Back at Gorgonzo’s Counter, Gray felt like he was coming home. He had more of the bubble water, and he thought about betting something different, but the creamy noodles with the crispy chicken was too tasty to skip. Unlike in other pces where they’d been, Rynn seemed right home. She called it traditional Astrian cuisine, which she’d had before.

  She was smiling when she asked, “I would like the roundy noodles with red meat gravy and extra parpar cheese. Can I get that manafied?”

  Gorgonzo’s eyes brightened. “Yes! Yes! Yes! A recruit. And I see the mana itch. First one?”

  The elf girl turned pink.

  Gorgonzo turned his toothy grin on Gray. “You’re back again. Where’s the woman in the hat? She had a way about her, she did. And I see you got my gluttony special again. You want your ftty noodles manafied?”

  Gray shook his head. “Not yet. I’m still building up a tolerance. How did you know that’s what I wanted? You can’t possibly have remembered me.”

  Gorgonzo wrinkled his nose. “What do you mean? The food is magic, my boy, and I am magic along with it. Of course I remember a good customer, who nearly fell off his stool out of love for my food. I thought you’d explode out of pleasure.”

  Rynn gave him an impish smile.

  The old goblin cook sighed. “Your food will be right up. Such nice recruits. I hope you enjoy your summer. It all changes once the Testing begins, but you know that.”

  He went off into the army of his staff and got them all cooking in the open-air kitchen. Down the way, he saw a girl, about their same age, with bck hair and violet eyes staring at them. She had sharp features—a pointed nose but a more rounded chin—and while she was slender, she was also muscled. She was probably a little shorter than Gray, but not by much. He thought she might be another recruit. Something about her seemed strange for some reason. Maybe it was her bck clothes, which seemed far too heavy for the weather. She had a huge pte of something that consisted of yers of noodles, meat, and cheese. In front of her was a rge gss of mana wine. He could tell because of yellow steam coming off it.

  The girl in bck was by herself.

  Gray thought about going to talk with her, but then his pte of creamy noodles with the crispy chicken on top came, and he lost all interest in her.

  The girl in bck soon left.

  After dinner, they strolled around the market. Gray was gd that he had his stick, though it wasn’t the most ideal weapon. Several people gnced at them, but it was clear they were recruits from First Field. They knew how to fight.

  Gray kept his eyes open, not just for potential threats, but the for the right shop. He’d been thinking on way to improve the cup game. He wanted to buy a ruby bracelet that matched the neckce. The more prizes he had the better.

  Back near the cup wall, he saw a dour-faced dwarf with an auburn beard standing outside of his shop with his thumbs hooked into his belt. The golden buckle shined with diamonds. His storefront was functional with thick gss windows and a solid metal door. The only flourish was a sign, imbued with mana so it glowed with a golden light: Excellent Inventory Unlimited. The red-whiskered dwarf was staring across the market at a far finer store, something two stories, glittering with lights all around it.

  Gray walked up the dwarf. “Are you still open?”

  “Aye.” The dwarf frowned. “Thinking about closing. But them buggers at the Manalove’s Emporium won’t be closing until the st bugger is gone from the market. Manalove buggers.”

  “I’m looking for something to match a ruby neckce I have. Does your excellent inventory include jewelry?”

  The dwarf continued to scowl. “Yes, it does.”

  He didn’t say more.

  Rynn gave Gray an uncertain look.

  The dwarf grunted. “Oh, I should invite you in. My sister says I should work on my customer service skills. I say my inventory should do all the work for me. Come on then. I’ll probably have something. But can you afford it? Recruits never have any buggering money.”

  “How did you know we’re recruits?” Gray asked.

  “Everyone in this town is a recruit, in one way or another. You’re of the age, poor little bugger. You’re of the age.”

  Rynn was silent as she followed him into the store. Gray didn’t see any jewelry, but he did notice the high-end swords, finely crafted leather goods, and a variety of other objects.

