Michael was nudged awake by one of the mercs who were being cautious by poking him with a stick. After laughing about it, Michael woke up feeling somewhat refreshed. His nightmares were not as bad as usual, but he felt the things staring at him. It made him feel uneasy, but being in the company of others let him feel some peace.
Yanni finished cooking a stew and handed a bowl to Michael.
“Thanks, Yanni,” Michael said, spooning a bit into his mouth.
“Mmm! Yanni, you seriously make a killer stew.” One of the mercs cried out.
Michael agreed. The meat was juicy and flavorful, and the seasoning and thickness of the soup were perfect. Each person had at least three bowls before the pot was completely empty.
Michael pulled his Magic Cycle out of his ring and got it ready. Yanni approached Michael as the mercenaries began climbing into the carriage.
“Well, Caeldaemos, it truly was a pleasure meeting a demon such as yourself. Please be careful on your path. Do not think that all humans are like us. Most humans would have tried to attack you the moment they realized what you were.” Yanni extended his hand to Michael.
Michael smiled and took the man’s hand. “Thank you, Yanni. I will be sure to remember you.”
Yanni smiled widely, “Of course! If you ever need to do business, please think of Philbra Merchant Group.”
After sharing a short laugh, Yanni climbed into his carriage and got on their way down the road.
Michael watched until they were out of sight. Michael would be stopping at the merchant group. He still had nearly four million Tress to claim.
“WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!” Michael whooped as he sped down the road on his Cycle.
His broad smile was plastered on his face as he had always wanted to try riding a motorcycle in his old world. Michael found it to be more fun than he thought it would be.
Michael had passed the fork in the road that Thomas had told him about and was headed north toward demi-human lands and the capital city of Galgalake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas had returned to Dunluun City with the help of the garrison.
His first stop was to report to the mercenary guild.
Thomas entered the guild branch, heading to one of the open counters where a worker was.
“Hello, oh, Thomas, welcome back.” The young man looked behind Thomas. “Where are the others?”
Thomas paused for a moment. “The old lady in?” He asked, not wanting to look the young man in the eyes.
The young man tensed up at Thomas’ question, fearing the worst. “I will notify her immediately.”
The young man knocked on a door and entered the room. “Madam. Thomas Audine has returned… alone. He wishes to see you.”
The old woman looked up from her desk with a look of worry on her distinguished face. “Bring him up here. Now.” She ordered.
The young man left and brought Thomas as ordered.
Once Thomas was inside, the young man left. It was just the two of them now.
“Sit down, Thomas.” Kindness was in the woman’s voice.
Thomas did as beckoned.
“What happened?” She asked.
“I… It would be better for you to read the report. The last time I tried to talk about it, I couldn’t finish.” Thomas pulled out the notarized document of the vice-commander.
The branch head read through the report, getting more and more upset. By the end, a small stream of tears was rolling down her face.
“I see. Oh, how could this happen?” She placed the report down and held her head in her hands.
“I survived thanks to the help of a wandering demon,” Thomas reported.
“A what?” She asked in surprise. She picked up the report and rechecked it.
“It won’t say it in the report. I let the vice-commander assume he was a demi, mostly for his safety. They would have hunted him down if the garrison knew he was that close. I couldn’t let them kill my savior.” Thomas updated her.
“A demon saved you? That makes me feel like a Demon-Lord may appear any day now. That or a plague.” She forced a chuckle.
“If he became one, I think we would be alright,” Thomas said with a wry smile.
“Don’t curse us like that!” She reprimanded.
The branch head calmed down and looked Thomas in his blue eyes.
“Have you told Yuna yet?” She asked.
Thomas shook his head. “It is a hard thing to do. I tried as soon as I arrived in the city, but… I couldn’t do it.”
“Do you want me to?” She asked, concerned for him.
“No. I must be the one to tell her. I also have much more than that to tell Yuna and to deliver things that will help her. Madam. I plan to retire as of today from being a merc. After what I witnessed, I won’t ever be able to return to the field. I might come back to train newbies at one point, but right now, I am useless.” Thomas informed the old woman.
