Ever The Contrarian

Reach 100 readers and I'll make some art :D

CHAPTER FIVE WOOT WOOT

Fainting was usually Iodine's job, but this time it was Mercury who had to fight not to drop on the spot. "30.. million? That's enough to buy our town seven times over!" she said, and Nox grinned. "Exactly. The wolves were also enough to screw out town seven times over, so it makes sense." Mercury tried to understand. Who in the world randomly gave away 30 million coins? traders? billionaires? how filthy rich did someone have to be? "Apparently, the wolves' hides were in demand, and we appeared like, and I quote, "Knights in shining armor", so they paid us a lot more than extra," Nox said, patting his hair. Mercury noticed a gaggle of fangirls already stopping to ogle at him - oh, the disadvantages of being handsome. Mercury frowned. "Uh, Nox, maybe we should go inside now," Mercury whispered, and the fangirls twittered.

"Nox? What a dashing name!"

Mercury rolled her eyes and dragged a confused Nox inside the first building she saw - luckily, an inn. run! run for your life, main character! "I'd like three rooms, please, right next to each other," she said, as a barge of people burst in. "Hurry!" Mercury screeched at the startled cashier. "Can we have a room next to him?" they asked, all pointing at Nox, who started sweating (XD). "Nope, it's taken!" Mercury saved, slamming the coins on the counter and grabbing the keys from the flushed cashier. As all the fangirls retreated to go back home, leaving behind a flurry of love letters, Mercury let out a sigh of relief. Until the cashier tapped Nox on the shoulder and said, "Uhm, hey... are you busy this Friday? You're totally my type."

Nox gaped at her and then grabbed the keys to his room and stormed off. Mercury and Iodine watched him leave and then burst into a fit of giggles. "HAHA, the look on his face!" Mercury said, wiping her eyes as Iodine snickered. "We seriously chose a good friend." Iodine siad, suddenly turning solemn, and Mercury nodded. "We're lucky to have him."

'Do you wanna laugh over these love letters together before burning them?" Iodine suggested, and Mercury pumped her fist. "I have taught you well, Iodine! Do that we shall!" she cheered, clapping her friend on the back.

After an hour of face masks, cucumber smoothies, bathrobes, and laughing over sappy love letters, Iodine burned the last one into a pile of ash as Mercury giggled. They were both lying down on a 4-poster bed together, reading (and burning) the hilariously sappy love letters, they had a pile of heart-shaped chocolates left over. "Nox doesn't want to touch them for some reason, so we'll just have to eat them all. I think he's scared they have love potions in them or something." Mercury said, grinning, and Iodine popped a caramel heart into her mouth. "Mmm! Mer, try these! They're so good!" she said, handing Mercury the tray. As she took a bite, a swirl of caramel and cinnamon greeted her, as well as fluffy white icing and sprinkles. "Mmmm! We should get Nox to go out more, we need a restock of these." Mercury joked, taking another bite. it was too good to pass up - no matter the calories. Iodine chuckled, and suddenly Nox barged in, weapons at hand. "Guys! I got the weapons – WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?!" he said, glancing at Mercury and Iodine's bathrobes, head towels, and facemasks. "Oh. It's a thing. You won't get it." Mercury said dismissively, chewing on another caramel heart and adjusting her facemask. Nox shrugged. "Well, I got you a longsword, Mer."

(A quick note here - "Mer" is Mercury's nickname, just as "Io" is Iodines, but it is rarely used as Mercury generally isn't that long of a name.)

"- and it apparently changes its shape however the user wants. And I got Iodine a bow, that had unlimited arrows. Guess what? After they hit their mark, the arrows will appear back in the hand of whoever is wearing these gloves. They came with the bow and daggers. I assume they also help with gripping the bow itself." Nox said, holding up a longsword, as well as a heavily embellished bow, arrows, and a pair of gloves. The arrows were made of silver, and even the arrow tips were finely polished. The glove was lined with pearl trim and silk threads. Iodine slipped it on and picked up the bow, stretching the arrow and firing at the wall. As soon as they hit the wall, they swiftly flew back out and perfectly into Iodine's outstretched hand. Mercury accepted the longsword from Nox and she turned it around in her hand, admiring the fine work. the hilt was carved, with intricate designs of flowers and leaves, but there were no ridges - it felt firm and smooth in her hand. The blade itself was also of good quality steel since it didnt break or chip even when Mercury poked the ground with it - something she would never ordinarily do with a sword in fear of damaging the tip. "huh. This is amazing, Nox. Thank you!" Mercury said. The sword felt light in her hand. Nox grinned and bumped fists with her. Iodine joined, and Mercury swiveled to nox. "What did you get, nox?" She asked, and Nox grinned like a cat. he slid up his cloak's sleeve, which revealed a pair of daggers - they were made of silver, and even the blade was finely embellished, with a dark ruby set in the middle. "They do something similar to Iodine's arrows - so I can fight normally with them, or throw them If I want. Oh, and their convenient to hide up my sleeve." Nox boasted happily. Mercury grinned. "Oh! yes, and I got us some better clothes - like, materials made for fighting and stuff." Nox said, taking out a package from his pocket. Each of them got a shirt, belt, pants, cloak, gloves, and boots. After putting them on, Mercury paced around the hotel room to test it out, she felt like the clothes were helping her actually move better than she usually would - it was like was dancing for the first time. She noticed Nox staring at her, so she turned to him and said, "Hm? What is it?"