1.69 – Deal

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"Oh. Is that the secret?"

"Yeah, that's the secret."

Maple played with her hands. Thera squinted at the nutritional label on the can, then chugged the rest of it.

"Easy drinking, I'll give it that."

"That's your only reaction?"

Maple had expected more. Shock and awe, disbelief, or anything. Thera shrugged.

"It's weird, sure. I'm mostly thinking about my team. How much of the God thing did you want to be secret? I can't keep them entirely in the dark, if that's what we're dealing with. How did you end up here?"

"I just ended up here—teleported or something. And—I don't know. I'm not from here, so I don't know anything about Gods or what should be secret. Or what the thing she wants me to find even is."

Emma waved her arms in the air to get their attention. Text appeared in front of her.

I can tell my story now!

Once upon a time...I was sleeping peacefully in my bottle, when suddenly, this naked human poured me out. I was sooo startled, and she was naked, so I—

"Don't tell them that part. Jeez. What's with you guys today?"

First Thera, now her girlfriend. Did privacy not exist as a concept here? It wasn't as embarrassing because she'd been intimate with everyone present, but it was still too much to share. Emma laughed silently, and Thera loudly.

"Wait, is that how you two met? Where did you even end up? Why were you naked?"

Maple told the beginning of the tale, omitting the private details. Emma finished the story with how the nice voice had aided her with levels.

"Okay, sounds like she probably brought you here then. Any idea why?"

"No clue! We don't have Gods, or levels, or magic in my world, and I didn't—"

"Wait what?"

That was the surprising thing for Thera, and Maple had to repeat herself, explain how anything got done, industry—Sasha had a suggestion.

"Why don't you show us somewhere from there, Maple?"

"Alright, fine. But how late is it? Do we have enough time for this?"

"We've got a few hours still."

She felt bad for Rachel not being there for it, but alright. She concentrated and made the ocean below them change to her city. They floated above it on their small island. She wasn't sure how accurate it was, but it looked like what she'd expect. Buildings, roads, cars, all pieced together from her memory. They all stared in silence for a minute. Sasha frowned.

"And only humans live here, right Maple?"

"Yeah, we don't have any others. Just animals."

"What, in that whole city? But damn, it's all...You guys sure can build, Skills or not."

Maple shook her head. Even Thera looked shocked by the scale of the city.

"The whole planet."

"Oh, gross. Weird. This is a lot to just drop on someone, you know?"

Maple supposed it would be. They spent at least another hour talking about it. Maple tried to explain everything from cars to the internet. It was kind of fun, but she felt more anxious about it the longer it went on. Thera had had a point. She really hoped that meant she could trust her. Not to mention this supposed God.

"Okay, I think I've shown enough things for now. So, what should I do? Is going to that place a good idea?"

As a non-native, she was relying on Sasha and Thera for counsel. She didn't have enough information to do it alone, and that was why she didn't feel too bad about sharing potential secrets. There was a minimum number of people she needed to be able to trust.

Emma, because she was her rock. She was as good as family, or would be, Maple thought and hoped. She also didn't have a ton of information, though, and had basically begun a new life in a similar manner to Maple once she'd arrived.

Sasha, because...she was already involved. Charlotte and Rachel trusted her, and she was open to letting Maple get on her feet financially before charging her a normal rate to stay there.

That covered housing, but now Maple needed adventurers. She'd got a good vibe from Azure Bond as a whole. Was that enough? It certainly wasn't ideal to gamble on vibes alone, but what would the alternative have been? Interview multiple C-rank teams, and then...the best vibes win?

It would have been just as flawed. A higher rank or more famous team with a reputation to protect might be safer, but she didn't have the funds. And it had all the same issues of trust.

Thera perked up and seemed to be in a more decisive mood, given the time she'd had to mull it over while they talked about Earth and other things.

"I think we should do it. I'll convince my team when I wake up, and we can head out the next day. She suspended your level gains, so she's either a Goddess, or someone wasted a high level artifact on you for reasons I couldn't begin to fathom. There might be a reason she did that, so we should get there sooner rather than later. And, regardless of which Goddess it may be, she wouldn't want you dead. They don't benefit from that."

