It likely wouldn't seem odd for me to tell you that Mel didn't like my idea.

She called me basically every variation of "stupid" she could find in modern language, and then she even spouted some in languages I'd never heard before. But none of her name calling changed my mind. She didn't tell me I was wrong. Just that this was the stupidest thing she'd heard a human utter since the first one spoke to her.

Mel, in general, wasn't a big fan of humans. Too many attempts on her life, or too many ruined forests, or something. I honestly didn't know why she stayed with me. Sure, I saved her life, but it had been months now. I kind of expected she'd get bored or frustrated soon.

And the way she was turning beet red while yelling at me, this might have been the moment. Here could have (understandably) been the time where Mel just upright got too mad at me and abandoned me to my own fate. I really wouldn't blame her. I mean, I thought of the idea and it sounded stupid to me.

Getting in bed with another money lender to both pay off the current money lender and to pay for the eatery's repairs seemed, on the surface, like the dumbest idea. It was setting my clothes on fire and then running through a bonfire. But it was also secretly pretty devious.

Neither lender would let the other claim their stake in my hide. Each would be out a considerable sum and both would want repayment. Maybe one would buy the debt from the other, or they could take turns beating me nearly to death. Neither would actually want to kill me, of course, but they could get pretty damn close.

But ultimately, it would put me a position where I could play the lenders off one another. It would require cunning and wit, two things I was woefully short on. But I was scrappy as hell, as so maybe that would count for something.

I shared all this with Mel. Even went as far as to give her some ideas of situations I could be put in, and how I'd work my way out of them. I was making it up as I went, and focusing really on the idea that I could outwit people who made it their livelihood to make people in debt to them.

Smart, no.

Genius, maybe.

She really didn't seem to think so, however. In fact, Mel seemed to think I was somehow stupider after I explained my idea to her. But as a pixie, she didn't really understand human ingenuity. Or how fucking scrappy we could get when our backs were to the wall. Like rats, but meaner.

I was feeling pretty backed into a corner, and nothing I was saying was changing Mel's mind. So, instead of trying to talk through it anymore, I just left. I could hear her yelling at me as I walked through the door-less opening into the dining room, and then still just as clear as I went through the front door. She was telling me I was an absolute idiot and an ass, but I knew both of those things.

What I didn't know was how I was going to find a lender.

I thought of asking Phelps. If anyone knew where to send desperate stupid people looking for coin, it would be Phelps. But I didn't want to make my landlord think I was going to skip out on my bills already.

So, instead, I turned to the next best place: the adventurer's guild.

Sure, they'd rat me out to Kinon and Duncan faster than I could spend my soon-to-be newfound wealth. But that was actually part of the plan. Because then Duncan would know about the second loan without me having to tell him, and he'd realize how I had him by the balls before he even stepped foot in Mystic Falls again.

The same girl was running the front desk at the adventurer's guild, and she seemed surprised to see me walk in the door. I let her stumble through her words, and eventually she was able to ask me if there was something I could do for her.

In the calmest, softest tone I could muster, I told her I wasn't going to get revenge on her for ratting me out to Kinon and, by extension, Duncan. He'd likely paid her a lot of money, and I knew it likely bypassed the guild's coffers and was currently in her pocket. I knew how it was. It was easy to write it off, especially when you thought the person wasn't coming back.

But I wasn't going anywhere. And, in fact, I rather liked Mystic Falls. So much so, that I wanted to do some more business in town.

I asked her to send me to the best money lender she could think of. The one person the guild recommended to new adventurers so they could get gear and make it big local, which would make it easier to make it big in towns like Kinon.

At first, the girl just stared at me. But very slowly she offered me a name. And an address.

I wondered what must have been going through her head. She likely thought that Duncan had dragged my sorry ass back to Kinon, but here I was. And not only that, I was then asking for another lender's information.

Maybe she thought I was some badass hero, who was going to rid the world of these parasites who just blew a bunch of smoke up vulnerable people's asses and then took them for everything they had.

But, no. If I was going to be some legendary superhero, I was going to have a much cooler name than Harper Emerson.

Maybe something to do with a nocturnal animal.

The Owl.

The Furious Honey Badger.

Raccoon Man.

I'd even get a cape.

Maybe a cool mask.

But no. I was just an average person doing an intensely stupid thing to get themselves out of a worse position.

Maybe that was heroic on its own. Or maybe it was just stupid. But either way, the girl gave me the information and then politely asked me to leave before she called for the adventurers to come and escort me out.

I would have said I would pay to see them try, but the joke doesn't land very well when you are broke enough to pit two lenders against one another in some sort of monetary combat.

Following the adventurer guild girl's instructions, I found the new lender quite easily. Mari Belle was a lot shorter than I thought she'd be. And decidedly less human than I was expecting.

The pixie woman had set up shop in a hollowed out tree at the edge of town. Behind the tree was what might have been a lovely little cottage at some point, but it was so run down I likely could have gotten a better deal on it than on the eatery I currently rented. And I would have had a much nicer landlord.

Mari introduced herself (and I back) and she invited me to take a seat at one of the two pixie-sized chairs in front of a desk that rose out of the heartwood of the tree like it was carved from it. I declined, politely, but instead leaned in as close as I could to her.

