Chapter Forty-Two: Ventures

Lilith’s snout pressed against Ash’s cheek. He groaned, pushing the dragon hatchling away.

“G’away. Sleep more.”

Lilith’s snout again, this time more insistent.

Ash sighed, blinking his eyes open.

“What, Lils? There’s nothing to do today. I deserve sleep,” he may have been just a touch cranky with his last few words.

Lilith sent him images of food, and he rubbed his face vigorously.

“Right. Food. Okay.”

His dorm had an attached washroom with scrips for water. As he showered, he considered what he wanted to do today. For a minute, he considered doing nothing at all.

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” he said aloud.

As much as he would have liked to, he needed to get money. He had a couple of potions he could sell to buy his and Lilith’s food. The trade-off was that he wouldn’t have potions when he inevitably needed them.

As he left his dorm, he encountered a familiar face.

“Lights balls, but it’s Ash Lorcan as I live and breathe!”

Ash grinned at Nick,

“Lights balls? That's a new one.”

Nick returned his grin.

“I'm testin’ it out. There are only so many things you can add with light that makes it a proper curse. I'm on my way to meet Rosalia and Will for lunch in Ivalia. Are you comin’?”

Ash stroked his chin and looked at Lilith, raising an eyebrow,

“What do you think? Should we go with him to lunch? There will probably be lots of cursing.”

Lilith gave her mental ascent, and they left with Nick, headed to Ivalia.

____________

“That's a lot of classes. Are you sure your tiny brain can handle that much?”

Ash shot Will with a glare, which Lilith joined in.

The other boy held up his hands and flashed a placating smile,

“Whoa, there’s no need to double-team me with the eyes. I was joking.”

He winked at Rosalia, who giggled, putting a hand over her mouth, ears going red.

“I might not have had to take so many classes if Amalia had been so sparse with her information as we traveled,” Ash made no effort to hide the frustrated edge to his voice.

He looked around at his companions, furrowing his brows,

“Why didn't you all take these classes? They seem pretty necessary to me.”

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“Some of us need to earn coins. Those street corners won't man themselves, and there are lots of lonely adventures out there.”

Rosalia spit her water to the side, choking and chortling at Will's joke, her face looking like a beat.

Nick grunted.

“I will not be on any light-fucked street corners, but he has a point; there is coined to be earned.”

“How will you be earning this coin, though? I mean, seriously?” He glanced over at Will meaningfully.

Nick smacked a fist into his palm,

“Why by porterin’, of course.”

“You've mentioned that before. What exactly is that?”

It was Razala who explained,

“Basically, you go into a dungeon with an adventuring party, and you help them process monsters, as well as other ingredients, and you carry it all out of the dungeon. It's a pretty thankless job.”

“Why thankless?”

“Because you're some party's little bitch, and not only are you barely paid for it but you also get nothing but a bad attitude from the party that hired you,” Will said.

“Why, though.”

“Porters are considered necessary thieves,” Nick explained.

“You've adapted before, right? Think about it,” Rosalia stated, poking at her plate with a fork.

Lilith has sent him an image in his mind of him killing a wolf, and its elar flowing into him.

He got it then.

“They think we're stealing the elar,” Ash said, shaking his head as he frowned.

Will pointed two fingers at him,

“Somebody gave this man a cookie!”

“But don't porters provide a useful service to the team? I mean, without them, they would have to carry everything, right? Which would make it even more inefficient and time-consuming.”

“Aren't you just adorable? A lot of parties don't see it that way. They look at you as a leech, and not only a leech, but one may have to pay at the end of the delve.”

“I would say it's not fair, but well, my life hasn't been fair recently. None of ours has.”

Ash thanked and said goodbye to his friends, and then he and Lilith left the adventures guild.

As Lilith walked along beside him, studying the gravelly dirt road, he thought.

What would be ideal was if he could earn an income somehow, preferably in a way that did not demand too much of his time.

“I heard more students went missing the other day. The Masters are keeping hush, hush about it, but I'm sure it's happening.”

“Probably just more of your conspiracy theories, Lorn. You really should stop drinking at night.”

A female archer said to her companion an armor.

The armored companion waved her off,

“Fine, don't believe me, but I'm telling you it's happening.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” The group walked past Ash and Lilith.

It wasn't long before Ash and Lilith found themselves at Skori’s. The sound of hammering could be heard. They entered and the dwarven blacksmith turned from behind the counter, His eyes twinkled, and he sat the hammer on the counter with a thud.

“Ah, it's ya two, welcome back. What can I do you for?”

I should come to trust the dwarf ever since arriving in town the blacksmith had been nothing but fair and kind to him, giving him opportunities he had not found anywhere else.

He explained his predicament to the dwarf and asked if he had any ideas

Skori stroked his beard before tugging on it sharply,

“Well, there is one opportunity that ya might make use of, but I can't guarantee that it'll work out.”

Ash leaned forward, eager to hear what this opportunity was,

“Please tell me at this point I'll try nearly anything.”

Skori laughed, his beard jiggling.

“Tell me have you heard of Ivalia’s haunted mansion?”

Ash shook his head in the negative.

Skori nodded as if he had expected that response.

“Can't say as I'm surprised. Truth is, whatever's haunting it probably wouldn't be that hard to clear out; it's just that no one can be bothered, you see.”

“Why?”

“Even if ya could clear out whatever beastie’s haunting it, the mansion would need a lot of renovations, not worth the investment to most.”

“So why would I want to do it, then?”

The dwarf grinned as if Ash had asked just the right question.

“Because if you do manage to succeed in liftin’ the haunting, I would be interested in investing in renovations.”

“I'm confused. I thought you just said it wouldn't be worth renovating.”

Skori tapped the side of his nose with one finger.

“On the contrary, lad, what I said was that most wouldn't be interested in investing. I want to turn that mansion into apartments and rent them out on the cheap, see. Clear out this hauntin’ for me, and I might think about splitting the profits with you fifty/fifty.”

“And if I fail to lift the haunting?”

Skori shrugged,

“No great loss to me; I’ve continued all this time without it.”

Ash looked at Lilith, who sent him thoughts that amounted to “I ain't afraid of no ghost.”

He looked back at the dwarf,

“You have yourself a deal tell me about this haunting.”