But for a Slime

Chapter Five

The small village on the lake lacked little of any of the basic services, but had little to no strategic importance. Its place and importance so low that no one living there had actually named it anything. The lake itself enjoyed a meaningless name, simply called ‘the Lake.’ The village itself was simply called home, or ‘the village’ by those who lived there. One enterprising aristocrat had tried to name it several decades ago to try give more importance to the area, and it became officially recognized as Lakeside by the bureaucracy of the state but no one in the village had known that it had even been named.

The sun’s glow was coming over the horizon’s edge and the industrious of the small town were already up and eating. By the time the reflected glow was enough to turn shadowed shapes into grey scale details, people were already leaving homes and opening their shops, the dim dawn sufficient to reveal the details needed to prepare their shops.

The mercantile was even now open for business, although the stout merchant was busy maneuvering some mobile displays out from the locked safety of his mercantile out onto the broad wooden porch entryway as enticing displays for passersby. One of the mobile desks included his drawer and was his work place to accept payments and offer change for his customers. It also doubled to keep him outside and his eye on the trinkets littering the front of his store. He placed his workspace directly in front of a large window with a stout wooden shutter he was currently opening. It opened up above his head and allowed him a view of the entirety of his inner store while also keeping him in the cool breeze outside.

Even as he finished opening the large window-like opening and maneuvered his desk under it, he saw his first customer come down the street and step up on to his porch. The master warrior nodded at him and pointed towards the interior of his shop. His sibilant and lilting words came out in a nonsensical torrent and the merchant bobbed his head in nervous politeness, not wishing to insult the strange, but obviously exceedingly strong, warrior. He waved to his store, saying he would allow him his desire and the quite large warrior bobbed his head with a genial smile and wandered into the store. The merchant watched through the large low window with some agitation, but did little else.

The warrior wandered through the store looking at a large variety of things, and stopped at the soap. He picked up a bar, looking at the two or three on display and finally picked up all three before bringing them to the merchant. He smiled politely, when the man began to point at all three. Confusion painted the merchant for several moments before he began to slowly understand. The warrior was pointing at the soaps and then miming running them over his body. The merchant looked with some confusion for several moments before understanding came to him.

“Oh, uh… yes. You can wash your clothes with that soap. Sure… they’re supposed to be used for washing clothes.”

The man nodded with a smile and pointed at the three, and the merchant took them and replied with a price for all three when the man shook his head, holding up one finger. The merchant stifled his disappointment but then took out the largest bar and set the other two aside. The warrior wandered back into the store and came out with a bolt of cloth, holding the entire thing then laying it out and pulling out about six feet of cloth. It was a thick and heavy cloth, and the roll was about a meter wide, or three feet wide.

The warrior then pointed to the bolt of cloth and mimed cutting a two meter length of cloth. The merchant bobbed his head in agreement and pulled out a large pair of sheers and slid the scissors across, cutting the cloth from the bolt. The warrior then pulled another foot from the bolt and asked for that to be cut as well. After it was cut, he folded it in thirds and asked the merchant to once again cut the cloth in thirds. With that complete, the warrior held the four pieces of cloth up with some satisfaction and nodded his head. He then looked at the merchant and then pointed at his four pieces of cloth and pointed at the edges, then mimed an up and down motion with some kind of object held between his fingers. It took him a minute to figure it out, but the merchant quickly understood that he was looking for the cloth to be sewn. The merchant quickly denied his ability, waving arms vigorously in denial.

The warrior nodded and then sighed before pointing at his items and pulling out his coin pouch. The merchant quickly counted up the items, then glanced slyly at the warrior, considering if he could inflate his price a bit before his friend, the blacksmith, hollered across the way.

“Ho, Malgarn. You might think twice about trying to cheat the man!”

The merchant glanced towards his friend and yelled back, “Ho, Kargallen. Why do you say that?”

“He gave me a perfect monster core in payment for services yesterday. I don’t think you want to annoy a master warrior who can attack and collect perfect monster cores by himself!”

“Truly!?”

The blacksmith simply smirked and nodded as he carried his hot cup of morning tea to his shop.

Malgarn looked back towards the warrior and simply nodded his head before offering a fair price to the warrior, pointing out the coins necessary. The warrior nodded happily and collected his belongings. He turned to leave then stopped quickly and pointed to his cloth again, once again miming sewing, then waving around the whole village and shrugging his shoulders. The merchant quickly understood and nodded his head before slipping next door and banging on the door calling for his wife to come quickly.

Several moments later, his wife, Elian stepped from the door and Malgarn quickly explained the interruption.

“This master warrior wishes you to do some sewing.”

“Am I his servant to do as he wishes? Are you his!”

“Wife! Please be kind. He is a very strong warrior!”

“Husband! What concern is that to me! I …”

The warrior quickly waved at them and seemed to apologize, bowing his head and waving away the issue. He smiled and turned, leaving the two where they were and she looked towards her husband and he only smiled and shrugged his shoulders. She finally sighed and called out to the man.

“Oy! You! Come back here. Tell me what you want.”

The warrior turned and cocked his head in confusion and Elian waved him forward with brusk and frustrated motions. She pointed at his cloth several times and looked at him expectantly. He smiled hesitantly, then pulled out the cloth and showed her with meticulous movements as he folded the edges over and mimed sewing the folded edge. He then did the same, quicker, for the other three sides and then pointed to the other three pieces of cloth and asked for the same thing. When she understood, she nodded and asked him to hand over the cloth and the warrior smiled and did so. He then pulled out his coin purse and pulled out several coins, offering them in payment. She reached for the largest coin greedily and she heard her husband cough slightly. She hesitated and looked towards him.

“What,” she growled with some temper and a frustrated grimace.

“Don’t be greedy! He can hunt and take perfect cores alone!”

Her eyes widened in fear and quickly nodded before taking a lesser, but much fairer denomination. She hesitated, before screwing up her courage. She needed at least three for a fair price, and she pointed at the coin then held up three fingers. He smiled genially and reached in to pull out another two pieces before bowing slightly to her and waving as he turned to leave.

“Well… he certainly is polite!”

“That he is. He paid fairly without complaint when he purchased from me!”

The man wandered diagonally down the main road towards the blacksmith before interacting with and taking a large strange spear with him before disappearing into the eastern woods. Elian found the whole event a bit unsettling. He had been simply too polite. Such strength bred arrogance, and his cautious concern for others was disturbing in the extreme. The merchant scuttled back to his mercantile quickly while his wife slid back into the home and began the task of hemming these strange flat square clothes. Why would he want them? The big one is too small for a blanket, and the small ones… why? So strange!

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