“I should get my stuff before meditating a bit,” Regis noted as he followed the infernal youth. “We’ll leave in twenty minutes or so.”

“I’ll wait for you here.” Quentin said as he walked back to the gazebo.

“Well, that escalated quickly,” Amanda blurted out. “We should also get going. It’s high time we start cleaning out the workshop.”

“Okay.” Sophie agreed before she got gently dragged away.

While the group was dispersing, Regis finally caught up to the storm knight just as he entered the inn.

“What just happened?” He asked from the infernal, earning a deep sigh.

“I’m sorry you had to hear all that,” Fabien apologized. “As you know, my family was quite influential and wealthy back on Earth. Since they didn’t have time for the new generation due to their continuous plotting and vying for power, they did the same thing as any such family would.”

“Which is?”

“They sent us to boarding school and left us with a shitload of money to spend as we wanted.”

“Oh, rich kid issues.”

“You could say that. I guess I’m not saying anything new to you, but living like that tends to create habits. Valerie might have been smarter and more focused than most, but she’s still a bit of a spendthrift. She never really learned the true value of money and she still pretty much considers it to be the norm to have it and spend it as she likes.”

“But not you?”

“No,” the infernal youth sighed even deeper. “I was kind of cut off from the money tree a few years ago after a stunt I pulled, only receiving a basic stipend of sorts for the bare necessities. Val was also forbidden to lend me money, so as humiliating as it was at first, I had to do side jobs to earn my extra spending cash.”

“Making you learn its value and to respect it in the process,” the dark elf deduced. “No wonder you were so edgy back there.”

“Ever since we arrived at the Shardlands, we were taking off the pouches of any fallen we killed, piling up the coins for the time we’d need it, but now that things are starting to settle down once again and the economy will return to coins instead of food scraps, I’ll have to keep a watch over my sister to make sure she won’t fall back into her old spending habits.”

“Like your mother?”

“That’s a bit of a sore spot,” Fabien noted as he put down the sack in the pantry, opening it to take out the food supplies. “Our mother was a typical trophy wife. She married into the family purely for the sake of power and wealth and she never gave a damn about us after we were born, since we weren’t the firstborn son and daughter. Val resents her for plenty of reasons and swore that she would never become like her, even though she has quite a few of her traits.”

“If it helps, there was plenty of spare crafting equipment back in East Fork, along with books explaining their uses. I’m pretty sure she could pick up a craft that doesn’t need too much effort but pays well. Especially the magic-related ones. “

“Well,” the storm knight hummed as he hung a few pairs of sausages on a rod. “She always seemed to be interested in magic scrolls back home, but we only read about those in the books.”

“We do have a scribes tome,” Regis brought it up. “And once she gets that to a decent level, she could cross over to the magic scroll territory. Anyway, I should get going. I still have to grab whatever I can sell to that Yaggic fellow.”

“Sure, and be careful out there. We don’t know how things changed since we left.”

“Yeah, we’ll try to stay out of trouble.” The dark elf noted as he left the kitchen and headed up to his temporary room.

Once in his room, Regis open the small wooden chest and began to search through the things he left behind. Three ‘trash’ grade arcana regeneration rings made their way into his pouch before he decided to select five of his magic scrolls to sell. In the end, he picked two charlatan’s wisdom scrolls, two arcana bolts and a fire bolt scroll. ‘I should really pick up the slack and start practising again. These should earn me some decent money, not to mention that I need to push the skill higher if I ever hope to create high-ranked scrolls.’ He thought to himself as he stashed away the scrolls into his satchel. With nothing else to offer, the chest was closed again and the spell weaver headed back to the gazebo. Quentin was still there, waiting for him as he promised.

“You’ve got everything?” The paladin asked as Regis got closer.

“Five scrolls and three rings,” he answered. “Just give me a few minutes to meditate and we can go.”

“Sure,” his friend nodded. “The others already went ahead to set up the farm plot and plant whatever they can before nightfall.”

The dark elf folded the lower part of his cape beneath himself and sat down. Due to the Landwaker still being barely more than a sapling, it wasn’t capable of saturating the air with arcana, so he had to meditate for about a quarter of an hour to regain his mystical energies. Once he felt ready, Regis stood back up and reached for his gateway talisman.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yes.” Quentin stated as he readied himself.

The runes of the teleportation circle glowed up and the two vanished in a flash of light. As they reappeared in Escroft, the familiar dizziness rushed through their head, but they managed to shake it off soon enough.

“You got here sooner than I expected.” the coarse voice of Yaggic greeted them as they turned towards the local inn.

“We didn’t want to waste too much time since we have work to do as well.”

“Should we get going then?” Yaggic asked as he walked closer.

“I need some time to regain my arcana.”

“We should head to the inn and grab something to eat while we wait.” Quentin suggested.

“I always forget that you magus folk get all wheezy without your arcana,” the dwarf shrugged. “Did you at least bring along some trinkets for me to look at?”

“I did,” the dark elf nodded while walking. “Five scrolls and three rings. They’re all ‘trash’ quality though, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“As if I could afford anything better with how things are right now.” Yaggic laughed as the three of them entered the inn.

Regis turned toward the nearest empty table and sat down, pulling off his satchel before taking out the scrolls and rings from it.

“Got a nice look to them,” the dwarven tradesman hummed as he examined the arcanite-inlaid silver rings. “No fuss or extra parts, just a clean and comfortable piece. Let’s see what spells these scrolls contain. I see you brought along two identifying scrolls and three attack scrolls as well. Not bad. Folks always need things like these, especially guardsmen and mercenaries.”

