Chapter 11 : Buddha Was a Rich Boy

Mnemon Rhomon, Sorcerer

Realm Year 764, Ascending Wood

Abundance, An-Teng, Satrapy of the Realm

These were the most comfortable boots that he had ever worn. He found himself distracted by how good they were. Even as they walked past the gates leading into Abundance, the largest trade-town on the shores of Thousand Dragons Lake, he could not stop wiggling his toes and glancing down at his pace. 

A tiny fraction of his internal energies dedicated to the boots was enough to bring their magic to life, and what magic it was. His feet were cool, they were dry, there was no way he could step that could cause discomfort, his pace was substantially faster even when he wasn’t trying to be faster…

“Are you marveling at your claimed footwear again?” Brahm asked dryly, two large bags of supplies hefted over his shoulders.

“I love these boots.” Rhomon replied with a tone full of wonder, ripping his gaze away and meeting the monk’s unimpressed stare. Shuri had a politely amused smile on his face, and Siata was doing his best to balance a stack of bags and pilfered treasures without tipping over. “Right- we’ve a few things to pick up now that we’re back in town.”

“Can we carry anything more?” Brahm asked, glancing at the two large bags in his own hands, then at the four bags that Shuri and Siata both carried. Rhomon would’ve wagged a finger to emphasize his point, but he was carrying three bags of his own. 

“The first thing is a cart and a steed to pull it.” Rhomon replied with a nod. “Siata, you offered to pay for all our expenses, so I’ll trust you to buy both and sell off the extraneous treasures to your contacts here in An-Teng.”

“Haha- Of course- contacts! A simple matter for one such as I, cousin!” Siata laughed from behind a stack of overburdened leather bags and an ornate jade chest.

“Brahm, Shuri, go with him so we can put the bags down in the cart.” Rhomon half-commanded, shrugging off a pair of his bags and handing it over to Brahm, who stared at them in the same way a cat stares at an object it has no interest in. “Give me the bag of coins- while you all are doing that, I’ll busy myself with some alchemical supplies. We’ll meet up at this gate again at sunset.”

“And you aren’t simply looking for an excuse to wander off?” Brahm asked bluntly, raising a brow even as he set down the bag of miscellaneous coins and gems found in the healing manse. It wasn’t a lot of either. 

“Do you have any idea how time-consuming and expensive those tools are to make?” Rhomon asked with narrowed eyes, pointing at his bag of thaumaturgical equipment. “You don’t get to take them, monk, you’re just holding them for me.” 

The monk rolled his eyes but nodded in understanding, hefting the bags over his shoulders and swaying briefly with the weight added to his shoulders. Rhomon took the bag of miscellaneous gems and coins and hefted it, now only burdened by two large bags. “None of you will be any help for picking out thaumaturgical supplies, so it's best I just handle that alone. Divide and conquer, and all that.”

“Ah- so you’ve read the Ten-Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier too, cousin!” Siata remarked happily behind a tower of stuff, swaying above his half-steady grip. 

“Nope. I’ll be back here in the evening or when I'm done shopping- whichever comes first.” Rhomon waved a hand in farewell and began forwards, walking through the noonday streets.

“Be well, sir Rhomon!” Shuri called out as he moved away, provoking him to give a thumbs-up before making his way to the more established shopping zones. Abundance was filled with the mundanities of a busy trade city. People with carts from outlying villages coming into market with precious metals, gemstones, furs, spices, and all manner of other goods selling them off to merchants in the city, who loaded those goods into riverboats and set sale down for the oceanic ports.

There, they’d sell those same goods to another set of merchants engaging in bulk trade, with even larger ships, who would then set sail and deliver the goods to who-knows-where. The goods would be sold off for immense profits, the profits would be invested in all the ships and the sailors and the pockets of the merchant, and then brought back to repeat the cycle. 

Very little of it was of interest to him. He was on the lookout for a particular kind of merchant, one that engaged in the collection and sale of rare, esoteric ingredients that few common men had any particular use for. 

He raised a hand, waving at a guard who stood boredly at a street corner, watching over a collection of stalls and colorful banners. “Low Realm?” He asked, flipping a jade coin towards the man.

The guard fumbled briefly, catching the coin and blinking. A young man with a layered leather jacket and a steel helmet. “Ah… little bit?” The guard replied, staring at him with wide eyes and slowly nodding. 

