I squeezed through the alleyway again with Velariah leading. She had gone awfully quiet and I simply knew this could never result in something good. That much I had picked up from the short time of knowing her. Whoever, or whatever this Coldanus figure was, I'd probably not enjoy being near him.

I decided to ask.

''Who is this Coldanus figure anyway?''

I had just come out of the alley and I could almost hear a pop as my behind was freed from the confines of the wooden walls.

''Unfortunately, he is the best weaponsmith this village has.'' She said softly.

''Unfortunately?'' I inquired.

''He has...'' She paused for a few seconds. ''A temper.''

This was not going to end well.

''He is really good at what he does, though. My sword was made by him as well, as was my father's.''

''That's funny, your sword didn't seem to do much yesterday.'' I made a snarky remark about this so called ''best swordsmith''.

''That's because it's a beginner sword!'' She reacted upset.

''Then why would you give me your money, why don't you get a proper weapon yourself?'' This elf puzzled me.

''Uh, I'll get one soon, don't worry.''

I swear, this elf...

I couldn't wrap my head around her way of thinking. I really couldn't. Sure, I was happy to get myself getting off to a decent start, but at this point I felt like I was getting more than I deserved. I hoped we could get this coffee stuff up and running soon so I could actually get her something as well.

Come to think of it. How financially able was Velariah anyway? Did she have to rely on her father a lot or did she earn her wages herself? As far as I knew she wasn't in the army anymore, so all her money would come from doing quests, right? If it wasn't too late in the day we should try to look if there were more interesting quests we could do. It seemed the money would be very much welcome when it came to equipment. It had been quite a bit more expensive than I had expected, or hoped...

''Vel, do you have an enchant on your weapon?''

I was curious if I could perhaps get her something for the one gold I would have left over. I'd hate to not have her get anything out of this shopping trip.

''How many times do I have to tell you it's Velariah. Vel-A-Riah. And no, my weapon doesn't have a socket, it's a starter weapon, a good quality one but still a starter weapon.''

Oof, she was done playing around it seemed.

''But your name is so long!'' I pouted.

''I don't care. Also, we're here.''

We had arrived at the next wooden building that would provide us with what we were looking for. This one had a sign that was much better maintained. The icon of a sword seemed to be freshly painted on the wood and was still clear of erosion.

''You prefer a spear, don't you?'' She asked me as she walked up to the entrance.

It seemed this shop also had some alley leading up to the back of the shop. I could only imagine what would be behind there. probably much of the same, but I was not looking forward to this Coldanus guy. It sounded I'd be better off avoiding him.

I thought for a few moments about what I wanted specifically. I would have three gold to spend but I found out that if I wanted any good enchants it would quickly ramp up the price. If a simple enchant that made something weigh less already cost three silvers, it seemed very reasonable to me that anything that would make weapons do more damage would cost several gold already.

On the other hand. I would hate to make the mistake of spending a lot of money on enchants without having a strong base weapon. If conventional game logic was anything to go by, if I invested that much in enchanting, the weapon itself would either be low quality or become outdated really quickly.

I think I got to a reasonable conclusion, I thought. I had something in mind that may set me back temporarily but would offer me more room for growth in the future. It would also allow to me get more familiar with using a weapon properly in the first place, without relying on whatever these enchants could possibly do.

''Velariah, do you think it's possible to get a good quality spear with one or more enchanting slots? I don't need to have the enchants themselves, I just want to have the opportunity to enchant them later. Ideally, I'd have a strong base to start out with so I don't mind spending the three gold on just that. I could get the enchants later.''

''Enchanting slots quickly ramp up the price, I have to warn you about that. Two slots for a decent quality spear should be doable but you'd be out of budget in a heartbeat.''

I thought for a while, actually considering of going for a one slot higher quality spear instead. The thing was that I had a feeling I would have more room to ''play around'' with different combinations of enchants if I had two slots. Of course, with more slots came exponentially more options and combinations, but I would have to settle for this for now. I guessed I would have to find out later.

''Also, Velariah, if you can get something for that one gold please go and get it.''

She would have to find something for both of us since I wasn't going to be able to enter the weapon shop. It didn't look like I would be able to enjoy the full fantasy worldtm experience because of this massive black bulb I had to carry around with me. It caused me to miss out of all the fancy things that I imagined were stalled out in these medieval like shops. I could only imagine what the inside looked like. I bet they had a glass window with some kind of artifact weapon, adorned with gold and gemstones and whatnot behind it, that I wouldn't be able to afford for years.

This is not how I would have imagined life in a different world...

To be fair, I never would have imagined life in a different world in the first place... Well, not realistically at least.

Velariah's eyes sparkled with glee after I had said that. Like a kid's then you told them they could get candy with any money they had left over after buying groceries. That was an odd sight, technically it was her own money. Oh well, whatever made her happy.

