"Sureee," Carl said with a wink. "So you'll be having the usual today or need a little more after what didn't happen?"

Ryan wanted to throttle the bartender at this point, but he knew there was no way he was going to be able to take on the man as he was well built.

"You know what, Carl, I don't need to eat because nothing happened," Ryan said as he began walking out of the inn, hurrying to avoid the inevitable comeback.

"Have a fair-ry good day," Carl said with a chuckle as Ryan speed-walked out the door.

Ryan couldn't help the amount of color on his face. Taking a moment to collect himself, he looked up to see...

"Hey there, buddy, it's been a while."

"Leo?" Ryan asked.

"The one and only. How've you been, my friend?"

Oh, what fresh hell is this.

"When did you get back into town?" Ryan asked, still in disbelief.

Leo let out a chuckle at the question.

"I got back into town a couple of weeks ago, had a gig to brew," Leo said.

Looking closely at his friend, he could tell that Leo had changed immensely; his entire demeanor and look had changed.

The boy he grew up with had now matured into a man. He had a youthful stubble, but that was where the youthfulness stopped.

Leo had bulked up, his face had hardened, and a scar ran across his exposed arm, most of it hidden by his shirt.

"And you didn't tell me that you were back?" Ryan asked, his mouth turning down at the fact that a man he considered a brother didn't tell him about something as important as that.

"I couldn't tell you about that. I had to take an oath by the Styx to keep it confidential," Leo said in a hushed tone.

"Oh, that sounds serious. You sure do look good, so the pay must've been amazing," Ryan said.

"You have no idea. You want to go into the tavern, or were you just leaving?" Leo asked.

Looking around, Ryan realized that they'd been standing outside the Messy Inn for a while.

"Leaving actually. I got a business to run," Ryan said sheepishly.

"Oh, I understand. Well, if you can spare an old friend some time, I'm currently boarding at the Siren's Call. Come by anytime you can," Leo offered.

"Sure, I'll come by tonight as soon as I'm done with work," Ryan said.

"Looking forward to it," Leo said, slapping Ryan on the back with so much force that it had almost toppled him.

Before Ryan could reply, Leo was already on his way, heading towards what seemed like the upper district.

Ryan let out a gasp as soon as Leo got far enough. He almost coughed up his lungs in the process. The friendly 'pat' from Leo had almost smashed him into the cobblestone, especially since he'd refused to have breakfast this morning.

That was no one else's fault, though. He was still lost, thinking about how bulked up Leo had become.

Taking his mind off it, he began walking down to the market to purchase items for brewing potions as he was almost out.

The walk was as uneventful as always, but Ryan couldn't care less; his mind was in tumult, so many things were happening at the same time.

The adventurers, Leo, Looters Heaven, the ring, Gerhalt, and the tax...

The Banking Guild. Ryan almost screamed. The damned Banking Guild. Ryan had almost forgotten about them. The good part was that the interest on the original loan had only gone up by one gold; the bad part was that he couldn't even afford it.

Without wasting much time, he quickly went through the market getting all the items that he was supposed to use to brew the potions for the day.

Everything cost him three gold, but it was well worth it as he knew he was probably going to get way more than that back into his pouch.

As soon as Ryan got into his shop, he began brewing for the day. His hangover, even as mild as it was, made simple activities like grinding herbs together much harder and unpleasant than they usually were.

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He couldn't even go a single pound without his head feeling like it was about to pop off, but he managed to get through it, somehow.

After letting the potions cool down, he began bottling them up without much stress.

The total potions he'd managed to brew for the entire day amounted to almost three hundred and fifty potions, which was a great haul.

He didn't have the strength to begin arranging them on the shelves, so he decided to have a seat and finally confront the thoughts that had been bouncing through his head since he saw his childhood friend Leo.

The wiry boy that had once looked like a twig had turned into a macho man. The nerdy frame replaced by that of a typical brawler.

Leo had gone from pauper status like him to whatever he currently was.

Leo had left the orphanage at the same time that Ryan had been kicked out.

He'd tried to hack it as a street boy, but a nerdy boy trying to act tough never really turned out well.

Everything changed when Leo turned eighteen, around a day after he got his class as an Alchemist. No matter how hard or often Ryan asked, he could never find out what Leo's profession was.

The boy's mood turned sour as he turned eighteen, as though the combo wasn't something he wanted.

Soon enough, Leo decided that their little town wasn't where he wanted to stay, so he up and left, leaving a note on the bed for Ryan to read—the same bed that Ryan still slept in.

The note didn't even say much, just that Leo had decided to try his luck elsewhere.

