Black String of Fate

In the local markets of the town, a small boy and a mature, red-headed woman were carefully inspecting a ring with intricate markings etched on them. While the woman had some idea what those designs meant, it was just weird lines for the boy.

"Is this good enough, Alina? I'm relying on your judgment over here."

"Yeah, it's a good one. Let's buy this."

Along with those two, the shopkeeper of the artifact store, where the two of them were inspecting the ring, advertised with a business smile.

"You have a good eye, my lady. This storage ring has 25 cubic meters of storage space, the highest I have in my stock. Having this on you is like walking around with a huge room of empty space, and unless you're a traveling merchant, you will not need more.

Since it's my best piece here, the price is quite high, but I assure you you will not get anything like this anywhere else. Today's also a special day for me, so I'm selling this 15% off-"

"What's the price?"

Xavier cut off the merchant as he dropped a sizeable pouch of gold on the counter. The shopkeeper became speechless seeing such a huge amount of money in one place.

"A-Ahem, it usually goes for 70000 Roubles, but I'll sell it to you for 59-"

"40."

"...55?"

"35."

"No, this isn't how bargaining works, I'll close on 50-"

"30."

"Alright fine! Take it. Nobody is buying this because it's too expensive anyway. I'll take 30, it's better than zero."

Alina watched in shock as Xavier somehow haggled a 70000 tag down to less than half. After paying up, she commented on Xavier's surprising skills,

"You can haggle too? I thought you're the type who would be dumb to the matters of street smarts."

"You were expecting a boy raised by the streets to not be street smart? Do you hear yourself?"

"...I totally forgot about that. You just never gave off the vibe of being from the streets."

"Well, whatever. Thanks for accompanying me today, I never knew about this shop."

"Don't mention it, this is nothing compared to your help in our last mission. This shop is only known among a few people, because the ring you just bought, it's most probably a stolen item. People expect the black market to be hidden in shady alleys, but the best place to hide a tree is in a forest."

Xavier nodded, agreeing with Alina. The knights and nobles these days are so out of touch with reality that whenever they try to bust a black market, they end up destroying some cover-up front build only to be busted by them. The ones who really knew kept quiet because busting the true ones was an hassle no one wanted to partake in.

"Now that I've got a storage ring, I can finally start looting properly. I was lucky that time because Adam was there, otherwise I usually carry a big sack that only has the space for the monster's most precious materials."

"That's good… I hope for the day I can also buy a good storage ring. Adam was really lucky to win a jackpot once by finding a lost storage ring, that's the only reason he has one. The rest of us don't do enough quests to be able to afford a storage ring."

"Why not?"

"Because we might die."

Xavier heard the subtle seriousness in Alina's tone. It was true, Adventurers only did enough quests to support their lifestyle, as they never knew which one might spell their doom. Xavier was a rare anomaly, a slum kid who did quests for the experience rather than the money.

In fact, he didn't need to do anything to make a living. The money he earned from the Grimswald Patriarch was enough to support him his whole life even if he lived comfortably.

'But I can't do that. The First Great War is only about 3 years away. The tensions must already be high, I need to initiate fast, and to do that, I need enough money to buy a good monster core to consume.

I think the mage's association can hook me up with a decent seller, but if I don't pay with my own money, I'll be owing them a huge favor. In such times of turmoil, a favor and alliance to such a powerful entity could have unforeseen consequences…'

Xavier looked deep in thought, so Alina did not disturb him for the moment. While they were walking, they found Lafia on the way. She waved energetically and shouted across the street,

"Hey guys, I accepted a new quest! It's another C-ranked quest!"

Alina's face went white as ash as she carefully processed what her ears just heard. Xavier was surprised and amused at the decision taken by this party leader.

'Wow, what a bold leader. Well, as long as Lafia reveals her magic, they should be able to survive, but who would've expected she was such a sucker for quests she'll inevitably fail?'

"And Xavier, I registered you into our party too!"

Xavier's face also went white as he, too, processed what he just heard.

************

*SLAM*

"What the fuck do you mean I'm in your party? In the first place, how did you even register me without my permission?"

In a shady alley, 5 people were surrounding a young woman who had her back against her wall. Four of them looked at the girl with visible anger, and the youngest of the five, who looked to be even younger than the girl, had his hand slammed against the wall right beside her. Their faces were inches apart, him staring at her verdant green eyes. now

While this was an event that could get the hearts of young maidens beat quicker, the girl in question had cold sweat on the back of her neck.

"W-Wait, I can explain. Look, this quest is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it's C-ranked, but we can easily clear it! Just trust in me-"

"You did not answer my question."

"H-Hiek! Alright, I'll answer! I just told them that you had agreed to be a part of my party temporarily, and the receptionist there was easily convinced because apparently you did not seem to hate us. She said that you hated paperwork so she made things easier…"