234: Slug
Walking deeper into the market, the entire place seemed to shimmer with faint shades of blue as my ability picked up all the possible edible items; the common ingredients barely registered, appearing almost like pale wisps around bundles of dried herbs and roots.
But there was the unmistakable appearance of rarer items, drawing my eye immediately.
The first stall that really caught my eye and nearly had me forget all about the Garlic grass and cheese roll in my hand was a shop that was dedicated to dungeon material, or more importantly it looked to be the plants and some critters from the dungeon.
Silver roots hung from the rafters behind the stall’s owner, even through my skill, the silver was unmistakable. Beneath them sat what looked to be baskets, berries? No, but certainly some kind of fruit, the size of my fist, it was crimson with thumb-sized black spots on it.
Next to that however sat several jars which looked to be filled with a liquid and inside was what appeared to be some kind of slug, through the light it had a translucent almost emerald like appearance, but if my foraging skill was anything to go by right now, they must have been exceptionally rare.
“Hello young adventurers!” the middle-aged man said with a beaming smile.
After a quick wave, I had to ask, “The jar’s there, what are they?”
“Ah! You have a good eye! They are cave slugs from the third floor of the dungeon, frustrating to catch despite their slow movements, and even harder to preserve, but make no mistake when done well they are a true delicacy!” the man said.
I couldn’t help but notice Jen wince next to me, but I knew if Liane were here, she’d be encouraging me to no end to try it.
“How much?” I asked.
The man looked back, “Ten silver a slug.”
“For the jar, sorry.” I added.
The man looked stunned for a moment before looking back, “Uh, well, I suppose I could sell it for one and a half gold?”
It felt like a lot. I could see it was at least uncommon, but for all I know I could have been buying something that tasted like mushy mud, but if I never tried something like this, I’d never know, right?
“If you throw in some of the silver roots there and a couple of the crimson fruit behind you, you have a deal.” I said with a smile.
The shop owner laughed, “The roots? I wouldn’t use them for cooking lad.”
I frowned a little; they were glowing blue, so they were absolutely edible, at least for me, so I’d probably need to be careful when I used them.
I pushed it a little. “Could you tell me about them?”
“Yeah sure, they are simply called Silver Root, you find them growing around rich ore veins in the dungeon, but they’ll make you sick if you eat them, it’s mostly used in alchemy for pain relief, normally I’d sell it directly to the alchemy guild.” The man said, letting out a hearty laugh, shaking his head.
I decided this was a great opportunity to get some information. “Something happened to them?”
The man snorted, “Something happened? Lad, they are all but gone; the head family angered the king in the capital and were stripped of their name and banished! They’re all either in hiding or trying to flee to another continent right now.”
Looking around me, I still saw lots of potion sellers, so I pushed it a little further. “I see there are still plenty of vendors selling potions, though.”
“Aye there is, but now anyone can sell and the non-approved or lower ranked alchemists who used to have to hide and do it in secret are able to do it openly, it’s been great for business on my end, and the prices are a lot better, but we’ve lost access to a lot of the really high end potions.” The man said thoughtfully.
“I’m sure they’ll show up again before long,” Jen added.
“You’re right, I heard the family kept all the recipes secret, so hopefully it’s not lost forever. I feel the king might have been too hasty with his punishment in some ways.” The man sighed.
I was about to argue back, explain how he did it to himself, but Jen’s hand on my shoulder squeezed slightly, clearly expecting exactly where my thought process was going, so taking a deep breath, I went back to the materials.
“I’m somewhat of a novice alchemist myself; it’s why the ingredient caught my eye.” I lied,
“Ah! Now that makes sense. Yeah, I can happily sell you a handful of Silver Root, let’s say half a dozen rock berries, and a jar of cave slugs for one and a half gold?” the man said jovially.
Paying the man, I stored everything, happy that I had several new items.
