Seeing this, Mai thought, 'Maybe I went a little too far by putting people behind him. Well, it was his fault. After all, I'm not that vindictive unless you call me Mei. I'll never accept that.'
After walking away from Mai, Rohan thought, 'Whew, I finally got rid of her. It's a shame I lost that red rune, but at least Mai shouldn't bother me anymore. Now, I can finally accumulate my runes in peace. I need to pass this test as soon as possible and get back home. My mother must be very worried.
...
A few days passed, and Rohan finally recovered the runes he had
lost the day Mai had taken the red rune. Just as he had told her, he was avoiding her as much as possible. Always going in the opposite direction.
This caught the attention of some people, especially Welli and Karin.
Karin then said to Welli, "Did something happen between the two of them?"
Welli said, "Not that I know of, but I have the impression that something has happened."
"Well, let's find out."
The two of them approached Rohan, and Karin said, "Hi, Rohan. How are you?"
During all the time Rohan had been looking for the runes, the person he had talked to the most was Welli, and the second was Karin.
Because of this, he understood her personality better and knew what she wanted when she spoke to him.
Rohan said, "Hi, Karin. I'm fine."
"So... did something happen between you and Mai?"
"Hm? Why do you ask?"
"... You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Can you tell?"
"Yes. Now tell me once and for all what happened."
"For free?"
"... How much do you want?"
"A blue rune."
"What?! Are you kidding?! I'm not going to give you a blue rune."
"That's fine with me. I'm not the one who wants to know what happened between Mai and me."
"... You have to lower that price or at least prove that the information is worth that price."
"Hm ... you're right. I'll give you a spoiler of what happened."
"I'm all ears."
"Well, let's say the story has a fight in the water, a red rune, and Mai with her breasts at my back."
Karin then took a blue rune from the bag where she kept her runes, handed it to Rohan, and said, "Tell me, please!"
Rohan took the blue rune and said, "You want to hear it from the beginning, or-"
"From the beginning, and don't omit any details."
"... Okay. Well, it all started a few days ago when I found a river with some blue runes."
...
A few minutes passed, and Rohan had explained everything to Karin. It took him longer than he expected, as Karin interrupted him from time to time, asking for more details.
Karin then said, "You were right. That information really was worth a blue rune. In fact, I'd pay even more for it."
Rohan said, "I knew you'd like it, but I was joking about you having to pay."
He then returned the blue rune to Karin, but she refused and said, "You can keep the rune. The information you gave me is worth more than it."
"What are you talking about, Karin? I can't charge you a blue rune for a silly thing like that. We may not have known each other for a long time, but I consider you a friend."
"Fufufu, that's good to know, but I think you're confusing things, Rohan."
"What do you mean? You don't consider me a friend?"
"Let me finish talking. I'm not paying you for telling me what happened between you and Mai, but for telling me the method you used to get the red rune."
"... That's right. I'd forgotten that's part of the story."
"Yes. Then don't refuse the blue rune. It's worth a lot less than this information, but I believe you won't mind giving your friend a discount."
"Of course, I don't mind. I was planning to tell you both anyway."
"Good. Well, I'm going to go. We've already wasted a lot of time talking. We need to go, or we won't get any runes today."
"That's true."
The three of them then headed off into the forest in search of runes.
...
Some time passed, and all the participants made good progress in collecting runes. Everyone had already collected all the white runes they needed for the first procedure, which meant that the competition for the other colored runes increased.
People like Mai and Welli had already collected all the blue and green runes they needed and were only going after the red and black runes.
Fortunately for the two of them, besides Karin and Rohan, only they had the information on how to get the red rune, so there was practically no dispute. The big problem was finding them.
As for the black rune, although Rohan had told welli how to find it, he still hadn't managed to find any, even after a few attempts.
Rohan had now completed the white, blue, and black runes he needed for the first procedure. Only the green and red runes were missing.
Unfortunately, he wasn't successful in getting any of them. As Mai and Welli were after the red runes, there was no way he could get any, and since the green runes were on top of mountains, he could never get to the top before the others.
...
Rohan was in the kitchen eating while thinking, 'I need to think of a way to get the green runes. The red runes, I can wait for Welli and Mai to finish getting theirs, but the green runes are going to be tricky.'
'I've tried everything, from leaving the shelter early to trying to find a secluded mountain so there's no competition, but nothing has worked. I don't know what else to do.'
He continued trying to think of something while he ate when suddenly a person sat down opposite him. Rohan looked in the person's direction and realized that it was a young man with blond hair.
He seemed to be the same age as Rohan and also seemed to have a similar body build.
Rohan then said, "Hi. Do you want to talk to me?"
The young man then said, "You're Rohan, aren't you?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Perfect. I've been looking for you for a few days now, but I've never met you with any of your friends, and not even at the gate when everyone leaves."
"I've been busy trying some things recently. That's why you haven't found me."
"Got it."
"What do you need from me?"
"To the point, hm? No problem. Sometimes, it's good to do things this way, too. I want to negotiate with you."
"Negotiate? What are you talking about? Do you want to trade runes? I'm sorry to inform you, but I only have white and blue runes. You probably don't want any of them."
"That's not true. As far as I know, you also have a black rune."
"Hm? How do you know that?"
"Are you kidding, Rohan? Everyone knows that."
"Everyone?"
"Yes. Did you think that after your fight with Mai, the news wouldn't spread?"
"Oh, that's true. Well, in that case, you came after my black rune, didn't you? I'm sorry, but I don't intend to trade it for anything."
"No, you're wrong. I didn't come after your black rune."
"You didn't? What do you want with me then? I have nothing more to offer."
"Of course you do, Rohan."
"What are you talking about? Apart from the black rune, what do I have that interests you so much?"
"You have information."
"Information?"
"Exactly. You were the first person to find the black rune and, therefore, the only person who knows how to find it. If that's not valuable information, I don't know what is."
"Hm, you're right. That really is valuable information. Well, I'm willing to negotiate in that case."
"Good."
"How many runes do you intend to offer for the information? I already have all the blue and white runes I need, so I'll only accept green and red runes as payment."
"Unfortunately, I don't have any of those runes."
"Well, in that case, you don't have anything I'm interested in."
"Don't say that so quickly. You haven't heard my proposal yet."
"That's true. I doubt it's something that will interest me, but feel free to say it."
"My proposal is quite simple. I'll help you sell this information and get the most value out of it."
"Hm? You'll help me sell it? What do you mean?"
"We'll hold an auction."
"An auction?"
"Yes. That way, we'll get the highest possible price for the information, and we can sell it more than once."
"I understand what you're thinking, but I have two questions."
"What would they be?"
"Well, first of all. How are we going to make sure that the person who bought the information doesn't divulge it or even sell it like us?"
"I have a solution for that. Don't worry."
"Okay. Now, my second question is, what's in it for you?"