A few days had passed since I proposed the idea to Master Lio about heading into dungeons to save up cash for the tome. Within that time period, we had gone twice into different dungeons with the goal of searching for specific items to deliver to the quest giver.

The first one we had to search for was a gold wine cup bedecked in jewels. Apparently it had been left behind by the first nobles to lead an expedition into that specific dungeon when it was first discovered. Because of that, it was worth quite a sum.

What was stopping us from just stealing the cup for ourselves was that dungeons where these types of quests took place usually had knights guarding the outside entrances. The quest giver recognized our faces, so we were required to let the knights search us before and after we came out. That way we couldn’t just hide the cup in our clothes or in a bag and say we didn’t find it. They’d know if we stole anything, which would result in us losing the ability to ever be paid for quests.

The second item in the second dungeon wasn’t really an item. It was a search and rescue quest. Because of how many adventurers were going in and out of dungeons, there were a variety of cases of them getting lost or possibly dying, which resulted in these types of quests becoming common. The quest givers, the family of the lost adventurer, were paying us to find him, whether dead or alive. They wanted closure.

And so, for the second time, we headed into a dungeon, only to find the adventurer, not dead, but undead. I had the notion that the Dungeon of the Dead was the only dungeon to convert the dead to the undead. But that wasn’t the case, apparently. The corrupt magic energy that piles up in dungeons, probably as a result of the dungeon master of that location, corrupts the corpses too. So leaving dead people there for so long was dangerous.

Lio had killed the undead adventurer as humanely as possible. With a tip of his finger, he shot a small beam of fire right through his head. Then the two of us carried his body back to the family.

What we’d learned from these couple of days was that doing quests was not an efficient way of earning money quickly. Those two quests only made us three gold coins. And each of those quests took us the entire day. We’d be going at it forever if this was our main money maker.

I counted the three coins in my palm and sighed. All that work for three measly coins. It wasn’t three for each of us, both of our money combined added up to three coins. We’d be worked to death if we kept this up.

I was all alone now. Lio had called it a day and ambled back to his house. As for myself, I headed into a tavern for a quick bite. Maybe some food will give me ideas on how to solve this predicament.

My legs were sore from all the walking, my arms felt weak from swinging around a dagger all day, and my stomach growled with a distinct ferocity. When I pushed open the door to the tavern, I might have looked like a tired homeless person with a limp.

The strong smell of alcohol entered my nose, and the sound of men roughhousing oddly fit the environment better than any harp or bard. And it seemed everyone had stopped to stare at me for the briefest of moments. I knew I didn’t look great. My hair was drenched in sweat and messy, and my robes had dirt all over it. But hey, at least I fit in with the hardy crowd.

I walked over to the nearest table and sat down. Tree stumps for chairs, that was new. The old chairs probably broke in a fight or something. But no use in complaining, that was to be expected of a tavern. This place wasn’t no Soaran Bull Head.

With a flick of my hand, a bar maid came running over to me. Of course, her clothes were way more cheaper than the ones the waitress wore at the Bull Head.

“What can I get you? A cup of mead?”

“No, just something to eat is fine. Let me have the rooster soup,” I said. Sadly they had no Boks. That was more of a rich people's cuisine.

The bar maid jotted my order down and left as soon as she came. I was alone again, in the middle of a horde of drunk adventurers. I didn’t come here just to take in the view. I came here to eat and figure out a solution to our dilemma. I really didn’t want to go into too many dungeons in my weak state, I’d end up just slowing down Master Lio. It would have been fine if I learned magic to defend myself more, but that couldn’t be helped. I was quite skilled with a dagger, though.

On to the topic at hand, what to do about our situation? What’s some quick money making schemes? I racked my brain about that question since coming out of the dungeon, but I couldn’t figure anything out.

“Urgh!” I ruffled my hair and squealed. I had nothing. Nothing legal, at least. With Master Lio’s abilities, we could easily rob a coin vault and take everything from it. We’d for sure have enough money then. It sounded tempting, but we were law abiding citizens. It wasn’t like I’d throw my morality away just for some coins. If I did so, I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep at night.

