"This is absolutely amazing!" Remi flitted from one merchant stall to the next, Melina barely able to catch up with her. Yesterday, the elf girl had remained inside the inn all day, too worried about humans reacting to her elven ears to go out. When Melina found that out in the evening, she promised to take Remi shopping the next day.
What Melina had not anticipated was the fact that the elf would have so little self-control. She ran after Remi, grabbing her by the hand. "Calm down. These things won't just suddenly disappear."
"I understand that, but look at all these treasures—clothes and spices, fabrics of every color, and jewelry with rarest gems," Remi said, eyes sparkling in wonder. She was dressed in casual clothes—a long, airy skirt, lilac-colored blouse, and most importantly a matching headscarf to hide her long ears.
It was hard to tell how people in Pertia would react to an elf's presence. There was a slight possibility that they wouldn't think much about it. However, after seeing the innkeeper's reaction yesterday, Melina decided that it was best not to test that theory.
"Those are not real gems, but merely glass replicas," Melina said, and one of the nearby merchants deflated.
"Even so—they're still pretty," Remi said, admiring the faux jewelry.
"Remi, didn't we come here to buy you some new clothes?"
"Yes, but would it be so bad if I browsed around a little bit? Who knows, maybe you'll find something you like too? Either some nice dress or perhaps a rare cooking ingredient?" Remi said sagely, and Melina had to agree with her. There was no rush since they were waiting for the carpenters to finish their job.
"Have you never been to a market like this?" Melina asked, taking hold of Remi's hand so she wouldn't disappear in the dense sea of people.
"No. The few times I've been to human cities have always ended rather… quickly," she said in a quiet whisper.
"They chased you out?"
"No. Well, not intentionally. Humans swarmed me like crazy, all of them trying to touch me or ask me to perform some magic on them, cure their child, find their lover, and predict their future. I'm not even a mage—how am I supposed to do any of that stuff?"
"Well, be glad it didn't go the other way," Melina noted, walking up to a stall that had various clothes draped on hangers or neatly folded up for viewing.
"From what I hear, humans are rarely aggressive towards elves anymore," Remi noted. The way humans treated elves was peculiar. They almost worshipped them like gods since some older elves were adept at all types of magic, including divination, healing, and rituals. Melina herself had been skillful in most fields of magic, although her specialization was definitely evocation or magic usable in battle.
"So what did you want exactly?" Melina asked, pointing towards the various colorful garments. The excitement returned to Remi's face as she watched the colorful patterns of various skirts in awe.
"I'd like some more casual clothes. Like dresses or skirts. The one you wore the other day was really nice."
"Why didn't you just go to Etrian's shop?" Melina asked curiously.
"And give him the satisfaction of telling me how bad my fashion sense is and how I should have gone to him a long time ago? No way!" Remi shook her head and lifted a colorful, pink flower skirt. The vendor, a pudgy woman with a knowing glint in her eyes, instantly worked her charms on the elf, offering her one garment after the next. But since Remi looked like she was enjoying herself, Melina left them and walked over to the next stall.
It also sold clothes, but these looked more suitable for work—aprons, gloves, waiter's outfits, sturdy carpenter's garb. For a moment, Melina pondered whether she should be spending the meager coins that she had.
But I don't have to worry about food or shelter anymore since Master Gilbert is taking care of that. It's almost too convenient. Oh, what's the point of money if you don't spend it? I certainly need more than just three outfits.
In the end, Melina decided to buy an outfit for her work in the bakery—a comfortable white blouse, light blue skirt, and dark blue apron. She also bought a full gardener's outfit with boots and thick gardening gloves. Satisfied with her purchases, she returned to Remi, who already had three different dresses selected and packed away in shopping bags. She was also holding a flowery pink dress in hand, separately from the others.
"Melina, you have to try on this dress!" Remi flaunted it in front of her.
"No, I can't wear something like that," Melina winced at the garment in question.
Isn't that dress meant for children? There's no way I'd ever wear something so… girly.
"Why not? It'd suit you perfectly." The elf pressed it against Melina's body, assessing the match with a critical eye.
"Indeed, young miss! You should try it on," the owner of the stall, an older woman with a grand hat on her head, said with an opportunistic smile. But Melina shook her head.
"No, it doesn't suit me at all. Besides, I already bought clothes for myself," she said, holding up the bag with her apron and gardening outfit.
