Somewhere else, 29 days after Hyang and Perlmut met the merchant Kronkostos.
Cult guy: "On the road of the beginner village there lay a stone to sit on at which they may appear."
Cult followers doomsday choir or something: "Stone of the dead. A stone of the dead. A stone of deaaaath
to sit on."
There in somwehre lay a stone suddenly shining bright.
Doof: "Where are we?"
Fatty: "Don't know, but man, I'm hungry after all this time, so go and make some food with what we have left. That space we were in was just unbearable."
Doof: "Good that I wished with my lucky coin to leave."
Fatty gives the dumb looking doof a questioning and judging earnest look but leaves it at that.
Doof cooks with the leftovers of the chicken hotpot. It slightly burns on, on the bottom. After that Doof rests for awhile until Fatty tells him to look after the food, not knowing that the chicken hotpot has already burned on. Doof goes to the cooking pot, turns the fire off, and puts beans in, leaving freshly hard uncooked beans in the hot pot that is now losing heat. From this moment onward, the burning of the leftovers at the bottom of the pot does not continue.
Later on, Fatty taste tests the food.
Fatty *Hm, these beans taste odd. It is the taste of beans that aren't cooked through. They are chewy like that too after all.*
So Fatty turns on the flames again with the chicken hot pot part already stuck and very slightly burned on the ground of the pod. Now thanks to that, the flavor of burned ingredients starts to permeate the food completely.
Fatty 'Ptui'
Fatty goes to Doof and angrily stomps with an angry arm gesturing as well.
Fatty: "Did you use leftover hot pod stew where lots of loose little ingredients are at the bottom, cooked it probably burning it, and then put beans that take ages to be done in the pod? Doof?! Here, taste it too."
Doof goes to taste from the hotpot as well and makes a grimace of slight disgust, a bit of realization and also wonder over this taste.
Fatty: "And? Had enough yet?"
Doof raises his arm in a way one would in school to be selected for answering a question.
Doof: "Ehm."
Doof lowers his arm again, unsure of the flavor, to take another spoon to taste test it again.
Fatty now just angrily pushes over the pod that is full of the charred, food flavored beans.
Fatty: "Just come and let's go. We'll just eat in the next town when we arrive. We will just have to walk hungrily for a while."
While Fatty is talking, Doof has already started to collect the scattered beans. Which leads to Fatty realizing it and slapping his hand that has beans collected in it.
Fatty: "Come."
Fatty now drags him a bit on his clothes while Doof is still dumfoundedly looking at the beans.
During their walk, Doof now occasionally snacks beans, much to the dismay of Fatty, annoying him greatly.
As they have finally reached the city named Fǎwèi de shǐ City, they sit down to eat in a bar with lodging. The bar is a hit in the town, truly hip and Inn. Doof now, still intrigued by a certain flavor, dips a bean in Fatty's cup of clean water, cleaning the bean. Fatty slaps the bean out of Doof's hand for that. However, fortune is with the Doof, it seems, as the bean flies right into his mouth.
Doof: "Mhmh, not so bad anymore."
A bit surprised by that, Fatty just starts to eat, and thus their meal leaves them fulfilled.
After their meal they sleep in the bar that also works as an inn.
Spending their time in the morning eating down at the bar area, they go back up into their room after they finish. Then they go to cleanse themself. Fatty takes the first long bath in the wooden tub, after which it's Doof's turn in the tub room.
Doof puts his clothes above the door.
v-clothes
🚪
While trying to close the door from the other side, Fatty unhinges the door, releasing it from its frame as a result.
Now as a result of this, Fatty presses Doof to clean himself faster.
Dialog of that:
Fatty: "Great, you have once again done it, Doof. Now make haste. I don't want to get in trouble because of your chinanigains again."
After Doof's shortened bath comes to a close, they lodge out with Fatty having an anxious, sweaty expression while doing so.
Counter attendant: "Did you enjoy your stay?"
Fatty: "Y- Yes, great view from the room. Haha."
Swiftly closing the conversation off like that and leaving the boring boar bar while the sun is at its zenith.
To avoid potentially being called after and caught by the inn's staff, Fatty goes right behind the bar through the small way on its side.
They see two suspicious people making what seem like a deal, but as they couldn't care less, they just swiftly leave.
The deal
K🕶️: "I'm glad you came in time for our deal in Fǎwèi de shǐ City. You will be able to avoid the worst possible outcome thanks to that."
Kronkostos: *What a threatening statement.* 'gulp' "So, what are you selling?"
K🕶️: "This beautiful armor and this masterfully crafted mystic weapon, if I do say so myself. By the way, I made these." 'Cool Wink'
Kronkostos: "I can clearly tell that both of these are made of ut wood. So even if they are masterfully crafted-"
K🕶️: "Indeed, I'm operating at a loss here selling such magnificent masterpieces. But I'm doing this to help you after all."
