"Hey, I'm sorry alright? We need supplies. You should be happy about this!" Tael begged me as I angrily walked towards a certain supply shop.
As it turns out, Tael has just about no money at all. According to him, this quest will take at least an entire day and we will have to spend the night outside of the wall. Since we're going to be spending a night outside, we need some supplies, such as food.
Thanks to the fact that Tael has no money, I have to pay for our supplies. Tael assured me that I would make my money back and more if we do well on this quest, but right now I'm just mad that I have to spend even more money without having made a single jun back.
I paid an additional fourty juns to the guild to keep my room for another two days on top of my current investment since I need to keep my stuff somewhere. Before I left, I went to my room and got my new rucksack as well as the other equipment I purchased earlier today. I put my hand inside of my money pouch and felt my pitiful remaining funds. I'm now sitting on a measly two hundred and ten juns. I have spent over a months worth of funds and I haven't even gone on a quest yet. I need to be more frugal careful from now on.
"Hey come on! You're rich, right? Only a rich person would have that much money on them! Come on you can spare the money! Pleeeeaaassseee?" Tael held his hands together and bowed down to me as he begged.
Eventually, I acceded to his constant begging and decided to pay for our supplies for the trip. Since it would only be a single day, it shouldn't cost too much. I will be holding him to his word of paying me back my money once we get the payment for the quest.
"Oh, I walked here automatically." I declared as I stopped in front of a familiar shop.
"Hm? What is this place?" Tael looked at the shop I stood in front of.
I am standing outside of Reese and Biar's shop. I suppose coming here every day has programmed the directions into my mind so that I will now come here without thinking. I walked up to the front door and opened it with Tael in tow. The familiar ringing noise of the bell on the front door chimed with my entrance.
"Welcome! How may I…"
Terry trailed off as I entered the store. Tael began looking around quickly like a child in a candy store.
He placed the ledger down and relaxed. "Oh, how are you Kenji-san?"
"I'm alright, I'm just-"
Suddenly the side door opened and Biar came out.
"Hey Reese! You owe me fifty juns! Kenji-kun's back!" Biar shouted out towards the side room.
I heard a muffled "Damn!" from the side room in response to Biar's shout.
Biar crossed his arms and looked at me smugly. "So... Here to get your job back? Reese and I had a bet, you see."
Despite what Biar was saying, I smiled and spoke through gritted teeth.
"Hello Biar-san. No, I'm not here to get my job back. I'm here to shop for supplies..." I sidled up to Tael and held a hand out to present him. "You see, Tael and I are going to be adventuring until tomorrow so I need some supplies for an overnight trip."
Biar visibly deflated. "Oh, is that so?" Biar turned to the side room. "Reese, scratch that! He's here for supplies!"
I could hear an "Alright!" come from the side room once again.
"Well... Take your time. I know I don't need to show you around."
With that, Biar went back into the side room. It's good to know that he hasn't changed at all since I quit.
"Kenji, what was that about? Do you know that guy?" Tael watched the side door as it shut.
"I used to work here." I shrugged.
"Woah! That's awesome! Someone like you held a job like this at your age!" He looked genuinely amazed.
I took a step back from him. "Hey... You and I are probably the same age. I'm eighteen, so I'm not a kid or anything. Terry over there is sixteen, and he has a job."
"Fufufu! Kenji it seems you don't know something about half-elves!" He held his hands to his hips as his robe waved around. "We may resemble humans, but thanks to our mixed biology we actually age slower than them! I am older than you!"
Wait, I think I remember something like this from my games. Elves live for thousands of years and half elves live for a comparable time. Could it be that Tael is actually over a hundred years old?
"How old are you Tael?"
"I'm nineteen! Oof!"
After he made his declaration I punched him in the stomach. He led me on just to have such a shitty payoff. I shouldn't be surprised by how much he's already done this, but I can't help it.
"P-please don't fight in the store, Kenji-san!" Terry began stepping out of the counter as he meekly held up a hand in an attempt to stop me.
I shook my hand around as I watched Tael clutch his stomach. "Don't worry. I just had to vent my frustration for a moment."
"A-Alright…" He backed away and stood behind the counter once more.
It seems that Terry is scared of me now. I didn't mean to get violent in front of him, but I just snapped suddenly. I should apologize before I leave.
As he was climbing back up from the floor, Tael saw something on the lower shelves.
"Hey hey, Kenji, let's get these! They're called 'tumric' and they look cool!" He pulled out the yellow vegetable from the bottom shelf and held it up to me.
"Tumric takes a long time to cook, so no." I took the vegetable from him and returned it to its shelf. "Let's get some rudvisk and a bit of meat to mix together. Oh also..." I turned around. "Terry-san, I need 2 water skins filled with water. Can you go get those for me?"
"Um… Where are those, Kenji-san?" Terry asked me. He awkwardly looked around the store quickly in an attempt to find what I was requesting.
"They're in the side room." I pointed.
"Alright! I'll go get them! Thank you Kenji-san!"
With that, Terry went to the side room and left Tael and myself in the shop alone.
"While he's getting the water skins, let's gather the supplies. Only get what I say we get, alright? I'm the one paying for it after all." I crouched down and began gathering ingredients.
Tael shuffled up off the ground and dusted off his robe. "Are we going to steal anything while he's gone?" He whispered to me.
I just stared at him in bewilderment.
"Well, I've read this in books before. You send the employee to the side room and steal something while they're gone! Honestly Kenji I never expected this from you!" He crossed his arms and pouted at me, as if admonishing my non-existent behavior.
"I'm… not… stealing anything." I slowly blinked as I returned to gathering the materials we would need.
"Oh… alright." He began playing with his hat. "Yeah, now that I think about it, it's probably a good idea that we don't."
Despite that awkward interaction, we gathered our supplies and went up to the register. Terry soon returned from the side room with two full water skins.
"Thank you for telling me where they were, Kenji-san." He placed the items on the counter as he pulled up the ledger. "Let me tally up your total..."
Terry mouthed individual numbers of the items before he eventually knew the exact amount. Despite the fact that I already knew exactly how much I would need to spend, I wanted to let him figure it out.
"Your total will be fifty six juns." Terry bolted his hand outwards towards me.
I chuckled a bit as I reached for my money sack. "What, I don't get a former employee discount or anything?"
"Hell no!" I heard shouted from the side room.
Instead of causing problems, I pulled out the fifty six juns that were requested and handed them to Terry.
"Here you go."
"Ah, thank you Kenji-san." Terry bowed his head as he sheepishly took the juns I was handing him.
I placed our supplies into my rucksack. Once everything was in order, Tael and I stepped outside. The sun was beating down upon us as the warm wind blew.
Tael hopped up in excitement. "Alright! Supplies acquired! I can't believe I'm going on a real quest today! I knew that today would be the day!"
I smiled and began to walk towards the city drawbridge.