“Alex, Lua, what are you doing here? Do we have a problem?” I asked the two … intruders? Well, the guards at the gate did let them in, so probably not intruders.

  “What do you mean? We were invited.” Alex said.

  “Invited? For what? By whom?” I asked.

  “Madam Wat. She told us we were having a party.” Lua answered.

  I turo look at Alid asked: “Did you know about this?”

  “No. I just heard about it as well.” She answered.

  “Ah. I see our first guests have arrived. Wele.” Aneesa came outside and weled Lucia and Alex.

  First? So there are more. … Actually, I think Zay muttered something about the evening, so maybe he is ing as well.

  “Please enjoy yourselves for now. Madam will join you soon.” Aneesa said before making her way baside.

  “So, while we wait, Alex, I would like to give you a few cards. Is there anything you would prefer?” I asked Alex.

  “Cards? Like the ones you use to summon monsters? You don’t have to.” He said.

  “No. I will give you some. I’m not going to hoard them and have another Rico happen because I was too worried to give you all some.” I told him.

  “I see…” He said looking down. “Then I will accept anything you want to give me.”

  “Good. But is there anything you prefer?” I asked again.

  “... I guess some cute girls…” he said quietly, but I still heard him.

  Perv. Well, not really. There is nothing wrong with liking cute girls.

  Fire Princess and Fire Sorcerer. Those are cute girls. They would work, but let’s check for others.

  “Oh. These are perfect.” I said as I ran into an archetype of dies. They arely what I would call ‘cute girls’, but more off ‘sexy dies’.

  “Did you find something? Could you show me?” Alex asked.

  I pulled out four cards. Harpie Lady, Harpie Lady 2, Harpie Lady Sisters and Elegaist.

  Spoiler[colpse]

  They aren’t my favorite cards, so I don’t mind giving them away. But at the same time, giving them to someone like Alex feels a bit like a waste. Having a sexy dy use them would fit better. But I guess Alex be the master of a harpie harem.

  “Yes. I do like these.” Alex said after looking the three monsters over. “But what about this?” He asked, pointing at Elegaist.

  “It’s necessary when you summon the Harpie Lady Sisters for the first time, but you won’t after that.” I told him.

  “I see. Then please, would you give these to me?” Alex asked.

  “Sure, just ohing first.” I said as I pulled out two sleeves and sleeved up Harpie Lady and Harpie Lady 2. I’m not going to pce a toploader o Egotist as he only o use it once, and Sisters should get a sleeve when it is special summoned, so I don’t o sleeve that oher.

  And if something goes wrong, I do have a sed copy of both Sisters and Elegaist.

  “Why did you pce that thing only on those two cards?” Alex asked.

  “Well, you’ll only he spell ond the Sisters will get a sleeve when you summon them for the first time.” I told him.

  “I see. Thank you.” Alex said.

  “Take these as well.” I said as I pulled out two Red Medie.

  “These potions? Thank you.” Alex said.

  “No problem.” I said.

  “Brian. This isn’t fair at all.” Alipined. “Why did you give him so many when I only got one?”

  “... you know I still go ba your deal. I don’t o give you my cards if I don’t want to.” I told her.

  “This isn’t fair. Why does everyone else get preferential treatment?” She asked.

  “Because they aren’t pnning on traveling with me, unlike someo specified. And if you doubt me, just ask Lua how many cards she has.” I told Alice.

  “Lucia? Then I will.” Alice said.

  Good. That got her off of my case. Now I check out the cards for Henry. And then there is that one guard as well, but I don’t know who he is or where he lives.

  For the guard I made a small i package. Hunter Spider, I Knight, Killer Needle and I Princess. I put a sleeve on eae and added in one non-sleeved Red Medie as well. I’ll have to ask Henry or someone else to deliver it to him.

  For Henry I decided on some mae monsters.

  Slot Mae, Steel rotto #2, Steel rotto #1 and Overdrive.

  The Slot Mae was a different copy than the one I used, as is Overdrive. I pced a sleeve on all four before installing one Mae version Factory onto Overdrive to make it slightly better. And I never did give oo Christina, so having the butler have it should be good as well.

  For Brandon, well I do have something for him, even if I’m not sure he deserves it. But he doesn’t deserve to die, so I’ll still hand that card over to him. It is super strong, but I don’t really anymore.

  “I see some of uests have arrived. Wele.” Christina said as she came outside.

  “Thank you for inviting us.” Alex said.

  “Thank you.” Lua added.

  “Of course. I do hope you will take good care of my daughter iure.” Christina said.

  “I apologize, but I wasn’t pnning on staying in their party for any lohan our trip to Sawyer city.” Alex admitted.

  “Don’t worry. I already heard about it. But I still hope you will help her if she ever gets into trouble.” Christina said.

  “If that is an order from Madam Wat, I will do my best.” Alex said.

  “That’s the attitude. If you ever want to quit your job as an adventurer, I get you a position iown's guard.” Christina said.

  “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.” Alex said.

  “That goes for you too, Lucia. You always e back here. This town needs skilled people like you.” Christina said.

