Lieka reached toward the chunks of Wisterium embedded in the floor, but her expression soon twisted into a grimace.
At first, she grunted and groaned, then started squealing, and eventually made noises like a boiling kettle as she struggled with all her might. But the metal, now saturated with magical energy, didn’t budge an inch.
Lieka was an adventurer who knew when to accept reality, and she quickly admitted defeat.
“…I’m sorry. Please, buy it from me.”
Her kneeling posture was so sincerely respectful that I tossed her a small medallion.
When she caught it, her eyes widened.
“This is…!”
“Take that to the bank in Dintalve. They’ll give you the money.”
“I’ve used them before, so I know. Judging by the medallion’s rank… you’re not lying.”
“I’ll continue buying Wisterium regularly, so anything you find while exploring Ground Zero, bring it to me.”
“At today’s price?”
“Yes, at the same price.”
“This is like totally scamming…no, I mean meeting a customer with a perfectly matched supply-and-demand situation? Mmm, must be fate.”
Catching the strong scent of money coming off me, Lieka gave a sly smile full of ulterior motives and kissed the medallion with a soft “mmhm”.
Then she rummaged through her clothes and handed me a neatly folded slip of paper.
When I unfolded it, it had an address written on it.
“I don’t usually give this to just anyone…”
“Then take it back.”
“Oh come on! What’s the rush? That address…it’s my usual hideout after a dig. It’s a tavern in the city closest to Ground Zero. If you need anything besides this Wisterium stuff, get in touch there. Me and my friends have treasures gathered from Ground Zero just waiting for someone willing to pay a fair price.”
“Alright.”
“And even if it’s not for items, it’ll come in handy if you ever need random help. No matter what I’m doing, I’ll prioritize your request. Of course, there’ll be a slight surcharge. You get what I’m saying, right?”
Winter Winslet wasn’t someone who feared for his life more than his money, so the opportunity to buy the cooperation of a named NPC with money was always welcome.
“If I pay a reasonable price… would you offer combat support too?”
“We’re not mercenaries. We’re adventurers. We don’t go around hurting people. We can handle monsters to some extent, though.”
“What about fighting a dragon?”
Lieka suddenly looked at me like I was pitiful.
“…Don’t tell me you’ve gone senile already at your age?”
“Pretend you didn’t hear that.”
Someday, I’d need to shake the secrets out of that bastard Monastrell, and for that, I’d need to rough her up a bit. But damn, putting together a dragon-slaying party was turning out to be harder than expected.
Especially since mages are practically useless against dragons. I’d need skilled fighters. Maybe I really should try to win Josephine over.
That meant this birthday present operation had to go well first.
“Just pack up the Wisterium and hand it over.”
“It’s so weird. That stuff wouldn’t even budge earlier, not an inch…”
Lieka stuffed the pale violet metal into a leather pouch and handed it to me.
Or pretended to…only to snatch it back at the last second.
“What are you doing?”
Clicking her tongue, Lieka wagged a finger in front of me.
“You haven’t paid me for something else.”
“……?”
“The bed you broke. I’m the one who has to reimburse the innkeeper.”
“……”
“I know what you’re trying to say, but let’s be honest…I’m not the one who broke it, am I?”
I wondered if she was possessed by some money-hungry demon, but knowing her storyline from the original game, I couldn’t be too harsh about her stinginess.
With a resigned sigh, I flicked her a gold coin.
Lieka grinned and said slyly, “I knew our client was a generous one. That’s more than enough to cover repairs, so let me give you a little something in return. Did you know? You were being tailed.”
“Tailed?”
“Mhmm. I wasn’t the only one following you back on the street. That’s why I acted like I was your secret lover when we came to this inn.”
“They still around?”
“Probably. Want me to take care of them?”
“No, leave it.”
If someone was tailing me, odds were it was Monastrell.
You don’t avoid poop because you’re scared of it; you avoid it because it’s filthy.
It’s not that I think I’d lose to her in a fight right now. Really.
***
Second floor of a shabby inn in the old district of Lambart, named “Old Well Inn” after the 200-year-old well out back.
In the room right next to where the Wisterium deal was taking place, two Academy students were pressing one ear each against the wall, their faces serious.
Needless to say, it was Jacqueline and Shannon.
“The sound’s stopped. Are they done?”
“Shh. The door’s opening.”
Shannon brought a finger to her lips and whispered. Jacqueline quickly clamped her hands over her own mouth.
Her heart was pounding with tension.
Her mind was in chaos.
How did we even end up in this situation?
Thirty minutes earlier.
The two of them had just gone out to grab one of those trendy cool drinks that had become all the rage in the capital.