When it was obvious that I wasn't going to start the conversation, Mari leaned her elbows against the desk and pressed herself forward. "Well, Harper, get on with it then. I've got many other clients to see, you know."

Ah yes. The clients that were just lining up around the corner.

Or, maybe they were. Perhaps she dealt mostly with pixies, and by thinking that I was being an absolute ass.

I smiled my best smile. "I've got a bit of an interesting proposition for you, Miss Belle."

"Are you an adventurer?"

"Was. Retired. Now I'm a chef."

Mari paused at that, and she tilted her head. "Not exactly the most obvious life change," she said with a dismissive click of her tongue.

"Yeah, but the hours are better and I smell terrible way less frequently."

A thin smile crossed her lips. "I bet. So how can I be of service to you then, Harper? I rarely have any clients who are chefs."

"Ah, but its such an interesting profession. Really. Perhaps you should look into it. For you see, not only do I need gear and tools, just like adventurers, but I have a lot of overhead costs. There's the building, of course, of which I already have lined up. And then there's the furniture, which is always just one bar fight away from being turned into kindling. Then there's the material costs. I need fresh produce and meat to craft dishes, and obviously the fresher and better quality it is, the better it will be for the adventurers I'll be serving."

"It sounds like a very expensive profession, Harper."

"You're absolutely right. But it is also incredibly rewarding." I grinned, and it felt so natural on my lips. "Do you know, on average, what adventurers pay for stat-boosting food? There are even some combinations that will increase their experience points gained an hour, which... Well, I don't have to tell you how much adventurers will pay for the chance at experience. It's kind of how you do what you do."

"Quite," she said, and her tone wasn't as defensive as mine would have been. Instead, she was relaxed, and from what I could tell, into the idea. Or into me. Did Mel release some like pixie-related pheromones on me that this woman was picking up on? "So, I assume you would like to... go into business together, then? Is that what this is?"

"Not so much, no." I waved a hand through the air, as if dismissing the thought. "See, something like that requires way more accounting than I'm really capable of. Splitting profits and doing all that... it's just not my way. Too many years of getting hit in the head by monsters, wouldn't you know." I forced myself to laugh, but with my high charisma, it sounded perfectly natural. "So, why reinvent the wheel? We could just go with a standard adventurer contract."

"Have you entered into an adventurer contract before, Mister Harper?"

I didn't correct the pixie. Didn't want to piss her off, unlike Phelps. "Of course," I said, smooth as ever. "Paid it off before I left Lington to come here."

"Why did you leave Lington, exactly?"

"Well, when your dad is dying and he asks you to take over his business, you just up and go."

"Is the building you're occupying your father's place?" she asked, a little suspiciously.

"Nah, his eatery burnt to the ground. That's how he died. Instead, I decided to open here. Instead of in Lington. Too many painful memories there."

"Hm," Mari said, and I could tell I was losing her. I had to bring the conversation back to what I could offer.

"I'm thinking we start out small. Four hundred gold. That'll be enough for me to get the finishing touches on the building, get it inspected, and then get the materials to start making food. As soon as we're open, I'll start paying you back fifty a week. Hell, even boost it up to a hundred after a few weeks of me getting my feet under me. With dad's recipes and my determination, I figure I'll have all the adventurer's eating at my place in no time. And when I do, maybe we could go again. A second round, more money. I've got plans to expand my operations, hire staff... the works."

Mari was quiet for a long time. She eyed me curiously, almost as if trying to read me.

Remembering my suspicions about Mel and her pixie-related psychic ability, I worked hard to keep my mind blank. And a winning smile plastered on my face.

Finally, she sighed. "It's an interesting offer, Mister Harper. One I could see us both benefiting from, even. And I enjoy greatly that you are already familiar with adventurer contracts and are so willing to enter another." She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "But I don't believe for a second that you are exactly what you say you are."

"I mean, I am. I don't know how to prove it to you, other than showing you my character sheet. And I'm usually only that forward after the second date."

Mari didn't smile, or even laugh. "I believe you are desperate, Harper. And usually desperate men are my favorite kind. But I worry about you. Have you ever entered into a contract with a pixie before?"

I thought back to Mel, and her offer for me to save her from the raven. Would that have counted as a contract? Is that why she was staying around for so long?

Without knowing how to answer, I shrugged.

"Well, it is a very binding contract. We pixies take our word very seriously, and that extends to those we wish to associate with. If you want to work with me, you need to understand that I will find out everything about you, and I will use every bit of it against you to get what I want. I'm not some small town lender who can be fucked with. Do we understand one another?"

In the moment that sentence spanned over, I saw a whole new side of Mari. Instead of a sweet little pixie who was offering loans and enjoying making money from the humans, she was a vicious serpent. This wasn't Duncan, with his delusions of grandeur and his empty promises.

This woman would kill me if I crossed her.

Which is why I agreed to her terms and signed a new contract.

Mel was going to injure me. Maybe even kill me. But at least my plan was working…?

I hoped my plan was working. Because if not, I was likely going to be worse off than if I had just gone back to Kinon and handed myself over to whatever Duncan wanted.