On the upper floor of the Snakeraven inn, a fat merchant was angrily scoffing down an applenut pie while periodically ripping into some plump chicken breast with his bare fingers as he ate; he was ravenous, starting to shove them both down his gullet at the same time.
“How did we…” he had to chew and swallow “..miss the damn military escort!” slamming his greazy fist down on the table, Bertram’s face was red with anger as he yelled at Hess.
“S-sir. They came in the night while we were sleeping and left before lunchtime… there was no way we could have -”
“No way?! No fucking way?! No excuses! We missed an opportunity to make some gold!”
After taking a sip of beer, he lowered his voice, but still sounded as angry as before as he spoke in a deep, cunning voice.
“Listen here, boy..” he spoke low and slowly, pronouncing every word as he squinted at Hess “every time we miss out on some gold you should take it as a sign of the end. One day you miss one opportunity, then two,” he finishes his beer and slams the mug down.
*THUD*
“and then all of them! All your efforts wasted, your gold flees from you, everything turns to dust, and you end up face down in the dirt. Mark my words, boy. Ruin comes as fast as wealth does…” he dipped some more chicken in gravy before eating it “...no… it comes faster.”
“Yes sir.” he nodded really quickly as the fat merchant looked at him with ferocious eyes.
Hess was holding his breath from fear of being punished, but at the same time was remembering every word Bertram spoke. He knew he would need to remember this experience someday - not the obvious knowledge of the words themselves, but the drive and the desperate passion behind them. It was something that couldn’t be taught, and he could tell that at some point, Bertram must have been in a more desperate position than he was, and it was what probably forged Bertram into the shrewd person who was now his master.
“Secure the merchandise, pack everything away. We’ll be leaving soon. Most of the adventurers will have discovered the trade function of the guild by now anyway..”
“Yes sir” Hess quietly bowed before leaving the room, leaving Bertram alone with his comfort food.
“Mmh, behind schedule..” he wiped his mouth with his caladrius feather, returning it to his pocket. “If only that escort wasn’t late.”
Pushing his large plate forward to make room on the table, he took out a document as he planned his next steps.
“Ok… to Tolgard to check on my business, then head back to Eevulen. I’ll unload some supplies here and check the inventory here and load some…” he mumbled to himself as he wrote all over various papers and into diaries.
“Hello dear.” Margaret smiled at Jay as he entered the adventurer association.
“Trenly isn’t here yet, but your reward is ready now. Sullivan wants to give it to you himself, he’s waiting for you in his office.”
“Thanks” Jay smiled at the kind old lady, wondering why Sullivan wouldn’t just hand the reward to Margaret.
Walking upstairs, Jay was thinking that these last few days have been great, and he was quite content with the way things were going. He was steadily levelling up, gaining skills and knowledge, making money, and exploring dungeons. It had been dangerous at times, but it was within his ability to handle. Despite not being able to party with anyone except Anya - one of the few people who knew about his monster class, things were still going smoothly anyway.
“I wonder what Sullivan has for me if it’s important enough for me to come upstairs…” he wondered as he got to the door.
[10 Exp]
“Hmm… they must have killed a forest animal at that hamlet.” Jay still had two of his skeletons, Sweeper and Blue, running through the forest at the hamlet killing monsters - though he didn’t expect to get exp as he assumed most of the wildlife had been killed by the leeches.
“Perhaps the animals are reclaiming that part of the forest again… I wonder what they killed” he wondered as he went up the stairs to Sullivan’s office.
Jay only knocked once before the door seemingly opened itself.
Jay looked puzzingly at Sullivan who was sitting at his desk as he walked through the door, while the door closed itself behind him.
Jay was confused since the door opened by itself, this was the first time he experienced it. He pointed at the door behind him with his thumb over his shoulder “How come you make Anya open it when you could do that all along?” Jay asked with a raised brow.
“Because I won’t always be around.” Sullivan answered with a simple yet dark answer.
“...oh… I see.” Jay quickly sat down as the room was sufficiently awkward now. Sullivan didn’t say anything as he looked at Jay, so from the tense feeling, Jay spoke instead.
“So, Anya said you have a reward for me?”
Sullivan didn’t say anything for a while, giving Jay even more of an awkward, uneasy feeling.
“I can’t protect you forever Jay.”
“What?” Jay looked confused as he sat in front of Sullivan, he didn’t even seem to listen to Jay’s question. “Did I do something wrong? What did I do….” he thought internally.
