“Hey you can’t say stuff like that! Others could overhear and they might think something is going on between us,” Chip chided as he opened his mouth.

Sam placed the spoon there, dripping a smidgen onto his tongue.

“I don’t know your reputation, but I’m nearly certain that being seen with me will cause your stock to rise.”

An onslaught of salty flavor tickled Chip's nose as he tasted the sauce.

“That’s strange,” he said,”I don’t usually smell sauces before I taste them—“

Chips' eyes watered as the secondary wave of heat penetrated his sinuses.

“Water,” he gasped, turning left and right.

“Water? Oh that’s extra,” Sam said, holding up a sign next to a mug.

1 pearl paid in advance before any drinking. No exceptions.

Chip shoved a pearl into Sam's outstretched paw.

Gulping down the water, he was able to briefly regain his composure.

“That…. Was a mean trick.” He said, finishing the mug.

“But it did take you to a new place didn’t it?” Sam replied, “And we’re friends now, I’ve decided it. If we’re both going to be following the exploits of this guard, then maybe we should work together.”

Chip’s nose finally cleared.

“Well if we’re working together I want more from my money,” Chip said.

“Such as,” Sam leaned in, conspiratorially.

“I’m entering the festival contest in two months, the Barons contest. The three blast furnaces?” Chip pointed to the closest point on the triangle of the bazaar, where a mouse was selling hot cakes, steaming off the blast furnace.

“Those are the prizes, or at least I think they are. If we win this competition, we could secure that and it would be easier for my uncle to sell his wares,” Chip said.

Sam looked at the mouse, dressed up in a loose tunic, despite the breeze. There were thin plumes of smoke rising from his side where the blast furnace was roaring.

“So you’re looking for information, eh?” Sam said.

“I am looking to win,” Chip replied, “And I’ll take a bottle of that Isekai sauce, and we need to figure out who else is on that judges panel.”

“We?” Sam said.

“We’re friends now,” Chip replied.

Sam smiled.

“In that case… I know a guy,” she said.