“So, what is the status since I’ve been gone.”

Although Faeyna had worried about me, she was a professional head maid. She should have completed her duties, and I gave her plenty of time to get things going all around. She wiped away her tears, let go of me, and then got down to business. We were just outside the travelling guild, so this had made a scene. I ended up taking her to a small tavern before I told her to go on.

“Master, after selling everything, I accumulated 2000 gold in wealth. Unfortunately, even small ships are especially expensive, and to make it on such short notice, only with Archbishop Mary’s personal recommendation was that shipwright willing to make the request. As for everyone else, it’d take far too long!”

“Well, I suppose that is to be expected. I had hoped they could use a preexisting boat and modify it, but I guess that’s impossible given our unique needs.”

I wanted the boat to also be able to sail the open sea when needed. I had a feeling, sooner or later, we’d reach larger levels that were self-contained worlds. Some of these might be water worlds, and so I wanted to be ready. Thus, the things I had requested were top tier. It was Faeyna’s job to negotiate him down as much as possible. When the actual payment took place, I’d try to use Haggle to drop it even further.

“Yes, Master.” Faeyna nodded, but she had an uncertain look in her eyes.

“How much does he want?” I asked, suddenly getting a sinking feeling.

“As to that… Master… the request is… 5000 gold.”

I let out a noise, nearly choking. “5000?”

“That’s ridiculous!” Miki cried out.

Faeyna’s expression remained steady. “It’s true. You could buy a galleon for the price he’s asking. However, what you asked for is an armored ship that is resistant to attacks a dungeon can deliver. The ship he’s making is constructed from mithril.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Mithril? He’s a Magic Blacksmith?”

“No… but the parts he acquired are mithril. Apparently, he’s been gathering all the parts to build a mithril ship his entire life. You could call it his life dream. That’s the other reason he can complete it so quickly. He simply needs to bind and connect all of the parts after buying the few that are missing. He wouldn’t even be willing to sell it to us without Archbishop Mary’s recommendation.

“Apparently, she said many things that gave him a good impression of us. He’s a follower of the church, although I’m not sure if that’s true.”

“Why do you say that?”

Faeyna blushed. “He kept talking about my chest and how close to god I was. Then, he wanted to know how big it was. I eventually had to set him straight.”

“Ah… that sounds like the church after all.”

The fact that the Church worshipped Big Chests wasn’t a secret, per se, but it was willfully ignored by most. Only devote followers, and a lucky few invited into the inner sanctum were aware of this aspect of the church. On the surface, they followed the Mother and seemed like any normal church. Their texts might have alluded to mother’s milk a bit more than most, but you wouldn’t notice unless you read them religiously. So, it was no surprise an elf formerly from the back country didn’t know about the Church’s dirty little secret.

“If you say so, Master,” She still looked uncertain, but continued dutifully. “He says it will be the most powerful and undefeatable ship on the seas. Although it has no weapons, he says he’s leaving room for upgrades. He requests that we allow him to keep upgrading it even after purchase, and he promises to fix it if ever there was damage. That money also ensures his lifetime support on this item. Its value by the time he is done would be astronomical, so 5000 gold is a small sum considering.”

“True… but we don’t have that much. When does he need it by?”

“He says he will be finished with the ship to the point we can use it in the dungeon in two days. He demands payment by then.”

“Two days!” I bit my lip. “How do we earn 2000 gold in two days?”

“Excuse me…” A seedy figure suddenly speaks up from behind us.

I spun around to see a wiry man who seemed to have come out from the Traveller’s Guild. He wore poor, dirty robes, and had the look of a scam artist.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I just overheard you speaking of your issues with money. You seem like a strong group. Have you considered Dungeon Diving? I have just the place.”

“A dungeon, you say?”

Perhaps I could recover my DP more quickly than I had thought.