Everyone was awake and in the common room of the tavern when Arwin got back. Lillia had made breakfast while he was gone and they were already well into eating. She wordlessly handed him a plate piled high with eggs and fried mystery meat. “Thank you.” Arwin took the plate with a smile and walked over to the edge of the counter to set it down and start eating. “Did you go to the market?” Reya asked through a mouthful of food. “Yeah. Sold some more stuff pretty easily. I think word is getting out about my name,” he replied with a pleased grin. “Not to say I’m releasing you from your job. You’re a great saleswoman.” Reya grinned. “I am, aren’t I?” “Don’t get too stuck up,” Anna said, flicking her in the back of the head with a laugh. “Now why don’t you tell us what you found out already? You’ve been making me wait until Arwin got back, which I assume means that we’re not in any immediate risk, but my patience is at its limit.” “It’s like you guessed,” Rodrick said. “We’ve got some time to work with, but I’ve also confirmed that it’s really likely that there are two Wyrms in that forest. We found some adventurers in some other taverns – sorry Lillia – that have been to the forest recently. People were arguing over the markings on its scales. Nobody got up close to it, of course, but the retellings were close enough that I think it’s pretty obvious there are two different Wyrms and not just a bunch of forgetful adventurers. It also sounded like the number of people going missing went up slightly, but not significantly.” “Were any sigthtings recent?” Lillia asked. “The most recent one was like a week and a half ago,” Rodrick said. “You got scammed,” Anna said. “If you made it out of the dungeon with a wound, it shouldn’t have been so bad as to justify a scar.” “I know,” Olive said with a sigh. “But I was in the process of bleeding out. In his defense, I had some other wounds as well. He definitely cut corners, though. That’ll teach me to go for the cheapest option. But that’s in the past – I’m more concerned with surviving my next cut. So… is 80 enough?” Considering I just sold a helm for 60, I’d certainly say so. “It is, thank you,” Arwin said. “I’m glad you liked my work. Any difficulties with it?” Olive shook her head. “No. It performed exactly how I wanted it to. That’s more than I can say for most pieces I’ve bought. The sword was especially nice. It swings better than I thought it would.” Great. I tried to make it lighter so it would be easier to swing with her worsened balance. Glad to hear that worked out. “That’s good. I can definitely get a helm made for you, but it might take a little bit. I’m a bit low on materials right now, so my team and I were planning on heading into a dungeon as soon as possible,” Arwin said. “Was the one you were going to restricted?” “No, the guild that owns it lets anyone enter for a fee. It costs ten gold a person,” Olive said. A thoughtful expression passed over her features and she tilted her head to the side. “I didn’t realize you had adventurers here. How many of you can fight?” “All of us,” Arwin replied. Olive blinked in surprise. Arwin was impressed that she resisted the urge to say, even you? “Why do you ask?” Anna asked. “There’s only so far a solo adventurer can make it in a dungeon,” Olive said. She paused for a second before correcting herself. “Well, most solo adventurers. Unfortunately, I’m not one of the ones that gets to claim anything special. Even having a few more bodies at my side would let me get a lot deeper.” “How deep have you gone?” Rodrick asked. “Three rooms are usually my limit. The dungeon isn’t an easy one. It’s Journeyman Tier, and I’m only Apprentice 6.” Arwin resisted the urge to cough into his fist. Olive was a higher level than any of them – but there was no need to point that out. Rodrick sent him a questioning look, likely trying to figure out if they actually wanted to do the dungeon together with Olive. More bodies can never hurt as long as we can still fit into the room and avoid pissing the dungeon off. I don’t see why not. He gave the warrior a slight nod. “We’ve gone through a Journeyman Tier dungeon in its entirety,” Rodrick said. “And as you said, more people definitely can’t hurt. We can do an even split of anything we earn and figure out how to distribute anything unique when the time comes.” Olive thought for a moment before nodding. “That would work. I’m more interested in gold than anything else right now, and I highly doubt we’ll stumble into something that works perfectly for me. If we do, I might be more concerned with getting it.” “If we find something that suits you and none of us, I don’t think we’ll have any objections,” Arwin said, ignoring the narrowed eyed look that Reya was sending at Olive. “How soon are you able to head into the dungeon?” “If you were planning on going today, I’m sure I could handle it. The only reason the last run took so long is because it took me a fair amount of time to actually find a slot to get into the dungeon. The guild running it prioritizes larger parties, so waiting around to get a spot wasted a lot of time.” “Couldn’t you have joined another party?” Reya asked. “Most parties don’t want to let someone they don’t know in together with them.” Olive’s lips pressed thin. “And fewer want to rely on someone that they don’t think can handle themselves. People think I can’t fight because I’m missing an arm. Idiots. As if missing one makes me unable to use the other.” Arwin bit back a laugh. Anything that Olive might have supposedly lacked in fighting ability, she definitely made up for in spirit. “I don’t think any of us will have much trouble with that. You’ll be entering the dungeon with a smith that doesn’t even have a combat class, so I’d say having one arm is still a step up from that.” “If you can handle yourself, I don’t care. Classes are only as useful as the person using them. If you can swing a big hammer at a piece of metal, then you can swing a big hammer at a monster’s head. At least, I hope you can. It would be a shame if I found a good smith only for him to get killed doing a dungeon.”