It had been a few days since Victor and his group started staying at the Ivory Shore Inn. While he had gotten used to it pretty quickly, Alena and Drelt both seemed excited about the quality of the new room that they had.

Not only was it much larger than the previous one, but there was a small balcony instead of just a window for their third-floor view along with two beds. There were also five chairs placed at a table, a proper dresser, and a closet in addition to a safe at the front desk that people could place and register their valuables.

Victor briefly considered having them put one of his cards in the safe to see how they would react to him getting it back, but thought that the situation might turn out badly for him if he did.

One thing that Victor mentally was upset by, but accepted as just social norms, was their reaction to him having his slaves sleep in the room with him.

It seemed that on the main floor, next to the front desk area, was where most people would store their non comfort slaves during the night. It, superficially, reminded Victor of those Japanese sleeping tube hotels he saw once on some documentary he watched when he let his web browser keep going from video to video when he was trying to clean one day.

He remembered that he only got about half of what he wanted to accomplish that day as the videos proved too much of a distraction.

Regardless, watching those allowed him to do a comparison with the capsule hotels in Japan. Unlike Japan, of course, these weren’t done with any real concern for the occupant in mind.

If you were to go visit Japan and use some of those hotels you would often be able to find places for the night that you could sit up in. There were also many that had good accommodations that you could enjoy in a common room sense. Built-in T.V.s and high-speed wifi, Victor imagined, weren't uncommon either.

The biggest advantage, that he found himself angry wasn’t available, was that they could be locked and opened from the inside instead of just the outside. Victor couldn’t help but imagine a fire or something happening and the people, because despite how they were legally classified he thought of them as people, would be trapped inside to die or barely escape in that situation.

While some of the staff seemed noticeably confused by the fact that Victor ensured that there was room for everyone to have a bed and be comfortable, only one of them spoke up about how odd he found it.

Victor soon found out that, at least to an extent, the customer always being right seemed to be just as established of a rule as it was back home. Sure, he would admit that there were times that the rule wasn’t true, but he didn’t imagine calling a customer odd to their face was considered good business.

Thankfully, despite being seen as eccentric, or at least a bit idiosyncratic, the coins that were used to cover the room was all the owner truly cared about, meaning it was all the employees needed to care about.

More than a few people stared at him when he had his slaves sit at the table with him for meals, but Victor didn’t feel like hiding away in his room just for their sensibilities. Especially since, after he removed the second fang from Drelt, the young man seemed to have gained an appetite that made up for how long he hadn’t eaten properly.

Victor even noticed that he didn’t seem to be as quick to spend the coins he was able to earn and it made him think that the slave saw some hope, even if he still couldn’t speak.

Speech, while likely to return, wasn’t guaranteed and there was a wide range of when it could be returned if ever. Because of this, Victor was planning, if Drelts’ voice didn’t return, to have him be taught how to read. He thought this would be especially useful if there was nothing similar to sign language for people to learn.

It was true that he had seen Drelt act out in a way that was reminiscent of charades, but he couldn’t count on something like that always being a viable option in daily life. Especially if it was someone who he had just met, or wasn't willing to take the time to try to work with him and his disability.

Today, like every other day, Victor was having breakfast at one of the tables with Drelt, Dorun, and Alena while discussing the plans that he was making with them.

While they wouldn't admit it to him or fault him for it, the three had gotten pretty good at knowing what the day would bring since Victor was rarely quiet with them about his thoughts. It was a simple path to follow most of the time.

"So first off with the coin I got yesterday I was able to pay for some more time for our room and still have my cushion. We have our room until four days after this day of the sun event. I think if we really work hard we can take time off for two days before and after, maybe even an extra day or two before depending on how lively things get."

Finishing his juice, something that was similar to orange juice and grapefruit juice mixed together except for the fact it was pink, Victor took out the pouch that held one of the fangs he had removed from Drelt.

