Grandpa Thinker was checking the good list. In it, he saw the name of Theanore the nymph. The list was self-updating, so he couldn’t blame his system for this.
He sighed. Little Thea deserved to be on the good list. Her merman friend did too. But they had to learn not to judge others first. Grandpa Thinker had the perfect thing for them to change. A group of adventurers.
He wrote the contract and gave a hefty reward: 1000 gold coins. This was not an act of war, merely a test for the little nymph and her friend. Grandpa Thinker had made sure he wrote down that the dungeon core was a gold nugget and not the apple tree. Little Thea was perfectly safe.
The guildhall of Mirstone was in a buzz. The adventurers all wanted to check out this new dungeon in the forest of fireflies, the core of which would earn them 1000 coins. Not to mention all the loot they would find inside!
They played a game of poker and the winner, team Mir guardians, went in the direction of the dungeon. They took to the air with their air enchantment boots and were soon where the dungeon was supposed to be.
In its place, there was a house and a stall manned by two children. The girl looked no older than two. The healer of the group, Larriel, wanted to run to the little girl and hug her silly. The boy was a toddler too. Five or probably six. He was looking at them with squinted eyes.
The adventurers decided to let Larriel deal with the children as the rest of them searched for the dungeon’s entrance. It was most likely a cave’s entrance. There were a few temple dungeons on the continent too, but they were rare.
Larriel approached the little sweethearts and looked at what they were selling. It appears that it was capes and boots. She touched a pair of boots. They were enchanted.
“Do you two live alone out here?” Asked, Larriel worried about the children’s health. It was not safe for them to stay so close to a dungeon’s entrance.
“No, my father Crassus lives with us. But he is off to Mirstone to get us more enchantments. We enchanted these ourselves! Will you buy?” Asked the girl. Larriel squealed internally at how she mispronounced the r’s like l’s.
“What level are these on wizard Odious’ scale?” Asked Larriel, pointing at a weird cape. It felt almost as if it had two enchantments on it. But that was impossible. Unless the cape was made of two parts, that is.
“The fire enchantment is level 50 on the scale and the lightness enchantment is level 67. We have capes with higher levels, but they are more expensive. It is just that this is one of our earlier works with the lightness enchantment.”
Larriel examined the cape. It seemed as if it was made of a single cloth. But that was impossible! It didn’t even have any metal on it for the second enchantment.
“Kids, can you enchant something for me with two enchantments? I’ll pay you ten gold coins.”
Ten coins were nothing for something impossible. If the children were lying and there was indeed another part of the cape that Larriel was not seeing, then her leather band was going to bring the fact to light.
“Sure! What do you want to be enchanted?” Asked the girl, and Larriel handed her the leather band.
“Lightness and fire, just like the cape. Do you two mind if I watch?” She asked, and the children looked at one another.
“Why should that be a problem, Miss?” Asked the girl.
“Sure, come and watch. Don’t forget to spread the word to your friends that we can do dual enchantments. We need more customers.” Said the boy. What a little businessman, though, Larriel to herself. She wanted to hug him and squeeze him until he started laughing.
“No problem, kiddies. My friends are here as a matter of fact. They are looking for a dungeon in the area. You don’t happen to know anything about it, do you?” Asked Larriel, not expecting much of an answer.
“Oh, the dungeon? You are too late, Miss. We found the golden nugget core accidentally, and we melted it down. The entrance to the cave even shut itself, too,” said Marinus. Tania the system had flashed him a message with grandpa Thinker’s contract when the adventurers had first flown over the forest of fireflies.
“Yes. But the dungeon was very nice, and we are sorry for melting down her core,” said Theanore. Marinus elbowed her under the table, and she elbowed him right back. She was not going to depict her grotto as a murder dungeon. That would be a lie.
“Oh? Do you have proof?” Asked Larriel. If this was the truth, then they only needed to get the item the kids made from the golden nugget for testing, and they would get the reward without having to risk their hides.
“Sure, here. We are even willing to part with it in exchange for a lightning enchantment item,” said Marinus. He took out the golden ring Theanore, and he, had made from a golden nugget. They had buried it underneath the apple tree a long time ago, back when Theanore used to think they could grow gold as if it was a plant.
“Hm, this has the energy of a core. Oh, well. I suppose I have to part with the enchanted item.” Said Larriel, and she got out a dagger from her belt with a golden handle. “Fair is fair.” She said as she handed it over.
“Now, let me just get my friends here, and we can give you a couple of projects. Say, you didn’t happen to find something else of value inside the dungeon? We’ll buy it from you.”
“We found gold and pearls. But they are not mana-touched.” Said Marinus. Even so, they would be a good proof of their claim that this was some sort of wealth-generating dungeon.
“We’ll buy everything you got!” Gold and pearls were rare items. Heck, maybe the kids would be so kind as to make them more accessories from a part of the treasures? One can hope.
