Finally, the alchemy marathon came to an end.

"Thank you, it's nice to do business with you," Selena said when she had made the right amount of potions and received the promised amount of gold from Jean.

"I hope that we will cooperate with you," Jeanne Frasorik replied, and then offered: "You've been working all day. Let's go to our dining room. Let's have dinner."

"Oh, I'd love to. I won't even refuse out of politeness," Selena said and smiled, feeling hungry.

When they came to the dining room, Selena saw a table already set, where there were plates of meat and several bottles of ale. They sat down opposite each other and began to eat.

"Do you have an apartment in the imperial city?" asked Jean, cutting a piece of meat with a knife.

"Yeah, more precisely, a room. In the temple district."

"You could sell it, and buy a full-fledged house in Bruma. I would help you settle down and find a stable income for you in Bruma."

"Thank you for an interesting idea. But I lived with my mother, and she became seriously ill and, being a servant of Meridia, went to her. She has a very serious illness, which no one can cure, even at the Arcane University. The goddess Meridia is her last hope. And I still hope that she will come back to me...That's why I can't sell my room right now."

Tears instantly welled up in her eyes and Selena covered her face with her hand.

"Oh, dear. I am so sorry. I hope everything works out. Well, if anything, know that I can be a patron and a friend for you. I'm sure I won't be able to replace your mother, but if fate is not kind to you, then I could surround you with affection and care."

"You are very kind. But for now, I will wait for my mom to return."

"Of course, dear. But keep in mind that you will be welcome here."

After such a sentimental moment, they ate in silence for a while, but then Selena spoke:

"By the way, I also wanted to look around for some ingredients-thistle or wormwood."

"This, of course, is a good thing, but... risky. It's dangerous for a fragile, beautiful girl like you to wander around the neighborhood," Jean remarked.

"I have a goblin shaman staff."

"What are its properties?"

"It attacks with electricity and deals five points of damage."

"Pfff! This is a weak weapon," Jeanne immediately said, "It won't help against serious enemies. You can stumble upon a cougar or a jaguar in the mountains. And then you will be finished.

Selena frowned and thought after these words.

"Yes, one staff is not enough. I need some more leather armor and edged weapons," she said.

"Hmm... what is your STRENGTH indicator?", - Jeanne asked skeptically.

"Thirty-five," Selena replied, knowing full well that this was not a high figure at all.

"You could go in search of ingredients, but as part of a group. However, as far as I know, no one is planning such outings in the coming days. It's extremely dangerous to go alone, even if you take leather armor and some kind of club or sword," Jeanne said, trying to dissuade her.

"If I collected a good amount of thistle seeds, I could sell them at a very good price in the imperial city. I have to pay taxes and other fees."

"My girl, you're young and reckless!", - Jean exclaimed, - "I don't want such a cutie to stay forever lying in some snowdrift, or to be captured by some Nords bandits!"

"I plan to return to the capital via teleport. It costs a lot of money. Therefore, I still need to sell ingredients at the University that I can collect in the mountains."

"Hmm...", - Jeanne thought, - "Listen, I'm ready to provide you with free teleportation to the capital, but only if you don't go to the mountains!"

"That would be awesome, but ... I also wanted to go to Gnoll Mountain and look for one person there...I think she may have some useful information about my mom's strange illness," Selena said, not wanting to give up this dangerous venture.

"Oh!", - Jeanne Fransorik sighed resignedly, - "You just want to get into trouble."

"Could you advise where to get some leather armor and weapons in Bruma?"

Jean frowned and said nothing, but when they finished eating, she asked Selena to follow her and took her to her office. She unlocked a standard-design chest and said:

"There is leather armor here, as well as fur armor. Unfortunately, I don't have fur greaves, but I have cuirasses and bracers with gloves. There is also a club with spikes. These are all cheap and uncharted things. Better than nothing. You can take it and return it when you visit me again."

"You are so kind! I will definitely return them!" - Selena exclaimed joyfully.

She wanted to hug Jean Fransoric, but she didn't dare touch such a high-ranking magician.

"But! If you come across a strong opponent - a mountain lion, a group of goblins or some thugs, it will not help you. I'll give you something else..."

She took out a small bottle with some potion and handed it to Selena.

"It's an invisibility potion. It is valid for exactly one minute. If real problems start, then use this. After becoming invisible for a minute, try to quickly run away as far as possible in the direction of Bruma."

"It's... so..." Selena began to speak indistinctly, not knowing how to express her gratitude, but Jeanne continued to speak:

"It is also very cold in the vicinity of Bruma. You're an Imperial and you're not used to the cold like the Nords. I will teach you one weak but long-lasting spell. It is called "Small libra of Ismir", and acts for twenty minutes, giving 5% resistance to cold."

Jeanne took Selena by the hand and began the so-called "training". The warm energy passed from Jeanne to Selena and the spell "Small libra of Ismir" was added to the meager magical arsenal of our heroine.

Selena was simply amazed by the generosity of this woman.

"I don't care that she's so weird! The main thing is that she is very kind!", she thought, and hugged Jean Fransorik, despite her doubts.

"Thank you so much! I will never forget your kindness and responsiveness!"

"Please, dear. The main thing is that you survive," Jeanne replied.

"And now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go to bed. I'm going to hit the road early tomorrow morning."

"Of course, good dreams, Selena," Jeanne Frasorik nodded with a smile.