Ben’s forehead was wet with perspiration and his countenance was one of full concentration. He was holding a cooper plate with his left hand and a small blade with his right. Doing his best to keep his hands steady, he brought the blade close to his face and began carefully shaving his overgrown beard using the distorted reflection on the cooper plate. Despite being extra careful, he managed to cut himself a few times.

[Ouch! Using a knife to shave is scary!]

Ben tossed the plate aside and cleaned the blade with a piece of cloth before putting it away. He filled a small wooden basin with water and submerged his face in it for a few seconds. His shaving attempt didn’t go too well, but at least he now felt cleaner and more presentable.

Now that he was done, Ben looked around the room. Eliot and Boro were sitting on top of one of the beds, gorging themselves on an entire baked chicken. Liza was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Eliot I’ve just noticed, but how come you don’t have a beard?”

“Dunno.”

“Huh? You don’t know? Look at your face, it’s completely smooth. Even if you didn’t have much of a beard, you’d have to shave from time to time to keep it like that, no?”

“No. Ne–vever mughug,” said Eliot with chicken bits spilling from his mouth.

“Chew and eat properly first, then talk.”

*chomp* *chomp* *gulp*

“I never had to shave.”

“That’s so weird.”

Eliot just shrugged and kept eating. A few minutes later, Liza arrived carrying two large linen sacks. She tossed them on top of one of the beds and gave Ben a small leather pouch.

“I bought the basics and saved some coin for any eventuality. This is how much I can lend you right now. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if you can get a single book from it,” said Liza.

Ben opened the pouch and looked inside. Doing a quick calculation, he figured there was three to four gold coins worth in there. If that wasn’t enough to buy a single book he’d be in trouble. How much would it cost him to become a mage?

“That’s fine, I’ll look around. Maybe I’ll find some second-hand ones for cheap. You never know.”

“I find it unlikely, but good luck.”

“Thanks. For the money too.”

He left the inn and began walking around the streets, searching for bookstores. After an entire day of searching he was disappointed. There were few places that sold books in Kalafrana and even fewer were the ones with magic tomes in stock.

Worst yet was that all magic grimoires were considered premium goods and costed ten gold coins or more for even the simplest spells. In the end, Ben had to make do by buying an introductory book about mana and the principles of magic for three and a half gold coins.

“I guess it’s not only Liza that needs tons of cash right now,” he sighed.

It was getting late, thus Ben returned to the inn. They didn’t have anything to do for the following days, so they toured around the capital. They visited the magical water fountain, the famous temple of Dandara, goddess of mercy, and many other known spots in Kalafrana.

Whenever there was free time, Ben would pour his head into his new book and try to understand what mana was and how magic worked. The tome proved to be challenging for his current language skill, but with some help from Liza here and there, he managed to finish it in four days.

It was night-time. After an entire day of walking and touring the capital, Ben lay on the bed summarizing the knowledge from the book he’d just finished a few hours ago.

Mana was a particle present everywhere in this world. Some people were born with affinity for this particle, making them able to sense it and perhaps, for those incredible talented, manipulate it somehow. Magic was the study of this particle and how it could be gathered, transformed and utilized.

The very first mages were considered virtuosos, able to manipulate mana naturally from a young age. With time, those mages began to have a better understanding of mana and developed a system to better control it, having it do what they wanted more easily and consistently. This system made things better for them and also helped those with less sensitivity to cast their first spells.

Since then, there has been constant improvement on the study of magic. Today, even those with the barest sensibility can cast some of the simplest spells when following the tried and true formulas.

“Ah~, I can’t feel mana at all. Does it mean I’m done for? Will I never be able to cast a spell or find a way back home?” sighed Ben.

Despite these depressing thoughts, Ben didn’t get discouraged or fell into a panic attack, like would usually be the case. Without realizing it, he was becoming a tougher person.

“Can’t say for sure! I need to buy more books! One about mana sensitivity and one that teaches simple spells. I’m sure they will have some kind of test I can do written down. Maybe there’s an artificial way by now to acquire mana sense too. Like eating a strange fruit or using a magic item. Yeah, there must be!”

As he mumbled, a pair of green slits focused on him in the darkness. Boro was watching Ben talking with himself with extreme interest until he was shoved aside by Eliot. The young man got up, scratched his back and yawned.

“What are you doing Ben? You’re talking to someone?” asked Eliot.

“Sorry, did I wake you? I’m just trying to figure out what I’ve learned.”

“Nah, I’m not sleepy,” said Eliot before yawning again.

Ben shook his head and admonished himself in his mind. Eliot was a light sleeper and was always alert. He would’ve to be more careful in the future.