“I understand. I would say you may have a little over a week before Yuna finds out by herself. Don’t take too long.” She squeezed his hand, giving him a bit of assurance.
“Thank you, madam.” Thomas was on the verge of breaking down again.
Thomas stood, saluted the old woman, and left the office. The last thing he saw was the branch head begin to cry quietly to herself.
It took Thomas almost a week before he forced himself to visit Yuna to inform her of the news. She broke down crying. Thomas stayed with her to support her as much as possible. Yuna worried about how she could provide for herself and her son, but Thomas informed her of his savior.
“S-so. This Michael has Yan’s things?” Yuna asked, cradling her son.
“All but this.” Thomas placed Yan’s journal on the table. “He could have kept it, but he felt the same as me. You deserve to have this.”
Yuna fought back a bout of sobbing. Slowly pulling the journal to her face.
“Thank you… for bringing this back….” Tears flowed down her cheeks.
“Yuna. I brought up Michael because he gave a parting gift for you out of respect and thanks to Yan.” Thomas pulled out and opened the preserving sack.
“What is it?” Yuna asked, looking at the blackish moss.
“Starlight moss.”
Yuna went stiff. “S-s-starlight moss?! The hardest-to-get ingredient of elixirs?!” Her yelling caused Arthur to cry.
Taking a few minutes to calm the boy, she asked Thomas again. “He seriously gave this away? With that amount, Arthur and I will be good, at least until he comes of age. Maybe even have a bit left to pay for a year at the academy.”
“This is not all he gifted. This is just the sample.” Thomas said with a smile.
Giving the ranger a quizzical look, Yuna realized that they might have also been given the location. “W-Where?”
“Beryl forest. I got the location and info. I plan to head to the Philbra Merchant Group tomorrow morning to get things set up. Yuna.” Thomas got her attention. “I made a Divine Oath that I would see to it that you and Arthur are taken care of. I’ll only take enough for me to get by. The rest will go to you.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Yuna thanked him for the offer and asked that he take a bit more to live comfortably.
Before leaving, Thomas made sure that Yuna would be okay. Thomas left Yuna’s home. He would have a crazy day in the morning.
Thomas stood before a six-story building with the Philbra Merchant Group name displayed in large fancy letters.
Walking up to the glass doors, they slid to the sides, letting him in.
Some counters were in use, but a pretty woman in a pastel-colored uniform called Thomas up to her counter.
“Hello, dear sir. Welcome to the Philbra Merchant Group’s Procurement Center. How may I help you?” She welcomed him.
“Ah, yes. I’m here to sell some product and a resource location.” Thomas replied, feeling a bit uncomfortable with how pretty the woman was.
“I see. One moment while I see if a procurement expert is available.” She pressed a button on a panel and spoke into a small crystal microphone. “Product and resource. I repeat, product and resource.”
The woman sat up straight momentarily before a single light began blinking on her panel.
“Ah, someone will see you now. Miss Williams, room number fourteen.” The woman motioned toward a set of sliding doors that opened.
“T-Thank you, miss,” Thomas said as he headed toward the doors.
Thomas walked down the clean hall until he arrived at a door with the number 14 on it. Knocking, someone called him inside.
“Welcome, sir. I understand you are selling a product and resource location?” Miss Williams asked.
She was a middle-aged woman with short blonde hair and nearly as beautiful as the woman at the counter.
“Y-Yes, ma’am.” Thomas was a bit more nervous. Especially since he had a bit of a thing for older women.
She smiled at him brightly.
“Now, please understand that if we already have the location, we cannot compensate you for it. We are more than willing to buy your product at a fair price. I swear by Sylfaerune.”
Thomas watched as the haze of light passed over the woman.
“Thank you. But I think you guys don’t have this location.” Thomas replied.
“We will see. So, what product have you brought for us today?” Miss Williams asked.
“Starlight moss,” Thomas answered.
The woman visibly tensed momentarily and returned to her usual demeanor quickly.
“And… What is the resource at the location?” She asked.
