We, the forest of fireflies’ guardians, do hereby pledge our services in exchange for one enchanted item per day per member of the party…

“This is a robbery!” Snapped Marinus. He placed a hand over Theanore’s as she nearly signed the contract.

“We will provide the items themselves, kid.” Said the mage. She had already made the barrier and was now invested in the children’s enchantment business.

“You will get one item per person per month. It is not like you need a lot to power up the barrier. You draw on the plant life around you.” Said Marinus. He had felt as the barrier had taken root and could feel the magic in the air. The anchor, unknown to the mage, was Theanore’s apple tree. These adventurers wanted to pay Theanore with her money!

“Look, kid, this is not a charity…” Hissed the mage, but then Marinus huffed.

“One per year is too much! Dual enchantments are unheard of. If Thea and I weren’t so compatible, then we wouldn’t have been able to do them either.”

“The levels better be over 250,” said the mage.

“That takes a mana crystal per 100 levels. Thea and I aren’t made of mana! Besides, you know full well that we wouldn’t want to waste the third crystal, and so we will end up giving you a level 300. That is the highest we have safely gone up to now. Don’t even ask for higher.”

“Only wizard Odious can get higher than level 1000, kid. The fact you both can reach level 300 is quite the achievement,” said the mage. She meant it. Then she sighed. “One per month, level 300. We provide the materials, and you give us exclusive rights to trade your wares to the guildhall of Mirstone.”

The mage extended her hand to Marinus. Marinus shook it. The contract was updated and signed.

“Now we will be taking your whole stock of capes. Every adventurer needs a cape,” said Larriel.

“Pay for them first,” Said Marinus. Nothing would stop the adventurers from taking off otherwise.

“Come on, kiddo. Don’t be like this. We will pay you when we sell them all. We will even buy you some enchanted items on the cheap for you to learn more enchantments,” said Larriel.

A new contract was drawn up and signed. All adventurers agreed later that day that they needed to make deals with the little girl if they wanted to profit more. The little boy was too mistrustful.

“Never meet with them without me, Thea,” said Marinus as they were enchanting some new capes. They had three more and would be done. This time they enchanted them with a quick shot and thick skin. They even had the worker elves make a small arrow on the hood of each cape, so they could tell them apart from the other capes.

“They were nice, Mari. They are going to protect us,” said Theanore as she did the thick skin enchantment on the cape.

“Well, the contracts are going to force them. I do hope they make a lot of money for the capes. They were early works, but we did our best.”

They finished the last cape and saw that they were out of mana crystals. With their mana reservoirs and five hours until regen, the children sat down to meditate and fill up their mana crystal count.

Meanwhile, the forest of fireflies’ guardians were watching as the adventurers in the guildhall crowded around the capes. The ring from the dungeon core nugget was appraised, and it was decided that it was indeed a dungeon core, once. The party got their 1000 gold coins.

Larriel was in charge of selling the capes. The cheapest she would go was a hundred gold coins per cape. They were dual enchanted and were made from a single cloth. She was going too cheaply if she was being honest.

Then a merchant came and took one of the capes. He appraised it, and then he paled.

“My children!” He screamed. “What have you done to my Theanore and Marinus!” Wailed Crassus. Larriel gripped his hand and showed him the two contracts.

“We work for them now. You must be Crassus. There is even a barrier around their patch of the forest, so they won’t be disturbed. Do you want to find out what sort of enchantments they have now, so we can coordinate what we buy them?” Asked Larriel, smiling. Crassus was still breathed in and out urgently, but he was visibly calmer the more he read from the contracts.

“My children are unharmed?” He asked, and the rest of the forest of fireflies’ guardians came to the improvised stall to calm down the worried father.

“The little cuties have good heads on their shoulders. The boy has a business sense better than most.” Said the mage. Crassus smiled at the prize of his children.

“Marinus had a rough life before he found Theanore and me. That made him smarter.” Said Crassus. Then he closed his mouth. He had said too much.

“You should get back to your kids, Crassus. The little girl looks to be just two years old.” Said the tank of the party. Crassus knew that Theanore was only four months old. Yet, she was still capable of fending for herself.

“Yes, I’ll go back. I bought them gifts. A nice nature enchantment ring that helps plants grow. Do you all know if I can find something that helps marine life in a certain area to flourish?” Asked Crassus.

“Why would you need something like that?” Asked the worker elf archer. The house was separated from the sea by the mountain.

“It is for Marinus’ aquafarm. He likes to take care of fish and pearl oysters. Do you all have a magical smelter and forge in this town? The blacksmith wouldn’t part with his, and the ones I do have can’t make things in bulk.”

“We can get you them,” Said the mage, already drawing up a contract. “That would be fifty gold coins or a kilogram worth of gold.”

Crassus fished out the coins, a kilogram of gold was worth much more than them. With the little money, he had left, he bought a standard bottomless bag from the guildhall and air enchanted boots. He could already imagine the kids making a fortune from bags with more than two enchantments. They could enchant the main part of the bag with lightness and bottomless, and the handle with two other enchantments.