Kronkostos: *Help me? With wood?* "Can you prove they do and are capable of what you claim they are?"
K🕶️: "Of course I'll help you with wood. As for proof, here, let me show you. I'll hit the armor."
Kronkostos: *Did he just-*
'crack'
K🕶️: "Ups, ahem, don't worry, I've got another."
Kronkostos: *This guy is dangerous and a terrible scammer.*
K🕶️: "I'm neither of those. You wouldn't even know I was scamming you if I were, because these things are the real deal. I'm telling you, buy now, buy many. But these are the last in stock."
K🕶️ & Kronkostos: "He did indeed read my thoughts just now." *He did indeed read my thoughts just now.*
Kronkostos: 'shocked and sweaty' *There is no way those are the last in stock with the way he handles them.*
K🕶️: "No, I didn't, ehem, now for only- How much do you have on you right now?"
Kronkostos: "I'm not falling for that."
K🕶️: "Don't you worry. It's not like that. It cost exactly 274 gold, 74 silver, and 85 copper."
Kronkostos: "That's a lot, even for a masterfully crafted wood sculpture of an armor and... you said that this was a mythical weapon, right!? How would you even use it?"
K🕶️: "Hohoho, not so fast. The explanation on how to use it is included in the price."
Kronkostos: "Of course..."
K🕶️: "However, you know what? I can give you a pre-sample."
Kronkostos: "Oh, and what would that be? Will you use it in front of me?" *This scammer could at least try harder at making it believable that he is doing an honest, not scam, trade.*
K🕶️: "Oh nono, better than that. I will tell you their names!"
Kronkostos *I'm so close 🤏 so close to losing it 🤏🤏💢*
K🕶️: "No need to lose your cool. Just chill out, be cool, and listen. These are called the [},[}, DOOMARMOR{[SHOTGUN]} respectively. You will find such quality only sold by yours truly~ ME."
Kronkostos *I fear he is too powerful to offend. I don't have a choice but to buy it.* "Let me count how much I have on me right now."
K🕶️: "Do that while I prove to you its quality, as I do not like selling something while being mistaken for a dangerous scammer."
He pulls out a fake stone made of wood that has been thoroughly pulverized by woodworms at certain points, making it only like powder in wood form in those areas. He presses the weapon against it while Kronkostos absentmindedly counts his coins.
K🕶️: "See how sturdy this weapon is. I can easily push it in this stone as if it were butter."
Kronkostos: "Mhm, very fascinating, hm." He continues counting, not even sparing a glance, unbroken concentration. "I'm done counting. I've got exactly 174 gold, 74 silver and 85 copper."
K🕶️: "You forgot the gold in your shoes."
Kronkostos: "..." *devious* Kronkostos removes a spacial ring from his toe on his right food "with this- with this I am at 224 gold, 74 silver and 85 copper."
K🕶️: "The other one too. If you don't buy it now, you'll regret it when it's too late and you will have lost everything."
Kronkostos: *I'm losing everything right now. You fiend!* '💧' Kronkostos removes a spacial ring from his toe on his left food "Now... now- I'm at... 274 gold, 74 silver and 85 copper." '💧'
K🕶️: "Wonderful, what fortune! Oh, how lucky you are! You must have eaten 4-leaf-clover salad to be this lucky. That is the exact price for this legendary weapon and armor. What a steal, what a bargain. No one is as lucky as you when it comes to coming across bargain sales and having the necessary coin to afford the bargain."
Kronkostos looks at the ground in sadness: "Where did these woodworms come from..."
K🕶️: "Oh, don't you worry!"
Kronkostos '💧''💧''💧''💧'
K🕶️: "I do wish I could have used higher quality materials for your sake." '💧' "But I'll show you how to use these with this extra pair I've got with me."
Kronkostos "..."..."..." -.-
K🕶️: "Thanks to that, yours will stay unused and in top condition. After all, that will be necessary when you use them."
Kronkostos *...Use wood...*
K🕶️: "Wood that had the fortune to be used in my crafting endeavors. So I'll take you to the woods right now, and then you can be on your merry way."
Kronkostos *In the forest... on my way to where?* 'shiver'
K🕶️: "Oh, of course I'll take you right back to the city after we're done, right to your coach driver in fact. And then you can drive back to your grand pagoda, your castle, your villa."
Kronkostos: "Villa?"
At the end of this deal, in the back of the inn, staff shoves up, looking for Doof and Fatty, seeing the end of the deal and how the two suddenly vanish.
K🕶️: "We aren't the people you're looking for."
Staff: "They aren't the people we're looking for." 🌫️ The two vanish. "Where are Fatty and that doof person? Not only did they untangle a door, but they also left a bunch of beans in the bath."
Staff 2: "The untangled door isn't really the worst, just got to put it back into the frame. But such behavior can't be tolerated like it didn't happen after all. Where would we end up if everybody thought such behavior was acceptable?