As they got closer, it became clear this was no ordinary house — it was a mansion.
Shine and Nain had stayed outside while Jhed went in.
"So who lives here?" Nain asked, looking at Shine.
Shine said nothing. He just stood there quietly.
Nain reached out and touched his arm.
"Hmm—" He flinched.
"Why are you so jumpy? I just touched your arm."
"That's not — it's not scary, I just—" Shine stepped back.
"There's nothing frightening about it. I barely touched you."
Jhed had been inside for a while now.
"Seriously, who lives here?" Nain asked again.
"I don't know," Shine said.
He didn't want to tell her.
Inside, Jhed made his way to the room where the adventurers were kept. He pushed the door open.
"Welcome, welcome, my dear customer..." Animal said.
He was right there in the room, smiling as he bowed to receive Jhed.
"I've been waiting for you. So — how was my product? Working properly, I hope?" Animal called Shine a product without a second thought. Animal was always smiling.
"I came to return the rest of your money," Jhed said. He pulled out the coin pouch Luccos had given him.
Jhed's pouch held a hundred gold coins. He took one out.
"Take your two silver coins out of this and return the rest," Jhed said, extending his hand.
"So many gold coins. Looks like someone got paid for defeating Miruth." Animal's eyes lit up at the sight of so much money.
"How did you know that?" Jhed looked at him in surprise.
"Can he read minds too? I need to stop thinking. But my thoughts just won't stop." Jhed muttered to himself.
"The prophecy," Animal said. His smile never left his face, but his eyes were fixed entirely on the money. He was deeply greedy — yet he always earned honestly. For someone who sided with the Demon King, he was strangely principled about it.
Animal took one gold coin.
"I don't have change. You're my first customer of the day," Animal said.
"So now I have to go find change." Jhed rubbed his forehead.
In this world, a hundred silver coins made one gold coin.
"Here's what you can do — leave this coin with me. Whenever you rent another adventurer from me in the future, I'll simply deduct from this. Think of it as paying me in advance. Simple enough, yes?" Animal said with a smile, his gaze still drifting toward the pouch in Jhed's hand.
"He has a point. I'll be renting adventurers from him again anyway."
"Alright then. Don't forget — I've given you advance payment. So tell me, how many adventurers does that get me?" Jhed asked.
"Nineteen slaves, sir."
"Nineteen. Perfect — so I don't need to pay you again until I've taken all nineteen. That's right, isn't it?"
"Absolutely correct."
"Then I'll be going. I have a long way ahead of me," Jhed said.
"And where are you headed?" Animal asked.
"Pariharlas city."
"What—? That place is extremely dangerous. Whoever controls it is far more powerful than Miruth ever was — far more. If you go there, coming back won't be easy," Animal said.
"What—? Dangerous?" Jhed's stomach dropped. He had absolutely no interest in playing with his life like this.
"My job was just to tell you. But let me give you one more thing to think about. Whoever's there uses fire magic. Stay low for two months, then come back and take this water magician with you." Animal said. Jhed's eyes went to the water magician — the one he'd almost chosen that very first day.
"I should've picked that one then. Can't you give them to me now?"
"No — you know the rules. One at a time. You'll have to wait two months." Animal said.
"Fine. I'm going." Jhed was dizzy. He was walking at an angle.
He bumped into the wall. Coming down the stairs, his foot slipped, and he tumbled all the way to the bottom.
"Are you alright down there?" Animal called from above.
Jhed said nothing.
He came outside.
"Are you okay? I heard something crash pretty hard," Nain said.
"Let's go... I'll explain on the way," Jhed said.
And they moved on. The road ahead was going to be far harder than anything behind them. Jhed needed training — badly — before he could face what was coming.