Chapter 20: 20: Trouble at every step.

The next stop was at the tailoring shop. I was regrettable that I couldn't sell any monster parts or anything else without revealing my ring but that was it. 

With a new rucksack, it wasn't impossible to go to that collecting center thing and just pretend to take out stuff from it. But I had to do it alone or expose my ring to Fiona. 

I could not simply let her outside either. Judging by the way these people treated her, that was not a viable option. 

’What if some douchebag would have the brilliant idea to make trouble for her? My fluff must be protected.’

The people around us stared at me like usual while I was just ignoring all of it, but when some of them got some friends too to stare at me... Well, I started to grow anxious again. 

I was not used to that level of attention. The sensation was somehow unpleasant... 

” Fio, I know that these people never saw an elf but isn't this a bit too much? They are staring at me like I'm some kind of curiosity. ”

” What is so strange about it? I hadn't seen Brigandia yet, but there's not like this too? Even if they accept other races, that matters little for you. An elf will be a rare sight anywhere you go. ”

That could not be real. I refused to pry further in the subject since everyone was still gazing at us and we quickened our way to the tailoring shop. 

.

.

.

I had prepared myself for it but the sight was still disappointing.

Plain and simple.

And that description was for the clothes that I recognized as clothes. Some of them looked like pieces of material sewed together with a hole for the head and two for the hands. There was a high possibility for that to be the case actually.

There was something resembling a poncho too. If there was a sombrero as well, it could have been a complete set.

I could see that all the clothes were designed to be easy to make. Nothing extravagant or made with aesthetic in mind. There wasn't needed some genius to make a hole into a blanket and sell it as an improvised poncho after all.

I randomly moved my eyes to all the products in the store and decided on simple pants and shirts. I said simple but for these villagers, that was the highest quality.

I saw some kind of hood as well but that was in the back so I decided to ask the vigilant shop owner who was sleeping like a log on the counter about them.

” Hello! ”

”...”

*cough*    *cough* 

My attempt at coughing and making some noise was useless as well. If someone wanted, I didn't doubt that they could just take what they needed and leave the shop.

” Hi, do you hear me? ”

”...”

The guy was still sleeping. If he wasn't probably a poor villager I would have gladly grabbed his stuff and left the shop. But I did not. I was not as noble and righteous as a hero but I had my limits as well. 

On the other hand, I would gladly rob any fat pig-like noble who enjoyed enslaving fluffy beastkins like Fiona or any bad person like that. 

” Helooooo! ”

”...”

The guy was seriously asking for a thief. I let out a sigh and shake his shoulder lightly.

*snore* *snore*

”...” I was speechless. Something like that was not possible. Was he drugged or anything? Was he making fun of us? I could not tell.

” Hey, wake up already! ” I said and slammed my hand into the counter and a loud *bang* reverberated in the entire building. My hand started to ache but at least the guy seemed to be waking up.

” Uaaaa, what....  who...  Lena don't go! ” he abruptly stood up while muttering something random.

At that moment I didn't even want to know who Lena was but judging by the guy; she was definitely in danger in his dream. I practically saved a person right there.

” Huh? What are you doing here? ” he said, finally noticing us aster a long period of confusion. I could see some saliva at the corner of his mouth... Not a pretty image for sure.

But most importantly, he was asking me what was I doing in a shop... His shop. I had to say that I saw my share of stupid people in life, but this guy could be still classified in the upper echelon despite knowing him for several minutes. 

” I want to buy things. We are in a shop, remember? ”

” Quite the sharp tongue you have there, you lass... ” 

And he paused as his eyes focused on me more intently. 

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”Holy fuck, those ears... ”

I could not tell that I didn't expect that, but at least he was awakened. Or at least he was giving the impression that he was... I hoped he was... He still had the retarded face on though...

” What the hell... Am I still dreaming? ” he said and rubbed his eyes...

” No, you are not... ” I replied. He looked back at me again... No, he was staring at me with wide-open eyes. Yeah, the normal reaction. I had to wake him up again... What a pain.

” Heloooo, are you still there? We came here to buy clothes. ”

” Yeah, I mean... Yes, clothes, clothes... Sure. ”

And nothing...

The guy was no good. If we weren't here in this world I could bet my money that he had smoked something... Actually, that seemed one of the most plausible explanations at that point. Nobody could be that stupid. Maybe he had been doing it without knowing? 

