“You’re back sooner than I expected,” Ruena commented when he returned, “Not that I know when you left.”

She had definitely still been asleep when he set off.

“I found a potential job,” Soral offered.

“What kind of job is it?” she asked, and Soral explained.

“From Sibel Toll himself? It shouldn’t be dangerous then,” she decided, “I’ve been wanting to take a look at Sycamore myself.”

Unlike Soral, Ruena definitely knew her geography.

“He needs to know by today,” Soral told her.

“Let’s go then,” Ruena said, “I will be sure to secure us some travel funds in advance.”

And so, Soral headed right back to where he left with Ruena in tow. By now a small amount of traffic flowed in and out of the guild. The early risers and those who wanted to get their hands on the best jobs and quests of the day.

Grace was still there, and noticed their arrival almost immediately.

“Soral, and a companion. Master Toll has said that he will see you immediately on your arrival. Do come in.”

“You haven’t made any strange deals, have you?” Ruena whispered to Soral, “The way they are treating is really weird.”

“Is it?” Soral asked back. He thought it was just because Sibel had given him a personal quest.

Soral entered Sibel’s office for the third time, and was greeted by an instant smile donning the man’s face.

“Shall I take it you have accepted my offer?” he asked.

“Conditionally,” Ruena butted in, “You can’t expect us to travel that kind of distance without provisions. You need the delivery to arrive safely, but you also need your delivery boy to be presentable.” She gestured to Soral at the end.

Something felt a bit off about being called a delivery boy but he was taking a delivery quest so he left it alone.

“I see what you are saying, but I will only grant reasonable requests,” Sibel told her, “and it will come as advance pay, cutting into the final reward. Is that alright with you?”

Ruena considered it for a bit. “Fine, but be sure the overall reward is more than fair for any troubles we receive.”

“Troubles will be compensated if you report them to the Sycamore branch,” Sibel told her and wrote a paper quickly detailing the arrangement, “Bring this with the rest of the papers and reports and everything will be settled.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Ruena took the paper and looked it over. As she read her eyes widened. “This reward… are you sure?” she asked.

What was the reward to make her so shocked? Soral leaned in and tried to peek. There was a couple zeroes after the juwelen amount that he hadn’t been expecting. “Wow, that’s a lot. Isn’t this just a delivery job?”

“Not exactly,” Sibel replied, “Some of this is remuneration for the valuable information you shared with me earlier.”

Ruena gave Soral an odd look but turned back to the page in question. “It looks like we have an agreement then. When do you need this delivered by?”

“There isn’t a huge rush but I need it by the end of the week. You should easily be able to reach the capital by then,” he answered.

She nodded in agreement and let Soral take back over since it was technically his job. He was glad for the padded paycheck but he didn’t know how he felt about their odd negotiation earlier. If it could be called that.

Soral collected the package, new papers and all, and put it straight in his pocket. He had been worried if it would work since the size didn’t look like it would fit, but it went right in with no issues. Ruena watched it vanish with an odd expression, but again kept silent.

Once they left she immediately questioned him. “You told him about the pocket, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Soral admitted immediately.

“You idiot! Sibel is a Toll. They are purebred dragons and merchants. There is no way he will be able to resist recreating and selling it.”

“Is that a problem?” Soral asked, not seeing the issue. It was Sibel who had given him the idea in the first place. Sure that bag felt like a scam, but this and that were different.

Ruena seemed a bit fed up. “Nevermind. But don’t go giving away any new inventions to him. Not without negotiating first.”

Once again, Soral thought that the world of money was overly complicated, but he didn’t say so out loud. “Should we prepare for our journey?” he asked.

“Yes. First we will need provisions and supplies,” she said, “Luckily the transport is covered since I still have my carriage.”

Soral remembered the odd carriage from earlier. “Didn’t you leave that behind?”

“I had it retrieved. It technically belongs to my benefactor anyway.”

And there was the benefactor thing again. Another annoyance he would have to put up with.

“Are we taking Jazz?” Soral asked.

“We can’t really leave him behind,” Ruena replied, seeming somewhat reluctant, “I’m sure it will be fine. We just need to get a bit more provisions.”

“Right,” Soral agreed. She seemed to believe the bare cupboard’s were the kitten’s fault, and he wasn’t quite sure how to correct her, or if he should.

Luckily the advance payment was more than enough to cover their shopping needs, even with the extra food and Soral having no real traveling gear of his own. Tents, sleeping mats, heavy waterproof blankets, and small water tanks needed to be acquired for a long journey.

As for the transportation, Ruena re-introduced him to the odd looking carriage. This time he took some time to inspect what exactly about it was odd. First of all, it appeared to be horseless, and supported by a heavy metal frame. Some type of crystal lined the wheels and Soral could practically feel the hum of magic coming from them. He couldn’t help it and reached out to gently poke the crystal lines.

There was a little spark and they suddenly began to glow. Ruena turned from her packing to see what he was up to at the flash of light.

“What did you just do?” she asked.

“I touched it?”

She came to inspect the crystal. “You charged it,” she corrected, “but I’ve never seen anyone be able to charge them to this extent before. That does save us a lot of trouble, though. Getting these things charged is expensive, but not more expensive than horses.”

Soral noticed a phrase written at the base of the door.

“A Product of the Belleas Company”

“Is the Belleas Company different from the Belleas Guild?” Soral asked.

“Very,” Ruena told him, “The Belleas Guilds are run by Sibel Toll and are an off branch of the main company. I believe this carriage was a design he helped work on, though.”

“Amazing,” Soral whispered. Even though he apparently loved money, Sibel was pretty cool.

“I suppose it is. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at inventing, but I simply don’t have the funds,” Ruena said, “My father was an inventor.”

“He was?” Soral questioned, interested, “What kinds of things did he make?”

“Nothing magic related,” she admitted, “He liked to dabble with tech. He always told me he wanted to recreate the ancient technology in myths.”

It was a bit different, but that sounded pretty cool too. “I’ll have to work a bit harder,” Soral decided, “I’ll have to think about how to get more money once we get back.”

Ruena smiled, “I’ll help,” she promised, “If you would like, we could brainstorm on the way.”

“Nah,” Soral declined, “I want to see what the capital has to offer first. I’ve never been to one before.”

“Then we will have to make the most of it,” Ruena decided, “Let’s plan for that instead.”

Soral agreed and they finished packing the Belleas carriage. Now all they needed was Jazz, and probably lunch.