"Since I was able to finally learn about someone who might have a use for one of these fangs, without using it to kill someone, I plan to sell it."

Leaning in he spoke in more of a hushed tone, "For now I'm keeping the other in my storage. I'll slip it in a pouch if I need to put something else in there, but for now, I'm keeping it there just in case."

Having kept the stiffening magic in his first card, Victor had used the second one only on occasion but mostly used it to hold onto one of the fangs. He had considered using the magic he had stumbled upon so he could store both but thought that until he could verify how to repeat this process he wouldn't use it unless necessary.

"Right," Alena said in an overly dramatic tone, "and before that, we are going to the guild to see if any of us three have any jobs that we could do to make some coin for our owner."

Victor poked at her arm with his finger, "You are the one most excited about taking jobs. How often have you asked me if you could do a little more rather than relax? If you hate the work so much surely you wouldn't volunteer yourself for it."

Alena glared at Victor, but only briefly as she spoke softer, "You know that I want to earn coin.... for you. If it is earned while we are still in the capital it will be even easier to get even more coin because of how many people are in a rush to get things or have them done."

Getting the hint Victor didn't push it anymore. Of the three Alena was, by his estimation, the one closest to being able to buy her freedom. He thought she has at least one large silver coin at this point unless she was spending more than he realized.

Victor assumed that Dorun on the other hand only had a few large copper coins at best as he was buying himself tools and armor to better protect his master. He hadn’t gotten anything overtly impressive yet, but he had gotten what he could.

Seeing as how everyone else looked done with their meal Victor spoke loudly, trying to give off the aura of someone who could easily command his slaves. He hoped that this would make those who found him so odd reconsider him a bit so he was less likely to stand out overall.

"Stand up and fall in line everyone. We're going to the guild for some work. I will have each of you working a job if possible so we can make as much coin as possible. I already spent a lot on this room. I'm not even shoving you in those holes since you might get too stiff to do hard work if I shove you in such tight quarters."

The last bit was said hoping that maybe someone would consider having their slaves taken out of the tubes.

Dorun stood up properly first, followed shortly by Drelt and lastly Alena. They all followed him from the inn and started towards the guild.

"You know if you actually did more of these quests yourself instead of getting sidetracked around town we could try to reach orange and take some more lucrative jobs. The sooner we make more money the sooner I can pay you off."

"Don't question your master," Dorun bluntly countered, "His choices are his to make and ours to follow."

Once again the pair started to argue over how they were living. While neither would admit that the other had anything that they were right about. The pair often found themselves disagreeing on what was the right way to live with Victor and how to do things.

Alena insisted that as their owner, she never liked calling Victor master unless she had to, wanted them to earn their freedom, and working towards that was the best way to show respect. It was a self-serving way of thinking that she only agreed with superficially but she found it her best argument against Dorun.

Dorun, on the other hand, was all about extending how long it took to earn his freedom, so he could thank his master for even having the option at freedom. He argued how almost everything he bought was to keep him alive longer so he could protect and serve Victor better and, once the money started to become easier to make he could just take it all in faster and do as his master demanded.

Having heard the basic arguments before, Victor made one-sided chit chat with Drelt as they walked away from the Inn. At one point he made a joke that he might get some muzzles so the other two could be as talkative as him.

That comment got a sharp look, then a smile from Drelt who tried to say something only to cough a bit.

In the few days that passed since the fangs were removed, Victor noticed that the skin wasn't bubbling anymore and was starting to heal, albeit only slightly. There was scarring that was unlikely to go away completely, but some mild disfigurement was much better than losing an arm and a leg or worse.

By the time the group got to the guild it was full of life, but the job board area seemed to be more full of life than usual. At a glance, it looked like the only notable change was a dramatic increase in black to yellow jobs. Hearing some of the others chattering Victor realized that it was mostly people looking for certain supplies to be found, hunted, gathered, or moved in preparation for the big event.

