Chapter 33: 1.33 Scorpions, Flyers and Traders

''They're traders from the village beyond the mountains.'' Velariah said as she stood upright in the cart to get a better view.  

We had halted a while ago when we had seen them approach us.  

''Does that village have a name or whats?'' I asked. 

''That's literally the name. ''Village-beyond-the-mountains''.'' 

Very original. 

''I'm surprised they even dare to approach us.'' Seralyn said. ''Seeing as there's a huge spider pulling our cart.'' 

''You think they think she's domesticated?'' Velariah asked the other elf. 

Hey, I'm right here. 

''Maybe.'' Seralyn grinned. ''It would make sense for her to play the part though, who knows how they might react?'' 

''Elania, you mind doing that? I'm not sure if we want to startle our trade partners.'' 

''You don't think they will be startled enough by my appearance as it is?'' I rebutted.  

''Maybe, but if they think you're my pet and I control you, they won't run away in fear when you make an unexpected move.'' Velariah spoke with a large smile on her face. 

''I'm not your pet, though!'' 

''Oh, but you are!'' 

Vel, not in front of others! What will they think? 

''Will the two of you hurry up, they are almost here.'' Seralyn interjected. 

''Fine.'' I said as I hid my adventurer's tag under the chest plate.  

''But no funny business!" 

The travelling group halted at a distance and I noticed that their party consisted of two humans and three elves, all of them male. All of them seemed to be in pretty average day clothing too, no armor was to be seen. Their horses had saddlebags that seemed packed with what I assumed would be trade goods. I was curious what they actually traded in. Hopefully, I would find out in a bit.  

I noticed how their horses seemed to be on edge in reaction to my presence. No wonder there. Fortunately, the traders seemed to be smart enough to keep their animals at a distance. 

Velariah jumped out of the cart and walked up to the approaching elf.  

The male elf eyed me warily as I crossed my arms, all four of them but managed to talk to Velariah without too much fear in his voice. 

''Greetings, I'm from the Village-beyond-the-mountain trading company, we were on our way to Dawnleaf, would you have any goods to trade? You seem to have quite a few crates in that cart of yours.'' 

''They're all empty, we were on our way to the Searing Peak to see Ember and collect scorpion stingers. If you have the time, we'd happily trade those with yours.''  

The male elf shook his head.  

''I am afraid we do not.''  

He then eyed me. It seemed I have been playing the pet part well enough so far as his next question was about me. 

''How about this... beast-of-burden of yours. it seems pretty strong, is it for sale?'' 

What the fuck, dude? Also, ''it''? 

Velariah eyed me with an evil grin on her face. Wait, she wasn't going to try to sell me, was she? 

''I'm afraid she is far too valuable to sell. On another note, did you, by any chance, run into a group of elven scouts? They were supposed to be in the area.'' Velariah asked. 

At least she didn't sell me... 

I was going to have a word with her later about this plan of hers. 

The trader shook his head.  

''Haven't seen any. What were they looking for, if I may ask?'' 

''Seems something spooked the local lynx population away from the mountain foot, they were sent here to investigate.'' 

The trader shook his head again. 

''Nope, no luck. Now that you mention it, we did not run into any lynxes either. Travel has been a breeze.''  

He paused for a second.  

''Anyway, we should be on our way to Dawnleaf, safe journey to you lot!'' 

''Hold on a second!'' Seralyn yelled from the cart. 

This was not going to end well, was it? 

''We do have trade goods Velariah, what are you talking about?'' 

This seemed to pique Velariah's interest. She turned around to Seralyn and looked at her with an inquisitive gaze that said something like ''out with it''. 

I didn’t like where this was going... 

Seralyn jumped out the cart with her bow and showed it to the trader.  

I didn't like where this was going at all... 

''You see this string? We can provide you the strongest thread and highest quality silk you're ever laid eyes on.''  

I started sweating. 

The trader took a look at the bowstring in front of him and ran his fingers over the surface. He then raised his eyebrows. 

Uh-oh. 

''I'm interested.'' 

Fuck. 

Wandering silk factory Elania is here to stay it seems... 

''If you're interested, what do you have to trade for it?" Velariah asked. 

Vel, why have you betrayed me? 

The trader walked over to his horse's saddlebag. 

