Chapter 43 – Exchange

The party arrived back at the 5th floor without encountering any troublesome groups of monsters and they waited in front of the gate until people inside finished their fight. Asterios knew from the guide that if the doors were closed, someone must have been taking their turn, as both entrance and exit would open after some time without anyone walking into the chamber through either.

Everyone was wary while passing through the spacious room, but as soon as they reached the other side, the gate started opening and they crossed paths with a group that was just walking in. It looked like the Core didn’t intend to slow them down with another boss encounter and they were glad for that.

Reaching the surface revealed that the time was around semi-late afternoon. Rudy suggested they took a break for the rest of the day before heading to the Guild to sell their spoils of war. Asterios was in no rush so he agreed. A night outside the dungeon would certainly help clear their minds of the Stupor’s effect, even if it was toned down by the pills they took.

The warrior woman told them to meet her in the restaurant near the Guild’s tent and went her way, and so did Ast with his partners. After reaching his inn, Miria and Selene returned to their world, urged to relax too. The panthergirl sent a few shy glances back at him before departing. 

Asterios smiled to himself. She was still as timid as ever, only being able to push through it with certain incentives, like when Selene lured her out during that one conversation. He knew Miria was thinking of a goodnight kiss, but there were many people around, and this time, she wasn’t able to push through her nature with just her own effort.

The next morning, after a calm and uneventful night on his narrow mattress, he went out towards the appointed place. It was easy to find with how the interiors of the big tent were arranged into rows of tables with benches. The mouth-watering smell of various dishes leaving its premises definitely helped too.

Heading inside, Ast noticed a familiar group of people by one of the tables. It was Rudy’s squad with all members present. It looked like they were midway through their breakfast most likely. He approached their spot from an angle that would allow the leader to notice him with ease, and soon, the brown-haired woman started waving at him.

There was enough space left on the bench so he sat down next to Tesser, having Douhlim and Rudy on the opposite side of the table.

“Boy! Long time no see! Or maybe short? Hahah. I’ve heard you’ve taken our boss for a quick ride while we were knee-deep in shit called bureaucracy and interpersonal relationships, haha!” The dwarf raised his mug filled with mead and welcomed Ast. “So, how did things go? Did you manage to show her the true greatness of a man and make her fall fo—HNGGH?!”

Douhlim’s question was interrupted by Rudy’s heel digging deep and hard into his foot. Hard enough to make him almost slam the table with his face from the sudden surprise. He stopped centimeters from it. But, it seemed that the raunchy dwarf’s nose was destined to meet the hoarse surface that day as Rudy’s smack on the back of his head finished the work and connected a fated couple of flesh and wood together with a thud.

“Keep spewing more nonsense and you won’t be able to show your true greatness of a man to anyone ever again,” she scoffed at him and released the man’s foot from her attack.

Asterios just smiled wryly while watching Douhlim raise and rub his face. His words were closer to the truth than the dwarf would have expected when making his playful remark. Rudy did in fact fall, but not exactly for the person he was making fun of. He was not able to see it, but Ast and Tesser clearly noticed a slight blush on the woman’s cheeks as she conducted the punishment.

“Anyway, I hope you and the girls had a decent night. We can go to the Guild after finishing here. How do you want to split the profit?” Rudy asked.

“Girls?” Tesser stopped moving a piece of meat towards his mouth and raised a brow at Ast.

“Yeah, they are a trio now. He summoned one more lass to do his bidding. She’s nothing special…” she explained, looking away while mentioning Ast’s new comrade.

The mage’s eyes sparkled and Asterios could easily recognize the eagerness to know more in them from how often he was met with a similar expression on Miria’s face. Before the man could ask any further questions though, Rudy quickly cut him off.

“You can barrage him with your magical mumbo-jumbo later. First things first.”

Ast already thought about it, so he answered without taking too long. “We should go with the usual, fifty-fifty.”

“What? No, there’s no way,” Rudy disagreed. “You won’t tell me again that those two don’t count because they are not adventurers. You guys clearly did way more than me there. Last time I agreed, but I ain’t having any of it today. Seventy-five to twenty-five.”

“Hehehe, you really did leave a good impression on our girl. She had never waived this much—UMPH!”

This time, a heavy punch landed on the dwarf’s stomach under the table. No slapping follow-up was necessary as his face slammed the wooden surface again from just the initial hit in the abdomen. People from adjacent tables were starting to turn around and see what the hell was happening by their table. Poor Douhlim. Asterios felt like he was beaten up quite often with that manner of speech towards his leader.

“If you saw Miria’s swordsmanship with your own eyes, you would be grovelling on the ground and begging him to let you learn from her instead of making stupid jokes like some jester!” she berated her companion.