As we continued through the market, there was something that really caught my eye, a lady was hanging a creature I had never seen before on a large butchery hook, it had a very rough appearance of a deer, however it quickly turned strange, it shared similar sized antlers, however these looked to be crystalline with what appeared to be lightning frozen in place inside.
The fur of the creature was a pale blue, almost white, while the hide itself was almost translucent, on the tables in front of the merchant there were large slabs of meat and organs ready to be sold, but my eyes were set on the whole creature, and I wanted to get there before she had cut it.
“Excuse me,” I called as I approached.
My mind was made up even before I made it fully to the table; I would be leaving with that creature.
As they turned around to me knife in hand, she pointed to an assistant she had at the stall who was wrapping pieces of meat for another customer.
“Well, I was kind of hoping to buy the whole thing, uncut.” I said quickly as she was raising the knife.
It barely interrupted her, and she didn’t even bother turning around. “It’s expensive.”
“I have the money.” I said simply.
This made her put the knife down as she turned around; she appeared to study me for a moment.
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“This thing will cost twenty-five silver.” She said firmly, pointing her thumb over her shoulder.
I paused for a moment, it was far cheaper than what I was expecting, but the pause clearly frustrated the lady.
“I told you it was expensive, now you’re just wasting my time.” She went to turn around.
“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not that—twenty-five is fine. Do you have anymore?” I asked, pulling out a gold coin.
Her eyes went wide as she went back to the cart that was behind a cloth.
“I have six, though this is the largest.” She said.
“Would you sell them all for one gold then?” I asked hopefully.
“Hmm, I don’t know. I could get more than a gold if I cut them up.” She said thoughtfully.
“Perhaps, but you’d also spend your morning butchering for a little extra.” I retorted.
“What else am I going to do with my day?” she said, now clearly enjoying the exchange.
“Have a drink?” I said with a grin.
She laughed, “Gah, and listen to everyone talk about the sky lighting up last night, I’d rather not.”
I was about to make another offer, but her face broke into a giant grin. “You have yourself a deal!”
She reached forward, clasping my hand in a handshake despite her having blood on her own. I also noticed she had already taken the gold coin.
“How are you going to carry all this anyway? It doesn’t look like she’d be strong enough.” She said, looking at Jen.
“Would you mind if I stepped around there? I can store it all; just show me the other five.” I smiled.
After a nod, I walked around the table that was between us, reaching out and storing the creature.
Would you like to store 1x [Uncommon] Crystal Forest Elk for 5 mana? Yes/No
After that, I stored the next five, getting an approving nod from her as they were all gone.
“Well, you’ve given me an easy day today,” she said with a giant grin.
Saying our goodbyes my mind was racing on recipe ideas, but one thing I really wanted to do while I was here was to see if I could find any woods from the dungeon, I also was looking for anything that would expand the elements I had worked with so far.
I also wanted to find items that would provide dexterity. Going by other foods that had managed it, I wanted something fast, and I spotted what looked to be the perfect creature.
Only a few stalls from where I got the elk, there were what could only be described as reptile looking rabbits, they were the size of my torso, and had incredibly large hind legs like regular rabbits, only these where black, and covered in small scales, its mouth was terrifying as it was full of needle like teeth.
Leaning back to Jen, I pointed them out, “Think they would be good for dexterity?”
Jen nodded, “I’m not familiar with exactly those creatures, but looking at those back legs, they would be great for leaping and running, or I guess hunting looking at that face, so good likelihood, yeah.”
Approaching the stall, I was slightly disappointed to see they were all gutted already, but to make life easier, these had a price tag already, twenty silver, voidscale hare.
Honestly, this seemed like a bargain already, but I made a move that Micca and Milo would be proud of, “All three for fifty silver?”
The merchant seemed to consider it for a moment, “Aight, you have a deal.”
We stopped for food, this time going with a roast lizard on a stick, along with what appeared to be small pieces of fried fish, while Jen got a sausage that had been fried, and had little pockets of cheese in the sausage itself, I was regretting not trying one.
