The Request

Lurep Village. Morning.

Rose and Thorn were heading toward a branch of Zelu's Blacksmiths to sell Dani Zelu's armor. Besides his armor, he had had 2 golden and 30 blue coins, which was basically 230 blue coins or 23 000 silver coins. Of course, Rose was very happy about this. These spoils of war would speed up her plans by at least a few weeks after all.

"Will you have enough money after selling that armor?" Thorn asked.

After remembering how much money she had to accumulate, Rose answered somewhat downcast: "I wish it could be that cheap to make a contract with a good ship designer. *Sigh*… We'll need at least 5 black coins…"

"Wow, that's 50 000 blue coins. We received just 20 blue coins from the White family as payment... It'll take us quite some time to gather that much…" Contrary to his whining words, his expression was nonchalant, as he had no lack of time.

The reason why Thorn was familiarized with the monetary system of the modern world was because Rose had briefly explained it to him yesterday at their inn before going to sleep.

After talking idly for a while, they arrived at a beautiful eight-story building which had the shape of the torso of a luxurious white armor. They went directly to the eighth floor because, for some stupid reason, the most expensive items were always on the highest floor.

Once there, they chose a random shop and entered into it. The shop wasn't too big, but it was full of B-class zenanium suits, armors, and weapons. In it could be found suitable equipment for any civilized race.

The owner of the shop was a dullahan wearing blacksmith clothes. His pitch-black smoke had the shape of the plus sign [+]. Seeing that some customers have entered his shop, he said with the characteristic dullahan's vibrating voice: "Welcome to Tom Zelu's Shop, is there something in particular you're looking for?"

"Well, actually we just want to sell this." Thorn gave Tom Zelu a big sack.

This didn't surprise Tom Zelu, there were many occasions when something like this had happened. After placing the content of the sack on a table, he inspected carefully the armor that appeared before him. Seconds later, he said impressed: "A noteworthy A-class zenanium armor in perfect conditions, this is a rare sight in Lurep Village."

"How much are you willing to pay for it?" Rose asked with a businesslike expression on her face.

"Umm… before that, I need to ask something. Why does the armor have a blood stain?" The shop owner asked nonchalantly while pointing at a very small red mark on the interior of the armor.

Without losing her cool, Rose looked at the mark and said: "Oh, it actually has one." She put on a thoughtful expression. "What could it be…? Oh! Perhaps…"

She quickly grabbed Thorn's hand and secretly used her nail to cause him a tiny wound in one of his fingers.

"Just as I thought! You must have hurt yourself by accident when you put the armor in the sack!" Rose exclaimed with a look of understanding. She turned her gaze toward Tom Zelu, and said with an innocent smile: "Well, mystery solved!"

Tom Zelu: (Whom is this brat trying to deceive?! Really, what a shameless scoundrel! Is she looking down on my brain? Is she actually looking down on my brain?! Hehehe… How ironical, because of her actions I'm the one who's looking down on her brain now. She didn't need to recur to such means! It doesn't matter from where they've got this armor since the Zelu family is backing me! So, whatever its provenance may be, there shouldn't be any issues if I buy it… Unless this armor belonged to a Zelu family member, but that is impossible. How could they have the guts to rob and offend the Zelu family, and above all, the guts to sell what they robbed from the Zelu family in the Zelu family's territory?! Hahaha… there's not enough courage in the world to do such a thing with their pathetic level of cultivation!)

After thinking up to this point, he offered: "I'll be fair, 10 golden coins. I won't pay more than that."

"Ok, yes, it's fair enough to me." Rose didn't bargain because she had realized that her lame excuse had been seen through.

She took the money, and without looking back, she ran away with Thorn.

After some time of walking, Thorn couldn't hold his curiosity back anymore and asked: "Why is he wearing blacksmith clothes? I mean, it's just a shop, not a blacksmith factory."

"Ah, it comes with the job. Usually, customers prefer buying their equipment from someone wearing blacksmith clothes rather than from someone wearing another kind of clothes." Rose answered showing off her knowledge.

Thorn commented smiling: "Oh! It makes sense." But then he frowned: "Wait a moment, doesn't that mean he uses underhanded psychological tricks to sell his goods? Humph! What a shameless scoundrel!"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Lurep Village Library.

The name of the elderly gargoyle librarian who wore a white librarian uniform, the gargoyle who had attended Rose some days ago, was Blan Ton. He was sitting in a comfortable chair reading a fist-thick book with the demeanor of a sage.

"Hello."

Suddenly, a voice interrupted him. He slowly turned his gaze upward. (Oh, she's that girl from a few days ago. Mmm? Second Level Basic Awaken?) Chuckling, he said: "Hehehe… Hello. It seems you managed to break through, congratulations!"

Of course, that girl was Rose. Thorn was by her side. She beamed proudly: "Actually, it was easier than I thought it would be. Hahaha…"

"Was… it?" Thorn murmured lazily.

At that moment, Rose put on a solemn expression: "I'm here to buy a copy of The Rose Mountain by Lin the Lonely Adventurer."

"Mmm? Was there a book of Lin the Lonely Adventurer with that name…?" Blan Ton was taken aback.

"When I found it, I was surprised too. There's indeed such a book in the section of exotic methods to break through bottlenecks." Rose replied chuckling. She didn't find Blan Ton's reaction odd.

