Chapter 13: Chapter 13

The next day, Jufu decided to tail Georgius and his party because Rika wanted to stay in her room for a little while.

[Remember that you can always call me by tapping on the choker three times, girly.]

"Yes, thank you very much."

[It's been a bit since you were alone. Are you really gonna be alright?]

"Moh! I'll... I will be fine, I am not a child after all."

He did not comment on her blowing out her cheeks cutely.

[Right, I'm off then.]

He used the same spell as the day before to make himself a shadow clone. Since he had tethered himself partially to Svetlana while she was sleeping, the clone body would unbeknownst to her leech her mana ever so slightly to keep its form stable. But it also allowed him to stay a certain distance away from her before the tether would break, so he could remain hidden in the shadows to observe.

As he left, he heard a few now-familiar sounds from Rika's direction. Smirking - or at least doing what would count as a smirk for a faceless shadow - he left her to her own devices. She had a lot of exploration and self-finding to do; she would only leave the room to take a bath or order some additional food.

 

"Hahahah!"

A burly man inside an arms shop a decent pace away from the inn laughed heartily while slapping his counter repeatedly. The alchemist Georgius stared at him. His glasses were hiding his eyes, but he said nothing.

"Come on, you have to agree it's a good one."

"*Sigh* Vadim... I'll never understand why you always laugh at your own tales like that."

"Teh. Leave an old man his fun. Well, whatever. Time for business, eh?"

Georgius nodded ever so slightly.

"Then it's the usual, yeah? Sharpening the lady's lance, some armour maintenance, and the typical alchemical substances."

Vadim rubbed his hands, a strange glint in his eye and his greyed wolf ears twitching in anticipation.

"All for the usual low price of my most-valued customer, of course."

The alchemist stayed silent again, simply pulling out the roubles and counting them. He knew the price by heart at this point.

"Heheh. Glad to be doing business with ya. But that aside, how's it going with the ladies? Misha has a damn fine pair, don't ya think?"

Georgius gave him a flat stare. This was exactly the kind of conversation he disliked the most.

"You should know at this point that I'm not into big breasts."

"And I don't get that. What self-respecting man doesn't want to fondle some big titties?"

"Men who prefer shapely behinds, for one."

"Hmhm. Then how about Svetlana? I'm sure she has some nice 'shapely behind' under that stuffy robe."

The men looked aside where Misha and Svetlana were standing, admiring the newest wares. The tall, dark-skinned knightess pulled something metallic down for the more diminutive blonde church girl.

"Seriously, stop that. Misha is not my type and Svetlana is with the church, so even if I liked her that way it still wouldn't work. I don't want to have that kind of trouble in my party."

"Boy, you're no fun. Fine, have it your way. Some day a fine piece of woman will fall from the sky and you're gonna miss your chance to catch her because all there's in your head is books. Bwahahah!"

The alchemist just shook his head at the shopkeeper's silly antics. But he did not take it too badly; while Vadim was a ladies' man, his wife was still his one true love. As such, most of what he said was just playful banter.

"What's wrong, Georg'? You're thinking of that little moppet again, aren't you?"

"That 'moppet' has a name. Anna."

"So you were thinking of her."

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"Obviously. I want to get her out of that place and I've got almost enough money together."

(Damn, he's serious. Didn't think I'd ever see someone from the Brown Bear Clan adopt an orphan, much less one from a different clan.)

"...You'll actually retire and raise that girl?"

"It's what I intend to do. Alone."

"That poor missy'll need a mother."

Georgius shrugged and turned around.

"Get the tasks done, we'll come by again tomorrow or the day after."

As he waved his party members over and the trio left the shop, Vadim looked at them with some odd concern he could not explain to himself.

"*Grrrmbl* Strange guy..."

 

The three members of Silver Crow walked through the city. Snow had fallen in droves again and so the white carpet made loud squeaks under their boots. While the main street had been mostly shovelled clear, this side alley had not. They passed by various buildings, old and new, and eventually arrived at their current, and regular, place.

The inn building always gave a homely feeling, especially during cold days like this one. Some shivering city folk entered, followed by the party. The warm lounge greeted them, done up in the style popular in the capital city of Smirnov somewhere to the east. Neither Georgius nor Misha had ever been there, though Svetlana once had as part of a church mission. One could see towers with onion-shaped roofs in the richer district of the city that supposedly also mimicked the capital's style, so it ought to be true.

A white fox-clan maid with more beastly features than anyone in the party possessed showed up and guided them to a table decently close to the fireplace. Her paws and mild snout gave her a slightly unusual feeling - most beastkin in this city were closer to elves than true beastians of old.

"What will it be?"

They had not decided on their lunch yet, but got some drinks at least.

"Alright. One cider, one rum, and one cherry juice coming right up."

Svetlana, as a priestess, was not allowed to drink alcohol. Misha found this a silly rule and would tease her about it every time, but the blonde girl always rebuked her.

"Fine, fine, I get it. Just don't launch into another sermon again."

The drinks came quickly and lunch was ordered - a very big group portion of hearty Smirnovian cuisine.

"So what's on the agenda today, leader?"

"I heard someone spotted another juvenile zmei nearby. As one of the best parties of the city, we can probably take it out and sell some of the parts, in addition to the usual reward. Zmei parts also make for nice alchemical ingredients, so I'm hoping it's a frost type this time."

"Guess I'll have to use my reserve armour and lance for this one, but it shouldn't be a big deal. You got enough alchemicals left?"

"There won't be a problem. Hm, Svetlana?"

"Y-Yes?"

"This would be the first time you'll hunt a zmei, correct?"

"It would, yes. The thought makes me nervous."

Misha patted her on the shoulder.

"That's normal, after all it's a zmei. But I'm sure we three can take it down easily enough."

While they were enjoying lunch, Jufu was hiding in the ceiling, his senses improved so he could follow the conversation.

(Zmei means dragon if I'm not wrong. Interesting. Very, very interesting. I wonder what would happen if I spice things up a bit.)

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