Alaric was awaiting Samson's response. This could possibly be the most tensed up Alaric had ever felt. He wouldn't be in trouble for this, but still, having Samson on his bad side would be a massive detriment to him.
Samson looked to be in a little bit of thought. He was a trained law enforcement agent, so he had decent deduction skills.
"Curse huh? You've never gone to an exorcist?" Samson continued. Alaric didn't know exactly why Samson was pursuing this line of questioning with Alaric.
"Didn't have the money for it. It's not that bad really." Alaric decided to continue in the lie.
"You know what sir, how much are you charging for a bottle of that alcohol?" Samson asked.
"Thirty charred." Alaric responded honestly. He didn't want to uselessly raise the price.
"I'll buy a bottle. Save up to go to an exorcist." Samson reached out into his bag and took out three ten charred coins.
"Here" Samson quickly took a glove out of his pocket and put it on before handing Alaric the coins.
"Thank you." Alaric bowed slightly to show his respect to him.
"Alaric was it, I'll remember your name." Samsons posture shifted. He stood up straight and glared at Alaric.
A slight chill went down Alaric's spine, he couldn't help but shudder a little.
He watched as Samson and his police officers continued on, patrolling around the festival.
As he walked past, people were staring at him, he was a big celebrity, and would attract eyes wherever he would go.
"Must be more symbolic if he's walking around like this. If they were actually looking for someone specific he would be more hidden." Alaric thought.
High profile events sometimes had a famously powerful person just walk around to create an atmosphere that would force people to behave.
Alaric was happy though, he did make money from him, and seemed to be somewhat on his radar. If he could take this relationship into the future, it would be invaluable.
But Alaric was getting ahead of himself. He needed to get past the broke shlep living in an inn phase before he would need to worry about cultivating his relationships with great mages.
Alaric wasn't the biggest fan of all mages, but he couldn't overlook the value of having them on his side. He just wanted to make his way through Esoteric Fishing, and not through the oversaturated mage market.
Even now, Alaric could see a ton of mages around. They were wearing their novice mage badges, and looked kind of lame.
"I bet they can't even make alcohol." Alaric said smugly. He could make alcohol from fishing, yet they could only lift a pen with their abilities.
After he had sold a bottle of Seablood to Samson, a couple people came over to him.
What looked to be a teenage couple approached him.
"Dude, how much for some alc?" One of the boys said.
"30 Charred. Do you have ID?" Alaric responded.
"Don't worry about it man, we're at a party." The other boy said smiling.
"I don't sell to minors." Alaric said, waving them off.
They exited dejected.
Then, a twenty ish old mage approached.
"i would like one bottle please." The man took out three ten charred coins to play him.
"Yeah sure." Alaric promptly took the coins and gave him a bottle.
He now had two bottles left.
"Hmmmm...." Alaric was thinking. He didn't really want to spend much more time at the party.
He decided to sell the other two bottles another time. He had already made 100 charred today, which was not bad. This seemed like a possible source of revenue in the future.
Alaric headed out of the second ring and into the first ring. Once again, he saw the guy with the human sized puppet having it dance.
Alaric went over to him.
"Have this bottle of alcohol. I'm a big fan of the puppet underground, and you have some insane potential. I don't want to give you money so heres some alcohol." Alaric left it to him.
The puppet guy was busy having the puppet dance around, but he gave an affirming nod to Alaric.
Alaric sat and watched the performance for a while, enjoying the dancing puppet.
Eventually, the show ended.
The man controlling the puppet walked over to Alaric with something in his hand.
"Take this." The man said.
It was a reputation ring. It had a picture of strings and a marionette on it. It was made of silver, it was a nice ring.
"You are an ally of the puppet guild. You have the soul of a puppet." The man said. The man had dark hair, and long bangs covering his face. He had an ambiguous age, and was slightly Androgynous.
"Thank you." Alaric slipped on the ring, and the man started to pack up.
Alaric began to unpack the encounter.
"I have the soul of a puppet... " Alaric thought about this statement, and let it marinate.
Alaric headed out of the festival and went back to Cornelious' inn.
It was about midnight, and he was deathly tired.
"Hey Cornelious." Alaric greeted the innkeeper.
"Hi Alaric!! How are ya? Went to the festival eh?" Cornelious responded in a jolly tone.
"I've got something for you." Alaric brought out a bottle of alcohol for him.
"It's some Alcohol I brewed. Thought you'd like it." Alaric said to him.
"Thank you. Thank you." Cornelious let out about six to eight tears from his eyes. He was obviously moved by the gesture.
"Let me get you something to eat." Cornelious headed into the kitchen quickly and fixed up a meal.
Alaric took the rat out. It was asleep, but he could tell it was hungry. He gently shook the rat once the food arrived.
Alaric, together with the rat and Cornelious shared a meal together. It was porkchops, potatoes, and fermented cabbage. Alaric was satisfied with the meal, and washed it down with some water.
He then took the rat into the room, and collapsed on the bed.