Walking up to the boards, Victor found that the vast herd of people was more than he wanted to deal with so since she was the only one who could read, he told Alena to look over the jobs and report back to him about them.

Letting out a sigh Victor looked at the groups of people scampering about the guild, making requests, accepting requests, and trying to form parties for what looked like more difficult jobs that suggested groups or even demanded them.

"I wonder if I'll have to deal with many people like that when I don't have you three around to help me out. Or when I get to jobs that are actually about hunting or protecting instead sticking to the safer jobs."

Sitting up a bit to try and appear more intimidating Dorun spoke with confidence, "If I am by your side you will be protected. If the woman is by your side she will remind you of ways to avoid danger. If Drelt is by your side he will carry your burdens for you so you may flee if you need to. Your safety is our concern, not yours."

Not wanting to argue with him, Victor rolled his eyes, "Yeah, that's right. Make sure to keep me safe."

It wasn't too long before Alena returned with reports on some jobs. There was a fair amount that they could take that mostly involved leaving the capital and looking for various herbs or less dangerous creatures as well as a few that were hard manual labor. One, of course, was picked with Victor’s skills in mind. Something that amounted to looking over some financial records to look for some mistakes in the math.

There was one oddity with that job however as it was to take place tomorrow. Only those who had been guild verified as being numerically gifted were able to work on it without taking a skill test that started just past the late-day bell the day prior.

"Good job Alena. So here is what I'm thinking. I'll have you and Drelt work together. You can do whatever gathering requests you think you can handle together and just bring what you get back here. Depending on how much you two earn I might even get us something special for dinner today. Of course, that depends on how well you both manage."

Drelt nodded his head quickly as he moved closer to Alena, pulling on her arm and pointing at the job counter.

"No need to be in a rush,” Alena turned from looking at Drelt to Victor, “How long do you want us to work?"

Victor takes out a pair of large copper coins, "Here this should be enough for a decent lunch since we had a good breakfast. You can work as long as you want but if you use this I expect you to work at least a bit past the midday bell. If you do, you can keep any change, but if you don’t work past it you have to return it all."

Taking only a couple of seconds to decide Alena took the coins, "I think we can work past midday. Anything else?"

Shaking his head Victor looked at Dorun.

"I'm going to take this math job. If it's anything like that last math test I took before for another job I plan to get an A on it."

"A what master?" Dorun asked inquisitively.

"An A you know when.... oh eeh nevermind it just means I plan to get every answer right."

Dorun nodded his head and smiled, "I would expect nothing less from you master. Will I be staying by your side to keep you safe today?"

"No," Victor explained, "I need to deal with this fang and you can do that job about helping move some peoples’ stalls in preparation. You can find these two after if you like or wait outside the building I'm going to be taking the test at and walk me home if you think it's that big of a deal. Either way, I can manage on my own at least until dark."

"That said," Victor proclaimed as he stood up, "I think it's time that we go and tell them all about our intentions. Mostly so Dorun can be marked as doing his job. The rest we just need to show up or bring what we gathered.”

As they got up and waited in line to talk to the man working the counter Alena leaned in and whispered to Victor.

She wanted to know if he would reward her a bit extra if they found a good amount of mana cores.

While the question wasn't asked every time it was something that Victor had noticed she liked to verify.

"The same as usual, but between the two of you, not just you. I want you two to work together and not act solo."

After they got all the work with the man behind the counter done, Victor told Alena to make sure Dorun got to the right place before going to their own job and barely remembered to give him a coin for his lunch.

With everyone else’s plan for the day managed, Victor walked towards the apothecary that Elioce had told him about.

Having spent so much time and effort thinking only about the fangs had clouded his mind to what else he could get with his new connection. Sure he had needed to show her how good the fangs were, and do everything in his power to dissuade her from pushing her curiosity about how he had, not only removed them from Drelt, but done so quickly and without any visible harm or scarring on his body.

