Azer held the door wide waiting for Rick to follow.

“I- I have the money. I just need the cores,” Rick said.

“Don’t worry, that’s where we are going,” Azer replied, straightening his pants.

Rick leaned over to Eira and whispered in a barely audible tone, “If you have Grade-II beast cores, I can make golems for you too.”

Eira’s frozen head flicked at him and stared at him. He could make a hint of a frown by his eyebrows, but Rick could not see any emotions in the cold blue eyes.

“Hey, where are you?” Azer’s head poked back into the room, “Come along, come along. We should go.”

“Coming,” Rick called out and walked out quickly. He just tried to instigate two of the City’s own people and did not want Eira to see his worried face.

“It’s a wonderful day today,” Eira said as the two walked out of the Bank. Eira led him towards the street in a casual stroll, occasionally nodding at saluting guards. “Why not join us, Mr. Kir? We could give you everything you need to improve your golems. You don’t have to worry about resources or your security. The pay is great too. You should really consider the offer, my friend.”

“I don’t want to just make golems Azer. I keep making them for you because I know you need them. I only come back to the town to refill my supplies,” Rick replied. It was almost too predictable for him. If not for the Library in the City, he had thought of throwing away Azer’s Word Scroll a few times. He quickly shot out to change the conversation, “Have you… noticed something weird going on with the forest lately? It seems to be growing so fast.”

“Yes, we call it the Mushrooming,” Azer replied, his voice losing all the energy from before. “It’s not really that dangerous, but we have to send out people every morning to clear out. Why do you ask?”

“Nothing really. It’s just so odd to see plants and grow right before your eyes,” Rick said dismissively.

“Not the most unusual thing these days,” Azer replied coming to a stop.

A line of ATM machine had been set up to one side of the Library. Rick wondered how could he have missed it on his way to the Bank.

“This is our ATMs. State of the art technology,” Azer replied waving his hand, a proud smile on his face. “Our city has discovered quite a few uses for them here. To make it easy for everyone to buy them, we set them up.”

“Other uses?” Rick asked in surprise.

“Oh,” Azer gasped but quickly covered up the curiosity in his eyes, “We have jewellery and weapons and potions. I thought you would know about all this. We have employed quite a few within our ranks and if you were a Celestial Devotee, you would get a discount as well.”

“Interesting,” Rick shot back in a deadpan voice, “How do I use this?”

Azer did not try to recruit him again and instead showed him how the ATM worked. It no longer had a digital screen and instead, the four buttons on the screen were altered to select the core and the keypad was replaced by a rune-covered cardboard that detected the money you placed on it.

“If you have beast cores, you can sell them too. You just place them on the rune-pad and it opens up. Once the calculation is done, you get paid the money. What do you think of it?”

“Ho- how much do you make from them?” Rick looked on in surprise. He knew the old man was fishing for compliments, but it was definitely worthy of it.

“I could tell you if you were a Celestial Devotee Mr. Kir,” Azer said with a beaming smile and added, “But, I can tell you this. Every 5 cores you sell, you earn a silver Cilliac. Besides, if you sell enough you might become a cardholder.”

“You are telling me, that I have to pay 1 silver Cilliac to buy a beast core. But I have to sell 5 cores to earn a silver? This is a horrible business,” Rick answered with a smirk. But it did not seem to affect Azer’s mood.

“I thought so too. But turns out the City-folks don’t agree with the logic. The businessman said something, what was it, yes – transaction cost. They would rather pay a little more than have to look around for two days to find a seller who would sell them.”

Rick felt really frustrated realizing how well organized the City was. Even this simple business was sure to become big. It was only a matter of time before uses for golem cores were discovered. And now the Celestial Devotees could monopolize the market if they wished too.

Dejected Rick walked up to the closest ATM with a pouch of 100 gold Cilliacs when Azer grabbed his wrist.

“Mr. Kir, wait. You don’t need to buy it, you are my guest after all,” Azer said. He snapped his finger and a soldier sprinted towards them and handed Rick a large pouch. Azer continued “Please don’t offer to pay. It’s a gift from a friend to a friend. They are only Grade-I beast cores but there are five-hundred beast cores here. I hope you can take it.”

Rick raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I don’t know what to say, I mean I am really flattered. “Thank you,” he replied taking the pouch. He shook his hand and left after a brief goodbye.

“I will keep in touch. Remember to check the Word Scroll!” Azer screamed at his behind as Rick quickly disappeared with the shopping crowd.

Rick looked around the shops leisurely, hopping from shop to shop. There was enough daylight for him to spend some time before he had to head back and now he had enough money to check out the merchandise the City had to offer. He walked past the shops selling cigarettes and flavoured water, stopping before a shop selling weapons.

The wooden board outside the shop had the picture of a child painted drawing of a man with a sword. Rick opened the makeshift wooden door and walked into the small shop behind. The inside of the shop was cleanly arranged into piles of weapons from swords shields and bows to maces, dirks and daggers.

