Rockskull says "Good choice!"

"How much?"

Rockskull says "No charge. I just want to work with these horns. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"Well, alright then."

He then takes the horns and leaves through the door in the back leaving Gul to finish up things. In total the griffin parts earn me an extra 57 gold, now I have just under six thousand gold and no real idea of what to do with it. I can't really think of anything else I need to buy, or anything else I need to spend money on.

At this point gold is practically worthless to me, but I don't really have time for another hunt before I have to meet the king. So once I leave the adventurer's guild I just wander around the east side of town for a while. After some time wandering I come across a single story building with a sign naming it the apothecary's guild.

Out of curiosity I decide to head inside and take a look, since I haven't paid much attention to this stuff since I entered the test. When I enter instead of the shelves full of herbs I was expecting I find shelves full of ready made pills. I quickly skip over the shelves full of common remedies and find the shelf with the expensive stuff.

Each item has a tag showing the name of the medicine, the price, and a brief description of what it does. Here I find several things of interest, like the cleansing pill which purifies the body of toxins and residue. Another that interests me is the restoration pill which clears up the residue of old wounds.

The last interesting one I find is the nutrient pill, according to the tag it provides several days worth of nutrients. My guess is it is to prevent starvation but I can think of another use for it. The problem is the shelf only has five to ten of each pill so I walk up to the counter.

The counter is manned by a young human boy in a robe, probably an apprentice. When I ask about ordering the special pills in quantity he looks confused and asks me to wait a minute. He quickly runs off and a few minutes later an older human in a similar robe comes out.

Herik says "Greetings, I am Herik the manager of this branch. How can I help you?"

"I would like to know if it is possible to order the cleaning, restoration, and nutrient pills in bulk."

Herik says "How many of each would you need?"

"Fifty."

Herik says "Well, yes, it is possible. However, it would take about a week to fill your order and the total would be around fifteen hundred gold."

'A week. So not in time for the competition, but it should be a few days before the invasion.'

After making up my mind I take out my bank card and hand it to Herik. He seems surprised, he was probably expecting me to not be able to afford it. What he doesn't know is that I have more money than I know what to do with.

Herik says "Thank you for your business! We will begin making the pills immediately!"

"You're welcome. If possible, can you send word to the castle when the order is ready?"

Herik says "Of course!"

"Thank you."

After that I leave the shop and start heading back to the castle, on my way another sign catches my eye. The shop is small, run down, and not very impressive looking, but the sign says Mercenaries guild. Out of curiosity I walk in, it is an empty room except for the counter with an old man.

Able says "Welcome. What can I do for you?"

"Say I wanted to hire some mercenaries in a week's time for three to four days. How many could I get for four thousand gold?"

Able gulps and says "Um, a thousand or so."

"Alright, let's do it then."

Able says "Unfortunately, we do not have that many local mercenaries. In order to summon more from nearby kingdoms you will have to pay in advance. Also, I will need to know what their role will be so I can summon the appropriate people."

"No problem. Here. The role will be supporting the army against a large number of monsters."

Able says "Understood! The men will be here and ready in one week!"

"Excellent. Thank you."

Able says "No, thank you, sir!"

His attitude changed as soon as he got the bank card, then again this is probably the biggest order he has received. There probably isn't much call for mercenaries in this kingdom, in fact looking at the shop there is hardly any. It is no surprise that he would suddenly change his attitude towards me.

After leaving the shop I return to the castle and rest until dawn, then I take my troop for their run. After the run and breakfast I head over to the blacksmith's guild to pick up my new armor. Then I return to the castle and take a bath before dressing and heading to report to the castle.

The castle is separated into two areas, the outer area where the troops live and train and the inner area where the king lives. This is my first time coming into the inner area and as expected it is a completely different world. Nobles wander around in the plush and over luxurious area and I feel completely out of place.

After showing my summons to one of the guards I am led to a waiting room attached to the king's throne room. Here I am to wait until my name is called, which ends up being about a half an hour. Then when my name is called I leave the waiting room and walk down the carpet in the middle of the throne room.

Arriving before the king I kneel on one knee and pay my respects as I was instructed to. The sides of the throne room are filled with nobles and various other people and every single eye is on me. A few eyes hold curiosity but the majority only hold disgust and contempt.

Even the king looks at me like I am dirt and I wouldn't be here at all if my achievements didn't demand some kind of reward. A human in my position would undoubtedly be knighted for killing a demon. In my case all I get is a medal for exemplary performance above and beyond my duty.

The king doesn't even give me the medal, instead a servant is sent to place it on my chest. Even the servant looks unhappy to be near me and for a second I contemplate killing everyone in the room. While I am sure it would make the kingdom a better place I restrain myself since it would probably cause me to fail the test.