“Alchemist shop?” Rhomon asked, gesturing down the streets inquisitively. 

The guard squinted thoughtfully, then nodded slowly, slightly unsure. “Alchemist- down and left. Sign with violet plant.” 

“Thank you!” Rhomon smiled and waved, walking past the guard. The guard glanced down at the jade coin in his hands before nodding and slipping it into his pouch with a thrilled little smile. It was overpaying him pretty massively for a tip- but Rhomon didn’t need to worry about money for awhile anyways with his ‘cousin’ offering to pay for everything.

Brahm was right in that this was a great opportunity for him to slip away from his minders, and thereby escape out into the world on his own, but the amount he would gain would not be enough to account for what he would lose. Plus, all three of the men following him knew what his current goal was and where he was going to go to accomplish it, slipping away would be pointless right now.

He found the shop easily enough, a store with a red fern sign hanging over a slightly battered door. There were stone steps leading up to it, and a window that had a few plants in cracked pots on display. 

Promising! Everyone knew that the best places to buy genuine magical things were in run down stores on dark street corners. The guys in the middle of the roads just sold viagra. He pushed open the door, looking around at the interior. A little chime rang over his head as he stepped through. 

“~~~~!” A sweet, slightly strained voice called out from the back, speaking a language he recognized as Firetongue but didn’t quite understand. He should probably start asking for lessons from Shuri regarding such- it wouldn’t do to be unable to speak the predominant language of the southern people.

She had dark hair with a hint of green, held back by a poofy striped hat. Her eyes were a bright violet and long-lashed, her face carrying an attractive sprinkle of makeup and full lips colored lusciously red. She was wearing a dark green silk dress with hints of embroidery and hints of wear from long-term use. 

She had a slight nervousness about her. He raised a brow. 

“High Realm? Low Realm? Old Realm?” Rhomon asked quickly, switching through the three languages he knew. She blinked, then slowly nodded, smile plastered onto her face. 

“Low Realm.” She replied bringing a long sleeve up to cover her mouth in a way that gave Rhomon the impression of scheming and general maliciousness. “Welcome, honored customer. Please don’t mind the shelves, my suppliers are a bit late in recent days- just for you, a discount!” She smiled happily, reaching forwards to take his hand and shake it vigorously. 

She had fairly delicate, pale fingers. He raised a brow, then glanced back throughout the shelves of the store. They looked to be arranged in rows of four, but one of the shelves was missing conspicuously, and a few stains lingered on the floor.

The shelves themselves were filled with bottles of various fluids with delicate little labels attached, and were rather spaced out. They seemed to be half-capacity at best, but spread out to make them look a bit more full than they should be. 

“What can I help the young master with?” She asked coyly, bringing his eye back to her. “Healing tonics? Anti-aging remedies-” She leaned forwards to whisper with half-lidded eyes. “-draughts of… bedchamber prowess?”

“I was looking to buy ingredients, actually.” Rhomon replied with an amused smirk, using his hand to push her back slightly and withdrawing the palm, letting it settle by his side. “I’m an alchemist myself. I’m looking to refresh my stocks before leaving An-Teng.”

“Oh!” She replied with a reevaluating look. Her sleeve came up again to hide the lower half of her face. “By your tongue… you were trained upon the Blessed Isle, weren’t you?”

“You guess right, my graduation thesis was on alchemical distillation processes.” Rhomon bragged slightly, now that he had the opportunity to in front of someone who actually knew anything about alchemy. He shook his head and got back to the point of the matter. “I’m looking to buy everything you have that will keep longer than a month. I’ll have arrived and be able to restock at that point.” 

“Everything?!” She asked, recoiling slightly. He raised his bag of coins and set it on the counter, letting it slump open to reveal the jade chips and slightly dusty gemstones within. She used one delicate finger to peek inside, staring at the wealth within before glancing at him with a much more calculative gaze.

“Say… you wouldn’t happen to be looking for… an aide, perhaps?” She asked coyly, bringing her hands together. 

“An aide?” He repeated with a mildly amused tone. “The thought hadn’t crossed my mind before, no.”

“I’m looking to leave An-Teng myself, to further my education in alchemy, and only a fool plans to travel alone.” She emphasized her explanation with a series of gestures. “As an alchemist yourself, you understand that an aide to watch the fires and grind the mortars makes things much easier.”

