Jewel and Nyantaa strolled in the town, going to a place to trade their last hunt salvage. Jewel dressed nicely, she wore a long-sleeve shirt with a string tied the upper part, her chest part slightly visible, and she strapped a brown corsage around her stomach, making her bosom seemed bigger than usual. Her brown skirt reached up to her knees and a pair of long boots that made up for the most of exposed legs.

Nyantaa's attire consisted of a double strap dress with a red scarf around her neck, she also had a pair of boots.

They walked on the left side of the road, many groups and carts passed their right side, while at their left were stores with a variety of business...

"Jewel nyaa, let's visit the bakery after this nyaa..."

Nyantaa stared at the store with displayed cakes on its front, her mouth produced a bit drool.

"Alright..."

Jewel lifted the corner of her lips, those sweet butter snacks were indeed appetizing.

At this moment, a young man and a young woman came out from the store, they startled upon seeing Jewel and Nyantaa, but quickly replaced with a delightful smile.

"Jewel, Nyantaa!"

"Ah, Mary, Lock!"

The young man named was Lock, he had a neat hair with a bit handsome face, slightly outdo Caeth's, his frame was also decent, body shorter than Jewel but only by a couple of inches.

He did at the same level of height with Mary though, the latter was a thin woman with fair skin and one-side hair fell into her shoulder, the other side was tied into a bun.

"Where are you going?"

Mary went to hug Jewel and Nyantaa, Lock stood behind with a soft smile.

"Meeting Mr. Barox and Mr. Barrel..."

"Ah, trading the salvage I see, how's the hunt yesterday?"

"Nothing worth to mention...."

They chatted for a while before Mary and Lock bid goodbye, Nyantaa looked at their back with envy.

"Nyaa, it must be good to have a lover nyaa..."

Along the path, the she-cat had been daydreaming, Jewel shook her head in helplessness.

Based on the standard figure, Nyantaa definitely the most well-endowed young woman in Eldorado Town, sad that her race and temperament turned down any potential suitors.

Sometimes, Jewel had the urge to hug this pitiful cat, knowing her whole life had not been easy.

"Jewel nyaa, are you sure not allowing Caeth to sleep with me for a night nyaa?"

"..."

Or the urge to pummel her head...

Not long after, they saw Mr. Barox's store in a distance, a flask trademark could be seen on a board above the store's front door.

"Man, this sucks, how he was willing to pay only that much..."

A group of men came out from the door, Jewel recognized them, particularly the man in the middle, his name was Jorey, just recently became an Intermediate hunter... as for the 5 people with him, they were all her childhood friends, although not close.

She slightly annoyed that they had to stumble a path with them for some reason.

"Oh?"

One of them finally noticed the beauties not far, the guy smirked and elbowed Jorey, the latter turned his face toward him, inevitably caught Jewel and Nyantaa.

"Well, well, look who's here?"

Jorey's corner of the lips slanted in smug, provoking Jewel to punch him in the face.

"Hello, guys nyaa, how's the trade nyaa?"

Meanwhile, Nyantaa had no problem greeting the group, probably because she didn't really know them the same as Jewel did...

Or she actually tried to insult them?

Because Jorey's face became ugly at this point, the others also had unseemingly expression.

"Shut up! That's none of your business!"

"Ngyaa?!"

Oh, it seemed her curiosity was genuine, poor Nyantaa...

Jorey scowled before he let out a smirk, ignoring Nyantaa and walked toward Jewel's side, the latter squinted her eyes, expressing her disagreement over his action.

"Ahh... my precious Jewel, still clinging to that weakling Caeth?"

"I am neither your precious, nor Caeth is a weakling, now go and leave me alone."

Jewel's tone was indifferent even borderline cold, she took her steps toward the store without as much as giving Jorey a glance.

"Now, are you sure it's wise to behave like that toward me?"

Jorey extended his hand and grasped Jewel's wrist, she lifted her hand and tried to break free.

"Jorey, let it go!"

"No, I won't, Jewel, you should remember your parents' predicament..."

"..."

Nyantaa was shocked a bit at the situation and prepared to rescue Jewel out of the trouble, but the latter looked at her and shook her head.

The she-cat tilted her head in confusion.

"Please, let go of my hand..."

Nyantaa widened her eyes, the Jewel she knew was a scrupulous woman who beat up anyone that tried to offend her, such meek tone of apologies was the first time she ever heard from her.

Jorey viciously grinned, he pulled her closer then brought up his mouth to her ear.

"I have respected your decision for quite a while, but my patience had gotten thinner; if you don't ditch that weakling Caeth by tomorrow, I'll tell him myself..."

