Chp.34: The adventurers and the merchants

"So this is the capital. I have to admit it's not bad"

Sisna and her sisters weren't the only ones who went to the capital. Rhaegal and his party had also headed there, to be able to help them with their plan. Sisna wasn't an expert in the world of economics, but neither was she completely naive. She knew that even if she offered the best product on the market, she would do business very slowly without good advertising. And since they were trying to move their plan forward as quickly as possible, they needed the best publicity possible. And what better advertisement than a group of famous adventurers?

During those two months that Sisna and her sisters had been preparing for what awaited them, Rhaegal and his party had traveled to numerous cities in the Jurao Kingdom. They arrived in a city, performed the most difficult missions, routed armies of bandits who often posed a danger to the locals, and then left again. During those two months, the name of the party 'One day' had spread throughout the Jurao Kingdom, to the point that as soon as they set foot in a city they were immediately recognized and acclaimed. Both the city guard and the guild of adventurers considered them real lucky charms, because in a flash they solved all their problems. Rhaegal and his party had received many offers to join the army or settle permanently in a city, but they had rejected all of them using the excuse that they wanted to travel all over the Jurao Kingdom to rid it of criminals. This of course had increased their fame even more.

Then, when Sisna and the others had finished preparing, Rhaegal met them in secret and gave them almost all the money he and his companions had accumulated, which by now was almost equal to 50,000 gold coins. With that amount it would have been easy to buy everything needed to open the most beautiful shop in the whole city. And while their sisters traveled to the capital, Rhaegal and the others did so by a different route. And so, four months into their adventuring career, they finally arrived at the capital of the Jurao Kingdom, where Haku was being held captive.

Now, all they had to do was find the store and act like normal customers, and then spread the word about how amazing were the product that Sisna's shop sold. And in a moment the entire guild of adventurers would be rushing to buy it; and after them, the other guilds and corporations would also be affected. With the publicity provided by the party 'One day', it would have been strange if within a month the shop didn't become the richest in the capital.

When they arrived, Corgorin raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" she grumbled, when she read the sign 'The dragon's shop' hanging above the door of the building she knew was her sister's shop.

"Well, you can't say she wasn't sincere" Carlos said.

"Forget the name. Let's just go in" Rhaegal murmured as he opened the door. A bell rang throughout the building as he did so.

The inside of the shop was really nice: Rhaegal had to admit that his sisters certainly had some taste in decoration. The main room was brightly lit thanks to the large windows, giving the place a very welcoming feel; everywhere were shelves filled with different potions, alembics, strange herbs and various other very strange objects. Tables were placed near the windows where the best products were displayed, so that they could also be seen from the outside. There were also pedestals displaying very valuable potions, complete with plaques and very thorough explanations. Opposite the door was a wooden desk at which sat a very short young woman. "Oh, you've finally arrived" she greeted them.

"Hello, Malchia" Serengal greeted her, recognizing the voice. "Where are the others?"

"Upstairs. They're taking turns now" Malchia replied.

The reason why the ten of them had come was very simple: running a shop was a full-time job anyway, and if you added that the dragons were planning to contact organized crime, someone always had to stay there to keep an eye on the situation. Sisna had calculated that having a large number of customers he would need at least five people to manage the entire store. But at night someone would have to stay there to watch him, since there was the risk of an organized crime assault, and what would they do if they needed sleep? So they had a trick: being ten, five of them they would work during the day, while the other five would return to their real bodies and eat and rest properly, then return and guard the shop at night. This way they would always have control of the situation and would never have risked that someone would discover their secret or worse shatter their work. And it was also a kind of insurance for the future: since Maldor, Kotaru and Darbi were also due to come to the city soon, their real bodies would be left defenseless. Therefore, using this method, at least five of them would always be present to watch over them. That way no one would have to get too tired and they wouldn't have run the risk of being killed while in their fake bodies or of Martha and Lisah breaking free and running away.

After a few minutes, footsteps were heard, and five girls came down the stairs. "Hey guys!" Sisna exclaimed as she saw them, then she looked at her sister who was at the desk. "Malchia, we're done. Thanks for covering for us. You can go too and be back in your real body now"

"Finally! I can't wait to be able to walk on four legs again!" Malchia exclaimed getting up and rushing up the stairs.

