Chapter 12: Apothecary

  "We made out pretty well, but I don't know how much further our coin will stretch once we start buying actual magical items, like more of these rings," Alex spoke with Garret while the two of them walked along the road toward the north side of the village.

  They were now wearing their newly purchased clothes. Basic trousers and tunics, new belts, as well as newly purchased backpacks. All of it was meagerly made and the quality was pretty average. Though they weren't all patchwork repairs and blood stains, which was what Alex's uniform looked like before, so he thought of these as an upgrade in nearly every respect.

  "I regret the boots now, you were right," Garret said to him as he wiggled his foot underneath him, making him hobble a couple of steps to keep up.

  "You always gotta break in a pair of boots man, especially these handmade ones. I told you that." Alex admonished the scout while keeping his eyes forward, looking for the shop the general store manager, whose name Alex finally learned was Tarvin, had given them.

  "Our military boots are perfectly fine, who cares if they don't exactly match? The cloaks are pretty sweet though huh?" Alex flapped the hem of the cloak he wore at this comment. They both splurged a bit to buy them. The things were a notch above in the quality department, made from a material that was smooth and cool to the touch, not the itchy cotton and wool mixture the other clothes seemed to be crafted of.

  "Whatever, I just don't want to twist my ankle in these things. Stop a second to let me change back okay." Garret asked.

  The two stepped off the road a minute to let Garret get back into his old military boots. Alex took the time to re-count their remaining coin, and go over the items they had purchased at the general store.

  After some haggling and barter, Alex managed to get essentially get fifteen silver for each of their rifles. Alex wanted more after hearing they were such great quality steel, but then Tarvin said he would have to have it melted back down and reforged to something useful before he could sell it. Alex understood that much.

  The Ion-Gear was a bit of a tougher negotiation. The material in the gear was even better than the rifles. Tarvin simply didn't know what he could do with it, so he was reluctant to risk paying too much. In the end, Alex got one hundred silver -or one gold- for each of them.

  That led Alex to learn the currency system. A hundred silver is one gold piece, he thought to himself looking at the various coins. As he began making purchases, he learned through context what each coin was valued. A hundred copper pieces are worth a single silver. There are also these "Iron-bits", which are worth even less than copper. Ten bits to a copper it seemed. The Iron-bits broke the current pattern of the system, as a copper piece was only ten iron bits, not a hundred which was the ratio of all the other coins.

  Alex wasn't positive, but as he had continued his shopping spree and gauged prices he came to the conclusion that copper was basically this world's dollar. So an iron-bit was a dime, a silver was actually a hundred. That made each sword he purchased cost him two hundred dollars, approximately.

  He didn't have a full grasp one how much these coins were really worth yet. Buying power fluctuated, and the shop-keep might have been taking advantage of his ignorance. Nothing he could do about that. Regardless, they got quite a bit of gear and supplies. Alex bought ten swords, and ten spears, getting extra just in case. The weapons cost them thirty silver altogether. He also got ten sets of tunics and trousers, all of which were the same size, no small to extra large selection there. Those were only five silver.

  He only got six sets of leather armor, one for each of them. Sure enough, they had to be adjusted to fit Alex and Garret, but the ties and fasteners were easy enough to figure out so they could do the same for everyone else back at camp.

  The armor was the most expensive item. Each of them cost fifty silver, making a big dent in their sudden wealth.

  They went about the shop and bought items they figured they would need. Pans, and utensils. A bucket, some rope, a hammer, and shovel, as well as many pounds of dried meat, nuts, and hard cheese. At the end of it their packs were filled and their coin pouch drained down to just under two gold from the nearly six gold they started with.

  It's worth it though. We needed all this to manage to survive out there. We can't just all move here, people will figure out we aren't from this world and trouble will find us within days. Alex thought over the options, knowing the forest was their best choice right now.

  No matter how bleak that fact may be.

  "Ready to go. I'm way faster when wearing my infernos anyway." Garret said.

  Alex looked down at Garret's boots, finding that little red flames had been drawn on the sides of them somehow.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  "Where did you even get- forget it, come on, we gotta find the apothecary." Alex groaned.

  It didn't take them long to find the building on the northern side of town. It was as Tarvin had described. A medium-sized building with herbs and flowers growing out front, and a sign with a potion motif hanging from the awning.