Then he let go of her hand and signaled his people as they gradually walked away.

Jewel didn't move from her spot, her hands shivered as they clenched, Nyantaa looked at her with worried eyes.

"Nyantaa, don't tell Caeth anything about this..."

"But..."

"Promise me."

Nyantaa lingered her eyes at Jewel for quite some time, then she nodded.

They both entered Mr. Barox's store, the scent of herbs and drugs quickly invaded their nose, a plump person with wavy mustache stood behind a counter.

"Welcome, ah... my favorite business partner, I have awaited your arrival."

The man laughed, his voice reverberated in the small shop.

"Mr. Barox really a cheerful guy isn't it nyaa?"

"..."

Jewel threw her sight away for a brief, then she approached the counter, Mr. Barox had stopped laughing, flashing his cheeky grin toward the beauties.

"How many Orc's hearts you brought today? 3? 4?"

"Just usual..."

"Ah, 2 then..."

Jewel opened her satchel and took out a considerable pouch from the inside, but somehow, she didn't put it on the counter.

"Ms. Rosenbaurgh, is something wrong?"

Mr. Barox knitted his eyebrows, Nyantaa tilted her head.

"Mr. Barox, I... can we talk for a bit?"

The plump middle-aged man slightly was taken aback, from the look of Jewel's face, he knew this was a serious deal.

"Of course, let me call my assistant first..."

Mr. Barox turned around and entered the back room of his store, Nyantaa walked closer to Jewel's side, grasping the young woman's left arm.

"Jewel nyaa, what happened nyaa? Nyan is really confused nyaa..."

Jewel turned her face toward the cat and lifted her hand to caress her head.

"There is nothing to worry about, I have a private thing to take care of..."

"What private thing nyaa?"

"Well, it's no longer private if you also know, isn't it?"

"But..."

"Just be obedient and don't cause a mess while I am gone, ok?"

Nyantaa set her eyes toward her feet, appeared gloomy and downcast, but she eventually nodded.

Not long after, Mr. Barox and his assistant came out, the difference between their posture was like heaven and earth.

"Ms. Rosenbaurgh, please, this way..."

Jewel flashed a smile to Nyantaa, then she walked past the counter and entered the room at the back, Mr. Barox followed after.

The room they entered was a small room with one table and a bed, it looked like a resting place, Jewel's heart had been rapidly beating since she left the store's main room. The place was a tightly enclosed room that the only path to get out was the door they previously used, there were three flambeaus, a tool which conditioned to attach a lumo rune to give light into the room.

"Please, have a seat... and, what do you want to drink?"

"No, I am fine, Mr. Barox..."

Jewel and the plump man sat on their respective seat, one chair seemed different than the other, perhaps it's not belonged to this room since the beginning.

"Ms. Rosenbaurgh, you can begin whenever you ready..."

Jewel had been silent since they sat down, Mr. Barox could see the hesitation and doubt in the beauty's face, he decided not to pursue it in a hurry.

"..."

After the time that seemed forever, Jewel took a deep breath then she looked toward Mr. Barox.

"Mr. Barox, please lend me a 100 golds..."

The man startled upon hearing her request, 100 golds were an overwhelming number for people with mediocre income like him, especially for a merchant like him.

People with the kind of wealth over 100 golds could be counted with fingers in this town and they were overlord of the area, on the contrary, people who lived in the city and only had a little more than 100 golds could be considered average.

"Ms. Rosenbaurgh, this... this is too sudden, and I don't think... I don't think I have that many... also why do you need that much?"

Jewel bit her lips while looked to the side.

If she wanted to borrow the money, she eventually had to tell her problem, but only if Mr. Barox had the money...

"Mr. Barox, are you really didn't have the capital?"

Mr. Barox went silent for a while, then he stood up and went out of the room, Jewel grasped her knee and felt truly pathetic, she never so helpless before...

After a while, Mr. Barox returned with a large book in his hand, he sat on the chair and began to flip the book, his eyes ran through the pages very meticulously.

"Hmm..."

The man nodded once and faced Jewel again, he had a little smile.

"I can't lend you 100 golds... but I can give you something..."

Something?

"Ms. Rosenbaurgh, are you familiar with the [ Elixir of Invulnerability ]?"

Jewel shook her head, knowledge in potion-making wasn't her strong thing.

"[ Elixir of Invulnerability ] is a potion that can grant whoever drinks it immunity to any damage within 10 breath (1 breath is 2,5 seconds), no matter a sword or a spell, the user completely will not in any harm."

