Theobold shook him awake, excitement shining in his eyes.
“Wha?” Arthur mumbled as he yawned.
He remembered that he’d been dreaming, though he couldn’t recall many of the specifics. Though he was sure an enormous pile of gold factored into it somehow. As he sat up with a yawn, Theobold gestured to the door.
“Sorry, I know it’s early. But Knight Tilly and the rest have returned. They’re waiting outside.”
That got his attention, and he almost jumped off the couch. In a hurry, he dressed and grabbed his hat before he moved to the kitchenette. One cup of coffee later, and he was sitting behind the counter, watching as the knights pulled up in front of the store.
What they dragged behind them almost made him spit out his coffee. They’d packed the medium-sized wagon with carcasses. Someone had put a tarp over it and tied it down with rope, but he could still see legs and paws sticking out.
He almost shoved his nose into his coffee as he tried to block out the sheer smell of so much death.
Knight Tilly was the first to dismount and enter the shop, with a figure he vaguely recognized at her side. The teenage girl was willowy, with short red curls. Her tanned skin and fit physique, which marked her as a farmer. Even as she walked, she seemed to sway, her hands playing with the hem of her dress.
He could tell, even from where he was standing, that a few of the squires were eying her.
When she reached the counter, she beamed. Her voice was light, at odds with the speed at which she spoke.
“Hi Arthur, I’m Penny. We met at the picnic celebration! But anyway, Lilly and Mrs. Alice sent me to show you the cookbook and ask what you wanted. Oh! And to answer any questions you had.”
Arthur blinked, his still-drowsy mind trying to keep up with the sheer whirlwind of excitement that stood before him.
“Um. Right. Hi, Penny. Welcome to Apocalypse Assortments. I’d be glad to help.”
From her position next to the girl, Knight Tilly was grinning. “I’ll let you get to that while I sort out the cart, shall I?”
“Sure.” He nodded as he looked down at the book that Penny had unceremoniously slapped onto the counter.
“So! To start with...”
Arthur nodded along as she rambled about each dish, doing his best to figure out what would work. He wanted simple things, especially now that he was having to pay out of pocket. The problem was that Penny didn’t agree.
“Oh, you have to do this one!” She pointed to a pie that needed at least five different ingredients if you didn’t include the flourless crust. “It’s so good. We had this at my birthday once. Wyatt liked it, but Johnathan tried to act cool about it.”
“I see…” He trailed off as she launched into another story.
By the time Knight Tilly had organized a chain of knights and squires to haul the corpses in, Arthur had agreed to an extensive list. It was a touch more expensive than he wanted, but the variety would be immense, so people shouldn’t get bored.
Not that he was going to walk away from the deal empty-handed.
“And you’d be happy to check out the sit-down service, then?”
Penny nodded. “If Grandad is ok with it, sure.”
He reached out to shake his hand as he generated the quest. If she could talk him into this, he wanted her to wait tables with Lucy. The amount of additional sales he’d get would be insane.
With the quest handed out, Penny took her book back and moved to the side so that Knight Tilly could step forward. With one hand, she tapped the counter twice before she gestured to the line behind her.
“Hey Arthur. Are you ready?”
“If I have enough to pay for all of this,” he thought as he eyed the wagons.
Out loud, he said. “Sure, let’s see how this goes.”
Knight Tilly shrugged. “Alright, knights. Let’s get this show on the road!”
***
Three hundred and ten Golden Pennies sat on the counter by the time they finished emptying the cart.
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief that it was done. It felt like half the forest had passed over his counter. He’d seen everything from mutated ants with glowing antennae and too many legs to Mulitpups, which were nice enough to give him some acid when he looted them.
One thing he appreciated was that almost every creature dropped more of the moss, and all gave him a radiation crystal. They’d also given him one more thing, even if he didn’t like all the numbers attached to it.
He tried not to look at his current gold. The significant drop caused him to wince and turn away. Not that watching Knight Tilly separate piles of coins on the counter was much better.
“That should be mine,” he kept thinking as he listened to the golden coins clink against each other. “Mine.”
Arthur resisted the urge to grit his teeth as she handed out the stacks. His hands hurt as he gripped the table as the coins vanished into pockets and small bags. With effort, he kept his smile in place as he tried to understand where the irritation stemmed from.
It differed from when he’d breathed in the demonic gas. Less artificial and more heated. However, he knew this wasn’t the time to focus on that. There was money to be made.
“Can I interest you in grabbing anything today?” Arthur asked, hoping to claw back at least a bit of what he’d spent.
To his relief, she nodded and shoved a few coins back toward him. “Actually, yes. Ladies and gentlemen, If you have shopping to do, do it now. We need to be back soon.”
A chorus of assent followed those words, and soon the anger dissipated as he lost himself in the simple task of serving customers.
Knights who wanted healing made their way downstairs in pairs. Dr. Muriler and Nyssa both helped them with the process and kept them company. Upstairs, Theobold stood outside the door. He held his sword loosely in his hand as he chatted with several knights who gripped meat and water.
Arthur tried to ignore how much euphoria he felt each time a knight returned a coin to him. Though, from the wary looks he received, he wondered if it showed in his smile. As the number of customers lulled, he found himself holding a coin in his hand.
It was warm, though not hot enough to burn. He let it bounce in his palm as he studied it. After another bounce, the coin landed flame-side down, and he could see the head of the dragon staring up at him.
