"Don't you want to buy any new robes?" I asked him, as we continued down the busy street. I remembered how happy he'd been when he'd got the robes he was wearing now. "Their greens are really vibrant."
"No, I think these blue ones are just fine for now," he said absent-mindedly.
"Are we buying anything, Alex?" Louie asked.
"I guess we can do some shopping," I said, but immediately remembered the state of my account after I'd bought the quest item. "Nothing extravagant though. Maybe after we eat, we can head to the market. Rory, what do you say?"
"I don't need anything," he replied and continued to scan the area for a place to eat.
Of course he didn't. He never spent anything more than what he needed.
This was a nice break from the busy days in New York. My job as a developer wasn't too entertaining anymore, but the amount of work our crafting business required had really grown over the past couple of months. Pulling myself away from price charts, orders, and deliveries felt refreshing. Perhaps we ought to make it a habit every once in a while, the four of us visiting different realms. The idea made me smile.
Rory pointed out a tavern with outdoor tables on the side of the stone-paved road and rushed to the single empty table just before another group of people was able to sit down. The two couples who'd been eyeing the table gave Rory an annoyed look but didn't say anything. Instead, they left and we were able to finally have lunch.
Rory took heed of the advice the old faery had given us and tried both the faewine and the moonlight pie during the two hours we spent at the tavern. In fact, he tried both of them multiple times, which was part of the reason we spent so much time there.
The double sunset came quite a few hours earlier than we expected, and Leo decided to retreat to his room since we didn't know how long we'd have before sunrise. Rory did the same but for an entirely different reason. It turned out that no matter how delicate the moonlight pie tasted, eating two whole pans of it had a bad effect even on the dwarf's iron stomach. In fact, I had never seen him run faster than when he left. He threw a few gold coins on the table to pay for the whole feast and sprinted toward the nearest wall that was large enough for him to use his extra-dimensional-toilet key.
"Want to take a walk at the market before we go back?" I asked Louie, who'd been falling in and out of sleep over the past hour.
"Walk?" he said. Immediately his ears perked up. "Sure. Let's go."
I called for one of the felinefolk waiters and paid while Louie was stretching it out with his two favorite yoga poses. We followed the signs pointing toward the market and were pleasantly surprised when we reached a large open area brimming with hundreds of makeshift shops. The tents were colorful, and lines of magical lights ran from one stall to the other, making for a magical sight. The square, and a lot of the alleys around it that the market seeped into, was filled with people--shopping, looking at what was on display, or simply walking and enjoying the cool breeze that had followed a warm day.
"Do you want something specific?" I asked Louie.
"Not really. Just window-shopping, I guess."
We stopped at one of the most bright and colorful tents on the side of the large square and were greeted by a humanoid with long ram-like horns on his head. He was wearing a very fashionable purple coat and had small metal rings in every place they could possibly fit on his face. His shirt was low-cut, revealing his hairy chest, but the strangest thing about him was the sound he made when he walked over to greet us. He had hooves instead of feet.
Name: Ukma Lymmo
Race: Satyr
Class: Realm Trader
Level: 33
A realm trader? I had come across so many classes I didn't recognize today that it felt like high time I did some research on all the possible paths, or at least bought a compendium of classes and races. I made a mental note to purchase one and greeted the merchant.
"How are you lovely beings doing today?" the man said in a voice that immediately endeared him to me, something that made me wonder if his class had an effect on making him likable.
"We're great, thank you," Louie said and wagged his tail happily.
"Is there something specific you are looking for this fine evening?" the satyr said, and his hand moved over the glass display in front of him. "A fine watch to keep the time?"
He grabbed a watch that looked exactly like any other regular analog watch I'd seen, apart from the fact that there was a small word was hovering over it when I focused on it. Mommur.
Item: Time One
Type: Magic Item
Durability: 850/850
Grade: D Grade
Weight: 22st.
Description: A masterfully made analog watch that shows the exact time in whatever realm and place the wearer finds themselves.
"Or perhaps something to kill time?" He put the watch back and this time produced a coin from his pocket, brought forth a small jar, and dropped it in.
Item: Forever Bouncing Coin
Type: Enchanted Item
Durability: 70/70
Grade: E Grade
Weight: 4st.
Description: A gold coin that is permanently enchanted with a spell that makes it bounce forever.
The coin kept bouncing, time and time again. It didn't gain any further momentum, nor did it lose any. It was a neat party trick, but I didn't really have any money to spare on novelties just now.
"We're here for the companion soul-binding quest," I said.
He nodded knowingly. "Yes, I can see that from the glow
