RoChronicles - 14

Chapter Twelve: Zeny, Zeny, Zeny By the Pound (Ouch!)
"Alright, ma'am; your total comes to an even seventeen million zeny." Rine said brightly, his smile as warm as the sun that shone down upon them from the midday sun in the sky over Prontera's market place.

Gasping, the young Soul Linker raised a hand to her lips in astonishment. "Seventeen million?" she repeated, her dark eyes wide. "Isn't that a bit steep for a wand and a few cards?"

Rine's smile became apologetic as his brows furrowed slightly. "I'm afraid not." he responded softly with a sigh. "Everyone's been jumping their prices up, so it's harder to get materials and items these days. I do try to keep my prices set as low as possible for my customers, but I still have to be able to make enough at the end of the day to purchase things to keep the business running and food on the table."

The white-haired woman smiled again. "You're right. I know. Every time I come to the market, you've always had the lowest prices; I stopped bothering with the others long ago because of that. I really do appreciate your consideration for the people like me that can't afford those ritzy prices. Seventeen million isn't too bad I guess."

As her hand dove into the robes at her bosom, Rine respectfully looked away until the sound of jingling near his arm drew his attention back to her.

"Here you go," she said sweetly. "Seventeen million zeny." Then, with a wink, she added, "Plus a bit extra; it isn't much, but every bit helps. Just a thank you from me to you for being so helpful every time I come by."

"Oh, ma'am, I couldn't-"

"Now, now, there you go with that 'ma'am' business again; call me Emoi. That word just makes me feel so old. And don't worry about it. You had a point when you mentioned needing to still make a little profit at the end of the day. With prices like those you won't make much at all!"

"Thank you very much, then." The braided teal-green-haired Whitesmith took the bag of zeny she held out to him, and bowed slightly as she turned and walked off.

Once Rine had made certain the woman was gone, he slipped the latches connecting his cart to the belt at his waist and slid free from it. With a soft snap of the fingers, it seemingly disappeared completely, a few bent blades of grass just to the side of the circle of marketeers serving as the only proof it had ever been there at all. Then, satisfied that it was safely out of harm's way and out of the question for passing Thieves, he strode at a relatively leisurely pace towards the thickest number of Merchants to see what was available.

"Hello, sir, and welcome to my shop; what can I do for you?" asked the Merchant he stood before, smiling.

"Maybe in a minute; I'm just looking for the moment."

"Rine!" yelled a female voice from behind him.

When Rine turned to see who had called for him, a wide smile traced his lips and quirked them upwards at the corners.

Walking towards him with a vague swinging of the hips was Rina Hanabi, a High Wizard. Her long, wild, bright red hair bounced just slightly with each step she took, her robe trailing behind her in the gentle breeze. Finally she reached a point beside the tanned Whitesmith, holding her hand out to him expectantly. "Long time no see, you old dog! What have you been up to?"

"Well, hasn't it's been a while!" came Rine's hearty response, clasping her hand in his and giving it a firm shake. The Candy Wings on his back fluttered happily for a moment, then stilled again. "I just closed up shop for the day and decided to browse around a little!'

"That sounds about right." Rina smirked and said, eyes half closed in a sneaky glance at him. "Say, when was the last time we did run into each other?"

"In the first set of catacombs in the Payon area, wasn't it? We went around for old time's sake and I snatched up everything they dropped for us."

"Greedy little rat, aren't you? But I can't hold that against you; how many Opals did we end up finding, anyway?"

"Fifty-seven."

Rina's eyes widened, and she drew her hand back, placing it on her hip. "Not bad! But that number seems to change every time you say it."

"It can't be helped, you know how bad my memory is. Anyway, it's getting late; let's catch up a bit more later, got it?"

"Sounds good to me; let me finish my shopping."

"What can I do for you?" asked the Merchant, switching his focus to the black-clad woman, blushing when she leaned over to examine the offerings a bit better.

