“I have way too much money.” Anastacia muttered and emptied her purse on top of a moderately sized pile of gold she had collected on her bed. Between the quest reward, the money from the bits and bobs she had sold and the price she received for the book, she now possessed far more money than she knew what to do with. Even in Valor, her savings were starting to be considerable, but in the world outside, it was enough for a house and a fair bit of land around it. It seemed wasteful to just throw around such amounts without a proper plan, but at the same time, she hadn’t really had money before and it was definitely burning in her pockets.

She did some simple calculations regarding the cost of her room and board, which she still had to pay for despite the one responsible for providing them had taken a liking to her, and set aside a fair portion of her money to ensure she could keep paying for them.

After hiding the separated portion behind her wardrobe, along with the royal blessing, she still had a pile of coins that seemed hardly smaller than before. The next step was to go through a list of things she needed. Thanks to Coquelicot, she had her armor situation sorted for the time being, and the daggers she had would still do for a while. However, her wardrobe was definitely in the need for more variety. The few dresses she had picked up so far were alright to wear in the city, but for quests, something that wouldn’t get caught or grabbed so easily would be better. She had already been grabbed by the kelpie once, and since she wasn’t big or strong like the like the rest of her party, so it was fair to assume she’d get tossed around more than once in her career. After testing the hardening ability of her new armor, they did make her feel safer, but would only go so far.

But getting some clothes would barely even dent her finances. She had thought about getting some enchanted jewelry, but because of the timed nature of common enchantments, those would be a part of the prep work for a new quest and not something to buy just because. In the end, she decided to head downstairs for some suggestions.

The usual evening crowd had already gathered into the tavern and were merrily drinking away their own quest rewards. Xamiliere was bothering Emilia about something and it didn’t take long for Rosie to come and drag the spriggan outside. Gilbert and Dammar were sitting in a corner table, smoking their pipes, drinking and being old in almost complete silence. Maximillian was talking to some elven ladies near the counter, which was kind of surprising to see for some reason. Anastacia didn’t feel like bothering any of them and instead, sat on the closest empty chair.

“Oh! Miss Necromancer! Good to see you’re doing well.” A man she didn’t recognize greeted Anastacia. Her confusion must have been evident as the man could see it. “I see you don’t recognize me without the guard armor, and I suppose it has been a while. I’m Otto, I greeted you when you first arrived to Valor with Gilbert and took care of the little situation with the paladin.

“Ohhh, you’re that guy! Thanks for keeping me out of jail then. Can I buy you a round?” The necromancer suggested and placed a neat stack of coins on the table.

Otto scratched his chin and smiled. “We don’t take bribes, but if it’s a gift from a friend…”

Anastacia picked up on the hint and asked Rosie to bring out a drink for her new friend – who just happened to celebrate his almost-birthday.

“By the way, Otto. Is that asshole of a paladin still locked up?” She asked, figuring she might as well get to know the guard who saved her.

“Nay. Some church officials came by and asked for him to be released. The guild couldn’t be bothered to deal with them and let him go. Of course, he’s not allowed to come into the city anymore.” The off-duty guard sighed. “Personally, I think a bit more thinking time would have done the lad well.”

Knowing that Alex had been released was slightly disappointing to Anastacia. She’d have to tell that to Emilia too.

The two kept chatting about what had happened after Anastacia had arrived to Valor. Otto had heard about the fights against the Inquisitors, as the guards that had helped with Crimson apparently wouldn’t shut up about how they killed a necromancer. Eventually the topic reached Anastacia’s current problem of having too much money.

“Do you have any ideas what I could do with it? I already have almost everything I need.” The necromancer asked and tossed her heavy purse onto the table.

“Hmm… You could try visiting another city to see what their market has to offer. Valor is a huge city with plenty of shops, but almost all of them sell stuff only adventurers really need. A city like Crescent, that doesn’t have adventurers in it, might have a ton of interesting stuff to see and buy. But Crescent in particular is…” Otto suggested but was cut off by Anastacia before being able to finish his line.

“YOU’RE A GENIUS! I was getting tired of just sitting around here anyway! I have to tell the others!” She exclaimed.

Otto raised his hand to stop the girl but was too late, she had already stormed off. He figured that Anastacia would probably be fine no matter what and it was starting to be late. Being a man with a family, he thanked the innkeeper and headed home for the night.

Anastacia almost knocked over Emilia’s glass in excitement as she sat down next to the priestess. “Guys! Guys! We’re going to Crescent!” She yelled.

Xamiliere, who had found her way back in, looked disappointed. “Crescent? I can’t help you with that. We had a quest near there and things went a bit sour. You have no idea how banned we are from that city. There was a mob with torches and pitchforks and everything…”

Emilia almost spat out her drink. “That was you guys?! I was a priestess in the church there when that happened. Anyway, why Crescent? These days it’s a bit... unwelcoming.”

“I want to go shopping!” Anastacia explained herself. “Who’s coming with me?”

“Well you do need someone to look after you and I know the place, so count me in.” Emilia agreed. “I do also see what happened to that place since I left. Doubt it’s anything good, but who knows.”

Rosie had overheard their conversation while serving some of the tables near them and came over. “Did you say Crescent? I’ll come with you, I need to buy some stuff for the inn and they don’t really sell them here. I’m used to the mean looks and if I have a couple of humans with me, it should be fine.”

“Yaaaaay, hear that Emilia? Rosie’s coming too! Oh… But don’t you have to run the inn?” The necromancer realized.

Rosie cleared her throat and turned to face the rest of the tavern. “Alright, you lot! I have to go to Crescent to buy some shit for the inn. Most of it is because you idiots keep breaking them, so as a punishment, I’ll leave the inn in Gilbert’s less than competent hands! So have fun with that.” She then turned back to Anastacia. “No, I don’t.”

The innkeeper’s declaration caused a slight decrease in everyone’s mood since they knew they would have to manage with a much more limited menu for a few days, but that would be fixed in no time with more alcohol. This was something that happened every year or so, as the adventurers, who weren’t exactly delicate in their actions, broke tableware and ruined sheets and such fairly regularly. Even Gilbert had accepted his fate by now, he would just have to make some decent coffee in the morning and everything would be fine. Holly would take care of the night shift as usual, but she would no doubt be confused at first.

The trio would depart early in the morning, as the walk over to Crescent would take about half a day, so leaving early would leave them with enough time to look for lodging.

Anastacia went to bed earlier than usual that night, thinking that no doubt, the trip was going to be amazing.