Chapter 18 - Trade

Hina and Himari led Ernie to a small hole in the mountain, it was large enough for a child to enter. Hina went inside and after a few moments, she brought back a sack of medical herbs.

"As promised, your herbs. I guess your friends were in a hurry to treat your other friend, we've kept them waiting."

Hina said as she passed the sack to Ernie.

It took a moment before Ernie realized that the friend she was talking about was the same one he told her a while back. He actually forgot all about it.

"Mhm. I don't know the situation due to the time we were gone, but maybe they found some other way to heal him."

Ernie quickly said with a slight grin on his face.

"Still, hard to believe you have a connection to the Sodachi clan. I've heard they are all pretty stuck up, how'd you get ties to them?"

Himari questioned Ernie as she crossed her arms over her flat chest.

"A man must have social ties. It's nice to have people in high places."

Ernie said.

"Huh?"

Himari was confused by his wording.

"I mean, it's good to have a connection with people of higher status than yourself. Never know when it might come in handy."

Ernie explained to her.

Himari seemed to understand and nodded her head, as she repeated the saying Ernie said before a few times.

Aito and Yui were both by the stone hut awaiting Ernie's return.

"This place is pretty nice."

Yui commented as she looked around.

"It's definitely isolated from the rest of the land thats for sure. Wonder what Ernie is planning on doing here."

Aito said in a curious tone.

Yui looked over at Aito.

"Are you going to ask him about that?"

Yui asked.

Aito turned to look at her and shook his head.

"No. Every person has his or her own secrets, it's not good for us to ask him directly."

Aito stopped talking when he heard Ernie and the girls footsteps getting closer.

He swiftly spotted a sack in Ernie's hands.

Ernie put the sack on the ground and opened it up, revealing herbs that were a bit blue in color.

"Yes! This is exactly what we were looking for."

Aito said as he reached to grab the sack.

Ernie let him, as he was hired in the first place to retrieve the medical herbs in the first place. Now that he gave the medical herbs to Aito, his mission could be considered complete.

"What do you plan on doing now Ernie?"

Yui asked.

Ernie shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, a little bit of this maybe a tad bit of that. More than likely, i'll stay a wandering mercenary."

A thought quickly popped up in his mind.

"Speaking of that, how about I sell you guys some information?"

"What kind of information?"

Aito asked as he stared at Ernie.

"The kind that will change everything. Well, not really everything, but it will definitely be helpful for your clan."

"What do you want?"

Ernie grinned when he heard Aito say those words.

"Just a few animals or maybe an introduction to a craftsman."

Ernie told Aito.

"Alright, I can make that happen. We should head back to the Sodachi clan so you can pick what animals you want."

Aito suggested.

Ernie nodded his head.

Ernie turned around to tell Hina and Himari about going to the Sodachi clan.

While Ernie was telling them about that, Yui came a bit closer to Aito.

"You think he's…?"

Aito nodded his head, he didn't even need to hear Yui finish her sentence to understand what she wanted to say.

"Yes, it seems he plans on living here in this area. Maybe even create a clan."

"Or, his clan members could come here. We don't know much about him."

Yui added.