"Like I said, ye brigands! Release the four ye absconded with last week!" A dwarf with a rather bulbous beak of a nose called out.

"Like I said, we dinna abscond with 'em! After we gave 'em our warm welcome, they were warmly escorted out tha back of tha tavern. They're no longer here, so shove off with yer crew! Stop obstructing Ayva's bizzness!" A dwarf leading the crowd in front of the inn called back. He had a particularly well-groomed beard.

"We'll be the judge 'o that! Let us in so that we can search fer them ourselves!" Bulbous nose sneered.

"I'll not allow ye ta trash Lady Ayva's inn an obstruct business here!" Beardy replied.

"Excuse me!" Robin interjected from the side.

""Shove off, human! This doesn't concern you!"" they both yelled at her.

"Actually it does." Robin replied, calmly. "You're all blocking the way in between me and my room. As a paying customer, I am somewhat effected by all this."

"Heh! Yer not getting in before we do!" Bulbous Nose sneered.

"Yer not allowed ta obstruct bizness, here!" Beardy roared at Bulby.

Robin clapped her hand to get their attention.

"All right, all right then. I have an idea. The ones protecting the business can escort the seekers, two to one, since you look to have more than enough numbers. If a seeker does begin to wreck the place, stealing things and causing trouble, you can escort them out. Fair enough?"

"So you say! But what if'n they stop us before we can check everywhere?" One of the seekers called out.

"Then come complain to me, and I'll look into it as a neutral third party." Robin replied.

Some of the dwarves in front of the tavern recognized Robin and ducked their heads to hide their smiles. What neutral third party? This man was the one responsible for this whole rigmarole! Seeing Robin as their ally, they trusted he wouldn't betray Ayva. Robin Begrudgingly, both parties agreed to the terms.

Christian looked at Robin, barely keeping his face straight. But inside, he was laughing uncontrollably at Robin's mischief. When did this lad end up being so two faced?

If Robin had heard what he was thinking, she would have knocked him sideways the head. She wasn't under any dwarf's payroll, and she wasn't related to them, so of course she was a neutral third party!

She trusted Ayva wouldn't be foolish enough to keep the four slumbering b.u.mps-for-logs inside the inn. Thus an hour went by in relative peace as the inn was searched top to bottom.

Meanwhile, Robin and company sat at a table and discussed what their plan was for the day.

"We could go window shopping again!" Gerard suggested.

"Oh, I know! Remember yesterday? You said you could make a sweet called chalk-let. Why don't you show us today?" Christian suggested.

"That's right! For the sake of Jasmine ans Chelsea, I must bring chocolate into existance!" Robin stood up, determined.

"Ponzu! I'm gonna need your kitchen magic to help out!"

"Thank goodness!" Ponzu let out, as tears of joy shone in his eyes. "I thought I had been forgotten these days!"

[author: (○_○') Right...totally didn't forget you, man. (^_^')Heheh...]

"Well this time, I really can't make it without you. So, now you will learn the ever troublesome recipe to make chocolate." Robin chuckled.

"Troublesome?" Ponzu asked, pausing.

"Be warned, my disciple. Once women know you can make this, you will be mobbed with requests to the point where your health might be in jeopardy. So, until it's safe, or you have an army of chocolate makers to help you, you cannot let anyone know that you can make this recipe. It is that popular in my home world. Understand?" Robin set the matter straight.

"I got it! Not a word will escape my lips!" Ponzu promised.

"First, we need to find the cocoa beans. But, because they're bitter, they wouldn't be as popular as coffee. We may need to head out into the jungle to collect raw ingredients." Robin said, sitting back down.

"About that, couldn't you find what you need in town?" Chelsea asked.

"We can definitely check. If possible, I'd like to find already fermented beans. Waiting up to two weeks would take far too long. So, we'll look about in town this morning. If necessary, we can head out into the jungle this afternoon."

At this point, Skye appeared, sitting on Robin's shoulders.

'Thank goodness! You're back! I'm sorry. I couldn't stand the stench of sulphur, so I came back here while you were away. But, thank goodness you're back! Now I don't have to keep running from the kitchen girls...'

"Glad to see you too, Skye~!" Robin laughed.

"Okay then. Now that we know what we're going to do, let's go shopping!"

"Yay~!" Chelsea cheered.

Out of the corner of her eye, Robin saw Beak Nose heading to the door, flanked by two dwarves.

"Did you find the people you were looking for?" Robin called out to him.

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"...No." Beak Nose spat out, looking sour.

"That really is too bad. Well, I hope you can find them soon! You're a good guy to worry about your friends so much." Robin said.

On the surface, it was just something innocent that an uninvolved tourist would say. But the guarding dwarves knew that she was secretly rubbing their mistake in their face. The smiles on their faces were apparent for Beak Nose and his followers to see.

Beak Nose acted like it didn't bother him. "Uh...Ah. Yeah. We'll keep a'lookin fer 'im! Thanks fer yer help." The group left with sour faces, glaring at the tavern dwarves.

"Such a shame they couldn't find him." Robin shook her head.

"Robin, since when did you become so two-faced?" Quinn shook his head, and muttered out of earshot.

"I am genuine to those who are genuine to me." Robin replied. "...And ingenuine to those who are ingenuine to me. No need to give face to the double-faced."

"That dwarf..." Liam broke his silence. "He has the stench of blood upon him."

"Ah, good for you to recognize." Robin nodded. "I'm afraid if that dwarf actually did find his friend, that friend would not last long."

"An a.s.sa.s.sin?" Jasmine asked.

"More like hired cut-throat." Robin shook her head. "a.s.sa.s.sins would never directly confront their opponent in public."

"And you would know this, how?" Jasmine asked as they stepped outside.

"I...may have...taken a few self-defense cla.s.ses from a former expert." Robin cleared her throat.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side, anymore." Christian muttered under his breath.

"I shouldn't need to remind you about it." Robin grimaced at him.

"Right, so what is it we're looking for?" Christian changed topic.

"We are looking for a bean. about this large, dark brown, very bitter, and possibly sometimes used in cooking." Robin replied.

After searching for almost the entire morning, they finally managed to snag a lead.

"I think I've seen somethin' like that over at Old Vin's place down at tha corner, there. He likes making incense an scented candles. Roastin' certain nuts an beans creates a lovely smell. It's too bad they're too bitter ta eat." A stall-girl said.

"Thank you very much!" Robin said, tossing her a silver.

"Ey, now yer speaking true dwarvish~ Thanks fer yer patronage!" The stall-girl amiably bid them farewell.

"You think those might be it?" Christian asked.

"Well, we're about to find out." Robin made her way down to the aforementioned corner, and entered the small candle shop. A tiny door above the door rang out upon her entrance.

"Wait a moment, please! I'm in tha middle of pouring tha candle molds. Be there in a minute!" Rang out from the back room.

Robin patiently waited while looking about the shop. The smell of beeswax and incense as well as the several quaint old fas.h.i.+oned tools such as candle-snuffers and lantern boxes gave the store a neat charm. If this quaint sort of store were to appear in modern England, Robin could only imagine that it would be heavily patroned by Renfair Actors.

After about half a minute, a rather thin old dwarf came to the counter.

"Thank ye very kindly fer yer waiting. What is it that I can help you out with?" He asked.