Chapter 22: A Short and Weak Chapter
Silence. A long, lasting silence.
Even Lisa, who usually had very thick skin, found herself unable to speak at this moment.
“What’s going on? How could we not have given him money? Don’t we have a budget? Who was in charge of the finances?”
Lisa looked around, but no one nodded.
They couldn’t possibly tell her that this was also done by Peiya, that wouldn’t make sense.
“It was me. And let me correct one thing, I did give him money. Don’t blame everything on me.”
Anna looked proud. She was very sure about this small matter.
Lisa let out a sigh of relief. It seemed like maybe the team members had been giving wrong information.
Still, she wasn’t fully convinced, so she asked one more question.
“Then how much did you give him?”
“Ten gold coins!”
“?”
“Anna, how much do you spend on one meal?”
“Let me think… about three gold coins.”
Lisa: …
“So ten gold coins is, at most, just one day of your food cost, right?”
“Yeah. What’s wrong?”
Anna didn’t understand what Lisa was getting at.
“Just for this trip alone, the food for so many people would cost more than ten gold coins. And you only gave the logistics budget ten coins? Did your math teacher teach you wrong or something?”
“I… I… is that my fault? I was just afraid he would waste money. Besides, he never asked me for more. If he had asked, I would have given it!”
“……”
Lisa now roughly understood where those potions came from.
Ten gold coins couldn’t even buy many teleportation stones, let alone that many tracking potions.
“So what you’re saying is, you want me to find someone who can make those potions by hand?”
Lisa had figured everything out.
Those potions were most likely made by Peiya herself. Otherwise, the money just didn’t add up. And Lisa knew that Peiya often stayed up at night, using their weapons to do some kind of experiments.
Could it be because they couldn’t afford materials?
“Yeah. But I didn’t know about the potions back then. We can just recruit a normal support, right?”
“Then why did we drive him away in the first place?”
“He left on his own, okay? Lisa, don’t act like some kind of guild police now. Back then, you were one of the people who used Peiya the most. You’re no better than me. Just for a dessert, you even used my servant without asking and made him run across two streets. I haven’t even settled that score with you yet. Don’t try to act innocent now that something has gone wrong.”
Hearing her “good friend” throw blame at her again, Lisa rolled her eyes.
“I’m not defending him. If he dares to come back, I wouldn’t even want him. But I can’t handle this recruitment task. If I go out with the conditions you gave me, people will think I’m just causing trouble.”
“Hmph. It’s just a potion. If we don’t have it, we don’t have it. Everyone has rested enough, right? It’s getting dark soon. We need to get back to town quickly. If anyone walks too slow and we fail to return in time, don’t blame me for not paying for your hotel.”
The team members all glanced at Anna. Words reached their lips, but they held them back.
No one dared to bring up Peiya again at this moment. After all, every one of them had benefited from the convenience Peiya provided.
No one could say they had never used or enjoyed something made by Peiya.
Walking at the front, Anna felt more and more irritated. The wound on her left cheek seemed to ache faintly.
Thinking about the value of those potions and the shop owner’s shocked expression made her even more uneasy.
……………………………
Dikert Adventurers’ Guild.
At the main entrance.
Nara, holding a stack of documents, saw Peiya walking in from far away and raised her hand to greet her.
“Miss Peiya, I’m over here.”
When the other adventurers saw that the guild manager had personally come to meet someone, they all stopped to watch.
This was something rare, since when did the manager personally come to receive someone?
Peiya was also shocked by the scene. It felt like walking into a market, and suddenly all the salespeople stopped what they were doing and shouted together. ‘Welcome, VIP!’
The image was too much, Peiya didn’t even dare to imagine it.
She could only wave her hand awkwardly but politely.
“Miss Nara, it’s just a small matter. There’s no need for you to come in person.”
“Hmm, it’s not a small matter. Alright, the guild leader is waiting for you.”
“Oh…”
Peiya turned her head and looked toward a corner of the hallway. There was a figure standing there.
Originally, Elise had come with her. But just before arriving, she suddenly said that Guild Leader Maya might have something to talk to Peiya about alone, so it wouldn’t be good to go together at first.
So she told Peiya to go ahead, and she would come later.
But… was it really that simple?
Peiya’s thoughts started to wander, and she almost didn’t hear what Nara was saying beside her.
“Miss Peiya, you keep looking back. Is there something important you need to take care of?”
“No, sorry. I got distracted just now. Did you say something?”
Nara showed her white teeth and scratched her wine-red hair.
“It’s nothing important. I just saw you looking back again and again, so I thought maybe you forgot something at home. I just wanted to check.”
Hearing that, Peiya quickly waved her hands.
“No, nothing like that. A friend is waiting for me over there. She might come in later. I’m not sure if that will cause any trouble for you?”
Peiya felt it was better to mention Elise to the guild. In case Guild Leader Maya was going to talk about something important, she didn’t want to mess things up.
“Of course not. The guild leader even said last night that you can treat this place like your own home. Even if you want to sleep on the front desk, it’s totally fine.”
“Ah? Why would I sleep on the front desk?”
Maybe because she had become a woman, Peiya had become more sensitive about things related to personal privacy.
Of course, she knew the guild leader was joking.
But hearing it still made her feel uncomfortable, like ants were crawling on her skin.
No one had ever taught her about this kind of feeling.
So why did she suddenly care so much?
When she was still a boy, it was normal for her to run around the house shirtless in summer.
But last night, when she woke up in the middle of the night, she subconsciously grabbed a coat and covered herself…
Only after fully waking up did she realize she had wrapped herself tightly, as if afraid of catching a cold.
Had she become strange?
Or was it the Witch’s Heart causing this?
…Annoying.
Witch’s Heart: …
That’s right, all the bad things are my fault.
Nara waved her hand. “I was just giving an example. You don’t need to be so formal in the future. Just treat this place like your own home.”
“Okay.”
Peiya nodded. As she entered the guild hall, the hallway leading to the guild leader’s office felt a bit crowded.
It usually wasn’t this busy, but today there were clearly more people than usual.
“Did something happen in the guild? It’s so lively.”
Nara rubbed her nose. Only then did she realize Peiya had asked her something. She had been too busy thinking about what reward to give later and had almost forgotten her job, so she spoke with a bit of apology.
“What else could it be? The full moon night is coming soon, and monster activity has started to increase again. The guild leader is calling you today because of the full moon.”
“I see. Are you asking me to go fight monsters?”
“Well… I’m not sure. The guild leader will definitely have her own plan. Don’t worry. She values you even more than herself right now. There’s no way she would send you to do something that dangerous right away.”
This…
Even though Peiya knew it was just a way of speaking, it still sounded a bit exaggerated.
It seemed that if she wanted to understand why Guild Leader Maya had called her, she would have to meet her in person.