  “Thank you.” Lua said ba a tohat made her seem slightly embarrassed.

  “I only hope the dungeon will bring in enough skilled people to fill the hole you two will leave.” Christina said.

  Yeah. I have to agree with that. I hope the meat quality won’t drop too much after Lua is no longer here, perfectly draining the blood from the boars.

  “e on Zay. I told you we would be te.” I heard a female voice from the dire of the gate.

  “You are the ohat gave me more work to do just as we were about to leave.” I heard Zayaan say.

  “No. Don’t bme that on me. You are the ohat didn’t take care of it earlier.” The female voice said.

  “You know I’ve been busy learning the ropes and I’ve never heard of an advehat doesn’t ask for their rewards.” Zay said before notig us. “Oh. Good evening. Madam Wat, I apologize for being te.”

  “Oh, you aren’t te. Everyone else was just early. And as you see, my husband hasn’t joined us yet, so you are fine.” Christina said.

  “Thank the Goddess for that. Then, do you mind if we do some guild business now?” Zay asked.

  “That’s fine.” Christina gave permission.

  “Thank you.” Zay said before turning to me. “Now then Brian, we have some busio take care of.”

  “Us? What is it?” I asked.

  “... did you really fet? I really ’t believe that someone like you is an adventurer.” Zay said.

  “Well, what is it? What did I fet?” I asked.

  “Seriously. Lua, you o instruct him ohings ter.” Zay said. “You never picked up your money for either the wyvern sales or the rescue mission.”

  … oh. Yeah. I didn’t huh. How did I fet something like that? Well, I guess I really didn’t have a major need for money or anything, but still. It’s probably Upstart Goblins fault. Or perhaps the dungeons. When I have easy access to mohings like rewards just slip my mind. heh. heh.

  (Of course Master fets actually important things while remembering the useless Yugioh facts you think about befoing to bed.) Laura ented.

  (... well, you also didn’t remind me, so what do you say about that?) I shot back.

  (It was an experiment to test Master’s memory. I would have reminded you about it tomorrow m, so you would have had to deal with it in a panic.) Laura said.

  (You are evil.)

  (Of course. I take after you, Master.) Laura said.

  Fine. Have it that way.

  “Well thanks fing that up, but I kind of thought you would have just put the money in my guild bank at thingy.” I said to Zay.

  “... you really have no idea how things work, do you?” Zay asked.

  “... no? How would I? No one has expined anything to me. How could I know?” I asked.

  “Well anyway, we ’t put money into your at without yuild card.” Zay said.

  “Okay, but it had some money in it when I first got it. How do you expin that?” I asked.

  “Simple. ut money into the card as long as we have the card. It ut ihe card was made.” Zay said.

  “Oh. I see. Then we take care of the reward now? Do we o go to the guild for that?” I asked, ready to summon Overdrive to take us there.

  “Don’t worry. We brought it here.” Zay said, before turning to his fiancé. “Kris, take them out.”

  Kris opehe messenger bag she had on her and pulled out three medium sized sacks, pg them oable close by. I’m not sure they would actually fit in a bag that size, so that messenger bag might be a magic bag.

  “Here you go. 98 gold s for the wyvern materials and 30 gold s for the rescue mission.” Zay said. “These two bags have 50 gold ead the st one has the remaining 28.”

  “I see. Thanks.” I said.

  “Are you not going to t them?” Kris asked.

  “Should I? Are you giving me a reason to t them? Are you perhaps a questionable guild?” I asked.

  “No. Of course not.” Zay immediately said.

  “Oh really.” Lua ented. “Then perhaps you would like to expin why the sale price of the wyverns was that low.”

  Low? Was it? I think they said they would give me the sale price of 5 wyverns. And if the total is 98 gold that would mean right about 20 gold per wyvern.

  “Is twenty gold s per wyvern really that low?” I asked. “If I recall, I got five gold from the bison when I first got into town. And that should have been half of its price. So if a k monster is 10 gold, a B-rank should be 2ht?”

  “... I really o help you with this.” Lua said. “The price of the monsters grows faster than the rank. Just because it is one rank higher, doesn’t mean the price doubles. And your example is just bad. A horned bison’s pries mostly from the high quality meat it has, whereas wyvern's pries from its hide, poison gnds and magic stone.”

  “Okay. So how much should I have gotten for the wyverns?” I asked.

  “Usually, a plete wyvern carcass goes for 22 or 23 gold. And if taken apart, a little more.” Lua said. “I also draihe blood from them, so they should have gone for the 23 gold price.”

  “But you didn’t sider the transport fees.” Zay said. “And the butcherihey even had burn damage. After all of that, the price we paid is fair.”

  “Just stop. Or more like don’t eveo it. This is fine for me. Zay is my friend and friends get better deals.” I said.

  “I’ll take these to my room. Better not to leave them out here.” I said as I took the money bags and quickly visited my room.

  After I shoved the s into my fanny pack, I picked up the two I made for Lua and Alex yesterday and headed back outside.

  “.. a guild master should never do that.” I heard Lua argue.