''Thanks, Elania, I'll see if I can get some something good.''

Was she talking about my own or her stuff?

She had entered the store before I could ask her. I guessed I would find out later, she hadn't disappointed me with her purchases so far, so I wasn't too worried.

And so, I waited for my ''owner'' to finish shopping. It was so awkward to have to wait outside, is this how dogs felt when they were forced to be left outside of stores? Poor creatures. I wondered if this world had dogs. I've always wanted a puppy but I would have to go outside to walk them, I never got outside. Now was a different story though. I did think taking a dog out on adventures was probably a bad idea. Maybe a wolf?

That could be interesting.

I hadn't even noticed Draco walking up to me until I saw him looking at me as he was leaning against the wall next to me.

''Hello miss Elania. Lost in thought?'' He asked breaking me out of my cute puppy thoughts.

''Huh, yeah, I'm sorry I hadn’t noticed you.''

To be fair, he was in his casual wear and didn’t nearly make as much sound as he did when he was in armor. He could actually sneak quite well. So, could I, from what I had noticed.

'And Velariah, too.' I added to the line in my head as I thought back at what had happened this morning.

''Velariah is doing your shopping I suppose?''

I simply nodded.

''Must be hard, not being able to do your own.''

He simply stated that. It didn’t come across as insulting or even teasing. Draco wasn't the kind of person for that, that much I had learnt from getting to know him.

''Well, I mean.'' I paused for a second. ''It's not hard, Velariah knows what I need pretty well, it's just annoying if anything.''

It was quite ironic, truly. I had always been inside dreaming of being able to go out on adventure. Now I was actually able to go on adventure but I couldn't do many of the simple things I could do before. Such as shopping, showering, going to the toilet...

Well, that last wasn't necessarily bad. I didn't seem to have to go often at all, but I was still anxious for when I would ultimately have to do a number two...

I was so not looking forward to that.

''Yeah, it must be hard.'' Draco broke the silence. ''It doesn't seem anything was made to accommodate anything like you, either. No surprise really, you are the first demi-human I have seen with this combination of characteristics.''

It felt good to have somebody who could simply talk about this kind of stuff in such a polite manner. It really did manage to cheer me up and distract from the sad thoughts I would have whenever I wasn't able to do something because of this body. Also, he was the first to call me a demi-human, that sounded like it was at least a promotion from the ''monster'' that I thought I was.

''Characteristics is an interesting way to put it...'' I responded.

''Yeah, well, I can't really put it otherwise.''

''Guess you're right, though.''

I could hear loud footsteps from inside hit the wooden floor. Seconds later Velariah literally threw open the door and walked outside with anger plastered on her face. She did not seem happy. She did have a spear with her though.

''Screw that guy!" She handed me the spear before she kicked against the wall. If she had kicked any harder it would probably have left a hole.

''What happened?'' Draco asked before I could. It appeared I was slowed down by my mind seeing Velariah actually angry for the first time. She was scary.

''That fucking fraud charged me thirty-five silvers for that damn spear. Thirty-fucking-five for a low tier double enchant slot weapon.''

''That's slightly excessive.'' Draco commented in a calm manner.

''Slightly?'' Velariah kicked the wall again. ''It's a fucking rip-off. I was only planning to spend twenty, maybe twenty-five tops. I swear, Elania, if that spear breaks within a week I am going to shove it so far down Coldanus's throat it comes out the other end of this digestive track.''

Ouch.

I was left speechless. I had never imagined I'd see her this angry. It appeared Draco took it awfully well, had he experienced this before?

''Fucking sham'' She swore again as she kicked a protruding cobblestone in the road. I think she actually hurt her foot from that, but she was simply too angry to care.

Well, I had my weapon but this wasn't quite how I thought things would unfold. It also appeared she had not gotten anything for herself which I could imagine with these seemingly ridiculous prices.

I really didn't want to meet this Coldanus guy, I should be happy I wasn't able to enter the building, I feared he would have asked even more. On second thought, maybe I could scare the shit out of him to force him to lower the price? I seemed to be good at being scary when I wanted to be, but I eventually dropped the thought. I doubted it would help my reputation.

I almost didn't dare to ask but managed to find the courage to do it anyway.

''So, what do we do next?'' I asked softly.

''Don't know.'' Velariah tossed her hands up the air. ''Don't care, either. Maybe we should find my father, I'm done shopping for now. I'm sorry Elania.''

She said all that except for my name with anger in her voice. Seems this white-haired elf had a temper that just wouldn't easily go away once invoked. I decided I would try to stay on good terms with her, this was scary...

''Should I go and look for a decent quest at the guild in the meantime?'' Draco had suggested.

''Whatever.'' Velariah had replied.

The lizardman turned to me, seemingly awaiting my answer instead.

''Yea, sounds good, please do.'' I replied with a more concise answer.