''Just the usual, mostly. High quality iron ore, some gems.'' 

''Some good ore would be amazing.'' Velariah seemed visibly excited. ''We would take two saddlebags of ore if you please.'' 

She had any special plans for that? 

Velariah walked up to me and patted my abdomen. 

''Time to get to work.'' 

I was going to have one hell of a talk with her and Seralyn later... 

Of course, she had to put her fingers inside again. 

I cringed as she started pulling out silk and wrapping it around her arms. I should have forced out the sticky kind just to mess with her. I might just do that next time she pulls off anything like this. 

The trader stared at Velariah weaving the strands of silk around her arm. He then looked back at Seralyn who was watching the scene with a broad smile. 

Seriously, why was it always me? 

The male elf seemed to hesitate for a moment before talking. 

''I can see why it's so valuable.'' 

''I know, right.'' Seralyn answered. ''And it's strong and fast too.'' 

Did she just call me an ''it'' as well? 

I was a woman! A strong independent-... Never mind. My mood actually hit an all-time low. This was not actually funny and I started to feel frustrated. It may have started as some kind of joke but I had had enough. 

Velariah tapped my abdomen twice. I thought that meant that she was done. I stopped the stream of silk and she walked up the trader with an arm cocooned by a thick layer of silk. 

''That should be enough.'' She said as she shoved the layers off as if it was a chicken on a rotisserie pin.  

Draco jumped down the cart with an empty crate. He had the trader fill up the crate with iron ore from the saddlebag. Velariah handed the spindle of silk to the trader who put it away in the now empty saddlebag.  

The trader took a bow to Velariah and mounted his horse. 

''Thank you for your purchase. We look forward to trading again in the future.'' 

With that he rode off towards Dawnleaf, the other riders following him. 

Draco loaded the crate onto the cart and helped the elves back in. I took out the tag from inside my chest piece and put it on display once more.  

''It's time we had a little talk.'' I said as I started pulling the cart again at a slow pace. I didn’t want to startle the traders but I was actually pissed off at this point.  

On our way I called out the elves on their behavior and how they had used me without my consent. All they did was giggle in reply and say it was necessary to have a good trade deal. When I asked what was so special about this iron, Velariah had replied that it was the highest quality one could find in the area. It would be great to forge a new weapon for her with and since I had told her I would get her a weapon she thought I would be okay with this. 

I responded by saying I would not mind to help out if such a thing happened again, but the way it happened right now felt completely out of place. I also said that I wasn't going to be used as a ''pet'' anymore. Not if they were going to be exploiting me as such, even if they meant it in a playful manner. I didn't mind helping, but there were certain boundaries that I felt were clearly exceeded this time.  

There was a reason I had joined the guild, after all. I wanted to be known as a normal person and not a monster. This really didn't help with that. 

It was Velariah who apologized first. She said she had no idea I was feeling that way. She then had to press Seralyn into apologizing as well. 

''Good.'' I had said. 

With that out of the way, I picked up the pace on the way to the volcanic ridge. Seralyn and Velariah had gone awfully quiet after my little talk with them. I hoped they were lost in self-reflection. 

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I hoped this would be a lesson for them. 

If Velariah truly wanted to be with me, she would have to respect me at least.  

I had maybe been a bit too loose on Velariah. I knew she was honest, and clearly had shown interest in me. Maybe I had let this whole thing go a little too far. It seemed she needed to be held back a bit more to not go too far. Seralyn's presence didn't help with that at all. I wondered if it had been a good idea to take her into the party in the first place... 

After a long, quiet trip we reached to foot of the mountain ridge. One volcano clearly stood out as the larger one, so we followed the divide between grassland and volcanic ground until we were right next to it.  

''Do we continue, or do we call it a day?'' I asked, not sure how long it would take to reach the top. 

It was Draco who spoke, which surprised me. 

''I would suggest clearing out some of the Ashclaw scorpions today and then start the ascent tomorrow morning. We will have plenty of time then and anything we kill right now will only make it faster.'' 

Smart thinking there Draco. 

''We could possibly get some more of their stingers for extra cash too.'' He added. 

The sound of riches was a good one. 

''Vel, Seralyn?'' I called out. 

Both of them nodded without speaking a word. It would seem I had hit a nerve. Velariah didn't even comment on me calling her by her nickname. 