"… Wait here please, I'll look for it." Blan Ton was a little skeptical, but in the end decided to check it out anyway.

Walking toward the stairs to the underground of the library, he soon disappeared from Thorn and Rose's sight.

Within this underground floor, there were copies of every single book the library had.

After walking for some time, flanked by immense bookshelves, he finally found the book Rose was searching for. "It truly exists! It is official then, I'm a total failure as a librarian!" He shook his head, feeling incompetent.

It must be known that Lin the Lonely Adventurer was not an ordinary writer, on the contrary, she was one of the top five best writers of this era. That's why Blan Ton didn't think he was exaggerating in the least with his critique.

Nevertheless, the discovery of this book still brought him immense elation.

He grabbed the book without hesitation, and immediately after, his hands started to quiver. This was because the book had the mark of a blue feather on its top-right corner. That mark meant: 'There's a request from the author regarding this book'.

"A request from Lin the Lonely Adventurer!" He exclaimed, loosing completely his demeanor of a sage.

He dashed toward a classified room of the library. With his speed, he reached the room in no time.

The room was full of neatly arranged metallic boxes, and a pair of numbers were inscribed on each box in this way: 350 500 to 351 000.

He looked over at the blue mark on the book and saw on the feather the number: "238 724!" He then searched for the box he needed.

Soon, he found the box and opened it. Inside it, there were D-class zenanium papers. After a while, he pulled the 238 724 paper out and earnestly read it.

Written on it was: "I am leaving my Energy Signature on this note, so please, contact me if you suspect that the mystery of The Rose Mountain has been solved."

These words left Blan Ton trembling in fear and excitement: "T-the Energy S-S-S-Signature of Li-Lin the Lonely Adventurer…" He now found himself holding the piece of paper with utmost care and nervousness. It couldn't be helped, after all, he hadn't held–in his one hundred and fifty years of life–something more precious and valuable than this Energy Signature.

After some time, he barely managed to calm himself down.

"Oh, right! The mystery of The Rose Mountain, I need to read this book!" He opened the book and started to decipher every word in it as if he were reading the most important book in history.

After finishing reading, he exclaimed: "That girl has definitely found that legendary plant!"

His breathing became unsteady as he wondered: (What should I do? What should I do?!... This is just too much for my old bones to manage… Ah! I'll just follow the instructions mindlessly, in any case, that style of life has allowed me to reach my actual age…)

Five minutes later.

He entered into the Butterfly Room of the library. It was a huge room where butterfly monsters were hovering about aimlessly. They were really beautiful. Most of them were blue, and there were a few green, and a single red one. Of course, the butterfly monsters of better quality were fewer in quantity.

He didn't hesitate to call the red one with a grain of special food. After the red butterfly monster finished eating, it stood on the Energy Signature of Lin the Lonely Adventurer for a few seconds. After that, it caught a small piece of paper from Blan Ton's claw. And it then disappeared into thin air.

(It is done. Now, I only have to make a copy of the book to give it to that redhead girl.) He thought.

Another five minutes later.

"Here it is, by the way, just for curiosity, do you live in Lurep Village?" Blan Ton handed over the copy of - The Rose Mountain - to Rose and asked that.

"No, I don't. But I think I'll be hanging around Lurep Village for at least a few months. Are you sure that you are asking that just for curiosity?" Rose responded while giving two blue coins to the librarian.

"Oh, well, I suppose I'm really interested in the person who introduced me to a rare book of Lin the Lonely Adventurer." He answered with his usual demeanor of a sage.

"Hahaha… If that is the case, I understand your feelings very well! Though I stumbled upon it just by luck. Hahaha… Anyway, what can I say about myself? Right now, I'm just a novice mercenary. My team consists of just my sister and me." She said pointing at Thorn. "Other than that… Oh! Lately, I have been starting to feel a special love for money. Hehehe…" She then kept on laughing shamelessly about it.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Mercenary's Guild.

Thorn and Rose arrived through the main entrance. Thorn commented amazed: "Wow! So, thanks to that book you found me. Really, what a big chain of coincidences…"

"Right? In any case, I'll need Lin the Lonely Adventurer to join us in the future, so I was thinking that this book could be a good excuse to create a connection with her." Rose explained her 'little scheme'.

"Mmm? Will you need more than one person to join us? I assumed that you just need the ship designer." Thorn asked, his face turning pale in fear.

"I don't know who will be the ship designer. And including Lin, I have in mind six persons. So, it'll be seven in total. But of course, if we meet someone who could be useful, then I'll ask that someone to join us as well." Rose answered, not giving any details about the other persons she had in mind.

Thorn then let out a deep sigh of relief. "*Sigh*… Seven. I was afraid you'd say, without a hint of shame, something like a trillion."

"Eh?! Do you think I am that shameless?! Why?!" Rose asked, so shocked she didn't notice she was shouting.

Thorn just shrugged avoiding her fierce gaze.

"Here you are! May I have a word with you?!"

Suddenly, someone said out loud. That was a familiar voice to Thorn and Rose, so they turned around to look at the owner of this voice. It was Vei Dal!

"Hello, what is it?" Rose asked somewhat puzzled.

Standing before them, Vei Dal said fired up: "I was wondering if Miss Thorn is interested in participating in the Lurep Village Mercenary vs. Adventurer Novice Tournament."