He recovered quicker than before and shot a shocked glance towards Asterios. “Wait. She is that good?”

“Can you jump into a group of four Goblin Shamans and four Goblin Archers and decimate them in a flash without getting even a scratch?” she asked with a snort.

The dwarf made a prolonged whistle of awe. Now, there were two people looking at Asterios with eyes pretty much brimming with curiosity. He completely didn’t expect this much attention. Rudy chuckled and slapped the table to get it back on her.

“Focus. Money. Deal?”

He pondered for a moment. “Crystals are obvious, but what about the equipment?” Asterios asked.

“You need it for something?”

“Not really. The armour is way too big for anyone in my team and the same goes for the shield.”

“We can ask in the Guild’s tent, but the queue to appraise stuff will be astronomical. If I were you, I’d take all of it to the town and sell it in the Guild's branch there. The selling price will be lower here too since everyone who doesn’t have a spatial mage in their party, or some kind of a storage artifact, tries to get rid of most of the junk on-site, so the supply is enormous. But, you don’t have that problem, right?”

Asterios nodded. With either Miria or Selene, he could store pretty much everything in their realm now. Abiding by the core magical rules of interdimensional travel through the established summoning corridor, of course.

Rudy gestured at her friends. “They only came here to fetch me after getting done with the task. We are going back to the town now and then most likely picking another quest leading out of it.”

“Aye. Sitting in one place is just not our style,” the dwarf added.

 “So, we can exchange cores here, split the rewards, and then you can pawn off the equipment at a later date. Or we can go back together if you don’t intend to dive into the dungeon again already. We’ll get more that way.”

Asterios relayed the info to Selene and Miria, asking if they wanted to continue exploring the dungeon or come back with the party. Both of the girls said they would follow his decision. He smiled to himself, shook his head and agreed to Rudy’s plan. They had some fun in the dungeon. Perhaps they could find an interesting quest in the Guild.

They chatted some more while Asterios ordered something to fill his stomach. Mostly, it was Tesser and Douhlim raining questions about the girls onto him. They left the restaurant tent shortly after he finished eating.

Rudy’s party had their horses kept in the makeshift stables and they went to pick them up together. Asterios, of course, had Miria to fill the role of his valiant steed and she didn’t let him even think about any other form of transport, eagerly jumping out of the portal in her panther form and spooking most of the animals in that area. He had to leave first or all the other horses wouldn’t stop neighing, scared by her presence.

Nothing notable happened on their way back. If Asterios was travelling alone, Miria could have covered the distance in something like two hours, but since they didn’t want to overexert the horses, it took the party seven hours. They arrived shortly after noon and headed straight to the Guild.

It definitely was lively inside, but it couldn’t be called bustling with people. Most adventurers picked quests early in the morning and the current time was more peaceful, without the presence of the early rush. Asterios noticed Ven behind one of the counters. She was talking to a woman in heavy armour, most likely discussing some task. Before he decided to approach a different receptionist, they finished their business and the blonde clerk saw Asterios in the crowd. She made a short wave at him with a smile. He guided the party to her spot.

“Welcome back, Ast! Already done with your first dungeon dive? Miria is not with you today?” she asked, keeping her usual, professional smile.

“Hi there, Ven. Yeah, we just got out yesterday. As for Miria…” Asterios moved his gaze to his right, where a certain black panther’s head was peeking over the counter line.

The clerk raised one brow curiously and then noticed the brown badge strapped to the beast’s neck. “Ah!” Everything from their previous meeting clicked and she instantly realized who she was looking at. “I’m sorry! I knew you were able to shift but still didn’t notice,” she quickly apologized and bowed a little.

A moment later, black mist surrounded Miria’s body and she soon appeared in front of them in her other form. She grinned at the receptionist.

“Don’t worry, hahaha! I stayed in that shape purposefully to see if you would figure it out!”

Asterios plopped his hand on the panthergirl’s head and scratched it gently, making her squirm and blush a little. Venera quickly fixed herself and cleared her throat.

“Ekhm. So, how can I help you today? And welcome Miss Rudy. Your party submitted the finished quest just recently. There aren’t any problems with the reward, right?” she turned her attention to the other woman for a moment.

“Yo. Nah, everything is fine. I’m just accompanying this little summoner here. We want to cash in the cores we got and perhaps sell some equipment from the monsters. Is Dave on site today?” Rudy asked.

“Yes, and he shouldn’t be busy right now. Should I call him here now? I can give you time to bring the items in.” Venera glanced at Asterios while asking.

“We have everything with us so we can proceed immediately. A private exchange room would be nice,” he answered.