Rina looked around in the little cart, and smiled as the eye not covered by her bangs spotted something interesting. She extended the arm that had been dangling at her side towards it and inquired, "What would you want for the Staff of Destruction? Hm...Oh, and the Flame Skull and Myst Case Cards? I'm hoping to surprise one of my friends with them."

"For the staff, it's a good rate of fifty million zeny; for the cards, ten thousand apiece."

"Oh..I'm afraid I don't have quite that much on me.."

The Merchant hesitated for a moment, but replied, "How about twenty-five million for the staff, and ten thousand for the cards? I can't go any lower on those."

Rina bit her lip, but pulled out a bag of bag of coins from her hip. Looking into it, she pulled the right amount out and dropped it into the Merchant's hand. "Will this cover it?"

A moment of silence passed as the young man looked through the bag and counted the amount. Then, when he was satisfied that it was close enough to the price he had set, he passed the items to the beautiful woman before him. "That'll do it; thank you, ma'am, and I hope to have the pleasure of doing business with you again in the future!'

Rina's smile tightened for a fraction of a second, and the Merchant would have been pressed to say whether he had seen the change at all. Straightening, the High Wizard curtsied to the man and turned, gathering the objects, she winked toward the blonde and made her way through the crowd. Every so often she glanced around until she finally spotted the man she had been searching for standing off to the corner of the market place - the one spot where there were no carts set up at all.

"You know," Rina ventured with a knowing smirk, holding out the Myst Case Card to Rine, "You're such a sneaky bastard sometimes, swindling people out of their hard-earned zeny. You do NOT have the lowest prices; you haven't ever since you realized your customers started expecting you to."

"Not even then." Rine responded, taking the card and pressing it into his right wing. "But I have to make a living, you know. And it's my zeny that keeps you in those pretty little accessories you love so much, so give it a rest; we both know you enjoy it as much as me. Besides which, I still have a few things I need to take care of." His gaze darkened for a moment and Rina felt a bit guilty for unintentionally dredging up the subject.

Hoping to drive the conversation away from the painful topics, she said, "But I almost feel so sorry for the poor suckers."

The incubus horned-man shrugged, flexing his wings outward to inspect the card's staying power to them and then relaxed them behind him in satisfaction. His eyes locked onto hers, and he snorted. "Yeah, right; they're nice, I'll admit. They could be going somewhere else because of my prices but they still keep coming back."

"That's because they think you're as gay as the fairy you look like and they feel safe around you for it."

"I'm hurt." Rine feigned a pout, but even he knew the truth to her words and he was unable to sustain it for much longer than the moment it was put forth. "Either way, it's the best trick in the book; it's not my fault no one else has figured it out or mastered it yet."

"Oh, yes. Set the lowest prices then jack it up to insane rates over time."

"Because by then," he chuckled, an arm around his wife's waist as they started walking back towards the town of Prontera and out of the market place gates, "They keep expecting me to be the fairest around."

This time, Rina snorted. "Oh, of course, darling; because that certainly didn't sound like a cheap fairy tale line at all, coming from the man who looks like a fairy."

"Either way, let's head back to town and hit a bar."

"I still can't believe you made fifty-seven million today. And off of such easily obtained items, no less!"

"Hey, don't call my hard work easy. Do you know what I went through and how many times I almost died trying to get some of the stuff in that cart?"

"It's not my fault you focus mostly on money and leave the hard work to me." Rina jabbed her forefinger into his chest softly from beside him. "If you'd come with me or join a party now and then, you might be able to get a little bit stronger."

"I'll stick to Mammonite, thank you."

"But all that precious, wasted zeny-"

"-Is easily made back in under an hour, so relax. Now, I'm starved; what do you suggest?"

"Mutant Dragon Steak?"

THUD.

Two pairs of people fell back, limbs flying in each direction, landing sprawled upon the ground.

Groaning, Rine pushed himself upright, one hand gingerly gripping his head as he looked to his side to ensure his wife was still relatively unharmed.

Likewise, one of their accidental assailants pushed himself up as well, the mop of strawberry-blonde hair vaguely obscuring his eyes before being pushed aside.

