Chapter 45: Hardship Fee
“Ton ton ton…”
“Ah! This alcohol is truly the best, isn’t it? Don’t you think so, Yaser?”
Downing an entire mug of beer in one go, Weirafiya wiped her mouth. As expected, no matter which world you’re in, alcohol is the most invigorating thing.
“Miss, while I want to agree with you, I think you need to pay attention to our money situation.”
Yaser glanced at his pouch, which used to be plump but was now embarrassingly slim.
“Ah? Have we run out of money already? I remember we got quite a few gold coins when we dismantled that thief gang!”
Weirafiya was shocked by Yaser’s words. How could all that money have vanished so quickly? What on earth was Yaser spending it on? Talk about wasteful!
“Yes, we did get a lot of gold coins from that thief gang. But the problem is… your drinking expenses have been too high.”
Yaser calculated their recent expenditures in his mind. Aside from the mandatory lodging fees, most of it went into the costs for his lady’s drinking.
“Ah? Did I really drink that much? You’re not fooling me, are you, Yaser? I feel like I hardly drank anything at all.”
Weirafiya seemed skeptical. How could so much gold possibly just evaporate because of her drinking?
“It’s true. If you don’t believe me, look! Our remaining assets are just this.”
Yaser then showed Weirafiya their current finances. Weirafiya leaned forward, peering into the pouch.
“Wow, is it really down to just two gold coins? At this rate, we won’t be able to stay here for long!”
Seeing that their entire fortune was reduced to so little, Weirafiya lost her cool. How could they continue staying with just that little bit of money?
“So, Miss, we need to think of a way to earn some money. Tomorrow, I’ll check the adventurer’s guild for any suitable commissions. Let’s take on some quests to make some gold!”
In order to survive here, Yaser had no choice but to get his lady started on some commissions for a living.
“A quest, huh? That’s not impossible. But if it’s just a quest, you could do it alone, right? I won’t need to tag along. Having me do those quests would just waste my time.”
Weirafiya couldn’t be bothered with pointless quests. Besides, considering Yaser’s strength, completing them was just a matter of time. She could just stay at the tavern and wait for his good news.
“That won’t do, Miss. As a pure-bred Phoenix, you also need to stretch your wings from time to time. And you can’t leave all the work to me. Don’t forget, who spends the most money around here?”
Yaser’s expression darkened as he spoke to Weirafiya.
“Ugh… Fine, fine! I’ll come with you tomorrow to take on some commissions. After all, with my strength, I could just wave my hand and turn them all to ashes.”
“Not to ashes! The main goal of commissions is to return the requested items to the client. If you burn everything to a crisp, how will we complete the quests?”
“Alright, alright, I get it. So there are things I can burn and things I can’t, right? For me, it’s no big deal!”
Weirafiya was already growing impatient. For someone like her, a pure-bred Phoenix, controlling flames was an easy task.
“Oh! So you’re here after all.”
Just then, Aierjisi entered the tavern. She had been worried about what to do if Weirafiya wasn’t here, but thankfully, she was still around.
“Ah? It’s you. What do you want with me?”
Weirafiya turned to look at Aierjisi standing by the door, knowing she had come to find her.
“I actually have something I’d like to ask for your help with.”
“Ask for my help? What’s the matter? Spill it. If it piques my interest, I just might help out this poor soul.”
Weirafiya gestured for Aierjisi to sit beside her.
“It’s a plan to rescue Ailin. For this plan, I need you to help hold off Diablo.”
“Be a bit more specific, huh? You only mentioned holding off Diablo, but you didn’t say when exactly. How am I supposed to know when to act?”
“That’s fair. Let me explain this in detail.”
Aierjisi shared Gaia’s original plan with Weirafiya.
“You really plan to directly storm the enemy’s base camp, huh? Didn’t I tell you that the enemy’s base is a very dangerous place?”
After hearing Aierjisi and the others actually intended to storm the enemy’s base, Weirafiya was unsure whether to commend their bravery or question their sanity.
“I know that. If I could, I wouldn’t want to go in at all. But now that Ailin is in their hands, we have to take the risk to rescue her. When we enter the enemy base, Diablo will be left here in this world, so I hope you can help hold him off during that time.”
“Hmm… the plan sounds decent. But the question is, why should I help you guys? It wouldn’t really affect me if I don’t.”
“That’s true. I just came to chat with you about this. If you won’t agree, then whatever. I’ll just head back now, bye.”
After saying that, Aierjisi turned to leave the bar, heading back to the royal palace.
“Wait a minute! I was just joking! How can you not get that, you dork?”
Seeing Aierjisi really about to leave, Weirafiya panicked. She had only been a bit tsundere!
“So, are you going to help or not?”
Aierjisi turned back to face Weirafiya, waiting for her answer.
“If you insist I help, I suppose I could. But I’ll need a little hardship fee. After all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch!”
“A hardship fee? That’s not impossible. How much do you want?”
“About this much.”
Weirafiya held up her index and middle fingers, making a ‘two’ gesture.
“Two hundred gold coins? Here you go.”
Aierjisi activated her magic circle and poured out two hundred gold coins, scattering them across the tavern floor.
