“Hello Lilfira. My name is Ranalaiya. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Ranalaiya introduced herself.

“Hi, my name is Sylfrin,” Sylfrin added a short greeting too.

“Hello, it’s… nice to meet you,” Lilfira smiled.

Damn it, Savirei… I dropped my head, not knowing what to do, but suddenly remembered something. Ah crap, I still need to visit Alragus before it becomes too late. Better get going now and figure out what to do regarding Lilfira later.

“Hey, we need to go, ok? I need to visit Alragus,” I reminded my two ladies.

“Ok, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya quickly responded.

“Yes, Master Rockin,” added Sylfrin.

“Yes, sorry, Master Rockin,” said Lilfira, her calling me ‘Master’ making my eyebrows shoot up.

“Look… Lilfira… you don’t have to call me ‘Master’. Rockin is fine,” I told her.

“Huh? But… Miss Savirei said as your woman I should call you ‘Master’,” Lilfira said something I would have never expected she would say.

“Whaaat?” My jaw dropped and my eyes became big, and wide. I stared at Lilfira for a brief moment before snapping out of it. “Sorry, but… you’re not my woman and Ranalaiya and Sylfrin call me Master for different reasons. So, please don’t call me Master, ok?” I said the last words in a rather serious if not stern tone of my voice.

“Ah… S… sorry…” Lilfira said, lowering her head.

“Listen, I still need to know more about your situation, but we need to get going now, so we’ll talk later,” I said with a serious expression on my face, turning to go, the three women following me, with all four of us leaving the diner.

I kept a faster pace as we walked to get to Alragus’ shop sooner, so we basically didn’t talk on our way there. Ranalaiya and Sylfrin could probably tell I was slightly ticked off regarding the situation that Savirei had put me in, leaving me be. They might’ve spoken to Lilfira about something while we walked, but I was deep in thought, so I didn’t hear it even if they have talked among themsleves. Luckily, Alragus’ workshop was still open when we got there which allowed me to let out a sigh of relief.

“You’re back. Welcome,” Alragus was pleased to see me, his eyes catching the three women enter his workshop after me. “Oh…”

“It’s not what you think. Those dragonkins came back and Savirei thought keeping Lilfira at her diner would be too dangerous for her,” I quickly explained. “Oh, and hi.” Before remembering to greet him.

“Yeah, ok,” Alragus mumbled, noticing I wasn’t exactly in the mood.

“Sorry, don’t mind me. Savirei said you wanted to talk to me about something,” I switched the topic.

“Yeah, I need some crafting materials,” Alragus went straight to the point.

“Ok, what do you need?” I asked.

“I need some Plain Iron,” Alragus told me.

“Plain… iron?” I raised an eyebrow. I knew what iron was, but I didn’t know there was something like ‘plain’ iron.

“Yes. Plain Iron is the simplest metal to craft armor. It can also be used to craft weapons, but they won’t be of a very good quality. I am running out but instead of going out and buying some I thought I would post a clan quest,” Alragus explained.

“Oh, ok,” I instantly recognized where he was going with it. “Where can I get some?”

“Well, you can buy some on the market. There are a few shops that sell it, but it’d be cheaper to get some Brown Iron Ore and have a Smelter smelt it into Plain Iron Bars. You’d pay only for smelting it. I thought maybe it’d be cheaper for me too, if you know what I mean?” Alragus hinted at the end.

“Right. Yes, I understand what you mean,” I said, touching my chin with my hand to think about it. “You’ve posted some quests at the Guild in the past, right?”

“Yes, I had,” he said.

“How does it work when you post a quest there?” I wanted to know.

“You simply tell them what you need, pay the fee and they post it on their board,” Alragus said.

“A fee? Right, how much is the fee?” I was surprised at first, but then realized I shouldn’t have been. Of course, the Guild would charge a fee for people to post quests there.

“Ten percent of the job value,” Alragus said.

