Despite Liza’s rude attitude, the broker didn’t feel offended at all. On the contrary, she was happy they could afford the price. The losses they took while gathering this piece of information were not light and the one hundred gold coins Liza used to start the investigation were not even close to make up for it. It was certain that they were going to make much more money than they’d spent in due time, but this particular investment was in the red right now.

“My congratulations for your big break and rank advancement. I was sure it would take you a bit longer than this. I’m glad you proved me wrong,” said the woman with a smile.

“Tell me what I want to know,” said Liza impatiently.

“Certainly. The brooch you showed me before is the symbol of a reclusive and extremist tribe of elves called Valenfele. From what we could gather, they live deep inside Duskwood. You’ll be fine in the outer perimeter of the forest, but the moment you start to go deeper inside you’ll be shot down, no questions asked.”

“Valenfele. Duskwood.”

“If you plan to visit them, be advised that they are not going to receive you with open arms. In case you manage to go in and come back alive, we’re willing to pay you a good amount for more information on them, like their numbers, the size of their settlement, so on and so forth.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Liza replied absentmindedly. She was consulting her mental map of the kingdom and locating Duskwood. It was a large forest on the eastern part of Balt, north of the Tulvia Swamp.

“Well then, I’ll leave you to your endeavours. If there’s anything else you need in the future, don’t forget to call on us again,” said the broker as she exited the room.

“Are you okay Liza?” asked Fang Chu.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. I got what I wanted… and now is time for us to go on a shopping spree!” she exclaimed.

To Fang Chu, it was clear that Liza was somewhat out of sorts and trying her best to keep cheery, but since she didn’t want to talk about it there was nothing the redhead could do.

“Hurray! A sword for me! And new dice!”

The group went to Boni’s to exchange more gems for gold, leaving the gnome feeling perplexed. How many precious stones did these people have? And the last two batches were perfectly cut and polished too.

Now that their pockets were full again, they could go buy things to their heart’s content. For starters, they bought four bags of holding. Fang Chu’s ring was convenient and she didn’t mind letting them store their things on it, but it was better that each had their own bag.

Eliot acquired a bastard sword enchanted with a sharpness spell, a reinforced great bow and a set of new dice. Funnily enough, the dice were the ones that took him the longest to decide on, as he tested them thoroughly to identify the lucky ones, as he so called them.

Liza also got herself a new bow. Now that she’d drank the strengthening elixirs, her draw weight had increased significantly, and she needed a new weapon to take advantage of it. She bought a sturdy short bow enchanted with a precision spell. For ammunition she acquired a never-ending quiver, a wonderous item that could supply her with all the arrows she’d ever need. The quiver only supplied normal arrows however, so the half-elf also bought a variety of special arrows for different situations.

The rest of the group didn’t get as much stuff. Boro was curious about fighting with his human form, so he asked for a club. Fang Chu said Ben needed to use his fists to fight for now, so he only got the standard protective gear Liza bought for everyone and some basic spell books for his study. As for the redhead, she refused everything Liza suggested, saying she already had all she needed.

To finish off their fulfilling day of shopping, Liza bought a bunch of miscellaneous things. Healing potions, magic scrolls, antidotes, you name it. She even went back to the alchemists’ guild to order a few specialty products that could come in handy when they were in Duskwood. She wanted to be prepared for any and all situations that could arise.

They returned to the inn at night, feeling satisfied. Now they only had one last thing to do in Kalafrana: meet Lawrence. Most of the group lazed about for the next couple days, waiting for their agreed meeting with the crafty merchant. Only Ben would leave early in the morning, return for lunch at noon and spend the rest of the day writing down documents.

On the agreed date, the group went to the same restaurant the merchant had showed them before. Lawrence was sitting at a corner table, eating some soup. His face was gaunt, his beard was messy, and his garments had seen better days. It was clear that his attempt at recovering his lost wealth was taking its toll on him. When he saw Liza and company enter the restaurant, his eyes lit up.

“Friends, you’ve made it! Come, come, sit down! Waiter, bring us another three, make that five, main dishes please!”

They greeted Lawrence and sat at the table. The merchant eyed them up and down for a while, paying close attention to the two newcomers he didn’t know.

“That’s rather rude you know,” said Liza.

“Sorry, I was just curious. I heard talks about a group of five people that were going around spending coin like it was water. By the looks of it, they were speaking about you lot. Are these two new friends the ones that brought you boundless wealth?”

With a single glance, Lawrence could tell that Fang Chu and Boro were special. The lady had stunning looks and a bearing of high aristocracy, while the boy, although young, had an imposing air. He was sure they were nobles of high status, though he’d no idea why they would be moving around with people like his saviours.

“People are talking about our wealth?” Liza frowned.

“Don’t worry, it’s news exclusively to shop owners. They were competing and trying their best to draw your attention to their own stores.”

“Ah, that’s why there were so many hawkers in the commercial district all of the sudden! I’d found strange that their number almost doubled overnight,” exclaimed Ben.

“When there’s a fat sheep, everyone wants a piece,” explained Lawrence.

“Including you, Mr. Merchant?” asked Fang Chu.

“In this case, the fat sheep are the people who saved my life, so I’d never deign to profit off them. But pardon my rudeness, I’ve yet to introduce myself. I’m Lawrence Grafton, a lowly merchant at your service. Your distinguished selves are?”

“I’m Fang Chu.”

“Boro.”

“Boro? Where did I hear that name before?” the merchant pondered out loud. He quickly remembered that the trio traveled with a fantastic serpentine monster with that name. However, he mentally scoffed at himself upon arriving at this thought. The names might be the same, but to him there was zero chance that there could be a relation between the monster and the person.

“Anyway, they’re our friends and you’re right, they are part of the reason we managed to make some coin,” interrupted Liza.

“I see… I guess you’re no longer in need to throw your lot with me to make some money then,” said Lawrence with disappointment.

“Who said that?” asked Ben with a cunning smile.

In fact, Lawrence was right on point. At first, Liza wanted to meet the merchant to catch up and tell him they’d no longer need to make a dangerous gambit to earn some gold. That was when Ben interrupted her, going on about the depreciation of money over time, inflation and how one should always use money to make more money. In the end, he talked for so long and so passionately that she decided to let him do as he wished. After all, he wasn’t stupid and knew many things she had no clue about. As such there was no fear of him just throwing away their hard-earned gold.

“Not only are we going to invest in your endeavours, we’re going to invest big,” said Ben.

“Oh? Truly?” asked the merchant with sparkling eyes.

“Yes. The amount we’re talking is such that we are not comfortable with only a verbal agreement. We want to do it officially through your union.”

Lawrence was stunned. He considered all of them his friends. They were the people that saved his life, so he was rather certain there was a good amount of trust between them. At least, he felt that away. The fact they wanted to go through the proper channels, not even minding in losing a percentage of the profits to the guild, meant that the amount involved was going to be astronomical.

“We’re going to need a witness…” said the merchant, still feeling a bit out of it.

“Get Boni. We’ll also need his appraisal services. Also, please find someone trustworthy that can evaluate rare materials too.”

“Right, I’ll see what I can do.”

The waiter arrived and served the dishes for everyone. The menu was a bowl of vegetable soup with scraps of meat and a piece of flatbread. They ate and chatted for a while longer, but Lawrence’s mind was racing at full speed trying to guess what his saviours were planning. He tried asking about it a bunch of times, but Ben would shoot him down every time he brought something up.