And purely by chance…truly, by sheer coincidence, they spotted Professor Winslet walking down the boulevard.
Naturally, feeling glad to see him, they headed over to say hello.
That’s when the problem started.
Someone had already clung to Professor Winslet’s side.
A woman, cloaked and hooded, her identity hidden. But her silhouette was unmistakably feminine.
When Professor Winslet casually slipped his hand around her waist, Jacqueline and Shannon both saw red.
They exchanged glances and instantly knew they were thinking the same thing.
“Secretly?”
“Mhmm. Quietly.”
They watched as the two began whispering to each other.
It was like watching bait dangling on a fishing line. And just like that, Jacqueline and Shannon took the hook. They started tailing them.
Professor Winslet and the woman headed toward the old district.
Once a thriving commercial zone, it had gradually declined as the city expanded and the center shifted elsewhere.
Now, it was a bit run-down but still favored by travelers. It had affordable prices and good roads connecting to the rest of the city.
Perhaps because of that, inns were flourishing in the area, and the professor and the woman entered one such shabby three-story inn.
That was all it took to spark the girls’ imaginations.
“An inn? In broad daylight?”
“…Let’s follow them.”
“Are you serious? You want to go inside the inn too?”
Jacqueline who grew nervous tried to talk her down.
But Shannon said just one thing:
“Aren’t you curious?”
And just like that, the two of them followed the professor into the inn.
They told the innkeeper they wanted to rent the room next to the man and woman who had just gone in and received the key.
Shannon paid the hourly rate.
Professor Winslet and the woman had entered Room 202.
Jacqueline and Shannon, now inside Room 203 right next door, trembled with a mix of guilt and excitement.
It wasn’t exactly a crime, but it did feel like they were doing something wrong.
“Well, we followed them in, but… now what? Don’t you know some kind of spell that lets you hear through walls?”
“There is a spell like that, but if I cast it, the professor will notice right away.”
“Then what do we do?”
Just as Jacqueline asked—
Crash!
A loud cracking sound came from the room next door, and the two of them jumped in surprise.
But that was only the beginning.
Soon, they heard the woman groan.
Grunting, squealing, and even a strained “Nngh!”…like she was pushing with all her strength!
“Wh-Wh-Wh-What in the world is going on in there…?”
Jacqueline trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.
Shannon’s face had turned bright red, twisted into a bizarre expression.
Jacqueline’s face probably didn’t look much different.
Saying anything now and voicing the obvious questions or assumptions would only make it more embarrassing.
So she closed her eyes and covered her face with both hands, feeling that ridiculous irony…
When you can’t see, you end up hearing everything even more clearly.
Several more minutes passed like that and brought them to the present moment.
Creak.
It seemed Professor Winslet and the woman had finished whatever they were doing, because the door next door opened.
The sound of two sets of footsteps heading down to the first floor of the inn followed.
Only then did Jacqueline press a hand to her chest and exhale the breath she’d been holding.
“Whew, that took ten years off my life.”
Shannon lowered the fist she had been holding to her mouth.
There were clear teeth marks on the back of her hand.
The two of them stepped out of Room 203 and carefully peeked down toward the first floor of the inn.
“Where’s the professor?”
“I don’t see him. Looks like he already left.”
“What about the woman he was with?”
“She’s sitting in the corner, drinking. But her face is just out of view at the perfect angle…”
“Should we go talk to her?”
“And ask what, exactly?”
“That’s…”
Jacqueline’s voice trailed off into a whisper.
Seeing this as a waste of time, Shannon made up her mind and moved decisively.
She reached for the doorknob of Room 202, the room in question, and twisted it.
Click.
The door opened smoothly.
Jacqueline voiced her concern from behind.
“Are you really going to open it?”
Shannon knew it too.
That this was crossing a line, opening a forbidden box.
But she couldn’t suppress the curiosity bubbling up from her instincts.
“I’m going in.”
The door swung wide open, and the inside came into view.
Room 202 looked pretty much the same as the one they’d been hiding in.
A dusty window, a vanity and a crooked chair… and the bed—
“Ah.”
“……”
The bed was broken clean in half.
The two girls stared silently at the wrecked bed for quite a long time.
A heavy silence fell, so quiet even their breathing seemed absent.
And then—
Shannon was the first to speak.
“…Should we go back?”
“Mhmm.”
After that, they left the inn and went back to their original plan of grabbing a drink.
They ordered apple cider which was currently all the rage in the capital, but couldn’t tell if it went in through their mouths or their noses.
By the time they returned to the Academy dorms, they couldn’t even remember what it had tasted like.
“Suddenly feels like a waste of money.”
“That’s right.”
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