"Oh, my!"
"Is that a..?"
"Coco killed t-that..?"
"That's a monster, right?!"
"I must be dreaming.."
"W-What's she doing?"
"Goodness..!"
This is not the exact scenario that Coco has in mind. The villagers looked spooked and anxious while looking at the dead poison tiger on her shoulder, all of them huddled to someone while whispering their anxiety to the other person beside them.
"They're so rude!" Lala complained as she glared at the villagers.
She situated herself on Coco's hair and has been sitting there ever since they left the mountain, "Don't give them anything once you're done with the tiger, Coco! Grr.. I'm a nice fairy, but they make me so mad!"
Coco laughed and did not pay any mind to the whispers. Instead, she kept walking and walking until she reached the butcher shop in the village.
She knocked a couple times and waited for the owner to open the door, she knew that it is better to leave the skinning to a professional because she does not have any knowledge when it comes to skinning animals so she will wait.
It did not take long before the door creaked open, Coco perked up and gave the man behind the door a friendly smile.
"Good afternoon, sir! Are you the owner of this shop?" She blinked innocently towards the man, if she wants to put her reputation behind her then she must be aggressive with her friendly approach!
She scanned his over all appearance discreetly. A healthy looking man with scars all over his body, some of the scars are evident on his arms and there are three scars on his face. One vertically across his left eye, two on the corners of his mouth.
He has a snake tattoo around his right hand where she can see the callouses in his skin.
She kept the friendly business smile and waited for the man to finish assessing her as well. She knows that the man inspected the tiger on her shoulders first before he looked at her.
"I am." The reply was short, but it was enough to confirm her suspicion.
She nodded her head and pointed at the tiger on her shoulder with the same friendly smile, not letting it falter for a moment.
"Do you know how to chop this thing? Unfortunately, I'm only good with hunting, but I've got no idea when it comes to the skinning process for games." She made up an excuse in the spot, sprinkled with lies, partnered with apologetic tone on the top.
Her eyebrows shot up to her hairlines when the man showed interest in her physique.
"You hunted that?" The obvious surprise on his face made her chuckle. She merely nodded to answer his question and he took that as a silent warning to not pry further into her business.
"All by yourself?" He tried his luck, eyeing her hands— right hand carrying the sack of potatoes and the left hand hovering on the tiger's bottom.
"How dare you?!" Lala exclaimed, making Coco flinch slightly as the fairy flew to the man's face, "Coco killed that monster all by herself! She was awesome and strong! How dare you doubt her strength?!"
Coco forced the smile on her face, trying her best to ignore the raging fairy in front of the man's face. She knows that the man can't see the fairy because Lala is kicking and punching him in the cheek.
It was quite hard for Coco to hold back her laugh because Lala looked ridiculous right now.
The man, on the other hand, watched Coco closely. The hair on the back of his neck are rising and something in the back of his mind are screaming that the small woman in front of him is a walking danger.
However, Coco did not make any move to indicate that she might deny his suspicion. She was all smile and overly friendly to the point the man felt threatened— he swallowed thickly, opening the door for her.
Albeit, forced to accommodate to her wants.
"I see.. Come in. The place is a mess right now because I just finished closing the shop. You can put the tiger over there." The man pointed to the butchering table and she did not hesitate to do as she was told.
She dragged the tiger inside the shop and dropped it on the table, it was slightly difficult because the tiger was almost the same size as a banana tree which is a little bigger than her, but almost the same size as the man in front of her.
"Will you be able to finish this one by nightfall?" Coco gestured to the tiger.
It is quite large and she is sure that there is nothing inside the shop that will prevent the meat from going bad.
"Of course. I might be staying in a small village, but I was an apprentice of one of the great chefs in the main city." The man glared at her and pointed his butchering knife which caused Lala to let out a terrified shriek and hid behind Coco's hair.
"I'm not doubting you. I'm just worried if you have ice to prevent the meat from going bad." She explained to him to prevent any misunderstanding.
She is sure that she will be seeing the butcher more often after this anyways. It would not hurt to try her best to stay on his good side. After all, trustworthy business partners are the best partners.
"Oh." The butcher was taken aback.
He slammed the butcher knife on the wooden cutting board that looked like a small tree stump, "I don't have ice. It costs a fortune to buy a pack of ice nowadays. Summer season just ended so ices are hard to get ahold of."
Coco felt her blood go cold when she realized how bad the situation was.
She's in a world that has barely advanced technologies. Just how did the people manage to survive in this kind of economy?!