“I hope you’re happy.”

  She nodded proudly, somehow managing to look regal despite the victorious smirk clinging to her snout. “I am.”

  “You’ve thoroughly ruined kissing for me.”

  “Oh, have I?”

  “Yes. My lips won’t stop tingling, and my tongue feels strangely numb. How did you enjoy eating that?” I groused as we walked, glaring at nothing in particular.

  Her tail was still keeping me pressed to her side, but I had my arms firmly crossed over my chest. There would be no handholding for cruel dragonesses.

  For a few minutes, at least.

  “Oh, please. You need to toughen up a bit,” she rumbled, releasing little puffs of smoke as she snickered. It was far too adorable and entirely unfair when I wanted to be angry at her.

  “Hmph.”

  “I can definitely see it now.”

  I waited for her to elaborate, trying to ignore my rising curiosity. Finally, when she showed no signs of explaining, I gave in.

  “See what?”

  She grinned, leaning closer so her lips were almost brushing my ear. Usually, I would enjoy this, but again… sauce breath!

  “Oh, you know,” she purred. “That cushy privileged fae upbringing.”

  I winced, squashing the briefest flicker of genuine annoyance. After all, I hadn’t given her many details about my actual upbringing, which had been far from ‘cushy.’ All she had to go on was the typical stereotype of Noble Fae.

  To be fair, this stereotype wasn’t entirely without foundation. I had known some truly odious specimens of it back home.

  Yet the realities of life in a fae Court were far more complex. Individuals rose or fell according to their usefulness in the endless power games. Those who were unmotivated or untrained didn’t tend to last long. Some did step away from that life to live in ‘luxury’, but that just turned them into resources of another kind: an easily accessible pool of people to barter away in marriages.

  “Right. Remind me to talk to you about all that later,” I replied wearily.

  Alys’ amusement drained away, replaced by a worried little frown. I immediately felt guilty for that flash of annoyance. Seasons knew I teased her about draconic stereotypes often enough.

  “I’d also like to learn more about you,” I said quickly. “And your family. If you want to tell me about those things.”

  “I’d love to.”

  Her voice was quiet and solemn, but it sent a shot of warmth through me that chased away any remnants of ill feeling.

  More importantly, I spotted our target from the corner of my eye.

  It had taken some asking for directions, but we’d finally tracked down the stalls Ritsu had mentioned. That is, if one could refer to Morty’s Emporium and Mysty’s Curiosities as ‘stalls.’

  Both businesses appeared to be inside massive carriages that resembled houses on wheels. Instead of laying out a stall-type extension, each carriage had a set of wooden steps leading to a door. A sign for ‘Morty’s Emporium’ hung above one door, while ‘Mysty’s Curiosities’ hung above the other.

  The gaudy golden letters of both signs sparkled with what I immediately recognized as jewel dust. The Emporium’s sign was done up in aquamarine blues, the Curiosities’ in emerald green.

  Both were gross wastes of money.

  The two carriages were parked right across from each other. The owners hovered in their respective entryways, shooting hostile glares across the makeshift street.

  Despite their evident mutual hatred, however, they were near mirror images.

  The man on the left was tall and willowy. His long raven-black hair spilled across his back and formed a striking contrast with his pale skin and ruby red eyes. The woman on the right was just as tall and almost as thin, with the addition of a few subtle curves. She had her hair cropped short, but it was the exact same shade of black. Her own ruby eyes were framed by a pair of spectacles that lacked lenses. I couldn’t tell if they were enchanted or if she was wearing them just to look different from her brother.

  For a moment, I was struck by indecision. We needed to approach them, obviously. But how to do that diplomatically, when whoever we chose not to speak with first would inevitably feel slighted?

  While my mind was on the right track, I did make one significant mistake: I forgot I had brought a dragon with me.

  Alys stepped forward. Right there, in the middle of the ‘street’ formed by the stalls, surrounded by people passing on either side and merchants hawking their wares, she announced: “Ritsu told us your stalls are the best around. We’re looking for materials to make a proper bathroom. Who’s got what we need?”

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  The mention of the kitsune instantly drew the attention of both twins. Each preened at Alys’ praise before glaring at the other. But when a bathroom was mentioned, the female twin sagged, while the presumed Morty smirked with the power of the sun.

  Ironic, that, since I was fairly certain the man was a vampire.

  “You’re in the right place! Why, I do think I’ve got several different items that could do the trick. Come right up, come right up! And please, ignore the nuisance across the way. She won’t be able to help you.”

  “You little sh- Ahem. Well, now I have to see this,” his sister groused, stepping out of her mobile shop and snapping her fingers.

  That made bars of some glittery metal snap across her door and thunk into the opposite side with finality, spaced so tightly that they blocked all view of the interior.

  Her brother scoffed, but made no other move to acknowledge her as he turned and waved for us to follow.

  I exchanged a glance with Alys. We both shrugged, then followed after Morty with his sister at our heels.

  I could admit that his shop was… unexpected.

  Despite the already impressive size of the carriage, the inside was larger still. It truly did feel like we were inside a proper shop in some major city. That kind of spatial expansion was not cheap to install, especially on a carriage.

  Movement could wreak all sorts of havoc on major spatial enchantments. which meant such magic was typically reserved for stationary objects like houses or castles. Storage items were an exception. They weren’t expanding the space inside an object, but instead tethering a rudimentary spatial plane to an item.

