The market bustled with the liveliness of peoples, thousands upon thousands passing through, commoners adorned in countless colours, like a field of flowers, flowing through the market a gentle river. These commoners, however, stayed far away from the likes of those who were escorted by the heavily armoured, and those who were escorted by those without.

"I want this," Kizwolima said, pointed to a ring made of a seashell, smoothed by a young hand, one who remained in the back currently softening all their jewellery.

Adam smiled, motioning a finger towards the ring, and as the woman picked it up to package into a tiny bit of scrap paper, tying it with a piece of string, the half elf smiled. "I would like to buy the entire row."

The merchant woman blinked, but packed each of the items, placing them within a small basket, accepting the shining gleam of gold rather than silver. Her eyes then darted to the figure in the black armour, the kind that was rarely seen within such a city, the kind important to note.

That's when Adam saw him. adorned in crisp clothing, bits of gold, escorted by a figure. The figure was adorned in chain, wore a helmet covered by a scarf, and a blade at his side, that which was of a snake that coiled around the base of his blade.

'Oh ho ho ho?'

'These books, considering the feel of the paper, it's definitely from that traitorous Ejirate,' the fellow thought, for who else could make such lovely paper?

The guard shifted slightly, noting the large figure who stepped beside him, and then as he recognised the half elf, his fingers twitched to his blade.

"How much for the books?" Adam asked, beaming towards the merchant.

"These books come from Diyyabayt Ejirate, to the east, and though they have decided to abandon Aswadasad, their books are among the best," the old merchant said, smiling. "One book, one gold."

"How about the rest of your books?"

"One beht," the merchant said.

"Who do you-," Akbar began, only to notice who he was, staring at him long and hard.

Adam tried to recall how much Vonda had spent on her books a few years back, but he assumed the price wouldn't have been the same. "Is this paper from…"

History Check (Intelligence)

D20 + 1 = 2 (1)

Adam shook his head. "Zuhdi?"

"Zuhdi is what the ejirate is called by their locals."

"Oh. I think I meant another place but I don't remember the name, so never mind. How many books do you have? I want to buy them all."

"Shukhur, I can sell you all the books you see, but those within my crates, I cannot sell," the old man admitted, motioning a hand towards the books around, those packaged within the long sheet of paper and string, protecting them from the elements. "Each is twenty books. These are one beht, these are one gold, and these books, they are two gold."

"I will pay for the books," Akbar finally said, annoyed he was being ignored.

"Shukhur, I will open up the crates for you, betta," the old merchant said, smiling politely. Though he could not match the Setting Sun Merchants, they could not so easily deal with him, for he was older than the boy's grandfather, and there was a time he assisted the fellow.

"I will pay double for them all." Though Akbar was probably spending far too much coin, once he explained it to his father, for their pride was worth more than the gold he would spend, he would only be punished lightly.

"Are you planning on buying those from the crates too?" Adam asked, holding Akbar's gaze.

"Can you stop me?"

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"Are you paying double for them?" Adam asked.

"I will do so, if I must, for my family swims in silver and bathes in gold."

"If you're paying double, I'll step back, and consider it ahm's blessing you are opening your pouch," Adam said simply. "I'll have to find another book merchant."

"…"

Adam smiled, since he felt like he had won, even if Akbar felt the same. "Shukhur, ahm, it is a good day for you."

"Every day is a good day for me, but today, yes, today is a good day indeed!" The merchant laughed, causing the half elf to laugh too.

"However, even if he must buy them all, I would like to buy one for little Kizwolima here." Adam motioned towards Kizwolima. "If you want, we can bid on the book."

"No, you may have it," Akbar replied.

Adam narrowed his eyes slightly, before bowing his head. Even if he did harass women, at least he knew when to step back. 'There's a little bit of hope for you left.'

"Mo, you are spending too much," the merchant said, noting the gem.

"Consider it a gift, for Kizwolima will soon be taken away from me, and I want her to take a lovely book with her, one worth at least ten gold," the half elf said. "Plus, recently we did business with the Amira and the Faro, so I'm flush with gold, I don't have the space to keep them all."

