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[No that’s not it at all. Don’t you remember that talk with Vivian? She was... implying certain things about our relationship. Which of course, are somewhat true even if she was guessing the details were wrong. Still, I laughed because I don’t find her all that incorrect. Despite the entirely non-sexual connotation I AM your familiar. If I wasn’t as smart that would make you my owner, even if most people don’t treat familiars that way.]

*Oh no. You just had to remind me... I’d locked all that garbage securely away. I... well no I guess that makes sense. She looks pretty old, and the fact she could tell you weren’t normal, and that we were connected probably means she’s at least reasonably powerful. I wonder how many decades old she is?*

[Probably best not to ask.]

While Kat and Lily were establishing that, Xiang was trying to figure out his answer, “I’d intended to simply sell it as is, and then let the customer decide what they want. If they choose to turn it into ingredients that’s fine, or just use the skull and sell the rest. I don’t really care if I’m honest,”

Gertrude nodded slowly as she ran a hand over one of the fangs the snake had, checking for the hole indicating it had a venom sack along the way. “While that isn’t a bad idea per say... it will likely limit your potential profits. It’s best to have a clear narrative for this sort of thing. So that the auctioneer on duty can hype things up. If you want to sell it as a skull, you can tell of its size, how long it took to kill, what finally brought it down, how difficult the fight was.

“If you want to go the other way and make use of it as ingredients, you should have it prepped for that beforehand. I can do that for a cut of course, but I get most of my cut from the sale of the thing in the first place, so what I really want is to make us both the most money. If the ingredients are prepped, the auctioneer can go the other way, and talk about just how much is here. The size and potency of the venom sacks for example, are not something I can really know just by looking at this.”

.....

Xiang let out a short ‘hmmm’ before kicking at the floor a few times and letting out a sigh. “Right... well... what do you think would make us the most money? That’s really all this is to me. A chance to make money,”

Gertrude moved her eyes over to Kat, knowing after the singling out earlier that she was the one responsible for the kill. “Is that what you desire as well?”

Kat shrugged, “Do you know what I am?”

“A demon,” answered Gertrude

“Yup, exactly and for me this is just a thing I killed during my job. Sure maybe I could be a bit of a bitch about it and claim it as my kill but your money isn’t really worth much to me... and I don’t need any of the ingredients or whatever,” said Kat.

Gertrude nodded, “Yes... I’ve met a few demons and most of them are much politer then the stories insinuate so your answer doesn’t surprise me overly much. Still... in regards to the money... it’s hard to say. The venom sacks and the eyes are probably where the real money is for this head. Not as much leather on it as the rest of the body I’m sure. Oh there will be some money in it, but better to sell the sacks as a pair, the eyes probably as two separate units and the skin as an earlier piece.

“That is if you are selling it piecemeal. Otherwise... I could clean up the back of this, maybe throw on some lacquer or vanish... just something to keep it from decaying. It’s probably something to ask someone else but I can clean the back up nicely. Using it as a centrepiece... it’s a formidable snake... but you’re missing quite a lot of it and this head isn’t the largest I’ve ever seen... how big was the rest?”

The party looked between each other before shrugging. It was Yang who offered, “Huge. It was probably about half the length from here to the gate in honestly,”

Gertrude let out a throaty chuckle, “Could you remember where you found the beast? Information on the rest of the carcass would also be valuable...”

Kat jumped in here, “I doubt it. It attacked us while we were travelling through the main road in that poisonous swamp down south. You’d have to be blind to miss it and there was a merchant caravan that needed to pass it as we left. I actually let them know, explicitly where it was, in exchange for some information about healing those two” Kat pointed at the cultivators, “who’d gone and got themselves poisoned.”

“I see, I see. Certainly can’t sell that... any merchant worth his salt would’ve made sure to get what they could from the thing. What merchant was it?” asked Gertrude.

“Ottis” answered Kat.

“Oh, yes well in that case the carcass is likely completely gone at this point. I haven’t heard any news of it, so I’d guess as a favour to you his isn’t broadcasting his supply till after you’ve sold your own spoils. Ottis is a good man like that, even if he is ruthless when it comes to contracts. Right vengeful too for people that try to screw him... but a valuable ally in the merchant world. Even if you just met the man once... hmmm...

“Frankly I’m not sure what to tell you here. The scales are good, but being on the head I can see there isn’t as much as you’d find elsewhere. That’s because the snake needed to use its jaws, and of course the skull. I can see this snake stacked up spare scales. Not too many here on the head. So the money is really all in the eyes and venom... maybe a bit from the skeleton. Use that as a piece.

“Problem is... if it’s from that swamp... this will be new territory frankly. The eyes are completely untested. They could be worth everything or nothing... but without others KNOWING that value, it’ll be a hard sell. The venom though... that would be easy. We could probably get the bidding going nice and good for something with venom that lived in that hellscape. Likely very potent and many a poisoner would pay with heavy stones for it.

“I just can’t say if it’d be more to go that way though. It likely all comes down to the price of the eyes. If they turn out to be worth something, and I’d need to take them out to test for that sort of thing without damaging them... then that’s your best bet. Otherwise... it’s a nice fancy mantle piece. I’ll get the story from Kat while you think on it,”

While Gertrude gestured Kat over Xiang and Yang moved together. “There just isn’t much of a way to know is there?” asked Xiang.

Yang frowned at his statement and looked over her shoulder back at the snake. “I mean... probably not? I’d hope that after all my time with Xuena I’d be a bit better at this... but it’s not like the thing had fancy eye powers like lasers or petrification. So honestly I’d say it’s a toss up as to how useful it is. Sometimes the strangest ingredients can be really powerful. That being said...

“The thing that makes me hesitate so much is the age of the snake and just how large it was... I’d guess that Gertrude either gave us the clue intentionally... but chances are the snake was someone’s familiar once upon a time that survived their cultivator getting taken out, or maybe even merged slightly with them and later going mad. The amount of energy contained in those eyes... it should be quite a lot.

“The chance Xuena could turn them into a tincture that fixes someone’s eyesight or maybe even regrows eyes entirely considering how the snake can replace its scales is REALLY high. The issue isn’t if it’s likely or not, but what level of cultivator it works on, and what alternatives there are. If this could fix a Rank 3 cultivators’ eye... that... that’s the jackpot right there. Now I can’t say how likely that is... but it’s something to think about.”

Xiang grumbled under his breath. “I’m no good at this sort of thing. How big of a loss is it for us, monetary wise if it is something like that?”

“Look I don’t know ok? This sort of thing might be really rare, or it could be pretty common. The real clincher would be if some powerful Rank 2 cultivator in town is missing an eye and has a good healer on hand. The poison, as Gertrude said, can probably be sold for enough... actually maybe that’s what matters...”

“What do you mean?”

“Look... this was all for a bit of money right? Well we don’t need an exceptional breakthrough here. We want a bit of spare change to potentially upgrade our equipment, and just because we couldn’t stand to leave it behind. If the eyes are useless, we’ve still got the poison sacks and the bones right?”

“Right...”