The Foolhardies 20 Almost Famous

"The salamander who had us followed appears in front of us and that's what you're concerned about?" By the tone of his voice, I could tell Luca was either shaking his head in exasperation or rolling his eyes at my back.

"Dean... priorities..." Aura admonished me.

"I am prioritizing, guys. We want to become heroes, right?" I reasoned with them. "I just want confirmation that we're getting noticed now."

"Fair point... but are her words reliable? She's not exactly trustworthy," Varda commented from somewhere on my right. "Ooh, this is a nice sofa..."

"Allow me to clarify," Kallista interrupted. "The real rising star is Azuma as he has accomplished remarkable achievements since becoming a visere of the Magesong clan. And among the current generation of viseres, there are many who recognize his strength as the real deal."

Kallista raised five of her sharp-nailed fingers one by one.

"I can count the number of his defeats on one hand," then she raised a finger from her other hand. "Your victory over him in the Calmlands could be considered the sixth."

"Six losses doesn't sound so special," Luca answered. "Dean hasn't lost a single one."

But I thought he was wrong. A war that's been going on for five hundred years among more than twenty fairy clans meant the number of battles that have occurred since must be in the tens of thousands. Having only six losses, even if we considered his short human lifespan, meant Azuma must have won dozens by now. He was a one-thousand man commander after all, and we were just lucky he didn't attack us at full strength.

"Your brother has had only one victory," Kallista corrected Luca. "But, this is a victory worth noticing because of who you were up against as Azuma has become quite famous here in the eastern lands."

Beside me, Aura's face turned contemplative. "Since we defeated him... it stands to reason that our name... no, our leader's name will spread to those who fear and admire Azuma."

Kallista nodded. "And it won't stop there... chances are, your name will spread to the entire Fayne."

My eyes grew wide at just the thought of what Kallista was suggesting. "To all the Fayne..."

"Do not let this inflate your ego too much," Kallista laughed. "I speak of something temporary. An instant is all the time you will have to be remembered..."

"Like a drop of water making a ripple in a vast ocean," Edo translated.

They were right. An instant was all I had. However, as long as we kept winning, those little victories would keep trickling into the thoughts of the people, and that's how we'll become the heroes of this age.

The thought of this future possibility blew my mind, and I noticed that the others were equally quiet and contemplative. It wasn't until Varda said, "So... you're not actually famous. Just almost famous because it's so short term," that everyone laughed. Myself included.

"But like Varda said," I raised an eyebrow at Kallista. "How can we trust your information?"

"I am an auctioneer. I deal in all things... including information," Kallista's smile revealed a pair of sharp fangs on her pearly white teeth. "Consider this a freebie. Now, shall we get to business?"

"I'm sorry but aren't you with the Lover's Embrace?" Aura sought confirmation from Kallista. "Why are you here in this auction house owned by the Rings of Fortune?"

"The Rings are a merchant clan so it is not unreasonable for them to hire someone with influence in the city who can make business transactions run smoother for them," Kallista answered with a sway of her curvy lips. "Your problems with the city guard aside, I guarantee that you are safe inside this auction house for as long as you behave."

There was nothing we could do. Asking for a different auctioneer might create more bad blood between us. So, if we wanted to use the auction house's resources then we would have to deal with Kallista. Preferably, with no bloodshed.

I glanced over to Luca who shrugged back at me.

"I'll go with whatever you think, Dean," his answer was a contrast to the stiffness of his posture. He wasn't letting his guard down in front of Kallista.

My eyes looked over to Varda who was sitting on one of the plush red couches.

"It's fine by me," Varda answered.

I couldn't help noticing the piece of unicorn-hair she held tight in her fist.

Edo slid his finger across his neck before saying, "She crosses us, she dies."

I shook my head exasperated. He could have been less hostile as it wasn't like Kallista hadn't seen his threat.

Aura squeezed my arm.

"We need this auction house, Dean," Aura whispered in my ear. "It's the one place we can sell the goods aunt Darah gave us."

I nodded without looking at her. She was right, of course. Darah had given a side mission and this auction house might just be the place we could accomplish it

"Alright, auctioneer... let's make a deal," I said.

