The only place where Ragni could stay was our guild house, so that's where we headed. I felt sorry for her, but my room had already been renovated, and I had no intention of staying in that shabby place for another night.
"AND THIS PARODY OF A HAUNTED HOUSE IS YOUR GUILD?!?!?" Ragni's indignation knew no bounds. "There's no way I'm staying here for the night. What do you take me for?"
"As my servant, I suppose, that's what your mother said," She did try to kill us, and we didn't get a penny for that battle. There was no reason to pity her. "Well, unless you want to sleep on the streets. I doubt you'll find a room at this hour, especially dressed like that."
Ragni seethed with anger, but she couldn't disobey my order.
"Apologies for that; we only bought this house three days ago. But I'm sure if we clean it up, it won't be that bad," I continued with my taunts.
"Maybe I should clean up myself in it then?"
"No objections," I kept up my teasing.
Grinding her teeth, she reluctantly followed us into the house. We had to submit an application for her guild membership. If the guild master and his deputy signed it, and the academy approved it, then the person (or dragon) officially became a guild member.
But a small surprise awaited us inside. Right by the door stood a large, almost flat package. At the sight of it, Katrina's face turned slightly pale, and her eyes darted around the room. She clearly knew what it was and was afraid of our reaction.
It had been thirty minutes since we entered the house. Katrina remained silent all this time, afraid to utter a single word. We peacefully sipped the tea, which Ragni brewed from something resembling tea found on the shelf.
"Nice tea, Ragni, thanks," Katrina said in a trembling voice, trying to divert the conversation.
"Oh, come on, princess, I brewed it from things that had been lying on the shelf in your little house for years."
It was terrifying to think what that tea could have been.
"Would you like another cup?" Katrina persisted, not showing any indication that the package had anything to do with her.
"Hmm, what could it be?" I smiled, unfolding the wrapping.
Inside, there was a wooden plaque usually used to display trophies of slain monsters. Despite its simplicity, it seemed to be made of redwood and had a sign that said, "First Victory of the Storm Glaive Guild."
Ragni and I studied the plaque suspiciously when a faint creak came from behind. "STOP! We need to discuss something," I addressed the source of the noise – the princess, who was trying to sneak out on tiptoes.
In the middle of the living room, there was a small coffee table with two sofas on either side. Seated side by side on one sofa, Krito and Ragni scrutinized the frightened princess sitting opposite them.
"Can you explain what this is?" I began the interrogation.
"Well, you see, when I went to choose our first quest, I saw this marvelous plaque on the wall, and I couldn't resist. I ordered it before we left, but I never expected it to be delivered so quickly."
"Hmm. So, even before completing the first quest, before killing a single monster in your life, you thought it was a reasonable idea to order a plaque for its head in advance?"
"Well, I was told that it's a standard plaque for the head of a green dragon. Besides, we can change the inscription and use it for the next quest's trophy."
"Why wait? The trophy is already here. You can cut its head off right now or hang it as it is," expressing genuine outrage, I nodded in Ragni's direction.
"No, there's no need to do it just yet; let's save it for another occasion."
"Then one more question. How much did it cost?"
Hearing this question, Katrina became even more nervous. Apparently, the answer wouldn't satisfy me.
"Well, considering the inscription and the urgency, it cost us 30 gold coins."
"So, for our first quest, despite its danger, we only got 50 gold coins, 15 of which were spent on the trip back to the village, and 30 on a plaque for a non-existent trophy?" I was ready to smash that plaque over her head!
"And tea," Katrina whispered barely audibly.
"WHAT TEA?" Please, not that.
"For the remaining five coins, I bought this tea."
"Where on earth did you find tea for five gold coins? Are you telling me that we risked our lives in that dragon for a piece of wood?"
"I'm sorry..."
"Damn! How could I join this guild of losers?" Ragni's outburst signaled the end of this difficult adventure.