  But that wasn’t important at the moment. What was important was the array of products surrounding us.

  Morty had chosen the word ‘emporium’ with accuracy. The breadth of items available for purchase was considerable. I could spot everything from wands, staves, and various enchanted weapons to potions, salves, and other consumables. None of the latter were of particularly high value, probably due to the difficulties of storing such items long-term while on the move, but his collection was still stunning.

  I even found myself somewhat inspired. Potions of water-breathing, for example, were not something I usually thought of brewing… and yet, they would have been quite useful just recently, when we were attacked by aquatic creatures.

  Then there were the fire-resistance potions. After a quick glance at Alys, I resolved to acquire some. I couldn’t remember if I had the recipe somewhere, but perhaps Morty sold recipes too? I could ask.

  Sadly, while he did have a few alchemy cauldrons in the corner of a shelf towards the back, they didn’t look like much. Most were of a lower quality than the ones I already had, and the minor improvements offered by the others failed to make them worth purchasing.

  I did consider buying a few anyway, just to bolster my production capacity, but I set that thought aside for the moment. I could revisit the subject when I knew how my finances would hold up after getting everything else I wanted.

  “Here we are!” Morty exclaimed happily.

  I saw him emerge from further in the back, where a whole separate room separated the store section from what I presumed were the private quarters of this mobile home. Stepping forward, he set a large box down on the empty table placed prominently in the middle of the room.

  “I picked up a few different things that fit your request. Now we just need to go through them all!”

  I peered inside the box, blinking in confusion at the eclectic collection of items he’d put together. There was a stoppered vial, a sapphire, a ruby, a shortsword, some kind of shell, and a bright red beetle trapped inside a jar.

  “This is what you picked out?” I asked doubtfully.

  He just beamed at me, showing off large, pointy fangs that looked awfully sharp. At least that confirmed my vampire suspicions.

  “Indeed! Let’s start with this beauty.”

  He pulled the sword out of the box. I managed to glimpse faint purple markings all along its blade before it suddenly ignited into a blazing inferno.

  I jumped back. The vampire grimaced in discomfort, but to his credit, he continued his presentation in a flawless ‘salesman’ voice.

  “This, as you can see, is a flaming sword. You can use it to fight your enemies… or to heat your bath! All you have to do is stick it in the water and wait a few minutes.”

  I gazed at the man blankly. Then I glanced at Mysty, who was still hovering in the background. I expected her to make some disparaging comment about her brother's wares, but her face remained a carefully neutral mask.

  Alys, meanwhile, was snickering. Not quietly at all, I might add.

  “That’s perfect!” the dragoness gushed, once she’d gotten her laughter under control. “I’m almost sold. But what are the others?”

  The vampire’s grin brightened. He let the sword extinguish and dropped it back into the box, demonstrating that it didn’t retain any heat after being used. Then he extracted the beetle.

  “Another alternative for your water heating needs! This is a Flamecore Beetle from the south. These little miscreants can put out enough heat to melt mythril. This jar is actually a wonder of enchantment, and keeps their heat contained. You can manipulate how much of it is leaking out through the enchantments. And you only need to drop in some mana-rich leaves every once in a while to keep the beetle fed. Don’t let him slip out while you’re feeding him, though!”

  “I think we’ll need to pass,” I said, cutting in before Alys could speak. “Anything else?”

  The dragoness, who had been gazing at the beetle with glittering eyes, crossed her arms and pouted.

  “Well, one final item for the heating side of things, but I’ll leave it for later. First, we have here the Conch of the Waves!”

  He lifted the shell like he was presenting it to a crowd.

  “And what does it do?” I prompted tiredly, after a few silent seconds.

  “I am so glad you asked! This little beauty can be used to summon the soul of a mermaid! It is bound to the object, and her magic is perfect for your needs.”

  “You want us to… summon the soul of a mermaid?” I repeated. “To fill our bath with water?”

  “Sounds like a delightful idea,” Alys chipped in, clearly loving every moment of the insanity.

  “Any alternatives?”

  “A tough customer!” Morty put the conch away (without demonstrating its ability, thankfully) and picked up the vial. “This is the Vial of Endless Waters. I’m still not sure if it’s creating water out of nothing, or if it’s linked to a large body of water. But you can pour out all the water you need, on demand!”

  Now that was actually fascinating. Was the water summoned, and therefore perfectly pure by design? Or did it have some special properties, due to wherever it was being pulled from?

  There was another question I found far more important, however.

  “Is the intensity at which the water pours out adjustable? Or would we be stuck with the rate at which a vial can dispense liquid?”

  “Ah. Well, the rate is… somewhat low. But it is still endless water!” Morty said awkwardly.

  I grinned like a dragon, all teeth. “Unless the vial is linked to a lake, in which case it’s possible to use the water up. That would affect the vial’s value rather significantly.”

  He pursed his lips, but didn’t contradict me. He simply put the vial away and reached into the box again.

  “Well, that leaves us with our two final objects, which come as a pair! The Sapphire of Flames, and the Ruby of Waves!”

  “What? Are you sure you didn’t switch those names around?”

  He just kept grinning at me, and I sighed.

  Whatever else I ended up purchasing, I would definitely be leaving Morty’s Emporium with a headache.