Half an hour later.
Before the gates of Tati City — the "starter village," as Ningning called it, the five members of the Hero's Party said their goodbyes, then split into two groups and headed off in opposite directions.
"So then, Ningning and I will go sell the materials first. See you at the tavern."
Baiye waved as she spoke.
Seeing Baiye wave at him in farewell, the Hero's eyes crinkled into happy crescents, and he waved back vigorously:
"Mm, Big Sis Baiye, see you in a bit!"
Baiye gave the Hero a small nod, hefted the two bags of loot, and turned to fall in step beside Ningning:
"Don't we sell loot at the Adventurers' Guild? I remember the Guild doesn't seem to be in this direction."
At Baiye's question, Ningning, cradling a bag of squishy slime cores, stopped where she stood and turned to explain:
"Baiye, from now on, remember not to sell materials to the Guild. They lowball you."
"What do you mean, lowball?"
Baiye seemed never to have heard of the concept.
Her slender brows arched lightly as she listened to Ningning's explanation:
"The Adventurers' Guild generally doesn't use monster materials itself. It buys them cheap from adventurers, then turns around and resells them in bulk to other merchants at a markup, pocketing the difference."
"But doesn't that mean the Guild is exploiting adventurers?"
Baiye had clearly never learned of this inside scoop, and her face darkened at once.
Seeing her expression, Ningning couldn't help but smile:
"My dear Lady Baiye, do you really just devote yourself to training and let the whole world pass you by?"
"They've been doing this since the very first day the Adventurers' Guild was founded."
"As the saying goes, a big shop bullies its customers."
"They just used to be more restrained about it. It's only these past few years, banking on the fact that no one speaks up for adventurers, that they've grown more and more brazen."
Hearing all this, Baiye, only now realizing she'd been getting fleeced by the Guild this whole time, was immediately filled with righteous indignation:
"Is there no one to punish such wickedness?"
"Not trading with the Guild is the greatest punishment there is."
"Come on, I'll take you to punish the Guild."
Grinning wickedly, Ningning led Baiye into a narrow side alley.
The two of them stopped in a dim corner of the lane.
Baiye watched as Ningning set the bag in her arms down on the ground and reached out to rap on the grey-black, moss-covered brick wall before them.
Before the girl had even lowered her hand, the brick wall in front of them suddenly cracked and flaked away, piece by piece, revealing an exquisite wrought-iron door hidden behind it.
Baiye was struck dumb at the sight, mouth falling slightly open:
"This place... what is it?"
"Just an ordinary underground shop. Though there's an old acquaintance of mine inside."
Ningning brushed off Baiye's puzzlement offhandedly, pushed the door open, bent to scoop up the bag from the ground, and gestured with her chin:
"Go on in."
"Oh. Mm."
Suspicion in her heart, Baiye sized up this dubious place a few more times, but in the end chose to trust Ningning and followed her through the door.
Beyond the door was a flight of stone steps descending into the earth, walls set on either side with dim, amber magestone lamps.
The two of them walked down some twenty steps, and the space suddenly opened up.
Before them lay a square stone chamber.
Roughly ten meters to a side, and nearly three meters high.
Baiye looked up to find all four walls of unpolished, coarse stone, exhaling the cold, damp air peculiar to the underground.
A broad wooden counter sat directly facing the entrance. Its surface had been rubbed to an oily sheen, the dark patina at its corners strikingly worn.
Behind that counter sat a person.
That person wore a wide grey cloth cloak, the hood pulled down low, hiding most of the face.
Baiye could make out only a sharply defined chin, and a pair of hands resting on the countertop — fingers long, their lines soft, the nails trimmed clean.
There were no windows in this cellar.
The only light came from a bronze candlestick standing at one corner of the counter.
Three white candles burned quietly, flames standing straight and steady, throwing the cloaked figure's shadow long across the stone wall behind.
Apart from the counter, the room held nothing else.
No shelves, no displays, no signboard.
Baiye caught the faint smell of mildew hanging in the air, mingled with an extremely faint, indescribable, bitter-green scent of grass and wood.
Ningning walked straight up to the counter, bag in her arms, and tossed it onto the top.
The cloth sack met the wooden surface with a muffled thud.
"The usual," she said.
