49. Raven and Kiara

"Is it time for your training?" Aman asked and Raven sighed. She wasn't looking forward to it, and her body felt a little strange tingle. She didn't even know why it tingled, but it did.

"Yeah. Later."

"Are you alright?" Kiara asked.

"Yes. I am." Raven the Ranger answered. She would never look weak in front of her friends.

"Who are you training, anyway?"

Raven paused and decided not to go with lies. "One of the Lord's friends."

"Do you like it?" Kiara asked, curious. "I know some people enjoy training others in skills, and can be professional tutors for young nobility."

"It's- it's average. I don't dislike it." Raven said as Aman ordered a beer, and they were all in the tavern. Earlier, the hero submitted a report to the guild receptionist on the sightings of demons, and the lady, Riley, nodded. She said it would be submitted to the Lord for his notice. "How did it go with the receptionist, anyway? Did she say anything else?"

Aman nodded. "The Lord will be made aware. I suppose that's all we can do at this point, until we get evidence of more. Kiara, since you're back, do you want to spar with me? I've gotten better at swordfighting since you left."

The knight sighed and thought back to the money issues she had. She had payments to make to the Count, and decided she had to wager it. "I charge for spars, you know."

Aman laughed. "Really? Since when?"

"I'm a little tight, financially." Kiara just admitted. "It's- complicated."

Raven looked at the knight, and realized the knight had her own secrets. It somehow made her feel better. Aman shrugged. "Fine, fine. I think we have some money with our recent quests. I'll pay you."

Kiara paused and then decided it was a good time to discuss it. "Actually, that's something I want to negotiate on. Aman, can- can we have a moment to talk about it?"

Aman was taken aback, but then nodded.

***

"You're in debt." Aman repeated, as Kiara explained, in general terms, that she needed to send money back home or her mother will be in trouble.

It made Aman uncomfortable, the mention of money seemed alien, and as a hero, no one actually came to negotiate with him on things like loot-sharing. It was just assumed that Aman will allocate the sum as he saw fit. After all, he was the hero, and he controlled all the assets. But Kiara couldn't work with that anymore. Not with what she knew of her mother. As her eyes rested and looked at Aman, it was fairly clear to her the hero was really just a country bumpkin, even with the hero's halo. The Count had a point. "Yes. So, I need money, and when we do quests, we'll get paid. I want a portion of it."

Aman nodded. Agreeing on how to split the rewards was reasonable. "I can agree to it, but let's talk with everyone on what's the right amount to split."

The knight agreed.

The conversation with the rest of the team happened immediately, as Aman called the party to his room to discuss the topic of sharing financial rewards. As strange as it was, it was like opening a can of worms, and for the first time, everyone knew where everyone stood on money.

"I'd like to split everything equally." Nysta, Hannah both were generally of the view that everyone split it equally.

Raven, however, disagreed. "No. The hero should have the main cut, and the rest of us should split in according to our levels. The hero is the hero."

Wynn, the dragon mage frowned, as she asked for more money. "I should be paid more than them, pointing to all of them. I'm a dragonling, and my magical powers is the strongest. I don't agree on sharing things equally, because we are not equal. My magic got us through the difficult parts earlier."

Aman tried to be diplomatic. "Everyone contributes to the party in their own ways."

"But it is not equal, hero." Wynn insisted. "Some roles are more common. Like the Tank, Knight and the Ranger, are roles that can be easily found in any adventurer's guild. A dragon-mage, is not so."

Raven didn't realize Wynn had such thoughts about the party. Perhaps, she just never asked. But talking about money was truly a poisoned chalice, and now, everyone judged each other.

"The only one I'm willing to share equally with, is the healer." Wynn said. "Reality is, Kiara, Hannah and Raven's skillset is replaceable."

"That's not a nice thing to say." Aman blurted, a little offended. Wynn stared at the hero but didn't continue.

Kiara shrugged, but she insisted. "In any case, I need money. If we can't come to an agreement on how to share the spoils from our missions and tasks, can you loan it to me, Aman? Then we'll deduct my share from loan amount once that's agreed."

"What if the knight leaves the party?" Wynn said. "Just putting it out there, that Kiara was not here for some time."

Kiara was a little shocked at how blunt the dragon-mage was, but then again, they never actually fought together all that much. Raven could already see the fault lines in the hero's party.

Aman just took a deep breath and sighed. "Kiara won't run away, right?"

Kiara nodded. "I won't."

"Then I'll loan it to you for now."

Wynn nodded. "I insist that every loan is documented. I have seen adventurer parties' fragment because of disagreements over loans and money."