<~> Chapter 187Man and I went downstairs a with the rest of roup. I g Silva but she was just sitting and talking with Man. I'd better n it up. Maybe what she was hiding from me wasn't anything important. I hoped so. A few of them had empty ptes, having just finished breakfast. I sat down across from Cecilia who smiled when she looked up from her food.

  "Good m, Lilith."

  "M. What's your pn today?" I asked.

  "I have to go sell the cargo we brought from Goldeh. How about you?"

  "Too much to do holy. I have a delivery to make to a mousefolk at Gordian Smithy, that shouldn't take long, so I want to have that done before I go a with the head of the guard. He'll probably want to discuss demon hunting stuff. After that, I o visit the cartographer's guild and give them a letter of introdu and see what the training schedule for that will be."

  I turned and looked over at Raya and Sibyl who had been quietly listening in. "How about you two? What are your pns?"

  "Sibyl and I talked about it, we'll o go to the adventurer's guild aer. Sibyl doesn't look like her old self anymore and I've never signed up before so we have tister as new adventurers. We're not sure how long that will take, could be a while if it's busy, could be empty because of the situation iy. Other than that, we don't really have many pns," Raya answered.

  I scratched the base of my horn. "I kind of want to check out the adventurer's guild as well, things were a little messed up in Goldeh so I'd like to make sure we got credit for our st quest. Besides, wouldn't it make seister you tart of our party?"

  Sibyl shrugged. "We're not in any rush so we could wait if you want to go together. We could just go shopping today instead. As for the party thing... I wasn't sure how you felt about that. We were intending tister as a duo party but if you don't mind us joining yours, I'd be happy to do that. As long as you take Raya's strength into at when choosing jobs of course. I'd like some input on what we take."

  I nodded. "Not a problem. We'll save that for tomorrow then."

  "Maybe it's best if you came with me then?" Cecelia asked the pair. "I go shopping with you after I take care of my business but with everything going on, I'm not sure how safe it is for beastfolk to walk the streets alht now. It would normally be fine in the capital but it feels risky with the Tamin church running around."

  "That sounds like a good idea, plus it'll be fun!" Raya replied.

  "Are the rest of us going to meet with the Guard Captain?" Bel asked.

  "I think that would be best. Four of us are demon hunters and we shouldn't leave Silva and Mimi alone while we're here."

  "Not to suggest that you're incapable but are you going to be alright without a human around?" Cecilia asked.

  I shrugged. "I don't know but you have your own business. The Tamin padins will probably leave us alone since we have [Demon Hunter] titles, as long as we don't push our luck around them."

  "Are you going to take on a pseudonym?" Torien asked. "The letter suggested you take one on."

  I sighed. "I probably should, what should I use?"

  "How about Lily?" Bel suggested

  I raised an eyebrow at her. "Do I look like a Lily?"

  "I think it's cute," Man added.

  Sighing heavily I shook my head. "Fine, Lily then."

  With that settled we split up for the day. The twins, Bel, Mimi, Silva, and I all went to look for the Gordian smithy while Raya and Sibyl went with Cecilia for the day. We promised to meet back here by sundown. As the six of us walked through the bazaar I had to fight to keep myself calm and collected at the sight. Sadness, pity, and anger were warring inside of me as we tio walk. I chose to look at anything but the sves being dispyed as goods and focused more on the crowd as we walked.

  There were beastfolk of all kinds mixed into the crowd. I had mostly seen more of the on types of beastfolk iher cities but the sheer variety of species here was amazing. Some even looked like animals I wasn't familiar with, some had multiple ears in different shapes and sizes and others had spectacur colored fur. There were also a lot of other races around, elves, what I assumed were dwarves, people that looked like animated rock, and some races that had no real analog to the fantasy novels I was familiar with. Uhe other cities, this pce had a wider range of peoples pared to the predominantly human afolk pces I had passed through.

  Some of the vendors, for both sves and other wares alike, were occasionally from one of these other races of people. I looked over the wares as we passed but nothing really drew my attention. Jewels, rugs, pottery, magical tris, lots of different things that didn't seem all that practical for me or my group. We finally made it to the other side of the bazaar but this was where things got a bit more plicated. Cecilia had never heard of Gordian Smithy so the best we could do was head to the artisan distrid look around from there.

  The crowds were intense and we had to stop a few times to make sure we all stayed together. I didn't mind the crowds actually, they felt familiar. I feel like it's a safe bet I had lived in a rge city, things felt less strange here than in some of the other pces assed through evee the somewhat alien looking popuce. The only thing that felt different to me in this enviro was the architecture.

  Silva tapped me on the shoulder before leaning over to whisper in my ear, "That looks like the pce over there, to the right and on the left side." I looked around the er and a fair distance dowreet was a sign made of light wood with an anvil burned into it.

  "Thank you, Silva," I replied quietly.

  She nodded in response and stepped back behi was still unfortable to treat my friends this way but the twins insisted the three of them act this way in public. I wouldn't have taken their warnings so seriously if it wasn't for every Tamin priest and padin we crossed paths with iing us so closely. It would be annoying to stand ht now.

  By the door there was a small pque with the words "Beastkin allowed" burned into the wood along with a small image of a tall-eared mannequin below them. It took me all the way back to that time in Traehall when I had actally entered a on shop that ecifically not beastkin friendly. I opehe door and was about to hold it open for the group when Torien took my pd nodded for me to tinue. I frowned but followed her lead.

