Teleporting, Jill had rushed off ahead of them. Mash and Luke wanted to follow her, but Red stopped them, saying that Jill would want to meet with her family alone first. He understood the feeling and debated on if he should visit his own home. He immediately shut that idea down and didn’t. That was what he decided before, unable to understand why he even considered it. So, they were slowly making their way towards Jill’s house.

The city of Wilshire had changed a lot in a few days. Well, it was a few days for him, but for the rest of the world, over two weeks had passed. The cold season had passed with the end of the last month, and it was now the warm season. The wooden windows hung open, and people were sitting in stone terraces in front of buildings. The city was busy now, and there was a constant stream of people flowing through the city.

There were a lot more street vendors out now, and the entire city seemed livelier. Choosing to ignore the many casual glances shooting his way, he picked up a handful of meat skewers. The stand had been a little run down, and the others didn’t get anything, but he didn’t care much. One of his skills said that it would remove the negative effects of what he ate, so he thought he would be fine.

The meat was unknown, and the spices were laid on thickly, but he enjoyed eating it since it filled his now ever-present hunger. Despite eating a ton of lizard meat earlier, his hunger had come back quickly. Even during the flight, he started feeling the pangs of hunger, but was able to ignore it. At the time, the exhilaration of flying was easily the most important thing on his mind. He would need to always carry some food with him now, or maybe he could get a skill that would let him make some. With the way his skills were going, maybe an ability to grow fruits would be possible. As he imagined himself as a fruit tree, he realized it would probably look more demonic than he wanted.

Jill’s house was not far past the stores and came into sight as they passed into the residential district. It was called that, but there were not many houses in this area. Although the houses that were there, were very large. This was where many of the merchants lived, so each house doubled as a store. The names in this town were all backwards, the market district was outside the adventurer’s guild and mostly contained stalls, while this district was filled with more traditional stores. He didn’t come here often, since he could find most things he needed from the stalls.

Approaching Jill’s shop, they saw that it looked much the same. The windows were no longer broken, and he thought that was a good sign. It must mean that they met their payments somehow, and perhaps weren’t in as much of a rush for money. Knocking on the familiar doors, he could vaguely hear some talking inside. It stopped once they heard his knocks, and Jill opened the door soon after. Jill looked a little disheveled, but he was glad to see that her parents were still inside. Jill looked a lot more relaxed now, and gestured for them to come in.

“They were able to make it this month. Apparently, my dad sold something to some noble family and managed to pay off the installment. Sorry for freaking out and worrying you guys.”

She genuinely sounded relieved, but he wasn’t paying attention. Jill’s parents were staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths. Jill must not have told them about the transformation. Jill’s mom had been so composed last time they met, and he found it strange to see her just staring like that.

“Hello…”

Mash trailed off as he greeted them, and just watched as the realization hit there faces. It was like a physical wall, and he noticed both settle down once they understood what happened. It was easier to read the emotions on their faces, he wondered if the inhumanity skill was involved. They were starting to apologize, but Mash just waved them down. He didn’t want them to feel bad, and he didn’t care as much now. He cared more before, and wondered if his skills were altering his perception of himself. He didn’t mind looking like a monster anymore, finding it easier to ignore the looks he was getting. Hearing Red’s words, he looked at the others.

“Well, since that’s out of the way, what do you want to do with the items? We don’t need to rush and sell them anymore.”

“There are auctions run by the guild. We can see when the next auction is and sell them then. Speaking of which, I could give you a rough estimate if you let me see them.”

Jill’s father answered the question, clearly looking eager. Luke complied, and they were all happy to get the remaining items identified. There were still two pieces of gear that they hadn’t been able to identify, the enchantments were beyond their knowledge. Merchants like her father, would have access to the identify skill, and they could use it to understand the effects of most items. It was a difficult class to get, requiring years of study. As her father went through the items, Mash felt the tension in the room rise. As he picked up a sword, the one that lit aflame, Mash held his breath as he waited for the amount. Jill’s father ran his hand along broadsword’s engravings, speaking in a steady voice.

“This sword has a basic fire enchantment and would typically sell for around 500 gold pieces.”

Mash gasped and heard the sound echo around the room. That was enough gold to survive the year comfortably, and that was a single item. The most basic sword they found was worth a small fortune. What about the items they couldn’t identify? Luke must have been thinking the same thing, handing him the sword that we didn’t know. It was a hooked sword, where the top of the sword bent back like a fishing hook. Jill’s father made the same motions with the new sword and stopped, clearly surprised by something. The silencing was stretching out, and Mash’s shoulders tensed. Wanting to know, he cleared his throat trying to get his attention.

“Sorry, I was just surprised. This sword has an enchantment that pulls others metal towards it. It doesn’t require any mana and seems to be a natural property of the weapon, which means that a person can add their own enchantments. This would easily sell for over 2000 gold and, depending on the market, could go for several times higher.”

