Tang Qi was finally free and had a chance to fill his stomach.
He banged the rye bread in his hand against one of the cart's boards again and again.
Maybe it was a professional habit, but before long he'd tapped out a simple rhythm.
He kept at it until he woke Black Snake from his nap, and finally chipped off a few small pieces of bread.
There was no helping it. This hard, stick-shaped bread was the easiest travel food to store and carry.
At least Catherine had thoughtfully prepared plum wine, so it wouldn't get stuck in his throat.
"I miss yesterday's fried pork cutlets."
The plum wine washed away the bitterness of the rye. He tossed a piece of bread into Kuru's mouth, then gave him a sip of wine.
"Th-thank you..."
The Kobold's gratitude wasn't necessarily sincere.
He was more afraid that if he didn't say thank you, he wouldn't get anything to eat afterward.
When it was Black Snake's turn, Tang Qi poured him a mouthful of wine, only to watch him clamp his teeth around the bottle's spout and drain the whole wineskin before letting out a drunken burp.
"We only have three skins of wine. We should make them last." Tang Qi wasn't angry, but he sighed.
"Who cares? You didn't expect a scoundrel to follow the rules, did you?"
"Of course not. That's why you won't get a share of the other two."
"You shouldn't have shared any with the others in the first place."
Black Snake leaned back against the cargo, his head tilted up.
"The worst thing you can do on an adventure is meddle in other people's business.
If you do a good deed and get rewarded, you deserve it.
If you run into a scoundrel like me, then you've lost out."
Tang Qi shook his head.
"It's just a wineskin. It's hardly a loss. I can buy more when we reach Dragon Gold City.
Compared to the stupid look you'll have in a few days, begging me for a sip when your lips are cracked and dry, this is no great loss."
"I'm really curious. How'd you get that foul mouth of yours, the one that always knows just how to get under people's skin?"
"I learned it from One Thousand and One Pages on How to Talk Back."
"Is that one of your academy's textbooks, too?"
"It will be."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I haven't written it yet."
"You're a fucking genius!"
Black Snake admired his sharp tongue, though he also scoffed at his ignorance.
"But don't go thinking you can drink Star Plum Wine just anywhere."
Tang Qi glanced at the crates of Star Plum stacked in the merchant caravan's wagon not far away.
They held not only Lord Mel's "Shining Star," but also the surplus crops grown by the townsfolk.
"I don't believe Dragon Gold City runs short of Star Plum Wine when it imports tons of it every year."
"They have it. But do you have the money?"
"Plum wine from Golden Oak only costs two copper coins. How much more expensive can it be in Dragon Gold City?"
"If it were that cheap, would that pig have gone to such lengths to hire a whole mercenary company to escort his caravan?"
Black Snake snorted, then began listing the costs of transporting Star Plum.
"Only the damp soil of the Twilight Forest is suitable for growing these specialties.
To keep the fruit fresh, on top of the mercenaries' fees, they have to hire Spellcasters to cast protections—
A scroll of [Grain Preservation] costs fifty gold coins.
And the harvest from a single town is nowhere near enough to meet all of Dragon Gold City's needs...
Add up all those factors, and Star Plum can cost dozens of times more in Dragon Gold City.
The cost of the plum wine brewed from it rises with its quality.
With the money in your pocket, do you think you can afford even a few swigs of the cheap stuff?"
Remembering that Catherine had bought 300 kilograms of Star Plum for only ten gold coins, Tang Qi thought about how much profit Lord Mel could make from it all. His envy was so intense that he couldn't help clicking his tongue.
"No wonder so many people were singing along with me that day..."
"When we reach Dragon Gold City, you'll miss how cheap things are in Golden Oak."
"Looks like you're already missing it. Too bad you're bound to lose this job.
I wonder if Dragon Gold City's laws will sentence you to slavery to pay for the losses caused by your negligence. At least then you could go back to town and grow Star Plum."
Tang Qi was only joking.
Dragon Gold City's laws didn't serve the nobility completely; compared with those of the Tyron Empire, they were fairly just.
Someone like Black Snake, who had abandoned his post, would probably have to pay enough in compensation.
If he couldn't afford it, he'd be sent to prison to work off his debts.
But that would clearly be a waste of Black Snake's talents.
"Forget that damn trial. I'm more curious..."
Black Snake gave a cold snort. He stammered, suddenly sounding shy and nothing like the scoundrel he'd been earlier.
"Hey, you and her... when'd you get so close?"
The old man had to mean Catherine.
Tang Qi wasn't about to pass up a chance to tease him.
"What, are you jealous?"
"Hmph."
"Being jealous won't help. A scruffy old man like you won't win any girls' hearts."
"I'm only forty-six."
"Then you're at the perfect age to be awkward and unappealing to everyone—
To humans, you're an outdated, scruffy old man.
To Dwarves, you're a little brat who hasn't even grown his first beard.
And to Elves... good heavens, you're still a little baby."
"Shut your foul mouth."
Black Snake kicked at him.
Tang Qi's hair stood on end in an instant. He instinctively rolled to the other end of the cart—
Black Snake, on the other hand, froze.
He hadn't even kicked that hard.
Why had the kid reacted so strongly?
Tang Qi looked at Black Snake, still shaken. As expected of a high-level adventurer.
A seemingly casual kick had been enough to trigger his Alertness.
"Are you always this jumpy?" Black Snake teased.
"I..."
"Or maybe he'd heard of your reputation long ago?"
Thanks to his professional habits, Tang Qi was always sensitive to people's voices.
He could often tell a person's outward personality from their voice and tone.
Black Snake's voice, for instance, was always lazy and despondent, like a useless man who'd spent forty years muddling through life without accomplishing anything.
Explosive Wolf's voice was rough and impatient, with hardly a pause between his words and barely a breath to spare.
New Star was always confident and loud—perhaps a common affliction among young Spellcasters:
"The Minions of the Ebony Forest, right?"
Black Snake frowned. "That little squad wasn't famous before it disbanded."
"Once people found out you'd made it out of the Great Desert alive, you were already famous.
They say ten teams ventured into the desert. Yours was the only one to survive."
Everyone knew the Great Desert New Star was talking about.
It was a wasteland cutting across the middle of the continent, separating the Tyron Empire on the western coast from the Alliance of Lords on the eastern coast.
It was also why Tang Qi had no choice but to travel inland by ship, crossing from one side of the continent to the other.
There were many theories about how the wasteland had formed.
Some said it was the ruins of a battlefield where gods had fought.
Others said a forgotten kingdom had once stood there.
The tales of legend drew adventurers into its depths, one after another.
But few ever made it out alive.
So much so that simply surviving the journey out was enough to make people talk.
Black Snake closed his eyes, showing little respect for New Star.
"That's hardly enough to prove you recognized me."
"They say that team had a 'viper wielding a black scimitar.' To be honest, at first I really thought you were Snakefolk."
"So you recognized me from the 'Snake Kiss' they confiscated from me. And then what?"
Black Snake sounded uninterested.
"Then... I was hoping you could tell me—
What kind of treasure did you find in the Great Desert?"
New Star moved a little closer and leaned against the railing of the wagon.
"I'm curious."
Before you continue