ALL NOVEL Chapter 52: Bazaar City
On our eighth day on the Begaritt continent, we climbed down the rock platform and headed to Baazar.
From our point of view, the city looked like a doughnut, the large round lake in the center was surrounded by a ring of white "frost" (shops and buildings) with a small green area on the outskirts, now that I think about it, it's been a while since I've eaten anything sweet...
"We're finally here... it's been quite a walk" Elinalise sighed in relief.
"Yeah, no kidding, it seems like we've covered a lot of ground in the last week" I muttered
"I guess the monsters made it feel even longer than it was" She replied
The ground in this area wasn't just sand, there was real soil, albeit a reddish brown one that suggested it wasn't particularly fertile, and the plains were dotted with large rocks and some weird plants.
It actually reminded me a bit of the Demon Continent from my memories of the anime.
At least it was easy to walk around here, and the temperature was much less extreme.
There was a big difference in climate compared to the desert on the other side of this rocky platform.
On our eighth day on the Begaritt continent, we climbed down the rock platform and headed to Baazar.
From our point of view, the city looked like a doughnut, the large round lake in the center was surrounded by a ring of white "frost" (shops and buildings) with a small green area on the outskirts, now that I think about it, it's been a while since I've eaten anything sweet...
"We're finally here... it's been quite a walk" Elinalise sighed in relief.
"Yeah, no kidding, it seems like we've covered a lot of ground in the last week" I muttered
"I guess the monsters made it feel even longer than it was" She replied
The ground in this area wasn't just sand, there was real soil, albeit a reddish brown one that suggested it wasn't particularly fertile, and the plains were dotted with large rocks and some weird plants.
It actually reminded me a bit of the Demon Continent from my memories of the anime.
At least it was easy to walk around here, and the temperature was much less extreme.
There was a huge difference in climate compared to the desert on the other side of this rocky platform.
When we reached the outskirts of Baazar, it was already nighttime, and bats were beginning to flutter around the sky.
However, they didn't swoop down to attack us, they were just regular bats, still, there could be monsters lurking around, even though we are now close to the city, we stayed alert as we approached the city.
Just as we got closer, a piercing scream could be heard coming from somewhere nearby.
Recognizing the screech of a Gryphon, we both instantly went on guard.
"Are they coming for us?" Elinalise asked.
"No, I don't think so, they're fighting over there, see?" I said looking at the pack.
Elinalise looked but couldn't make out what she was looking at.
"What's going on over there?..." she muttered.
"I couldn't say" I replied.
We advanced cautiously towards the city, soon I saw a small group of people fighting against a pack of Gryphons, there were four humans and five monsters, well, there were six humans, but two of them were lying motionless on the ground, of the four survivors, one was crouching and holding his head instead of fighting.
In other words, it was three against five, the humans outnumbered, they defended themselves from the Gryphons with large swords, they were a well coordinated group, but it was obvious that they were starting to tire.
"Should we help them Lise?" I asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders without commitment.
"I'll leave it in your hands" she said.
"Very well" I answered and started running towards the group.
In a second I dispatched four of the monsters with a long sword of light, the last one tried to flee but I finished it off with a stone bullet in the back.
Once the battle was over, Elinalise caught up with me and we both approached the group of warriors.
"Is it over?!"
The man who had been crouching and shaking finally raised his face, then looked around nervously, smiling in obvious relief.
The warriors who had been fighting the Gryphons approached him.
Standing up, the man began to shout at them.
"What are you doing standing there? Get out and start searching!!"
The warrior he had addressed nodded and immediately ran off.
"My god, what a mess, what the hell was a pack of Gryphons doing here anyway?..." he muttered.
Shaking his head, he turned and approached us with the two warriors at his side.
"Your help was very kind, traveler, allow me to express my gratitude," the man said, bowing.
The man wore a turban and a red tunic under a yellow robe, sporting a long, thin mustache.
"Well, it seemed like you were in trouble, we couldn't just abandon you," I said.
"Most people certainly would have." The man had an almost incomprehensible accent, Elinalise couldn't help but frown trying to understand it, but it sounded like Basherant's accent.
"May the blessings of the wind bless you and yours" he said.
With those last words, the man turned around and walked back to his fallen comrades, at least he gave thanks...
"..."
The other two members of his group were fighters wearing red armor and a thick skirt-like garment around their waist.
They were more equipped than the average warrior of the central continent.
The weapons they carried on their hips were large curved swords with thick blades over a meter in length.
"You don't see foreigners very often around here"
The first to speak was a huge man with an eye patch over his left eye and a tattoo on his face, he was the same height as me, six feet, and probably had an eye patch over his left eye, obviously a seasoned veteran.
