“You can hold on to the 1000 Denars, consider it advance payment. You earned it.” Luna pushed the gold coin away with a gentle smile as she stood up from her stool.

“How was the Arena, it was your first time there right? Were there any good shows on?” she excitedly pestered Exill.

It had been years since she last saw a show in the Arena, and that had been with Nana, may the World embrace her soul. She had toyed with the idea of going on a date with him when he brought the duel up last night, but it had seemed inappropriate at the time.

“There were a few, but all I remember was ‘Forbidden Love: The Wolf and the Ranger’ and ‘My Vampire Master’… speaking of which, tomor-”

“Oh, Forbidden Love! I’ve heard of it while shopping in the market. They say it’s really sad and romantic… d-do you think we can go watch it together, maybe after your duel?”

Exill felt the two clay tickets to ‘My Vampire Master’ burning a hole through his pocket. It was fortunate he had been interrupted before admitting that Envy would be watching a play with him tomorrow.

“Y-yeah… that would be nice.”

They spent the next hour restocking medicine when the next patient arrived. He was a tanner whose fingers had been caught in a winch system. Exill exhaled as he inspected what was left of the pinkie and the finger next to it. The Tanner had been relieved of pain but was covering his eyes in fear.

“I’m sorry but these two fingers have to go, we can arrange a treatment plan to regrow them once they have fully healed.”

The Tanner simply nodded, not trusting his voice. Exill got to work cleaning up the edges, and sewed the stump closed. He handed the patient over to Luna for poultice and bandaging as he went to the washbasin to scrub his hands. Just like the day before, he checked his Card to see if the operation had raised his [Witchdoctor] to level 20…

[Witchdoctor] lvl 20 - NEW ACTIVE SKILL [Mana Infuse]

Mana infused poultices and potions are now more effective (scales with level)

Exill grinned. It was finally here, and it was something good! While Luna was discharging the patient, he picked up one of Savta’s healing salves and channelled mana into it. It absorbed a fifth of his mana and when inspected with [Appraisal] it appeared as ‘Infused Healing Poultice – Price: ???’

‘Ah, so items that are the first of its kind do not have a price. I guess that makes sense.’ Exill toyed with the polished wooden container idly while thinking up ways to utilise this new power. Touching Luna’s elbow to grasp her attention, he held the pot out to her, “I know this is a weird request, but can you buy this poultice off me for fifteen Denars?”

Luna looked quizzically at Exill. He often made strange requests like this. One evening he had listed a series of absurd statements and asked her which of them was most believable while checking his Card between each lie. She had quickly learned that it was better to entertain him than ask what he was up to. Reaching into her coin pouch, she handed him fifteen denars with a little flourish.

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“Thank you sir Witchdoctor, it is my greatest desire to own one of your concoctions.”

Exill appraised the ‘Infused Healing Poultice’ in her hands, but the price still appeared as ‘???’.

‘Damn, is the World capable of sensing a transaction is valid or not? How is that even possible? Actually… it kind of makes sense. If the price had changed that easily, merchants would be able to manipulate the market price of commodities, and the [Price Range] skill would become useless.’

A slight chill ran down his back at the thought of a sentient Will that judged what transactions were valid or not.

“Exill? Is there something special about this poultice?” From Luna’s perspective, he had taken her fifteen denars in exchange for a simple poultice and stood there, glaring at it for a solid minute with furrowed brows. To her, it just looked like an ordinary item, one of many they produced and sold. Exill returned the fifteen denars to her and explained:

“I just obtained a new job skill for Witchdoctor. It allows me to infuse mana into poultices and potions and it increases their effect - sorry, I meant to say - I suspect it increases effectiveness by a small amount.”

Exill had nearly forgotten that normal people didn’t have access to skill descriptors. Despite this, he was immediately bombarded with a hug from Luna.

“That is amazing! I’m touched you wanted me as your first customer!”

“Yes *cough*, I also think fifteen denars is a fair price for this premium product.”

“Then please infuse as much as you can!”

***

Exill was chatting with Luna after dinner on the various types of potions and poultices, and which of them would best infuse with mana. He had managed to only infuse four of them before his magic ran out, but looking at his Card now, it was back to around half full.

He turned around to see Envy had returned, covered in dirt climbing up the stairs. Only those who were familiar with her would have noticed the hint of sheepishness in her eyes.

“Well, well… finally dragged yourself in for a meal?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. It was time they had another talk about boundaries and how much she was allowed to feed on a single day.

Envy ignored him and started heating water over the fire to clean herself. Exill followed suit and decided if she was going to ignore him, she won’t be getting a meal tonight, not that she deserved one in the first place!

He continued his conversation with Luna over which concoctions were worth infusing with mana before finally turning in for the night an hour later.

*Squeak*

The door slowly opened, and he looked up to find Envy silhouetted by the dying embers of the kitchen fireplace. She closed the door behind her and climbed into bed, using his arm as a pillow. Exill held her back by the forehead just as she was about to bite down.

“Let’s talk a bit before we feed.”

“About w-what?”

“About overfeeding the night before, where you’ve been all day, and our plans for tomorrow.” He loosened his grip so that she could turn to answer his questions.

“You want to hear I’m sorry? If we’re going to talk about boundaries, you’re the one at fault for touching my hair, who said you could do that?!” She emphasized her anger by striking his side painfully with an elbow. “Your blood for your crimes is fair exchange. Today I hunted in the Labyrinth and will do so tomorrow.”

Exill tightened his grip on her forehead as she tried to bite in again, “Not so fast! I’ll let you feed, but you can drink only half the normal amount, and you need to promise to go to the Arena with me after lunch and watch an event.”

Envy paused; she didn’t really care for spectating duels. If he thought it might prepare him for the fight with Sir Eumol, she would be happy to accompany him. Maybe he was embarrassed to go alone.

“Fine, but I’ll drain you dry if you touch me again.”