She pondered for a moment and looked over each one of them. They didn’t seem to be carrying anything more than necessary. She then thought that maybe Ast didn’t want to show the public that he was in possession of a spatial storage artifact of a commendable size and that’s why he asked to be led into the exchange chamber. It definitely was a safe move. She agreed to the request and guided the party to the trading area, leaving them in one of the chambers while she went to bring their appraiser.

A few minutes later, Venera came back with a man by her side. He was a member of one of the demonic races, which was quite apparent from his navy-blue skin, pupilless eyes of a similar but even darker colour, looking like a night sky, dark hair and two horns sprouting from his forehead and curling to the back. His kind was called Nightstalkers. He wore a similar outfit as the blond-haired girl.

“Ast, this is Dave, our appraiser. He’s pretty knowledgeable about the things you can get from the nearby dungeon and also specializes in Divination magic. Dave, this is Asterios, my new protegee.” She conducted short introductions by herself.

“Alright, kid. Show me what you got. What do we start with?”

Asterios brought out all the cores they collected and presented them to the man first. He examined them pretty quickly and wrote down the value of each one on a piece of paper while Ven checked everything with her notebook. All in all, they could get 1 gold and 47 silver coins if they decided to sell everything.

After finishing, Dave picked up the biggest crystal and glanced at Asterios. “This thing comes only from the Hobgoblin Warlord. Assuming that you managed to kill it, I bet you have something to sell off him.”

“Correct,” Asterios answered.

“Bring it out then. Let’s see if you got any lucky,” the man urged with a grin.

“Let’s go with the shield first then.”

“Shield?” He looked around but didn’t see one anywhere in the room. “You carried that huge-ass chunk of wood all the way here? That thing won’t fit through the door. Why did we even come here if we have to get out anyway.” The man sighed and started standing up from the sofa he was sitting on while checking the cores.

“No need.” Asterios stopped him. “We’ll use my door.”

Miria stepped to the side, opened a dark crimson portal and jumped into it. Both Dave’s and Venera’s eyes widened as they watched a huge shield come out of it a moment later, carried by two quite slim girls without much effort. They dropped it on the floor beside the table and stepped back.

“Gate?” 

The man furrowed his brows at Asterios. The boy didn’t look anything like a high-tiered magician to handle such spells. And that thought was supported by the E-rank plate on his shoulder. No proud mage of this calibre would start so low when they could blast the examiners whenever they wanted.

“More or less.” Asterios smiled. “So, is it worth anything?”

Dave got up and walked closer to the tower shield, examining it carefully. After a moment, he knocked with his knuckles over its surface, just above the spot where a deep imprint of a fist was located, almost breaking through all the layers.

“It would have been worth much more if your Martial Artist didn’t decide to play with it after the fight without someone using proper techniques to activate the mana circuits inside.” He scratched his head. “Now it’s damaged. Thirty silver coins at most, just to scrap it for materials. Repairing is not worth the effort.”

Miria butted in before Ast could say anything. “But we didn’t play with it! The hole is from the fight!”

Selene felt responsible for their loss and stepped forward, bowing down towards Asterios. “I apologize, my Lord. I should have held back more. I know this is just an excuse, but I didn’t know what to expect from its hardness when I first struck it. It’s entirely my fault.”

He moved closer and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. Safety first. Besides, if I wanted it intact, I would have told you beforehand, right?”

She showed a faint smile, nodded, and backed away, returning to her previous position. Silence filled the room. Asterios glanced around and noticed that everyone was staring at him and Selene with wide eyes. Everyone except Rudy and Miria. The former was grinning from ear to ear.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“Did you… feel some kind of repulsive force when you hit it?” Dave directed his question at Selene.

She glanced at Asterios and he told her mentally that she didn’t have to ask for his permission to speak.

“Yes, I did. It was ticklish. Like someone brushed my knuckles with a feather.”

Dave’s jaw dropped almost to the ground. Noticing Ast’s curious gaze, he coughed awkwardly and changed the topic. “Okay. Got anything else?”

“We have its armour.”

“Ah. Right. It appears pretty often. But don’t expect fireworks from a piece or two. Come on, let me see if any part is salvageable after the fight. I don’t think there’s much of it left if Miss Selene had a go at the monster.”

The person in question already left when Ast mentioned the item and was just bringing it back into the room through the portal. She laid down the whole black set, including a vest, greaves, shoulder pads, bracers and waist piece, on the shield in front of the appraiser.

“What?!” 

Dave shouted and started frantically going through all the pieces. He checked every nook and cranny of every part of the set but he couldn’t find any marks of battle or damage, besides the usual wear that accompanied those items. He froze for a moment and then slowly turned his head back, looking straight at his colleague.

“Venera. Go tell Claire we have it. Now,” he spoke in an unnaturally calm tone.

“Eh? But what should I tell he—”

“NOW!”

