My Demon Pet System

"Thanks for the directions. Farewell." - After politely saying goodbye, Yoichi bowed to the elderly couple. In the next instant, he walked down the alley that led to the upper city.

Takuma mimicked his team leader's gesture and waved to their informants, following Yoichi and pulling on the reins of his spotted stallion. "The Tezuka Vipers... I've never heard of these women," the Grimbrook warrior repeated to himself. 

"Perhaps they only played a role in the recent history of this place," Yoichi replied promptly. "If we are quick in our mission, we will not have to interact with any of them. Come on, let's move," he added. 

The narrow street surrounded by stone columnar buildings was steep and rose several meters upwards. Having maintained the classic conical shape of those promontories, Oakenfair developed in height. Indeed, the city was divided into a 'low' and an 'upper' area.

As the two adventurers proceeded along the road, they noticed significant urbanistic changes around them: the street no longer had the dilapidated appearance of the lower zone, and hand-crafted stone tiles replaced the rough rock. 

Even the walls of the buildings, stairways, windows, and balconies had a more defined look as if the city gained beauty with elevation. Perhaps Oakenfair's structure reflected the social pyramid of its population, recruiting the poorest and sickest at the bottom and the most active and affluent at the top. 

As Yoichi walked through yet another alley without encountering drunken bums on street corners, he sensed that he would soon find out. Although the city didn't look very big from the outside, its streets were long and winding. 

Several sets of tunnels branched off between irregularly shaped buildings carved out of stone and merged into many small squares like the one he had just visited. 

"Look, it seems like there's another square over there," Takuma spoke. "Maybe it's the one with the statue of the woman the old man told us about," he suggested. Together with Yoichi, the Grimbrook warrior continued walking along the road, which gradually lost its slope, becoming relatively flat again. 

The second square encountered by the two adventurers did not have any statues in it, but unlike the first one, it seemed definitely more populated. A large stall with three merchants occupied the center of that circular place enclosed between the stone buildings. 

The stall consisted of a closed wagon and curtains that started from the top, spreading around supported by thin wooden sticks. Under those curtains, many colored knick-knacks attracted the attention of the two travelers.

"What's that?" Takuma whispered, having never seen such a large stall in his life. If the Grimbrook warrior had visited Goldhaven's Old Bazaar he would probably have gone crazy among all those shops and commercial stands.

"It seems these merchants are as foreign as we are. Look, that's the wagon they came here in," Yoichi replied. His careful glance noticed that special wooden cones blocked the wagon's wheels. If those blocks had been in that position for a long time, the mold that covered most of the city would have eaten them and reduced them to a pile of shapeless objects. 

Moreover, the people walking and chatting around the stall looked like locals. Intrigued, they had gone down to the square to take a look at the merchandise. 

Yoichi and Takuma approached the first of the three tables. Each of them was under the control of a merchant. To be precise, they were a man, a woman, and a child around the age of twelve.

"Good afternoon, travelers!" the little boy cheered. He wore a beret-like cap with a fabric tail in the middle on his puffy, straight black hair. "Please take a gander to our unique relics! They come from the most dangerous dungeons of Lumya and are used to tame ancient demons!" he continued, performing like a professional the job taught to him by his parents.

The man and woman managing the other side of the stall had to be his father and mother. 

"Good afternoon to you, merchant," Yoichi greeted, making a playful bow toward the little boy. Takuma's eyes sparkled like diamonds at the sight of all the strange merchandise.

The table in front of the merchant boy contained all kinds of objects: masks resembling human faces, dried flowers, rusty pieces of weapons and demonic trinkets. Yoichi thought about how he could verify the authenticity of all those items. 

"Each one of these is a unique piece, unearthed in the most dangerous meanderings of Tentochu. The flute of Xaroch, the half-tail of Vallmadis... uh, my favorite one! The broken horn of Tonok!" the young merchant exclaimed again. His gab caught the attention of all the visitors to the stall, and his merchant skills were definitely high for a kid of that age.

"Hmm. If Enatsu had been here, he would have been able to recommend something for me to buy," Yoichi muttered, speaking next to Takuma. "I don't know any of these items, and I wouldn't notice their rarity even if I had them in my hands," he continued. 

"What can I do for you?" the little boy with the strange hat asked again, smiling with his eyes and showing some insistence. 

"Do you sell Demon Teeth as well? I could use some," Yoichi asked, answering politely. 

"Of course. The price is five silver coins each. How many do you need?" the merchant asked. Before Yoichi could answer, his father delivered a canvas sack filled with Demon Teeth into his hands.

"Oh, wow," Yoichi smiled. "I think I'll buy five of them. This area is new to me, and… well, you know, you can never tell!" he chuckled, slipping his hand into his leather pouch and grabbing the bag containing the money.

The clatter of coins in Yoichi's bag drew prying eyes to him. A man in light armor turned his gaze away from the stall and carefully scrutinized him from head to toe. Behind him, another warrior wore plate pauldrons and armor. 

Taking advantage of the people that had accumulated in the small square, those men had approached Yoichi and Takuma without being noticed.