Jill’s father sounded a little uncertain as he judged the item. Mash just stared blankly at the sword, that was an enormous sum. So much so, that he wouldn’t have to worry about his eating habits anymore. Looking at Jill’s face though, he realized that it wasn’t enough to cover their debts. How much money did merchants have? Mash knew that they moved around valuable goods, but this was ridiculous. The next item that he checked was the unidentifiable armor since it was the last unknown item that they found. Mash was hoping for an item like the sword, but Jill’s father didn’t look impressed.

“This is very basic, the armor just has a mending enchantment like your clothes, Mash. Just feed it some mana and it could repair itself. Sadly, that means it’s not worth a lot, probably around 50 gold.”

Sounding a little disappointed, he moved onto the next item. Mash though didn’t understand one thing and asked a question to clear his confusion.

“Why couldn’t we tell?”

“The engravings are done in a different language, so you would have no way of knowing.”

The response came out quickly, and he moved onto the final set of weapons. The weight changing sword, was similarly priced to the fire one, but the lightning sword was another extremely valuable item. Mash was surprised to hear that it would probably be sold for more than the hook sword, and learned, that despite being less rare it was a lot easier to use, so the enchantments could be used by any class. He was able to put the remaining pieces together, some noble would buy it for far more than its worth, hoping to give it to their child or grandson. It didn’t bother Mash, if anything he wouldn’t mind getting more from those who already had plenty.

They didn’t spend much more time at Jill’s place, only staying long enough to have a cup of tea, before heading to the guild. They wanted to register their items for auction as soon as possible, and he still needed to let them know about his appearance and abilities. He still wanted to fly more and would need to get this out of the way. They got to the guild relatively quickly. Not much had changed about this part of town, seeming to operate just as it had in the previous season. The only difference he noticed were that the guild doors were open, letting in the outside air. Entering the guild, they found their way to an idle worker who had been sitting by the entrance, her clothes having marked her as a worker.

The girl was clearly too young to be an adventurer and was likely just doing whatever work she could find. The girl was over a foot shorter than Mash, standing just under 5 feet herself. She had short black hair, that was cut more like a boys would be, and wore a simple guild uniform. The shirt was obviously too big, making it seem more like a dress on the little girl. As he approached, she began staring at him apprehensively. It looked like she was debating whether to scream or not, so he decided to let Red step in front of him. She would be better suited for this.

He didn’t know that the guild offered opportunities like these but didn’t mind finding someone to get some directions from. Red talked to her as placatingly as possible, but it the girl continued to look frightened.

“We’re here to auction some items, and he’s here to update some information. Can you tell us where to go?”

While speaking, Red moved to block the girl from seeing Mash, also holding up a silver coin in the process. The girl seemed to become surprisingly attentive when she saw the coin, and Mash settled for a mental sigh instead of a physical one. Afterall, he didn’t actually want to scare the girl. Though, seeing her glow at the money, he wondered how much of her earlier fear had been genuine. It didn’t matter much, he was just glad that she would answer him.

“You should go to the item center, down that hall, and, um, he should go to the desk.”

Sounding quite happy to answer Red’s question she spoke cheerfully while pointing down a hall, but when talking about Mash, she grew more hesitant. Mash could see her sag in relief as Red handed her the coin. Spotting another thing he would ignore; he made his way towards the desk. Like last time, there was a line for him to stand in. He left it to Red and the others to sell the items and went to stand in line. It went by a lot faster this time, and after a few minutes he found his way to the front. Recognizing the receptionist, Mash spoke amiably.

“Hey there Larkin, I’m here to update my information. As you can see, I look different, and my skills are a bit more ominous. “

Mash created a small wooden figurine to demonstrate. It was his use of magic that seemed to get through to the receptionist, as recognition dawned on him. After realizing who Mash was, he seemed a lot more comfortable, and talked casually.

“Glad to see you again, all I need from you is your badge and we can be done in a heartbeat. Also, I can see that you’ve grown quickly.”

Mash realized that he didn’t use his name but wasn’t expecting him too either. They had only met once before. Instead, he slid him the badge while responding and asking another question.

“Yeah, we cleared the labyrinth and came back to sell some items. When is the next auction anyway?”

Mash was curious, he hoped he would have enough time for another flight and thought to ask. Larkin seemed distracted as he was writing something on a piece of paper, but he still answered Mash promptly. Mash thought he saw a glint in the man’s eyes when he mentioned the items he would sell.

“There is one tonight at ten.”

Earlier than Mash had expected, but it still left him with several hours. Mash was imagining it when Larkin slid over the badge. Picking it up, Mash gave a quick goodbye, as he let the next person past. He heard Larkin say something but didn’t pay much attention to it. He couldn’t wait to fly but needed to inform the others.

As he approached the exit, he saw the little girl was still sitting by the entrance. As she noticed his approach, he flashed a silver coin of his own, and the girl seemed to relax. He spoke as kindly as he could, but the girl still seemed hesitant.

“Hello again, I’m Mash. Can you find and tell the girl from earlier that I will meet her at the auction?”

Oddly after receiving the request, the girl became much more relaxed. Nodding her head vigorously she spoke while grabbing the coin out of his hands.

“Of course.”

Without giving him the opportunity to even thank her, she bolted off down one of the hallways. Seeing her rush off, Mash did the same, but instead headed for the exit of the guild. He couldn’t wait to fly once again.