“Hohoho! Hey there, Magician! You look like shit!” I heard a voice from behind that shakened my eardrums. I turned to see who it was, and it was the adventurers I’d met before. Kueler had given me that greeting while Fiar and Christia stood behind him.

I hadn’t officially met Christia yet, since she was in the healer’s care when the rest of us went out to eat. So it was only natural that she walked up to me and introduced herself.

“Hey! It’s been a while. I just want to introduce myself properly. I’m Christia Roxian, and I hope we can be friends.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too. I’m Charliette Glaciare.” I gave my greeting with a monotone voice. I didn’t have it in me to reply with energy and glamor. It did its job, though, and Christia nodded.

“Kueler’s right though, you don’t look very good. Have you been eating enough recently? You look thinner than when I last saw you.” Christia swatted away her blonde hair, resting her hand over her mouth while she spoke those words to me.

“These past few days have been rough,” I said. I sank my head into the table and allowed my long black hair to sprawl across the table. Not very good table manners, but who cares.

“What’s wrong? Did anything happen?” Fiar was the first one to sit down at the table with me. The rest soon followed his example. He leaned in intently like he was desperate for an answer to his question.

“It’s just that while Master Lio was training me, we discovered that my magic energy reserves were extremely lower than the average. So I can’t learn any higher magic spells without passing out.”

“That’s… certainly a predicament.” Fiar was at a loss for words. He was a magician, so I knew he understood my problem. However, there was a difference between knowing someone's issue and knowing how to comfort them.

“What are you going to do, then? Start sword training?” Kueler said. “Don’t know if you could even pick up a sword though, swing one much less.”

I lifted my head off the table at last. All those thoughts flooded into my mind. Would it just be better for me to use a sword? I mean, a sword expert was sitting right in front of me. Would all this money to enable me to use magic actually be worth it?

No, stop it. I once again ruffled my hair, causing it to stick up as if I’d just gotten out of bed. Don’t even think that! Master Lio was working hard to give me an opportunity to learn magic. Giving up on magic would be giving up on him too. It would be a slap to his face after all the effort and work he’d done.

“No, Master Lio was saying that we could work around this issue with a tome. But tomes are just so expensive It’ll take forever for us to get that money on our own.”

I finished explaining my situation at the exact time the bar maid had walked over to deliver me my meal. Afterwards, she went around the table to get everyone else’s orders.

Rooster soup, not very delicious but it satisfied my nutritional needs at a cheap price. That was good enough for me. I picked up the wooden spoon and began sipping at the warm soup.

I just kept eating my soup without saying another word. Kueler and the rest spoke to one another, but none of them bothered to speak to me as I scooped up broth, roasted veggies, and pieces of chicken and stuffed them into my mouth. I still hadn’t thought of a solution, and I didn’t want to face Master Lio the next day empty handed. I had to solve this problem tonight.

Then everyone else’s food arrived, and we all ate in silence. I wanted to apologize so badly for ruining the mood, but it couldn’t be helped.

From time to time, I would catch Christia staring at me. She glanced over at me before she dove her head to eat her meal. The corners of her mouth lowered, and her eyebrows were raised every time she looked back.

I put down my spoon and looked down at an empty bowl. Sure, it filled my belly. But a full stomach didn’t help me whatsoever in finding answers to my monetary problems. I had a dejected sigh.

It was then that Christia jumped out of her seat and wrapped her arms around me. She hugged me tight and rested her head on one of my shoulders.

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“W-what are you doing?” I tried to turn my head to meet her eyes. It was all too sudden. She was surprisingly warm too.

“We’re friends now, right? Isn’t that what we agreed on when I introduced myself?” she said while still maintaining her strong grip around me.

“I-I guess so…”

“Well, since you’re my friend now, you don’t have to tackle these issues alone now. I’m here for you. As a friend.”

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement. My friends. I didn’t want to drag them into this because it felt like too much of a bother for anyone else. They wouldn’t gain anything from helping me. But yet, Christia and everyone else were offering their support.

I shed a tear. Only a single tear. I was stupid to not realize that I could get help. More heads are better than one. At least one of us had to know something that’ll be useful.

