Chapter 231:
I Never Want to Do This Again
Druid and I checked the balance of the family bank account we’d made for our travel fund. Between the one hundred fifteen radal we’d just added and the one hundred ninety radal we’d had in there before, our current total was three hundred and five radal… Wow. That’s three hundred and five gold plates.
“Well, that was quick. Hm? What’s wrong, Ivy?”
“I just can’t believe all this is real.”
I felt like I was walking on air. I checked our balance one more time… Three hundred and five radal…
“Are you okay?”
“I…erm…” I tried to give a proper answer, but my mouth was making noises that even I couldn’t decipher. I needed to calm down.
“Phew… Okay, I’m okay.”
“Well, I don’t blame you for being shocked. We earned a whole hundred radal just between Oll and here.”
In times like this, the difference in how we thought about money became quite clear. Druid was surprised that we had raised one hundred radal in such a short period of time. I was surprised by that as well, of course, but my main response was fear. I held in my hand a card that contained over three hundred radal! The contents of my bag already scared me…and now my bank card scared me, too. I supposed the card was better, though, since only people who were authorized to take out the money could do so. But I still had to be very careful not to drop it… Agh, it’s no use. I’m still terrified.
After Drough told us what our total would be, Druid and I were given a little time to talk things over in private. We ended up deciding to sell all the gems we’d found except for the blackstones. We thought that the sparkling potions and transparent magic stones were enough of a liability already, and now we also had the supposedly ultra-rare round black gemstone in the mix. We didn’t want the responsibility of carrying such a valuable bag to be any heavier than it already was.
“Does everything look good to you?” Agilk asked from behind us. We turned around and saw that the lady who had originally helped us was with him.
“Yes, thank you. We were surprised that you helped us so quickly.”
“Thank you for your business,” Agilk replied with a light bow. “Will you let us know when you’ve determined the prices you’d like for the remaining items?”
Two of the types of gems we were going to sell hadn’t been priced. Apparently, their market fluctuated so fast that you didn’t know the price until the seller sold them.
“Oh, we don’t care what the price is, so please go ahead and sell them for us.”
“Are you sure, sir?”
“Yes. We trust you to take care of it for us.”
Agilk looked a bit surprised, but he quickly agreed to the plan. “Very well. Once we’ve sold the gems, we’ll transfer the funds to you. There will be some paperwork, so once the money has gone through, please come by the guild to complete it. I’ll keep the paperwork with my colleague here,” he said, indicating the lady.
“All right. Then we’ll be on our way for today.” Druid bowed, so I bowed, too. And Agilk even bowed to me. The lady next to Agilk looked at him in surprise… I wonder why?
After we’d gone several meters away from the merchant guild, my legs turned to jelly. I must have been holding all my tension there.
“Things really went way beyond what we were expecting…but at least it’s over now.” There was a listlessness in Druid’s voice. He was probably just as exhausted as I was.
“Thank goodness for that. From now on, whenever we’re selling new things, let’s sell just one at a time.”
“Of course. But I don’t think I ever want to do this again.”
“Neither do I. But good idea asking them to sign a contract.”
Druid had given one condition to Drough and Agilk for our little cave gemstone sale: They would keep our identity a secret to their buyers.
“If the adventurers and aristocrats in this village found out about us, they’d make a big fuss about it. I just put up a line of defense, that’s all.”
Drough and the others had been a little taken aback by Druid’s request. After all, his discovery was something to boast about, not to keep secret. When they asked for an explanation, Druid smiled and said, “I like peace and quiet.” But that didn’t seem to convince them.
Our next stop was the adventurer guild, to report the dump we had found in the forest. This was an easy errand since we were only delivering news, but the person we spoke to snapped at us a little and it scared me. I guess it really was frowned upon to just start a dump anywhere without permission. When we left the guild building, the tension melted out of my shoulders.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m just hungry.”
“You know, we haven’t had lunch yet.”
He was right. We’d spent the morning shopping for clothes, which took longer than expected. Then our stop at the guild also lasted much longer than we’d planned.