After we exchanged hostilities for pleasantries at the foyer, Kallista took us to a private room with the same decor as the foyer we'd left behind. There were satin plush cushions on lounge chairs facing the red velvet curtains covering the opposite wall. The luminescent gems on the walls were attached to golden fixtures. The whole gave off an atmosphere of wealth and indulgence which was probably the intention. The proprietors would want us to spend as much as possible.

Kallista directed us to sit on the couches before we started transactions. All of us did so except for Edo who opted to lean on the back wall with his glaive held aloft. He took his bodyguard duties seriously.

Before we took our seats, I whispered into Aura's ear, "How much money did we bring?"

"We have two thousand five hundred Leprechauns in our war chest," Aura whispered back.

"We need at least half for recruitment... Is a thousand enough to get us good gear?" I asked her.

She nodded. "It depends what we want... but don't worry. We can use my personal wealth too..."

As reassuring as that sounded, I didn't really want Aura to use her own money for the unit's benefit. She caught on to this hesitation almost immediately which is why she narrowed her eyes at me before saying, "Partners... remember?"

I nodded once and then sat down without arguing.

All this time, Kallista watched our exchange like a hawk. She waited patiently for us to finish before she crossed her legs and revealed a bit more skin than what Luca was used to as his face blushed a furious shade of red.

I sighed. It must be obvious to everyone by now how clueless the Dapper brothers when dealing with feminine wiles.

"So, how may our humble establishment assist you?" Kallista started.

"There's no auction tonight?" Aura asked.

"Sadly, no... recent troubles from within and without the city have made acquiring new items rather difficult," Kallista admitted. "However, You need not worry. We do already have a fine selection of goods on hand for your needs."

Aura nodded approvingly.

"So, what flights of fancy shall we tickle you with first?" Kallista asked in a rather sensual manner.

I cleared my throat to make sure my voice didn't squeak. It did that sometimes when I was nervous. "Show us some armor first."

Kallista clapped her hands together, and in response, the curtains covering the back wall parted to reveal a wall made of a silver-like watery substance.

"Is that fairy dust?" I asked, curiously. I'd never seen the stuff in such large quantities before.

Kallista nodded to me before turning her head to the wall of fairy dust and asking it to show us some armor.

The dust pushed off the wall like a glittering dust devil floating across the room to swirl into a giant mass in front of us before reshaping once more into three types of ghostly armor. The one on the left was a robe, the middle was a leather vest, and the third was a metal breastplate. I understood these to represent the three armor types, light, medium, and heavy.

"Whoa… cool," Luca said, impressed. "It's like a virtual model."

Luca's hand reached out toward the leather vest in the middle, but before he touched it, he looked over to me for approval.

I laughed. "Go ahead."

The enthusiastic grin he gave me afterward reminded me of those carefree days when dad was still alive and all was well and far from all the suffering we'd been through recently. It reminded me that there was still a kid hiding inside my warrior brother.

Luca touched the ghostly leather vest formed from fairy dust and it dissolved into a thousand dust particles before and coalescing with the other two ghostly apparitions to form one giant glittering dust-ball which dispersed again into four smaller dust-balls, each with its own shade of grey. The leftmost ball had a rust-like shade, the ball next to it was soft gold, the third kept the natural silver color of fairy dust, and the last one was almost emerald in its green shade.

Luca inspected each, but when his face turned back to us with a puzzled look Kallista decided it was time to explain.

"Just as there are six weapon tiers, there are also four armor grades named after the quality of the materials they're made from." She pointed a sharp-nailed finger at the leftmost ball. "Brass is the weakest." Kallista pointed to the blue ball. "Electrum boasts an intermediate defensive strength." Then she pointed to the silver one. "Platinum grade are high-tier armor that possesses elemental resistances." Last, she pointed at the shining green orb. "Adamantine is rarest of all. Some would call it legendary armor."

Kallista frowned slightly.

Sadly, we possess no adamantine grade armor at present," she bowed her head slightly. "My apologies."

"It's fine. It's fine..." I waved my hand dismissively while thinking we didn't have enough Leprechauns to afford legendary class armor, anyway. "What do you think, Aura?"

I turned to look at my partner who was gazing back at me expectantly. You could tell just from the sparkle in her blue eyes that she wanted to take the lead in the negotiations, and I realized that females were the same whichever world you were in. It seemed they all loved to shop.

Chapter end