“Ten percent? Wow,” I gasped. I didn’t expect they would calculate the quest posting fee in percentages, nor that it would be so high. “Hold on. Does that mean you pay ten percent extra on top or is it included in what you have to pay to the person who completes the quest?” I wanted some clarity.

“I pay the fee in advance when I submit the quest and then pay the quest completion money to the person when they deliver the goods. For example, if I were to post a quest to get ten Plain Iron Bars, where one bar of it costs one silver, making the total value of the quest one gold coin, I would have to pay one silver as a quest submission fee to the Guild.” Alragus went into details to make it clear for me.

“Ok, that makes sense,” I got it.

“Only that I’d have to offer extra as a payment upon completing the quest than the actual market price for Plain Iron Bars is,” Alragus added, making me pay attention again.

“Huh? Why?” I couldn’t understand.

“Few reasons. For one, there’s a limited supply for basically any crafting materials out there. I do have my regular suppliers, but more often than not, I run out before they can deliver the next batch. Also, many merchants would opt to sell the goods at higher prices too. Meaning that even if I have placed an order with them to get the goods at a certain date, they’d always look to sell their stock at a higher price. That’s not to say they will try to cheat me or not deliver my order that I have placed. Most sellers would inform me that they could get a hold of the goods that I ordered sooner but at a higher price. If I was willing to pay higher price, they’d sell it to me, but if not, I’d have to wait longer for the next batch. That’s where Guild quests come into play too. Not many adventurers would bother taking on a quest that pays the same amount or less than any merchant would pay for the same goods. Hence, higher payouts for completing Guild quests,” Alragus explained to me how it worked.

Holy damn. So, that’s why Savirei paid me more for the Lesser Trent Wood when she posted a quest at the Guild. I remembered it.

“So… is it ten Plain Iron Bars that you need?” I asked him.

“Ah, no. That was only an example. Six would be more than enough to fulfil the orders that I have,” said the blacksmith.

“Ok. And do the bars cost one silver each for real?” I asked again.

“Yes, give or take. But if I were to post a quest at the Guild I would have to offer a minimum of one silver and two bronze coins for a single Plain Iron Bar to hope anyone would be willing to take it,” Alragus confirmed with an added explanation.

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“Ok, let me think…” I said, holding onto my chin and mulling it over for a brief moment. “How about this then? You post a quest within our clan to get six Plain Iron Bars. You don’t have to pay any extra fee for posting the quest. Instead, the fee comes out from the payment itself and is paid by whoever completes the quest. As for the fee… well… it’d be good for the clan to make some money too I guess, so let’s start with five percent fee for now. How does that sound?”

“You… serious?” Alragus asked, staring at me with his big bison eyes wide open.

“Yeah. I mean… even if you offer to pay the same amount that you’d offer when you post a quest at the Guild, it’ll still save you the ten percent fee that you’d have to pay on top of it. I don’t think it’d be fair to anyone for you to pay less for the materials than a normal market price, but at least you wouldn’t have to pay more than needed. And the fee that the person would pay to the clan can be attributed as paying a clan membership fee, but it will be based on their results rather than a single monthly fee without doing anything.” I had to think if what I have said made sense myself after telling him that.

“Hah, you are something else after all,” Alragus laughed before giving me a satisfied smile. “Yes, I will gladly agree to that. But what about my fee to the clan? If I am the one posting quests but not taking and completing any, I won’t be paying anything to the clan myself.”

“Well, I suppose I could allow people to make donations to the clan as well,” I said, making a weird grimace and throwing my hands to the sides.

“Ahahaha!” Alragus laughed out loud whole heartily. “Yes, being allowed to make donations is an option too.”

“I might put a limit to it, though. You wouldn’t want to donate too much, right?” I made a suggestion, making it sound I was actually serious about it.

“Too true,” Alragus laughed some more.

“Ok, so… where can I find some of that Brown Iron Ore for you?” I asked after the laughs subsided.

“What? You’re gonna do it yourself?” Alragus asked, feeling surprised.