"You paid with a gem," the merchant said.

"Yes, so many gems too," the half elf replied, letting out a soft sigh, before looking down at Kizwolima, who sniffed at the book. "Kizwolima, it is tiring to be so wealthy."

Kizwolima heard her name, but did not understand the tongue of the Aswadian people, so she just smiled.

'…' Akbar watched the half elf go, only to notice the Black Lion escorting him. 'Who is he?'

"Kizwolima, make sure you spend all your pocket money," Adam said, rubbing the top of her head. "Let's buy your family some gifts too?"

"Okay!"

It wasn't long before they had spent too much coin, or as Adam thought, not enough coin. As he settled himself down, he let out the sigh of a rich man, the kind that said his problems were truly the greatest, not those who knew what it meant to struggle.

"Did you have fun?" Zabir asked.

"I lost a battle of gold with a merchant, but I won a battle of heart against him," Adam replied, looking up towards the sky.

'If you speak so poetically…' Zabir recalled the fool the half elf was the first time they had met, but now he was so different.

"Ahm, do you wish to remain here, to have some time to think, or would you like to see us at the business first before you make your decision?"

"I would like to see this business, as well as your family," Zabir admitted, since he knew once he saw the half elf with his wife and children, he would understand what he was really like.

"Alright," Adam said, realising he had already won the old man over. If he needed to see how he behaved with his family, then there was no way he was going to lose the guy, nor Yasha.

"Mo Adam," Dunes called as he returned back to the inn, he and his companions holding large baskets. "Good fortune."

"What's all this?" Adam asked.

"Some of the trees around the city were affected by something, so the city had to cut them all down," Dunes said, placing the basket onto the table, patting it gently. "The trees were useful for few things, but thankfully, they were able to make books out of them. Since so many books appeared into the market, all those made of the ruined trees, we managed to procure them for a silver each!"

'I forgot how expensive paper was in this world,' the half elf thought, since each book was thinner than the exercise books he used to write in at school, about two thirds the length, and about two thirds the width, and yet were easily ten times more expensive even when they were bought for a silver.

However, he smiled.

"How lucky," the half elf said, before informing Dunes what had happened earlier in the day.

"You backed down?"

"I couldn't cause the merchant trouble, since he has to make a living in the same place, while I'm just a guest," Adam replied simply.

Dunes smiled.

"Alright, Kizwolima, what else do you want to do?"

"Umm…"

"Should we go watch a play?"

"I want to fight!"

Adam blinked. "How?"

Kizwolima blinked. "Ah."

"Since we've got all these books, how about I write our story so far, and you can draw it?" Adam offered.

"Okay!" Kizwolima excitedly grabbed the stylus and began to doodle, while the half elf ended up writing their story in Elementi.

"What are you doing?" Kitool asked, noting the language he was writing in was definitely a different script to Aswadic or Aldish.

"I'm drawing Kizwolima something to take with her."

"She lives in the sea."

Adam blinked, pausing for a moment, staring down at his writing, already several pages in. "Kizwolima, how about we make each other necklaces?"

"Ooh!"

Adam flushed lightly, while thinking about what else he could do for the girl. His heart ached deeply, the half elf thinking about how much time he should have spent with her while travelling. He supposed they did talk a lot on their rides, but…

"Jurot," Adam called a short while later. "I need a private place."

"Okay."

"Kizwolima, I need to go for an hour or two," Adam said, dropping to a knee, tickling her nose. "Apparently Bael's up to something for the next few days, but I need to do something for the evening. I'll have Tagak watch over you."

"Okay…"

"I'll be back soon." Adam smiled reassuringly before turning to look towards Tagak, who glared at him, annoyed, obviously refusing. "Tagak, isn't it time for you to grow up too?"

Tagak blinked.

Adam, of all people, was telling him to grow up?

In all his life, from his training, to facing so many warriors, even this year, had he ever taken so much damage.