S8, Payment

“Hello, trainees. How can I help you?”

This time the guild employee attending the counter wasn’t Anne but a middle-aged man. He didn’t sound as polite as her, but nonetheless, he started the conversation with the same phrase. They were a lot more formal than the merchants back home.

“Hello Mr. Receptionist, I’m Terence of Flodbred,” Terence introduced himself, he did the same with almost anyone we met. “We are here to deliver some heelen herbs we gathered in the forest.”

“I’m Stanley of Benslinn, there is no need to be so formal. Show me the herbs, I have to see if they are the right ones and assess their condition.”

I put the stalks we had gathered on the counter and the employee began to examine them.

“They are indeed fresh, hmm… some are a bit damaged, but they are still usable.”

After a while, Stanley finished counting the bundle.

“You found quite a lot of them, Luelle will be happy. She was nag… waiting for some to be delivered,” the guild receptionist stammered. “You brought eighty-two stems. I think the request offered fifteen coppers for each one, but not all of them are in perfect condition… I can give you ten tiny silvers for them.”

“Wow! this is a lot better than hunting lizards… Although I prefer going into the dungeon…” Falnid had conflicting feelings regarding our success, but I wasn’t happy with the price we had been offered.

“Um, excuse me, Mr. Stanley, but I think that’s too little, as you said yourself all the stalks are usable.”

“They can be salvaged, but their properties will be diminished.”

“Heelen herb needs to be squeezed to extract the juices inside, even if some are a bit damaged it doesn’t affect the quality.” I pressed, knowing well how the plants would be used.

The man stood silent for a bit, thinking. I didn’t know how things worked in the guild, but it seemed that the employees here would haggle like any merchant.

“… We were not expecting someone to bring so many herbs… Alright, just this time I will give you twelve tiny silvers, but you have to take them to Luelle, she needs them urgently. We don't have enough hands right now and I can’t leave the counter.”

I could see another guild employee loitering around, but I said nothing. We were getting almost full price for the stalks.

“She may even give you an extra for the trouble,” the receptionist urged us.

“Perfect, we will deliver the plants.” Terence closed the deal before I had the chance to speak.

We received the payment and left the guild’s building.

“Didn’t something bother you about that deal?” I asked Terence.

“It doesn’t matter we already got the money, and we can meet the guild’s alchemist,” Terence answered. “Wait, you already met her, didn’t you?”

“Yes, she is… a busy person, didn’t you meet her when you got your guild card?”

“We only waited in line as she made us all put some blood in them. When the cards and plates were finished it was an instructor who explained to us how they worked,” Terence explained. “This is a good opportunity, she is someone important with whom we normally could not talk. It can come in handy in the future."

“Who cares about that? Let’s dine outside tonight! We can finally afford a decent meal.” Falnid said.

“I think you had a good idea for once,” Terence agreed with Falnid. "For now, let's get this business over with quickly, or we will also need to find a place to have lunch."

…

Since I had already been to the alchemist’s house I guided the group and then knocked at the door.

“Who is it?” Luelle asked after a while.

“Hello Alchemist Luelle, It’s me, Simon of Sudken, the trainee, we were told to bring you some heelen stalks.”

“Oh! Come in, the door isn’t locked.”

I opened the door and the four of us entered the building.

“What a mess!” Falnid exclaimed.

The room was as stuffy and disorganized as the last time I had been here, sadly there was no monster being dissected on the table.

“Sorry about the mess, but I don’t have any time to organize things. Anyway, you said you have the herbs, didn’t you?” Luelle said impatiently.

“I have them, Alchemist Luelle. I’m Terence of Flodbred, our group gathered them in the woods.” Terence had asked me to let him take care of the delivery.

“Thank you, young man, I have been asking the guild employees to get these for days. I was about to order them to search the forest themselves.”

“It was nothing Alchemist Luelle, we got a nice reward. If you ever need someone to harvest more herbs you can just tell us.”

There was Terence’s business-like smile, he was trying to get us more of these lucrative jobs.

“Then I will make sure to assign the task to your group next time.” The alchemist seemed to be pleased with the offer.

“Miss Luelle, isn’t there an herbalist in the guild? Shouldn’t he handle this kind of job?” I asked curiously.

“An herbalist? Ha! I don’t need the stalks to make any old ointment, these are for blood potions, there are so many trainees getting badly wounded that our supply is running out.”

“For blood potions?”

Blood potions were the best medicine for lesions. They were able to stop most wounds’ bleeding in a matter of seconds, and completely close cuts and other flesh injuries in minutes. But as long as I knew heelen herbs were only used externally to prevent infections.

