MAZE - The Endless Quest

The dwarf had told them that merchants were always looking for people who could supply them with good materials. If they get a partner, they could have an easier time transporting the materials.

"What was his name?" Blue asked.

"Durgan, why?" Alex replied.

"No, not the guy in the guild. The merchant," Blue said.

"Oh, then is the owner of the store called For Cod"s Sake. His name was Edmund something," Hera said.

"Avington, Edmund Avington. Or at least that"s what I wrote down," Leo chimed in.

Asking for directions, they were pointed towards a store with an extravagant golden entrance. Inside they could see that all the furniture was a mix of gold, silver, and rose gold.

"Please, tell me this ain"t it," Alex said.

"I could, but that would be a lie. Look at the name," Leo said.

Above the entrance, there was a giant golden chain with a plaque that read "For Cod"s Sake". The group stared at each other, pausing in front of the store. Hera wanted to go away. She didn"t feel comfortable dealing with people that were that showy.

"I know this is bad, but maybe we can check it out. We are already here, you know," Blue said.

"Yeah, and if we can get someone to help us take the monster parts, we can hunt faster," Leo said.

The two entered the store, with Hera and Alex following behind. The interior was so bright that it made you want to wear sungla.s.ses. The light was reflecting and bouncing around everywhere. Luckily the shop had a big open area in the middle, and most products seemed to be behind the counters. Otherwise, people would easily trip over the displays.

Blue approached one of the clerks and showed a letter that Durgan gave them. A few moments later, the attendant called someone, and a weird man came out of the backroom. He was wearing a red bucket hat, a pink v-neck sweater, puffy pants with one leg tucked inside a red sock, and the other leg folded over the knee. He also had a pair of tan sandals and a golden chain with a large gold coin in the middle.

Leo walked towards the man, "Mr. Avington. It"s a pleasure to meet you. Durgan sent us here," he said, putting out his hand.

The man shook Leo"s hand, vigorously.

"Listen man, Mr. Avington was my pops. Call me Mondy. They mentioned a letter, let me take a look at it," The man said.

He read the letter, and after a few moments, he opened a big smile.

"Hey, can someone grab a bottle of bubbly and bring it to my office?" he said towards the staff, "Now you four, follow me."

Mondy walked towards a door in the back of the store. The group following him.

"Leo, how did you know it was him?" Hera whispered.

"Only the boss can wear something like that at work and not get yelled at," he replied.

Hera couldn"t help but giggle. The man had a point.

They walked by a hallway as pretentious as the storefront. It was filled with tapestries and ornate golden decorations until they reached a small white door with golden details with a golden engraving that read "Janitor closet 1".

Mondy opened the door and walked in. Inside it was a big office, but much more simple than the rest of the store. The walls had no paint. It was all bare brick. There was an old beat-up couch in the corner with a TV in front of it, a whiteboard with some ink stains that seemed to be permanent. In the back of the room, there was a round felt table with markings for playing poker, as well as eight chairs around it.

"Come, sit, relax," Mondy said, walking towards the poker table.

The group sat at the table, still looking around, surprised by the office they were using. Not only that, but the man had a much more relaxed posture than any of the clerks.

"So, before we start, do you have any questions?" Mondy asked.

"If you don"t mind me saying. This is not what we were expecting, especially with that store," Alex said as Leo stared daggers at her.

"I hear you, I hear you. But outside, it"s good for business. People want to think they have something grand, something that they can show off. A big house, jewelry, weapons, armor, or whatever. I just show them what they want, but I rather have a real talk in my home turf," Mondy said.

Hera nodded. It was part of the reason her dad had a successful business. People wanted to show off their custom made furniture.

"What do you sell here? I was too distracted with the store to look," Leo said.

"C" mon boy, you can"t let some shine take your eyes away from the prize. I sell a bit of everything, but my main products are monster based gear, from accessories to tea sets. Some help explorers and some are just to look nice on your shelf. That"s only the store part. I also buy and sell materials. Import and export, that"s how you make big money. And that is why you are all here," Mondy said.

"Yes, Durgan told us about having a partner. But I"m not so sure about how that would work," Hera said.

"Oh, it"s easy. Instead of selling to the guild, you sell the things you get from me. You let me know what monster you are hunting, and I"ll tell you what I can use. Some of them can do so much that it is just easier to buy the whole body."

"Sure, but how does that work? Do you pay by pieces like the guild or what? Also, how can you help us bring the materials back?" Leo asked.

"Chill dude, one thing at the time. I pay for piece, but unlike the guild, it"s a fixed rate unless you send something really special. For instance, frog legs are 10 gold each, well giant frog legs I say, there is a minimum weight to it. But that is the starting value after I sell you guys get 10% of the profits. If I get a good deal, one frog leg might give you 30 gold." Mondy said as he started to play with a gold coin.

"That"s really low. If we sell it to the guild, we will make double that, and the commission won"t make up for it." Leo said.

