"Fucking finally," Dresden says as they reach us. "I've been waiting for you forever."

Merlin and I stiffen up, I do so more from anxiety but notice that when Merlin does it she takes a step forward between me and Dresden. She's blocking. If there's going to be a fight, Dresden will lose.

"I'm not here to fight," Dresden says with their hands in the air.

Merlin crosses her arms.

"Really, I'm not," Dresden repeats. "I'm here to talk to Richy."

"Who?" I ask.

"You, dumbass," Dresden says.

"My name is Rhys, not 'Richy.'"

"Whatever, I got one letter right."

I don't tell them that technically they got three correct, just in the wrong order. Few people I've met have been able to guess the spelling of my name.

"I take it this is Dresden?" Nikola asks from behind me, his voice intentionally loud.

Dresden looks at him suddenly, as if they hadn't noticed he was standing there before now. "This the new guy?"

"Yes," Nikola replies. "Very new."

And not at all from the 1800s, I think to myself.

"What do you want, Dresden?" I ask.

Merlin looks back at me. I nod to her and she steps aside so Dresden can approach. She keeps her eyes on Dresden as they reach into a satchel slung across their shoulder and produces a sizeable leather pouch that looks like it must have taken up most of the bag.

"Here," Dresden says holding out the pouch.

I take it from them and discover it's very heavy with the unmistakable feeling of a bag of coins. I peek inside to see nothing but gold and try not to lose my breath or my cool.

"That should cover what I took," Dresden says without looking at Merlin before backing up with their hands in the air.

"Where'd you get this?" I ask.

"My costume. The lizard head and armor pieces, those were all aluminum. It's worth a shit ton here, apparently," Dresden explains. "I'm loaded."

Not exactly something I'd advertise so loudly, I think.

"Are you done yet, Dresden?" A voice asks from around the corner.

"Almost, babe!" They call back.

"Ugh, hurry up."

I glance in the direction of the voice and catch sight of a fuzzy pair of ears and tip of a gray muzzle around the corner of the building.

"You were right," Dresden says with a grin. "These people are starved for entertainment. I've already got a band together."

"You, what?" Merlin says aghast.

Dresden starts to walk away and dismisses us with one hand in the air. "I've got a band. We're going on tour all over Regno."

"What about finding a way to go home?" I ask.

Dresden stops at the corner of the building and scoffs, "I never said I wanted to go back." They hold out a hand to the person around the corner of the building. "Come on babe. Let's bounce."

A fuzzy clawed hand takes Dresden's before the figure emerges to follow them down the street. I think the person is a wolf-woman. She's got a cute dress, fuzzy gray tail, and very wolf-like head. The pair leaves down the dawn lit cobblestone street without looking back.

I look down at the large bag of gold coins Dresden handed me. It's heavy, of course, because it's solid gold coins.

"I thought they'd want to go home most of all," Merlin said. "They were a rich singer, right?"

"I guess they can be a rich singer here so they don't care." I glance at the bag again. "I can divide this up like the other coins."

Nikola holds up his hand. "That wont be necessary," he says. "I think we're all agreed that the leader should have the funds, correct?" He looks at Merlin who nods. "See?"

Oh wonderful. Now I'm the 'leader' of our group, I think and try not to let my thoughts show on my face. I don't have the luxury of breaking down or showing weakness, not when others are relying on me. I am the most knowledgeable about this situation, after all. I suppose bingeing isekai novels and anime series during quarantine can be put to good use now rather than as the 'writing research' I kept telling myself it was.

"Great," I say. "I guess I don't have to busk for money today."

"I still want to help Ultra with the bread stand," Merlin says. "I don't want to leave her hanging with no warning."

"Then we'll look for supplies," I say as I slip my backpack off.

I find a place inside it to stow the bag of gold. It's going to add weight to my bag but then again I'm used to it weighing well over 25 pounds, what's another ten?

Oh gods, why does this world have to use gold coins?