  “But I really didn’t. That really is the value of the wyverns.” Zay defended himself.

  “You two. I said don’t even start.” I told the two of them.

  “But…” Lua tried tue.

  “I said it is fi’s fine because it is Zay. If it was someone else, then I would accept your pints, but as it is Zay, just let it go.” I told her.

  “... fine.” Lua said before taking some distance.

  “Thanks Brian.” Zay thanked me.

  “No problem. I really just don’t want to see you two fight on your st evening.” I said. “But I do actually have a question. Isn’t 30 gold too much for the rescue mission?”

  “No. It’s actually quite little. Not only did you save a noble, you also rescued a guild master and high ranking employees of Baku pany.” Zay said.

  “Oh. Is resg people worth that much money?” I asked.

  “Of course it is. Actually, Diamond Sword wao thank you as well for your part, but I said you wouldn’t want to take it, so I had them drop it.” Zay said.

  “... well, that’s irely incorrect.” I responded.

  I mean, I would take the money and then probably install a card into each of them iurn. It just feels strao demand money from someone you saved. I saved them because I could, not because I want money from them. I get the money from them when they buy something from me and if they are dead, no more business.

  Well, I don’t really have a business yet. I could always sell some of the LoBY ons to people as oime use monster summoning devices. That might help people save their lives when they are in trouble.

  … Well, it could also cause some major problems. Like what if they are used for terrorist attacks? Or assassination? Yeah. Let’s not sell them. At least not until I have a way of trolling where they end up. And even then, I should probably talk about it with a high ranking noble or something first.

  A minister of defense? Wonder if this try has something like that.

  Or perhaps it should be the master of the tral adventurer’s guild.

  “Alex, Lua. Here are the magic bags I promised.” I said as I hahem over.

  “Thank you, Brian. How much is this?” Lua asked.

  “You don’t o pay for it. At least not now. That wait.” I told them.

  “Just give us a number.” Alex said.

  “80 gold.” I said. I think I sold the oo Lawrence for about 110 gold, sidering the trade items. And I got 130 (minus the things I bought) from Baku, so 80 from a friend should be fine.

  “I see. I’m sorry, but I don’t have that much at the moment.” Alex admitted. “Is it really fine if I pay ter?”

  “Yes, it’s fine. Because if you don’t, I will find you a my money.” I jokingly said.

  “And how would you do that?” He asked.

  “I don’t know. Would be a shame if I just gave you multiple things I track.” I said.

  I ’t actually track the cards I’ve giveo that point. I do know who holds them, but I ’t actually track down their location.

  “Then I’ll make sure to pay as soon as possible, so you won’t send any dragons on my tail.” Alex said.

  “What about you, Lua?” I asked.

  “I pay now, but if possible could you wait. If I pay now I’ll have nothi.” She said.

  “Yeah. I wait.” I told her. “Better not to give away every penny after all.”

  “Not that bad. I would have some silvers left.” She said.

  “I see that everyone has arrived. We begin then.” I heard Brandon say befiving a signal to Henry t out food and drinks.

  After that, we had a small garden party with drinks and food. I kept the alcohol to a minimum, so I wouldn’t have a bad time tomorrow.

  Amid the party, I gave the cards I prepared for Henry to him. I also handed him the the four is and the Red Medie I wao give to the guard with Card Summoner, after he told me he could deliver them.

  “So Brian, what about me?” Brandon asked after he saw me giving cards to Henry.

  “... really? That’s how this is going to go? At least I know where Alice gets it.” I ented.

  “I could order Henry to give me the ones you gave him.” Brandon said.

  “Don’t worry. I do have something for you.” I said.

  “I knew you wouldn’t leave me without something. So, what is it? Perhaps a mighty dragon? reat sage?” Brandon asked.

  “No. It’s just a fiend.” I told him as I pulled the card out of colle. Well, then again, it is the Ultimate Obedient Fiend.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]As I ha over to him, he asked: “Do I really get only one? I know we don’t have a perfect retionship, but still.”

  “No. That’s not why.” I instantly defended myself. “That monster is super strong. But you ot use it at all if you hold any other cards anywhere on you, so I only give that oo you. And having a morohan any other one I’ve given away makes you the st line of defense.”

  “I see. So you wao be the hero that saves the day when all hope is lost. Good thinking.” Brandon said.

  “...yeah. That’s totally it.” I said.

  Probably better not to admit that Master of Oz is stronger with none of the downsides of Ultimate Fiend. Well, to aent having Ultimate Obedient Fiend does make Brandon the hero. Or perhaps a raid boss. Let’s just hope Ultimate Fiend doesn’t get seen as a demon. I totally don’t want to see Brandon in prison. No I don’t. Really.

  Why don’t you believe me?

  For the rest of the evening, we drank and ate. When the party was over, Alex and Lua tried to leave, but Christina made them sleep in the manuest rooms, saying it will be better if we go together tomorrow.

  With that, I headed to bed for the st time in the manor. Well, st time for now. I’m detly fident that I’ll e back here at some point. And Christina did once say that this is now my home.