“One day, the safety bearer’s will find out about you, and they’ll come for the both of us.” Sullivan pointed to the roof “This is already my punishment for protecting a unique class, there won’t be any leniency for protecting a monster class…”
It took Jay a moment before Jay realised Sullivan was talking about the building he was in, then it made sense that someone as strong as Sullivan shouldn’t be here in Losla.
“...” Jay looked at him with dead eyes, slowly nodding as everything he said was true.
After a long silence, Sullivan sighed.
“I’ve made some plans anyway…” he looked away for a moment before looking back at Jay.
“Anyway, your reward… That’s right… two rewards actually, but the other one won’t be ready for a while… You’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Well, I’m happy with two rewards.” Jay shrugged with a smile.
Sullivan almost half-smiled at Jay, but kept his casual face in check as he pulled some boots up from under his desk.
“I think you’ll find these to your liking.”
“Boots..?”
“Just take them and give them a try. They only have one ability so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to figure out.” He pushed the boots forward with his hand, though still holding them, not letting Jay grab them off him before he added a crucial point:
“Don’t test them inside.. Unless you want to die.”
Sullivans spoke the last part slowly, his voice sounding as smooth and powerful as ever, like a quiet river cutting through mountains. Obviously this was important.
“Sure. No inside usage… Thanks.” Jay took the boots and put them in his inventory, not willing to argue or joke around anymore.
Sullivan didn’t say anything as he stared at him; Jay sat for a moment, wondering if that was all Sullivan had to say, while the room began to feel awkward again.
“You may go.” Sullivan finally said, Jay got up and quickly left through the door which Sullivan had opened for him.
Jay headed back downstairs to the lobby, he was about to leave but Margaret called out from behind the counter.
“Jay, your friend should be here soon dear.”
Jay stopped, remembering Trenly “oh yeah..” he turned around, going to sit down on a couch in the lobby area, but then paused, as he decided to head back to the trade area to find out if his theory was true.
Jay’s theory was that he was getting different drops compared to other adventurers because of his monster class, that slaying monsters as a necromancer caused the monsters to drop different sorts of items after dying.
“First I’ll check the ring…”
Placing his hand on the massive wall-crystal, sure enough, he was greeted by a familiar notification.
[Trade Platform Accessed]
[29 Minutes remaining]
Sitting down on a nearby couch, he began to browse.
“Hmm, 9 gold.” he found the price of the Helvetian ring. “Now, where are the soulstones…”
After searching some time through various menus, sub-menus and miscellaneous areas, Jay couldn’t find anything like them. There was also no [Molodus’s Claws/Coats] either.
“Hmm, I guess that confirms it… For whatever reason, I get special monster drops… this could be due to my class or perhaps because I’m considered a monster. There’s no way to be sure.”
Jay pursed his lips. “I suppose the distinction doesn’t matter. At least I can still get normal drops and earn a living.”
Jay proceeded to sell the Helvetian ring, annoying Lillian with a few knocks and handing it over as he was given back 8 gold.
Jay raised a brow at her, but she knew what he was thinking and responded first.
“9 gold, 10% fee. Remember? We round down.” she smiled condescendingly as she slammed the hatch shut, walking back to her desk.
Jay was standing there, a little dazed after how it seemed like she did this every day and even seemed to enjoy it.
“Wow…” he shook his head as he walked away, he almost couldn’t believe her attitude, and she did it with a conniving smile too.
“At least she smiled… though it was quite an unpleasant one.” he shrugged, trying to look on the bright side and quickly forgot about it.
“Hmm, I'll need a luminous orb too... damn. I should've just taken one from that hamelt.”
Checking the prices of orbs, Jay wasn't too annoyed, “10 gold for a smaller one, I guess that's reasonable - though it will be 11 gold because of the fee.”
Jay checked if Lillian had any in stock, as he didn’t want to wait for them to be delivered, and thankfully, there were plenty. She promptly sold him one without any difficulties and another devilish grin.
Jay returned to the lobby and waited for Trenly.
Before Margaret reminded him, he had completely forgotten that he offered Trenly a job and would need to apologise.
“Hmm… I feel kinda bad about it, even though I do have a good excuse. I nearly forgot about that guy again..” he smiled regretfully as he scratched the back of his head.
“Ugh, I need a coffee” he thought as he sat in the lobby, he felt strangely tired even though his energy wasn’t low.
“Hmm.. must just be my mana being low” he ate some more bondtussle root as he waited.
“Perhaps I should meditate..”
