Liza, Ben, Eliot and Boro were at the common room of their inn, eating their breakfast. The meal consisted of a bowl of vegetable soup and a single piece of flatbread.

“I don’t know, maybe this was a bad idea after all…” said Liza.

“What are you talking about?” asked Ben.

“This request… It’s too good to be true. What if our employer is a noble? We would be treading on eggshells the whole time.”

“You said it yourself already. A noble would have his own knights and armed escorts, so why worry?”

“Let’s say it’s a rich merchant then. How is it any better? What are we going to do about Boro in such long trip?”

“Going by the reaction of the few people on the capital that have seen him, I think we’re good.”

“Yeah, but that’s because they think he’s a weird serpent. Nobody saw him, you know… fly,” she whispered.

“Then we’ll just have to ask Boro to bear with it and not detach from Eliot for some time.”

The dragon got his snout out of his bowl and looked at Ben in annoyance. Ben just shrugged his shoulders and gave a “nothing I can do” look back.

“But he’s a significant part of our combat strength. We can’t have him shackled when push comes to shove.”

“How about this then: when it comes to a fight, I’ll escort our employer away. I’m not that helpful in a battle anyway and this way you guys can fight to your hearts content.”

“That could work. I’m also thinking of buying a magical contract, just in case. We can say it’s to ensure his or her secrets, but we can also sneak in a few of our clauses there too.”

“It’s one option, but we first need to guarantee an advance. By the prices we saw yesterday, we’ll need some help to buy all the stuff you said we require,” said Ben.

“I’m sure it won’t be a problem. Someone willing to fork over a hundred gold coins for this task won’t be a miser about paying twenty gold upfront.”

“We shall see.”

“Still… It’s just too good to be true. I can’t help but be worried. Yet, we need the money. How could we ever refuse such a deal?”

Since that was the third time Liza said something on those lines, Ben chose to ignore it. They continued eating their breakfast in a leisurely manner.

-

Not that far away from where they were, Fang Chu was also having worries of her own. She ate a quick meal the moment she woke up and rushed to the guild. After identifying herself as a commission giver and her purpose there, she was guided to one of the private rooms on the second floor to wait.

Factually, she had to wait two hours, as Liza would never expect the rich employer to be the first to wake up at dawn and rush to the meeting place. To Fang Chu, however, it felt like an eternity.

Only when someone knocked on the door and ushered Liza, Eliot and Ben in did she calm down and smiled. Both Liza and Ben were shocked, with Eliot and Boro being the only ones to give a deadpan reaction.

“My, what a coincidence! To think the adventurers to take on my task would be you. Fate truly is a whimsical mistress. According to this note I received you should be Liza. What about you gentlemen? Who’s Neb and who’s Eliot?”

“I’m Eliot.”

“I’m… Neb,” said Ben weakly.

“I’m called Fang Chu and it’s a pleasure to meet all of you formally. To be truthful, I was worried Richard would do something to you out of spite after our previous encounter. I’m glad to see everyone doing well.”

“We’ve been careful ever since,” replied Ben.

“That’s good. It’s important to be careful. I’m happy to see you took my advice at heart,” she said with a smile that left Ben looking a bit silly.

Liza still had not recovered from the shock. At first, when the request was made, she was ecstatic and took the job without thinking it through. Only afterwards she came to realize how suspicious everything sounded.

It was almost like the request was tailor made for them. But who would go through such troubles? By making an official request they would have to fork the payment in the end. Were they worth that much? Well, yes, but nobody would think so by looking at them.

Upon seeing Fang Chu, Liza’s suspicions were somewhat confirmed. The chances of this being pure coincidence were astronomical in her opinion. It seemed that this woman was targeting them. Yet, she’d no idea why.

Stranger still was that, even though Liza didn’t believe this meeting was an accident, there were many factors going against the notion that this job was a trap of some kind. Nobles didn’t need to be restrained and could do whatever they wanted with commoners. She even had the perfect opportunity to mess with them, but she ended up letting them go. Why come after them now?