The cloaked figure gave no answer, merely tilting the hood up a little — and in the shadow beneath the hood, a gaze seemed to sweep across Ningning's cheek, then flick to Baiye behind her.
Then a few long fingers reached over and untied the drawstring at the bag's mouth.
Unhurried, unrushed.
The cloaked figure opened the bag wide.
Inside, the half-translucent, faintly glowing slime cores were revealed, gleaming with a moist, gelatinous luster in the candlelight.
Baiye watched the cloaked figure pluck out one core and hold it up to the eye, gazing at it against the candle flame for a quiet moment. The tiny lights drifting within the slime core flickered dimly between those fingers.
Baiye came to a stop half a step behind Ningning and to the side, her suspicious gaze sweeping again and again over this excessively plain, downright shabby cellar.
A place like this... surely it wasn't dangerous?
Did powerless Ningning really have this kind of connection, or had she been swindled by this cloaked person? Or perhaps coerced...
At the thought, Baiye's hand instinctively settled on the hilt of the short blade at her waist.
Almost the instant Baiye betrayed her hostility, the cloaked figure shot to their feet as well, cold light glinting in one hand—
"Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait!!"
Sensing things going sideways, Ningning hurriedly threw herself between the two glowering idiots, arms flung wide to call a halt:
"Come on, why do you two want to throw down the second you meet?"
Baiye said nothing, still fixed on the cloaked figure who'd bared a short sword.
But hearing Ningning's words, the cloaked figure at once put the sword away, the voice unexpectedly cheerful, even a touch playful:
"What's this, Ningning? I thought you hadn't noticed you had a little tail following you."
"What's wrong with your eyes? Any way you look at it, she came in with me, didn't she?"
Ningning reproached the cloaked figure, displeased.
"You can hardly blame me. This one behind you kept deliberately suppressing her own presence; I took her for a bad sort."
Ningning thought, ah, so that was it, and let out a breath, then set about introducing the two to each other:
"She's one of us, one of us. Get acquainted. This is the captain of the Hero's Party, the assassin Baiye. Suppressing her presence is an occupational hazard of hers, so don't take it to heart."
"And this cloaked person here is..."
The cloaked figure suddenly leaned her waist, supple and lithe as a water snake, out over the counter, extending her body right up beside Ningning.
She reached out one hand to clamp over Ningning's mouth, and with the other flipped back her hood, revealing a face of bewitching, sultry beauty:
"No need to introduce me. Baiye-chan, a pleasure to meet you. I'm the owner of this shop, and an old friend of Ningning's. Just call me Lilith."
Her lips stopped up, Ningning caught on at once and immediately began to struggle, hands flailing wildly to bat Lilith's palm away:
"Mmph mmph mmph... take your hand off me!"
Seeing Ningning's flustered state, her cheeks flushed crimson, Lilith, no succubus, yet more succubus than any succubus, smiled all the wider:
"Why would I take it off? When we're this close and all."
Baiye said nothing, but both of them could plainly tell this upright, righteous captain was about to blow her top.
Both cheeks were flushed bright red.
And the blade was already drawn.
"Baiye! Don't listen to her nonsense, she's just messing with you!"
Ningning cried out hastily, trying to summon Baiye's reason back.
But Lilith, never one to think the fire big enough, kept right on pouring on the oil—
With one arm she hooked Ningning tightly around the neck, keeping her from escaping.
With the other she reached lightly into her cloak and drew out a dress of tender pink, cool and sheer silk, dangling it back and forth in front of Baiye:
"Ningning, I'm so hurt. Just a few days ago you had me prepare this lovely little thing for you..."
"I waited and waited for you, so bitterly."
Ningning went white as a sheet at the sight and let out a shrill, anguished wail:
"Don't believe her, Baiye! It's all a load of her nonsense; I don't know anything about that dress, and I would absolutely never wear it!"
Seeing the tips of Baiye's ears turn red with embarrassment, Lilith hit upon a scheme. Cradling the trembling Ningning in her arms, she teased:
"You won't wear it... so you mean to have your dear Baiye-chan wear it instead?"
That was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
"Baiye! I've been wronged! I'm innocent!!!"
This was Ningning's despairing scream, one that, for some reason, carried a faint note of excitement.
"You two... have no shame!!!"
This was the roar of Baiye, her cheeks red as a monkey's rump, as she swung out her blade of punishment.