What mattered was that, since they were financially connected thanks to all the games he had taught her, she had become more willing to tell Victor about shops around town if he asked, so long as he didn't linger too long and distract her. That was how he learned about the Powdered Starlight Apothecary.

While many places dealt with known products and tried to stick with what was taught to them or discovered by those who had medical experts at their side, financial backing, and teams to keep track of everything, this place was different. This man would try to work with anything to discover new things even without all of the tools and safety measures that were considered to be a necessity for experimentations.

After going into the outskirts of the shopping area, Victor could see that many of the homes down the road were more worn out and damaged. He didn't see anyone out and about either so he checked the sign on the shop to make sure it matched what he had been told.

A curved star with seven points to it that seemed like it was shedding starlight into a pile of ash. The sign was mostly the same compared to others, except there seemed to be a slight glimmer to the sign like it had some glitter embedded into the wood.

Upon walking through the door, the very first thing that Victor noticed was a sound that reminded him of boiling soup on the kitchen stove, followed shortly by the sight of black smoke nearly covering the ceiling and intruding itself upon the outside world through the door he had opened.

Despite the visual aspect of it, the smoke didn't have the scent of something burning. As far as Victor could tell it was a spicy smell that cleared out his sinuses causing mucus to drip from both nostrils.

Wiping his nose Victor finally heard some footsteps and noticed what looked like some twine attached to the door that looped through some hooks on the ceiling before separating and continuing into three different rooms. Within seconds the sound of footsteps resounded from the room that was behind the counter and soon enough a man burst through hanging cloth that was being used in lieu of a proper door.

"Welcome to the Powdered Starlight Apothecary. I'm Giyorna. If it can be made I likely have it or can make it. If you have something you want looked into I can do that for enough coin, less if you supply the materials, and if you want to sell something, even if it's something fools think is too dangerous to work with, I might be willing to buy it."

Victor froze in place as he looked at the man. If not for Giyorna excusing himself when he heard something that was partway between a balloon popping and a sprinkler system going off he would have thought he had been acting especially rude for staring.

The man looked to be, by Victor's estimation, in his sixties with completely gray hair and eyes that were, surprisingly, full of life.

Of course, none of that was odd to him. Nor was that his facial hair was patchy as some of it looked like it was signed off. Even the fact that his clothing looked like something that was tie-dyed with vomit wasn't especially concerning either. What caused him to pause was the fact that one of the man's shoulders was exposed as the shirt had been torn away.

Where the shirt should have been was instead a wing like a bat that was working all on its own. The wing even seemed to have a few short claws on the joint furthest from his shoulder.

When the man returned, Victor did his best to ignore the wing. While he couldn’t help but peek at it from time to time, he was able to keep himself from staring at it like he would have if not for the time he was left alone to calm down.

“Sorry about that young man. I got something going on in the back.”

“Now,” Giyorna said, suddenly using a professional tone as he set out some vials of different liquids, “What can I do for you. If I had to take a guess, while you do look healthy, you might have the beginnings of adorins. I can get you some herbal incense that will need to be inhaled that should keep that away.”

Fumbling for one specific bag, as he can’t seem to take his eyes off the man, Victor barely keeps from dropping it as he puts it on the counter.

“I’m not sure if that’s a real diagnosis or if you are just hoping for a sale, but I’m not here to buy. I was wondering if you would buy this.”

The older man reached for the bag making Victor cry out.

“Careful. It’s not the safest material and I don’t want to get anyone hurt.”

Not asking what the material was the old man used one of the little claws on his wing to grab a bag from behind him while putting on some gloves. Once he had the bag he took out some small tongs and a cloth that he laid upon the counter.

“Let’s see what you have then shall we?”

Carefully opening the bag, the older man slowly acted like he was pouring it out, but took a while for anything to come out. Only when the bag was nearly entirely turned upside down did the fang clatter onto the cloth. Picking it up with the small wooden tongs he turned it and looked at it.