  Next to the door were four smaller dwarves, all with red hair and freckles, like the shopkeeper outside. They sat on stools, and all had a cudgel made of dark wood. They wore thick leather jerkins. Between their beards and their outfits, they should’ve been sweating, but the air inside the shop was retively cool.

  All four shrimpy dwarves gave Gray and Rynn dopey grins. “Customers! We love customers!”

  “Yeah, we buggering do, Cousin Flip.” The shopkeeper went behind a counter and stood on a raised ptform. “I’m Gundrik Softgrumble, and this is my shop. I buy, I sell, and I fix all manner of manabound items.”

  “You tell em, Softie!” one of the four piped up. “Best around! His sister is gifted for a cnless manamancer. Ain’t got no family. Born in the wrong pce, that what she says, but we do all right.”

  Softie sighed. “That’s enough Cousin Flop. Our inventory will sell itself. Once I get a customer, I get a customer for life.”

  Gray had to smile. He took out the ruby neckce and went to set it on the counter, but Softie stopped him.

  “Put it here.” He had a little velvet lined tray he set down. “Let me get a sense of it. Do you mind?”

  “Don’t mind,” Gray said.

  The dwarf’s fingers were surprisingly nimble as they felt the rubies. “Yes. It’s old, surprisingly so. Tragic. Sad. The stones have seen blood. The magic is pure and simple. I can’t match it, but I could come up with something.”

  Gray frowned. “It can’t be magic. It came from Cradleport.”

  The dwarf squinted at him. “Are you new? It’s a buggering manabound item. The magic is bound to the item. It’s not that buggering hard. Godsblood! I don’t want to buy it. Too sad. But what did you say? You wanted me to sell you something that matched?”

  “Something cheap,” Gray said. “I’m looking to spend around thirty shekels on something that looks simir.”

  Sofie grunted, “Oh, bugger. My sister would hate that. This feels like a scam. You trying to scam me?”

  “Don’t scam him!” one of the four dwarven guards called out in arm.

  The shopkeeper raised his voice. “Cousin Fp! You can’t just tell someone not to scam you.” He then appraised Gray. “I only deal in manabound items. Sorry. You’ll have to go some pce else. Knew I should’ve closed. This whole night, this whole day, has been a bust.”

  “Maybe not,” Gray said. “We know about your shop now. We’ll come back if we need anything manabound. Do you have any suggestions about where I might find an inexpensive bracelet or ring to match?”

  Softie grunted. “By inexpensive you mean cheap. No.”

  “Tell ‘em about Merrymancer’s,” the smallest of the guard dwarves called out.

  The shopkeeper pinched the bridge of his nose. “Cousin Earl, the st thing these recruits need is to get mixed up with Merrymancer’s. If they get out of there with their souls, they’d be lucky. It’s the exact opposite of this shop. Their inventory is dreadful, dreadful I tell you!”

  Cousin Earl giggled. “I always liked it kind of. The poop stuff was funny.”

  Softie looked disgusted. “Yes, recruits. If you are looking for magical daggers that turn to poop, that would be the pce for you. He provides novelties, cheap imitations, and yes, worthless jewelry. His heart is full of nothing but shekels.”

  “So he’s a dwarf as well?” Gray asked.

  Softie’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

  Rynn hooked her arm into Gray’s as she went from silent to rambling. “Nothing at all, sir. We’ll be going, sir. Thank you, sir. If we need any manabound items, we shall return, surely, surely. We would love to meet your sister. I’m sure she’s a lovely woman. Your cousins are very lively and entertaining. You do have a wonderful inventory, filled with amazing delights that stagger the imagination. I apologize for my friend. He is from Cradleport, new to town, and doesn’t know how things work. Thank you again. Thank you so much.”

  “He can’t be from Cradleport,” Softie grumbled. “No nully would survive long in Pity City.”

  Chattering, she led Gray to the exit.

  Softie gred at them the entire time, but the cousins were far more pyful.

  Cousin Earl was the most vocal. “That’s a good one, missus. Staggers the imagination the inventory does. You don’t know the half of it. Mrs. Stone would be very pleased to hear your praise. Please come back.”