“I can see the logic.” Rhomon replied, reaching up to tap his chin, wondering just how far she was going to go with this. 

“A-and if I’m going you as an aide, then there would be little need for me to sell my ingredients- I could simply bring them along with us.” She rolled her hands and smiled brightly. “A meager wage to buy my service as an aide, along with all my stocks? That’s a grand bargain, wouldn’t you say?” 

“So for clarification…” Rhomon began to count on his fingers. “In exchange for allowing you to accompany me out of An-Teng, you’re willing to work as my aide and provide your stocks of ingredients for my use?”

“A-and whatever potions I’ve already made- there’s no reason to let them rot here in my old store, right!?” She laughed, bringing her fingertips together and grinning at him. 

“Work as an aide, and all your ingredients and potions, to accompany me?” He asked again, adding that and raising a brow. He held a stare against her for a long moment.

“A-and an equitable wage.” She added confidently, then slowly lost confidence as he maintained a stare. “...S-services can be negotiated?” She added with an attractive flutter of her eyes and arms crossed under her very modest bust.

She was pretty, sure, but that level of seduction wasn’t going to work on him. He maintained the stare for a few moments.

“Sure!” He shrugged and grinned, closing his eye. She almost slumped in relief. “I could use an aide. Gather up everything you think you’ll need. We’re going to be leaving as soon as I’m done shopping around for supplies.”

“Perfect!” She announced excitedly, raising a hand and beckoning him to stay still. “Please wait a few minutes- I’ll gather luggage and my stocks- and whatever else is needed!”

With that she vanished from the counter, the backdoor slamming open as she raced through it and up a set of stairs, noisily treading about and throwing together belongings for the trip. 

Rhomon’s bright smile relaxed into a knowing, narrow-eyed grin. A woman as pretty as her, and apparently capable of producing potions, should have no lack of work or suitors. Her position should be secure, and yet here she was ready to throw her property away and hand over her supplies on the promise of leaving? It was essentially a bribe. 

There was something at play here, she was running from something, and she thought she could escape it by getting out of An-Teng. 

And she was right, because she offered to help him, and now he was going to beat up whatever was coming after her. Or she was evil and he would have to imprison her for it, one of those two outcomes, either was fine by him. 

—

“...Siata, what is this?” Rhomon asked, back thoroughly laden with additional bags and accompanied by his new aide, who was similarly burdened with bags. 

“A mighty draft beast, and a cart, and the treasures that couldn’t be sold off on short notice.” Siata declared, patting an immense bipedal lizard on the side. The lizard responded by lazily bringing its armored skullcap over and bashing the Dragonblooded, sending him stumbling forwards.

“It’s a ram lizard.” Rhomon replied, looking at the beast from armored head to tail. An immense, scaly lizard that walked on two legs, sixteen feet long and four feet at the shoulder, with a reinforced, armored skull and a penchant for headbutting things. “You bought a ram lizard- why didn’t you buy a horse or mule?”

“Ahah- you see cousin- a horse or mule requires a great deal of water to keep hydrated, and our trip across the Firepeak mountains will be tumultuous at best!” Siata wiggled his fingers and gestured broadly at the lizard. The lizard ducked low to chew a broad jungle fern next to the gates. “A ram lizard, meanwhile, needs only a third of the water of a horse! And can pull an even heavier load!”

“Because they’re giant stubborn lizards who headbutt people Siata.” Rhomon replied dryly, stepping forwards and offering a hand to the overlarge beast. The ram lizard briefly inspected the hand, snorting dismissively and shaking its head about, returning to the fern. “I’m going to have to do rituals to keep this thing under control, cousin.”

“Ah but you can control it!” Siata grinned triumphantly, raising a finger.

Rhomon paused, before sighing and nodding. “I suppose that’s a good point.” He gestured at the cart that the lizard was attached to. “And what about the extra bags? I’m pretty sure there’s even more there than what we had before.”

“Ahah- well it's very hard to get buyers for first age wonders on such short notice but- we had something else that they wanted!” Siata grinned, stepping over to pat the bags of jade coins. 

Rhomon narrowed his eye.

“You know those warding talismans you gave us?” Brahm cut to the chase with a frown and furrowed brows. 

“...You sold those.” Rhomon asked dryly.

