Chapter 74: Winds of Change

There was something good about coming back to the Black Market after so long. Nikola noted that all the streetlamps were lit. That there were more things powered by mana in the market.

But there was one thing which made his eye twitch.

"This is not a pig's heart, dear sirs! This is a dragon's heart!" The demon before them even showed them the heart again. But Nikola couldn't imagine something so small powering an entire dragon.

"If this is a dragon's heart, I will eat my boots!" Nikola continued. And seeing as he had been mucking the stables with the same boots, which even after being washed stank, he really didn't want to eat them.

"Must I bring forth the truth pendant?" The demon asked, as he looked at Nikola's boots. "And you can spare the eating of these things. If you fork over 1,000 mana stones, I will give you and your family dragon hide boots. Man, what did you do the entire week? Muck the stables?"

Nikola narrowed his eyes.

Was that a walking away tactic? Or… could it be that a dragon's heart was really this small?

"I have a truth pendant!" Dimitri said, as he took it out.

"Just when did you buy it?" Nikola asked because he was fairly certain that the blond had not bought something like that with him present.

"Well, do you remember the other day when I went out for milk for the babies?" Dimitri asked. Nikola nodded. "Well, I was passing by a jewelry shop, and they had them on the display!"

The demon began to chuckle.

"What?" Dimitri asked, his brows furrowed.

"No jewelry shop is going to sell you an active truth pendant. Most of their stuff is counterfeit. So, they must have sold you a pretty pendant without any runes. Come now, let me test it with you!"

The blonde vampire handed the pendant over to the demon. The man let his black mana out, then he tried to activate the pendant.

But it didn't glow.

"You see, the problem with human markets," the demon said, as he gave Dimitri his piece of jewelry back. "Is that they are only regulated to the point where they won't swindle their customers. But apart from that, they are not being forced to deliver good enough services."

"I have truth pendants! Real ones!" A merchant to the right yelled at them. "After you get the heart and the boots, do come over here!"

"Yes," the demon said, as he nodded towards his fellow merchant. "Asmo has pretty neat stuff. It is worth browsing by his stand."

Nikola bowed his head, then. He was just about to take off his boots and to regret each one of his life's choices up to that point when the demon shook his head.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm used to people questioning my wares. Besides, I didn't mention that this is the heart of a baby dragon. That's why it is so small. But it is mana rich, no worries!"

"Thank you!" Nikola said with a bow, as he tried to keep his tears in his eyes.

Dimitri blinked at him.

"What got you so emotional?" The blonde vampire asked. He knew that Nikola was mostly not prone to melodrama. But this time he looked so as if he were ready to cry.

"I stepped into something with a very long worm-like body the other day. I think some of it is still stuck on the soles of my boots."

The merchant barked out a laugh.

"You're adventurers, then?" He asked. Both nodded. "And had to muck the stables, at that?"

Both nodded again.

"Then I have just the thing for you! Dragon hide boots with a self-cleaning rune on them! It will cost you about one million gold coins or 1,000 mana stones per pair! Do we have a deal?"

Nikola nodded. Even though his heart was heavy.

But he had an idea.

"Do you know of people looking for a job who would accept a mining occupation?" Now that the goblins were out of the mines, Nikola had no way to mine the mana stones.

All of his projects required a lot of money.

Soon, he was going to be broke.

The guild paid peanuts. At least they didn't charge him for using the training hall.

"Sure! There are some kobolds who would love a three meal plan and some money to buy stuff. More dedicated miners you won't find!"

Nikola nodded.

"What are kobolds?" He asked. He was past the time when he shied away from showing his lack of knowledge in this world.

Better ask, than find out later the hard way. Nikola had learned his lesson with Tangra.

Never again was he going to accept help without reading the fine print.

"Well, those are dragon kin," the demon began, as he began to wrap up their purchases. "They are resistant to heat and have plenty of stamina."

"What do they eat?" Nikola asked next. Hoping that it was not human meat.

It was one thing to feed Jack, who didn't do much of the manual labor during the day.

Another to feed a horde of hungry miners.

"They are vegetarian!" The demon told them, as he handed Nikola the receipt.

Green eyes widened at the amount. He showed it to Dimitri.

"We can afford it. But it will be humus and bread for us for at least two months, if we can't get the kobolds to start mining as soon as possible."

Nikola sighed.

"Look," the merchant said, as he took out his notebook. "You can pay me entirely in mana stones. I prefer it, even. Why don't you follow my cat to the kobolds, and we can settle this all in a month?"

Nikola blinked. Was he being given all these things on credit?

"And if we don't have the crystals by the end of the month?" Nikola asked weakly, hoping that he would be let off with some community service and give back the stuff.

How he was going to give back the heart was a mystery to him, but he knew that he could not double-cross the black market.

"Then you will pay in druidic mana! This dimension has a lot of land, but we can't use it because of a Lich! If you purify the land, we will be able to farm our own food!"

The brunette smiled.

"How about I do that and give you half the crystals you ask for? I will need some meat steeped in mana, but I can take care of it all today!"

Nikola offered his hand. The demon shook it. A small tabby ginger cat stretched from its cushion and began to lead them towards the merchant with the meat.

Hoping that the druid will purify the river as well, so it could get fresh fish.