  A e demi-beastfolk sat at the ter. He looked pretty average but had grey wolf ears on his head, he looked almost bored until he looked over roup. I'm not sure what exactly got him to sit up straight but it was a little bit ical to see him act this way. My guess was just the differen our levels, the guy had so much less mana in him that he felt... small by parison.

  "W- wele to Gordian Smithy! How may I help you ma'am?"

  "I'm looking for... uh." I turo Bel. "Do you remember the name of Meena and Twill's cousin?"

  "...Tenna I think?"

  I turned back to the shopkeeper. "Uh, Is Tenna here?"

  The young guy sed roup again before nodding. "S-sure. I'll go see if she'll see you."

  "Tell her I brought a delivery from Meena and Twill."

  "...Right," he replied. He stood up and walked to the back of the shop.

  "It's weird isn't it?" Silva asked.

  I turo her. "Hm? What is?"

  "How other people act when you're higher level. Especially in towns." She ughed to herself.

  I shrugged. This had been one of the first times I'd noticed it.

  "Um, she'll see you in the back but I don't think all of you will fit..." the wolfboy awkwardly told us.

  I nodded and turo my friends. "Okay, I need you to e with me, Mimi. Everyone else stay here and see if there's anything you want."

  Man and Torien bowed in sync. "Yes, Mistress." It left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't ent on it but I also didn't like it. I just o aowledge I heard them and led Mimi to the back with the store clerk.

  The back of the smithy was warm but it didn't seem the fe was lit right now. A rge table was covered in swords. The middle-aged and muscur mousefolk woma aside the on she was sharpening a her spinning whetstone e to a stop.

  "You have something for me?" the woman gruffly asked.

  I nodded and turo Mimi. " you give me the box we were holding onto for Meena and Twill? Those two mousefolk I talked to in Traehall, they had that locked box and the letter."

  Mimi nodded and in her hand, a small box appeared, which got the attention of the woman. "Oh, this must be good. Here, pce the box oable and I'll look through the letter."

  "You're Tenna?" I asked.

  "I am. You said this is from Meena and Twill? Does this have to do with their shop in Traehall?"

  "Uh... close." I looked around the room. "Do you wao put up a [Zone of Silence]?"

  She squi me for a sed. I was a little bit higher level than her from what I could tell. Pretty impressive for a smith I assumed. I didn't know if stuff like smithing increased your level or not.

  "Fine, if you think we should then do it. You'd best not think I'd be defenseless if this is a ploy, I know how to use this hammer here." She waved a smith's hammer at me threateningly.

  I ughed. "o worry." I snapped up a [Zone of Silenbsp;and then handed her the letter. "Your cousins think they discovered a mithril mine."

  The woman's eyes widened. She tossed the half-opened letter aside and fished out the key that hung from her neckce. It slid right into the lod clicked open the small box that held the k of ore I had brought all this way. The k of mystery ore started to release its hazy mirage again. I looked at it with my [Mana Sight], just to see if it stood out to me. To my [Mana Sight], the rock was glowing a bright blue hue. I couldn't really tell what kind of magic it was though, it didn't look that simir to any of the other fvors of magic I was familiar with.

  The smith jumped up from her stool and grabbed a small wooden box a o the box oable. Sitting down again she opehe box and pulled out a small jeweler's lens. I was actually a little surprised that they had this kind of magnification tool, how far aloheir optics? Bel hadn't seemed to know anything about bacteria. What this an education issue or a teological one?

  The mouseicked up the ore and ied it closely. She didn't take long to reach her clusion. "It's fug mithril, no doubt about it. High quality ore too."

  She put it back down in the box and s shut before pig up the letter and tearing it open the rest of the way. She quickly skimmed dowter before setting it down and looking back up at me. "What took you so long? This letter is dated back more than three weeks ago. Did anyone find out about this?" she asked gesturing to the box.

  I shook my head. "No. We were deyed in Goldeh by something pletely uhe city was still rec from the Baron's death and the outbreak of demons there."

  "Ah good, I was worried that someone may have learned about this and gave you trouble. My cousin says you seem to be a trustworthy sort. Are you pnning on going back to Traehall soon?"

  "I'm not sure. I came to get cartography training here in the Capital and I have half a dozen other errands to run. I'll be here for at least a week minimum but I'm supposed to return within six months at the most," I replied.

  "Hmph. Fine, I'll have to send a different courier back. Unfortunate, but I know someone who keep this quiet. As for your payment on this, Meena told me to give you 20% of the ore's market value but that's stupid. I'll pay you more than that to keep your traps shut about this." She gestured at the closed box. "The other problem is that mithril is very expensive right now. That's not a problem of mohe issue is that I don't want to go around asking for mithril market value while there's such a small supply of it. I 't let ach wind of this, a mithril mine would be huge for our family. So how about this, have you ever owned a mithril on before?"

  I think I liked where this was going. I smiled and crossed my arms. "I have not."

  "Would you like to?" she asked with a fierce grin.

  Saine

  Hello! New friends! It's been quite a while sihis little dangling plot thread icked up. I inally created Meena and Twill because the thought of bcksmithing micefolk was a fun tradi that seemed like a fun thing to highlight. Holy, I wish I could dedicate more time to this character but things are about to heat up...

  In other news, it's my birthday today!

  Chey other story here: Umbral Feast

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