It was much harder than I expected to find the different kinds of wood, and the few crafters whom I asked just laughed, stating all the craftsmen in this area would have snapped it up the moment it went up for sale.
It wasn’t until the last shop that I visited that I had any luck at all, entering the bowyer that was just off to the side of the market, I was met by a young-looking man, but the elven features quickly gave away he was likely far older than he appeared.
He immediately spotted Jen, a large smile on his face as his eyes were locked on the bow on her back. “Old thing that one.” He said in a soft tone.
He moved effortlessly across the floor, not even disturbing the dust.
Jen laughed, reaching back to touch it, “Very, but it’s done me well so far.”
“And you’re here for a new one?” He asked.
I interrupted, “Not exactly. I was hoping to buy some of your scrap wood actually, of the more exotic varieties.”
His eyes lingered on the bow a little while longer. “Are you sure? We can absolutely upgrade that old thing.”
Jen laughed, “I’d love to, but I don’t have the time, I leave tomorrow.”
Turning to me and focusing on me for the first time, his eyes went wide, as if he hadn’t even noticed I was there at first.
“That scarf, what is it?” He said, approaching quickly.
I took a step back, and Lily must have opened her eyes at that moment because he halted in his tracks, almost falling back.
“Demon? No… magnificent.” He muttered.
I felt like this was going poorly, especially with Crisplet now flaring up as well, so I tried the best approach.
“Uh, I think it’s best we leave then. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.” I backed away, not sure how things had gone so out of control here.
He bowed, “No, please don’t go, stay. I apologise, I was too forward. It’s not every day you see materials you didn’t know existed, and in such fine craftsmanship.”
I looked back at Jen for support, not entirely sure what to do, every part of me was telling me I should still leave, but we were here for a purpose right, and it’s not like I wasn’t protected right now, I was wearing my armour, gloves, legs, and scarf.
“Look, I’m sorry. All we’re after is any scrap wood you may have, preferably exotic ones. We’re willing to pay, of course.” I asked again, not taking a step forward.
The man was still bowing deeply, “I have nothing large unfortunately, due to the way we craft its small chips at best.”
“That’s perfect, it’s what I’m after.” I smiled.
He looked up at me in confusion, and before he could ask, I added, “It’s for cooking. I use it for smoking bacon, sausages, and jerky for the road. I find exotic woods add an extra tang to it.”
I was, of course, making that all up and felt bad about lying, but as Milo had shown me, it works well in these situations.
“Ah, that makes sense, yes those large barrels over there are full of chips you’re welcome to take, its all together though and not separated, so I won’t charge you for it, consider it an apology for being too forward.” He smiled.
I moved to approach the barrels he pointed it, and they were massive, there were multiple all full to the brim with wood chips, reaching out I was glad to see I could store it all, leaving the barrel behind, and couldn’t help but laugh at the name the system assigned.
Would you like to store 63kg [Common] Mystery Bowyer Blend for 5 mana? Yes/No
Storing the others, two of the barrels were tagged as Uncommon, and seeing that I got so much, I pulled out several silver and offered them to the man.
“Please accept this; I’d hate to take it for free.” I smiled.
It was only then that he seemed to notice my gloves, as his eyes went wide, but he didn’t say anything, just reached his own hand out to accept the coins, which I noticed was shaking slightly.
“Please come back for the bow any time.”
I decided I had enough of the market for the day, so we made our way back to the inn, spotting Neo and Anthony on our way out of the market, their stores loaded with random goods, in particular fabrics and hides from the capital.
It had been a very successful trip overall, even if it ended on a strange note. Getting multiple new foods to try was exciting, and this is exactly what I missed about being on the road.
I was also surprised that, other than hearing the odd muttering, the events of last night didn’t affect the market at all. It seemed to be business as usual.
“Everything okay?” Jen asked as we walked.
I nodded, “Yeah, it is. I was just thinking how I’m far happier out on the road again.”
Jen laughed, “Me too, Trev, me too.”