A simple nod came from Hikage. It was very true she was more used to taking on groups of people in combat, and beyond all of that she enjoyed fighting enough that it wouldn't matter to her if she had to face dozens of people at once so long as they put up a decent enough fight all together. As they paused though it seemed that Asher had picked up on what she'd meant initially when pointing out that the merchant speaking to her directly at all was strange. Hikage was quite used to people being afraid of her, or at the least wary of her presence. This was especially true of the sorts of people she came across in public. "Iie, it's normal..." she said to the idea that it was somehow a shame. She'd actually be a bit more confused if someone broke this, which meant technically she was more confused by Asher than this woman.
Moving right along, Asher's hint at holding the money sparked a bit of greed in this woman. Beyond the idea that she didn't wish to fight, was the matter that this casino only contained more puppets and that would be a bad match up for an actual fight against these people, if it even needed to take place. The lad even showed a bit of savvy by noting that her actual merchandise was logically either far away or on her person. She smiled then, because her safe house was indeed far away, but it contained all of her good merchandise and some trust worthy proper fighters. If these people happened to not be in the mood for a fight she could just make a bit of money and a new customer. "Hm, I didn't expect you to be clever. Don't take it to heart, I'm a woman running a business. I can't just have my face out there, people would try and take advantage of me or abuse me," she mentioned, this was a truthful reason for the amount of deception she went about as a matter of good faith she turned heading back out the front of this place. "Come. My actual wares are at a spot at the far end of the Black Market, but I can give you this as a sample," she said showing him a vial containing a strange purple liquid. "It's good for a boost at the very least..." she said giving the lad a wink. Hikage looked over the lad's shoulder at the offered vial and felt like something about it was off... she definitely wouldn't advise using it, but it definitely counted as made evil shit, in her personal opinion. And with that the woman began her exit of the casino, either her new customers would follow or they wouldn't, it didn't really matter to her at this point. And she'd lead the way to her true safe house.