A young man in a leather apron and an ash-covered face walked up to him with a wide smile on his face. He held out his ripped arm for a handshake and said, “Welcome to Forged with Fire. The finest weapons you can find in the entire city. What can I get you?”

Rick looked around unable to tell one weapon from another. After a few seconds thought he decided to just wing it. He pointed to a random pile of bows and asked, “How much for a bow?”

“Are you new -”

“Mike! Come here, the gentleman here need your help,” an older man with a thick moustache called out from the other end of the shop.

“Yes dad!” the shopkeeper before him that he assumed was Mike shouted back, “My dad will help you with your stuff, sorry”

The father walked up with a bow in his hand. With a grunt he placed the bow before him and said voice he said, “You are looking for a bow right? This bow is a handcrafted bow with the antler of a black-tail Elk and hickory wood and the bowstring is reverse-twisted with the best silk and hemp.”

“Okay,” Rick replied blankly. He had no idea what any of that meant. It reminded him of the one time when he had to buy a gaming PC for a friend’s birthday. “How much for it?”

“It’s the best bow you can find. I can promise it won’t break easily.” He said drawing at the bowstring repeatedly, “We only ask for a fair price and won’t try to cheat. Fifty gold only”

“Okay see you later,” Rick replied turning away. He had no idea what its price should be but he decided to follow Azer’s shopping advice.

“Wait! I can do twenty-five coins. But that’s the lowest I can go,” the shopkeeper said in a hurry.

With a silent celebration, he walked back to the counter, “Fifty silver and not a dime more,” Rick replied with his best confidence act. A good half-hour later, he walked out of the shop with a bow slung across his back and a quiver full of arrows – all for the price of 5 gold coins.

Next, he walked over to the shops selling herbs. It was a small shop that tended to by an older woman with greying hair. She had a scarf around her head and stood up with the help of a stick when Rick walked in.

“Little man, what can I get you?” she asked with a warm smile.

“Umm, what are these plants?”

“They all have different effects. This one here can help heal any would and the red flower here is called Jangida, used by the forgers. This one here…” the kind old lady went on to show him all of the plants there were, describing him the ones she could remember.

Rick listened to everything silently. He did not know any of them as none of them was there in Sol’s garden in his secret study at the Library. Instead, he bought a dozen of each plant and made a mental note to check them on the Lemegeton later.

He then headed for the shop that was selling potions and it turned out to be an underwhelming experience. Its top sellers were ‘liquid pain-blockers’ and ‘courage pills’ made from supposedly new fermentation techniques. Although he was certain they were all useless, Rick still bought a few bottles. If for nothing else he could still use them as Molotov-cocktails. After checking out a handful of shops and eating a belly full of boar meat which resulted in a surprise notification letting him know of increased resistance for two hours, he realized how common Alima’s craft was. Finally, he headed to the Cloomingbales and bought a new pair of clothes and a pair of sunglasses.

After a change of clothes, Rick walked back onto the streets. He wore his shades and looked around, deciding was to do next.

“Kir, I have a few Grade-II cores,” an eerie voice suddenly reached his ears from beside him. Startled by someone appearing so close to him he immediately jumped away, knocking into others on the street.

“Where are you going?” the pedestrians complained.

“Don’t you know to walk?”

“Watch it!”

But Rick did not bother about them. He looked around trying to find the body to the voice. Finally, his eyes landed on a familiar bony face.

“What is this supposed to mean Eira? Sneaking up on me like this!” Rick warned him, a golem-core in the ready. Eira wasn’t in his usual white attire and Trident sewed attire. He wore a red sweater and blue pants but the constant scarf still around his neck.

“It’s-” Eira hesitated before saying, “We should go somewhere private.”

“No. I am not going to anywhere alone with you.” Rick shot back.

Seeing no other way, Eira relented, taking out a sack from his pocket. He said looking around in worry as if expecting to find someone in the crowd, “There are Grade-II beast cores. There are eight of them. They are all yours. All I will want is half of them. The rest is all yours. But you have to make mine before you sell any to Azer.”

“Cant do. I made the deal with Azer first, I will finish his delivery first. Besides, I don’t want this barter thing with you. You heard my deal with Azer, the same is for you – if you sell the cores, I will buy them. I can sell you the golems later.” Rick stated firmly. Azer the gateway to ensure Julia and the rest of the Harow camp had a safe place here. Although he wanted the golem cores, it was not worth jeopardizing his plans for a few beast cores – the Harow camp's success was more important for his survival.

Eira’s eyes darted around the road while he tapped his foot in a hurry. After a dissatisfied snarl, he tossed the sack at Rick and mumbled a muffled curse.

“Here is your money and keep the Scroll on you. I will get in touch with you if I have golems to sell,” Rick said tossing over a Communication-Scroll and two gold coins.

Eira caught them clumsily with both his hands and scuttled back disappearing into the crowd

“Enough for the day. I should head back. The other shops can wait,” Rick declared looking at the dipping sun. It was well into the afternoon. If he delayed any more, he was surely not going to reach the Trainyard before well past dark.

With the thought, he left the Celestial City in a hurry.