Ryan initially thought that Leo had been kidnapped or something had happened to him. He tried to search for him in multiple places, but it was all for naught. His best friend had decided to leave without telling him to his face.

Just for him to appear like nothing had happened. Like he hadn't ghosted him for years.

Besides that, Ryan was really happy to see his friend in one piece and obviously doing well for himself.

He was a little envious, but he was sure that Leo had worked hard to get where he was at this point. It was up to Ryan to make sure that he didn't fall behind.

Letting out a sigh, he got up on his feet and began to arrange his potions on the crooked shelves.

It wasn't that interesting of a chore for Ryan, but the repetitive nature made him calm and gave him a sense of control and order in his currently messy life.

He wasn't even done arranging the potions when a potential customer walked up to his shop.

Quickly emptying his hands of the potions still bundled in them and wiping them clean of any liquid residue, Ryan approached the counter.

"Good day, fair lady, how can I help you?" Ryan asked, hoping this was just going to be a normal transaction rather than an "It's me who's supposed to be asking you that" kind of conversation.

"Well, I'm here for your potions. Cicero has said good things about them," the female adventurer said.

Cicero? Ryan didn't think that he'd be receiving referrals this early into the deal. They'd just confirmed their partnership yesterday, after all.

"Well, I can assure you that you're at the right place to receive the best vials of potions in the Eternal Realm. How many vials are you interested in purchasing, fair lady?" Ryan said.

"Flattery, such a cliché. Try to be a little different; almost all you merchants in this market want to smother me with it. Nonetheless, I'd love to purchase the premium package I've been hearing about," she replied.

"Excellent choice, ma'am, and if every merchant has been flattering you, that must mean that you're certainly a sight for our sore eyes that's always on the ledger, no?" Ryan said with his brightest smile.

Not waiting to hear her answer, he began arranging her items.

"Here are your items, fair lady," Ryan said, still maintaining the smile.

"Again with the flattery, at least try a normal smile. It's a little too wide," the adventurer said with a little blush seeming to creep up her cheeks.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind. Your bill will be three hundred and ten silvers," Ryan said.

Within moments, silvers had exchanged hands.

She turned and walked away. Ryan's face turned into one of maximum satisfaction. Finally, things were starting to look up for him.

He resumed arranging the potions on the shelves and soon finished, taking a seat to rest from all the hard work he'd done all day.

Ryan didn't know when he began to smile.

"What are yer smiling about, lad?" a voice called from outside his shop.

Jumping up to his feet startled, Ryan saw that it was the dwarf who'd failed to advertise his potions.

"Nothing," Ryan said abashedly at being caught daydreaming.

"It better not be nothing, because that would mean that yer going mad, lad," the dwarf mused.

"I meant it isn't anything that you need to worry about," Ryan said, a little too defensively.

"Cool your hots, lad. I'm not an inquisitor. Veron's Clangers, lad, I just came for some potions," the dwarf said.

Ryan nearly snapped at the dwarf who was now holding up his arms in mock surrender. Instead, he took a deep breath before proceeding.

"I apologize for that. The premium package?" Ryan asked.

"No, I've actually come bearing good news," the dwarf said with his trademark mischievous smile back on his face.

Ryan couldn't deal with this psychopath for much longer; he already felt like going over the counter and throttling him.

"And what would that be?" Ryan asked as politely as he could.

"Since you've asked so nicely, I'll tell you. Even though yesterday's event ended up in a defeat for me, I'd like you to know that a few adventurers reached out to me to get some vials on their behalf," the dwarf said, smiling.

Ryan's anger quickly drained out within seconds at the prospect of earning gold soon.

"That's wonderful news. How many will you require?" Ryan asked eagerly.

"A premium package," the dwarf said, his smile growing wider; Ryan didn't even know how that could be possible.

"I thought I just heard you say that a couple of adventurers reached out to you for potions," Ryan said.

"Yer heard right, lad, but I was just pulling yer legs. Seemed like you'd enjoy a joke or two, since you like to smile so much. Nobody ever gets my jokes, but yer would be a first, eh, lad?" The dwarf said as he burst out laughing.

Ryan had half the mind to reach out the other side of the shop and punch the dwarf, but the warhammer he had in his right hand like it was nothing reminded Ryan that even if he was dumb, he was certainly not suicidal.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan let his face return to normal. He went to the back of his shop to get the premium package ready and brought it to the front.

"Here's your package, it'll cost you three hundred and ten silvers," Ryan said, making sure to keep the stream of profanities that he could use to end the sentence to himself.

"No discount?" the dwarf asked as he counted his coins.

"Yes, unfortunately, we can no longer offer discounts," Ryan said through gritted teeth.

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