"Hohoho, now you sell monsters directly at your counter without even bothering to remove their Mana Stones, Edgar?" A mocking male voice approached.
Focusing his gaze in that direction, Lohan saw a "young" elf, although he still couldn’t discern the age of elves, walking toward them, looking at the Slime on the counter with disdain, while a young black cougar walked proudly beside him.
The young elf, whose emerald green silk robes with high-quality leather accents screamed opulence, stopped a few feet from the counter, proudly displaying a ceremonial whip at his waist.
"Valerius, welcome..." Edgar greeted him, though the tone of his voice had lost all its previous enthusiasm, becoming tense and cautious. "But I ask that you mind your manners. Halon and Lisa are distinguished customers of my shop."
Valerius let out a dry laugh, shaking his head as if he had heard the most absurd joke of the year.
Beside him, the black cougar, a robust specimen despite its youth, puffed out its chest.
This monster was a Shadow Cougar, an elite creature known for its ferocity and stealth, much like the Shadow Serpents Lohan had eliminated, and it seemed to have inherited the same arrogance as its master.
The feline tilted its head, looking at Halon with an almost human expression of superiority, letting out a disdainful snort that made the air vibrate.
"Distinguished customers? Edgar, your senility is advancing faster than your profits." Valerius sneered, gesturing with his gloved hand toward the slime.
"You are diminishing the prestige of the Great Horizon Bazaar by negotiating with... that. Nero wouldn’t even bother to consider that blue amalgam or that malnourished little fox as a snack. It would be a waste of effort for a predator of his caliber."
Nero, the cougar, let out a low growl, baring her ivory fangs, and glanced sideways at Lisa, as if she were a chew toy not worth his time.
"Valerius, you don’t understand, Halon possesses an intelligence that—" Edgar tried to intervene, but was cut off by a sharp gesture from the elf.
"Spare me your excuses. I came to pick up the Stone I ordered, but I lost my appetite when I saw that this counter is infested with slime," Valerius turned his back, beginning to walk toward the exit with long, aristocratic strides. "Keep the trash away from the real stones, Edgar."
Nero, seeing his master walk away, decided to deliver the "final blow."
He approached Lohan and Lisa, crouching as if to pounce, letting out a muffled, fierce roar directly into the fox’s face, expecting her to whimper and cower.
However, Lisa did not back down.
Her eyes, which had seemed calm before, flashed with a cold, silvery light. For a brief second, she released just a spark of her Spirit Magic.
The air around her seemed to weigh tons.
To Nero, a young cougar raised within Thalendor, it was as if the little fox had transformed into an ancient entity that filled the entire room.
The cougar’s predatory instinct was instantly replaced by primal terror. The hairs on his body stood on end, his tail tucked between his legs, and his pupils dilated until they covered the yellow of his eyes.
Without making a sound, the powerful elite beast turned on its heel and bolted for the door, stumbling over its own paws to escape that overwhelming presence.
Valerius, already outside and unaware of his familiar’s desperate escape, just kept walking, believing Nero was following him with his usual grandeur.
Edgar, who didn’t sense the aura but saw the cougar’s sudden reaction, was stunned.
"What... what the hell happened to Nero?" he asked, blinking in bewilderment.
Lohan looked at Lisa, who snorted derisively and turned her head away, and found the situation even funnier.
’Who gave that cougar the courage to face a LEGENDARY fox? Especially a young ’queen’ like Lisa... hahaha!’
At that point, Lohan tried his best to control his laughter, but failed, causing his small round body to writhe on the counter and the sound of his laughter to echo in Edgar and Lisa’s minds.
While Edgar was shocked, not understanding what had happened, Lisa, hearing Halon’s laughter, felt her cheeks grow hot and looked away again, quickly picking up a Mana Stone that caught her attention and throwing enough silver coins on the counter without looking at anyone.
This attitude only made Lohan find the situation more funny and cute, but he didn’t comment on it, not wanting to embarrass his partner even more.
"I’m sorry about that, my friend Halon. Did you see the ceremonial whip at his waist? That boy Valerius is one of the Elite Tamers I mentioned earlier, and the whip is the symbol of this new rising class. As a young noble Elf, he is used to doing whatever he wants in the Bazaar. I hope that didn’t offend you," Edgar said apologetically.
Honestly, Lohan was offended, but not to the point of feeling that his day was ruined by it. He wasn’t foolish enough to let people walk all over him and respond with a smile, but he also wouldn’t dwell on every little offense thinking about how to murder that person’s entire family like certain people, so he didn’t care that much.
"Don’t worry, Edgar, it wasn’t your fault. I think we’re done shopping here, so when we get the results, or I need more Mana Stones, we’ll come back, okay?" Lohan replied casually.
Edgar sighed with relief, surprised that the Slime showed more maturity than a "wise" High Elf. "Great, sure, don’t worry, with the results of your help, I can even offer you a permanent discount on my goods, my friend."
Hearing that, Lohan was even more pleased with this beastly man who had a muscular body and black wolf ears among his hair, making him seem even more friendly.
Leaving the Bazaar, Lohan and Lisa wasted no time and ran back to the forest, ready to level up as quickly as possible, with the goal of becoming strong enough to invade Dungeon Level 10 and found their own guild as soon as possible.