The next morning, a waitress brought us a meal of potatoes and stew. After we ate, we made our way to the Hogroth Merchant Company, where adventurers congregated. According to the tavern’s owner, they were “marginally better” than the other groups, but we still couldn’t let our guard down.
Regardless, we needed them if we were to make money and, more importantly, establish a reputation as adventurers here. To buy safety, one needed money and power. But the Hogroth had a habit of beating down any non-dwarves who showed promise, so another option was to try and impress the equally powerful Kiluri Merchant Company.
By establishing ourselves as capable adventurers and earning a reputation with the Kiluri, we should be able to land jobs as guards that would take us to Kal’Faan. We figured the best way to achieve this was to make and sell medicine. We’d bribed the waitress at the inn, who’d told us that daily necessities were very expensive in Cutlass—it was difficult to gather materials in the desert, and the Kiluri brought potions, which were in high demand, from Kal’Faan. This made them prohibitively expensive for ordinary people.
But I had a knowledge advantage thanks to my mistress; Cere’zhula, a dark elf, had lived in this area in the past, and her almanac contained information on uncommon materials that could be found in this region and used to brew potions.
Of course, there were other dark elves in this town who could also craft these potions. But since some of the ingredients came from monsters, it was unlikely that the type of person who would hang around a place like this could procure these materials the same way my mistress had. I was certain she was a better alchemist than any of them.
Thus, our task was to earn money and obtain materials by taking on jobs as adventurers while trying not to stand out. We could brew high-grade potions using monster parts then make connections with the Kiluri to distribute them to adventurers. That way, we would become necessary to the town and they wouldn’t be able to hurt us.
Of course, the two other factions—a gang of criminals and a mafia—were a problem, but given the circumstances we couldn’t predict how they would react. We stood out enough as young Mercenian women, and there was always the risk of being targeted for that reason alone.
Worst-case scenario, I would crush anyone who touched a hair on Elena’s head.
“Um, Alia,” Elena said. “This doesn’t look like a typical place where adventurers would gather.”
“It really doesn’t,” I agreed. “First, we need to get some equipment for you.”
Though the Hogroth Merchant Company was in charge of the local Adventurers’ Guild, they were more of a trading operation; the guild and the Hogroth headquarters were basically one contiguous building. And since Hogroth handled all weapons, armor, and iron products in this town, these items were naturally sold at their headquarters.
The reason the dwarves of the company didn’t tolerate talented adventurers of other races was likely that such people would make monopolizing materials difficult. Still, even though these dwarves were very exclusionary, they seemed to operate from a business-is-business mentality, as the shop had quite a selection of armor for humans.
Back at the gate, the guards had been crag dwarves, known for their robustness. The ones milling about here in adventurer gear were mountain dwarves like Dalton, known more for their expert craftsmanship. An assortment of equipment was arranged in a space about as large as a ballroom, but a quick glance told me there was nothing here on the same level of quality as Galvus’s weapons or Gelf’s armor.
I assumed that the climate played a role in the selection as well. Heavy armor wasn’t ideal for a desert environment, and so most of what the shop had on offer was made of hard leather, likely produced from the hide of some sort of lizard. Other than that, they also sold defensive armaments with the same strange luster as the guards’ armor—likely crafted from insect carapaces. The insect-type monsters in this region grew larger than those found in dungeons.
Though that type of material was lighter than metal, it was still too heavy for Elena. I picked out leather armor with enough coverage to protect her vital points, as well as a pair of gloves and boots. Besides those, I got her a small dagger. All combined, the items cost four small gold coins.
Elena was reluctant to spend the coin due to our situation, but this was very much a necessary expense.
“How...do I look?” she asked, giving a happy twirl and a bashful smile as she showed off the ensemble. As the princess, she didn’t normally have the opportunity to wear such things.
Before I could answer, however, a voice came from nearby.
“Oh? A pair of Mercenian girls. How unusual.”
We turned around to see a Krus boy standing there, wearing a friendly smile. Behind him, a slender dark elf boy was silently staring at us with sharp eyes.