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We stepped out of the Adventurer's Guild and back into the chaotic symphony of Oakhaven, but the world felt entirely different. A few hours ago, we were outsiders, fugitives from the forest, with nothing but the clothes on our backs and a desperate hope. Now, we were official, Gold-tier adventurers. The proof was in our hands—thin, golden plates magically engraved with our names, a tangible symbol of our new status.
We found a relatively quiet side street, away from the jostling crowds, to catch our breath and process the impossible turn our lives had just taken. The sisters stared at their guild cards as if they were holy relics. I held the main reason for our changed fortunes in my hands: a heavy, bulging leather pouch that contained one thousand, seven hundred and fifty gold coins. The weight of it felt completely unreal, a dense, metallic dream.
I looked from the pouch to the sisters, a genuine confusion bubbling up inside me. The events in Cynthia's office had moved so fast, but one thing still didn't make sense.
"I still don't understand," I said, my voice quiet in the relative calm of the alley. "A house… a safe place with solid walls. I saw the look in your eyes, Vesper. You all wanted it. Why would you turn that down?"
Sera was the one who answered, but she didn't look at me. She looked out towards the high city walls, her expression hardening just a little. "A house like that is a perfect gift," she said, her voice low. "But we don't belong here. People like them," she gestured vaguely at the unseen city dwellers, "the ones who live behind walls and command armies… they are the ones who drove our parents from our valley. We aren't saying everyone is the same, but… this is not our home."
Sia, who had been admiring the golden sheen of her new guild card, turned her warm, hazel eyes on me. Her expression was soft and incredibly insightful. "Besides, there's another reason," she said, her voice a gentle purr. "If we accepted that house, Satvik… would you come with us? Would you live here, in the city?" She gave me a sad, knowing smile that made my heart ache. "We know you wouldn't be happy behind all these walls. We saw how you came alive in the forest."
Eve, who had been leaning against the alley wall with her arms crossed, spoke up, her gruff voice filled with an unfamiliar, raw emotion. "You took us in. You are our protector. We are grateful to you…" she hesitated, the next words seeming to cost her a great deal of effort, "...and we are a family now. A family doesn't abandon one of its own."
The word 'family' hung in the air between us, a concept so foreign and so powerful it left me speechless. Before I could even begin to process it, Vesper, in a sudden, brave move that shocked everyone, stepped forward. She closed the distance between us, wrapped her arms around my waist in a tight, desperate hug, and buried her face in my chest. She was trembling.
"We won't leave you, Satvik," her voice came, muffled but clear against my tunic. "We will live with you."
Her simple, heartfelt declaration was like a key turning a lock I didn't know existed. A wave of pure, overwhelming emotion washed over me. Moved by Vesper's bravery, Sia joined the hug with a warm, watery laugh, her arms wrapping around my shoulders. A moment later, I felt Sera's hand rest on my back, a gesture of steadfast, unwavering loyalty. Finally, after a moment of hesitation, a reluctant Eve completed the circle, her touch light but definite.
I stood frozen in the middle of their embrace, a pillar of stunned silence. I was surrounded, for the first time in my entire life, by a warmth and acceptance so powerful it burned. In my old world, my own parents' hugs had been formal, distant things. This… this was different. This was real. I felt the hot sting of tears in my eyes and blinked them back fiercely, my heart aching with a beautiful, painful joy.
After a long, breathless moment, they pulled apart. The air was cleared, a silent vow having been made and accepted. I was one of them. And they were mine.
My heart full and my mind racing, I wanted to do something, anything, to repay their incredible loyalty. I shifted my focus to the practical, to the pouch of gold still heavy in my hand.
"Okay," I said, my voice a little hoarse. I opened the pouch, the sight of the gleaming gold coins still shocking. "We need supplies. Better clothes, tools, everything. I want everyone to buy whatever they want." I looked at them, my mind still calibrated to the unimaginable wealth of my past life. "Is… one hundred and fifty gold coins each enough for now?"
The four sisters just stared at me as if I'd grown a second head. The profound, emotional moment of a second ago was completely shattered, replaced by a look of sheer, unadulterated shock.
The silence was broken by a disbelieving giggle from Sia. "Oh, Satvik," she said, shaking her head as she laughed. "As usual, your heart is in the right place, but you really, really don't know anything about this world, do you?"
Vesper's eyes were as wide as saucers, her voice a tiny, awe-filled squeak. "One… hundred… and fifty… gold? For me? To… to buy things?" She looked like she was going to faint.
"Are you insane?" Eve finally managed to say, her voice flat with disbelief.
I was completely lost. "What? Is it not enough? I can give you more."
"No!" Eve said, stepping forward and taking on the role of an exasperated but patient teacher. "Satvik, listen to me. One hundred and fifty gold coins is a colossal amount of money. A skilled knight in the Duke's army is lucky to earn fifteen gold coins in an entire year. You just offered each of us a decade's salary for a shopping trip."
My own mind reeled. "A year? But… that's so little."
Eve shook her head, a small, wry smile on her face. "Let me explain it so your hazy memory understands," she said, her tone almost gentle. "One Silver is one hundred Bronze. But one Gold is one thousand Silver. That single gold coin," she said, pointing to the pouch, "is worth more than most of these people will see in a month of hard labor."
The reality of our new fortune finally crashed down on me. The numbers were just numbers until now. But a decade's salary… for a knight… I looked at the heavy pouch in my hand. In my old life, 1,750 of any currency was pocket change, a rounding error in a bank account. Here, it was a king's ransom. We weren't just survivors anymore. We were fantastically, dangerously wealthy.
Sera, seeing the dawning understanding on my face, took charge. "Satvik, your generosity is… overwhelming," she said, her voice kind. "But walking into a market and spending that much money is the fastest way to get our throats slit in an alley. It would just attract trouble."
"But it's our money," I insisted, looking at each of them. "All of ours. It should be an equal share."
Sera's smile was gentle and full of a wisdom that seemed far beyond her years. "And it will be," she agreed. "But for today, how about we each take fifty gold? I promise you, that is more than enough to buy everything we need and then some." She looked at the main pouch. "We will save the rest. The one thousand, five hundred coins, we will save them for our future. To build our home. All of us. Together."
I looked at her determined, intelligent face, at Eve's pragmatic nod of agreement, at Sia's excited smile, and at Vesper's relieved expression. She was right. She was always right.
"Okay," I said, finally surrendering to her wisdom. I counted out fifty gold coins for each of them, their hands trembling slightly as they accepted the small, heavy pouches.
The chapter ends with the five of us—a true family, bound by a fierce loyalty and now a shared, secret fortune—turning away from the quiet alley and facing the bustling, vibrant chaos of the Oakhaven market, ready to take our first steps into our new, impossibly bright future.