The young lady widened her eyes, such a powerful thing actually existed? It must be very rare...

"Are you the one who create it, Mr. Barox?"

"It belongs to me, but I don't create it, let's say that I was lucky..."

No wonder, for years Jewel knew Mr. Barox, his business had never been so successful; if he could create the item, surely his fortune would have spiked up already.

"But, why do you want to give me that?"

There was no way any sane people would willing to hand over an item like that, at least not without a reasonable reason.

"To tell you the truth, Ms. Rosenbaurgh, I have been meaning to sell the item, but I don't really know the real price for it... and for some other reason..."

The so-called [ Elixir of Invulnerability ] was this rare? What about the other potion-makers? Surely someone would know about it somewhere...

"Wait, if you don't know the price, then how you have gotten the item in the first place?"

"Well, I... I sort of found it... accidentally."

Found it? As in the item laid somewhere and you somewhat stumbled upon it?

Was that even made any sense?

"It happened a year ago, when I was taking break from the potion-making festival at Argadnel, sitting alone in front of a canal, my eyes caught this item floated on the water surface, carried by the stream, its glittering red color very contrasted with the translucent water, I hauled the item out of the canal afterward."

Argadnel was one of the city under Lionheart Kingdom's jurisdiction, They said it was the home of alchemist and potion-maker, there was even an academy dedicated to these particular fields, The Hohenheim Bright Academy.

"I tried to find the item's identity in many books, but I didn't find anything that matched the description, not until I traveled to Ancient Wisdom, I finally able to discover what item this is..."

Ancient Wisdom? What sort of place was that?

"The item had been with me since then, but I was too afraid to keep it in careless place because whoever created the item must have been a very strong people, therefore I stashed it away and somewhat forgot about it, only now then I remembered again..."

"Why not just get rid of the elixir if you were so afraid to keep it?"

"Ms. Rosenbaurgh, aside from potion-making, I am also a businessman, such a rare thing would definitely earn me a fortune, maybe a bit over 1,000 golds... maybe more... but I am afraid whoever had the item before would able to track me down even if I ever sold it... I also didn't have the heart to trouble others..."

Jewel nodded, understood very well the man's paranoia; if she ever got her hand on rare item with dangerous potential like this, she certainly hesitated what would she do with it, but unlike Mr. Barox, she's no businessman, she didn't think any profit, thus she possibly just left it somewhere and ran far from it.

"Ms. Rosenbaurgh, you need money, and I want to get profit, but this was a dangerous task, and I suggest you don't sell it in Eldorado Town, first, the wealth in this town might not capable to satisfy the price of this item, second, I don't think there is people in this town who can appraise the item's price itself, third, you need to lessen the chance of the real owner of this item to track us down, meaning, you had to sell this in a very far place, maybe in the Beowulf Kingdom or somewhere further..."

"..."

Right, she needed money or more like her father did...

Her father was the owner of a gambling house in Eldorado City, it's not very big, but he's quite successful, at least in town level, her father could be considered one of the rich.

Back when the business still in development, her father borrowed 40 golds from Jorey's father, agreed with all the conditions and the interest that must be returned.

But much to her father surprise, when he wanted to pay the debt, Jorey's father somehow had raised the interest, so high that it was about to reach the point of where it would cost 90% of her family fortune, and if her father was to sell his gambling house, they would have nothing left.

There were only two to get out of this problem; first, of course, paid the debt fully, and second, she must marry Jorey.

Jorey was two years younger than her, and he did always proclaim his feeling for her...

In the perspective of appearance, Jorey was not bad, but he was just... too clean...

Like other noble-born people, Jorey cared very much about his look, he wouldn't get out of his house without boasting his nobleness with his appearance and attire... slapping people eyes that he was a noble... something that Jewel didn't like about...

If she's the type of woman who fancied wealth, she wouldn't have fallen in love with Caeth in the first place,

Her family started off as commoners, then they rose up in the rank, became one of the noble, her previous friends somehow no longer wanted to play with her, and she didn't fit to play with those noble-born, except Mary and few others.

That's where Caeth came in, no matter her status changed now, Caeth never treated her different, he would bully her like usual, would trade laughter and giggles together, secretly sneaked out to play outside when rain heavily poured down, in the next morning, they would get fever together.

Jewel had never imagined what her life would look like without Caeth around... the first man she had ever fallen for, and certainly would be the last.

A man she only wanted to be together.

Marrying Jorey was not an option!

"Alright..."

Jewel took a deep breath, looking at Mr. Barox with a serious countenance.

"I'll help you sell the item."