Saved by the wrist.

Once Astra stopped teasing Faylinn, we rode the land dragon to the east, eventually reaching a small town.
Every house in this town seemed to have been carved directly into giant boulders scattered around the area.
The whole town was surrounded by a tiny fence, which, Astra warned, was charged with lightning magic.
We had no choice but to go through the front gate, which was blocked by guards.
As soon as we got closer, one of them welcomed us.

Gate Guard: Welcome, travellers. Feel free to enter our town. But I must warn you, travellers, you will be closely followed by wind familiars that will keep track of how much time you spend inside the village. Once you leave, you will be charged 5 gold coins for every day you spent here.

Once again, I was reminded of the fact that I had no money in this world... I should have picked up the gold flakes from the earth elemental that Faylinn defeated...

Leonel: Girls, what should we do about the money? Once we get in there, we will need to find a source of money right away.

Astra: If you seek a quick and temporary solution, then perhaps selling unwanted items might help.

Leonel: Hmm, I don't think I have anything valuable with me, other than the magic dagger I received from the owner of the land dragon.

Astra: Well, I picked up a tiny emerald while travelling with Faylinn. It's not polished, and it's small, but I heard it can be used as a mana crystal. We might be able to sell it for a few coins.

Faylinn: And I got some copper strands from a golem I defeated. I turned those strands into a cute copper ribbon!

Leonel: The copper ribbon might not be entirely worthless, but I'm more interested in the emerald. We should have no trouble finding someone who would buy it from us.

I approached one of the gate guards and asked him if there was a place that would buy or sell any of our unwanted items on the spot. Something like a pawn shop in our world.

Gate Guard: Ah yes, there is such a place. It's a bookshop. They rarely sell any books though; most of the time they buy and sell small items from travellers such as weapons, jewelry, and clothes.

This was exactly what we needed.
We went into town, and our baby land dragon started its trip back home.
I bet the next time I see the baby land dragon it will be taller than my house...

The bookshop was easy to find, as it literally had a signboard with a depiction of a book next to the entrance.

We entered the bookshop and found a tiny place filled with so many books that you couldn't even see the walls.
There was a blue-skinned girl with pointy ears, blonde wavy hair, and some fish scales here and there.
She was reading a book. Next to the book she was reading, we could see two cats. One of them was a black cat with a green ribbon on its tail, and the other one was a... cat... with dragon wings and horns. That's still a cat, right?

We approached the blue girl but she did not notice us. I guess the book she was reading must have been very interesting.

Faylinn didn't waste time and immediately got her attention.

Faylinn: HELLOOOOO, BLUE LADY!

Blue Lady: Leave.

Faylinn: Eh? But we just got here, we need to-

Blue Lady: You are banned from entering this building for thirty years. Now leave.

Leonel: Excuse me, lady, but aren't you being too harsh? She was just trying to get your attention since you were so focused on your book.

Blue Lady: You have 30 seconds to explain your presence here.

The lady had the facial expression of a dead fish, but her words denoted anger.

Astra: Listen, little girl, we need money. You buy stuff and we sell stuff, that's how your business works, right?

Blue Lady: Did you just call me "little girl"?

Astra: That's correct, little girl.

Astra just said those words with a smug expression on her face while crossing her arms under her chest.
Astra puffed out her chest, she was definitely provoking her, as if the blue lady wasn't angry enough.
Astra was taller and more "well-endowed" than the blue lady, but there was no need to point it out.
I had to stop her before things got ugly.

Leonel: So, Miss Bookseller, we have an emerald and a copper ribbon we need to sell!

Blue Lady: Show me the goods before I punch one of your companions.

Astra: Oh, resorting to violence already? How childish, hehe.

"Stop it, Astraaaaaa" is what I wanted to say, but I had to defuse the situation as soon as possible.

Leonel: Girls! Put the goods on the counter.

The girls placed the goods on the counter, and the blue lady took less than ten seconds to determine their value.

Blue Lady: The copper ribbon is worth around 5 silver coins, while the rough, unpolished emerald is worth around 80 silver coins. I have no need for the copper ribbon, though. I will offer you 60 silver coins for the emerald.

The emerald's value was nowhere near what I expected.

Leonel: So, Miss Bookseller, we will sell the emerald to you, but we still need more money. Do you know of any part-time jobs around here? Preferably something we can do for just one or two days, because we are only here to find some people.

Blue Lady: I don't know of any part-time jobs, but I might be able to help you find the people you seek. For a price, of course.

Leonel: Oh... well... have you seen a teenager, around my age, wearing black and blue clothes, covering his head with a hood, and overall being very silent?

Blue Lady: No. Never seen anyone like that.

Leonel: And what about a green lady? Because there is a green lady from a town west of here who asked us to find her daughter. This green lady owns a tavern called "The Whimsical Wyvern Tavern" and also owns a farm and two surprisingly huge baby land dragons. Her daughter supposedly lives in this town.

Blue Lady: Oh dear...

Leonel: You know her?

Blue Lady: Yes, I know her. But her daughter isn't green-skinned. She has blue skin and blonde wavy hair.

Leonel: Wait... is it you?

Blue Lady: My name is Aku, and I'm the person you are looking for. My mom has no sense of direction, so she always gets lost every time she visits this town. That's why she has never found me.

Leonel: Well, that was unexpectedly easy. I guess we can leave town already. She only asked us to deliver this mirror to you.

I handed over the hand mirror to Aku.

Aku: You said you needed money, right?

Leonel: Yes...

Aku: I've been looking at that thing on your left wrist all this time. It seems to have a moving needle, but it's not powered by magic. What is it?

Leonel: Oh, this? It's an analog wristwatch.

I immediately recognized the value of my wristwatch. It was something that did not exist in this world.
But money wasn't the only thing we were going to get out of it.
This was going to change everything for us.
It was time for the negotiations to start.