“At least I won’t have to worry about anything related to spiders anymore,” I said. “That is, if what happened in the dungeon is anything to go by. Yay for that, I guess.”

“You have no idea how funny that sounds coming from you,” Velariah replied. “I guess it’s fitting for a queen spider to be able to talk to her underlings.”

“I’m not a quee-” I started before I was cut off by both Velariah and Seralyn’s laughter. I covered my face with my two right hands’ palms. I decided I would just let them enjoy this moment.

“The number of eggs you produced the other day tells otherwise,” Seralyn said, still grinning.

I still had my face covered in my palms and shook my head at the elf’s weird sense of humor. “I don’t have to fear spiders anymore,” I started slowly. “But now, there is all the more reason that you should.”

That managed to shut the brunette up real quick. I could see a sly smile on Draco’s face as I said those words.

The rest of our lunch was finished in silence, all with a smile on my face. When we finished, I asked about our financial status. The white-haired elf chuckled at my question.

“Seriously, you keep forgetting. For the moment, we’re completely broke, thanks to your generosity to our party members.”

“Crap,” I said in response. “And how are we with outstanding payments?”

“We have a clean bill,” Velariah said. “But we don’t know yet what Draco’s new set of armor will cost.”

I nodded. “Guess we have work to do later today. The good news is, I am stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey.”

“What the hell is a Thanksgiving?” Seralyn asked.

“Uhh,” I started, realizing I had yet again spoken too much. “It’s a historical holiday where I come from. Again, long story, but an important aspect of my culture.”

“The stuffed turkey part does sound good though,” Velariah said. Even though we had just eaten, I could see her almost salivating over the thought of poultry. “Maybe I’ll ask Elly to order one”

“It’s amazing,” I said. “And sure, if you want, go for it. Though, we normally have it in late fall, when it’s cold and dark outside. I’m not sure if it will give quite the same feeling.”

“Who cares?” Seralyn said. “Food is food!”

I chuckled. “Maybe I should teach you some more about my old world someday if you’re that interested in it.” A moment of silence and a nod and smile from Draco followed.

“Back on the topic of money,” Velariah said. “We still have those weird daggers. Now, I was thinking of taking them to Dworag. Even if he is not specialized in weapons, I have a feeling we can get a better price for it there than at Coldanus.”

“Why is that? I thought your dad talked to Coldanus to not rip us off?”

“True,” Velariah said. “But the thing is, these daggers are unique, which makes it hard to put a value on them. Coldanus will one hundred percent use that to rip us off anyway.”

“That makes sense.”

The elf stood up and walked to the far end of the table where the daggers still lay. She then placed them back in my saddlebags as the others stood up to leave as well. For a moment I considered telling them that they could each go their own way, but on second thought, it may be better for all of us to stick together. It would probably be a good idea to do that for the foreseeable future.

If I was still being targeted, whoever did would also know my friends by now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they targeted one of us to get to me.

“What are you thinking about?” Velariah asked, her hand on my back.

“I was just thinking about how we should stick together, as cliché as that sounds.”

The elf chuckled. “I think each and every one of us already had that in mind. Anyway, let’s get to Dworag, shall we?”

“Let’s go,” Velariah continued, unable to contain her excitement. I had to admit that after our latest adventure, I was looking forward to doing some shopping on my own. It was kind of odd, since I had just recently gotten a new weapon and armor and wouldn’t get anything for a while as I wanted to make sure Draco got a good set of armor first. I guessed I was simply looking forward to seeing the improvements we made as a team.

We walked to the hallway where we fully equipped ourselves again before heading out. Once in the center of town, it wasn’t hard to see the preparations for the festival still hadn't finished. Even more wood was carried and stacked near the tree, presumably for the bonfire. The treemenders, who were usually gathered inside the tree, were walking around to observe everything that had been done so far. They also kept glancing to the branches above them.

I shook my head. Some things about this new world would probably forever remain a mystery to me.

“You’ll see,” Velariah said with a smile as we neared Dworag’s shop. Velariah entered the building while I led the way through the alley. That was… until I got stuck.

“What the fuck,” I let out when the walls on either side prevented my spider abdomen from going forward.

Seralyn burst into laughter. “Damn, Elania. How much did you eat the other day?”

“Too much apparently.”

I sighed as I forced myself free by using my powerful legs to move backward. Once I was out of the alley, I shook my head and addressed the others. “You guys go ahead and check out how far your armor set is coming along, Draco. Do let me know the costs.”

“This is unfortunate,” Draco said calmly. “If you want, we can ask Dworag to come here.”

I nodded. “Do that if you want, but he does seem fond of showing his stuff in his workplace.”

The lizardman nodded and entered the dwarf’s store as well, leaving me behind with Seralyn and Nira. I crossed my arms and started thinking about how Nira had never gotten anything new besides the scepter we bought a while ago. Didn’t she use some kind of jewelry that helped her channel her magic?