She jerked hearing the man shout again, this time at her, and ran out of the room in a hurry. Dave rarely raised his voice like that. Even rarer at his coworkers. She wasn’t sure what it was all about, but Clarie must have been informed if he was urging her to tell the woman.

After she left the room, Dave stood up and turned to Asterios, ignoring the confused stares from Rudy’s group. “I apologize for raising my voice. It’s just… It’s not very often we see a whole, undamaged set of this armour. Due to the huge shield, most adventurers just attack the monster with all they have from behind while it’s distracted, and even that usually ends with the chest piece almost completely destroyed. We currently have a seven-month-old order that requests all pieces in the best state possible and I believe your goods match the requirements. I’ve sent Venera to inform the person overseeing this order to check how much—”

The door to the room suddenly flew open and a girl with short, black hair, and in the Guild’s uniform, stormed into the room. 

“SEVENTEEN GOLD COINS!” she shouted from the very doorstep, before even stopping her charge. 

Wheezing for air, she scanned the room and immediately locked her eyes on Asterios after seeing him in front of Dave. The girl named Claire approached him in a flash and bowed down respectfully.

“Hello! My name is Claire! Please, sell your armour to us! We can offer seventeen gold coins right now!” she spoke hurriedly without raising her head.

Asterios, like pretty much any other person present in the chamber, besides the employees, was quite befuddled by the whole scene. He glanced at Dave, but that only showed a wry smile. He looked at Rudy for some guidance, but she shrugged her shoulders, showing that she knew nothing that could be of help.

Sighing heavily, he spoke to the girl. “Please, raise your head. I brought it here with the intention to sell so there’s no need to be this desperate.” He chuckled. “Shouldn’t you be hiding the fact that you want it so badly? What if I decided to hold onto it after thinking that I could get more in another branch?”

Claire straightened her posture and shook her head. “I don’t think you will get this much anywhere else! Our buyer waited seven months already and countless adventurers pass through the 10th floor all the time! And he wants it for purely aesthetic purposes! This is really the best deal around! He came here from the Demon continent to place a direct order!”

“Alright, alright, I get it. I accept.” He smiled wryly. 

That person must have been really desperate for these items to travel so far just to submit a request. He most likely placed similar ones in many other locations, but Ast didn’t mind getting it off his shoulders here. The price was already high to him and trying to turn down this overly excited clerk would definitely be as challenging as finding another buyer.

Claire took the items from them and ran away to do whatever she was supposed to do with them. Ven and Dave finalized the exchange with Ast’s group after checking the Hobgoblin’s longsword too and summed up their earnings. With all of those, they ended up with 17 gold and 21 silver coins, after deducting all the fees and taxes. It was a small fortune for Asterios. The materials the academy provided were worth around 5 gold coins every few months, which already was quite generous. Students with better results than him received more of course.

After everything was done, Dave left with the remaining items while Ven led them back to the main hall. On their way, Douhlim kept nudging Asterios while laughing heartily, talking about how he must have been one lucky boy to negate all the bad luck Rudy was bringing to their party. Naturally, he was silenced by the same, unlucky person when she accidentally set her foot in front of his and he tripped, blaming it on her bad luck.

He managed to negotiate a thirty-five to sixty-five split with her and they bid farewell, in case they didn’t see each other the next day. Either of the groups could end up with a quest before they met again. Ast was left with Miria and Selene by Ven’s counter.

“Thank you for cooperating with us. And I’m sorry for the scene my friends caused,” she spoke to him while lowering her head a little.

“Don’t sweat it! Master definitely doesn’t mind!” Miria informed her joyfully.

The blond-haired woman raised her gaze and smiled brilliantly at them. “Also, it’s quite late, but I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Selene. If I’m allowed to call you by name.”

The foxgirl nodded her head. “Of course. My Lord’s friends are my friends.”

Ven smiled at her. It was quite weird hearing someone be called by such a title. And Asterios didn’t give a feeling of a high-status noble. But, perhaps she was mistaken. Or that was just how they set it in the contract or something. She only knew some basics about Summoners.

“Anyway, thank you again. That was quite the haul. What are you guys planning to do now? Still going back to the dungeon? Or are you leaving?”

“That depends. If we find an interesting quest that leads us out, we might take it, but we aren’t set on either staying or leaving specifically. We do plan on doing something else besides delving into the dungeon though,” he answered.

“I see…” Ven pondered for a moment. “Say… I hope I don’t come out as rude, but…” She glanced at Selene and Miria before continuing. “Does one of your friends have a… good nose?”

“I do!” Miria answered before he could.

“And I can confirm that.” Asterios chuckled. “She got us through one or two hidden passages.”

“Then, I might have something for you.”