Arad rolled on the ground, staring around him to see a strange scene. A woman no taller than Aella’s tighs with large hands, feet, and long ears glared at him.

“Ya stupid snot, look carefully before walking.” She glared at Arad.

Arad stood and looked down, she barely reached above his knees.

“What are you? A dwarf elf?” Arad asked, looking at her.

“I’m a halfling. We’re called that since we’re half a human height most of the time.” The woman wiped the dust from her clothes and walked toward the counter, jumping above her chair.

“So, what do you need?”

Arad pulled the letter from his pocket and handed it to her, “Three saddles,”

The woman looked at the letter and scratched her head, “Well, I do have some ready. But I would much rather have a look at the oxs so I can tailor them to size.” She looked at Arad, “Is that possible?”

Arad blinked for a moment, “No, we’re supposed to deliver them to the client in a faraway land.” He replied and looked at Jack for help.

Jack smiled, “Lady, it won’t matter as long as it slightly fit.”

The woman looked at them, and jumped from her chair, “Don’t complain to me later,” She walked toward the back door and dragged three saddles out.

“One gold ninety silver per one. If you needed them tuned later, you have to pay me twenty silver coins per saddle.” Arad smiled, “Fine by me,”

The woman looked at Arad for a second, “Lyla needs to give you a real beating.”

“What?” Arad got confused, glaring at her.

“Learn to haggle, Buffon. And those are the medium quality. I can’t believe she sent you without showing what good ones look like.” The woman sighed, dragging the saddles to the back and bringing another three.

From a single glance, Arad could tell those ones are made of better material and had a tighter craftsmanship. 𝘦𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨

“One gold eighty silver coins now per saddle, and twenty for the tuning later.” She looked at Arad, “Next time bring an expert.”

Arad looked at the saddles, and then at the woman. “You were testing me?”

The woman climbed on her desk and picked up her smoke pipe, lighting it and taking a deep sip, “Lyla said you’re marrying Mira soon. I can’t scam you in our first meeting.”

“You scam people?” Arad stared at her.

“I scam dumb people who avoided learning how to haggle.” She smiled, “Take your saddles and leave, of course, leave the money here.”

Arad smiled, paying her, “Thank you for the saddles, I will bring them back if they needed tunning.”

“Thank you for your patronage,” The woman smiled, waving her hand as they left.

***

CLING! Gray pushed the shop’s door open, looking at the beautiful vases and flowers, “Dad! I’m back,” He said with a smile.

Cain smiled behind his counter, “It’s been a while since you last visited, Gray.”

“I sensed a necrotic surge around here and wanted to have a look. How are you doing lately?” Gray asked with a smile, approaching Cain.

“I’m doing better than before. My bones stopped rattling.” Cain smiled, flicking his finger and pulling two wooden chairs for him and Gray to sit on.

Gray sat down and looked back. He could feel Jemima’s aura in the back, “Lady Jemima, glad to see you doing well. Do you know where sister Sena is?” He smiled.

Jemima walked from the back door and stared at him, “Why don’t you ask her?”

Thud! Sena grabbed Gray by the head, “You can tell I’m here, can’t you?”

“No, I can’t,” Gray giggled, “You can always sneak up on me,”

“What if I can? You never try around us. It’s annoying.” Sena growled, “You know I don’t like that,”

“What are you saying,” Gray turned to look at her face, “I can’t even if I tried. There is a reason you’re staying here with Dad,”

Sena glared at him, “Well, you’re right,” she sighed.

“Come on, you two, you always fight.” Cain smiled, looking at them, “I remember how excited Gray was when Sena was born. And I do remember how you looked up to him.” He looked at them.

“That’s right,” Gray closed his eyes and looked at his father, “So, dad. What is that void dragon deal? I can kill him if he’s an annoyance.”

“No need, leave him alone,” Cain looked at Gray, “Unless you want Sena to kill you right away, you know she’s able to.”

Gray froze, almost turning into stone, as he glared back at Sena, “I’m going to skin that bastard,” He stood, growling.

CRACK! Sena punched Gray in the face, knocking him to the ground. “Mind your own business!”

***

Arad and the rest reached his house, stopping by the garden gate as Mira and Tina came to greet them, “Arad! You’re back,” Mira rushed out.

Tina walked out of the door and bowed slightly, “Master Arad, welcome home.”

Arad walked forward, “We aren’t staying for long. We have an urgent goblin-slaying quest. And we need to move.”

“Really?” Mira sighed, “And I thought you would stay home longer.”

“We will return quickly. I can fly, you know.”

“I know,” Mira sighed, and then looked at Arad, “By the way, you got something from Merlin this morning.” She smiled, running back inside and bringing a box.

Arad opened the box, to see a large dark cloak and a small quiver. “Those are the items Merlin worked on,” He smiled, showing the box to Jack and Aella.

Jack took the cloak and put it on, while Aella took the quiver and strapped it next to her fire one.

“The cloak should make you invisible for a short time, while the quiver has a large storage to hold arrows.” Arad smiled, opening his palm and dropping hundreds of arrows from his stomach for Aella to use.

She picked the arrows, filling her fire quiver and then putting the rest into the storage one. “With this, I can have a faster access to arrows.” Before, she used to take arrows form Arad when her quiver runs dry, but that wasn’t an option mid fight.