Bru Magic Academy

After handing the baby Slime over to the farmer, the four of them did not leave right away. Instead, they all focused on the little creature.

The elderly farmer did not mind what the four novice adventurers were doing.

Under their watchful eyes, he carefully took out a scroll.

Kana stared at it, her eyes faintly gleaming.

"Come on, little fellow!" the elderly farmer said cheerfully. He opened the scroll and dripped a drop of his blood onto it.

The baby Slime seemed to sense what was coming. It hopped onto the scroll with apparent reluctance.

In the blink of an eye, the inscriptions on the scroll lit up and imprinted themselves on the baby Slime.

"That contract scroll is worth one Gold Coin. Even a beginner scroll is something precious that only a Mage can make." Kana watched enviously and stole a glance at Dean.

But Dean's attention was entirely on the baby Slime. He had no time to notice Kana's glance.

What a shame. Learning Contract Magic costs ten Gold Coins. How could my savings possibly cover that? Dean could only envy the farmer.

Dean had already saved one Gold Coin, a huge sum he had barely managed to scrape together over a full year.

For a Level-One Magic Apprentice with pitifully little magical power, saving one Gold Coin after living expenses was a considerable feat.

As far as Dean knew, Kana, Yanxi, and Lamore had even less saved than he did—probably around fifty Silver Coins each, only about half his savings.

The contract was soon complete. The baby Slime hopped off the scroll and rubbed affectionately against the elderly farmer, its earlier reluctance gone without a trace.

A Beginner Familiar Contract allowed someone to bind a baby magical beast unilaterally. Of course, as a beginner contract, it only worked on young beasts.

"Oh, ho, ho! Little one, this new field is yours to look after from now on. Start by sowing these seeds!"

The farmer chuckled as the baby Slime bounced off to work.

The four said goodbye to the man who had commissioned their task.

The job had been fairly simple and involved no real danger. The only tricky parts were finding their target and keeping it from escaping.

A few Copper Coins had easily bought them the information they needed. As for the escape problem, Dean was a Magic Apprentice, and a simple Binding Spell had solved it.

The pay was decent. Pleased with the fine baby Slime, the farmer had given them some extras worth about one Silver Coin, which the four had promptly divided.

To the farmer, a few Silver Coins were pocket change. If he could, he would gladly have offered a larger bounty for a fine baby Slime.

But Guild rules capped the bounty for a single baby Slime at four Silver Coins, to maintain order within the Guild.

That was why he had given them extras instead.

Back in town, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. They would meet again in two days to look for another suitable job.

After parting from the others, Dean looked at the twenty-odd extra Copper Coins in his hand and nearly cried. They had come at just the right time.

He now had one Gold Coin, one Silver Coin, and more than twenty Copper Coins. The Silver Coin and Copper Coins had come from the job they had just finished.

Finally. I can finally buy an attack spell. Dean could hardly contain his excitement.

Even the cheapest spell cost one Gold Coin, plus another Silver Coin for a magic lesson.

That would all but empty Dean's purse. When they finished the job, he had still been wondering when he should borrow a few Copper Coins from his three companions to get by for a few days.

Thanks to the farmer's gift, he no longer needed to borrow anything.

Thinking of the new spell he was about to learn, Dean quickened his pace.

Thirty minutes later, he reached his destination.

Bru Magic Academy.

Dean was a student there, a newcomer who had enrolled only a year ago.

With no time to spare for looking around, Dean headed straight for the east side of the academy and its enormous Magic Library.

It held tens of thousands of books on magic.

Of course, Bru Magic Academy was only a small Magic Academy. A collection of over ten thousand magic books was about as much as it could boast.

Dean made his way to the library's first-floor hall with practiced ease. Only a handful of people were browsing the magic books.

That was nothing unusual. Every complete magic book cost at least one Gold Coin.

In Brown Town, even third-level Mages were few and far between, while most adventurers were as poor as Dean.

Complete magic books were not the library's only offerings. It also held all sorts of other books, such as an account of one expedition by a second-level Mage, priced at several Silver Coins.

That was an account with some useful information in it, which made it worth something.

Dean had even seen instruction manuals that barely qualified as books selling for ten or more Copper Coins.

At the very center of the library, six enormous pillars supported the structure.

The pillars stood far apart, and one housed the counter where magic books were sold.

At the moment, the only person at the counter was a young woman dozing with her head down.

"They'll dock your pay, Mousse," Dean whispered in her ear. "Keep sleeping, and you'll lose your whole month's wages."

"I wasn't sleeping. I was just thinking... Dean, you little brat! You ruined my lovely dream."

Mousse jolted awake. She looked a little flustered at first, but the moment she saw Dean, her embarrassment turned to indignant anger.

"I'm not kidding. If you keep sleeping, this month's wages really will be in danger," Dean said with a grin.

"Hmph! You don't need to worry about that." Still fresh from sleep, Mousse hurriedly tidied her appearance, then asked, "You've come to the Magic Library so many times. When are you finally going to save enough for a magic book?"

"That's why I'm here!" Dean said proudly, waving his gleaming Gold Coin in front of her.

"Then why are we still chatting? Come on!" Before Dean could react, Mousse grabbed him and dragged him away.

Dean could not see her face as she pulled him along, but he could tell she was genuinely happy. She earned a commission on every magic book she sold.

Selling a magic book worth one Gold Coin could earn her a commission of up to five Silver Coins.

Those five Silver Coins were roughly half a month's wages for Mousse.