We looked around as we walked back down Main Street toward the inn. And, once again, all those colorful soups stood out.
“Even though the colors look so gross, I’m still curious about them.” I glanced at the blue soup. There was even a light pink soup next to it.
“Me, too. I think they’re interesting because we don’t know what the different colors taste like.”
So Druid felt the same way. We stopped in our tracks and watched the blue soup chef at work.
“Well, we did get a little more money today than we thought…”
A little? More like a lot. Oh, but I guess to Druid it really was “a little” more money.
“Let’s have a small celebration.”
Huh? Celebrate with blue soup? I don’t know if I’d like that.
“Well…wanna give it a try?” Druid stared at me.
Yeah, I just can’t shake my curiosity! “Of course.”
From what we’d seen so far, only three stalls sold blue soup. It was a mystery whether or not they had the same flavor, so we decided to buy some from the stall we were already at.
“Welcome! What’ll it be?”
“One bowl, please.”
“Sure thing. Remember to return the bowl when you’re done.”
“Okay. How much is it?”
“Eight hundred dal.”
We paid the vendor and took the soup and a spoon. We sat down on some nearby chairs and stared critically into the soup bowl together.
“So…should we do rock-paper-scissors?”
“Sure.”
Since the blue soup didn’t look appetizing at all, we had to psych ourselves up to eat it.
“Ack!”
And I lost. A little smirk formed on Druid’s lips. He sure seemed to be pleased with the result.
“After you.”
“Urrrgh.” I resigned myself to my fate and sipped a spoonful of soup.
“Well…how is it?” Druid looked worried.
“Hmmm…” I wasn’t sure. It was kind of sweet. In fact, it was terribly sweet. That was completely unexpected. “Well, um…it’s sweet.”
“Sweet?”
“Yeah.”
“Sweet? That’s all?”
“Yeah.”
The soup had other ingredients in it, but the broth was so sweet that I couldn’t taste anything else. Good thing we only bought one bowl. I handed the soup to Druid and watched him cautiously take a sip.
“Ugh!” Druid groaned the instant the soup hit his mouth. I guess it was too sweet for him to handle. I remembered Druid didn’t like sickeningly sweet desserts. He only ate desserts with a tangy taste.
“Was it too sweet for you?”
“A little, yeah. But wow, what an incredible flavor.”
We pushed ourselves and somehow managed to finish the bowl off between the two of us. That was the first time I’d ever worked so hard to eat soup. We gave the bowl back to the vendor and took a little walk on Main Street to refresh ourselves.
“Do you think the over-sweetness was just because of that vendor?” Druid asked.
“You think so? But the other soups smell the same way, so they might all be sweet.”
If they used different ingredients, they would have smelled different, but many of the soup stalls had the same odor as the one we’d just eaten from. That made me wonder if this village had a sweet tooth.
“If they are, then we might never be able to buy soup in this village again.”
“You’re right. It’s even a little too sweet for me. Oh, but what about the white soup we had at the inn? That kind was only a little sweet.”
“Oh, you’re right. Their special soup was really good. Maybe we just picked a bad vendor?”
Maybe it really was just that one soup vendor? But I’m not brave enough to try any other soups, so I’ll just ask someone at the inn. But wait a minute…
“Mr. Druid, you’ve been to this village before, right?”
“Many times, yes. But I was only here a couple of hours on each trip, so I don’t know it very well.”
Okay, that made sense.
“Oh, I just remembered!” Druid said. “I wanted to go to a store that sells items for adventurers. Are you too tired for that?”
“I’m okay. What do you want to buy?”
“Well, I was thinking of buying a magic box with a lock.”
A magic box with a lock?
“I thought we’d need one to store our valuables.”
Our valuables… Did he mean the potions people would scream about if they saw? Since they were so sparkly, I realized we’d definitely make a scene if we accidentally pulled one out of our bag. Would they be protected in a locked box?
“I’d also like to look at some other magic bags with extra features.”
Magic bags with extra features? That sounds like fun. Okay, now I’m excited!
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