” Have you chewed some questionable weeds recently? Or maybe smoked them? ” 

The silence descended again in the shop. This time, even Fiona was looking at me with perplexed eyes. Like I was the strange one right now.

” Letting that aside, we want to buy some clothes. One set of clothes for both of us and maybe two of these hoods from the back? ” I said and pointed at the hoods. I seriously wanted to just finish and just leave the shop. 

He awkwardly made his way back and packed what we wanted. I hoped to take two sets for both of us but I couldn't afford it. I was left with just 1 lesser silver coin and 17 copper coins after I paid him for the clothes. I could not accept clothes with three holes for the design though; even if we would have been able to buy more sets from them in exchange. 

The clothes were chosen at our appreciation; there was no probing or something like that. I just hoped that we fit them...

*crack*  

As we were packing the clothes in our new rucksacks, the floor cracked when other customers came inside and I moved my head to take a look at the intruders.

There were two men and a woman. All of them were wearing tattered clothes and had bruises and some wounds all over the body.

” To hell with all this. Ron, I'm gonna go back there, search and find that slut and kill her. ” one of the two men grunted to the other one, being visible in a bad mood.

The woman from the group and the one called Ron seemed in a bad disposition as well so I decided that it was better to avoid them. 

” Calm down, Gerrard. She's already dead. If she wasn't killed by the wolves, then she’s dead from the collar. ” responded the one called Ron, without minding too much his companion words.

” I'm gonna kill her again. We almost died there from her fault. ” 

” You dumb-ass, that was almost entirely your fault. She just took the opportunity to run away. ” the woman interjected in conversation.

’Oh no! No, no, no, no, no...’

That discussion was giving me goosebumps for some reason. I took a peek at Fiona and she was extremely pale. Her face almost lost all color and I wasn't so stupid to be oblivious of the reason. 

” Fio, behind that table. ” I said and pulled her behind the table and take out one of the hoods from the rucksack. Who could have imagined that it would prove useful so fast? 

I positioned myself and the rucksack in from of her to further obstruct their view and helped Fiona to take her hood. The shop owner looked at us suspiciously but I wasn't in the mood to care about it. He was a retard anyway. 

The real problem was that the shocked expression on Fiona’s face started to turn into one of hate. I could see her teeth clenching and making a crushing sound. If she did something stupid there, we both would have been doomed. 

I had to do something about it. I grabbed her hand and put some pressure on it to awake her from that state of rage. 

” We want to buy some new clothes. ” the woman said to the shop owner, not caring much about anything else. 

The situation was growing too dangerous so I tried to drag Fiona closer to the exit, slowly as to not make us look suspicious. Ron spared a glance at me but he focused back on the owner without much care so we continued our steps to the exit.

” Uooo, what kind of beastkin is that? I never saw one like that... ” said the one called Gerrard.

” I can't believe that you are stupid to this degree. That's an elf, you moron. ” the woman corrected his statement looking at him with disgust.

” What's the difference? Does that mean she's even rarer? We got some luck after all this shit at least. ” his eyes were glowing with greed looking at me and started to make his way in my direction.

Since after we left the temple I had to carry my spear with me everywhere and as such, it was always prepared. As he approached us, I unceremoniously pointed it in his direction with a glare. 

He wasn't minding my glare at all and put his hand on his sword handle to take it out whit a big grin on his face. Fiona was starting to grow restless as well so the situation was looking even worse.

” Gerrard, don't do something stupid again. We don't have time to capture a stray beastkin, let alone an elf. She can't be sold so easily even on the black market after all. Unless you want to arrange a trade with a noble house who will take the risk by yourself. ” said Ron without even turning back at us. It seemed that he was accustomed to his companion's behavior.

He grunted at us and turned back toward the woman's side who looked like she was going to mock him further about it. 

I did not want to waste any more time in that place so I grabbed Fiona’s hand to leave the place immediately. I could not believe how close that was to a disaster. 

I did not care why I could not be sold with ease or why it was dangerous to have an elven slave, but for the first time, I was grateful for something that my race had done in this world. At least I had some kind of protection.

If I remembered correctly, even Fiona had said something similar before... It would be better to get some serious information about my race in the future. This time we got lucky, but we could not rely on such flimsy things when our lives were at stake.

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