234: Slug

Walking deeper into the market, the entire place seemed to shimmer with faint shades of blue as my ability picked up all the possible edible items; the common ingredients barely registered, appearing almost like pale wisps around bundles of dried herbs and roots.

But there was the unmistakable appearance of rarer items, drawing my eye immediately.

The first stall that really caught my eye and nearly had me forget all about the Garlic grass and cheese roll in my hand was a shop that was dedicated to dungeon material, or more importantly it looked to be the plants and some critters from the dungeon.

Silver roots hung from the rafters behind the stall’s owner, even through my skill, the silver was unmistakable. Beneath them sat what looked to be baskets, berries? No, but certainly some kind of fruit, the size of my fist, it was crimson with thumb-sized black spots on it.

Next to that however sat several jars which looked to be filled with a liquid and inside was what appeared to be some kind of slug, through the light it had a translucent almost emerald like appearance, but if my foraging skill was anything to go by right now, they must have been exceptionally rare.

“Hello young adventurers!” the middle-aged man said with a beaming smile.

After a quick wave, I had to ask, “The jar’s there, what are they?”

“Ah! You have a good eye! They are cave slugs from the third floor of the dungeon, frustrating to catch despite their slow movements, and even harder to preserve, but make no mistake when done well they are a true delicacy!” the man said.

I couldn’t help but notice Jen wince next to me, but I knew if Liane were here, she’d be encouraging me to no end to try it.

“How much?” I asked.

The man looked back, “Ten silver a slug.”

“For the jar, sorry.” I added.

The man looked stunned for a moment before looking back, “Uh, well, I suppose I could sell it for one and a half gold?”

It felt like a lot. I could see it was at least uncommon, but for all I know I could have been buying something that tasted like mushy mud, but if I never tried something like this, I’d never know, right?

“If you throw in some of the silver roots there and a couple of the crimson fruit behind you, you have a deal.” I said with a smile.

The shop owner laughed, “The roots? I wouldn’t use them for cooking lad.”

I frowned a little; they were glowing blue, so they were absolutely edible, at least for me, so I’d probably need to be careful when I used them.

I pushed it a little. “Could you tell me about them?”

“Yeah sure, they are simply called Silver Root, you find them growing around rich ore veins in the dungeon, but they’ll make you sick if you eat them, it’s mostly used in alchemy for pain relief, normally I’d sell it directly to the alchemy guild.” The man said, letting out a hearty laugh, shaking his head.

I decided this was a great opportunity to get some information. “Something happened to them?”

The man snorted, “Something happened? Lad, they are all but gone; the head family angered the king in the capital and were stripped of their name and banished! They’re all either in hiding or trying to flee to another continent right now.”

Looking around me, I still saw lots of potion sellers, so I pushed it a little further. “I see there are still plenty of vendors selling potions, though.”

“Aye there is, but now anyone can sell and the non-approved or lower ranked alchemists who used to have to hide and do it in secret are able to do it openly, it’s been great for business on my end, and the prices are a lot better, but we’ve lost access to a lot of the really high end potions.” The man said thoughtfully.

“I’m sure they’ll show up again before long,” Jen added.

“You’re right, I heard the family kept all the recipes secret, so hopefully it’s not lost forever. I feel the king might have been too hasty with his punishment in some ways.” The man sighed.

I was about to argue back, explain how he did it to himself, but Jen’s hand on my shoulder squeezed slightly, clearly expecting exactly where my thought process was going, so taking a deep breath, I went back to the materials.

“I’m somewhat of a novice alchemist myself; it’s why the ingredient caught my eye.” I lied,

“Ah! Now that makes sense. Yeah, I can happily sell you a handful of Silver Root, let’s say half a dozen rock berries, and a jar of cave slugs for one and a half gold?” the man said jovially.

Paying the man, I stored everything, happy that I had several new items.

As we continued through the market, there was something that really caught my eye, a lady was hanging a creature I had never seen before on a large butchery hook, it had a very rough appearance of a deer, however it quickly turned strange, it shared similar sized antlers, however these looked to be crystalline with what appeared to be lightning frozen in place inside.

The fur of the creature was a pale blue, almost white, while the hide itself was almost translucent, on the tables in front of the merchant there were large slabs of meat and organs ready to be sold, but my eyes were set on the whole creature, and I wanted to get there before she had cut it.

“Excuse me,” I called as I approached.

My mind was made up even before I made it fully to the table; I would be leaving with that creature.

As they turned around to me knife in hand, she pointed to an assistant she had at the stall who was wrapping pieces of meat for another customer.

“Well, I was kind of hoping to buy the whole thing, uncut.” I said quickly as she was raising the knife.

It barely interrupted her, and she didn’t even bother turning around. “It’s expensive.”

“I have the money.” I said simply.

This made her put the knife down as she turned around; she appeared to study me for a moment.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“This thing will cost twenty-five silver.” She said firmly, pointing her thumb over her shoulder.

I paused for a moment, it was far cheaper than what I was expecting, but the pause clearly frustrated the lady.

“I told you it was expensive, now you’re just wasting my time.” She went to turn around.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not that—twenty-five is fine. Do you have anymore?” I asked, pulling out a gold coin.

Her eyes went wide as she went back to the cart that was behind a cloth.

“I have six, though this is the largest.” She said.

“Would you sell them all for one gold then?” I asked hopefully.

“Hmm, I don’t know. I could get more than a gold if I cut them up.” She said thoughtfully.

“Perhaps, but you’d also spend your morning butchering for a little extra.” I retorted.

“What else am I going to do with my day?” she said, now clearly enjoying the exchange.

“Have a drink?” I said with a grin.

She laughed, “Gah, and listen to everyone talk about the sky lighting up last night, I’d rather not.”

I was about to make another offer, but her face broke into a giant grin. “You have yourself a deal!”

She reached forward, clasping my hand in a handshake despite her having blood on her own. I also noticed she had already taken the gold coin.

“How are you going to carry all this anyway? It doesn’t look like she’d be strong enough.” She said, looking at Jen.

“Would you mind if I stepped around there? I can store it all; just show me the other five.” I smiled.