Ashes of the Fallen

"As a fellow trader, I believe in fair bartering," I said with a smile. "Whatever you believe it's worth, and then I'll make up the difference in silver for the cattle."

He looked the fur over another time, before nodding at himself and locking eyes with me. "If you include the pelt with thirty silver, I'll consider it an honest and fair trade," he said with conviction.

Extending a hand out, I replied, "you have a deal then."

In truth, I wasn't expecting more than three silvers or three-hundred copper coins for the pelt, but straight trades of goods for coin tend to devalue a product. When bartering and exchanging goods, the values can fluctuate quite a bit more depending on rarity or scarcity, and I figured that would help me. He sold cattle and that was his business, he could take a little off the top in trades and still make money. I on the other hand, picked it up off a dead animal, and had nothing to lose either way.

My twenty mile excursion had proved to be quite valuable.

Seven kittens, four calves, and a couple silvers left to my name, all in a day's work.

Now, all I needed to do was conquer that fifth floor, and return to Dragon's Breach… Selene and Katherine were waiting for me and it wouldn't do to keep them waiting indefinitely.

That would be rude of me.

Chapter 50: Return to the Fifth

(Thursday, June 24th Game Day / Sunday, February 28th Real Day)

Night had already fallen by the time I made it back to the dungeon town but I was actually glad for it as it kept prying eyes off my precious cattle and kittens. They were a national secret, after all. My kingdom's ultimate treasure at the moment were these little fellas, and so long as no one caught wind of my plans, I would have a leg up on the competition for a little bit longer.

Sneaking into the back of the stables behind the inn, I tied up each calf in its own pen where it could munch on some hay and get some much needed rest. I figured they would be safe there for now, especially since no one actually had a horse yet.

Entering the inn that I had been staying at, I paid the fee for four pens and informed the inn keeper that I would be staying for nine more days. The inn cost me ten coppers a day but it was reasonable, as the inn was fairly upscale compared to the others. Storage space via a locked chest was included in each room, which was quite large in its own right. There was a full-sized bed, a small table and chair, a personal washstand with a small mirror situated just above, and magic-powered lights that had a soft amber glow to them. Compared to some of the other inns that only provided a small twin-sized bed and not much else, this inn was like going from a one-star motel to a three-star hotel.

All in all, it was a pretty nice place.

Not to mention, the tavern downstairs was considered the best one around and I received one free meal a day during my stay. The cost for a pen and hay wasn't too bad either, at three coppers a day. Of course, the charges were by eight-hour in-game day, rather than real-life twenty-four hour day… which would have been quite convenient. Everything went according to the game clock, so that was twenty-two coppers per eight-hours including the room rate with the pen rentals.

That added up rather quickly, really.

Oh well.

Checking the clock, Barik would be on within an hour and so too would the rest of the crew. We had been hitting the dungeon up every day on a schedule, twice a day at the very least, with a third run squeezed in on the weekdays.

The only real issue when playing with Aussies was the time difference… midnight here was five in the afternoon for them. Plus seventeen hours for them, so in order to maintain our group runs, I either had to stay up extremely late or wake up very early.

It wasn't that bad, since I had no life anyways, but it took some getting used to at first. First few days were a bit awkward, especially getting my food and sleep cycle on board. Though, after those first few days, I transitioned wonderfully into a complete night owl.

"Ah, I should eat," I muttered to myself after the kittens had settled into their positions on the bed. They had already ate and were fast asleep; now it was time for me to take care of my virtual body. Wolf jerky could only last for so long, especially with how realistic the food tasted in this game. I was getting sick of eating nothing but flavorless jerky.

Leaving the kittens in the room, I made my way downstairs to the tavern only to find the hallway blocked by four young men standing shoulder to shoulder. At first I thought, perhaps something was going on, but after a few seconds had gone by they were still blocking the path while chatting amongst themselves. They weren't in a hurry to go anywhere, they were simply being a nuisance.

"Excuse me," I said loudly and clearly as  I attempted to make my way through.

They didn't move though, they didn't even turn around.