“Thank you,” I whispered. Only Christia could hear me. She smelled weirdly like citrus.

Christia was silent when she finally lifted her head off my shoulder and removed her hands that were wrapped around me.

I had considered this problem to be an affair exclusively tied to Lio and I. But that wouldn’t stop others from helping out as well. Now that I think of it, more hands on deck would be way more efficient than just Lio and I. That way we could tackle the harder quest to get more money. The more the merrier, right?

I looked up at Christia, who went right back to her seat. What took her place was the waitress who hovered over me with a piece of paper. Right, I had to pay for my meal.

“That would be two silver Soaran coins, please.” The barmaid outstretched her hand to receive her payment. Good thing I got paid today.

I reached into my pocket to get two coins out, when one of my gold coins slipped out. I still got the silver coins, but placed them on the table as I stooped to collect the coin that fell right at the barmaid’s feet.

Before I could grab the coin, the barmaid bent down and picked it up. She had a skeptical face as she held the coin in her hand. She eyed it down like a hawk eyeing their prey. What? Has she never seen a gold coin before?

“Woah… Er, right this way Miss!” the barmaid called to me, and she trekked over to the bartender behind the wooden counter.

What about payment? She just took my golden coin and ran straight to the bartender. I was sure she said two silver coins, not a gold one.

I looked at Christia and the rest at my table, but they all looked just as confused. It looked like I got scammed out of my money. Either way, though, I had to follow the barmaid to confront them.

I got out of my seat and navigated through the crowd of drunk and wobbly adventurers. Some had dance-offs in the middle of the tavern, while others were passed out on the tables, faces flushed. This was the den of warriors and commoners alike. You wouldn’t find a noble or a higher class citizen anywhere near this place. They were scared of taverns.

“What's the big deal?” I walked up to the barmaid, who now stood next to the bartender near the front of the place. All the adventurers that sat at the counter where the bartender served them were knocked out. They drank themselves to sleep.

The bartender turned to face me. He was bald and had a black stubble on his cheeks. He looked menacing with the scowl he gave me.

“You had this?” That was the bartender’s only reply. He held up the gold coin I gave the barmaid. It shone brighter than his head in the torch lights.

“Yeah, so what?”

“You don’t know, do ya’ kid?” The bartender then leaned on the counter and continued to stare daggers at me. By this point, Kueler and the rest had walked up beside me. I guess they sensed an aura coming from this guy. He did not seem nice.

“What?” I asked.

“Fwah…” The man blew out air in frustration. “You don’t know what this coin is?”

“It’s a Soaran gold coin, obviously.”

“No, no, no. You don’t get it!” He threw the coin on the counter right in front of me. He then reached for his pocket and pulled out another gold coin. He put them side by side.

“You don’t see any difference between these coins?” the bartender folded his hands over his chest, staring down those shimmering pieces of gold.

There was a difference? At a glance, they looked identical. Both had an engraving of the current king of Kori Soaro, King Arveragus Sorto. Both were golden, and both had the same dimensions. So what was different? I narrowed my eyes intently at the coin I gave as payment. I assumed that my coin was the odd one out, based on how the bartender spoke about it. So I tried to find any irregularities.

Then I saw it. I saw something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Normally, a gold coin had little ridges all around its thick rims. But the coin I had didn’t have that. Instead, the two words “eagle” and “forest” were written all over the rim.

“Sir.” I stared back up at the bartender, who still looked blankly at the coins. Only after hearing my voice did he raise his head to me.

“What is it? Don't tell me you…”

“What does ‘eagle’ and ‘forest’ supposed to mean? It’s written all over the rim of this coin.”

He smirked. “Heh, so you did find it out after all. Fine, I’ll tell you. But only because you’re a newbie at this kind of stuff.”

Newbie? Newbie at what? I guess it can be argued that I was a newbie at everything, since there was nothing I was particularly skilled or gifted in. But I’ll stop digging too deep into it.

The bartender graciously gave me an explanation for this. To cut things short, I had unknowingly shown the barmaid a coin that can be redeemed for intel at pretty much any tavern, so long as the bartender knew about the existence of such coins. Of course, they deal a lot with coins in their everyday work, so most bartenders already knew about these coins through experience.

