Teok led me to an inn just inside the town entrance, with a small plaza in front of it.
"Well, if it isn't Teok — long time no see!"
The greeting came the moment we walked in. A heavyset Orc woman behind the counter — the landlady, apparently, and clearly on familiar terms with Teok. He set the room fee on the counter without being asked.
"And your companion's a human? Don't see many of those."
Humans weren't unheard of in Marten, but they were uncommon enough that she remarked on it. I offered a greeting in return.
"Food here's cheap and good, and the rooms have space to breathe," Teok said.
"That they do," the landlady agreed.
A young Orc girl on staff led us up to a room on the second floor.
Three beds lined the left wall at equal intervals. On the right, a wardrobe, a chair, a small table. Almost no decoration, but the room was clean — that came across immediately.
"Ten Rant a night for the whole room. Not bad, right? This is where I always stay when I'm in Marten."
It was cheap, genuinely. I'd said I'd pay my own share, but Teok had waved it off: "You're not exactly rolling in it right now — I'll cover it. Buy me a drink sometime." I felt bad taking advantage of him again, but I was starting to understand that this was just how Teok was.
We left our preserved food in the room and headed out into town.
Outside, I checked the inn's sign before we moved on.
*Inn Cruuno.*
If I got separated from Teok, I could find my way back here. I noticed, not for the first time, how inconvenient it was not to have a phone, and followed Teok down the street.
---
One of the roads leading off the plaza outside the inn opened onto a lively stretch lined with market stalls.
Kobolds, Goblins, Orcs, Ogres — a woman with arms that had become wings, beautiful in a way that made me look twice — a Harpy, that must be. Someone with the build of a Minotaur. Small figures that might be Halflings. An enormous variety of people moved past us in both directions.
Every now and then I caught someone's eyes on me.
"They've dealt with humans before, at least a few times — but we're still rare enough to draw looks."
Teok noticed before I had to say anything.
Asteno's villagers had never seen a human before I showed up. Even here in Marten, close as it was to the village, humans apparently weren't a common sight. I felt oddly self-conscious.
While I was thinking about this, Teok stopped in front of a shop.
"Here we are."
The sign read *Rusten.*
---
Inside, a small, purple-skinned attendant with a slightly impish look was at the counter. An Imp — that was the species.
"Welcome~"
She delivered it with an expression that suggested she'd rather be anywhere else.
"I've got some things to sell." Teok set the burlap sack on the counter.
"Sure thing~, one moment please~"
She started going through the contents.
While she worked, I looked around the shop. The shelves lining the dim interior held paste-form medicines, liquids with lizard-like things suspended in them, and an assortment of goods that looked faintly suspicious at a glance. Reading the labels, though — cold remedies, mana potions, sleep aids — most of them were everyday items. It occurred to me that mana potions hadn't been available in Asteno; with Melanie as the only magic user in the village, there hadn't been much call for them.
As I was taking this in, a smell I hadn't noticed when we first entered found its way to me.
"There's some good mana-grass in here too. I'll give you sixty-four Rant for the lot — how's that?"
"Works for me."
Teok seemed satisfied.
"Thank you very much~"
Outside the shop, Teok handed me half the payment. Given how things had gone with Piuri's batch, I accepted it without arguing this time.
"Where to next?"
Our exploration of Marten was just getting started.