"Bro," Chris whispered urgently. "She wants money, but we are a poor group who eats only twice a day. How could we help her?"
"She is highly qualified," Alice whispered back. "But the Viking is right. We do not have the funds for a genius."
Julien looked back at Kiara through the gap in the huddle. She was trying to look bored again, but she was nervously picking at the silver rings on her fingers.
He knew that look. It was the look of someone backed into a corner by a world that didn't care if they lived or died. He had worn that same look a week ago.
"Listen to me," Julien whispered to his team. "We are poor now. Not forever."
Chris blinked. "We aren't?"
"No," Julien said, his eyes burning with a sudden, fierce ambition. "We have the Red Gate coming up and a shop in our hands with the necessary potions and weapons. If she can actually optimise our gear and figure out the tax loopholes, she won't just pay for herself. She's going to make us filthy rich."
Julien broke the meeting within a second. He walked around the rickety wooden table and stopped in front of Kiara.
He extended his right hand.
"We can't offer you a million credits today, Kiara," Julien said honestly. "But we don't do forty-year contracts here. You figure out how to maximise our profits and keep us alive, and you get a percentage of everything this shop makes."
Kiara looked at his hand.
"And," Julien added, his voice softening. "If we find anything in the dungeons that can help your mother... It's yours. Free of charge."
Kiara stared at him. The old, calculating glare was gone, replaced by a dangerous but cautious hope.
She reached out and grabbed his hand. Her grip was surprisingly strong.
"You have a deal, boss," Kiara smirked. "Now, show me your books. I guarantee you're doing your calculations wrong."
Julien puffed out his chest, feeling a hint of pride. Finally, a professional setting in this haunted place. He walked behind the shop counter, searched through a drawer, pulled out a leather-bound notebook, and slapped it on the table in front of her.
"Everything is documented right here," Julien said confidently. "I keep meticulous track of our finances."
Kiara pulled the notebook toward her and opened the cover.
Page one had two lines written on it. Expenses: Glass vials. Revenue: 10,000 Credits.
Kiara raised an eyebrow at the handwriting. She flipped to the second page, which was completely blank.
She moved to the third page, which had a poorly drawn stick figure with massive, disproportionate muscles holding a square shield. The word 'CHRIS' was written above it in bubbly letters.
Kiara's eye twitched.
She flipped to the fourth page. It was a game of tic-tac-toe. Both the X's and the O's were written in the same handwriting, and somehow, the game had ended in a draw.
She rapidly flipped through the rest of the notebook. Page after page of scribbles, bad calculations like 100 - 40 = 50?, a doodle of a slime with an angry face, and a grocery list that just said: Milk, Bread, More Milk for Chris.
Kiara slowly closed the notebook and pushed it back across the table. Her eyes looked up at Julien, her face a mask of absolute, unfiltered disgust.
"I take it back," Kiara said, her voice deadpan at the moment. "You only look smart. You are not smart at all. What the fuck is this tragedy?"
Julien felt slightly embarrassed hearing a girl swear. He immediately got defensive, waving his hands over the notebook.
"Hey, come on! It's not my fault," Julien argued, trying to save his pride. "Math wasn't exactly my best subject in school. What do you expect me to do, pull a calculator out of thin air?"
"What is your best subject, then?" Kiara asked, crossing her arms.
Julien straightened his collar. "Marketing."
Kiara scoffed so hard she almost choked on her cigarette. She pointed a silver-ringed finger at the closed notebook. "Marketing? You drew a stick figure of your tank and played tic-tac-toe against yourself. That is not marketing, but a cry for psychological help."
"Let me tell you something," Julien snapped, leaning over the table. "I am the smartest person in this group! So you better show some respect."
Kiara slowly turned her head. To her left, Chris was currently trying to balance a wooden spoon on his nose, and to the right, Alice was floating upside down, staring blankly at the ceiling fan.
Kiara turned back to Julien.
"Being a genius idiot isn't something to be proud of, retail boy," she said flatly. "It just makes you the king of the trash pile. Now, answer a simple question for me. You clearly sold one batch of potions for ten grand. Why didn't you sell anything after that? You have an empty shop."
Julien rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly looking very uncomfortable. "Well... we went to the Guild Association to ask for permission to sell the next batch."
Kiara stared at him without any expression. "And?"
"And the receptionist rejected us," Julien admitted, his voice getting quieter. "She said we needed a higher merchant rank or more verifiable experience with the conditions before we could legally sell unverified consumables on the open market. So... we kinda stopped."
Kiara's jaw actually dropped. The cigarette slipped from her lips and landed on her cargo pants. She quickly brushed it off, looking at Julien like he had grown a second head.
"Wait. Let me get this straight," Kiara said, her voice rising in pitch. "You put up a dark-web style guild notice asking for an accountant to help you commit active tax fraud... but you stopped selling your products because a receptionist told you it was against the rules?"
Julien opened his mouth to explain, but nothing came out.
"What kind of rebellion is this?!" Kiara threw her hands up in the air.
"You want to break federal tax laws, but you are obeying the zoning permits of a desk clerk? Are you a criminal mastermind or a high-school Boy Scout?"
She stood up abruptly, kicking her chair back.
"I can't do this. I cannot waste my time with this level of incompetence," Kiara groaned, grabbing her pockets. "Forgive me. Now I understand why the major guilds lock people in contracts. It's to protect the general public from people like you."
"Hey! Don't talk like that!" Julien shouted, panicking that their new genius was about to walk out the door.
"We aren't incompetent! Our products are two hundred percent incredible!"
Kiara froze near the door.