Dominic laughed as the smith and the boss shared stories of their trip, then realized that it was beginning to get late, and he hadn't made any arrangements for the night. With their usual smith back, he wouldn't be welcome to sleep in the forge Carriage, even if it was big enough, so he should start looking for a hotel now that he had his wages.
There was an inn nearby, but it was all marble walls, with guards at the doors in fancy armour and high levelled skill gems. That looked far too expensive for his wallet.
"Hey Tom, is there an inn here that I might actually be able to afford?" Dominic asked as he made sure he hadn't left anything in the other man's forge.
"That's the only one in town with an open room. I was going to stay there if you lot got delayed for the night. You're welcome to put up a hammock on the far side if you like, but I will warn you that I snore.
But if you can catch her, I think that our Gunner, Bella, has a friend here in town, and she will likely be staying over there. You might be able to get a couch with them. The farmers are always happy to have a real smith stay over for a few hours work." He suggested.
The gunner was still laughing with the ranger up near the front of the convoy as the locals unloaded the cargo. The guards' jobs weren't finished until the cargo was unloaded and paid for, while the smith was on duty until the carriages were fixed and good to go again.
They were lucky and didn't take much, if any, damage this time, so the boss hadn't requested anything of him after they arrived, he had just paid and left him with Tom, who was nursing his aching bones after being healed of his injuries.
Dominic waved goodbye to the smith, and hopped down from the oversized carriage with a shiver as he adjusted to the lack of heat from the forge.
"Bella, was it? I'm Dominic, the smith for the trip. Tom said that you might know a spot that I could rent a bed for a few nights. Somewhere more reasonable than that gaudy inn." Dominic asked as he approached the guards.
The gunner pulled her hood back, revealing a mass of ginger orange curls and an engagement ring on her hand, then smiled at him.
"A smith, and a caster? Yeah, I suppose that I might be able to find a room for you. I might even be able to find a hunting party for you, if you would like to join us on a quest.
You see, I've got my Gunner Skill Gem up to level four, and halfway to level five, where I will get a pay increase, so I'm looking to head out of town for the week that the caravan is here and try to get some experience in. What do you say, you join me and my friend?" She asked.
"Well, I know that you're good, but who is your friend? The ranger you've been flirting with?" Dominic asked.
"Oh no, he's just a good driver. We would make lousy party members. You'll like Wiz, he's a Crusader, so he can double as our group's healer and our main tank. He's already got his Holy Stone to level seven, so he wouldn't normally go with a pair like us, but he's good-hearted, and the Goblins have become a problem for his farm." Bella explained, using hand gestures to emphasize her points.
One of the other guards chuckled at her animated response, then smiled at Dominic.
"Normally, I would caution against two kids in love and a half grown smith going out to fight goblins together, but Wiz doesn't count. That's not a kid, that's a Pitbull in a kilt, with a face to match." He laughed.
Bella smacked him on the arm. "Don't let him hear you say that, or he will beat you again."
The clock on the nearby hotel chimed six o'clock, and the group began to break up their meetings to start cooking dinner. The caravan leader provided the supplies for meals as part of the deal, and technically, they were all still employees for the rest of the day, so Dominic sat down next to Bella and helped her chop potatoes for the evening meal.
The stew was simple, but that was normal for travelling groups everywhere that Dominic had passed through since his hometown had been destroyed. Only certain foods travelled well, and it was best to pick the ones that were cheap and plentiful. In this case, cured rabbit, potatoes and beans that Dominic wasn't certain were going to be soft by the time that the meal was ready.
It seemed that the caravan guards knew what they were doing though, and after half an hour, the beans were splitting as he stirred the stew, and the handful of premixed spices that one of the others had added was smelling delicious.
Even Tom managed to make his way out of bed to come for dinner, drawn by the smell of the stew pot as the last of the goods were cleared out of the carriages.
Dominic filled himself a bowl and then helped serve the others, dishing out stew as fast as they could hold out their bowls. The pot was huge, and Dominic wondered if the plan was to have leftovers so they didn't need to cook for the next day or two, but as he served, more people started to arrive.
They were the warehouse workers who had moved the goods, along with a few downtrodden locals who looked like they could use a good meal. The boss gestured for them to keep serving, right until the pot was empty. The number of happy locals made Dominic realize that he had overlooked one of the most important parts of being a merchant.
If the people didn't like you, it cost more to get unloaded, it got harder to sell your goods, and you didn't get as good of prices for them when you did sell them.
It was getting later in the evening when the meal was finished, and Bella pulled Dominic to his feet.
"We need to get going. They close the gate in an hour, and Wiz lives outside the town walls on a farm. It's only a few minutes from the gate, we will make it there well before dark." The surprisingly muscular Mystic Gunner declared.
"Alright, I'm with you. There is no need to panic, we're only a few minutes from the gates." Dominic agreed.
They rushed through the crowded streets, earning amused glances from the locals, who assumed they were off to some shop or another before everything closed for the night. The village didn't keep lanterns lit during the evening, so other than a few taverns, the villagers mostly closed for business at dusk, using the closing of the gates as their last call for customers.