Chapter: 205

“S-sir. They came in the night while we were sleeping and left before lunchtime… there was no way we could have -”

“No way?! No fucking way?! No excuses! We missed an opportunity to make some gold!”

After taking a sip of beer, he lowered his voice, but still sounded as angry as before as he spoke in a deep, cunning voice.

“Listen here, boy..” he spoke low and slowly, pronouncing every word as he squinted at Hess “every time we miss out on some gold you should take it as a sign of the end. One day you miss one opportunity, then two,” he finishes his beer and slams the mug down.

*THUD*

“and then all of them! All your efforts wasted, your gold flees from you, everything turns to dust, and you end up face down in the dirt. Mark my words, boy. Ruin comes as fast as wealth does…” he dipped some more chicken in gravy before eating it “…no… it comes faster.”

“Yes sir.” he nodded really quickly as the fat merchant looked at him with ferocious eyes.

Hess was holding his breath from fear of being punished, but at the same time was remembering every word Bertram spoke. He knew he would need to remember this experience someday – not the obvious knowledge of the words themselves, but the drive and the desperate passion behind them. It was something that couldn’t be taught, and he could tell that at some point, Bertram must have been in a more desperate position than he was, and it was what probably forged Bertram into the shrewd person who was now his master.

“Secure the merchandise, pack everything away. We’ll be leaving soon. Most of the adventurers will have discovered the trade function of the guild by now anyway..”

“Yes sir” Hess quietly bowed before leaving the room, leaving Bertram alone with his comfort food.

“Mmh, behind schedule..” he wiped his mouth with his caladrius feather, returning it to his pocket. “If only that escort wasn’t late.”.

Pushing his large plate forward to make room on the table, he took out a document as he planned his next steps.

“Ok… to Tolgard to check on my business, then head back to Eevulen. I’ll unload some supplies here and check the inventory here and load some…” he mumbled to himself as he wrote all over various papers and into diaries.

– – –

“Hello dear.” Margaret smiled at Jay as he entered the adventurer association.

“Trenly isn’t here yet, but your reward is ready now. Sullivan wants to give it to you himself, he’s waiting for you in his office.”

“Thanks” Jay smiled at the kind old lady, wondering why Sullivan wouldn’t just hand the reward to Margaret.

Walking upstairs, Jay was thinking that these last few days have been great, and he was quite content with the way things were going. He was steadily levelling up, gaining skills and knowledge, making money, and exploring dungeons. It had been dangerous at times, but it was within his ability to handle. Despite not being able to party with anyone except Anya – one of the few people who knew about his monster class, things were still going smoothly anyway.

“I wonder what Sullivan has for me if it’s important enough for me to come upstairs…” he wondered as he got to the door.

[10 Exp]

“Hmm… they must have killed a forest animal at that hamlet.” Jay still had two of his skeletons, Sweeper and Blue, running through the forest at the hamlet killing monsters – though he didn’t expect to get exp as he assumed most of the wildlife had been killed by the leeches.

“Perhaps the animals are reclaiming that part of the forest again… I wonder what they killed” he wondered as he went up the stairs to Sullivan’s office.

Jay only knocked once before the door seemingly opened itself.

Jay looked puzzingly at Sullivan who was sitting at his desk as he walked through the door, while the door closed itself behind him.

Jay was confused since the door opened by itself, this was the first time he experienced it. He pointed at the door behind him with his thumb over his shoulder “How come you make Anya open it when you could do that all along?” Jay asked with a raised brow.