''All right, let's see how far we can get this cart going.'' 

I started to move in the direction of the volcano. I hadn't spotted any monsters yet, which surprised me. I would have expected them to be swarming the area already. Instead, this place seemed awfully desolate. It wouldn't make a bad place to set up camp for the night. 

Speaking of camp, there were a few young trees growing in the area. Not too big, but they would serve well as firewood. A campfire at night would always be a good thing to keep predators out. That was, if there were no bandits in the area that would be attracted by it and raid you instead. I doubted that was the case in this area, though. Did Draco bring one of those self-igniting torches with him again? I would hope so. Creating a fire from scratch was a pain, I would know. 

Everything I had been told about volcanoes turned out to be a lie as well. I had been expecting large rivers of lava to flow down the mountain, pools of boiling liquid fire, great balls of molten death to rain form the sky. Nope, none of that here. 

Just plain old grey and brown dirt leading up a none too steep hill. Was this what Valtheril meant when he said this was an easy mountain to climb? It almost seemed too simple, indeed. 

That’s what I thought until I ran into what I assumed was one of those Ashclaw scorpions. Its body was the side of a person. Its claws were large and intimidating, I reckoned they could snap a person's arm in half, or at least, break a few bones. Its stinger was the side of my fist and it seemed angry. 

No spider mind control shenanigans here, it seemed. 

Draco jumped out of the cart and handed me my spear when he charged at the scorpion and simply cleaved its head in two with his large axe. Its stinger never had the chance to even reach him because of the long handle.  

''Nice one, Draco.''  

A screech from the skies reached my eardrums. I had never heard anything like it.  

Before I could even look up, something came crashing down into the ground. It ''landed'' next to Draco and caused quite a bit of dust to surge upwards from the ground.  

''Don't worry, I hit it.'' Seralyn's voice came from the cart. 

I had my spear pointed at whatever crashed into the ground. I was not going to be surprised by whatever that was. 

When the dust settled, I looked at what appeared to be a Pterado...Ptarady...The flying dinosaur thing with the silent ''P'' in the name. I believe it was called a Pteranodon.  

I was looking at its long pointy beak which lay open with rows of small teeth exposed. They didn't look terribly dangerous at first, but I imagined they could still rip off your skin if it wanted to. It had a mohawk like sail on its head that resembled a stereotypical shark back fin above water. One eye was embedded in each side of its head. It had front claws that were webbed and much resembled a bat's. It seemed to be an exact copy of the flying dinosaur from Earth. 

I believed those went extinct like... 70 million years ago? Did I recall that number correctly? 

Oh well, no reasoning with fantasy worlds I guessed.  

Both elves jumped out of the cart. Velariah walked up to me while Seralyn walked over to the dead Pteranodon. She checked if it was alive, before turning it over with her foot. She then ripped out the arrow she had used to down the creature.  

Her attitude was annoying, but her aim was impressive. 

''You okay?'' Velariah asked. ''You look like you've seen a ghost.''  

I swallowed before speaking. 

''Well, I kind of have. Those things went extinct 70 million years ago.'' 

''What the hell are you two talking about?'' Seralyn asked as she walked up to us. 

''Nothing.'' Velariah said.  

I could see that Velariah knew what I had meant. Seralyn would be none the wiser, even if she had actually overheard us. It would at most confuse her. 

Meanwhile, Draco walked up to the cart with one scorpion stinger that actually still dripped some blood. The look of it was disturbing but hey, money doesn’t stink right? 

''Is that flying thing worth anything?'' I asked.  

''it's called a toothbeak, and no. These things are useless, unfortunately. They aren't too dangerous, either. They are more of a pest than anything else. Though, if they decide to attack you, they can still injure you quite a bit if you don't wear any armor.'' 

At least the name was easier to pronounce than the version back on Earth... 

Also, those teeth did seem painful. 

Good thing we had an archer in our group. 

We continued on foot, killing off several more scorpions on the way. It turned out that Seralyn's arrows were actually able to penetrate their exoskeleton.  

Also, it appeared these scorpions had green blood.  

Disgusting. 

We managed to work our way through them quite easily. I didn't even have to spring into action, my companions were able to deal with them on their own. While fighting the scorpions Seralyn had been on the lookout for any more toothbeaks. She had shot down another two, while Velariah and Draco dealt with the Ashclaw scorpions.  