“It’s a kyvak fang. One from the front mouth based on its coloring. It’s more uniform so it has been inside of something, but I see no damage to it so you must have found it leftover from a kill. Was there more or did you only take the one?”

Seeing how interested the man was, Victor couldn’t help but think of people who were lucky enough to have their passion as a career. Giyorna, as far as he was concerned, seemed the type who wouldn’t stop working until he was dead.

“I only got the one in the bag. I was curious about what they were worth so I only brought this one.”

In truth, it was because the tails fang was the more powerful of the two that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to sell it yet. Victor knew that, at least back home, poison was often used to make anti-poison medication and hoped that something similar could be done here. If its only use was related to killing he thought he might try to figure out a way to destroy it or, worse case, see if he can conjure it directly into a rock or something.

Barely listening, the older man looked it over from various angles and gave it a small scratch with a metal tool.

“I think I can work with this. I have three basic options for when someone comes in wanting to sell me supplies. Option one is I pay you in coin, but since you only have one you can’t expect to get too much. The second choice is that I offer you some of my wares that retail for a bit over what I would pay. Last is you make this into a donation to my research and if I manage to make something groundbreaking you will have your name put into my research documents as a contributor.”

“I’ll just sell it,” Victor said bluntly. He wasn’t sure if being on something like that would even matter in this world.

“What can you give me for it?”

“Depends,” the man said as he took out some vials and arranged them into various groups, “If you want coin or if you would prefer some of my products. I can offer you a wide variety of products that will…”

“I’ll take the coins.”

Victor was sure that this man had a whole speech planned out, but wasn’t interested in the potions or medicine or anything that he might be offering. Especially if something if it was he made that caused him to have a batwing protruding from just under his shoulder blade.

“I’m sure you make good products, but I’d rather just take the coins now and buy stuff I need when I need it. I am curious though what will you be trying to make with it?”

Folding the cloth in half over the fang, the man took off his gloves and thought for a bit.

“With only this much to sell me, I will likely save it until I get more to do proper work with. If I am unable to get more I will likely just hold it and use it for a numbing agent. If I mix it with the proper components I can neutralize the dissolving agents within it and by using a minuscule mana core and some….”

As if he realized he was going off on a tangent the man stopped and redirected his thoughts, “As I was saying it would be a numbing agent. While not enough for a large supply it would be enough to use on skin level injuries to numb the pain much in the same way the fang naturally stops your vocal cords. If I get more I might look into doing something else.”

“That said, are you sure I can’t interest you in some of my products instead of the coins? I promise that you’ll get a deal that benefits you overall.”

As politely as he could Victor declined the offer for the product over coins, which luckily wasn’t pushed any further, and took several small copper coins along with three large ones. While the fang was considered a rare product, the fact that there was only one limited its overall worth since only so much could be done with just one.

After a little bit of a back and forth Giyorna suddenly excused himself to the back room when the smoke that was permeating from back there turned from black to a greenish-yellow.

“You can see yourself out I need to take care of this before the smoke turns translucent.”

Seeing no further reason to stick around for the time being, Victor excused himself and left the apothecary only to run into someone, in this case quite literally.

“Sorry about that. This shop's windows are so stained with soot and ash and well I think that’s what is on it that I didn’t see anyone outside. Are you hurt?”

Drawing his attention to who he had collided with, Victor's eyes noticed a familiar face, and for some reason, his next words left before he could even fully process the situation.

“I don’t want to sell you anything else.”

“That’s a pity. I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on another one of those lighters.”

The familiar face of the woman who saved him so long ago was standing there in much more casual clothing compared to when he first met her. She even had two people with her that he hadn’t met before. A young man who seemed to be carrying all her things and a young woman with slightly pointed ears and a soft face that made her unnatural purple eyes pop.

Extending her hand towards Victor, Elya smiled, “So how’d you get here? Don’t tell me someone like you is thinking of entering the tournament.”