''Alright, I'll see the two of you later.'' He waved and walked off.

Smart guy.

Velariah really didn't seem to calm down or even want to calm down as we walked to this alchemy workshop that we were asked to go to when we had time. It appeared it was located in the huge tree in the middle of Dawnleaf as that was the ''building'' we entered.

There were no doors in here, just a massive cut out doorframe with day and night surveillance. The inside was a very large open circle shaped area with only one other room that was separated by a wide rectangle door.

The walls had green roots growing upwards to the high ceiling and ended in blossoms that gave off enough light to together illuminate the room in an enchanting soft green light. One large chandelier with the same orbs that I had seen in Velariah's home's bathroom was hung from the middle of the ceiling to provide additional lighting.

A large row of beds was placed against the outer wall, some had curtains in front of them but they were all open. I didn’t have to guess what those were for. I was already aware that this place also served as hospital.

One section was kept clear of beds and had a large curved wooden desk in front of a wall which boasted many, many wooden shelves. On top of these shelves was, what I would consider any proper alchemist's wet dream. Vials of all different shapes, filled and unfilled were spread out on these planks. All possible colors I could imagine could be found here, some even had transparent liquids and I doubted it was simple water.

All but one of the beds were empty and it seemed the one guy that occupied that one bad wasn't in the worst condition. I reckoned the curtain would have been closed if he had been.

Herbs, blossoms, roots and twigs were laid out on several planks and on the desk in front of them. I thought I recognized lavender but I couldn’t be certain from here.

Several mortars and pestles containing powders were located on the large desk and documents were scattered on it together with the necessary stationery.

Several people that resembled the wear of the treemender that was so politely introduced to me earlier walked about carrying medicinal herbs, potions and thick books.

This looked like a proper hospital alright, save for the IV fluids and blood pressure monitors.

Valtheril appeared from the large rectangle door leading to the other room. Apparently, it was a curved sliding door disappearing into the wall of the rounded room.

Velariah finally seemed to have calmed down as her father approached us.

''Good to see the two of you, it seems you picked up a new weapon. Have you been to Dworag yet?''

He looked at me so I expected he wanted me to answer the question.

''We went to Dworag first. He seems like a nice guy, even gave me a discount.''

''Yeah, Dworag is an amazing dwarven smith, doesn’t even mind elven beer. That, and he provides the best armor in the neighboring area. I'm glad he decided to settle here. I wish I could say the same for Coldanus.''

He motioned for us to follow us to the other room.

''Speaking of, did he give you guys any trouble?''

I could see Velariah's anger resurfacing at the mention of the weaponsmith's name.

''I'll let Velariah answer that, I couldn't enter the building, after all.''

''Oh right.'' It seemed he noticed that was a stupid thing to ask.

Velariah's eyes became the scariest thing in the world again when she started speaking.

''Trouble? No. Headaches? Yes. The cunt decided to charge thirty-five silvers for that.'' She emphasized the last word as she pointed at the spear I was carrying.

''That's a bit excessive, isn't it? Also, watch your language young lady, that's not how I raised you, what would your mother think?"

He seemed to have touched a sensitive subject. Velariah's mood instantly did a 180 degree turn and changed to sadness. Her posture changed with it as she started the hang her arms.

''I'm sorry, father.''

''I'll go talk to him today when I'm done, I have a feeling he is exploiting the situation and I can't say I agree with his methods.''

I found my mood change together with the elf's. Her reaction had me thinking that her mother was no longer part of this world. I think she tried to hide it as best she could, but I think I saw tears start to form in her eyes. That felt a bit harsh coming from her own father.

''You okay Vel?'' I asked without even realizing I had used her nickname.

''I'm fine.'' She replied meekly.

No, she wasn’t. She didn't even comment on me calling her Vel. I wished I could hug her but that would look a bit awkward considering the circumstances. Poor girl.

We entered the other room and Valtheril closed it and locked the door.

This room seemed to be reserved for mixing potions and alchemical processes. I could see all kinds of laboratory equipment laid out in cabinets at the sides, including some equipment that I remembered from high school chemistry classes.

Of course, there were the test tubes, but there were also containers that resembled the classic Erlenmeyer flasks. I could also see burettes and pipets but unfortunately, there were no Bunsen burners in sight. I doubted such things would exist in this world because it didn't seem they used gas as a fuel.I had the feeling they would have something similar, though. I mean, something had to exist judging from all these other materials that wouldn't be completely out of place in a modern laboratory. This civilization may not even be as far behind as I had initially thought.

If I could get pure resources of which I knew exactly what they were I could possibly replicate some of the simpler tricks I learnt. Hell, even gunpowder would be a breeze with all this equipment!

Woops I was getting off track there. There was no way I would usher in the gunpowder era in this world.