“Are you capable of identifying them just like that?”

“All merchants worthy of their trade have the skill to identify things to a basic level. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to estimate their price.”

“And how much are these worth?” Quentin looked at the scrolls and rings laid out on the table.

“Even if they are ‘trash’ ranked rings,” Yaggic held one of the pieces in his palm. “They will last for a long time, so they are obviously pricey. I’d say folks would take it off you for fifteen silver a piece. You might get a bit more if you directly sell them to a guild in a large town, but out here, that’s pretty much the best offer you’d get. As for the scrolls, those are one-time-use items and also ‘trash’ ranked. They would usually go for a silver and a half at most in a store. If they try to charge you more for it, then they just want to scam you. As for me, I can offer one silver and ten brass for each. After all, I still need to turn in some profit on them myself.”

“So the three rings would get me forty-five silver and the five scrolls would get me five silver and fifty bronze.” Regis did the math. as he closed his eyes to meditate.

“The bronze is almost up to the silver exchange standard, so I’ll just give you a silver instead. Fifty-one silver in one trade,” Yaggic sighed. “You spell casters sure earn your coins fast.”

“It sure does sound that way,” Quentin agreed as he watched the dwarf count down the coins. “To think that we each earned a gold for risking our lives helping the locals retake East Fork and he gets to earn nearly as much with just these.”

“It’s the rings I tell you,” the dwarf sighed. “All mages need these, but few folks can do enchanting, let alone proper infusion enchanting at that. That’s where the real coin is. Then again, they spend it just as fast, buying all those fancy magic stones needed for the enchantments.”

“You mean the elemental crystals?” The paladin asked as he looked at his meditating companion.

“Aye,” Yaggic sighed. “Even a thumb-sized piece of the lowest quality would cost you a silver or two, probably more with the shortage caused by this damn war. Your food is here lad.”

“Thank you.” Quentin accepted the wooden plate that had some cooked vegetables on it along with a small mug of mead.

“You’re welcome sir,” the young woman smiled. “It will be five bronze sickles.”

“Here you go.” The man paid his dues while Yaggic also handed over two bronze for the mead he ordered.

“How long do you reckon he’s going to take?”

“Hopefully long enough for me to finish my meal.”

“You could have at least ordered me some too.” Regis spoke up as he opened his eyes.

“Sorry about that,” the paladin apologized. “Do you want some?”

“I’m fine,” the dark elf sighed. “I’ll eat when we get back home. So Yaggic; where will you head off to once we get to Rust-well Keep?”

“First I will look around to see if there’s anything worth buying or if someone needs my wares,” the dwarf said before sending down the last of his mead. “After that, I will head towards the midlands. I have a couple of friends here and there I want to check up on. Hopefully, with the plague and the war settling down, folks will start travelling again. Maybe I get to join a caravan or something.”

“Just be on the lookout for demons.” Quentin noted between two bites.

“Demons?” Yaggic almost fell off his chair as he stuttered the word.

“There are a few of them roaming around from what I’ve heard, not to mention that we too had to face them back at Rust-well Keep.”

“Damn,” the dwarf cussed. “And here I thought that things were finally starting to settle down.”

“Wish for peace but always be ready for another war.” Quentin stated calmly as he finished his food.

“We should get going.” Regis noted, standing back up after putting away the silver coins Yaggic counted down for the rings and scrolls.

The three of them left the inn and walked over to the gateway where the dark elf reached for his talisman and began to channel arcana into it. A faint glow began to form on the runic circle beneath their feet before they were swallowed in a flash of light. As they appeared at Rust-well Keep, several spears and swords were pointed in their direction as soon as the light of the gateway died down.

“Halt!” Someone ordered although the trio couldn’t react to it for several seconds as they shook off the dizziness caused by the teleportation.

“Stand down,” another voice called out which they soon paired with a familiar face. “Welcome back to Rust-well Keep sir!”

The owner of the voice was the same soldier that greeted Clive, the army mage they came here with the last time. This time however he addressed Quentin with a formal greeting.

“Greetings,” the paladin nodded. “And sorry for disturbing your peace with our sudden intrusion.”

“Not at all sir,” the soldier shook his head. “It’s just that we always have a couple of guards posted by the gateway in case of trouble.’

“Is the situation still so tense around here?” Regis asked as he finally snapped out of his mulled mind state.

“It has been a lot better than the last time you were here,” the man answered with a relieved sigh. “No further demons were sighted and we also received reinforcements as well, so the keep got a lot safer in these past days.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Quentin noted as he turned towards Yaggic. “We came here to get some general information about the recent situation of the kingdom as well as to help a merchant reach the keep safely. The roads are still dangerous after all.”

“Bloody portals,” Yaggic cursed as he stumbled about for a bit. “I can never get used to all this spinning around. Then again, at least you got me here in one piece. Here’s the coin as promised.”

The dwarf rummaged through his pouch and fished out twenty silver, handing it over to the dark elf.

“We should part ways here. Take care of yourselves, lads.”

“Likewise Yaggic,” Regis nodded as he put away the handful of coins. “Are we going to just stand here or is there a place we can sit down and talk?”

“Oh,” the guardsman snapped out of his thoughts and turned towards one of the stone-walled buildings beside the wall of the keep. “Right this way. If it’s information you seek, there’s plenty of news to share.”

The rest of the soldiers stayed behind to guard the gateway while their leader brought Regis and Quentin over to what seemed to be the local barracks. Once inside, they were led to a table and chairs.