Arad and Aella walked into the guild’s butcher. Looking around, they could see tens of slathered monsters.
Arad pushed the door open, “Is someone here? I brought some corpses,”
“We call them carcasses. Did no one teach you that?” A short, bearded, buff man with a bloodied apron approached them with a knife. “Did the guild send you?”
Aella closed her nose, “This place stinks,” She took a step back, “Let’s hurry.”
“You elves don’t like meat. Is that right? I bet you will change your mind after trying a nice, juicy brisket.” He pointed at a cow carcass in the back.
Aella stared at him with a wry smile, “Are you trying to feed an elf some meat? You know we can’t digest that. It’s not that we hate it.”
“I’m just passionate about my cuisine.” The man giggled, walking toward a large table and pointing his knife toward Arad. “Where are the carcasses? When will they arrive?”
Arad smiled, lifting his palm, “Now!” The corpses of salamanders, werewolves, and trolls fell on the ground, and after all of that, the queen’s corpse rolled to the side.
The butcher fell on his ass, shocked, “Where did they come from?” 𝐞𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.
“A temporary magic I got from Alcott. In the last mission, we worked as his porters.” Arad pointed at the monsters.
The butcher stood, “It doesn’t matter.” He sighed, “It will take some time to butcher all of those, even with all my men working as hard as they can. Please get back to me after three to four hours. Or tomorrow, if you can,”
“How much do you think those are worth?” Arad asked. He only cared about the money for now.
“I would say more than twenty gold coins. It can reach thirty, but I can’t be sure.” The butcher smacked the queen’s corpse with his palm.
“Can I get the guild to pay ten gold coins now? With that, I can wait until tomorrow to get the rest.” Arad asked, looking at the man with a smile.
“Tight on money? I will write you a receipt right now,” The butcher walked to the back, took a white paper, and filled it. Finally, instead of using a proper stamp, he stamped it with the blood on his apron as ink.
“Did you have to do that?” Aella stared at him, handing the paper to Arad.
“It doesn’t matter, as long as it is my stamp. Here is a ten gold bill. I also marked that you still have more to pick tomorrow.”
Arad smiled and took the receipt back to Nina. “With this, I can pay your full price.”
“GH!” Aella gasped, remembering they still had to pay for her, “Yeah, now that you mention it.”
Arad walked toward the desk and handed Nina the paper. She looked at them with a tense face, “Do you want everything now, or should I keep it for you?”
“What?” Arad stared at her, “I will take my money.”
“Carrying this much can make you a target for thieves and assassins. It’s usually better to keep the money in the guild or a bank for safety,” she explained.
“I need to take it from the guild to put it in a bank,” Arad replied, trying to take his money out.
Nina smiled, “We do that transaction for you. Just provide us with your bank card.”
Arad sighed, “Give me two gold coins and leave the rest in the guild,”
Nina smiled, “Are you sure?”
Arad lifted his fire engulfed palm, “On second thought, I will take everything.”
“Fine, fine. Here are the two gold coins. The remaining eight are in the guild, and you can take from them whenever you need.” Nina smiled, handing him two coins.
“Do you have change? I like to take one of them as a hundred silver coins.” Arad returned one gold coin to her.
Nina smiled, counting a hundred silver coins for him, “Here you are. Please be careful with them.
After walking out of the guild, four adventurers cut Arad and Aella’s way, “Wait a moment, there is something important we wanted to talk about.” one of them approached Arad with a smile.
Arad looked toward the back. The other two hit their hands behind their back, probably weapons.
“Can you stop the act?” Arad glared at them.
The adventurer looked back at his friends, “You aren’t fun, are you?” He giggled, “You seem to have more money than you can carry. We will help you store it safely.” The other two pulled their knives.
Arad didn’t waste time, singing his fist at the first one. THWACK!
^I wonder what Mom would think?^ Arad thought. He swung a kick at the thief’s stomach, sending him to his friends.
GRWA! The man cried, coughing as the other two charged. Thud! Aella leaped forward, grabbing the thief’s wrist and disarming him.
Swinging her palm, she slapped him. She followed with a backhand slap, sending a small shockwave across the air. SLAP! SLAP!
CRACK! As the thief was dazed, she smacked her elbow into his chest, knocking him out.
The last one charged at Arad, but then a vase fell on his head. CRACK!
“Did you never hear of thieves’ honor?” Jack looked down from a balcony. Thud! He leaped down, landing on the thief’s back.
“GRWA!” The man cried, falling unconscious.
“Did you kill him?” Arad asked, but Jack waved his hand, “Nah! His armor absorbs most of the impact.” He walked down after wiping his boots on the thief’s back.
“So, chief, how much money are you carrying for them to attack you?” Jack asked with a smile.
“Two gold coins, eight are still in the guild, and there is more in the butcher for tomorrow,” Arad replied.
“Holy sniffles, why would you carry so much?” Jack looked at him, “Don’t take more than thirty to fifty silver out.”
“Yeah, but there is something I need to pay, one gold and fifty silver, to be exact.” Arad replied, “Sorry for taking the party’s money without telling you.”
“You’re the leader. You don’t have to tell me.” Jack smiled, “Let’s go pay what you own.”
“I thought you’d obsess more about money.” Arad replied with a smile, and Jack giggled, “You made over ten golds in a day. Sticking with you is the right thing.”
After walking a bit, they reached the slave market, “What?” Jack looked at Arad, “Here? Is there someone you want to get out?”
Aella giggled, with a slightly sad face, “Sorry, that’s me.” lifting her hand.
Jack paused, staring at her and then at Arad, “One gold and fifty silver coins. Only that?”
“Yeah?” Arad replied.
“Chief, can I get one gold and fifty silver? They might have another one I can take.” Jack turned around, opening the great wooden door.
The managed stared at them, recognizing Arad and Aella, “There are still a few days. Did you come looking for something?” He approached them with a smile.
“You’re quick, aren’t you?” Arad smiled, and the managed giggled, “About what? I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Arad looked around him, and the magic rumbled. All of the building security focused on Jack. They can’t trust a rogue.
“We came here to pay in full.” Arad sat on the couch, and so did Aella and Jack, who put his feet on the table. “Get them down,” Arad pulled them out.
The managed sat facing them, “Did you get the money? A quest?”
Arad pulled one gold coin and counted him fifty silver coins. “Paid in full. I did get a big quest, but it wasn’t easy.” Arad sighed.
“I thought the guild has a limit for new adventurers,” The managed said, clearly suspecting something.
“Don’t worry about that. I was with Alcott.” Arad replied.
“Alcott? The S-rank? That explains it.” The managed smiled, taking the money, “I will get the paper done quickly.”
As the managed was about to leave, Jack called him, “Can you get one for me?”
The managed stopped and looked at him, “Our cheapest slave now is twenty-three gold coins if you can pay.”
Jack sighed, looking toward the table, “Just tell me you don’t want to sell me one.”
“We care about the safety of our slaves. I won’t sell them randomly.” The manager said with a smile.
“But you sold her to him,” Jack pointed toward Arad.
“I trust my eyes. Do you think it was a mistake to sell Aella to him?” The managed glared at Jack.
“No, I had the same thing. Chief has a different vibe from other people.” Jack replied with a smile, “Look at how fast he got you the money back.”
“I know. I interact with snorty nobles and merchants, so I have gained enough experience to tell someone worth from a glance.” The managed looked at Arad.
“Same here, but I deal a lot with shady people.” Jack smiled, “Even the guild think he is a potential S-rank. That’s rare.”
“Can you stop talking about me as if I’m not sitting here?” Arad glared at them.