"No, that's for work. You need some more casual clothes. There's no way I'm letting you walk out of here empty-handed when it's thanks to you that I managed to get my own clothes," Remi shook her head, then looked at the other dresses on display and took a dark green dress with long white sleeves and golden sash. "Maybe something more mature?"
The dress still felt a bit too fancy for her, but Melina got a distinct feeling that Remi would not relent until she bought something. "Alright, yes. This one is better."
"Great! We'll go try it on," Remi cheerfully announced to the vendor, who nodded her head in approval. A moment later Melina was shoved into one of the many dressing booths set up in the market. Begrudgingly, she took the dress and put it on.
"I'm ready," Melina announced and Remi pulled the curtains apart. A gleeful smile rose on her lips.
"Oh, you look lovely! This mature look might suit you better," Remi said, pulling Melina back to the vendor.
"Wait, let me change back!"
"Nu-uh! Let me everyone see what a beauty you are! Lady, how much for the dress?" Remi called out to the vendor.
"Normally it'd go for 90 silver coins, but I'll make an exception—75 silver coins," she announced.
That woman is clearly trying to swindle us. No way this dress costs that much.
"20 silver coins," Melina stated flatly. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The vendor narrowed her eyes on her. "20 coins? Are you trying to put me out of business? 70 is the best I can offer."
"25."
"65."
"27."
"60 and I really can't go lower than that," the woman said stubbornly.
Melina looked down at the dress as if in regret. "Such a shame—I really like this dress. But there's no way I can afford to pay 60 silver coins for it. I suppose I'll just have to make do with my old dress when I go to the party next week."
Remi opened her mouth, no doubt to ask what was this party Melina was speaking about, but she shot her warning glance and the elf shut her mouth.
"Well… that's certainly an important occasion…" Vendor frowned, her conscience battling with her mercantile soul. "How about 50 silver coins?"
"Let's go back to the dressing booth, Remi," Melina announced and turned to leave.
"45!"
Melina kept walking.
"40, but this is as low as I can go."
Melina turned back and walked over to the merchant, handing her the requested 40 silver coins from her pouch. "Thank you very much, kind lady!"
It wasn't the lowest price I could have gotten, but I don't want to gain infamy for my haggling skills. I got it down to a decent price at least.
"Good luck on your party," the woman grumbled—no doubt she had hoped to make quite the profit from the naive country girls—but accepted the coins nonetheless.
[New skill acquired: Gilded Tongue – Rank F]
[Gilded Tongue – Makes it more likely for merchants to lower their prices for you as well as allows you to sell items for a higher price.]
Oh, hello there, old friend. I'm sure you will come in useful in the future.
As Melina and Remi stepped away from the stall, the elf pulled her closer and whispered, "How did you do that? She went down from 90 silver coins to 40. That's incredible."
"It never really cost that much to begin with. This dress might be nice, but it's not that special. I merely haggled her down to the normal price."
"Why didn't she just ask the normal price to begin with?" Remi cocked her head in confusion.
"Because a merchant will always try to get as much out of you as possible. Perhaps you don't feel it as much in Sunglow, since it's a small community and any swindling would quickly spread around. But in bigger cities, it is quite common," Melina said in a whisper.
"I don't get why you'd try to cheat people out of their money. If you're selling stuff then you're already getting paid, right?"
"That's just the way humans are…"
"Surely not all humans are like that," Remi asked hopefully.
"No, of course not. There are good people as well, but it's hard to tell who these good people are."
I've been fooled more than once before.
"Okay, we bought some clothes. Why don't we go look around the market some more? Unless you had something to do," Remi said with such a large, piteous look that Melina didn't have the heart to say no. Even if she would have preferred to get out of the bustling market and rest.
"Alright, let's look around. Just don't expect me to buy any more clothes."
"I won't, promise! I'm already happy that you bought this one. It really looks great on you," Remi said with a satisfied nod.
The two girls wandered around the market for a while, admiring the trinkets, clothes, and produce displayed. Remi seemed to be drawn to every clothes and jewelry stall in sight, while Melina enjoyed looking at the exotic ingredients imported from outside of Alemahria. One stall even sold some cocoa beans, but their price was far out of Melina's budget.
As they continued wandering, they came across a large open plaza with people gathering around it. A sort of stage was erected in the center of it, and for a moment Melina wondered whether there were street performers.
"Is that an oven behind that stage?" Remi pointed, and Melina stood on her tiptoes trying to see past the people standing in front of her. Much to her surprise, there really was a large bread oven, just as big as the one in Master Gilbert's kitchen. It didn't stop there as on the stage itself stood four kitchen counters each with a set of knives, spoons, and all the cooking utensils one might need.