“A few drops of the extract are mixed in to preserve the potion.”

“Ah, I see, I didn’t know that.”

“Of course you didn’t. A rural herbalist won’t be able to teach you this.”

Honestly, I didn’t really understand how alchemists were different from herbalists.

“What’s the difference between an herbalist and an alchemist? Are you a magician?” Falnid chimed in, voicing my questions.

“Hmph, don’t compare me with those herb grinders. An alchemist is someone officially recognized by the association of magic practitioners, and each of us is a knowledgeable mage. We need to know how to manipulate mana for a lot of tasks.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Oh, so all alchemists are magicians.”

“Mages! We are mages, I got my title in Ishull, you know?”

“I heard about that place, it’s the academy of magicians and it’s in Suidberg, right?” Falnid answered.

My father had told me about Ishull, it was the most famous magic academy in the world. He had also added that all the decent magic institutions were in the south of Suidberg.

“Huff, yes, that’s it!” For some reason, Alchemist Luelle seemed a bit annoyed. “Now you should let me work.”

Noticing the increasingly bad mood of the alchemist we headed for the door.

“I didn’t get my title for this. I should have stayed in Eisengrad appraising rocks…” I cloud hear Alchemist Luelle mutter. “Wait! You, you are Atherol’s nephew, did you ask your uncle about my assistant?”

‘Oops.’ I had seen my uncle a few times since then, but I had completely forgotten that matter.

“Uh, I didn’t have time to ask him, he is very busy.”

“Ugh, you are indeed Atherol’s nephew. He is also always giving me excuses.”

“Oh! I forgot. The guild employee told us you would give us a reward for bringing the herbs,” Falnid suddenly interjected.

“He what? Who told you that?” One of Luelle’s eyes twitched as she looked at Falnid with an angry expression.

“The guild employee… Stan, I think.” Falnid said, oblivious to the alchemist’s exasperation.

Luelle frowned. “I see, I will have a talk with Stanley.”

The alchemist rummaged in a drawer and soon after threw a bag at Falnid.

“Take this, kid. And now get out, I have a lot of work to do.”

We hurriedly left the house.

“I don’t think we will be getting many jobs from her,” Bolton opened his mouth for the first time.

…

"Hmm! What are you going to order for dinner?"

The sun had set long ago and we were heading to the tavern in the southern part of Algus. In the afternoon everyone had gone shopping with the morning’s earnings. I wanted to buy a few things that could be useful in the dungeon, but they were too expensive, and decided I would rather save the money for the time being.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m getting some broth that isn’t only hot water,” Terence said.

“I’m asking for some meat. I want to eat something whose ingredients I can distinguish,” Bolton answered.

“I will also have some meat. I’m sick of blends and soups,” I said.

Soon we entered a stone building on the main street. The inside of the local was dimly lit by oil lamps and a fireplace. To our right, near the counter, the tables were bright under the lanterns’ light. The same could be said about the ones near the back, illuminated by the warm flames of the hearth. Meanwhile, to our left, the tables were shrouded in shadows. Most people were sitting at the brighter tables. They were loud and their conversations were full of banter, in the darker tables there were only a group of trainees with depressed looks and a lone man eating silently.

Behind the counter, the tavern’s owner was looking our way while wiping a mug. There was no waiter in sight, so we approached the counter to order dinner.

“I haven’t seen you here before, newbie adventurers, right? If you want to order, tonight we have pork stew, roasted pork, and bean soup.”

The variety wasn’t great, but all of us were satisfied with our choices. We also ordered some mead to accompany the food before heading for a well-illuminated table.

“So, what did you buy this afternoon, Simon? I saw you exiting that blacksmith’s shop,” Falnid asked curiously.

“I went to ask for some tools, but they were too expensive. I need to save more money.”

“Oh, that’s a pity. I bought some new clothes, mine are getting too small. Soon I will catch up to you, Terence!” Falnid pointed at Terence.

Terence looked Falnid up and down. “Are you sure you are growing?” He said with a mischievous grin. “You look exactly the same as when we met.”

“It has barely been a month! Wait until the end of summer and you will see.”

“Uh, could you keep your voice down? Some people are looking at us,” interjected Bolton.

There were some locals at another table looking at us, but their expressions showed more curiosity than annoyance.

“I don’t care, everyone is being noisy!” Falnid purposely shouted the last part of the sentence to highlight his point.

“Uh… alright, do whatever you want,” Bolton answered in a quiet tone.

“Then, did you buy something interesting, Bolton?”