“The same,” Thomas replied, feeling a bit more confident.
Miss Williams stood from her desk and moved over to a table. “Please show me the product.”
She manipulated some controls on the table and put on a set of gloves. A thin barrier appeared over the table area and darkened the space within.
While Thomas placed some of the moss on the table, Miss Williams put on a set of inspection goggles and looked at the moss.
“C-Confirmed. Starlight moss.” Miss Williams removed the goggles and returned the table to normal.
“How much do you have?” She asked.
Thomas showed a decent quantity of Starlight Moss in the sack.
“This much? Did you take everything from the location?” She asked, seeming annoyed at the thought that the location might be unusable.
“Nope. The one who collected it informed me that this was only a little of what was in the location.” Thomas answered.
Miss Williams thought for a moment. “Payment for the resource location will take some time as it will have to be checked, but I am not authorized to make this level of purchase. I will take you to see a senior executive.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yanni entered a large office with three desks, only one occupied by a woman who looked like a tall, slender female version of himself.
“Sister! So good to see you!” Yanni announced.
The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. “Hello, Yanni. I assume your business went well? I heard you got us a hell of a product.”
“That I did.” Yanni approached her desk and handed her a log.
She looked it over, her eyes widening as she went through it. “You must be kidding me. The County of Delta? The nightmare of merchants?”
“Not kidding at all. I already sent a message to them with a copy of this log. We should be hearing from them by tomorrow.” Yanni informed her as he sat down at his desk.
The woman laughed. “How the hell did you get so lucky?”
“I just happened to make a new friend, Liza,” Yanni said as he began to go through some documents left for him at his desk.
“Hmph. This friend has a name?” Liza asked coyly.
“Caeldaemos. A very peculiar demon. I have dealt with many of them, but none were as kind and outgoing as him.” Yanni said with a smile.
“Kind? An outgoing demon? I find that hard to believe with how uptight they are.” Liza commented when someone knocked on their office door.
Liza called for the person to enter.
“Madam, oh, welcome back, sir. Uh, we have been informed that we have someone with a resource location of Starlight Moss.”
Both Yanni and Liza stood up. “Take us to them!” They both cried out.
The siblings entered a fancy waiting room with comfy sofas. On one of them sat a man drinking some coffee.
“Greetings, sir! We understand that you have the location of a rare resource, no?” Yanni began, entering the room with Liza.
“Uh, yes, sir.” The man replied.
“Very good. My name is Yanni, and this is my sister Liza. We are senior executives of the Philbra Merchant Group and will be working with you on this. Might I have your name?”
“Thomas Audine.”
The name caused Yanni to cock his head. “Um, tell me, do you know someone named, Caeldaemos?”
Thomas stifled a laugh. “I might. Why?”
Yanni asked one of his assistants to retrieve something for him.
“I ask because I ran into a demon by that name. He was a good sort. I did some trading with him before we parted ways.” Yanni said.
“I see. Well, to put it simply, he saved my life.” Thomas answered.
“A demon saving a human life?” Liza asked in surprise.
“Yup. He was a peculiar demon.” Thomas chuckled.
“Well, after completing our deal, he asked me to deliver a package and letter to you,” Yanni said as his assistant returned.
“That’s Yan’s pack,” Thomas said as it was handed to him.
“And the letter. Caeldaemos informed me that since he no longer had need of the pack, he wanted it to be returned to the original owner’s family.”
Thomas burst out laughing. “Caeldaemos the Benevolent!”
“Truly a fitting title.” Yanni agreed.
The three sat down and spoke of the location of the Starlight Moss and took a few Divine Oaths.
After a few days, the cave was confirmed to contain a large amount of Starlight Moss.
The Philbra Merchant Company quickly claimed the resource, building an outpost in the location, and paid out an astronomical amount of Tress to Thomas and Yuna. The two ex-mercenaries had to be woken up several times as they could not believe the amount they were given.
Thomas and Yuna swore that every day of their lives, they would offer prayers of thanks to the future Demon-Lord of Owtrelus, Caeldaemos the Benevolent.