"Wow, she really couldn't hold back anymore" Rhaegal murmured, then looked at Sisna: "You've settled in well"

"Yes, everything is fine. All you need is to advertise us" Sisna replied, pointing to the shop. "As you can see, we've already bought quite a few potions of various types. We've also added some things of our own creation... but what we're really aiming to advertise is this" she said taking a flask with a blue liquid. "Maldor created it, our sister is a real genius in this kind of thing. She called it 'Dragon Essence'."

"A very unselfish name, mh?" Efren murmured rhetorically taking the potion in his hand. "What is that?"

"A product that only we can create. Please drink it" Sisna replied.

Efren swallowed doubtfully, not trusting the dragon's encouraging smile at all, but he knew she wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, so he opened the bottle and drank it. Suddenly his body seemed to burn, and for ten seconds he could barely keep himself from screaming, but then the pain vanished and instead Efren felt an enormous force coursing through his veins. "This is... the level gold!?" he exclaimed. For him who had only ever been a level silver, reaching the level gold in one fell swoop was incredible.

"It will only last for an hour, and then you won't be able to drink another potion for three days" Sisna explained. "What you just drank is our highly diluted blood. It took Maldor two weeks of experimenting to find the right formula to create it... but he finally succeeded. As you well know, a baby dragon's blood can increase the drinker's strength goes up one level permanently; however, this tainted blood only does so for a short time. Maldor believes this is due to the fact that normally the mana contained in our blood is absorbed by the drinker's mana core, but since it has been diluted with various substances, they have absorbed it and therefore move into the blood through it, preventing it from being absorbed by the mana core in turn. In this way, whoever drinks this potion gets a surplus of mana, since however warriors and mages use blood to maneuver their mana, but this surplus is only maintained as long as the body doesn't dispose of the potion"

Rhaegal took the empty vial, eyeing it with interest. "Very brilliant. But isn't mana supposed to be stored in blood?"

"According to Maldor, the substances he mixed it with are expelled from the body in feces and urine, so the mana is also expelled" Sisna replied. "And before you ask, yes, we've tried it on several avatars, and no, it wasn't a pleasant experience. Maldor's first experiments blew up the intestines of avatars, and many others caused lightning-fast diarrhea"

"Pff. I would have liked to see the scene" Corgorin laughed, ignoring her sister's menacing gaze. "How many have you prepared?"

"Oh, quite a lot. The blood required for a single potion was very little, so we made a lot. Assuming we're going to sell a hundred a day, we could go on and on for the next three years" Sisna answered.

"You may be selling well over a hundred a day. This stuff will be extremely popular with adventurers!" Rhaegal exclaimed. "We'll spread the word right away. You'll see, by tomorrow you'll already have many buyers. Give us a dozen of those potions, so we can show them around"

"Of course" Sisna said, handing them to her. "It's ten gold coins"

Rhaegal was flabbergasted. "What?"

"Ten gold coins. One for each potion"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Of course not. Did you take this shop for a charity work?"

"But I'm your brother!"

"And it's mine what you're taking away"

"I gave you the money for this place!"

"And I'm not aware that you ever specified that they weren't a gift"

The others laughed. Despite their predicament, it was nice to have a laugh once in a while. The party 'One day' exited the shop about five minutes later, with Rhaegal exclaiming: "How come I ended up paying twenty gold coins!?"

Serengal and Corgorin chuckled, and Sarah, Carlos, and Efren couldn't help but smile too. It was really strange: those were dangerous, cruel and psychopathic dragons... and yet, it was really easy to forget it when they acted like normal siblings.

As they walked down the street, however, their faces darkened as the arena entered their field of vision. They were silent for a moment, then Serengal whispered: "I want to go see Haku"

The three dragons knew when Haku performed in the arena, since during those four months the rumors about him had reached all over the kingdom and also the times when they fought were known to everyone, and therefore they knew they still had time. Rhaegal nodded. "Yeah, I think we could take a look at it" he said, albeit in a very shaky voice.

Efren, Sarah and Carlos noticed the darkening mood of the three dragons. "Don't make those faces. Your brother is a dragon too and according to rumors he's never lost a duel. He'll be fine" Carlos said. For some reason, seeing them like this couldn't help but try to cheer them up.

