I ducked down instinctually and, as the hammer swung over my head, jumped back up with an uppercut.

The man batted my hand away with his own as if he was swatting a fly and I jumped backwards, summoning my dagger.

He stood opposite me, holding his hammer limply in his right hand. He looked me up and down with calculating eyes.

“You shouldn’t make a guy jump like that you know?” He said in a gruff voice, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. “I nearly broke your face.” He laughed loudly.

“Yeah… maybe next time try looking at the person trying to get your attention instead of trying to kill them." I replied, placing my dagger back into my inventory.

“Well in my defence, if you tried using your words instead of tapping me this wouldn’t have happened.”

“I did, but your hammering was too damn loud for you to hear me.” I replied irritably.

“Is that so?” He said, rubbing his hairless chin. “Then in that case, allow me to offer my apologies. So, anyway, what can I do you for?”

I took a deep breath. The man was irritatingly carefree. He could have taken my head off and yet there he was laughing about it as if it was a happy accident.

“I’m in the market for some armour and my familiar recommended your shop.”

Panda stepped out from behind me and blew out a puff of smoke from his bamboo pipe.

“Long time no see Andy.” He said, giving a slight wave with his free paw.

“Panda? I guess some unfortunate soul summoned you again, and so soon.” Andy replied, grinning at the daemon. “After what happened with-”

“I don’t want to talk about that.” Panda cut in swiftly. “This is Kaleb, he needs armour. Think you can help him out.”

Andy looked a little hesitant at Panda’s sudden interruption. He looked at him with an odd gleam in his eyes, I think it was pity.

“Yeah sure thing.” He said, placing the hammer down on the anvil. “Let’s talk in the front and I’ll see what I can do.”

He walked past us and I turned to follow him. I gazed at Panda who seemed normal, but something bugged me. I hoped he was alright. He’d never really talked about his last master but it was obviously a painful memory for him.

Back in the front of the shop Andy jumped up onto the countertop and sat cross legged. He turned to face me as I moved back to the customer side of the counter.

“So, what are you in the market for Kaleb?” He asked with a smile.

“I don’t know exactly. I’m new in town and I don’t really know how expensive armour is here, or what’s on offer. I do like the look of that though.” I said, pointing at the black armour that had caught my eye earlier.

“Good eye. That’s one of my finest works. The whole set will set you back 50,000 gold pieces. “

“50,000?” I spluttered.

I knew armour was supposed to be expensive in Celestia but that seemed like an awful lot.

“I’ve got just shy of 5000.” I countered. “What can I get with that?” I asked nervously.

Andy looked at me thoughtfully and rubbed his non-existent beard again.

“That set comes with a bracer. I could give you that for 5000, but then I’d be breaking up the set and no one wants to buy an uncompleted set of armour.” He mused thoughtfully; it sounded more like he was thinking out loud than actually conversing with me.

“I’ve got some boots that’d cost something similar but they’re designed for heavy fighters and you look more like an officer worker than a knight.

I opened my mouth to say something back but thought better of it. I was still wearing a shirt and suit pants after all, so he had a point.

“I might still have a basic leather breast plate in the back.” He continued. “Though honestly, I’d suggest you save your money and come back when you can afford the 50,000 gold.

“And believe me, I’m only saying that because you’re Panda’s new human. Normally I’d take the money and run.” He chuckled, tapping his fingers on the table in an oddly syncopated rhythm.

I was disappointed. I thought the 4700 gold I had would at least get me something. I really wanted that black armour though. Something in the back of my mind told me it would be worth the wait. Then I had an idea.

“Can I put a deposit down so you won’t sell it to someone else whilst I make more money?” I asked hopefully.

There was no point in waiting to buy the armour if it was gone the next time I came in.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Besides, looking around the shop it was the only thing that would actually suit me. Most of the armour Andy was selling was full plate and looked like it was made for a tank style class. Accept, of course, for the Robin Hood cosplay, but even I had enough fashion sense to know wearing that would be committing social suicide.

“I think I can make that work. For 2000 gold I promise not to sell that set for a month. You’ll have to pay more to keep it off the shelf for longer though, I’ve still got to make a living.” He winked and simultaneously clicked his tongue.

“Ok, and what happens if I’m away on a quest when the month is up and you sell it, do I get my money back?”

“I’ll give you half back if you fail to meet the deadline. However, the money you give me now as a down payment will go towards the overall cost of the set. So you need to come back here with 48,000 in a month if you want it.

“Or you need to come back with at least another 2000 to buy yourself more time.”

It seemed reasonable enough. I had no idea if I could make that much in only a month though.

I looked towards Panda for advice.

“Don’t look at me, I’m a sage not a financial adviser.” He said, taking another drag and blowing it towards me.

