"I'm sorry for asking if you'll manage to sell everything tonight, Renaldo." Coco slumped against the corner of the shop, her soul floating out of her mouth at how exhausted she was.
"It's alright." The butcher assured her and smiled, "I was shocked at your ability to handle the villagers. All of them lined up after you said "first come, first serve", it was a rare sight."
"That's the only way I could think of to manage the sudden crowd outside." Coco grumbled, rubbing her hands on her face as she let out a sigh.
"Don't worry, Coco! You did well!" Lala assured her human friend, planting herself on Coco's head and hugged her with her tiny arms.
"You're right.. I did well." Coco murmured quietly to the fairy, her face still buried on her hands to hide that she was talking to Lala, not wanting to be called crazy or lunatic by her new business partner.
She knows that no one else can see the fairy except for her and her husbands, she can't risk losing a important person just because they couldn't see Lala.
Renaldo merely chuckled at the sight of Coco looking so exhausted and took off his apron, feeling proud of how the business went for that evening.
People saw Coco going to the butcher shop so they went home to get their money. All of them waited patiently for Renaldo to open the shop and when Coco came out of the door, all of them crowded around her.
However, due to the sudden turns of events, Coco had to come up with an idea to manage the crowd that seemed to pop out of nowhere.
With an idea in mind, she screamed, "First come, first serve! Line up or you'll get nothing!" and almost immediately, everyone got into a straight line.
Coco then added a follow-up on that sentence and said that she'll sell the first part of the tiger to the first person who lined up.
To say the least, it was a success! It is what it is! It's also important that they have sold most of the poisonous tiger parts— brain, whiskers, tail, bones, bile, blood, meat, and fat, and it makes Coco happy.
To be honest, she wasn't expecting for anyone to buy the blood and tail— she figured that since it's a poisonous tiger, the blood and tail contain deadly poison, but to each their own, right?
What's more? She earned twenty six gold and five hundred silver in just one night!
She would have more money if she sold the thighs, breast, neck, and skin parts of the tiger, but she wanted to bring some to the four mediators and Renaldo wanted to bring home some of the neck meat to his mediator.
She promised the butcher that he could take whatever part he wanted and she wouldn't break that promise right off the bat— not that she would ever do it.
Coco let out a huff, putting the two pair of sharp teeth of the poisonous tiger inside the pouch that Renaldo gave her.
"Do you need help with anything else?" Coco asked, keeping her gaze on the sack of potatoes and tiger meat, tying the openings so the contents wouldn't fall out if she accidentally let go of it.
"Why would you help him? You already gave him free food." Lala pouted, her face twisted into a confused expression.
"Because it's common courtesy for business partners to help each other." Coco whispered to the fairy, glancing discreetly on the butcher's direction to see if he's looking at her.
"But you gave him so much already." The red haired fairy frowned, not liking how kind and accommodating her human friend was being.
"I know." Coco smiled softly at Lala before perking up when she heard the butcher's voice.
"I can handle this." Renaldo answered from the sink, the sound of the water splashing reaching her ears, "You already helped me a bunch by going to me and making me sell that game."
Coco's lips curled up into a smug smirk, feeling proud and happy of her decision to let the professional work his magic on the tiger.
"Well, I'll be going now." The dark haired young woman called out to him and opened the door.
"Finally!" Lala exclaimed, a happy and excited expression on her face as she smiled widely, "I thought we'll stay longer here."
"Make sure to cook something good for your wife, Renaldo! The neck meat is good when you cook it well!" Coco exclaimed, ignoring Lala for a moment as she walked out of the shop.
The pouch where the sharp teeth of the tiger was is nestled around her neck in a string while the sack of potatoes and meat is on her right hand with the bag of money on the other hand.
"Sure! Bring something good tomorrow as well, Mrs. Hughes!" Renaldo screamed after her, unable to see her off because he was busy cleaning the interior of the shop.
Coco was a good and well-mannered citizen so she took it upon herself to close the door and flip the sign, instead of it saying open, it is now saying closed.
"Yay! We can go back to our home!" Lala cheered loudly, flying in the air and going in circle, expressing her excitement and happiness, "Let's go, Coco! If we leave now, we can go back to the mountain before midnight!"
Coco felt bad, but she has to pop Lala's bubbles.
"We can't go back right now, Lala." Coco forced a smile on her face as she starts to walk towards the house of the four mediators— she won't call it her home because they're not really her husbands.
"What?"
"We can stay in an inn though!" Coco was quick to assure Lala, "We have just to give this meat and potatoes to them then we can leave right away."
"But why can't you have those for yourself?" The fairy whined, laying on top of her head.