The point in these coins existing had to do with the rise of the intel broker industry. More and more people were heading into dungeons and labyrinths across Galligar City, therefore the need to have information about those various places exploded. And when there’s demand, there is a need to supply it. I myself had probably gotten the coin from one of the quests I did with Lio. One of the quest givers probably must have been an intel broker, or had connection to one.

On the coins, the word “eagle” was code for “intelligence” or “reconnaissance” while forest meant a specific location. Add the two together, and what I just did was essentially ask the bartender to provide intel to me about a specific location of my choosing. The issue was that I had no place in mind.

“So, what will it be, kid? It may not look like it, but this mind knows quite a lot about this town. More than most people, I’d say.” The bartender pressed his finger against his temple to emphasize his smarts.

What should I ask? I once again turned to my friends for answers, but they shrugged. The bartender looked a bit agitated at me turning to them for an answer too, I guess he was only willing to give info to the owner of the coin. Fine.

Would it still count if I just ask about any location, giving him parameters along with it? I wasn’t sure, but my only question I could think of was to simply ask if he knew of a place where we could get a lot of money easier. And legally too! Legality would be extremely important. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

I cleared my throat and stared right at his eyes, trying to hide my fear at his terrifying sharp pupils. He didn’t blink for an entire minute or two. “Do you have any information on a place that we can earn money quickly and easily from? Oh yeah! Also legally.”

The bartender stroked his chin and stood up straight. That question was most likely sufficient, as the man had not rejected it yet. That was a good sign.

“Hmm…” He began staring blankly up at the ceiling, at every splinter of wood holding on for dear life to the roof. “I do know a place. But it's not easy money.”

“Huh? Really? What’s the place?” I got way too excited again, and pressed my body against the counter, anchoring my arms to its countertop.

After his nasty hack, the bald fellow wiped his mouth with his sleeve and continued. “It’s called the Treasure Dungeon. That place is chock-full of gold and silver coins and gems, leftover from the first and last royal expedition team to make it into the main corridors of the dungeon. They were wiped out by powerful monsters living in the depths.”

The bald bartender scribbled something down on a piece of paper. The directions and general location of the dungeon. I had also asked about any maps we could use to navigate through the dungeon, but he shook his head and swept my question under the rug.

“Don't even think about using a map. It’s one of the few dungeons that no one bothered to map. They were all scared of the monsters.”

“What kind of monsters live there?” I asked, a tad timid to hear an answer.

“That I don’t know. You’d have to find out for yourself.”

That sounded like a threat. But he said gold. Gold coins. That was just what I needed. If Master Lio and I both had small rucksacks and filled them with gold coins, we’d definitely have enough to afford the tome!

“Thank you, that’s all,” I said as I turned to everyone to leave.

“What was that all about?” Fiar looked at me with a puzzled expression. He scratched his cheeks that still have food stuck to them. The rest stared with a similar expression.

“An answer,” I said. It was an answer to my dilemma. Although it didn’t seem like an easy task to head into a dungeon supposedly filled with both money and powerful monsters, my fear dissipated. I was giddy again just thinking about all the coins inside. That fear was eradicated by one thought, Master Lio. He was powerful, so there was no question he could easily dispatch whatever hid in there.

Now, all I had to do was drag him along with me to this place. Maybe take along Kueler and someone else too.

They all shook their heads, no explanation needed. It was Kueler who offered his hand into the fray, then Fiar, and finally Christia. That was it. It felt like a giant weight had been lifted off my shoulder.

First thing I wanted to do was tell Master Lio, but he was soundly asleep in the growing night, probably. So I bid farewell to my group, giving them my address to come to me whenever, then dashed out the tavern as fast as my scrawny legs could take me. Fwooosh!

“Wait! You still have to pay for your meal! Miss!” The bartender ran out to the street in an attempt to catch the fleeing girl.

Fiar sighed. “I’ll pay for Charliette.”

“Haha! A man of chivalry, are you?” Kueler bellowed and patted the magician on the back.

“Shut up.”

An extra two silver coins left Fiar’s pocket that day, unwillingly.