“Ok fine, it’s a deal.” I said, offering Andy my hand.

He shook it vigorously and grinned at me as I handed him the money.

“Nice doing business with you Kaleb. I guess I’ll see you in a month.”

With that he hopped off the counter and disappeared into the back of the shop.

“Was that really a good idea kid?” Panda asked as we left the shop. “Andy’s good and all, but you don’t even know what that armour does. It could be a pile of hot garbage.”

“My instincts say it’ll be worth it. Besides, what’s the point of killing monsters if you don’t look good whilst you’re doing it?” I flashed him a toothy grin and he face palmed… or face pawed.

Now I just needed a good quest to earn some more money. Ideally a farming style quest where I could kill a lot of monsters.

With my wealth blessing that should be the fastest way to get a lot of coin, as fast as possible.

I started walking towards the adventurer guild to find out.

“Hey kid!” Panda shouted from behind.

I was so used to him following me all the time that I was surprised to turn around and see him still standing in front of the shop. “Book store’s that way.” He said, pointing over his shoulder.

I honestly had no interest in going to the bookstore right now, but I had promised to get him something.

“Here.” I said, tossing him a coin purse with 700 gold in it. “Go get whatever you want and meet me back at the inn. I need to go to the Adventure Society before it closes.”

Panda jumped up and caught the bag. He opened it and grinned.

“No problem kid, I’ll see you later.” He said, practically sprinting away before I could change my mind.

I got the sinking feeling that I’d given him way more gold than he needed.

Good going Kaleb. You just keep throwing gold away when you need to save 48,000 in a month. This attitude is why you were always in credit card debt back home.

With a light shake of my head I went to the Adventure Society. The sun was starting to set when I arrived, I wouldn’t have long to choose my quest before they kicked me out.

On the upside though, the notice board was deserted. It seemed most temporary adventurers didn’t come by this late in the day.

I walked towards the board and scanned it quickly. As expected, they were mostly simple fetch quests.

Temp Quest: Find my cat.

Temp Quest: Collect 30 mushrooms fromm the wetlands.

Temp Quest: Bring me 40 Loconut’s hairs.

They were the standard beginner quests from an RPG game. They paid next to nothing and way too boring for a protagonist like me to deal with.

I couldn’t have hit the nope button faster.

Then I saw a slightly different quest. Its parchment looked old and worn, like it had been pinned to the notice board for a long-ass time.

As I read it I began to understand why no one had taken it. I grimaced just looking at it, but it would definitely help me to pay for my armour and I might even get a few levels in the process.

It was perfect.

I pulled it off the board and took it over to Lucy who took one look at it and also grimaced.

“Mr Akabane, this quest has been here for over a year. No one has ever shown interest in taking it before. Are you sure you want it?” She asked tentatively.

“Yes please Lucy.” I replied happily. “It’s perfect for what I need. Besides, the poor sod who posted it can’t be very happy that no one has sorted it out.”

“It was posted by the local government and you’re right; they aren’t very happy. The director was actually considering using it as a punishment quest.” She looked worriedly at me.

“Oh really? If it’s so bad you could pay me more to complete it.” I replied cheekily.

The quest did only pay 500 gold. That was quite a lot in this world but it was barely worth more than the fetch quests and would be much more work. No wonder no one wanted it.

“The quest giver sets the payment on temp contracts. Believe it or not that’s actually quite a big reward from the government. They’re quite stingy.”

I guess some things are universal no matter what world you’re in. I thought.

“If you’re sure then I’ll assign it to you.” She eventually said with a sigh. “Just make sure you clean yourself up before handing it in.”

She added my name to a register behind the reception desk and I walked out of the society building happily.

A new notification appeared on my HUD, making it official.

New Quest!

Up Shit’s Creek

There have been reports of a slime infestation in the sewers under Havar. Investigate the matter and exterminate them.

Objectives:

Exterminate all the sewer slimes 0/1

Find the source of the slimes and deal with it 0/1

Reward: 500 gold.

*Speak to the Adventure Society to claim your reward. Reward payable upon the successful completion of the above objectives*

It was the perfect quest to raise money. Slimes were low level monsters in most video games, so it should be the same in Celestia.

More importantly, there were usually loads of them. So my looting power, combined with a large number of low-level monsters should equal a lot of gold coins in a short amount of time.

I was a genius. That armour would be mine in no time!

With a spring in my step I headed back to the inn for a good night’s rest. In the morning I’d start my quest of hunting slimes and making bank.

I had never been so glad I’d accepted a blessing from that annoying, self-proclaimed god. It almost made it worth nearly being skinned alive by a crazy cult.

Almost… but not quite.

I returned to the inn just as the sun fell beneath the sky. As I walked through the door I heard a familiar voice and the sound of cheers and laughter.

What had Panda gotten himself into?