Chapter 13: Earning Money

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Name: Caelan Veyr

Level: 6

EXP: 50/100

Innate Ability (Healing): Life Thread (1/1)

Blessing: Hollow

Acquired Ability: Shadow Armament (Dagger)

Hollow Fragments: 1

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They were finally back at the inn. Eveline and Caelan were sitting across from each other, but neither of them said anything for a while.

Caelan was only looking at his information to pass the time.

After everything that had happened, they finally had a chance to think about what they were going to do next. And that was when they realized a very important problem.

They had no money.

Caelan looked at the few coins sitting on the table. There weren’t many left. If they stayed here in the inn, they could probably do so for a week. After that, he didn’t know where to go.

"This is bad." He sighed.

"We don’t even have enough to get to the capital." Eveline looked at the coins as well with an uncertain look on her face. "We don’t even have anything close."

The town they were currently staying in was far from the main capital of the kingdom. It was located near the edge of the kingdom, close to the northern side. If they wanted to reach the capital, they would need to pay for a carriage.

And the journey wasn’t going to be short either.

Eveline knew they would also need money for food and lodging along the way. Even if they tried to save as much as possible, they would still need enough money to survive for several days.

"So I guess we’ll be stuck here." Caelan leaned back in his chair. He didn’t know that it was going to be an expensive journey.

"For now, yes." Eveline let out a sigh. She parted her hair when she accidentally touched her ear.

"Wait..." Her eyes widened as her hand touched it.

She quickly removed the earring from her ear and placed it against her palm. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, with a small stone attached to it that shined brightly whenever the light reflected on it.

Caelan couldn’t help but stare at it as well.

"That’s expensive, isn’t it?" he asked curiously. Just by the way it shined, he already knew it was.

"Probably." Eveline nodded.

"Probably?"

"I’ve never really asked how much it was worth." She looked at the earring. In her entire life, this was probably the first time she had ever thought about selling her own belongings just to get by.

"I think we can sell this."

"You want to sell your earring?" Caelan looked at her with a strange expression.

Eveline simply smiled awkwardly at him.

"I mean, it’s just an earring." She placed it on the table. "It should be enough to give us some money for a few days."

"Are you sure?" Caelan looked at the shining stone again. There was no way that was just an ordinary earring. It looked like something a noble would wear.

"We need money more than I need this right now." Eveline nodded. She looked like she had already made up her mind.

"And I told you... the capital is one of the safest places we can stay in. We need to get there if we don’t want to get attacked again." Eveline pressed her lips together.

"I guess we need to quickly gather money to go to the capital you’re talking about," Caelan muttered.

The person who had owned this body before him still hadn’t gone to the capital, so it would be a first for him as well.

"Yes." Eveline smiled. "Once we have enough, we can hire a carriage and head toward the capital."

Caelan looked at the earring again. Honestly, he felt a little bad about it. Eveline had probably owned it for a long time, and now she was willing to sell it just because they didn’t have enough money.

But what could he do? He didn’t have any treasure hidden somewhere like she did.

For now, they had to make do with whatever they had.

"Then let’s go sell it."

Eveline nodded, agreeing with him. They didn’t waste any more time after that. They left the inn again after paying to stay for another day and started looking for a place that bought jewelry.

Thankfully, the town was large enough that finding one wasn’t difficult.

After walking for a while, they finally found a jewelry shop. The moment they entered, a man behind the counter looked up at them.

"Welcome. What can I help you with?"

"We’d like to sell this." Eveline immediately took out the earring and showed it to the man.

The man took it, but the moment he did, his expression immediately changed. He carefully raised it in the air and, with what looked like a magnifying glass, examined it closely. He even turned it around several times.

"Where did you get this?" the man quickly asked.

"It’s mine." Eveline smiled and pointed at herself confidently.

"Are you sure?" The man’s expression became even more suspicious.

"Yes." However, the man didn’t seem convinced. He quickly gave the earring back to Eveline before shaking his head.

"I’m sorry, but I can’t buy this."

"Huh? Why?" Caelan became confused at the man’s sudden action.

"It’s too expensive." The man answered nervously.

While inspecting it, he had noticed the quality of the gemstone. It was something far more valuable than anything he normally dealt with, and he couldn’t afford to take the risk of buying it.

"But..."

"Are you two nobles?"

The man looked at Eveline again. Eveline froze for a moment, but she quickly shook her head.

"N-no."

"Then where did you get it?" The man narrowed his eyes. He was now looking at them suspiciously.

"I told you. It was mine."

"I understand, but if I buy this and someone comes looking for it later, I’ll be the one in trouble." He shook his head.

"So you’re saying it’s too expensive to buy?" Caelan stared at him in confusion. "Then we can sell it for a low price. Something you can afford."

But the man shook his head even more. It was as if Caelan’s words scared him more than the price of the jewelry.

Caelan couldn’t help but sigh. They had finally found something they could sell, only to discover that it was too valuable for anyone to buy from them.

"Is there really no way?" Eveline also looked troubled.

She had thought this would be their way to get some money, but now even that wasn’t possible.

"I’m sorry." The shopkeeper shook his head again. "If you have proof that you own it, or if you can bring someone who can confirm where it came from, then maybe. The other shops won’t buy it either. I’m already telling you."

Eveline became silent, so did Caelan. She slowly lowered her head as she held the earring tightly in her hand.

"I’m sorry..." Her voice was quiet this time as she glanced at the side. Her eyes met his. As Caelan looked at her, he saw that her eyes were already starting to water.

"I thought we could sell it. I thought it would be enough for us to get to the capital..."

"Hey." Caelan quickly called out to her. "It’s fine."

"But..."

"We can find another way." He gave her a small smile. "It’s not like we lost anything."

"But we still don’t have any money." Eveline looked at him with uncertain eyes. For her, that was still the biggest problem they had.

"Then we’ll earn some. We just need to find a job or something." It wasn’t really a big problem for Caelan.

Sure, they didn’t have money, but that didn’t mean they were completely helpless. He had survived yesterday night’s accident. Finding a way to earn some money couldn’t be harder than that.

At least, he hoped it wouldn’t be.

"You’re right. Eveline wiped the corner of her eye before nodding.

But Caelan could tell there was another problem. She probably didn’t even know how to work.

"Come on. Let’s look around."

They left the jewelry shop and continued walking through the town.

Eveline still looked a little disappointed, but she seemed to have calmed down after his words.

Caelan kept looking around as they walked. There had to be something they could do. Then, as they passed by a small produce shop, something caught his attention. There was a large sign hanging outside the shop.

--- HELP WANTED

- Workers needed to gather and transport produce in our farmland.

Caelan quickly looked at Eveline after reading it.

"I think we found a job."

[New objective available.]

[Earn enough money to go to the capital.]

[0/1000 coins]

[For every 10 coins earned, the host will gain +1 EXP]

[Reward: +1 Hollow Fragment, Gem of Solaris]

[Gem of Solaris - A rare sought-after gem that can be sold for a high price at any jewelry shop. Proof of ownership won’t be needed.]