Not only that, but Fang Chu treated them with respect and didn’t go around imposing her status like it was common for most nobles. All in all, she seemed like one of the few decent aristocrats out there. Since Liza couldn’t figure out for sure if this was a trap or not, she decided to take it one step at a time.

“This is a surprise for us as well. Who would’ve thought that the kind noble lady that spared my dumb teammate would hire us for a job?” said Liza.

“Hahaha, I could see you were just as stunned as I was. Let’s talk business then. How soon can we depart? Are you sure in your skill to defend me? Apart from some emergency tools for my protection, I won’t be bringing anything or anyone else along.”

“We’re sure we can protect you as long as all you want is to visit Tumma Forest for prayers. On the location we’ll be able to advise you on how deep it is safe to enter the forest. We just can’t promise you from the get-go to be able to take you to the heart of the woods.”

“That’s perfectly understandable. How about the departure date and time?”

“This…” said Liza somewhat embarrassed. “We can go as soon as we finish buying the supplies we need. The thing is… we are short on money at the moment…”

“Oh? Are you asking for an advance?”

“If it’s possible. Otherwise we’ll be ill equipped for the journey,” said Liza with her head down in shame.

“No problem. I can see you’re all honest folks, as Neb here isn’t afraid to speak whatever comes to his mind,” she said with a captivating smile. “Shall we go to the lobby then? I’ll ask them to give you half of the reward upfront and we can leave tomorrow at dawn. How does it sound?”

“That’s perfect. We’ll buy everything we need this afternoon. Let’s meet tomorrow outside the guild before departing.”

They left the room and went to the lobby on the first floor where Fang Chu talked briefly with one of the clerks, clearing half of the reward for it to be given as advancement. Liza collected the gold and they talked briefly before parting ways.

“I can’t believe it’s her!” exclaimed Ben.

“I know, it’s super suspicious. Yet, what reason would she have for coming after us?” pondered Liza.

“What should I do? We’re going to be traveling together for a month and change!”

“What should we do, you mean? I’m not sure. Guess we can just do the task we were hired for and keep an eye on her for any hidden motives.”

“I already screamed she was beautiful for everyone to hear! Did you see the way she was smiling at me? It’s like she’d me at the palm of her hand. I’m in a complete disadvantage! This could get so awkward! And she will know me as Neb! NEB! I don’t even look like a Neb.”

At this point Liza realized she and Ben weren’t thinking about the same thing. She just harrumphed at his drivel and began making a list of all the things they needed on her mind. They managed to get more gold than they thought with the advance, so it was time to buy some stuff.

Thinking about how happy she was to have fifty gold to expend on gear, she couldn’t help but smile wryly. Why was she in such a haste to dump most of her money on the information about her father? The rational thing to do would be to pay the base cost and wait to see how much extra she would have to pay-out.

[Lesson learned, lesson learned,] she thought.

Since they were leaving the next morning, they didn’t have any goods made, but searched for readily available equipment. They bought three high-quality gambesons (black for Liza, dark-blue for Eliot and dark-grey for Ben) and high-quality leather boots with double layered soles for everyone.

This were expensive for peasants, but nothing they couldn’t afford before. The real cost came from buying their trump cards. A single arrow enchanted with a decent perforation spell was three gold and fifteen silvers! A basic healing potion could go around for ten to fifteen gold coins and magic scrolls were equally expensive.

In the end, they bought two healing potions for emergencies, three enchanted arrows and a magic scroll. The scroll contained the mind blast spell and could be used to give a jerk to the opponent’s mind, stunning them temporarily. It was proven that the smarter and the stronger willed the person was, the easier it was to recover or perhaps even resist the effects. Thus, it was the perfect choice of spell to be used against an ogre.

After buying all of this they were left with four gold and some change. They used this money to buy a few more odd things and ended their shopping trip. Feeling pained, but more confident in their chances, the group went back to the inn to rest for the day. The following morning they’d be embarking on a new adventure.