Fiore [IC]

[Raine]

Mumei’s boots slammed down on the table kicking up a small cloud of dust. Mumei was co in cked back in his chair, hands behind his head, eyeing up and down a stout man in front of him. Mumei was a snarky smile to the man who was dressed head to toe in lavish wears. Mumei’s job was to get the bulk orders with clients, he normally had no problem accomplishing this since he had contacts in most cities who either resented him and owed him or loved him and he owed, either made good customers. This was the former. “It’s been a while since I saw you in Fortuna.”

 

 

Mumei played a noble’s son when he played cards with this man at an up-scale tavern; he had gotten into the habit of remembering his cons around people of notice. The man didn’t bother sitting at table with Mumei and just stood there with an annoyed looks plastered over his aging face. He was starting to turn red with frustration, “What are you doing? You got what I owed you. The Hoister House has no business this far out.”

 

 

Mumei sat straight up and pointed his finger to the man, “Watch your tone or I’ll have my father send you through the Dragon Pass without a coin and naked. See how long you’ll last as my enemy.”

 

 

“With all due respect,” he empathized, “I don’t owe you anyt-“

 

 

Mumei pressed his finger to the man’s mouth to shut him up. He instantly realized how gross that man’s mouth is and wiped his hand on his shirt, “As I remember it, you shorted me 10 in those split 8’s at the end.”

 

 

The man, remembering this, quickly spun his head to make sure that no one else was present and leaned in to whisper, “You said you’d make an exception-.”

 

 

“I lied,” Mumei shrugged.

 

 

“That’s not fair!,” shouted the man in anger, his eyes were streating to water as Mumei pressed him.

 

 

“Yeah, that’s too bad. I guess I’ll have to throw you in the stockade or something since you can’t make it up to me. Thank goodness this didn’t happen to me. I wouldn’t know what I would do,” Mumei said coldly smiling mischievously.

 

 

The man caught the hint, “What do you want?”

 

 

“What do you mean? I’m afraid there’s nothing-,” Mumei questioned as he stood up and looked out the window, “Now, that you mention it… It just so happens I’m in need of a customer willing to buy bulk and at an inflated price.”

 

 

“This is my debt, don’t involve my business!”

 

 

Mumei gave a harsh glare to the business man, “Very well, I’ll inform the guards.”

 

 

The man sighed and sat, “Whatever you want, just send me the shipping manifesto and I’ll pay for whatever you need. I can at least sell it, right?”

 

 

Mumei gave a crooked smile, “Of course, nobility would never sell you shoddy goods. I appreciate that we came to a mutual understanding,” he moved to the door and paused, “I don’t think we’ll ever see each other again. Be thankful…”

 

 

Mumei walked just far enough to not be in sight of the shop he exited before turning into a deserted alley. He balled his hand into a fist and swung down into his gut. He cough in reaction to the pain. Again, he punched himself in the face. He repeated this again and again. Every time he hurt himself, the weight on guilt felt less and less but would never leave. He felt his old bruises acting up and he struck his body and cringed in the pain. Breathing heavily, he smashed his hand against the wall of the alley one last time. His knuckles were bleeding at this point.

 

 

He did it again. His one and only talent was his cons. His one and only talent was the one thing about himself he hated more than anything in this world and the only thing worth a damn. Mumei started to limp through the alley towards a nearly deserted bar. He pushed himself through the drapes of the shop with his shoulder and threw himself on a stool. The bar was empty aside from one drunkard passed on the far side of the bar sleeping on his arms. It was a dirty place, a local favorite, euphemistically said. A middle-aged woman came from the staff-only door and noticed Mumei. She quickly came over and just waited for him, she easily noticed the shape he was in and didn’t press. She was a true pro at bartending. “Just… whatever he had,” he asked as he nudged his head towards the drunkard.

 

 

Mumei placed a silver coin on the table as she placed a glass full of a redish-brown liquid. Not drinking on the road had been putting Mumei on the edge as of late but he was going to ensure that he wouldn’t run out when he made back for the coast without his new caravan friends. “Mamei, what the f*ck am I doing…” he said involuntarily as he slowly sipped down the alcohol. It was gritty and harsh, a local brew, and something for people who are less well-off who want to get wasted without the taste.

 

 

The bartender noticed his words, “That your girlfriend?”

