Nick Rezelkinz looked at the crumbled note the old Ogre had given him. It was written with such a bad handwriting that he couldn’t read a thing.

“I am sorry, sir. Do you want me to write everything again? You can tell me what to write.” Said Nick. The Ogre huffed.

“Young man, if I wanted you to write anything, I wouldn’t have bothered writing. I need glasses, but my eyesight is not so poor as to prevent me from writing. Now, go to the town.”

And the Ogre turned around and left. Nick stared behind him and bowed his head. The Ogre was as blind as a bat to have written in such an ugly script.

“Well, maybe the shopkeepers can tell me what he wanted.” Said to himself Nick, and he went to Luca, the dungeon core. The man smiled at him kindly and extended his hand.

“Making another trip, eh? Hopefully, this time, you can come back in an hour to the teleport.” Said Luca with a teasing smile.

Nick bowed his head.

“It was not my intention to be late, sir, but the shopkeeper had to go to the back to search for the things on the list.” Said Nick.

The list back then was readable, for Ogre standards. But the things were expensive and rarely stocked. So, he was late two hours to the meeting time. If it hadn’t been for Luca searching for him, he would have been left at Mirstone for the night.

“Yes, well. I think I need a change of scenery, and you are the only one who accepted that Ogre’s illegible scribbles. I will come with you.” Said Luca and Nick grabbed his hand, and then they teleported to Mirstone.

Except, instead of appearing in the market district, they were outside the town’s walls.

“What? How did this happen?” Said Luca. “Well, no matter. Come on, kiddo, we can walk to the market district. Try not to get separated from me.” Said Luca and Nick followed him.

The guards at the gate looked at them suspiciously and stopped them and demanded their papers. They each took out the notes that Theanore had given them in case a guard stopped them.

Upon reading the notes, one of the guards chuckled.

“Little Thea is at it again, making money from thin air.” Said the guard, and then he pointed at a sign next to the gate. The sign read.

All newcomers must pay one gold coin. The funds will be used for the refilling of the oil lamps in the streets.

Luca sighed and fished out two gold coins and handed them over. When Nick tried to give him one coin, he shook his head.

“Thea pays me a lot to teleport you all safely. Besides, we haven’t paid any coins until now. Best if we paid at least once.” Said Luca.

He had all the intentions to keep teleporting children straight to the market district when he returned. After everything Theanore has done for the region, including the new school that was built by builder ants and staffed by her, they could fill their oil lamps.

Nick nodded and then they entered the town. The midday bell chimed and both groaned.

“Ok, we have to wait half an hour for the shops to open again. Let us grab a bite to eat, kiddo.” Said Luca, and he led them to a bakery. They got two loaves of bread with strawberry jam inside and sat at a nearby bench to eat.

Two guards approached them with thunderous expressions.

“As the mayor decreed, beggars are not permitted into the market district.” Said one of the guards, and he grabbed Nick by the arm and got him to his feet.

Luca sprang to his feet and gripped the hand of the guard.

“We are no beggars. We are shoppers, having lunch and waiting for the shops to reopen. Would a beggar have this?” Asked Luca, and he showed the guards a heavy coin purse.

“We didn’t mean you, sir. The boy is the beggar.” Said the same guard. “And the punishment for begging in the market district is two days of unpaid labor.”

Nick shook in his boots. Two days of unpaid labor? Would they at least feed him?

“You will release this boy. He is an orphan; he lives in the apple grotto dungeon. Have you no shame?” Asked Luca, and he was ready to summon his goblins to deal with the guards. When the guard realized his error, he let go of Nick and backed away.

“He just looked like a beggar, is all. What with his ripped shirt? We will be leaving now.” The guards left and Nick looked down at his shirt. There was a small, almost too small to be noticed, rip in it. And that was strange because he kept his clothes in pristine condition.

“Ok, we need to talk.” Said Luca and he sat down. He looked in Nick’s feet and saw that the boy had dropped his bread, the jam had even stained his boots.

“I think you are cursed.” Said Luca, and he handed the boy his bread, suddenly having lost his appetite.

“I have never had luck.” Said Nick sadly, and then he began to nibble at the bread. His teeth bit down on something that didn’t feel like bread. It was a pill.

“See?” Said Nick as he spat it out in his head. His head was beginning to feel dizzy. Just what was this pill?

Luca took it from Nick’s hand and sniffed it. Then, he got worried.

“This is a sleeping pill. Let us go back to the grotto before you…”

But Nick was already asleep and leaning on Luca’s shoulder. Luca sighed and teleported them to the grotto. The old Ogre waited for them with outstretched hands, but Luca shook his head.

“No shopkeepers could read what you wrote. Have someone else write your shopping list for you next time.”

The Ogre crumbled, but he went back to the No Man’s Land teleport and disappeared. Luca looked at the sleeping boy in his arms. He needed to get rid of the curse. It was time he wrote to grandpa Thinker.