"Some things are worse than death. But yeah, I don't think it sounds too risky."

Maple frowned at Sasha. Thanks for that. She was already nervous about it all. Her classes had been bad enough, so what could this thing be? The Goddess had said she needn't accept it if she went, but could she trust that? Emma bounced with excitement.

I'm going too. Adventure!

"Right. We don't know how far it is, so—do you know what you'll need to pack? We're protection, not mules or a lunch service."

Maple didn't, really. Water, maybe food of some kind. Hopefully it wasn't that far. Sasha smiled.

"I have some old gear I can loan her. A tent, and all. Damn, I wish I could go with you. I'm curious. Make sure to tell me all about it when you get back."

Maple would, as long as it wasn't something too embarrassing. If she came back with tentacles—that'd be the secret to guard with her life.

"You could, if you wanted. One more to look out for wouldn't burden us a ton, and it looked like you had some capable magic of your own?"

"I used to be able to handle myself in a fight, yeah. But nah. I've got the inn, and...yeah I'll stay here. Oh, speaking of which, I've gotta go handle some dreams. We'll go through my old stuff today when we wake up, Maple."

But what about her wing? Maple frowned slightly, but they waved Sasha off. Maybe she didn't want to talk about it with Thera there. Fine. Thera stretched, and then yawned.

"Normally we'd get a contract through the Adventurer's Guild, and I would recommend that in most cases. In this case, it might draw more attention than you'd want. My suggestion would be we make a contract, keep a copy each to ourselves, and the guild would enforce that if you presented it, after questioning both parties with a truth stone."

That sounded fine to Maple. She felt like she was trusting Thera with a lot in either case. Then they needed to iron out the specifics. Thera began with her offer.

"We'll keep everything found that isn't the primary item until a minimum value of five gold coins is reached. After that, we'll split it 50-50, taking the value of your item into account. If the minimum value isn't reached, the fee will be a flat one gold."

"Sure, that sounds fine."

Maple shrugged. One gold was still a lot, but if she gained a priceless artifact? More than worth it, even if it meant she got nothing of anything else because it was worth more. Thera clicked her tongue and a gap formed in her mouth. She looked ready to argue, and took a focused breath before speaking.

"Do people in your world not negotiate or something? You never take the first offer. Aren't you aware of your position? You have the information. You could go to any team with it, if this deal didn't pan out."

"Uh...I guess? I wouldn't really want to find another team, though. And that seemed fair, doesn't it?"

Maple shrugged. She got it, but yeah, it was fair. She'd get something so priceless nations would war over it. She didn't need anything else, and just wanted Thera to get her there. She didn't know there even would be anything else, and it wasn't worth negotiating over. Emma was happy to, however.

I know! 50 to Azure Bond, 25 to Maple, and 25 for me!

Thera looked exasperated over Maple, but she stared at Emma's counter-offer and thought.

"Hmm, that'd work. The split only occurring after the minimum five gold is reached, and Maple's share still taking the value of her artifact into account?"

Emma and Maple nodded. It was a little roundabout, but would effectively turn into 75-25 for Azure Bond and Emma unless two artifacts like that were found. If not, Maple still benefited because Emma would. So long as Emma didn't take off after becoming rich.

"Then it's a deal. We'll write the contract up tonight and make sure you have everything you'll need."

Thera extended her hand and Maple moved to shake it. Emma waved her hand rapidly and held up a finger.

This applies if you go back there yourselves afterward and find anything?

Thera laughed and retracted her hand.

"Oh, you shrewd little...I should have let Maple accept the first offer, huh?"

Emma nodded smugly. Maple watched it all unfold with mild amusement and suppressed a yawn. She felt kind of tired, even in a dream. She was far more concerned about what the thing would do than any potential profits on top of it. Thera re-extended her hand.

"That's still fine by me."

Maple shook it, and Emma wrapped her hand around the two of theirs.