"Yes. Did they set up a kitchen here?" Melina asked.
"There are a bunch of ingredients on the shelves over there," Remi pointed towards the opposite side of the plaza. Fruits, vegetables, flour, sugar, and all sorts of other ingredients sat there while the people curiously cocked their heads, trying to understand what was going on much like Melina and Remi.
"Step right up, people of Pertia! Do not be shy, for we're about to have a cooking showdown of the century." A charismatic man, dressed in a fine suit stepped onto the stage, his loud voice carrying itself clearly over the mutterings of the crowd.
"Cooking showdown?" Melina and all the other gathered people looked at him in confusion.
"That's right, a cooking showdown, and any one of you may join and get a chance to win this special bundle of rare cooking ingredients." The announcer said and then pulled a large basket stacked to the brim with various ingredients. Melina sprained to see over the people in front of her and saw that there were some vanilla beans, cocoa powder as well as oddly shaped pink and purple fruit that seemed to… sparkle.
No way, that couldn't be, could it? Feyfruit?
"I wish to join!" A sleek, middle-aged man spoke up from within the crowd, and the people parted around him.
"So eager! I didn't even get the time to introduce myself," the announcer chuckled but waved the man to step onto the stage. He carried himself with experienced poise and grace, almost like a noble, although his clothing suggested that he wasn't that high on the social ladder. Perhaps a merchant.
"So I'll begin with my introduction. I am Auden Speziale, your humble host for today." The announcer gave a deep, graceful bow, his charismatic disposition no doubt already melting the knees of some women in the crowd. "Now what would your name be?"
"I am Felipe Favreu, the owner of the best bakery in Pertia," the man said proudly, his head held high. Auden applauded and the crowd began applauding with him.
"Wonderful! You'll be our first participant in this competition. As you all see we have four workstations set up here as well as a large oven and all the utensils a baker could dream of. Who else will be brave enough to enter the contest and try to get their hands on these exclusive ingredients?
"Melina, maybe you should try?" Remi nudged her gently.
"Me? I have barely begun my apprenticeship. There's no way I could compete in a cooking competition," Melina shook her head.
"Come on, Melina, didn't you say you wanted some cocoa powder? It's right there."
She glanced at the basket of rare ingredients. In all honesty, feyfruit put everything else to shame, and Melina suspected that many didn't even know what it was. It was a rare fruit growing only in the Monster Realm that can replenish a mage's mana many times over. How long has it been since Melina had seen one? How did they even acquire it?
"I'd like to join too," a corpulent man dressed in simple clothes stepped out of the crowd, a confident smirk on his face. "When it comes to cooking and flavors, then there's nobody who could beat me."
"Love the confidence! Come right here, good sir," Auden said, pointing to a spot on the stage next to Felipe. "What is your name?"
"Curt Mayers. I own the best food stall in Pertia," he announced proudly, his stomach sticking out like a large ball. Felipe snorted at his proclamation.
"A food stall? As if a food stall owner could ever beat my cooking, honed over many years with one of the best masters in all of Alemahria."
"Big words for a little man. We'll see whose food is better—namely mine," Curt retorted, and the chef turned red from anger.
"There, there, let's save that energy for the cooking. Is there anybody else willing to enter?" Auden scanned over the crowd with his eyes, and a shy hand slowly rose. People parted and revealed the ginger-haired freckled girl whom Melina met in the Bakers Guild just the other day.
"Come here, young lady. Don't be shy, tell us your name," the announcer beckoned her over. She took shaky steps, clearly feeling uncomfortable, but managed to make her way to the stage.
"I'm…" She replied so quietly that nobody could hear her voice.
"Roxie Beck, everyone, an apprentice from the local Bakers Guild. A truly wonderful addition to our contest. Is there anyone else? We need one more contestant."
"Melina, come on! If that little girl can go, then so can you." Remi nudged her more incessantly this time. Melina looked at the cocoa powder and feyfruit again. Oh, how she would love to have it.
"I'd like to enter too!" She said, raising her hand above the crowd.
"Wonderful! Come here and introduce yourself," Auden prompted. Melina made her way to the stage and then turned towards the gathered people. It was unnerving being at the center of attention again, her heart began to beat faster from nervousness.
It's alright. I am not an [Archmage] anymore. That life is behind me now.
"I am Melina Dufour," she announced.