“Who else would do it? Tarrion?” I asked, crinkling my nose.

“Right. Well, if you’re willing, there are two mines not that far from Hirvant that you can check. But if you want to mine the ore, you’d need someone with a Mining Skill to do it. Otherwise, the ore deposit would crumble into useless rocks and not give the actual ore even if you manage to destroy it by sheer force,” Alragus informed.

“Oh, that…” I frowned, remembering you couldn’t do specific jobs in this world if you didn’t have a skill for it.

“That or you could kill monsters for the drops too,” Alragus offered some good news after seeing my disappointed frown. “Although, the drop rate from monsters is rather low. Just so you know.”

“Wait, does that mean the mine is just another dungeon?” I asked, a certain realization hitting me when he mentioned monsters dropping items.

“Yes and no,” said Alragus. “You could consider a mine being a mini dungeon of sorts. They usually aren’t as big as normal dungeons and there hasn’t been any news of a boss monster spawning in a mine. Majority of the mines are inhabited by monsters that drop crafting materials but the drop rate is so low that not many adventurers bother going there. More often than not, miners would hire adventurers as guards to go mine for ore, but even then, the pay is usually very low unless they could go much deeper into the mine where they could find better quality ore.”

“Ok,” I said, tilting my head to one side, thinking about it. “Do you know where the location of the mine is?”

“I don’t since I have never been there myself, but the Guild would definitely know since they accept quests from miners,” Alragus said.

“Right. Ok then, let’s make this our clan’s first official quest, but before I leave… I want you to check our equipment. I know it’s late now, but I am not planning to go anywhere tonight anyway,” I told him.

“Sure thing. Show me your gear and I will tell you how long it would take me to fix it, if it needs fixing at all,” Alragus said.

Ranalaiya and I took out our gear and placed it on one of the work benches for Alragus to inspect, with Ranalaiya taking out only her Vicious Talons for Alragus to inspect since her armor was crafted by me.

“Humph, your Tarkee King’s Shield is perfectly fine, but the Piercing Shield will need some work. Your armor has no issues either. Although, I can polish it a little. Ranalaiya’s Vicious Talons could use some sharpening but otherwise they are totally fine. Should be a quick work,” Alragus informed me after inspecting our equipment.

“Great, thanks. Speaking of our equipment, I’ll be looking to get new equipment sooner rather than later. Ranalaiya’s Vicious Talons are good, but she’s level thirteen now, so a new pair of better claw weapons wouldn’t hurt. As for me, I’d like to get new armor that has Equip Level twelve or maybe even higher,” I told Alragus.

“Hmph…” Alragus furrowed his eyebrows to have a think about it. “With the materials I have I could craft level eight or nineth armor for you, but if you want something better, you’d need to get me some higher quality materials. I can do only so much with the Plain Iron, you see. If you could get a hold of some Hardened Iron Ore which can also be found in the mines, I could craft some armor that would be around Equip Level ten. If you want something even better than that, you’d need to find some Silver Iron Ore, but that one would be hard to get. It is too rare of an ore for the monsters to drop and you’d need someone with a minimum level three Mining Skill to mine it.”

“Really? Damn…” I crinkled my nose, Alragus’ words basically killing my hope of getting better armor any time soon.

“Yeah, sorry. I don’t usually get higher quality materials myself unless someone brings them to me when placing a custom order to craft something,” Alragus added a reason behind it.

“Ok, don’t worry about it. It’s getting late, so I’ll leave you to it now. I’ll come back tomorrow when we’re ready to leave to pick up our gear. Oh, do you need any Rhaki’s skins by any chance?” I asked before leaving.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll take four,” he said.

“Four? Ok,” I said. I was hoping Alragus would need more since I had a bunch of them, but selling four was better than selling none. After the transaction was made, we went directly to Navirei’s inn. My head was full of thoughts about going into a mine tomorrow, so again, I wasn’t talking to anyone on our way back. Only when we entered our room at the, I remembered we had one extra person with us.

