System of the Beast Slayer [litrpg Adventure]
Copyright© 1999 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 97
After parting with Cranmer, the two of them followed the city gate’s bluestone avenue. Beneath the tight rows of buildings that lined the street, hawkers cried their wares in one continuous clamor.
“Miracle salve! Ancestral miracle salve! Cures spots, scabies, all manner of affliction, only this shop, no branches!”
“Amulets and elixirs to make you young again, a year younger in a day! Bewitching draughts, you’ll soar like the blessed, one sip and even the dead in their coffins will bloom anew!”
“Cats! Rat-catching cats! Magic spirit-cats! Gentlemen and ladies passing by, hear their charming mews; daily cuddling keeps your spirits bright and lengthens your days!”
“Toothache’s no trifle; it’ll kill a man. Pulling teeth, pulling teeth, almost painless! Cheap, very cheap!”
“How cheap?” Roy stopped before a tooth-puller, curious how the man worked with nothing but a chair, a bottle of spirits and a length of cord.
“Ten copper coins an hour!” the lean tooth-puller winked at him, showing a mouthful of yellow-blackened old teeth.
...
They fled the noisy avenue and after a few steps rejoined the rest of The Sea Scorpion’s Enigma. The troupe hired a local guide, wound through a maze of backstreets and found a quiet, affordable inn on a side lane.
In the inn’s ground-floor hall, the seats that had been empty were now half-claimed by members of The Sea Scorpion’s Enigma; the innkeeper’s face was nearly split by a grin. Aveline, acting troupe master, however, smoothed her temple with a worried brow.
“The city’s costs are outrageous. After lodging and such, Boss Aaron’s savings are nearly spent. We can’t keep riding on our luck and doing nothing. Kantila, take a few and scout the market square and crowded places, see if we can borrow a patch of ground to perform.”
Kantila, lithe and feline, propped her long, strong leg on the table without shame. “No problem, boss.”
“The rest of you rest today. We’ve been on the road over a week; you must be tired.”
So The Sea Scorpion’s Enigma dispersed: some to cards, some to drink, some to pleasures of the night.
“You’ve come to Ellander; what will you do next, will you ... go with Master Letho?” Aveline gave Roy a soft look, the look of a sister who could not quite hide her reluctance.
Roy nodded stiffly.
“Sister’s wandered the world with the troupe for years. Hard to find a brother you click with, and now it’s time to part.” Her warm fingers wound like twin snakes about his arm, her thin red lips breathed a faint perfume.
“Witchers face monsters every day; it’s terrifying. Stay with me and the Sea Scorpion’s Enigma and learn the tricks. Master Letho, one more apprentice won’t trouble you, one fewer won’t matter, will it?” She tossed the Witcher a playful smile.
“Uh...” The soft touch made Roy blink; he only stayed stunned a second—after all, a Witcher’s willpower was his trade.
He put on a show. “Sister Aveline, I’d hate to leave you...” Then, as if pulled forward, his head found her bosom and he mumbled, “Ugh ... so this is the smell of a woman, am I daydreaming?”
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