"Hey kid, is that girl a succubus?" The other warrior was a light brown skinned girl who stared at Elinalise, she couldn't see much under her armour but she looked muscular, I guess she's in her twenties.
"Well I guess I am, so to speak" Elinalise muttered.
"Well she admits it" the girl said with a snort.
The man turned to his companion and hit her on the head.
"Don't be an idiot!! What kind of succubus travels with a man? You have the nerve to insult them after they saved our lives!" the man said.
"Oow!! But boss! You said a girl appears when there are bats around! It has to be a succubus!" The girl moaned in pain pitifully.
"This is exactly why they call you an airhead girl!" he scolded.
Sighing, he turned to Elinalise to apologize.
"I'm sorry miss, we didn't mean to offend you, Carmelita is a bit of an idiot that's all" the man said with a bow.
"It doesn't matter, I'm not offended at all" Elinalise said as she smiled at the man causing him to blush deeply.
The man was now staring openly at Elinalise, Elinalise didn't seem to mind being stared at, if anything, she seemed proud of being stared at, I guess she's used to it by now.
Taking his gaze away from Elinalise, the man looked back at me
"...my name is Balibadom, thanks again for your help, stranger" he said
"my name is Gino Britzs and this is Elinalise" I said
"understood, well, if you ever need anything..."
"eh?!, what's the delay?!, you two!! we need to find that shipment now!!" the mustachioed man from before interrupted Balibadom
"sorry, I have to go, I'm sure our boss will reward you later too" Balibadom said and he and Carmelita ran towards their boss.
the three of them had a brief chat, then they split into two groups and ran off in different directions.
"What? They're just leaving? I was expecting a little more gratitude..." Elinalise said as she leaned on me
I could understand how she felt, but we hadn't gone into this expecting a reward.
This Balibadom guy had promised he'd reward us later, but we didn't even know the name of the guy with the mustache, and how were they going to come looking for us if they didn't know who we were? Were they expecting us to track them down and demand payment or something?...
...Well, whatever, it wasn't like I had stepped in with the hopes of a big payoff or something, just having those guys remember my name would be enough.
By the time we reached the town proper, the sun had set.
However, the place was surprisingly well lit; there were large bonfires everywhere, like those you see at a fair.
The ground around these bonfires was covered with
some kind of carpet.
People sat around them in groups, eating and having fun joyfully.
It reminded me of a big picnic to watch the cherry blossoms.
"I'm a little hungry," Elinalise muttered.
Seeing everyone around us partying made our stomachs rumble rapidly.
... While looking for an inn, a man approached us and called out.
"Hey, you two want to eat!? I can make room for you for just three Cinsha right now!" the man said.
We agreed and the man had us sit down on a mat, then held out his hand expectantly.
"I'm going to ask you to pay in advance, folks. We've already cooked the food, see?" the man said, pointing at the huge steaming pot.
I took out three bronze coins and handed them over.
The man examined them suspiciously. "What the hell is this?" he said.
"Bronze coins from the Asura Kingdom," I said.
"The kingdom of what?! I can't use these things, dude," he said, handing the coins back to me.
"How about this then?" Elinalise said pulling out a gold ring from her bra.
The man took the ring, examined it closely and then nodded happily and left to find another customer.
"It's better to barter in situations like this" she said
Again her instincts as an adventurer kicked in, she had figured out the right move instantly.
"I'm glad to have you around, Elinalise" I said
"No need for flattery dear" she said and gave me a kiss on the cheek
And so we enjoyed our food.
After that, we left that place in search of inns.
Most of the merchants around us were already closing their shops and heading to their homes, the bonfires were going out one by one, and people seemed to be getting ready to go to sleep.
Seeing the man who had sold us the food before, I called out to him.
"Excuse me, is there an inn around here?" I asked him
"Inns?...what are you talking about? Sleep wherever you want" he said
After this, Elinalise chose a place near the lake and with magic I created a kind of earth igloo and we got in there.
"Uuuuf..well, at least we've gotten this far, right?" she murmured as she dropped her bags on the ground.
"So far, so good, but we're only halfway there, tomorrow we'll look for a guide to Rapam" I said.
Elinalise nodded and began to undress...
And I've noticed that Elinalise wants to do it more and more often...and she also behaves affectionately with me...well, what does it matter, we'll be together for a while so I should take advantage of it.
The only complaint is that Elinalise moans very loudly, but that's for another day.
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Hello, my friend! Help me get to more than 1000 power stones before Sunday! Also, comment what you thought of the chapter!!