Upon their return, Ethan and Ana went straight to the Hunt family's main house in search of Oliver. They found him in the dining room along with his father and two peculiar guests.
"Are we interrupting something?" asked Ethan.
"Ana, Ethan, you're back!" Oliver jumped from his seat and went to greet them.
"Oliver, will you introduce your friends?" asked an old man who was sitting next to his father. His pointy beard reached all the way to his stomach, and the bald spot on his head was hidden undearneath a fancy homburg style hat.
"Of course." answered Oliver. "Grandfather, mother, these are my friends Ethan Masalis and Ana Taylor. Though they are commoners, they hold great potential and will likely become powerful mages in the future."
Ana bowed politely and Ethan followed nervously. The rank and quality of mana these guests exuded was above any mage he'd met in the city up until now.
"We actually have some business for you." whispered Ana. "Are you busy?"
Though Oliver hadn't seen his mother in ages, he agreed readily. A vein seemed to pop on the woman's forehead, but before she could say anything, the teens were already out.
"Kids will be kids." muttered the old man soon after they left. Where Simon's wife sat, the table was beginning to crack.
In just a few minutes, the three comrades had arrived at the guest house. For their transaction, they chose the same meeting hall once used for sorting through the last expedition's loot. Besides a couple of paintings, most of its space was taken by a large wooden table and the chairs placed around it.
"You might want to take a step back." warned Ethan before placing his palm above it. Since he couldn't walk through walls, Oliver went to the side instead.
Suddenly, herbs, scrolls, pills, weapons, and a mountain of clothes filled the table to the brim.
"Dear God…" muttered the merchant.
"This is only the first half. Ana has the rest."
It didn't take long for the boy to realize where all this stuff came from. If they had hunted so much, then an encounter was inevitable.
"Did you meet my brother?" he asked carefully. After the incident with Ana, he suspected there could be bad blood between them. When Ethan pointed towards the fancy scrolls within the pile, his suspicions were confirmed.
"Is he ok?"
"Of course." answered Ethan smiling.
"There was no fight." assured Ana.
"He just…"
"Decided he wouldn't be needing them anymore." completed the girl.
'So, you threatened him.' Oliver was no fool. He was happy his brother wasn't hurt, but… 'How the hell was he intimidated after father gave him that armor?'
After a few minutes of sorting through the items in silence, he once again brought up the subject.
"So, any ideas why he's not back yet?" The boy needed a better grasp on the situation.
"Last time we saw him, he was venting his frustration on some poor innocent students." said Ethan with a shrug.
'So, he's fine. I don't see his sword and armor here either.'
To relieve his nervousness, Oliver rapidly sorted the remaining items. He then asked Ana to drop her things before sorting them too.
"Is this all? If there are any more items, especially those belonging to my brother, I'll give you a good price for them."
"We only took his ring." reassured Ana.
"It was just payback for screwing us over with the money."
"And the towers thing."
"Anyway…" completed Ethan. "Our debts are now settled, so stop fidgeting."
Oliver became self conscious and placed his hands behind his back. He then straightened his spine and tried to smile pleasantly.
"Ok, if you didn't take his sword or father's armor, I can sort something out. However, I would like to buy that ring back if possible. At the appropriate price of course."
In the end, the mountain of loot was worth a little over 700 gold. The scrolls and pills were pretty expensive, but the clothes and armors were not. To raise the money needed for the golden mountain lily, they had to sell all the dimensional pockets too.
"With this, we have around 2100 coins." concluded Oliver. The commoner's loot and even the pockets were low quality, so their prices were lower than usual. "I'll procure the lily and get Father working on the potion right away."
"Are there any manufacturing costs?" asked Ana.
"The going rate is 300 gold coins. But, I'll lend what you need if you promise to make peace with my brother."
"Well, there's still the tournament, but we shouldn't butt heads other than that." said Ethan.
"Good." Oliver sighed in relief. "I'll get you the rejuvenation potion before the sun goes down."
True to his word, by the time evening came, Mrs. Taylor was feeling 30 years younger. She and her daughter cried for what seemed like hours and spent the rest of the night on memory lane.
There was no place for Ethan between the two, so he took up his old spot on the roof and simply gazed into the distance. Some time later, on the dark lonely road, a certain teen had caught his eyes. It was a tired and pissed off Arthur that had finally returned home.