S18, Profitable Businesses (Part 1)

“Dammit, Marcus had to take on a mission now of all times!” Stroud complained as we crossed the southern gates of Algus.

We had spent most of the morning inside the forest. Since most of us had been injured during the tavern’s brawl we had decided that gathering herbs was the best way to make some coins until we were healthy enough to enter the dungeon.

“And you don’t know when he will be back?” I said without paying him much attention.

“No, they don’t know. We were told the other instructors are going to pick the groups he was teaching, but it’s going to make things really slow.” Stroud told me with a frustrated expression.

“Slow?” I asked confused. “Oh, right. You still need the instructors to lead you into the caves.”

Marcus was their assigned instructor in the same way Remme was ours. He should be the one to teach them everything they needed to know about the deeper parts of the dungeon before they could explore them on their own.

“Yeah, but with Marcus gone we don’t know when that will happen. The other instructors said we will be given a date once we are fully healed.”

“Maybe by the time we are ready everything has been sorted and we can head in straight away.” Bert commented appearing at my side. He always wore a grin on his face that made him look like he was plotting something.

Behind us the rest of our companions were also entering the town. We had gone into the woods as one big group. Just like Terence had predicted there were almost no useful herbs near the town, so we had to walk quite a long distance before finding a good place.

"Ugh, we spent half the morning just to walk there," Falnid complained hunching his back.

“We can’t help it. There are really not many profitable tasks one can do in the corridors. Most trainees have found out that picking herbs is easier and safer than hunting rats for their ears.” Terence told him. “At least we have people that knows how to find the best spots.” He added looking my way.

But this time I had not been the only one giving directions. Stroud’s group was surprisingly knowledgeable about medicinal plants, specially the boy called Linwood. He was normally a quiet guy that I barely noticed, but today he had become very talkative as he explained us about the best spots to find herbs and how to distinguish certain plants from similar ones. Some details were even unknown to me.

“Well, I guess it’s not so bad after all, if we were to go inside the dungeon like this we would get munched by the first monster we encounter,” Stroud joked. “By the way Simon, what’s the worst thing you have found down there?”

“The most dangerous? Probably the varans,” I answered almost immediately. “They are the strongest monster we have seen in the dungeon, although they aren’t very fast. You can take care of them easily if you attack from their flank.”

“I have seen some of those, the hunters from my town caught them from time to time. During some holidays they would even bring some alive to sacrifice to the local deity.” Stroud told me as he reminisced about the past. Then his face darkened. “I don’t know if I want to fight one with only a spear in hand.”

“They aren’t so bad,” I reassured him after seeing his expression.“Unlike wild boars they almost never charge at you, if your vanguard can keep it at bay from the front you will have a good opportunity to pierce its neck vein. If you fail and it gets too aggressive just retreat, they tend to run from adventurers.”

“Neck vein?”

“Oh, yes that’s something like a weak spot…”

As we walked along Algus’ main street I kept telling Stroud about the best ways to catch lizard type beasts.

“I see. You really know a lot about beasts, Simon. Those weak spots you mentioned seem really useful. I guess we will have to practice with dungeon lizards first. Anyway we have almost arrived.” Stroud praised me as we headed into an alleyway. This time our destination wasn’t the guild’s reception but the herbalist’s pavilion.

“Hmm, are you sure there is no problem if we sell these to Herbalist Gardner?” I asked a bit worried that we could be breaking some of the guild’s regulations. I didn’t know if we were allowed to sold our haul of heelen herbs directly to the guild’s herbalist instead of handing them to the guild’s counter.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Don’t worry.” Stroud casually waved his hand. “We have done this plenty of times, Gardner is a nice fellow, he will buy everything we have brought.”

Under Stroud’s group instructions we had collected all kinds of herbs, some of which weren’t listed on the bulletin board. Most of them helped with pain while others reduced the swelling from bruises and wounds. We had had a good haul, but I was of the opinion that we had picked too many. They would spoil before the herbalist had a chance to use all of them.

“You are still not convinced, aren’t you?” Stroud said looking at me. Then he patted my shoulder and smiled. “Relax, Gardner will make ointments with those herbs, he needs enough to last until next summer. You don’t know because you barely get hurt in the dungeon, but every time we go for some treatment he practically begs us to head into the woods and pick as many medicinal plants as we can. He taught us all we know about herbs”

“Oh. Some of the things you mentioned in the forest were very interesting. I would like to ask him a few things when I have the time.”

“If you want to know about something you should ask Linwood first. His grandmother is an herbalist. He really knows how to use that stuff.”

We had already arrived in front of the herbalist’s pavilion and Stroud stepped forward to open the door. Once in the hallway we could hear the voices of two people discussing.

“I’m telling you! I really need them. I barely have enough for the blood potions, the last batch is going to spoil if I don’t get some soon.” A female voice shouted.

“Then you should have waited before starting to concoct them. I also need them to treat my patients.” A male voice retorted.