Only once did I get something to do. Three of the beasts launched an attack at the same time. It turned out that this new spear had no problem ending their lives.  

We made quite a bit of progress but found evening setting in. Instead of continuing we stuck to our original plan and made our way back to the designated ''safe'' area from before. It seemed that for some reason these scorpions were only found further up the mountain.  

It turned out that Draco's huge battle axe also served as a proper axe to cut down these small trees. Who would have thought? He literally snapped them as if they were match sticks. To be fair, the trees were still young and small, so he had to cut down several to have a decent amount of fire wood for the night. 

The skies had turned red in the meanwhile and daylight was starting to fade quickly. It seemed we had made the right decision to make up camp now. 

As I had hoped, he pulled out a torch from his bag. Soon we had a campfire going and Seralyn was struggling to cut loose the rabbit from its bonds. She seemed to have a hard time doing it and I simply delighted in her frustrated face. Wasn't this her idea in the first place? Served her right. 

Was I evil for actually enjoying it? 

I shrugged. She had done a fair deal of evil herself this day. Karma could really be a bitch. 

Draco handed out canteens of water and then pulled out what looked like meat jerky wrapped in certain leaves. I would guess that was the standard to-go adventurer food when out on missions. I was silently thankful for not having to eat. Salt had never been my strong point. 

He did hand out a couple apples as well and offered one to me which I had politely declined. They were going to need that more than me. Who knew what would happen? 

Seralyn roasted her rabbit on an arrow and surprisingly shared it with the others after she'd finished cooking it. The smell had me salivating but my will to resist was stronger. 

The sky had gone completely dark after dinner and we decided it was going to be time to sleep. Velariah had set up a guard rotation and she and I would have first guard of the night. I was pretty sure she did it on purpose to talk to me in private. She had been far too quiet for her usual self.  

Seralyn had looked like she wanted to comment on it but decided to keep to herself. Smart woman. I was not in the mood for anymore of her jokes and it seemed she had read the atmosphere well enough to take notice. 

The temperature had dropped but it was still pleasantly warm. I was certain the volcanic activity nearby had at least something to do with it. I didn’t mind it, it saved us some weight by not having to carry around blankets or anything like it. 

I sat on the ground with Velariah next to me. She was the one that started the conversation. 

''I'm sorry Elania. I had no idea you felt that way.'' She started as Seralyn and Draco quietly snored on the other side of the campfire.  

I sighed.  

''Look Vel, just doing the things you did this afternoon like that, it just makes me feel highly uncomfortable. I know that this body comes with certain benefits, but that’s also the issue here.'' 

''I'm sorry.'' She said again. ''I just thought having you act like that was a good idea at the time. Seralyn and I may have taken it too far.'' 

''You sure did.'' I said as my eyes were locked onto the fire in front of us. 

''You see, you're an elf. When people look at you, they see beauty. When they look at me, they see a massive spider straight out of their nightmares. You know I'm not that. I'm trying to be a person, as much as this body allows me to and not a monster. When you used me like that it made me feel like a monster and I hate it.'' 

Velariah looked at me with a sad expression. 

''You're right. You're no monster. I'm sorry for making you feel that way.'' 

''Thanks, Vel.'' I sighed as I said it, feeling a weight lift off my heart. 

''It's... Never mind.'' She cut herself off. 

It was quiet for a few minutes before Velariah spoke again.  

''You know, Elania. When I look at you, I see only beauty.'' 

I sighed, but found my lips curl up in a smile at the elf's words. 

''You succubus.''  

''What?'' She smiled as well. ''Do they exist in your world too?'' 

''Nope.'' I said with a smile. 

I grabbed her frame and hugged her right side with my arms, letting her head rest against my shoulder. She didn’t seem to offer the least bit of resistance.  

We watched the campfire together.  

''I'm sorry.'' She said again softly. 

''It's alright. Just don’t turn me into your weird freaky pet again.'' 

I paused for a moment. 

''Not yet, at least.'' I added to lighten the heavy mood that had surrounded us ever since the afternoon. 

She giggled softly and put her arm around my waist as well. 

As long as she could respect me, maybe I would give this a chance. 

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