“Hey,” said Ravel as he entered Burney’s store. Elice looked up from her book and stared at his face.
“What? What’s wrong?” Ravel shifted uncomfortably as the stare continued unabated.
Elice pointed at a spot next to her lip. Ravel’s brows furrowed in confusion as he rubbed his hand next to his own lips, only to find nothing there.
“Other side.”
Ravel promptly shifted his hand on the other side of his face and felt it brush against something soft and fluffy. Wiping it off his face he inspected the material on his fingers.
“Ahem,” coughed Ravel, quickly licking the cream from his fingers, “How strange. I wonder how that got there.”
Elice rolled her eyes and put down her book. “I’ll go call him.”
“Thanks,” said Ravel sheepishly.
Burney arrived down the staircase only to be welcomed by the sight of Ravel shaking his head, with a hand covering his face.
“So lad. Is it done?” he simply asked, having become somewhat accustomed to Ravel’s idiosyncrasies after their past few meetings.
“Ah, yeah. Yeah,” said Ravel putting his hand down and looking up at Burney. He pulled out the ID card from his pocket, “D-Rank.”
The Grilix horn had been a surprise for Burney, but it was nowhere near the shock he felt when he realized the party responsible for it was an E-Ranker. When he first heard Ravel say it, he thought his leg was being pulled. It was only when Ravel whipped out his ID that Burney realized he was being serious. To say that it was unusual for an E-Ranker to have such strength was an understatement. As complete rookies the only horn Burney would expect one to be capable of bringing back was that of a deer. A Grilix was something that D-Rankers had to band together to deal with. Yet this absentminded youngster before him had not only brought the horn; he had brought it within 12 hours of the quest being public.
To test if it wasn’t just a fluke, Burney had sent Ravel out on a few more quests since then. For Ravel — who had begun counting the coins he had left every night and calculating the days before he was kicked out of the inn and starved to death — it was as if free money had begun to fall from the heavens and straight into his lap. He was more than happy to oblige.
For the past couple weeks, he alternated between taking a few E-Rank quests in order to earn his promotion and a quest from Burney in order to earn his living. The quests were relatively more challenging, mostly related to locating wild beasts that lived a few hours, or occasionally days, walk away from town and engaging them in a bit of fisticuffs. They had all gone pretty smoothly, apart from that one time he had to hunt a Red-Tailed Snake. He wasn’t the biggest fan of snakes and had to psych himself up for that one.
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Burney felt he had hit the jackpot. In a small town like Duran, there was a dearth of high level adventurers. Thus those that did operate here commanded a premium price. With the strength Ravel had displayed, he would probably obtain C-Rank status inside of a year. Burney could only thank lady luck for the opportunity to avail the services of such an adventurer while he was still green and inexpensive.
“Great job,” smiled Burney, “In that case, allow me the honor of giving you your first official D-Rank quest. I’ll be needing an ore.”
“An ore.”
“Indeed. It’s a special kind of ore. Name’s Infernal Hematite.”
“Oh my.”
“Don’t worry, the name is unnecessarily impressive. The metal inside it is pretty useful, but not that uncommon. The only reason it isn’t readily available in the market here is cause we’re way out in the boonies. Plus the only place around here that has it is a cave that runs a bit deep. Not too many people wanna go.”
“Trudging down a deep, dark cave. Lovely.”
“You in?”
“Yeah fine, I guess. You have a map I suppose?”
“Yep, right here,” said Burney handing Ravel a piece of rolled up parchment.
“And how much of it do you need?” said Ravel as he accepted the map.
“Not much. But just to be on the safe side, fill this whole bag up with it,” said Burney picking up an empty, medium-sized leather bag from behind the counter and placing it on the wooden countertop.
“You better make this worth my while, old man,” said Ravel grabbing the bag and putting it over his shoulder.
“Oh, you know me son. Never had it in me to cheat someone out of their fair share,” said Burney with a magnanimous look on his face, “How’s about we go with 200 ceors and call it a day? Waddya say?”
Ravel narrowed his eyes, causing Burney to stiffen.
“You take me for a sucker?” he said seriously, as Burney began to sweat.
“Now, now……”
“I won’t lift a finger for less than 220. Take it or leave it.”
There was silence in the shop that lasted for nearly ten seconds — before being broken by a gentle sigh from Elice and a mumble that sounded suspiciously like dumbass.
“Boy, you drive a hard bargain. It’ll be tough to make profit off of margins like that. But if you insist, then I suppose I have no choice. 220 it is,” said Burney solemnly as he put forth his hand, which Ravel shook, eager to seal the deal in case Burney changed his mind. With the matter settled, the two equally smug men parted ways.
----------------------------------------
“Welcome to Huu’s Crystal Store. How may I help?” asked the clerk as Ravel entered the store.
“I’d like to buy three small Essence crystals and two small Light crystals,” said Ravel.
“Here you go,” said the clerk, picking three small, violet and two white crystals from the assortment of stones hanging on the wall behind him, “That’ll be 80 ceors.”
With a pained smile, Ravel took out the coins from his purse and reluctantly placed them on the counter. Picking up the crystals, he gave them a quick look over before putting them in his bag. Exiting the store Ravel walked to another shop nearby and picked up a small but sturdy pickaxe. Having done that, he mentally went over his checklist and confirmed that he had brought everything he would need for the trip.
His destination, called the Jurk Cave, was located some distance from town. He had rented a horse for the trip. One of the benefits of his new promotion — no lengthy process for accessing services of that nature. His Adventurer ID could now serve as a credibility check. E-Rank IDs didn’t have that value, they were much too easy to get.
Walking at a leisurely pace, he soon reached the stable. Meeting the man with whom he’d made the agreement, he handed over some coins and got on his horse. He walked the horse carefully until he reached the gates before picking up the pace. It didn’t take long before the town went out of view.