After exiting the merchant guild, Tyler and Nadine then took a private carriage to the restaurant they had promised to meet up the Hunter party, Unrivaled at noon. Although the restaurant wasn’t that far off the merchant guild as it was just behind the Hunter guild which was just a shady walk away, it was already way past the appointed meeting time but Tyler hoped the group would still be there even now.

Their journey this time only lasted a few minutes as they alighted the carriage in front of the restaurant. Walking inside the simply designed dinner, they immediately spotted five people at the end of the room, one of them promptly stood up and waved them over.

It would seem they had been waiting for quite a while as their table was filled to the brim with food and Kylyla has her head down as she kept stuffing her face, still trying too hard to ignore Tyler.

Tyler however, had a different thought running through his mind. He clearly remembered the last time he was here these idiots had pretty much dined and dash, leaving him stuck with the bill so he made a mental note not to let that happen again.

“Ah, Mr. Lix welcome, we were beginning to think you wouldn’t be able to make it.”

Dohel cheerfully welcomed them as he pointed at two seats that had been reserved for them around the table. The twins Aine and Anne were quite happy to see them as well as they greeted him. Tyler then ordered some sweets for Nadine and himself simply as a reward for successfully joining the magic institute.

The group chatted idly with him for a while, going on and on about the stress they had to endure throughout last night and this morning from both the Hunter guild leader and the Merchant guild leader’s barrage of questions. It was a good thing they didn’t try to extract their memories as Tyler wasn’t sure if anti-divination magic would’ve prevented that.

Once they were mostly done eating— well, all except for Kylyra who had even ordered more — they went down to the business at hand. Tyler handed them the almost empty small spatial storage box and informed them of the amount the gold had gone for without hiding any information from them.

They didn’t even bother counting the coins that were mostly Orichalcum and platinum coins as they instantly began thanking him for his help as well as offer they pay him further compensation for doing the trade for them, an offer in which Tyler firmly refused as he felt the magic item they provided was more than enough compensation.

As their conversation came to a natural end, Tyler was just about to get up and leave with Nadine when Dohel suddenly spoke again with a serious tone.

“One minute Mr. Lix. I know this might be asking too much but… Could you do us one more favor and accompany us to a certain location, of course, we will endeavor to compensate you for your time and any help you may provide.”

Tyler paused for a while as he stared at the faces of all five members of Unrivaled who all had serious expressions on their faces with an expectant glint in their eyes. The twins especially had a tense posture and a pang of slight guilt was reflected in their eyes.

“I’m afraid not. We’re merchants nor Mercenaries so we don’t take requests like this besides, we are quite busy right now, do accept my apology.”

A wave of disappointment flashed across their faces, including Kylyra who tried once more to focus on her food as she was yet to fully recover her full strength and would surely need it in the future.

Tyler didn’t bother asking the group the reason for their request as he swiftly got up and excused himself from the group with Nadine trailing behind him. They then took another private carriage to south borough where the Runic’s Weapon shop— the place where he had placed an order for refined steel— was located.

The trip there took around an hour but they finally arrived after Tyler spent the time trying to learn reading the language. The place was still the same two-story building they had visited before and stood out in comparison to the other buildings in this part of the city. They alighted the carriage and just like the last time they had been here or anywhere else, Nadine drew most of the men’s attention and Tyler drew hostile glares.

‘I asked her last time if she was using a skill for this but she detailed it so what are the effects of the oddly named skill I saw in her status.’

Tyler sighed tiredly as they both entered the shop. The place was filled with exquisite-looking armors and weapons that were on display behind a thick layer of enchanted glass and from the looks of it, they were not the same as last time which signified just how popular this shop item was even though those had only been armors and weapons that had been made for display purposes only and weren’t really that impressive nor practical.

As soon as they walked in through the doors, a different male clerk than the one they had met previously greeted them as they walked in and he proceeded to ask if they required any assistance. Tyler nodded under his hood and the clerk came over to introduce the various types of weapons and items they had on stock.

However, unlike the last time, Tyler didn’t wait for the clerk to finish his speech and immediately cut him off while flashing his VIP merchant license.

