Lee never got into many arguments. Normally, he was quite understanding and was willing to change his views if the opposite side made valid points. 

But when Ruven led Lee to the other side of Halroc’s Arrowworks to inspect arrows, and then Lee commented on the prices of those said arrows? That might have upset Ruven.

Lee was pacing back and forth in front of the clear glassy wall that held the expensive arrows—sneaking a peak every now and then at Ruven. 

“So, explain to me again why this single arrow costs more than what I— someone who is paid extremely well, if my understanding is correct, make in a month.”

Ruven, the lover of the greatest combat style ever conceived, stood firmly in the defense of the prices of his wares. This was his father’s store, but his father made the bows. He himself made these fantastic arrows. 

He was pacing as well, directly opposite Lee in some weird show of aggression. They passed each other in the middle of their pacing lines. Ruven raised his voice and was beginning to make a scene. 

“It’s the materials and the effects! You helped bring down those owlbears! And while they are not the best of materials, they are not easily obtained. I even used the very wood from this Garbola! It even got an effect! A good one too! Identify it again and tell me that it is not worth four gold!”

Lee didn’t want to offend his friend. It was obvious that he worked hard in the creation of his arrows and valued his work… highly. It was true that to get Owlbear feathers, there had to have been an Owlbear. This meant that Owlbear had to have died. Which then meant that someone had killed it. A tough process.

The thing was… there were a lot of feathers on an Owlbear, and Lee could see maybe two being used for this single arrow.

Some of the customers around were obviously on Lee’s side. They strode over, looked at the prices, then immediately scoffed and turned right around. Some of the regulars looked upon Lee with some sort of pity mixed with a hint of expectation. So Lee assumed that this wasn’t a rare occurrence.

Obligingly, Lee identified the arrow once again. 

Turning back to look dead into Ruven’s eyes as they passed each other during their pacing, Lee spoke a simple and honest phrase. 

“It is not worth four gold.” 

Ruven stopped in his silly matched pacing game, stood still, and lost his anger. He turned eerily calm. It was at this point that those regular customers, who now had snacks that they were munching on, began to get excited.

Ruven swiveled on the spot, showing Lee his now lobster-red face, and was about to explode into a litany of curses—just before his father, Ravoor, appeared behind him.

The onlookers who were enjoying the scene whooped and hollered— This was apparently the beginning of a great show. 

Ravoor hmm’d while looming over Ruven's shoulder, causing Ruven to lose all his pent-up rage and anger instantly. A look of dawning horror was the replacement. 

“Well boy? What were you about to say? Don’t mind me, go on.”

Ruven clammed up so fast that Lee wondered if Ravoor cast some kind of spell. He barely managed to stammer out. 

“I… I was…” 

Ravoor cut Ruven off immediately, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“You ‘was’? You ‘was’ what? You ‘was’ about to scream at one of your friends about your silly prices? Change the price to something more reasonable? Finally snag a wife and give me grandchildren? HMMM?”

It was at this point that Lee decided that he no longer needed to talk with his friend. So he casually spoke while speed walking towards the exit, past the gathering crowd. He didn’t want to watch his friend get dismantled and embarrassed.

“Listen to your father, Ruven. He is very wise. I’m going to go and do… stuff.” 

Ruven, with his horrific gaze, watched as Lee abandoned him in his time of need—the ultimate betrayal. 

Lee sped out the doorway and, as he was halfway down the cobblestone path, began to hear the shouting from Ravoor inside. The shouting lasted until he passed the hedge, and only then did Lee begin to slow his pace. 

Looking back over his shoulder, Lee imagined what fate he had left for Ruven. He didn’t know Ravoor too well, but he knew some parents just like that back on Earth. His weren’t that bad, but he couldn’t say his friend’s parents weren’t.

He tore his gaze away from Halroc’s Arrowworks, and as he looked for other stores that would have traveling supplies, he only had one thought. 

It had to be done. Forgive me.

-------------------------------------------

Lee managed to pick up most of his traveling supplies from the same general store where he bought his hand mirror. He picked up a used belt knife, a waterskin, and some other odds and ends. Such as toothpaste and a wooden toothbrush with some weird bristle-like material at the end. He tried to use Identify on them, but in return, he only got the objects’ names.

He never bothered to Identify most things, usually because he never had to for twenty-three years of his life— but apparently, he wouldn’t get any information on simple objects. That would have been nice to know earlier. Another failure in the use of his skills, but at least this one was not critical. 

The one thing Lee didn’t manage to find was some kind of matchbox. They had a small rod of flint, but Lee didn’t think he would be able to manage to start a fire with that successfully. He had tried in the past on Earth during one of his camping trips, but it was definitely much harder than you would have assumed. A lighter was the way to go.

Instead, Lee managed to find a unique way to start a fire. He had purchased a small iron-chained locket. Inside the locket, which was similar to those that held a personal picture inside, was a small rounded black marble; it had twisting veins of orange and red upon its surface. The marble itself was faintly illuminating and warm to the touch.

Talking to the shopkeep, Lee found that these stones were widely used in most households throughout the world. For Emberstones, they were used for heating a stovetop or creating fires for a fireplace. Wealthier individuals could and would use the powerful variants even to heat bathtubs.

The weak variants were not as useful. They could do most of what a common Emberstone could do, such as start a fire—but they didn’t last forever. They either ran out of strength or broke and crumbled apart from being mishandled. 

Lee didn’t mind that drawback too much. He didn’t have a permanent home to place any Emberstones, and he would most likely be traveling for the foreseeable future. As long as it lasted until he made it to the Kindom of Thexis, Lee would count it as a useful purchase. 

Lee also begrudgingly bought some groceries for his trip. Fruits and vegetables mostly. He didn’t want to be eating Jackalope all day, every day. He did that once in this life, and that was one too many times for him to enjoy. 

All in all, Lee spent less than a silver on all of the goods. 

He also went to the bathhouse, the same one he, Ruven, and Neia had visited. He had thought he was semi-clean, with him having taken basically a waterhose shower, but he was sorely mistaken. 

Every single time he thought he had gotten all the grime off his body, more would somehow appear. He went through a whole bar of soap and had to awkwardly ask for another after spending almost a whole hour finding more and more… let's call it all grime…

Behind his ears? Filthy, his mother would be ashamed. 

Fingernails? A never-ending trough of filth. 

Bottom of his feet? Once again, it was somehow dirty. 

The Dark Elves, also partaking in a nice relaxing bath, looked on in abject horror as Lee seemed to magically find more and more dirt, dried clumps of mud, and blackened bloo… Grime… 

He was already mildly self-conscious about being an average Human surrounded by beautiful Dark Elves in a mixed bathing environment— but at this point, it was just embarrassing. 

He rubbed his whole body mercilessly. Faster and harder, he scrubbed as his breathing quickened. The water was beginning to turn faintly red, and his body was rubbed raw from all of the intense scrubbing. He didn’t want any of this… grime on him. It didn’t belong. He didn’t want it. He didn’t…

------------------------------------------------------

He must have overheated in the bath and passed out. Yes. He had overheated—but he was clean now.

Lee ducked his head to every single Dark Elf on the way out and murmured apologies. They accepted them and looked at him with pity..? Ah, because he passed out. Again, embarrassing.

He took his now-washed clothes from the cubby provided to him and threw on his Robes of the Genesis. The robes, after having been left in his Hidden Cache for a day, looked brand new. 

He quickly threw the hood up, hoping that it would hide his shame, and made his way to his home. 

Tomorrow, he was going to the funeral for the fallen and making last-minute preparations for his departure. He would be saying his goodbyes to two groups: the dead and the living.