  Again there was a ring of a bell as Alex opened the door. This might be a typical cultural thing, Alex just wasn't sure. This shop didn't have weapons or basic gear. Instead, the many shelves were filled with herbs, plants, flowers, and fungi of colors and sorts that Alex had never seen before. On a far shelf behind the counter was a glass case containing some vials filled with strange liquids. Besides that, the large counter (which spanned nearly the entirety of the back wall) contained many shallow crates filled with parchment packets tied up with string. A tiny rack of scrolls hung above the back door as well.

  "Hello, hello. Let me know if you need anything." A feminine voice carried over the shop, causing Alex to turn towards the front left corner of the room.

  A woman in a plain-looking dress and slightly greyed-brown hair stood in the corner, watering a few plants that were in pots hung on threads. She appeared to be in her early fifties by Alex's estimation. With her archaic clothing and the setting, she almost looked like the idyllic medieval witch.

  "Afternoon ma'am. We were hoping to make some purchases and offer a few things you might be interested in buying as well." Alex said, smiling at the woman. Garret stepped up behind his left shoulder, watching his back as always.

  "That so? Alright, then young one, come to the counter here and we will see what you have." The woman, Celeste was the name Tarvin had called her, set the watering can down gently and moved to the back of the shop with surprising dexterity for her age.

  She probably has a really high agility stat, Alex thought as he watched her move. He realized for the first time that other people here also would have access to their stats and status screen. They would possibly be far more dangerous than even trained fighters from his own world.

  "What do you have to show this old woman then?" Celeste said, looking at them with an amused grin.

  She's not at all worried about us, despite our appearances, Alex mused. He knew how they looked, two men with packs basically overflowing with weapons and gear. Despite that, this woman seemed completely nonplussed. Perhaps seeing adventurers was just that common.

  "Here's what we have, I hope they are something that you'd be interested in buying. We were wanting to trade some for your own goods." Alex pulled out the little baggies that Allie had prepared for him. Each labeled with a sharpie on the plastic. Alex piled up a little mound of pills onto the counter. The woman's posture changed almost immediately upon seeing the medications, she leaned forward to peer at the small objects in the clear plastic.

  He could see her facial expression flit between surprise, curiosity, then confusion. Her face eventually landed on suspicion and Alex felt his palms start to sweat. Did we mess up? Are these things far too advanced for this world?

  "I've never seen alchemical pills like these before," Celeste said, poking at the medications with her finger. She peered up from the counter at the two of them, her eyes swiftly locking onto Garret. "Did you make these young man?"

  Garret shuffled nervously under her gaze. Without Alex's ring, he couldn't understand her words, so he didn't know how to answer. He looked over at Alex with pleading eyes to be saved from the awkward situation.

  "No, they weren't made by us," Alex said, pulling Celeste's attention back to him. Her eyes narrowed at Alex at this point. She looked him up and down slowly until her sight locked on to the ring on Alex's right hand. He quickly put his hand in his pocket and attempted to act nonchalant.

  "Who sent you here?" Celeste asked. She straightened her posture and pushed the bags of medications toward Alex.

  "Tarvin mentioned you and your shop," Alex explained. "He said you sold potions and medicine. And that you knew this place better than anyone else so would be the best person to ask for information."

  "Tarvin, that ass." The words hissed through her teeth and she shook her head disappointingly. "What information do you want? I know you're not from town. I know every person in Vrung's Quarry, and you aren't a citizen here. Where are you from."

  Alex shuffled uneasily, his hand tightening and relaxing rhythmically in his pocket as he thought. What do I say? I don't know any areas around here. If I lie, she will probably know right away. Maybe just keep it vague?

  "We are not from here, no. We are from... far away. Just trying to get basic information about this place," Alex eventually said.

  Celeste's lips turned into a smirk as she looked at him. Just as quickly, her eyes suddenly unfocused and the smirk fell from her face. Alex looked over at Garret, who simply shook his head. No quippy joke this time.

  "I see, I see," Celeste muttered before laughing loudly. The laugh didn't do much to quell the image of her as a witch that still hung in Alex's mind. She eventually settled back down, her expression now filled with amusement as she looked at Alex. "So, let's cut all this beating around the bush then eh?" She said. "You two are Worldstriders aren't ye?"

  "Oh," It was all Alex could manage to say.

  All that planning and they couldn't keep their secret even for a day. Looked like the cat was already out of the bag.