"But you would have to carry the pieced back. I offer you a way to sell it on site. Besides, I"m not offering you a contract. If you wanna sell something to the guild, you are free to do so. I"m just giving you an alternative, so you won"t have to come back to the city every five minutes."

"And how can you help with that?" Blue asked.

"Drones baby, drones. I have a delivery and retrieval service set up. I"ll register you as users, and you can call in a drone to pick up your materials on site," Mondy said as he pointed towards a drone in the corner of the room.

The merchant explained how it worked. The group would install an app on the tablet, creating an overlay on the map. It would show the areas where the drones can reach safely. All they needed to do was to send a signal, and the drone would go there. It could carry up to 50 kilograms, and they would fly towards a distribution tower. The drones had to be protected when under a specific alt.i.tude. Any damage to the drone during that time would be discounted from the payment for the materials.

To Hera, it seemed like a good deal. They weren"t chaining themselves to Mondy, but at the same time, they had a way to make some quick money. Even if they earned just half of what the guild would pay, they could get more money like that. Between going out, killing the three frogs, and coming back, it took almost two hours. Being able to hunt and sell without coming back would let them make a lot of money. However, it would be better if they harvested the materials themselves. If they send in a full frog, for instance, there was a disa.s.sembly fee to be deducted from the pay.

"So, how about it. Let"s give this deal a chance?" Mondy asked.

The explorers looked at each other and asked for a moment to discuss the deal.

"I don"t like it. We lose too much money with this," Leo said.

"Yeah, but we can focus more on hunting like that. It would help to make some money while we help your missions," Hera said.

"That"s true, but I still don"t like it," the man said.

"Why is that?" Alex asked.

"He seems shifty. I don"t trust him,"

"Why?" Blue asked.

"He"s just weird," Leo said.

"Wow, way to be judgmental. Look at his store. Even if he is shifty, he is doing something right. Besides, we are new here, and he is making an offer with no string attached. I say that is a good deal for us," Alex said.

"I"m not, is just..." Leo looked towards Mondy, "he is rubbing me the wrong way,"

"What about this? We accept the offer, and only one of us uses the app thing. After we are done with your ten mission, we look for someone else to sell the materials to. He mentioned towers, and I doubt he owns them. So that means that more people should have similar ways to retrieving monster parts," Hera said.

The man agreed with her suggestion but stated that he would be fine if they went looking for someone else right now. The women knew that it was a lie. He"s been fidgeting ever since Mondy started talking. If it weren"t for them, the hunter would probably be running towards the frogs.

Turning back to Mondy, the group accepted his offer. He thanked them and created an order for them. Orders, unlike quests, are tasks that are always available. They are jobs that don"t have a limit or a goal you can keep doing them as long as the client keeps the posting of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Order: Giant Dichromatic Frog materials

Leg (at least 500 grams) - 10 gold each

Tongue (at least 800 grams) - 11 gold each

Eye - 6 gold each

Heart (unharmed) - 12 gold each

Spleen (unharmed) - 8 gold each

Liver (unharmed) - 5 gold each

This order gives you access to the Ofbator delivery drone (Max capacity 50 kilograms, container area 2 m³)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hera accepted the order on behalf of her group and installed the app on her tablet. Leo was worried about that overlay, but the app was registered in the official guild catalog.

Thanking Mondy for his time, the group left the store. It was still the middle of the afternoon, even with all they had done. Hera wanted to explore the town to try to find the legends, but Leo kept pacing around looking towards the town gate. She opened the map to check the area that the drones could reach. They had a surprisingly big range, and it took them only ten minutes to reach the edge of it.

When Hera showed the drone range for the group, Leo said they could go back to where they had found the frogs and start there. After all, it was in the middle of the drone range.

Leaving the city once again, Hera saw the guards changing. Stanley and Timothy, the ones she saw before, were being replaced. As they left their post, Stanley, a tall man with a sun-tanned skin and golden eyes, removed his helmet and showed his long blond hair and a pair of dog ears that fell on his head. The ears" position was higher than what it would be on humans, but they dropped, covering the place where human ears would be.

As Hera stared at the guard, their eyes meet, and the man waved to her as he smiled. Hera smiled back but looked away, embarra.s.sed about being caught staring at the man"s ears. It was the first time she saw something like that, and she wasn"t sure if staring at it would be rude.

The group left the town, and in a little over half an hour, they were back in the area where they could hunt for frogs.

"Leo, this time, we do it the right way, ok?" Blue asked.

"I"ll behave, I promise," he replied.

"Ok, so I think me and Alex should go in front, we are can move around more freely. When we find something, we give you a signal and check the surroundings,"

"Sounds like a plan," Alex said, "But I"m not helping with the gutting and cutting and... I think I"m gonna be sick,"

"Just don"t think about it, you can protect us while we do the dirty work," Hera said, "Now, let"s go. I don"t like the idea of staying here after sunset."