“Just lie down and go back to sleep Eliot. I’ll be quiet.”

“I’m not sleepy! Hey, Ben, why don’t you teach me something new? Or tell me a story? It’s been ages since you told me the last one!”

Ben scratched his head in embarrassment. During their stay in Kelna he would teach Eliot something new or tell him a story every day. However, he seldom had the energy to do it since they began traveling again.

“All right. Once upon a time…”

-

It was finally the morning of the fifth day. They all sat on the inn’s common room and ordered breakfast. Liza’s hair was a mess and she’d dark circles under her eyes. It was clear she didn’t manage to get a wink of sleep last night.

“Are you nervous?” asked Ben as he chomped down some oatmeal.

“Huh? No, I’m fine,” lied Liza.

“It’s okay to be nervous, you know? You’re about to learn something you’ve been after for a long time. If it were me, I’d probably be freaking out,” said Ben.

“I told you I’m fine,” grumbled Liza.

They ate their meal in haste (mostly because Liza kept unconsciously hurrying them with her eyes) and ran to the guild. After a brief conversation with the clerk, they were sent to the second floor to wait in the same room they had used last time.

“Hello everyone, how are you all doing in this fine morning?” asked the middle-aged woman as she entered the room.

“Morning,” replied Liza curtly.

“Would you care for something to eat?”

“We’re fine, thanks. We just ate,” said Liza.

“I want some!” exclaimed Eliot.

“Hahaha, here you go dear. Have your fill,” said the broker handing a plate of honey bread to Eliot.

“Did you manage to find out the information I need?” asked Liza in a hurry.

The warm and gentle mood around the middle-aged woman changed instantly to a cold and business-like demeanour.

“I can see you’re anxious to find out. Please pardon my unprofessional behaviour. We indeed discovered where the elven society pertaining that brooch you provided us inhabits.”

“That’s great! Where are they? Do you have a map?” exclaimed Liza.

“However, it was much more difficult than we thought. Like I told you five days ago, the price for information we don’t have readily available can shift a lot depending on how hard it is to acquire it.”

Liza’s happy mood instantly plummeted and she calmed herself down considerably. Ben who was about to congratulate her closed his mouth and Eliot kept eating the loafs of honey bread on the table, occasionally giving some to Boro in a sneaky manner.

“How much will it be?” asked Liza.

“The total cost of this piece of information will be a thousand gold coins. You’ll also need to have the rank of Professional Adventurer or higher in the guild. I’m sure you are aware, but your initial deposit cannot be refunded. Of course, its value will be subtracted from the total amount you need to pay. To summarize, you’ll need to raise your rank one more time and gather eight hundred and ten gold coins to buy this information.”

The room fell in an awkward silence. Even Eliot stopped chewing. Liza’s face was one of despair and hopelessness. The broker shook her head slightly and slurped on some of her tea while waiting for them to recover.

“Another eight hundred gold coins…” said Liza exasperated.

“And ten,” added the middle-aged woman calmly.

Liza gave her a smile that wasn’t a smile.

“And ten, of course. Thanks for your time. We’ll try to figure out a way to get the money and return later to make the payment,” said Liza, her lips twitching from time to time.

“Don’t worry and take it slow. There’s no need to rush,” said the broker getting up and opening the door for them.

They returned to the lobby on the first floor and sat at one of the tables in the living area. Different from their previous visit, there were a couple groups of people sitting sparsely here and there.

“How are we going to get eight hundred gold coins? Getting two hundred from that gem was already my greatest lucky break. That was the most money I’ve made from all my time adventuring,” said Liza weakly.

“Calm down, we can do this,” encouraged Ben. “Let’s revert to the original plan. We’ll grab the index of all open requests and figure out the most lucrative tasks, grouping them by location. Who knows? If we can make around a hundred gold coins per trip, it will only take eight trips before we make the money needed.”

Liza understood Ben was only trying to cheer her up and that it wasn’t that simple, but she appreciated the gesture. Moments like this made her wonder why she’d taken so long to find a group to wander around with.

[Oh, right, it was because those bastards wanted to take advantage of me,] she reminisced.

“You’re right. I’ll go ask if they have a book with all the missions available. It might take long, but we can do this!” exclaimed Liza with renewed energy.

“We can also ask Mr. merchant. Didn’t he keep saying he was good at making money?” said Eliot innocently.

Liza and Ben looked as if they’d been struck by lightning. Of course, how could they have forgotten that they just recently made acquaintance with a traveling merchant? Who would know better about making money but him?

The entire time they were talking, people kept coming and going from the common area in the lobby. It appeared that today was a busy day for the guild.