A grunt came from the form beside the Sniper, and the boy's falcon perched upon his shoulder as he turned to face the body beside him. With a start, he cried out, "SISTER! They've killed you! You can't leave me alone like this; speak to me!"

Rina sat up and, exchanging a look with Rine, watched the boy proceed to shake what remained of the living daylights out of his sibling.

"D- Dusk.." the limp frame whispered softly, just barely loud enough for the three to hear her. "Is- is that you..?"

"It is! It's me, Dawn! Hang on, I'll get help!"

"D..usk...My falcon.."

"Don't speak, you need to save your energy!"

"It's..Important..."

The energetic sibling's eyes widened, and he leaned close. "What is it, dear sister?"

"My..Falcon..It's..Talons..Are ja- jabbing me in the back.."

The sibling known as Dusk blinked for a moment, staring dumbly down at his sister, then pushed her over onto her stomach to reveal the flattened grey bird. It spasmed slightly, but with an angry flutter of its wings and a shower of feathers, it was in the air hovering over its master in moments. Despite its apparent disapproval at being squashed, it was unharmed, and seemed thankful for being freed.

Dawn moaned in the last pangs of the pain in her back, but turned to face Dusk. "Thanks."

Rine and Rina did a momentary double take at the two, not certain if they were seeing double from their spill or if the two were really perfectly identical. But as the seconds ticked by and the images stubbornly refused to fuse with each other, it became apparent that the two really were twins, not just siblings.

As the four stood to their feet, Rina smiled warmly at the two. "We're so sorry about that."

"It's alright." Dusk mumbled, looking at Dawn for a brief second before looking back at the two in front of them.

"Brother dear didn't we have somewhere we needed to be?" asked Dawn in a soft voice, smiling a bit as she shifted from one foot to the next.

Dusk gave a wide, devilish grin. "Oh, but of course!"

"Well, we'll just let you get on your way then." Rine said, taking Rina's hand and stepping aside for them. "We need to be going, too."

"Thanks; later!"

Dusk reached back, his fingers lacing with those of Dawn, and they raced off down the path together toward the patio near the ammunition vendor. Behind them, Dawn's falcon raced after them in what must have been a new record for fastest flight.

Once the two were out of sight, Rine and Rina sighed simultaneously. "Weird."

Shrugging, Rina glanced around and spotted a newly opened shop with a shiny new eraser staff up for grabs. Tugging Rine along with her, she pointed to the staff. "We're getting this before we go anywhere."

Blinking in confusion at the sudden demand, the 'Smith turned to her for a moment. "This? Why?"

Leaning in to whisper to the man at her side, Rina hissed, "Can't you feel the energies surrounding that thing? Just being near it, I can already feel my magic getting stronger! The stronger my magic is, the better and faster I can get things for you to sell. The better stuff you have to sell, the more money we make! I don't know why you have such an interest in getting so rich so fast, but personally, more money means more nice things. We need that!"

Sighing, Rine nodded and turned to the Merchant with a meek smile. "How much?"

Looking down to the staff and then at the candy-winged man, the younger male returned the smile with a nervous one of his own. "Ten million zeny. Sound fair?"

"Ouch..." Rine winced. "I could probably make one for-"

"Five million!" offered the edgy Merchant, eyes wide. "How about five million?"

"I suppose that's a little better...Alright."

The braided man moved his hand to his pockets, feeling around for his pouch of zeny and bank notes. After a few moments of fruitless searching he paused, eyes narrowing.

"Rine, dear," Rina began, sounding suspicious and worried, "What's the hold-up? Five million zeny; pay the man, dear."

"...We'll be back for this, young man." Rine stated, suppressing the urge to Hammer Fall the nearest object or person to vent his annoyance. He reached over and grabbed Rina by the wrist, tugging her along with him in the direction the twins had gone.

"Wha- where are you going, sir?" called the confused Merchant after them.

Shouting back over his shoulder, Rine replied angrily, "To track down my zeny; it's grown legs!"