rent the ground floor; but as rentals went up and profits went down during peace times, they moved upstairs and were replaced by a Setapak's coffee franchisee.
They clambered up a claustrophobic staircase and had to squeeze past other descending customers twice. Sam had to bend down quite low - her height was raised by 2cm by growth and another 25cm by Snowie on her head.
On the way, Khadir explained with his booming voice and difficult to understand accent that this was not where they actually smithed the items; just where they sold it.
The owner was also part of their adventuring troupe-cum-mercenaries. But he had hit it off with the youngest daughter of a noble they had rescued - "Love at ferst sight...!" They'd claimed.
Now he ran a store to sell the goods of other blacksmiths, brought in from the craftsmens' district to be sold in the commercial district - near the adventurer's guild.
When they entered, Sam could see 3 sales assistants scurrying around, serving several different groups of rugged warriors. From the looks of it, the clientele and the wares were mostly targeted at lower tiered warriors below level 10.
They then joined a queue to the single payment and ordering counter; where a skinny man was serving customers one by one.
They queued for a while before they reached the counter. The clerk receiving orders and collecting payments looked hassled and weary; his cheeks hollow and eyebags dark.
"Ho~ Adormain!" Khadir called out enthusiastically.
"K-Khadir! It's good to see you again!" The slender and pale man had a slight stutter in his speech.
"Bizness lookin' good ei?" The stocky bearded mercenary and sleazy assassin beside him placed their weapons on the large and wide counter.
"So far so good; what with the demons invasion and attacks recently... When the adventurers get more business, well, so do I! Oh, the regular, mmhmm?" The shop owner smiled self-deprecatingly.
"R-right; I'll do yours first so, you can p-pick it up around..." He checked a mechanical clock hanging on the wall behind him. "...5 o'clock today? Is that ok?"
Grunting in assent, Khadir placed 8 silver coins on the table and bowed to the clerk. Despite looking slim and weak, the clerk's arms were quite muscular; easily carrying the boss' axe in one hand while grasping Jho's twin daggers in his other hand.
Not wanting to trouble the busy shop any more, the trio squeezed past the other shoppers and descended the narrow staircase carefully.
"Saw anything you like...?" The chubby assassin asked their young companion, but she shook her head in the negative.
"Gehehe... Don't you fret - the stuff at the adventurer's guild will make you wish you'd never seen them! Once you do..." He let out a heavy sigh; "...You'll get stuck earning achievement points until you're old and fat, just like him." He pointed at Khadir.
"Hmmph! That's coming for your pay for this mission!"
"N-no! No! Boss! That's dirty! You can't, you can't do that, right...?" He looked at Sam, trying to get her to support him. "...Right Sam...?"
She ignored him.
* * * * *
(Wow...)
She stood before a pair of gauntlets on display.
Beside it was laid out a suit of light-weight plated armour.
[Label: The Protector. A set of full body armour that is guaranteed to not restrict your mobility. Moulds itself to the users body and can self-repair when infused with mana or life-force.
Cost: 63,000 AP (Achievement Points). Minimum rank for purchase: Orihalcum]
[Gloves of Double Impact. The enchantment in the gloves doubles the damage dealt by the direct hand strikes made by the wearer. 99,000 AP. Minimum rank: Adamantine]
"I... Want..." It was the first time she drooled over something that wasn't food.
Then she saw something which blew her mind away - not that there was much there to speak of in the first place.
[Bag of Infinite Food. It's not that tasty, but it does what it says. Can also be used to preserve 100 cubic metres of food for 45 days. Best when paired with decanter of endless water. What are you waiting for? Whether it's a 2 year dungeon raid or feeding an army, this is the product for you! 189,200 AP. Minimum rank: Mythical]
Her eyes were set ablaze.
"I'm going to be an adventurer!!!!!"
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"How much is 300,000 AP?"
"Oh, let's see... About 30 million gold? The conversion rate is really bad... Or about 4 level 25 dragons...?"
Snowie meowed in horror.
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