"Yes, probably so" Rhaegal tried to convince himself. "Come, let's go and see"

The group made their way to the arena and as soon as they were close enough they could hear the cheers and cheering voices coming from inside. Though somewhat reluctant, they entered and climbed the stairs to the grandstands. They discovered that the arena was a huge, perfectly circular building whose terraces formed steps on which spectators could sit. And in the center, for all to see, was a sandy plain where some creatures were fighting.

Though their current bodies lacked hearts, the three dragons felt a pain in their chests as they recognized one of the creatures. "Haku..." Serengal whispered, and from her voice it sounded like she was about to burst into tears.

It was really him. They hadn't seen him for six months and he had grown in the meantime, but there was no mistaking it. That strong, muscular body, those silvery scales, those horns, those claws, those fangs… those eyes. Everything belonged to Haku. "Brother..." Rhaegal whispered almost without realizing it.

Under their gaze and the ones of all spectators, Haku opened his jaws and roared, and then he lunged at his opponents, who turned out to be at least a dozen huge lions. The beasts roared in turn and charged, but Haku repelled them with a powerful blow of his tail and pounced on one of them, tearing it apart with his jaws. Blood gushed from his mouth and fell on his claws.

The spectators erupted in applause and cheers. Haku's name echoed throughout the arena. Rhaegal grit his teeth in fury, Serengal clenched his fists so tightly that if his were a real body he would surely have broken his knuckles, and Corgorin put on an expression so terrifying that it would have made even a great basilisk flee in an instant. How did those pathetic newcomers used to cheer for Haku? Shout his name like a king, yet treat him like a beast?

Haku didn't seem to even notice the cheer he was receiving and jumped on another lion, ripping off its head cleanly. The other lions roared and lunged at him, but in response he leapt past them, and then used his tail to smack them from behind before they could turn. As soon as the tail struck them, the lions were not only badly injured, but also caught fire. Rhaegal, Serengal and Corgorin figured out that Haku must have some fire runes hidden within the scales of his tail: actually, looking closely, they could see how some of his scales were slightly raised, and clearly it was done on purpose. "He doesn't want that the newcomers to find out his secrets" Rhaegal murmured. "Brother... even now, you still think about everything"

But his pride was short-lived: a moment later one of the lions leapt onto Haku's back and bit him. The dragon roared and hurled it away with a swipe of his claws. A little blood oozed from his wound. It wasn't a very serious wound and it would surely heal within a day, but it was enough to trigger something in Corgorin, who began to advance towards the center of the arena. Rhaegal and Serengal didn't seem to notice, but the same couldn't be said of their human 'companions'. Carlos ran towards her and grabbed her by the arm: "Corgorin, no! You can't do anything now!"

Corgorin fixed him with the most fearsome look the adventurer had ever seen on a woman's face. "Let go of my arm now, or I swear I'll break it" she hissed.

Carlos swallowed, but he didn't let her go. "Is this what your brother would like?" the asked. "Would you like to let your emotions rule you? To jump into the arena and reveal to everyone who you really are, and thus exposing us too, and ruining everything we have prepared so far? Is that what he would like?"

Corgorin's body trembled and her gaze hardened even more, and for a moment Carlos feared that she was going to rip his arm off for real, but then she closed her eyes and sobbed: "Haku would like... for me to stick to the plan"

Carlos breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt some empathy for the dragon. It was the first time he had seen Corgorin so fragile: since he had known her she had always been sarcastic, stubborn and it seemed that she didn't care what was happening around her. And now, suddenly, she seemed to be on the verge of completely losing control. It was a reaction he would have expected from everyone, but certainly not from a dragon, let alone Corgorin.

In the center of the arena, Haku recovered from his surprise and attacked again. One by one he tore apart all the lions, until both he and the ground were completely covered in blood. Then he raised his head and let out a roar so loud that the bodies of the people in the stands shook slightly. The spectators erupted in applause and cheers, and Haku retreated towards a gate, through which he disappeared from their sight.

As soon as Haku was no longer visible, Rhaegal, Corgorin and Serengal ran out of the arena. Efren, Sarah and Carlos followed them, and found them leaning against a wall inspiring deeply, as if they had just had a panic attack. "Um... are you all right?" Efren asked.

Rhaegal swallowed, then composed himself. "Yes. Come on, we have a job to do at the guild of adventurers" he said, and then turned slightly towards the arena. "Resist, brother. We'll get you out of there, that's a promise"