“I went to look for some bigger shields, I think I will need one when we begin fighting bigger monsters, but they are also too expensive. I don’t want to expend all my savings buying one.”

“So, you didn’t buy anything?”

“The guild provides most of the equipment we need in the dungeon, so there isn’t much I’m interested in. I bought another pair of socks.”

“Boring~.”

“I also bought something useful,” Terence announced taking a thick sheet of paper out of his coat. “A map of the corridors! We won’t have problems navigating them from now on.”

“We didn’t have problems finding the way, you are the one that sucks at it.”

“Nonsense! You also lose your way most of the time. Simon is the only one who can somehow traverse that cursed labyrinth without getting lost.”

While we chattered the owner brought our dinner. Soon our table was full of food and drinks. Terence was having the pork stew while the rest of us had chosen the roasted pork. There was also some bread to accompany the generous portions.

“Finally, a real dinner!” Falnid was full of joy.

“Huff, it will take a while to end this,” Terence said getting ready to eat.

“I’m going to eat every last bite.” Bolton was also excited at the sight of the food.

“I was also craving meat.” I wasn’t a picky eater, but meat was meat. I had hardly tasted any after leaving home. In fact, the meals in the guild’s dining hall barely counted as food, so this would be the first real meat after the dungeon lizard skewers.

All of us focused on the delightful dinner and chomped on it in complete silence. Bolton and I were the first ones to end our meals and struck up a conversation while Falnid and Terence were still stuffing themselves.

“Bolton, do you know more medicinal plants apart from heelen herb?”

“Um, only a couple more, sheeperd plant seeds… They can be crushed and drank with hot water when you have an upset stomach, also, blue… I don’t remember the name. It’s a plant with tiny blue flowers growing in a long part on top of the stalk. I was told it is used to increase one’s vitality.”

“Yes, the first one is also called woolly plant. They can be easily found in pastures, and the second one is called blue saltion. It… indeed increases one’s vigor, but it’s better if you don’t try it. It has certain side effects.”

“Well, Simon, what do you think if we go hunting lizards tomorrow?” Terence asked taking out his map. He still hadn’t finished his dinner but was taking a break. “Unless we find another profitable task, of course. Look, I found a couple areas that should be easier to reach.”

We began inspecting the map and discussing the best routes we could take. Terence had turned around quite a bit to let the light of the lamps shine on the sheet. In the corner of my vision, I saw Falnid moving suspiciously in his seat, but he signaled me to not say anything.

“I think if we take this path we can cut our travel time quite a bit. We were going down this corridor before.”

“No, we were using this hallway, and taking this turn here, but you are right, this route is a lot faster. The only thing that worries me is that it passes near the dungeon dogs' area,” I said.

“There should be no problem. The dogs should be quite far from there.”

“Hmm, in that case, we may be able to make two travels each day… No, that would be too much effort, but we can finish our expeditions in the morning.”

After deciding our itinerary for the next day Terence put away the map and went back to finish his dinner. On the other side of the table, Falnid was unusually calm.

Terence ate a mouthful of stew, an instant later he opened his eyes wide and hurriedly reached for the mead as his face was getting visibly red. Falnid began to tremble in his seat.

Terence frantically drank the mead. Having finished it he began to cough and puff. Falnid was unable to hold himself back anymore and started laughing loudly.

“Screw you!” Terence cursed after recovering a bit. “What did you put in my stew! Was it mouthburner powder?”

“Hahahaha!” Falnid was holding his chest with both hands, cracking up.

“Damn you and your ancestors!”

“Oh, c’mon, Terence, I just added some flavor to your food. You southerners can’t take a bit of spiciness.”

“Ugh! Just you wait, if you weren’t a kid I would challenge you in the training grounds and beat up your ass.” Terence was clearly annoyed. “Where the hell did you get that? Did you buy it in the afternoon?”

“No, it was among the stuff that the alchemist gave me.”

“Really? What the hell did she give you?”

“A small wood canister with some bait balls, a pouch full of gray dust, and another pouch full of mouthburner powder.”

“Uh? So she gave you monster bait and monster repellent, but why the mouthburner?” Terence inquired, calming down.

“Maybe she likes spicy food?”

“I doubt it.”

“Well, that room was a mess, she probably mistook it for something else.”

“Perhaps, anyway, I need another mead.”Terence got up and headed to the counter.

“Are you going finish the stew?”

“Of course not, you ruined it!” He shouted back at Falnid.

“Then I will eat it.”

Falnid ended the stew without showing any sign of it being too spicy.