After buying everything, I still had 38 gold and 65 Silver Scales.
He Xi sat in the noisy tavern, his mug suspended in midair as his thoughts drifted back to Rose Town.
He'd deal with the "local specialties" Aunt Jing Shui had given him once he got back.
And then there was the gift he'd picked out for Zoya...
He pictured the female rogue, always dressed in tight black leather, her expression cool and distant.
A white cashmere scarf, dark gray leather armor, and a purple silk lining...
He imagined Zoya wearing the outfit.
Yeah, it should... suit her, right?
"Mister Galen, what are you thinking about? Drink up!"
Dorick raised his mug and slammed it into He Xi's hovering one. Ale splashed everywhere, soaking the wooden table.
"This is some of Old Nick's private stash! Most people never get to taste it."
Brendan wasn't about to be outdone. He thumped his empty mug on the table and let out a beer-scented burp. "Exactly! To our victory! To that unlucky Elton! Cheers!"
"Didn't you already use those toasts?"
"Uh... then let's drink to his new beard."
He Xi lifted his mug with a helpless smile and clinked it against theirs.
Elton really was unlucky, though.
After what happened in the Guild Hall that day, all of Trout Town had been thrown into an uproar.
The trade association's old foxes might have seemed hands-off most of the time, but when their own interests were at stake, they moved fast.
They didn't need any complicated investigation. The Hag's public remarks had merely lit the fuse; the bills and correspondence they dug up afterward were the real proof.
Elton had not only been stripped of his position as a board member and locked in a dungeon to await trial, but his family had