The entrance to the market was a wide street, enough for six wagons to pass, or four with two rows of them parked near the buildings.
That was where Karl stopped Thor, at the edge of the market, in a quieter section close to a small group of clothing vendors surrounded by baked goods. That would distract the ladies for a while, and they wouldn’t have to go too far from the wagon, so if either group got in trouble, they could send reinforcements.
If Karl sent over Remi with her last bodyguard, the two Lamia and Rae’s Golems, they shouldn’t have any trouble at all dealing with whatever was bothering the ladies. Thor was too nervous to let them out of his sight without a barrier anyhow. [You say that like I’m being paranoid. But what if they get tired, or sprain an ankle, or the straps from the shopping bags dig into their hands?] Thor countered.
[You have a point. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Just keep the barrier at a low level so they don’t alarm people with a powerful active skill while they’re shopping.]
The Cerro needn’t have worried about the shopping because only a few minutes later, one of the Naga Warriors was headed back with a whole load of baked goods. It just silently dropped the goods on the seat beside Karl and rushed back to its position, clearly unhappy about having been made a messenger.
It did relax the clothing vendors that were closest to Karl. Sending back loads of shopping before going on a long trip was expected. With a group like theirs, they would go through a lot of food, and a merchant had enough money not to have to survive on base travel rations and jerky.
They had been gone half an hour when sudden movement caught Karl’s attention, and a plume of fire burst from the back of the wagon as a cursing homeless man went running down the street with singed gloves.
He must have reached into the back of the wagon to steal the pies and earned Hawk’s ire.
Karl heard the laughter from the merchants closest to his wagon, and the jeweller who had stepped out of his shop to have a smoke.
A merchant wagon stopped on the street beside Karl, and a small group of guards got off to do their shopping while the wagon blocked a bit more of the road, as the curb was all full already.
“Morning.” Karl greeted the wingless green demon.
“Morning. I don’t suppose you have a buyer for an entire barrel of cooking oil. Decent quality, but not premium. My buyer rejected it.” He asked.
“I will trade you a barrel of low-quality Rum for it. It was supposed to go to the coast, but they turned it down as well.”
Karl actually had a few barrels left, but nobody in his group really drank alcohol.
“I will make that deal. Barrel for barrel. Where are you headed next?”
“To go see the Trolls.” The other merchant nodded in understanding, and nodded at the barrel in his open wagon.
“Once the guards get back, they can give us a hand.”
Karl chuckled and grabbed the rum barrel. “Here. I’ll trade you.”
He handed it over and grabbed the oil to take its place.
Who would need fifty gallons of cooking oil, he didn’t know. But it seemed like the sort of thing that he should be able to sell.
The demon looked suspicious as he grabbed the barrel, then confused as he failed to lift it.
“Yeah, it’s a bit hefty. But I’m stronger than I look. You can sample a bit if you’d like. The rum isn’t terrible, but it’s not fit for a sailor.” Karl suggested.
The Demon smiled, and pulled the top bung to dip a long handled spoon inside and take a sip, then wheeze a little as his eyes watered.
“Well, it’s not too weak for a sailor. The flavour also isn’t the worst I’ve tasted. I could likely sell that to the Naga. They aren’t as picky about liquor as long as it’s strong. Pleasure doing business with you.”
The scent that it gave off was harsh, and Karl wondered if it was actually intended to be paint stripper, not an ingested liquid. But if he had a buyer for it, that was fine.
The ladies came back with full arms and two very annoyed looking Naga Warriors, who were still attracting ladies from all the lizard species. “One more stop to look at new clothes, and we will be ready to go. We’ve got all the supplies we need for the week.” Tessa explained as they unloaded.
“Why does it smell like burnt hair?” Ophelia asked as they moved goods to the back of the wagon.
“Hawk caught someone trying to steal the pie.”
The merchant ladies laughed at Karl’s deadpan answer, and relayed the story to the shoppers who were currently at their stalls, with a much more entertaining plot than the original.
In their version, it was nearly dragon fire erupting from the wagon, scaring away the other wagon animals and lighting the jeweller’s pipe for him. The thief had also been an evil looking man with his hair on fire, not a middle-aged homeless guy with his gloves scorched.
Tessa and Lotus both picked out a few items, and Ophelia found a long coat that she could wear in Werebear form. Staying in that form had to be annoying, as she was hiding her true self, but it was safer. She looked good in the coat though, like a proper bodyguard, and the merchants were very impressed with the look.
“You are a long way from home, why don’t you try these as well? If you’re going to be in the south, you should try everything the south has to offer, right?” One of the clothing merchants suggested.
They must think that she was from the north side of the country near the Divine Beast Nation, which would put her over a thousand kilometres from home, which was a rare thing in a nation without motor vehicles.
By the time that they made it back to the carriage, Tessa and Lotus both had multiple new outfits, and Ophelia had a new coat, pants and an ornately tooled weapon belt with bears worked into the surface, made of some sort of Commander Rank hide.
She almost looked like one of the Pirate Captains, minus the hat. But it suited her, and she blended in with the locals much better now that she had most of her armour hidden under cloth.
Karl just hoped that the items bonded, or they would not last through the first battle. A berserker was hard on clothes at the best of times, and she wouldn’t always have time to strip her decorative clothes off before fighting.
Rae was thinking the same thing, and already making plans to decorate Ophelia later.
This outfit looked good, and if it was made of her silk, it could be equipped over her armour, so it would vanish into her storage with a thought. Regular clothes had to be taken off before they could be stored, and that was far too much of a hassle.
Come to think of it, she could decorate Karl as well. Maybe everyone could have matching coats to show that they belonged to Rae.
That would be good. Her Dana liked her outfit.