V2Ch143 New Shirts

"My name is Victreeno. I've helped develop this area of the forest into a thriving, multi-cultural home for many of its residents. To show my appreciation for how close the people have come despite our differences, I started the annual competition events."

The fine-dressed treant pulled something long out of his inner shirt pocket. It looked like an extra-long smoking pipe with an oddly bulbous end. He removed the bulbous portion of the pipe from the end.

The treant held a hand above the wide opening of the pipe. A tiny sapling started to grow from his palm. It only grew a few inches tall with seven or eight green leaves. The sapling quickly started to shrivel. The leaves seemed to dry a bit before they fell into his palm.

He made a fist and turned his hand to the side. The crumbled leftovers fell into the pipe opening. He flicked the top of the round bauble that was earlier removed. Sparks came out and ignited the freshly added filling. He began to puff from the pipe a few times before adding the round end back to the pipe.

"You were holding back too, weren't you?"

I kept quiet. The tone in his voice sounded... possessive.

"Come on, you can tell me."

"Only a little. I didn't want to kill him. I didn't need to use all of my power. I used maybe 90 or 95% of my power to defeat him."

That estimate was way off but I could only hope that he believed me.

"Oh. Come on, Lake! There has to be a ton of untapped potential in there! I saw how you weren't even breaking a swea..."

I grabbed Durt by the front of his shirt and dragged him behind me.

"Hey! Lake! What's the big deal?"

"I'm leaving."

I remembered the maze of lefts and rights to get out of the Fighting Rings. When we were out of the competition area, I was ogled by many bystanders for a lack of any racial markings to show I wasn't human.

I pulled Durt in close.

"I don't trust that treant. People like him only want power and I am just a means to them."

"I think you are overthinking things."

I let myself get distracted by a group of young fae that surrounded us.

"Look! Is that a human?"

"I've never seen one!"

"Can we touch it?"

"Let's poke it!"

"Is it dangerous?"

I dragged Durt through the crowd. I noticed that he felt much lighter this time. Looking back, he was flying to lighten the load.

"I need a new shirt and a hood. I don't like all this attention."

"I know just the place!"

Durt flew forward. He grabbed my hand with his, forcing me to release his shirt. He flew fast through the crowd but I was able to keep up. We came to a small stall that was loaded to the brim with cloth of all kinds and colors.

The stall vendor stood up and held out her hands to show off the wares of the stall.

"Today we have a great special! Please take a look! I'm sure you will find something to your liking... Eh?"

It was Ruby. She got to the end of her rehearsed lines before she realized who she was talking to.

"Oh. It's just you two..."

"Ruby! How rude! Lake is a valuable customer! He needs shirts with hoods!"

He moved close to her and gently elbowed her in the ribs.

"Multiple..."

I could hear his whisper. She suddenly seemed a bit more interested.

"Wait? Really? Does he have the coin?"

"I'm right here you know. You could just ask me. And yes, I have coin."

Her frown quickly dissipated as she turned on her friendly sales associate mode.

"We have a moderate selection right here! What color would you prefer? Would you like multiple colors? Let me know what you're looking for."

I browsed a shelf with several decent-quality shirts with hoods. I found one that was all black and one that was dark blue. I still wanted a third as a backup.

"Do you have a dark red one like these?"

I held up the two I picked out.

"Yes! Right here."

She pulled one out from under a table. It was even darker than I was expecting but It would serve its purpose.

"Great. How much for all three?"

"Thirty silver."

She said with a smile.

...

"PASS!"

I placed the shirts down and started walking away. Ten silver for one shirt is beyond extortion. I've paid stupid prices in the past but I've never paid that much for a single article of clothing.

"Wait wait wait!"

Ruby flew in front of me to stop my march.

"I forgot the friend discount. Ten silver... for all three."

"One silver..."

"What? No! Five silver."

I looked her in the eyes.

"That's still extortion."

My unrelenting stare seemed to be melting her confidence. Her eyes were trying to shy away. Her smile was misshapen and bound to collapse at any moment.

"FINE! One and a half silver."

She finally relented.

"Deal!"

I turned around to retrieve my new apparel after I dropped the single silver coin as well as 50 copper coins into her hands. Ruby made sure I knew she wasn't happy about it.

"Pah... I'm barely making 25 copper off of those..."

She grumbled. Durt began patting her shoulder to console her.

"Look at the bright side. We're lucky if we make five copper off of a sale."

I put on the black hooded shirt. It was soft and warm. It was good quality. I almost felt bad for haggling them like that. I stuffed the other two into my backpack.

"What are you two doing at a stall? I thought you only came for the race."

"This is our parent's stall. They went for a lunch break. Since the race is over Durt and I have nothing better to do."

"You don't, Ruby. I went and saw Lake at the Fighting Rings."

"Yeah? I guess you lost if you are here then, huh?"

"What? No! He won! He was so strong that the finals never took place. His opponent dropped out, she was so scared!"

"Wait. Really? You're that strong, Lake? Hmm?"

She suddenly got a curious tone. Her eyes were not nearly as shy as they were when haggling. She got closer and closer. Her hand reached up and pulled my hood back.

Anyone else, I would have stopped.

"Human?"

"HA HA HA! He didn't even have a shirt on before, Ruby. How did you not notice?"