“Patients? What patients? I don’t see anyone here. And anyway, right now blood potions should be the priority. Those kids are starting to head into the deeper parts of the dungeon.”

“You treat that red liquid like it’s some kind of elixir!” The man exploded. “Huff, whatever. Go ask the guildmaster if you need more heelen herbs to be allotted to you.”

“I’m telling you I need them right now!” The woman yelled. “Also, when it comes to injuries blood potions are a lot better than any of your smashed plant remedies.” She added in a scornful tone.

Everyone had stopped in place after hearing the argument going on in the next room, but after a moment Terence began to move towards the door with a bright smile on his face.

“Hello, Herbalist Gardner? We need to discuss something with you,” he said in a confident tone after knocking on the door.

“Is any of you hurt?” Herbalist Gardner asked with a hint of worry. “If so, get in fast.”

“No, we come from the forest…” Terence started.

“Then come back later!” The herbalist slapped, cutting Terence’s words.

Some of us began to turn around when the woman’s voice called us. “Wait! Come in. You arrived just in time.” She said in a delighted tone.

“Hey! Old hag. Who are you to invite people into my place?”

“Oh, c’mon Gardner. There is no need to be so harsh with the trainees. Well, if you are occupied I guess I can talk with them for a bit.” The woman said laughing gleefully.

“Ugh… Alright, kids, come in.” The herbalist said in a defeated tone.

Following the herbalist’s order we entered the next room. Alchemist Luelle and Herbalist Gardner were standing there. The old man had an irritated expression while the alchemist was smiling.

“So, trainees. What business do you have with Old Gardner?” The alchemist asked with a joyful smile. I had never seen her with such a bright expression.

“Wait, Luelle. They are here to see me, you shouldn’t butt into my businesses.”

“It’s obvious what they are here for.” Alchemist Luelle said, shooting Herbalist Gardner a meaningful glance.“If you don’t want to give me any heelen you shouldn’t mind if I buy it directly from the source. Also, I remember the guildmaster telling us that all requests to the trainees should be handled through the bulletin board as official task.”

“What task?” Gardner said with an overly offended expression. “These are just small errands, I could simply ask the town kids to do them.”

“Alright~ I saw nothing.” Luelle said smiling from ear to ear. “You can have the rest, but the heelen is mine.”

“Whatever, just finish it fast. I have more things to do.” The herbalist conceded and crossed his hands over his chest with an annoyed expression.

“Good, then, can one of you tell me how many stalks of heelen herb you have?” Alchemist Luelle asked eyeing us greedily.

“Hello Miss Luelle.” Still with a broad smile on his face Terence took a step forward. “Maybe you don’t remember me. I’m Terence of Flodbred.”

“It’s Alchemist Luelle. Yes, I remember your group of trainees.” Luelle said with a hint of annoyance. It looked like she still remembered our last meeting, I was yet unsure of the reason she had gotten so angry at us.

“Alright, Alchemist Luelle.” Terence corrected himself. It seemed that the alchemist’s reply had thrown him off. His smile faded slightly and he rushed to get the heelen herbs we had gathered. “Here are the stalks we got from the forest today…”

After some discussion it was decided that Luelle would be buying almost all the heelen stalks we had picked in the forest, while Gardner bought all the other herbs. After receiving our payment from the herbalist we left the healing pavilion and headed towards the alchemist’s house.

“There is not enough room for all of you in the house.” The alchemist told us upon arriving in front of her home. “It would be best if most of you wait outside.” She suggested before heading inside by herself.

“I will go.” I promptly volunteered raising my hand. I was excited about the possibility of seeing another rare monster’s corpse like the first time I had visited the place.

“I also want to go!” Falnid exclaimed. “Maybe she will give me more interesting stuff!” He said with a sparkling expression.

I shot Falnid an incredulous glance and Terence looked at him like he had just declared himself king of Perendin. “I doubt she will give you anything. You should wait outside with everyone. I’m also staying here.” He told the Vesturke.

“What? But she seems quite happy that we are bringing her more herbs…” Falnid pouted.

“We weren’t promised an extra reward this time,” Terence tried to convince him again. “It’s better if you stay here.”

“Even so, her place seems very interesting.” Falnid said looking towards the shut windows. “I would like to have a look.”

“Hmm, Falnid, I think Terence is right this time. You should wait outside with us.” Bolton interjected in his usual hesitant tone.

“Ugh. You too, Bolton?” Being told the same thing by two of his companions Falnid turned to me with a begging expression.

“If I see something interesting I will tell you later.” I flatly betrayed his expectations. Falnid wasn’t the most mindful person when it came to his words and I wasn’t risking the chance of seeing some interesting monster corpses.

“Uh. Alright,” he said with downcast expression. “But it’s a promise!”

“It’s a promise,” I nodded before joining Stroud. He would also go inside to bring his group’s share of herbs.