Meanwhile, one of them seemingly gave his life for his group. The other shidiots who were supposed to head towards the island with the wyverns found themselves stuck in front of a giant ocean separating them and the island upon which the wyverns resided. The question came down to how exactly they were going to cross it now…
Pyotr, for one, started to look around for a way or anything he could use to create a boat to get them across… Amir was too busy appreciating his own reflection in the water, and as for Yves? He was currently occupied with Duke, trying his best to stop the man with super strength from trying to swim his way through the ocean…
Overall, their whole group was at a standstill right now…That was until Amir saw his reflection in the water facing a few ripples throughout it….it meant the water was being disturbed by something…..he immediately formed a light sword within his hands, looking around him…
He wasn't the only one who noticed it. The whole area around them seemed to have become foggier out of nowhere…this wasn't normal, especially considering the climate and the topographical location of the island of giants. Pyotr was the only one who knew all that, though, so he was also on his guard….
Soon a sound of low humming reached their ears, which was followed up by the sound of music. Someone was singing within the fog. At first it reminded Amir of the sirens he had heard about… Honestly…he wouldn't really mind. But before Amir could go anywhere further within his delusions, the source of the music became clear. From the fog emerged a man on a boat.
It was a rather big boat, actually. Still, the man was using an oar to move it. The boat had a small structure within it that seemed like an old antique shop and a sail on the other side. The sign showed the dead man's collection, probably the name of his shop.The man himself was rather strange, wearing a straw hat that would be found in the ancient Japanese era along with traditional clothing…
His eyes obviously lit up upon seeing customers. He turned the boat towards the shore, parking it as he immediately went into his shop with an ecstatic smile."Welcome to my humble shop, dear customers. Do let me know if anything catches your eye…."
After saying that, he stood there with a very wide and kind of awkward smile, making the shidiots look at each other and wonder what they were supposed to do right now. Amir was the first one to step forward as he looked at the antique shop and asked….
"Hmm, anything that will make me seem more attractive to women?" All the others simply rolled their eyes at this, but the shopkeeper nodded enthusiastically. "Of course, sir, I have special fragrance perfumes, mesmerizing jewelry, and even love potions to help with stamina issues."
The last sentence made Yves chuckle at Amir, who was slightly humiliated but paid 3000 nerits for the perfume and accessories either way. After that, their leader finally stepped forward, questioning the merchant…
"Who and what exactly are you, because I'm pretty sure a normal merchant wouldn't just be roaming the planet in the current conditions…." The merchant was silent for a bit and then just smiled innocently before speaking, "I am just a man looking to make some profit, dear sir."
Duke was the next one to speak out about only one type of question coming out from his muscle-brained head. "Are you strong?" The man looked at Duke and chuckled, waving his hands in a dismissive way. "Sorry, sir, but I don't even think we are in the same category for strength."
Duke nodded, as he had no intention of bullying someone weaker than him. Strength was good but should also be used for good... Was he a hypocrite considering how he treated Toki during the test matches? Absolutely…but times were different. He was a changed man now… probably
Finally, it was Yves's turn to ask for something. "Can we buy anything from you?" The merchant, or rather shopkeeper, nodded with a glint of greediness in his eyes. "Anything I can offer." Yves sighed, knowing he couldn't go home safely, and he really didn't want to try swimming across the ocean either…. "How much for taking us to the island of wyverns and back?"
Hearing this, Pyotr nodded, acknowledging it as a good idea… while the merchant smirked, smelling profit.After almost an hour of haggling, they agree on 10k merits total. Which may seem a lot, but when divided among all four, it was only 2.5k for a two-way trip…and they didn't really have any other way to do it either.
One other thing they learned was that despite his narcissistic personality, Amir was great at haggling…which even the merchant acknowledged…They would have gotten an even lower price if the Duke wasn't annoyed enough to try and kill the merchant… The others had to stop him.
"You learn a lot growing up surrounded by women," Amir said, which would have generally been brushed off as another one of his flirty remarks, but maybe it had some truth behind it.
Especially with the skills he showed today, regardless, as of now, the duke was meditating, and Pyotr seemed to be talking with the merchant. Amir was looking into a mirror he bought from the merchant, and Yves was just trying to sleep.
After almost a whole day of sailing, they finally reached the place they needed to. The fog in front of them began clearing as a cliff so high their necks couldn't even bend that much appeared… Now the real question was…how were they all going to
get up there…?