Jonas wasn't sure what Elmo expected for him to do about paying for the food. As most of the places that he looked at getting food ready to go wanted payment at the time he started gathering the food and weren't very eager to allow it with the mere promise of payment later. Which Jonas perfectly understood. It was easy to promise payment later, but that didn't always mean the payment would materialize.
Though, while he wasn't able to secure as much as they probably should get, he'd at least made a deal to get some food for some work in exchange. Meaning that he was doing some heavy lifting, Elin was helping sell the food, Patricia and Owen were helping set the food out so it was easier, and more attractive, to potential customers.
What they really needed was for Elwin to show up with the cash so they could just pack up what each of them were doing, but in general, Jonas doubted that it would be that easy. That it'd likely be at the end of the day when the stalls were being taken down, each merchant wanting to head to their homes themselves.
While it was possible that they might be able to get a discount at that time, Jonas had a feeling that it'd be unlikely to be much. That it'd be better to get the cash quickly so they'd be able to get the supplies they needed and out of the city and on their way.
For one thing, the longer they took here, the more likely it was that Stanley and his group would head to the starting dungeon and get there ahead of them. Another was that if Kim's army was in fact led by the 'kidnapped' noble children, then the less time that Jonas, Elin, and Kim spent in the city, the better.
As it was, Jonas was currently lifting boxes of produce to take to the stall, from a wagon in a nearby alley, so they could be placed out for customers to see, and it was expected that any damaged ones would be assumed to have been damaged by Jonas. Which meant he'd need to have that deducted from what he could have otherwise expected to receive. Although, on the other hand, the threshold of what was considered 'damaged' seemed rather lax. Especially with how some fruit that Jonas himself wouldn't have purchased, let alone eaten, back from the world he'd come from, were considered fine by the merchant.
For some reason, Elin seemed to shine when it came to selling the goods at the stall. Not only was she more energetic than Jonas had seen her in a while, but she almost looked like she was having the time of her life.
Patricia seemed rather bored by the task she'd been given and Owen was doing a better job than her, although both were at least working in a satisfactory manner for the merchant they were 'working' for.
While he wasn't exactly happy about the way things were going for him, he could think of several ways it could be worse. So, he couldn't think of a reason to complain about the circumstances he was in. Aside from Elwin having put him there that is. Not that it would do him any good at this time anyway. Not when it wouldn't change his current circumstances.
"Think Elin might decide to abandon us and become a merchant herself?" Owen asked Jonas when it was getting around the middle of the day.
Jonas shook his head. While she might be enjoying herself, he was sure that she wouldn't let the shine of this interest her and pull her away from what they were doing with the challenge and from Kim. Maybe if they were stuck in this world she might, but even then only if Kim joined her as well.
"It's doubtful," Jonas replied. "I'd expect her only to consider it if Kim suggested it, but also only if Kim was going into that as well."
Owen merely shrugged, not seeming to care one way or another. Which didn't surprise Jonas. As it wasn't like Elin's choices would likely directly affect their ability to finish this last challenge.
"If Elin did leave, maybe Kim would go with her and we'd have that much fewer headaches when it came to Elwin," Patricia remarked, sounding more tired than anything else right then.
"If that's the case, we should hope Elwin decides to go somewhere else," Owen remarked. "I seriously doubt we'll encounter something that we'll need him for anyway like we did with the hydra."
"Maybe, but you never know. We might need Elwin later on," Jonas said as he turned to get another box set up to bring more produce to the stall.
Jonas found it surprising how quickly the merchant's produce was selling. If anything, Jonas would have expected that he'd have to wait several minute to an hour between each load. Yet, in reality here, he was going through it faster than Jonas would have thought likely.
He wondered if there was some reason for it until he noticed one of the customers was wearing a uniform. He wasn't sure what the uniform signified, but it was clear that they worked for someone, likely a noble. Which would mean that they were buying food in bulk. Which in turn, would explain how this merchant was going through things so fast.
Yet, the pace couldn't last. Just as the merchant couldn't keep the produce continually selling at the pace it had earlier. As the sun was starting to hang low in the sky, Jonas brought out the last of the produce that the merchant had.
"Anything else you need be to bring out?" Jonas asked, partly hoping the merchant would say 'no' so he could get ready to collect what he owed them.
The merchant took his hat off his head, scratched it for a minute before replacing the hat. "You know, I can't say that I've gone through this much this fast. Normally its getting dark before I finish selling the rest."
Jonas didn't respond. It was clear to him that the merchant wasn't going to respond to Jonas' question at the moment. Unless he already did in his own way and Jonas just wasn't used to the way the merchant spoke and phrased things.
However, since it wasn't a 'yes,' Jonas merely considered it a reason why he could take a break. Which was something that he wasn't going to argue with. If nothing else, he was confident that the merchant was intelligent enough to know that if Jonas had been asking about if there was more for him to do, that he was out of work to do to begin with. Which, in turn, meant that his job was pretty much done for the day.
As such, Jonas found a place to sit nearby, where he could talk with Patricia or Owen if they wanted to talk without disrupting their jobs. Elin would have been able to do that too, but she was far to busy with one customer after another. Although, Jonas couldn't help but notice that Elin didn't do so well with making change with the currency. Which the merchant realized early on and had another helping Elin when it came to that part, freeing Elin up to help another customer.
"Not much to do, huh?" Owen asked, after he unloaded the last box that Jonas had brought over.
"Not since I finished what I'd been doing," Jonas said, even though he'd been sitting down for hardly ten minutes. "Though hopefully we'll be able to get a little extra from what was promised with how well Elin seems to be working the crowd."
"Never would have thought she'd be so good at work like this," Owen remarked as he looked over at Elin.
"Well, she seemed to do quite well when she was working as a sort of waitress at a couple inns."
"Well, as long as it works for us here," Owen remarked, nodding to himself.
"Hopefully Elwin will get here soon," Jonas said quietly. "The longer we stay here, the more likely it'll be that we'll learn if we're considered the kidnappers or not."
"I'm sure it'll be fine, though would we be able to seek help from the king if that's the case?" Patricia asked, walking over to them. "He did seem friendly to us because each of us has a system."
Jonas shook his head. "I'm more afraid that the king will have to detain us while everything is sorted out, even if it takes weeks, simply because he likely needs to keep the support of the nobles, especially after the assassination attempt on him. So, I doubt that Kim, Elin, Elmo, and I would be able to leave as we would like over this."
"Well, in that case, sucks to be you!" Patricia replied, clapping Jonas on his shoulder. "You'll just have to hope that they're able to get those teeth sold without having to go to the king about it or otherwise draw his attention."