  “We will!” Rynn said loudly. “Definitely!”

  Seconds ter, the lights were out, while the cousins continued to talk and ugh. Softie, though, could be heard grumbling the whole time.

  Rynn dragged him over to the cup game wall.

  Gray stood, eyes closed. “I think I know what I did wrong. You can’t make assumptions about races or resonances. All dwarves don’t have a greed resonance.”

  “Correct. Gray, you didn’t know. You can’t ask people, or even make assumptions. It’s difficult, and I’ve been around magic my entire life. It’s going to take some time for you to grow accustomed to this pce.” She paused. “Most dwarves are aligned with either greed and generosity just like most elves are aligned with envy and kindness. However, those that aren’t are usually sensitive about it.”

  “You don’t seem to be.”

  “I haven’t talked about my resonance. I’ve done that much, but I’m still a very strange elf girl, Gray. Strange in all kinds of ways. I am a poor example. I wish…”

  “You wish what?” he asked.

  “I wish I could have more self-control. I wish I were powerful. I wish that I could stop thinking about that awful squad stealing my stealing my trunks. Both Father and Mother will be so cross when I write them. Father will think I am stupid, and Mother will miss the money. All my special things were in the trunk in our room. I am relieved about that. But still, I can’t believe those recruits were so brazen as to basically tell us they stole those things. And there’s nothing we can do.”

  “We’ll have to stand up to them eventually,” Gray said. “If they think we’re easy targets, they won’t stop. We’re both good fighters.”

  “Not good enough to take on seven recruits,” Rynn countered.

  “We’d only have to cripple one of them. Take off a leg. Pluck out an eye. We destroy one, the others will flee. No one wants to pet a snarling mad dog, and few would tease one.”

  “Did Blind John say that?”

  “He did. No one stole from him because he had several thieves killed. Actually, someone else killed them but Blind John took all the credit.”

  “There’s no fighting in the First Field. All crime is forbidden. It’s punishable by death.”

  “Tell that to the thieves that stole your trunks.”

  The elf girl twirled her hair around her finger. “Let’s try avoiding them.”

  “We can try.” Gray knew that it wouldn’t work, but he wasn’t going to charge into a fight, no matter how appealing that sounded. Master Kreef always said that if you wanted to win a fight, you used your mind, then your body, then your sword. Understanding all of the variables of an engagement was critical. He’d research Froggy’s squad and then hit them where they were the weakest.

  Rynn let out a frustrated sigh. “This day! This day! It’s been infinitely long! I was up early, in a carriage from Pubis Port. To think, I slept in a very comfortable seaside inn st night. And tonight, I’m in the barracks of First Field, with a roommate. All of that happened in a day. And I was so excited to get here. Excited, afraid…no terrified. You’ve been a very good friend, Mr. No. Thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” he said, and remembered her smell in the room. How was he going to sleep in that room with her smelling so good? Maybe the gdiator stink would’ve been better.

  They left the market without going to Merrymancer’s, though Gray was curious.

  Back at the First Field’s front gate, they showed the Fieldkeepers their room keys, and then were walking by the canteen, which was sealed up tight.

  As they approached the rows of barracks, Rynn was asking him about Cradleport when a loud voice called out. “Cradleport?”

  From out of the shadows emerged Froggy and her squad—orc girl, dark-skin girl, skinny girl, two male bearkin and some other random woman. All were in their uniforms, matching purple, bck, and gold.

  Froggy stood in a fighting tunic with a dagger sheathed at her side. “So the angel head and the nully are together, a match made in heaven. Just the two of you? Where is the rest of your squad? Or maybe they don’t want to be seen with you. I can understand that.”

  Gray leapt forward and smacked Froggy’s leg with the stick as hard as he could. She cried out, went down, and Gray was going to crack her in the head when the orc dy grabbed it and pulled it out of Gray’s hands.

  The rest of the girls stormed forward.

  It seemed that Testing was going to start months earlier than expected.