Ah, shit. Lilfira… I rubbed the back of my head when I turned to tell Ranalaiya and Sylfrin to go wash themselves first.

“So… why don’t you three go wash yourselves first?” I suggested. “In the meantime, I’ll… go check with the clerk at the reception if I could get another room for Lilfira to stay.”

“What? But why, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya asked me, looking to be surprised about it too.

What do you mean ‘why’? I frowned in a weird manner.

“Because… well… she’s not gonna sleep together with us,” I said, rolling my eyes and trying to hint to what I actually meant by ‘sleep together with us’.

“Why not, Master?” Ranalaiya asked again.

Why are you asking ‘why’ questions!? I screamed in my head, thinking it should be obvious.

“Yes, why not, Master Rockin?” Sylfrin asked next. “Don’t you find Lilfira to be beautiful and attractive?”

Eh? Hey, I know where you’re going with that. Aargh… Sylfrin is being Sylfrin alright. I sank my face into my palm.

“She is… pretty, but that’s not the point here,” I sort of understood Ranalaiya’s and Sylfrin’s reasoning, but at the same time, I didn’t. “We three are close and Lilfira and I have met only a short while ago.”

“Yes, but Lilfira said she wouldn’t mind sleeping together with you, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya insisted.

“What?” I exclaimed, trying to remember when she actually said that while definitely knowing she never did.

That’s right, they must’ve talked about it among themselves. I realized the two of them must have spoken to Lilfira while I was talking to Alragus. My only hope was they haven’t told Lilfira all the other intimate details about us sleeping together, which wouldn’t surprise me if they had.

“I wouldn’t mind sleeping together or… taking a bath together with you, Mas… ah… sorry, Mister… Rockin?” Lilfira corrected herself at the last second, noticing me furrowing my eyebrows when she was about to call me ‘Master’.

“What do you mean ‘you wouldn’t mind’? We’ve just met. Why would you want to… do those things?” I couldn’t understand it. One reason was, Lilfira wasn’t my slave, so she had no obligation to do anything for me.

“Miss Savirei said that if I offered myself to you, you’d be willing to keep me by your side,” Lilfira said.

“What?” I gasped, literally thinking I’ve just misheard her.

“I said, I am willing to… to offer myself to you, so I could… stay by your side, Ma… Master Rockin,” Lilfira called me ‘Master’ this time despite knowing I told her not to.

“You’re saying… Savirei has told you to do that?” I asked, wanting to confirm it.

“Ahm… yes. I mean, yes, Master Rockin,” Lilfira repeated herself, also bowing her head down.

“I see…” I said, giving quite a stern look to Ranalaiya and Sylfrin, both of them lowering their eyes as a result of it. They could definitely tell what my look meant. “Ok, go wash yourselves first while I hang the hammock up.” I added, my words sounding almost like an order.

“Yes, Master Rockin,” all three of them responding almost at the same time.

{after Ranlaiya, Sylfrin and Lilfira left the bathroom}

“We’re done with our bath, Master Rockin,” Ranalaiya said the moment the three of them came out of the bathroom. She sounded a little timid but cheerful. All three were wearing pajamas, with Lilfira wearing second pair of Sylfrin’s pajamas that she has lent to her. Although, the top part looked to be slightly too big, especially around Lilfira’s chest.

“Ok, great. The hammock is big enough to sleep three people in it, so Lilfira can sleep together with you two or she can take the bed. Good night,” I told them before giving Ranalaiya and Sylfrin goodnight kisses and was about to leave the room.

“Huh? Where are you going, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya asked, feeling puzzled.

“I’ve booked another room which is opposite of ours for the night. I’ll sleep there. I am certain nobody will disturb you during the night, but if anything happens, call me. I’ll see you in the morning,” was the last thing I said before leaving the room. I didn’t even wait for any of them to say anything.

“Master Rockin, wait,” Ranalaiya tried to stop me, but I simply shut the door behind me. “No. He… left.” Ranalaiya added with a sad expression on her face.