The smug expression seemed to grow the longer he stared at it.
“This isn’t the demons again, is it?” He thought as he bounced the coin once more in his palm. “No, I don’t think so. If the pain was any sign, whatever that was, it couldn’t hold power over me once I left the restaurant. Still…”
His train of thought trailed off as he let the coin bearing its smug dragon into the box, and he didn’t like how strangely empty his hand felt once it was gone. With a shake of his head, he nodded to a nearby knight.
“So many changes, all at once,” Arthur thought as he looked around the store, the table, chairs, and a crowd of knights. “At least most of them are good.”
A ripple of laughter broke his thoughts as he turned to see a small group of squires standing around. Penny appeared to be holding court; each face turned to her as she finished telling some joke.
That was another sight that made him smile. He could still remember how dreary everything seemed. Now people were laughing and joking. Things were looking up. He leaned on the counter, his hands idly playing with another coin as he listened in.
One boy, a bald teenager, looked smug as he spoke. “You want to hear some intel I found out?”
“Please, Charlie. You never hear anything cool.” Said a teenage boy holding a helmet under his arm.
“No, I do. Shut up, Mike. Anyway, I was helping around Knight-Charleston, and he met with The Explorer.”
At that name, Artur sat up with the coin gripped in his hand. For a moment, he tried to remember when he picked it up. However, the conversation drew his attention away from that.
“Oh?” Penny asked. “What was he like? The Explorer, I mean? I’ve never seen him, but he sounds cool.”
“He is,” Charlie said. “He said that he visited The Knight-Captain to warn her about the gangs! She brushed him off, but he wanted to warn us, too. He said The Hero was busy and wouldn’t be dealing with them.”
“Pfft, he never!” This came from a girl who looked like she did nothing but work out and drink protein shakes. “I was on the road watching. No one came.”
“I’m telling you what I saw. They popped out from behind a tree. Maybe they got past you?”
The conversation devolved into arguments until Penny told another joke. Then suddenly everyone was friends again as she started telling them a story. Arthur frowned and did his best to catch Knight Tilly’s eye.
When she walked over, he flicked the coin into the air and caught it.
“Question.”
“Shoot,” she said.
“Did The Explorer really come and see you?”
Knight Tilly looked around before she dropped her voice. “Yes. He wanted to warn us, but we’re not sure why. I can’t see a reason they would bother us.”
“Neither can I,” Arthur admitted.
He tried to think about what Lady Pigeonette had said—that they were fighting themselves while Leo tried to bring them together. With the monsters in the forest, he doubted any smaller gangs would dare try to make their way through.
Not unless something had changed, and someone got desperate.
“Well, keep an eye out, I guess.” He said.
“Sure.” Knight Tilly said. “And thank you for this. It’s been a pleasant break.”
“Anytime.”
That got him a laugh, and Knight Tilly turned around and started barking orders. With one last wave to Penny, each of the knights left, leaving the store feeling somehow emptier than ever before.
With nothing better to do, he sorted through his new acquisitions. They had several new types of meat, and he wondered if he was going to need a menu board. Maybe he could get Nyssa to make him one?
Though maybe menus would be better? If he could get the paper, he could duplicate it and have Thomas hand them out to anyone who walked in for the sit-down service. Would probably be better than having him running the tables.
He was still contemplating this when Nyssa climbed out of the basement.
“How did we go?”
“We lost a lot,” he said, doing his best not to sound bitter. “But we made a little back.”
“How much is a little?” There was a note of concern in her voice, and her eyes narrowed as she looked at him.
“Fifty out of three hundred and ten.”
She whistled, low and soft. “Are we going to be okay?”
“Yeah, we still have almost seven hundred. We should be fine.” Arthur smiled even as he ignored the ache the words caused him. “So I still have enough to pay—”
“I told you there wouldn’t be anyone here.”
The weaselly voice that cut him off drifted in from the street. From his spot at the door, Theobold turned, his sword hilt gripped in his hand. Arthur threw a quick look at Nyssa, who nodded and headed into the backroom where Augustus slept.
As she vanished behind the door, Arthur grabbed his pipe that sat by the counter. There was a strange sense of comfort as he gripped it, ready for what happened next. Through the window, he saw four people walk toward the door. Each dressed in a suit, and they carried bats and crowbars.
His eyes widened as he saw them. Alyssa had demanded he give her the ones that dropped during the battle with Riccardo. This might be a chance to get some more. Then the demand made by Lady Pigeonette came to mind.
Arthur sighed as Theobold raised his sword. All the newcomers stopped with fake-looking smiles on their faces. A skinny man in a maroon suit raised his hands and took a step forward. He did his best to look past Theobold into the store, though it was a challenge thanks to his security guard’s broad shoulders.
“Hi.” The weaselly voice sounded out once more, and with slow motions, he pulled out a bag of coins. “We’d like to strike a bargain. May we come in?”
“Sorry.” Arthur called back as he heard the door behind him open, a snort signifying that Augustus had arrived. “I have a deal with The Assembly. We don’t deal with you. Move on.”
All he got in response to that was a grin and a nod. “Sure. But here’s a question: The word is that you have a grievance with the Cult. You’re going to turn down a warning about them? Because what we have could save more lives than yours.”
As he spoke those last words, his eyes flicked towards the alleyway. With a sigh, Arthur nodded and let him in, hating how their grins widened as he did.171Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ5L22HgpNq
