FFM 2024 29: The Trader’s Irritation

Inspired by the hydra text of the day. This is set in the same world as FFM 2024 16: A Fair Trade.

I could hear the Trader growl all the way into the inn — as did many other travelers. The sound of it discerned the first-timers from those who had been here before.
“What kind of gigantic monster is in the mountains?” someone who looked like a paladin asked as the sound of growling came in through the open windows.
“It’s the Trader, not a monster,” the innkeeper explained. “Their physiology forces them to hibernate at times, which greatly irritates them as they lose out on good deals during the time they’re dormant.” She turned to look at me. “Beowulf here is one of their trader-merchants. He and his guildmates’ most important job is to be on the lookout for those deals when the Trader hibernates.”
The probably-paladin turned to me, wide-eyed. “You serve a beast?”
“My liege is no beast,” I corrected the man right away. “They are the heads of the Hydra Trading Guild. The fact that they are not human-like does not make them lesser than us.”
“If anything, they are more than us, and not just because they have multiple heads,” a regular — one of the East Merchants — piped up from the nearby table. I was not entire sure whether or not it was Esmond since his back was facing us. “They deal in such obscure things that they are a godsend to the merchant guilds.”
The probably-paladin did not seem convinced but dropped the topic. I would have to notify the rest of the guild about this guy, just in case he tried something stupid.

After making a trade with Esmond — because Esmond it was at the table like I had suspected — I headed out to send a message to the mountains. Just in case.