“Hey, Nira?” I called out her name.

“Huh?” She let out, cocking her head.

I suppressed a chuckle when I saw the feathers behind her ears twitch in reaction. “Do you have anything you’re working towards?”

“I’m saving for a specific amulet.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

The harpy shook her head. “Thank you, but it’s okay. The amulet I want isn’t available here anyway.”

“I see.”

Her words made me think about the availability of goods. Here in Dawnleaf, we had an armorsmith and a weaponsmith. When it came to gemstones, or enchantments, it seemed some basic ones were available at those shops. Velariah had mentioned something about a rather expensive enchant before. There were bound to be specialized craftsmen for those, right? What other crafts would there be that existed to help adventurers?

“What are you thinking about?” Seralyn asked slyly. I swear, that elf could see my thoughts.

“About how a few things work in this world, in case you’re actually wondering.”

“Such as?” She asked. I daresay she was genuinely interested.

“The thing that Nira just mentioned. Do you have specialized jewel crafters in this world?”

“Of course we do. You’ll find quite a few in the capital from what I’ve been told. I reckon we’ll eventually go there. The problem with jewelry, especially the ones imbued with magic, is that they are ludicrously expensive.”

“What are we looking at here? At minimum?”

“Upward of a hundred gold will get you the first items worth considering,” The elf said. “Once you go over the two hundred mark, you will also find the first enchantments that will add special effects to weapons and armor.”

That sounded interesting enough. “What about the fire gems and such. Do they not count or something?”

Seralyn clicked her tongue. “Well, technically, they do, but they are very basic gems, you know? No, I’m talking about effects such as Draco’s ability to summon spikes that strike his target.”

“Wait what,” I said confused. “That sounds strong as hell!”

“Expensive too, and it’s not that easy though. One needs to attune the enchantment first by evolving while they have the effect in use. One last thing...”

“Here comes the bad news right?” I asked.

Seralyn nodded. “Effects such as those are only sold to ruby-rank adventurers and higher.”

“I knew it,” I said with a long, drawn-out sigh.

“Believe me, we have about the best we can get, right now. We’re already blessed with featherlight enchants being as easy to make as they are. They are among the most useful things to exist.”

“You can say that again.”

The door to Dworag’s shop opened and out came Dworag in front, followed by Velariah and finally, Draco. The lizardman couldn’t be bothered to look up from his new and shiny armor. Given the only thing that changed about his equipment was the new legplates, he still seemed overjoyed with them.

As much as he would show joy anyway.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know it, he just didn’t express as much. In this case, he seemed to show it by showing us intrigue in his new stuff.

“Ah, Miss Elania,” The dwarf said, causing me to shift my attention to him. “Good to see ya.”

“You too, Dworag. How’s it going?”

Oh shit. Why did I have to say that?

“Good, now that I’ve seen you again,” He said, his beard shifting from the smile underneath.

I knew it.

“Say,” he continued. “I’ve been made aware of something.”

Uh-oh.

“Something called… rubber thread, was it, Miss Velariah?”

The white-haired elf nodded.

“Oh,” I let out. “I should have probably told you about that earlier. I have a feeling I know where this is going.”

I cursed myself for not seeing the use for the rubber silk when it was right in front of me - Draco’s armor. I could slap myself for being so stupid. I let out a deep sigh.

“Exactly,” Velariah said. “We already talked about it inside. Fortunately for us, Dworag hasn’t had much time to work on Draco’s armor yet; he barely managed to finish his greaves and he did so by compensating. Perhaps  you should explain, Dworag.”

“Aye,” The dwarf said. “You see, I told you I’m adjusting a high-quality armor set I have laying around to fit your friend, but in doing so, I have to remove the back half. Now,  I was thinking, with this thing that Velariah mentioned, about it being elastic yet sturdy, I could leave the backside on if I were to use that instead. It would be a simple matter of replacing the straps and then widening the armor a bit at certain points.”

“Uhhh,” I let out as I thought about it. “I would love to help out with that, but I have yet to figure out exactly how to best use this rubber thread of mine. To be fair, I’ve been thinking about what to do for the rest of the day and you’ve just given me an idea… more than one actually…”

“Not sure if I like the sound of that,” Seralyn commented.

“Oh shush, you,” Velariah said before turning to me with large eyes. “I certainly like the sound of that.”

Draco was looking at me with intrigue in his reptilian eyes as well.

“Should I put this work on hold then?” Dworag asked.

I nodded. “I think I’ll be able to figure out what I need to figure out without too many issues. It would be a waste of a perfectly good set of armor. You can make the adjustments that need to be made while I work on the straps. I’ll just create sheets of rubber, I think you’ll be able to work from there.” I looked at Velariah after that, hoping she could confirm that what I had planned would work.

