39 – The Cure To Everything Is Money

Esmera’s temple of Fanon was a small, unremarkable building on the main road. It was incomparable to even the few rich estates located right on the harbor. The only thing marking it was the hand insignia carved on the facade, and the long queue of people waiting outside.

Alexandra got in line, and waited for her turn.

Looking over the head of the man standing in front of her, she estimated about a dozen people were before her.

It didn’t take long, as the line was moving fast.

An attendant led her inside, then through a corridor and an office. A healer sat behind a desk, his gaze resting on her for longer than it should have. He knew who she was, and that was fine by her.

He took a deep breath. “What’s the issue?”

“Sickness of mana,” she answered.

The healer frowned, and stood up. “Wait here.” He walked past her, to the door. “You can sit.”

She did as asked, and took the chair opposite to the desk. Tapping her fingers on her laps, she waited.

Less than five minutes later, the door opened again. Arame entered the room, walked around Alexandra and sat behind the desk.

Their eyes met.

The branch leader wasn’t smiling. “Sickness of mana. Really?”

Alexandra shrugged. “Do you have a cure?”

“You…” Arame raised her eyes to the ceiling. “How did you catch it?”

“Nothing you should be concerned about. It won’t spread.” Alexandra paused. “Unless I’m contagious, I guess.”

“Sicknesses are not powerful enough curses to be contagious.” She crossed her arms. “I’ll trust you and won’t pry into how it happened. As for curing it…”

Alexandra raised her chin. “Can you?”

“It’s possible. But it won’t be cheap or easy. The Hands don’t charge for healing, but we do ask for compensation for cosmetic operations or if precious materials are consumed.” She paused. “Sickness of mana’s cure falls into the second category. You’re lucky we have the potion you need in stock.”

“How much?”

Arame raised her hand. “Five.”

“Five?”

“Five gold.” She sighed. “I know it’s expensive. But you must understand sicknesses are not simple.”

Alexandra pressed her lips together. She looked down, then back at the branch leader. “Excuse me, I have no concept of how much that is.”

Arame watched her.

“We both know what I’m talking about.”

“Ah,” Arame started. “I see. Yes, that makes sense. It’s easy to forget about your… Anyway, one hundred iron make a bronze, one hundred bronze make a silver, and once more to get to a gold. A typical wage around these parts is about ten iron a day.”

Alexandra opened her mouth.

“I know,” Arame said. “That’s a lot.”

“Five million iron.”

“We’re not making profit on that. If that’s any comfort to you.”

She couldn’t afford that. Nobody could. Perhaps she could borrow from Louis, but even he shouldn’t have that much money.

“I see.” She stood up. “Thank you for your time.”

“The pleasure is mine, Miss Alexandra.” Arame followed her. “Fanon will always welcome you for healing. I hope you understand that this is a rule we must uphold. I trust that someone like you can gather the payment in no time.”

Alexandra frowned. “Perhaps, but what if it was someone else?”

Arame shook her head. “Then they’d have to live with the sickness. Not being able to use mana is hardly life threatening. The order cannot afford to spend this much on non-necessary procedures.”

She left the temple dejected, her feet hitting the ground hard, and kicking any pebble that dared to stand in her way. She melded with the crowd of the main road, A Face Among Many doing its work to keep her inconspicuous.

Summoned by the gods… Shouldn’t that grant her a few privileges?

In any case, dwelling on it wasn’t going to help her gather the money she needed to get rid of that stupid sickness. The silverlining, if there was one, was that she only had one skill requiring mana, so she wouldn’t be too handicapped.

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However, it severely dampened her excitement at unlocking Life Curse. She was already dreaming of freely casting Dark Bolt to her heart’s content, killing the Yshant, and getting that sweet, sweet reward, but it wasn’t to be.

At least, not like that.

Her steps took her up toward the wall, and Louis’ place. She weaved through the alleys, trying to remember where it was.

So what if she couldn’t use Dark Bolt as much as she wanted. For one, Life Curse was significantly better than the alternative of losing lifeforce. Then, who said she had to rely on her warlock abilities?

Granted, the skills from her old class were more immediately useful than what she got from Heroine of Quests, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t even know why those skill quests were available to her, and she didn’t know where to ask. Heroine of Quests was a divine class. The best kind of class. The solution had to come from there.

She smiled as she located the floorboard hiding the entrance to her friend’s lair. She lifted it and snuck inside. Alexandra found Louis still asleep, snoring on his bed like it wasn’t already close to noon.

“Hey, hey, hey!” She shouted, startling him awake. “Guess who’s back!”

“Who?” He grunted. “Ah. Alex—”

“Wake up you lazy bum.” She lifted his blanket. “Let’s go and meet that alchemist of yours.”

Louis sat up, hair matted, squinting at the light bleeding through the cracks in the floorboards above.

“You,” he said, “are insane.”

“Good morning to you too.” Alexandra dropped onto the edge of his bed. “Get dressed.”

He rubbed his face with both hands. Groaned. Swung his legs over the side and sat there for a moment, elbows on his knees, staring at nothing. “Is it really noon?”

“Maybe in an hour or two.”

Another groan. He stood, grabbed his shirt off the floor, sniffed it, and put it on. “Where have you been? I woke up and you were gone.”

“Hunting verdant beasts. Like I said I would.”

Louis pulled his belt through the loops. “All day and night?”

“Just day. I came back late and was locked outside the walls.”