“This tea…” Ceres stared curiously at Anne.

After taking care of the horses and resting for half an hour, the mercenaries started to unload the book craters in the studying area while Anne and Ceres talked near the counter. Dorgh had already left for town, so the bookmancer only prepared two cups of her precious tea.

“It’s soul tea. It has the magic effect of calming the nerves and helping focus… Usually, it’s quite expensive, but this one is self-brewed.” Anne didn’t bother hiding the worth of the tea; on the contrary, she wanted the mercenary to feel valued.

The woman was positively surprised by the alleged effects of the tea, which she was trying to test. She drank it again, this time much more appreciatively and mindful of the taste.

“Actually, Ms. Ceres, I would like to consult you on another business opportunity. Though, it’s a little different from escorting goods.” She sipped the tea and looked calmly at the mercenary.

According to Anne’s observation, the other woman preferred a straightforward approach. All of her opinions, confusion, excitement, kindness, and tiredness were openly shown on her face. Of course, she didn’t judge the other party as a simple woman, but rather one who would make her stance clear to avoid misunderstandings. Open and sincere customers were always the best.

Ceres returned her probing with an inquisitive look.

“Well, I already explained the business of the bookstore. I’ll be selling and renting books and scrolls. As you saw, I have a lot of those, but they’re far from enough. I’ll need even more in the future. So, I need someone to get those for me.” Anne answered in a business-like tone.

The mercenary was again surprised but recovered quickly.

“Ms. Anne, isn’t this kind of job more fitting of a merchant?” Ceres asked disappointed. She was eager to get another job, but trading wasn’t within her set of abilities.

“Normally, yes. But, they work with fixed products and routes, which isn’t exactly where the books are. I need someone who can get them at unusual times and places. Collecting books and scrolls is quite difficult. They’re usually sold in antique stores or at fairs as relics. Another merchandise that would interest me is research scrolls, every magic academy has them.” Anne noticed the mercenary’s apologetic refusal expression, so she pressed forward.

“Unfortunately, I can’t hire your services full-time. So, my request would be for you to collect these goods casually during your travels and bring them back when you don’t have any jobs or when you pass through this area. Of course, we would have to agree on a fair price.” The bookmancer stated everything without hiding the potential problems.

“Hum… I do travel to a lot of places, and I have seen some of these books. But, I don’t like working on luck, and coming here would be out of my usual path. If we were talking about Riverend Town, but here…” She explained embarrassedly. Though Ceres wanted to do business with Anne, it wouldn’t be beneficial to herself.

“Well, that’s not a problem. You don’t need to depend on luck. We can limit our agreement to collecting the research scrolls. I assure you that every academy will have scrolls to sell, I’ll explain who to contact and how much to pay… Now, about the town. When you go to Riverend, you can send someone over to deliver it, I’ll cover the costs as long as they’re reasonable.” Anne said hopefully.

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Still, Ceres looked reluctant to accept the proposal. So, the bookmancer decided it was time to work her craft.

“Ms. Ceres, you seemed to be having some problems in advancing to silver tier…” Anne inquired carefully, but seeing that the other side was going to react strongly, she proceeded:

“I’m sorry for intruding, but this is what I do. Collecting and recording are just a preparation for the real work. A bookmancer’s job is to guide people to knowledge. Those books there, contain thousands upon thousands of information. Most might not be useful to help everyone, but I guarantee that something there will work for every person.” The seriousness in her voice calmed Ceres, so she continued:

“Tier advancement is something almost everyone seeks, so it’s only normal to have a lot recorded about it. People of mixed races, particularly, become confused about what path to follow since their ancestors’ experiences might not be very useful. I read a lot of works on it, so I might be able to help if you want it.” Anne said with a reassuring smile.

The mercenary was initially defensive, but the explanation helped her understand Anne’s reasons. Somehow the words of the other woman touched a knot in her heart. Ceres’ first reaction was to slash back, but the kindness in the other party’s voice calmed her. Her bearing and pride as a mercenary prevented her from dropping her problems on a client, but something, perhaps the hope that Anne could really help, urged Ceres to reveal her difficulties.

“I… My mother was human and my father wolfkin, both of them were executed when I was ten because of intolerance. In the capitals, others don’t care enough to act on it, but small villages are different… Then, I ran and survived in the province capital. I chose to follow a warrior path because of my innate strength.” She breathed deeply and took another sip at the tea to help her hold back the tears.

“Getting to copper tier was easy, I just did the usual fitness and battle training. Pushing to bronze took me ten years, mostly by taking jobs in the company and fighting in the wild. Now, 20 years passed and I’m stuck. I know I have to improve the energy in my body, but I have always been oblivious to magic energy, I can barely sense it.” Moving on to the training details, Ceres calmed down and regained her usual confidence.

Anne listened attentively and only started her analysis after her customer was done.

“Beastkin have an energy core, so they interact with energy naturally. Humans, on the other hand, aren’t magical beings by nature, saved a few exceptions. So, they need to train and absorb energy to make use of it. In your case, you shouldn’t have formed a core, otherwise, you would have noticed. However, your body should absorb energy easier than humans, though in a different way. The key to advance should be in focusing on higher quality energy and flexing it through your body before it dissipates.” Anne exposed her conjectures openly.

Seeing the other party getting excited, she moved to close the deal.

“There’s a book called ‘The Knight of Bellary’ which tells the story of a half-beast who became a knight in a forgotten kingdom. It describes his techniques and struggles, I think it might help you advance. I can give it to you, but you need to wait until tomorrow. It’s the only one I have, so I need to copy it overnight.” Anne said with a smile. She didn’t mention a price as she was going for other advantages.

Ceres bloomed a smile, much more spontaneous and warm than before. She thanked Anne several times before saying that she would help collect the books and scrolls. Without waiting for the mercenary to have second thoughts, the bookmancer trusted her with two gold coins to cover the collection expenses.

Of course, she also wrote the details of acceptable prices to prevent Ceres from overpaying. Anything more expensive that looked precious would need to wait for their future encounter. At last, the half-beast also vowed to get some courier job to Mountainend and return with the goods in a few months.

Seeing her first customer leave with the entourage of carts, Anne proclaimed excitedly:

“A satisfied customer becomes a regular! I’m sure she’ll be back!”