I squinted, making a hole with my fingers and looking through it as though it would help me see better; it did, but by a small margin. I was almost certain that this mana crystal was worth its price— it was a Lesser mana crystal of ostensibly high quality costing 6 gold coins: that seemed like a steal to me.
"Hey Gennady," I called out to my Dwarven companion. "Is this one any good?"
"That?" He frowned, and took the mana crystal out of my hand; he scrutinized it for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively. "Bah, it’s only a Lesser, and it’s barely above average. Maybe for its price it’s good, but otherwise I wouldn’t buy it."
I nodded. "Thanks," I said, and turned to the store owner. "I’ll take it."
The woman smiled eagerly, rubbing her hands together as I completed the transaction; I managed to haggle the price down to 5 gold and 10 silver— it was only a two silver discount, but that was worth over a dozen meals, or a few nights in most regular inns.
I returned to Gennady as he crossed his thick arms over his broad chest; I inclined my head to the side. "What?" I asked.
"I told you not to buy it— it wasn’t even a good," he said.
"Are you saying it’s not good because it’s not a Superior mana crystal, or are you saying it’s not good because I was scammed out of my money?"
"Well, uh, it’s..." the Dwarf stammered, scratching the side of his beard. "I was more leaning towards the former," he finally said.
"Exactly." I smiled, and placed a hand on his right shoulder. "I got it because it was what I was looking for, and you told me it’s good for its price. I was taking your advice, don’t worry."
"But if you’re planning on getting a mana crystal to practice with, you should at least start with Inferiors, not Lessers," he objected.
"I’m not planning on using this just yet," I said, placing the blue-green gemstone into a small pouch, and tying it closed. I attached it to my leather belt, and strolled past Gennady. "It’s not for practice now. It’s for when we’re at sea and I’ve already mastered working on Inferiors. I’m planning ahead." I gestured for him. "Come on," I said, "let’s get going. We don’t want to be late."
We left the shop and headed towards the docks; we passed by ships that were not currently being used— many of them looked as though they had been left in disrepair for months— while others seemed as though they were having improvements added onto them. It was mostly empty of life however, since it was evening, and the little noise we heard came from the nearby bars, taverns, or inns which were beginning to teem with life at the end of twilight.
I followed Gennady as we made our way through the cobble street, finally stopping a block away from our destination. "There it is," he said. "The Merlion’s Alcove."
I glanced at the small, wooden building; it was a much more subdued tavern than the ones we had seen on the way here, yet there were clearly suspicious people making their way for this spot. With a name like that and with people as shady as this, you really can’t be more obvious that this is a cover!
"Let’s take a look around," I said.
We spent the next hour loitering around the area; the brilliant vermillion sunset was covered over by the thick, dark clouds before it had fully disappeared beyond the horizon, and a light pattering of rain began to fall upon us.
The drizzle slowly got heavier and heavier, and when it looked as though it would turn into a full-blown storm; Gennady and I had seen nothing indicating that we would run into any trouble in the tavern, so we decided to finally enter the tavern.
The double doors swung open with a hard push, as the bottom of the wood frame scratched across the floor. The tavern, which didn’t seem lively from the outside, actually had some minor activity on the inside; the thick walls must have prevented noise from leaking out, which led to my earlier assumption.
Regardless, it was almost evidently a facade: the bards playing in the corner evoked too large of a reaction from the early night crowd, and the boisterous laughter of sober men as they chatted only made the scene all-the-more jarring. I made sure to keep my hood up as a few faces inconspicuously eyed Gennady and I from their seats.
The Dwarf waded his way straight to the bar, plopping himself on one of their stools as his hood fell off his head. I wanted to throw it right back on, but it was already too late; the barkeep looked over him once over and nodded.
"What do you want?"
Gennady grinned in response, gesturing past the barkeep. "I want your best whiskey in the house— no, the cellar. And add in a nice strawberry on top. With one of those little pink umbrellas. Make sure to mix it with a good dose of nylos, I want it as bitter as possible."
The barkeep raised an eyebrow, and slowly said, "That’s… a long way to order our special drink. But I do believe that’s not a problem." He lifted the small wooden barrier separating us from the bar counter, and ushered us towards a door. "You can find someone able to set you up with your drink inside," he said.
"Thanks, lad."
Gennady stepped in first, almost too