“That should work,” Velariah added. “We can just cut it out that way.” She paused for a second. “Yeah, that sounds like a great idea.”

“If it’s as good as your other kind of thread,” Dworag said. “I wouldn’t mind some of that. We can probably work something out.”

I smiled. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. What were you looking to get for Draco’s armor set anyway?”

“Hmmm,” The dwarf thought aloud. “I’m tempted to give you a good discount if your rubber is as good as Miss Velariah made it out to be. How does forty gold sound?”

“Good enough to me.”

It was funny how I could simply shrug at amounts like these which would be considered expensive. I could literally make this within a day. A day of work for something as life-saving as good armor was a bargain in my eyes.

“Alright then. I’ll be looking forward to our continued cooperation.” The dwarf took a small bow before walking back into his shop, motioning Draco to follow him.

As he disappeared into the building, Velariah turned her attention to me. “Other ideas?”

I nodded. “I want to get my hands on a wheel and a steel rod. We’ll have to get the wheel first.”

Velariah scratched her head and Nira cocked hers as I smiled watching them think about what I’d cooked up this time.

“As I said, might as well use the rest of the day to experiment, right?”

“Well, you’ve certainly piqued my interest,” Seralyn added.

“A wooden wheel isn’t too hard to come by in this village, is it?” I asked.

Velariah shook her head. “Should be plenty of those at the lumber processing plant. Unless they just send out all of the ones they have in a shipment, we should be okay.”

“They are the same kind that was on the carts at the guild, right?”

The elf nodded. “Yes, why are you asking?”

“Reasons,” I said with a smile.

The trust was that I had plans to test my rubber thread for a specific purpose. For that, I needed to have a wheel that had a certain outer ring thickness and width.

“Great,” I continued after my small pause. “A metal rod, probably… Coldanus?”

“I would ask why you would need a metal rod, but I’ll let you show me instead,” Velariah said. “Those ideas of yours are beyond what I can imagine.”

“I intend to show you, don’t worry. Though, I just realized I will need the rod made into a ring. Think Dworag will be able to do that?”

“I think so?” Velariah answered with a question. “He has a bunch of tools inside his shop as well. I reckon some of those can be used to bend rods.”

“Nice,” I said. “We’ll need to get that wheel first and have some adjustments made...” I trailed off.

“Fuck. We’re out of money…” My voice lost its energy.

“I’ll lend you the money,” Seralyn said. “I’m far too curious for this to be delayed. Hell,” - She clicked her tongue - “I’ll even give it. You’ve given away your share of the quest so...”

“Thanks,” I said with a smile. She seemed to have difficulty saying it, but I respected her for saying it nonetheless.

Draco walked out the door with his old greaves equipped once again, his eyes on me, probably curious what I was planning.

I sighed, then chuckled. “Yeah, I won’t keep you guys waiting any longer. Let’s get that wheel… actually...” I paused for a second. “While we’re here, we might as well visit Coldanus first. Vel, seeing as I can’t enter, I need a rod that has about the same thickness, slightly less, than the wheel of a cart.”

“Gotcha.”

“Doesn’t have to be of good quality, copper I guess would be the easiest to work with. That’s easier to bend than iron or steel, right?”

Velariah chuckled. “Yeah, definitely. Not sure if he has any copper rods laying around though, I’ll  check.”

Seralyn reached into her leather pack and pulled out a coin purse while we walked towards Coldanus’s shop. Once she found it, she tossed it to the other elf who then entered the building.

“I have to say,” Draco said while we waited outside. “I am quite curious. Mind if I ask what the plan is?”

“The plan, my dear Draco, is to create a tire. I’ll do it inside the mansion as I don’t need anyone but you guys to know about this. I just want to know if I can do this and who knows? It might come in handy somewhere in the future.”

I thought about our plans of going to Zerdania. If I was going to be pulling a covered wagon, rubber around the wheels might be just the thing I needed. I wasn’t sure if wooden wheels would fare well in the desert sands.

It was of no issue for now. We would look into that later. It was far too early to even think about that stuff.

“A tire?”

I nodded. “You will see. It’s hard to explain, and probably even harder to create. I’m learning as I go as well. I know the result I’m working towards but I don’t quite know the steps along the way. I hope that makes sense.”

The lizardman nodded. “Certainly.”

It didn't take long for the white-haired elf to exit the building, a long, copper pole in hand. Its length was over the top, but the thickness seemed to be precisely what we were looking for.

“Think this will do?” Velariah asked.

She handed the rod to my one free hand. It was as long as my weapon but heavier due to it being solid metal instead of mostly wood.

“Looks fine to me,” I said. “Let’s get our wheel sorted next.”

I laid the far end of the rod on my abdomen and smiled. “Turns out this day is going to be more interesting than I thought, after all.”