In the middle of the room was a large table with four blue vials on top of it. I started to get what was going on here. I had, after all, promised to help out with creating these potent anti-venoms in return for board and lodging, and several other things.

''We're alone here, right?'' I asked, wanting to make sure it was safe to show my special talent.

Valtheril confirmed that we were alone and that he would safely lock these potions away in a safe of which only he had the key.

''Besides, if anyone gets close to the room, I will know it.'' He crossed his arms and leaned against the roots of the outer wall.

I took hold of the first blue potion and felt far too many eyes stare at what I was about to do.

''I can’t do this when you're staring like that.'' I stated in embarrassment.

Valtheril turned around and started inspecting the wood of the wall it looked like. Velariah was still watching but I guess I could cut her some slack. That remark from her father before had me feeling bad for her. I had to commend her resilience, though.

I took out two vials at the same time and held them under each of my fangs.

'Might as well get this over with as quickly as possible.' I thought as I moved my eyes over to her.

She didn't seem to notice as she was too fixated on the drops of venom that I released into both vials. I corked them again and handed them to the elf. I'd have her mix them while I worked on the other two. Maybe it would offer some relief from her gawking.

I dropped venom in the other two potions as well, corked them, and started shaking them at the same time Velariah had finished with hers. She placed the containers with a now orange liquid back on the table. Soon, I added mine as well.

Valtheril turned around and uncorked one of the potions, giving it a good sniff. He then corked it again, thanked me with a handshake and a bow before putting the potions in his pack. I wondered where he was going to keep those safe.

He pulled out two coins from his pack and handed them to me.

''For your troubles with Coldanus.''

I looked at him in confusion.

''I can't have such a valuable asset to our village suffer because of the ridiculous prices our weaponsmith charges for his goods. As I said before, I'll talk to him and make sure he will be more... cooperative in the future.''

That sounded awfully ominous. For Coldanus, that was.

''If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask me, you've done a fair deal for Dawnleaf already and I look forward to our continued collaboration.''

He bowed again, unlocked the door and left us behind.

I decided to look at the coins he had just given me.

Holy crap, he actually gave me a gold and a square silver one. That was the same amount the group quest from before would have given! I felt like I didn’t deserve these. Besides, there was someone who could probably use them more than me at the moment.

''Here.'' I held them up in front of Velariah. ''You take those.''

''Are you serious?'' She seemed to have regained at least some composure.

''Yes, I'm serious, you need them more than me at the moment, maybe you can get a decent sword now.''

''I'm not going back to that ass today.'' She spat out at the mention of the shady weaponsmith.

''Not going to force you. Besides, I feel like it would be a much better time to go tomorrow, you know, after your father is done ''talking'' to him.''

''You're probably right.'' She replied, lapsing back into a hint of sadness. She sat down on the table and seemed lost in thought.

''You okay?'' I asked again, worried.

''I don't know...'' She looked down to the floor.

''Is it about what your father said before?''

She nodded.

''You wanna talk about it?''

I lowered myself down to look into her eyes and saw tears forming.

Oh shit, I had done it now.

I was just in time with closing the door behind me with one of my hind legs before tears started to stream down her face. This pretty much confirmed what I had feared earlier and Velariah hadn't had the time or means to process it.

With nobody around to notice I took her in for a hug as she sobbed quietly. I let her release her emotions for a while before I started to comfort her with four of my hands, however much that may have done through her armor. I wasn't sure how much she would feel of that. Even my pedipalps for lack of better place to put them, were hugging her back.

When it seemed, she had lost enough tension to stop crying I asked her what happened.

''It's my mother, she... she was killed by goblins.''

I didn't know how to react, I just kept hugging her as she slowly told her story.

''Last year during a simple patrol she received a poisoned dagger to the chest as her party was ambushed...'' She rubbed her eyes. ''She never even had the chance to draw her bow...''

''They managed to defeat the goblins but my mother she... she fell to the poison on the blade. All this... All this potion stuff reminds me too much about her. If only we had these stupid things a year ago...'' She started sobbing quietly again.

I had no idea.

I had no idea that this happened so recently. This must still be so fresh in her memory.

I had no idea that I had been such a relief to their family. I could really see clearly now how important I was to them on a personal level. I started to feel guilty for my selfish choice to choose something as dangerous as adventuring.

If only I had been here a year ago. Maybe I could have helped.

I knew it wasn't my fault but with the crying elf in my arms I just couldn't help but feel that way.

''Shh, it's alright.'' I whispered into her ear, trying to soothe her. ''You couldn't help it...''

''I know...'' She whispered softly.

''Together, we will make sure it won't happen again.'' I tried to offer some hope for the future.

''Thank you Elania.'' She returned the hug and let tears run down freely again.

I couldn't stand to see Velariah like this, it broke my heart. I swore that what happened to her mother would not happen to anyone else. Not anymore. Not as long as I could help it.