” My apologies but we’re only here to see Mr. Runic, he should be expecting us.”

The clerk stared at the license for a while before nodding his head as he lead them through a door into the back room that doubled as a storehouse and a forge for the shop’s blacksmiths.

Walking by several offices, they soon came upon the office that belonged to the owner of this shop, Ferl Runic. The clerk then asked them to wait outside for a moment before entering the office alone. He came back soon after and allowed them in.

Situated inside the office was a short middle-aged man in purple overalls that were only worn as pants revealing his black tank top and bulging muscles. His body was a lot more tanned than it had been before and unlike the last time, he did not continue his work when the pair entered the room instead raising his head to welcome them.

“You’re late.”

“We never agreed on a particular time did we?”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re late. Well whatever, I’ll let it go this time. Your request has been completed and we were able to get a lot more Orichalcum and adamantine than we originally thought so your balance has increased significantly.”

“To?”

“234,700 DC.”

“How much of them did you get?”

“We got over a thousand kilos of Orichalcum and a few kilos of adamantine.”

‘Just that amount cost so much.”

“Well, you can choose to only take the refined steel and a few ounces of both metals for the original price if you want.”

“No that would be fine.”

“A wealthy fellow eh! I like that.”

Chuckling to himself, Ferl called in a clerk that went back out and brought back two small spatial storage box with him. Once Tyler had confirmed its content, he handed his card over to Ferl who took it and placed it on top of a square device by the side of his desk before handing it back to him.

With just this transaction his wealth was once again reduced by half. Tyler sighed. He bid farewell to Ferl as he left the shop and took a carriage back to west borough, his aim now was to locate a place where he would get some quality fabric and other items for the castle. Naturally, if they planned to survive without relying on the other regions, they would need to produce all their necessities themselves so he bought a lot of seeds.

The darknar region had been abandoned for a millennium so its soil was very fertile and perfect for cultivating. Tyler would have the non-combatants of the red ogre settlement and the kobolds be in charge of growing crops and tilling the soil.

When everything was said and done, he had spent more than a hundred thousand DCs bringing his balance to less than 200k. Tyler couldn’t help but frown as he kept on losing money before he even had a chance to enjoy it. However, he had no choice in the matter and got over it.

With that said, the day was already at an end and although Tyler would like nothing more than to have a nice meal with fine wine to go with it as a reward for his great work so far, he knew he didn’t have any time left to idle around as the Hunters hired by the city would set out first thing in the morning and depending on their pace, they would reach the Farbel’s Pass in about two to three days.

Thinking that he then took another private carriage back to the Duval inn and retrieve their magic carriage, immediately leaving the city at sundown. The guards seemed to be a little concerned for their safety as he noticed there were only two of them this time but Tyler assured him they would only be taking the safest and main routes while tipping him with a gold coin worth 10 DC.

‘Huh, I’m kinda a cheapskate ain’t I?’

Chuckling to himself, they rode the carriage through the paved road until they were more than twenty miles away from the city which had taken them a little over 45 minutes. After which, Tyler held Nadine’s shoulder and activated his skill. The space around him warped and fluctuated for only a moment before the entire carriage had completely disappeared from the wide and empty paved road.

After only a few minutes had gone by, a dark figure suddenly appeared by the side of the road like a ghost. The figure was clad in a skin-tight black ninja-type outfit, sporting purplish-black metal greaves and vambraces as she stared at the space the carriage had been only a moment ago and sniffed the air around her.

‘Spatial magic.’

Thinking that her eyes narrowed as she had no way to follow her targets as she had been unable to place a soul tracker on them due to some type of anti-divination spell being constant active all around them.

Not to mention, they both seem to have enhanced senses and she hasn’t been able to stick too close to them to get a whiff of their destination. The female figure with a cloth mask that covered the lower parts of her face revealing her short back hair and purple eyes pinched her nose shut with her left hand.

‘It really stinks here.’

Her body then slowly turned incorporeal before fading out of existence as she disappeared the same way she came, returning this place to its original eerie silence.