 

 

Mumei looked up to her and tried to smile, “In another life…”

 

 

He quickly finished the drink and was beginning to feel the edge being taken off both his pain and his mind. He figured he shouldn’t let himself get plastered before the sun went down and reporting to Lady Ann. Mumei waved to the lady and started out the door, his legs weak but able.

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Mumei dragged himself back into the shop area that Markis and he had set up earlier. He noted Ann working diligently around the shop, he signaled to her, “I got a buyer for our dry goods at three silver per pound and anything else we need to get rid of.”

 

 

Mumei was bracing himself to tell the others that he was planning to depart from them soon. He let an hour pass as he manned the shop, he wasn’t sure how to approach them. He considered just leaving without saying anything but knowing Ann she’d drag him down the road like she did the first time. He had to let them go, it was time for him to stop this charade, he couldn’t live like this. Mumei went to find Ann when he heard her voice through a curtain, “Hey, I have something I need to-.”

 

 

“What were you two doing? You’ve been gone for hours! You haven’t been doing anything… inappropriate, have you?” Lady Ann questioned, albeit jokingly.

 

 

“Oh geez,” he said watching their interaction. Where DID they run off to?

[Maeriberii Haan]

"Alright, milady.

I'll be off now, looking around the town. I'll try to be here before dusk."

 

 

---

 

Alicia used her time on the city mainly to buy some new clothing for herself, while finding potential love interest along the way. Neither was hard for her, definitely, though she was somewhat irked by how messy she had become during her journey with the caravan. She considered to go to a nearest bathhouse, though the thought of her bathing alongside a lot of people was definitely not something that she would like, especially with…yeah, with what was usually done there aside from bathing and laundry.  And thus, Alicia decided to just continue her shopping trip and ignore that place for now.

 

---

 

Without her realizing it, several hours had passed since she left the caravan and her group. While she didn’t buy a lot of things, the chitchat she had with the pretty girls there apparently took a lot of her time. Not that she was in a hurry or anything, but probably she shouldn’t make the ever lovely Lady Ann worried about her, as that’d be impolite.

 

On her way back, she stumbled again with the bathing house, and noticed that it was oddly empty. Curious, she went into the bathhouse’s owner to ask about that.

 

“Excuse me, sir.

May I inquire about the reasoning of why this sole bathhouse in this town was devoid of people during this time of the day?”

 

Standard polite sentence to give others a good impression of her. The owner, who was currently ordering his underlings to tidy up the place, was somewhat surprised at first with the sight of her, but the surprise was short lived, and he started to smile a little.

 

“Milady, you are a traveller, no? That’d explain your question.

 

People in this town weren’t exactly a fan of bathing near the sunset, and thus, only travellers usually bathe here at this time of the day.

 

Perhaps you’d fancy to relax your muscles a bit from all your travelling and clean yourself up here?

 

It's not expensive, really. A noblewoman like you should be able to afford it.

 

Trust me, this place is the best bathing house in this region.”

 

Alicia definitely knew about what’s on the mind of the owner at this moment. While she didn’t mind it that much, she had a far better idea inside her mind now rather than being ogled by a bunch of strangers while she was alone.

 

“I’ll consider it, but I think I’ll return to my caravan first. Wouldn't be polite of me if they start to look around to search for me.

 

But thank you for your offer, sir.”

 

---

 

“Milady, I’m sorry for being late.

I was preoccupied by…something back there.”

 

Alicia ran as fast as she could to the location where the group set up their shop. She was definitely the last person to arrive there.

 

“Though, I did stumble upon something quite wonderful during my wandering on this town.

There’s a nice bathhouse in this town, with clean, warm water, laundry service, and best of all, it’ll be empty at this moment due to the habit of the people in this area.

 

Perhaps you would consider us paying that place a visit to cleanse our body from fatigue? We're still somewhat far away from our destination, right?”

 

While it was not apparent from her expression and tone, deep inside her mind, Alicia smiled. The thought of her bathing together with Lady Ann, that young boy (?), and probably the young girl too immediately overtook her mind. All the things that could be done there....

It was almost hard for Alicia to keep her composure as those thoughts linger around on her mind, but she believed that she was successful in looking as innocent and not suspicious as possible.

 

Just as planned, indeed.