“A talent apiece for trinkets! It was a bargain like no other!” Siata boldly announced, grinning in a satisfied manner. 

“That- that is a very good deal but…” Rhomon swept his hand. “The point of the shopping was to rid ourselves of extra bulk, Siata. We now have more things to carry around.”

“But we can exchange wealth for goods and services.” Siata pointed out slowly, as if he was missing something.

“In cities, Siata.” Rhomon sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “We can do that in cities. Where are we going to buy anything a hundred miles from the nearest town?”

Siata considered that for a moment, then glanced at the stacks of coins in the back of their cart. A long moment passed.

“Hm…” He hummed. 

“Well it’s not the last stop, is it, sir Rhomon?” Shuri asked in a conciliatory manner. “If we’re going to The Lap overland, then that means passing over the Firepeak mountains, and therefore through Jade Plum Citadel first. We can purchase our final supplies there before moving on!”

“I suppose that’s true.” Rhomon huffed with a shake of his head. “You sold all the charms?”

“Yep.” Brahm nodded his head at the thoughtful dragonblooded. “Everything except what you’re carrying now.”

A charm against poison, another against disease, another against curses, and a final one against divination. Then a good luck charm. The essentials. “I’ll have to make new ones as we travel.” He slung his bag over his shoulder and tossed it in the cart, gesturing for his new aide to do the same.

“Who’s this fine woman, eh cousin?” Siata asked coyly, leaning forwards and nudging him on the side, then stepping forwards to offer his hand. 

The alchemist giggled behind her sleeve, offering a pale hand, which Siata planted a gentlemanly kiss upon. “Alchemist Melia.” She introduced herself. It was good that she did that, because this was the first time Rhomon had actually heard her name. 

“I hired her on as an alchemy aide.” Rhomon explained, gesturing at her. “Melia- This is Siata, Brahm, and Shuri.”

She performed a courteous bow. “Hello.”

Brahm nodded. Siata smiled and nodded charmingly. Shuri smiled, nodded, and replied. “Hello, we are glad to have you accompany us.”

“That reminds me, Shuri, I’ll need to ask for lessons on Firetongue, if you wouldn’t mind.” Rhomon snapped his fingers, stepping over to the ram lizard and briefly considering how he was going to go about this.

“Of course, sir Rhomon.” Shuri nodded. 

The ram lizard headbutted his palm, he staggered, holding the hand in place and then starting a series of counter-clockwise rubs. The ram lizard pressed against the hand for a few moments, head shaking, but thrashes getting calmer and calmer.

Binding it as a familiar would take significantly longer, but any two-bit sorcerer could hypnotize a lizard. One of the first things they teach in the Heptagram. 

A few moments passed, and the lizard grew still. Rhomon slowly pulled his hand back, evaluating the immense beast.

It stared at him blankly, then gently headbutted his shoulder. 

“Alright, I get it.” Rhomon groused, stepping back and hopping up onto the cart, taking hold of the long reins that tied to the short horns of the ram-lizard. “Everyone get on, unless you’re walking.” He called back to the rest, who quickly piled onto the cart.

His new aide hopped up to sit on the front with him, scooting just close enough to be polite. 

Rhomon raised a brow at her. She beamed innocently, fluttering her eyes up at him. Turning around, he saw Shuri with polite disinterest and Brahm staring a judgemental hole in his head.

Siata was giving two large, encouraging thumbs up and grinning. 

Rhomon rolled his eye and turned back around, lightly whapping the back of the ram-lizard’s neck with them to indicate it should start pulling them along.

After a ceremonial headbutt at nothing, the ram lizard began to pull them along, powerful legs easily tugging the wooden frame of the cart and everyone in it.

“Hold this forward for me.” Rhomon ordered, one hand on the reins and the other handing his staff off to the woman next to him. She blinked, holding the lantern staff briefly before bracing it against the chair and holding it forwards. The evening light of the road head was slightly brightened.

“Ah… master, the shore is down the other road…” Melia pointed out with a slightly nervous smile, gesturing in the direction in question.

Rhomon nodded. “We’re heading to The Lap overland. Through the Firepeak Pass.”

He smirked slightly at her suddenly-wary expression, like the nefarious sorcerer he was. “Don’t worry. We’re heading into high summer soon- all the ice will be melted for months.”

“...The ice isn’t what worries me…” She muttered quietly.