Chapter Thirty-Three: Problems

Ash sat in his room with Lilith curled up on the bed beside him.

He had problems. He had no weapon other than a wooden sword, which wouldn’t do for a monster hunt. Secondly, he had no potions, oils, or ingredients to make them. All of these problems had a solution, but the solution was a problem in and of itself.

He needed money.

Amalia wouldn’t give him any; frankly, he was tired of relying on her. He had two weeks to hunt a monster, so he needed to look at the available contracts. There were many available, from goblins to more fearsome creatures. The adventurers’ guild got new contracts daily, especially from merchants looking for monster parts.

There were also jobs posted. These weren’t monster contracts but rather specific things. Such as gathering ingredients in the forest, porter jobs in a dungeon, or even manual labor in some cases.

Ash decided to break down his priorities. He could take some of these other jobs if he could get a sword. He wasn’t afraid of manual labor but did not want to do it. He would rather spend the time researching the monster he needed to kill.

He thought about just taking an ingredients-gathering job, but he'd be in trouble if he ran into a monster.

There was nothing for it.

So, he found himself transporting barrels from a cart to a local inn. After that, he spent several hours pulling weeds, splitting wood, and even cleaning a house.

He earned three silver by the end of the day.

Tired, he found himself inquiring about a sword from a big-bellied dwarvish blacksmith in a weapons shop. His huge black beard was braided with silver, his face looked sunburnt, and his arms were thick with corded muscle. His eyes were deep brown, like mahogany.

He wore a blue apron, smudged with black, over a dark brown tunic, pants, and thick black boots. Dark leather gloves covered his hands. He was holding a simple but elegant longsword.

“She’s not fancy, but she’ll do the job, I assure ya. Eight silver pieces, and she’s yours! I’ll even throw in a sheath!”

Ash winced. Beside him, Lilith was studying the shop. Mannequins were adorned with various armor, and weapons were mounted to the walls.

Ash was at the long wooden counter, looking down at the longsword the dwarf had presented him. His name was Skori Blackbeard; Ash had learned after introductions were out of the way.

“I’m afraid I can’t afford her, master dwarf. I worked all day, and I have three silver to my name. Do you have anything for that price?”

Skori tugged on his beard, grunting.

“I’m afraid I don’t have anything in that price range.”

Ash fought the urge to sigh. It had taken him all day to earn this amount of silver, a solid twelve hours. Dusk was falling, and every day he spent earning coins meant one less day for hunting the monster he needed to hunt.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Something must have been in his expression because the dwarf spoke slowly.

“Normally, I wouldn’t do this. But you seem like a trustworthy lad, and if you stiff me, I’ll make sure you’re never able to make another purchase in this town again, but I have a proposal if you’re willin’ to listen.”

Ash sensed an opportunity. He nodded eagerly, leaning forward.

“I’ll give ya a better sword than this. I’ll even outfit ya in better armor than what ya’ve got there. It won’t be amazin’ but it’ll get the job done. However, ya’ll have to work it off. I need metal ingredients in dungeons. Mostly, I submit a job to the adventurers’ guild, but they always take a cut. I save a bit of coin this way, not much, but a bit. What do ya say?”

Ash didn’t hesitate to agree. He vastly preferred to work off the price of his items this way rather than spend his time doing miscellaneous manual labor jobs.

With that agreement, he found himself decked out in leather armor and a duelist coat lined with snow-white fur. In his hands was a deadly-looking longsword with a black steel hilt and a steel thread-wrapped handle, complete with a round pummel.

“Now that’s more like it! Ya look like a proper adventurer!”

Lilith sniffed, sending him thoughts that let him know he wasn’t quite up to her standard but would suffice. For now. He laughed, ruffling her hair, knowing it would annoy her. She glared at him, but he could see her fight back a smile.

Skori nodded,

“With that out of the way, I have a job for ya, lad. It might even fit with that exam you’re takin’.”

Ash raised an eyebrow, giving the dwarf his full attention.

Skori produced a brown paper,

“I had a friend at the AG; that’s the abbreviation for adventurers guild. In case ya aren’t smart enough to put that together, make this all official like. That way you can use it for yer exam. Didn’t do this just to be kind, ya mind. This beastie's fangs go for a pretty penny, and so does its heart. It’s dangerous, though, as it’s a dungeon boss. Think ya can handle that?”

Ash decided to go for broke,

“Maybe. I’ll need time to research the creature. If you threw in ingredients for me to make healing potions and elar potions, it would go easier.”

“Hmph. It will increase yer debt, but this monster might be worth it. Very well, it’s agreed.”

Ash nodded, looking at the contract.

“Good. So then, let’s go find out what a dire wolf is then.”

_______________

Ivalia’s adventuring guild had a lore room. It was a massive room with various tables and books upon books lining shelves across the room.

They had an aide who had some idea of where to find what you were looking for. She scurried off to find him a bestiary and was back in mere moments with it. Ash flipped it open, using the index to navigate. He flipped to the dire-wolf entry.

There were a few things that set dire wolves apart from regular wolves. Firstly, they were more prominent. Secondly, their teeth were so sharp they could pierce metal armor—something about an elar ability. Ash wasn’t interested in exploring why or how it worked—there would be time for that later—only that it did, and he would need to keep it in mind.

In bold, underlined letters, dire wolves were noted to have a healing factor. They could also come in different elements and control other wolves. That last part didn’t surprise him.

There was also other information. Ash would have thought they would be found in forests, and yes, they were at times, but they could also be found in mines and dungeons.

Skori wanted him to go to a mine near Wyrmhaven. It was one most weren’t bothering with because it was now a wolf den with a flaming dire wolf den. Skori wanted to capitalize on that.

Which is where Ash came in. He felt like the dire wolf would be perfect for the exam. In addition, he could pay off his debt plus some from the ingredients found there.

Skori gave him a line of credit. He’d have to pay it back, plus interest. Ash wasn’t about to let the debt build-up, so he planned on getting what he needed and nothing more.

He had a lot to do.

It was time to get prepping.