58 Thorough Resupply

"Is it because of... Sylner?" Cessacioun ventured carefully

"Don't mention her name! Leave me alone," Moxinke replied in a muffled voice.

"All right, all right..." Cessacioun laughed.

"It seems that guy over there just accepted several tasks at once," Han Jin murmured.

"It has no limitation. You can accept all the tasks here if you want to, as long as you have the ability."

"Are we not going to give any of these a try?" Cessacioun still hadn't given up hope.

"Try with our lives?" Moxinke shook his head. "We have no hunter nor thief, two of the most important roles in any mercenary team. A good hunter can find a safe campsite for us, and a good thief can smoothly lead us through the forest. Without them, we will either be torn to shreds by holy animals sneaking in at night, or fall into the hunting ground of some holy animal."

"What about you? Is a warrior not important?" Han Jin laughed.

"Me?" Moxinke said helplessly, "A hunter or a thief can join a mercenary team without much worries, but not so for a warrior. We can never be too careful when it comes to joining a team, especially with strangers. In most cases, they just want us to be the sacrificial lambs."

As soon as he had finished his words, a middle-aged man in a bright silver magic robe came to them. He looked Moxinke up and down and gave him a salute with one hand placed in front of his chest. "Hello! I'm Cabri, a high grade sage," he made a self-introduction.

"Hello! I'm Moxinke, a fighter," Moxinke returned a same salute and replied.

"Pleased to meet you. I just accepted the task of hunting a Spiked Tiger, but we still need a strong warrior. I wonder if you are interested in joining us?" The man glanced at all of them. "You can bring two friends with you as well. As for the rewards, we will share sixty-forty. You have forty percent. That's already a quite favorable price."

Apparently, he had also wanted Sunier to join them; the others were just good-for-nothings in his eyes.

They gazed at each other in astonishment. It was too much of a coincidence for a man to come recruit them as soon as Moxinke had finished speaking.

"I'm sorry, we just returned from the Tarasha Mountains and have no plans to go back any time soon," Moxinke refused him in a polite way.

"What a pity." Cabri appeared to be disappointed and left them after a nod at Moxinke.

"It seems that a warrior is also a very important role," Han Jin laughed.

"My ass," Moxinke snorted coldly.

"Let's go somewhere else, since we are not going to accept any tasks," Sunier said.

They went back to the first floor again and wandered about, both inside the building and outside in the square. When they returned to the first floor at noon, they saw that some of the deals on Miss Keeley's note had been completed.

They fetched the magic crystals and paid the corresponding commission at the counter. Miss Keeley took a look at the note and said, "Withdraw the rest of our orders, and purchase another two hundred third-grade earth element magic crystals at the unit price of twelve silver coins."

"Twelve silver coins? Will anyone sell them to us with such a low price?" Cessacioun asked with surprise. No matter how worthless the earth element magic crystals were, the price they were offering was too low.

"Believe me. Look, we got two magic crystals at the unit price of thirteen silver coins, which means it is a relatively reasonable price, and we can still lower it down by another silver coin. We won't lose anything even if no one sells them to us at such a price, will we?" Miss Keeley thought for a while more and continued. "Besides, if we end up getting nothing, it's probably the supply ran dry. After all, very few people will accumulate such low-grade magic crystals. If yesterday..." She suddenly stopped. She didn't mean to blame anyone in particular, but her upbringing had trained her to save money whenever possible. Thus, she still felt pity for Sunier's wasteful purchase yesterday.

"All right, it's all up to you." Sunier quickly grabbed the note. She canceled all the previous orders and made a new one for two hundred magic crystals. "How much is the deposit?" she asked.

"Ten golden coins in total."

Sunier threw the money on the counter after a quick count, and turned around. "Where shall we go next?" she asked in an embarrassed tone. Compared to Miss Keeley, she was quite a novice.

"Have lunch, and find a weapon shop to repair Moxinke's sword." Han Jin thought for a moment. "And you should buy some magic arrows, Sunier."

***

At dusk, they came back excitedly with fruitful results. Since they were rich now, they couldn't live as they had when they were poor. Otherwise, what's the point of money?

They were all dressed in new clothes, except Sunier. Pretty feathers make pretty birds, and even the wretched Steelberg looked much better. He was too happy to close his laughing mouth.

Moxinke had his giant sword repaired, and bought a new set of magic armor with more than thirty golden coins. The previous armor of his was too worn-out to be sold. Sunier purchased over one thousand arrows, among which sixty were enchanted with different kinds of magic. Her space ring was full, otherwise she would have purchased more. The magic crystals Han Jin wanted were out of supply, just as Miss Keeley had expected, so he had only gotten seventy of them.

They had spent a lot of money for sure, but it was worth it! The feeling of a thorough resupply lifted everyone's spirits. Even Moxinke was striding toward the hotel with his head high and chest out, as if he had forgotten the threat which had bothered him for over ten years.

But when they were less than fifty meters away from the hotel, Sunier suddenly stopped and shouted, "Moxinke, wait!"

"What?" Moxinke turned around in astonishment.

"Something's wrong," said Sunier vigilantly. She took off the long bow from her back.

Just then, figures appeared from all directions and besieged them in the center. On the roof, there were some archers with their arrows aimed at them. Golden badges with six stars could be clearly seen on their chests. They were members of the Association of Mercenaries.

An old man stepped forward. He looked skinny, but stood very straight. He walked in a laid back way, but when he stopped, he was motionless like a nail.

"Why?" Sunier asked.

The old man clapped his hands, and two brutes dragged someone in front of them.