Extra Story: Miranda and Luimin’s Encounter

Extra Story:
Miranda and Luimin’s Encounter

 

THERE’S A LARGE RIVER in the town of Laluz that acts as the border between Elfanica and Solzonark. The river is bordered on either side by towns. We had come to the town on Solzonark’s side for a job. Once the gig was over, we decided to head back to the town in Elfanica, where we’d rented out a house.

After we finished reporting back to the Adventurer Guild, we checked out the quest board and found a gig across the water to help carry some goods. The client was going to pay the ferry fare, and it was an urgent job they needed done within a day.

We’d save on the ferry—two birds with one stone. And our party of adventurers weren’t exactly rolling in dough, so we took up the gig. After I finished getting the work settled at the front desk, I went back to my buddies Sharla and Eriel.

“So, how’d it go?”

Eriel was looking over at the quest board. “Saw a cute girl.”

A fifteen-year-old girl was ogling the quest board, and Eriel was watching her.

“You better not try taking advantage of her or something…”

“I wouldn’t dare. But I mean, look at her! She’s a damsel in distress! How could I turn a blind eye when she’s looking at those quest boards all on her lonesome?”

“I suppose you have a point…”

“I’m going to talk to her really quick!~” Eriel said, then headed over to the girl in question. Sharla and I gave up and followed after her.

We discovered that the girl was an elf.

She was apparently trying to get to the capital in order to see her sister, but she didn’t have money to get on the ferry or even to stay at an inn. She’d come searching for a quest at the Adventurer Guild, but none of the quests seemed like things she could do. She was in a real fix.

We couldn’t just abandon her after hearing her story—Eriel and Sharla agreed.

“In that case, why don’t you join us?” I asked the girl. “We’re transporting some goods as part of our job.”

“Can I really…?” the girl asked hesitantly.

“They’ll pay for the ferry fee. It won’t be much money, but it’ll be enough to help you get to the capital,” I said. She thought it over; maybe we looked kinda sketchy.

She looked at us, then bowed her head slightly. “As long as I’m not in the way, I’d like to take you up on that.”

“Glad to hear it. We’re looking forward to working with you too. I’m Miranda. And this is—”

“It’s Eriel!!!”

“Call me Sharla.”

“I’m Luimin.”

We exchanged introductions. “So, Luimin, do you have a guild card?”

“Yes, my dad had me get one.”

We looked at her guild card. She was in rank E.

 

Once we finished getting registered, we headed to the client’s shop.

The gig was to transport the goods from the branch shop over the river to the main establishment.

Normally, they’d use item bags, but those weren’t available today. Since some of the items were pretty urgently needed, they’d gotten assistance from adventurers.

The client was Mr. Doglud, the merchant. He seemed rather nice. “Thank you, everyone,” he said. “I’m so thankful you could come on such short notice for this quest!”

“No need to thank us. We were about to head back to the town ourselves, so this worked out perfectly.”

“Well, if you could move the merchandise into the carriages…?”

We followed Mr. Doglud’s orders and carried the goods to the carriage.

“They are all expensive items, so please, handle them carefully.”

That’s why the quest had been limited to women, apparently. It wasn’t like men couldn’t handle delicate work, but these gigs tended to get listed like that anyway.

“Luimin, could you carry that one?”

“Okay!”

Eriel and Luimin started carrying the goods together. I figured Luimin would be in good hands with Eriel, considering Eriel had already taken a liking to the elf.

 

We finished loading all the goods onto the carriage.

“Thank you. We will be going to the boat right away, so please get in.”

We got into the carriage, which headed right out to the docks. Mr. Doglud had the fare for us. We were incredibly lucky.

“Doing all right, Luimin?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Luimin had seemed uneasy, but it didn’t seem like anything was wrong.

The boat slowly headed out into the river to cross over. The carriage disembarked from the ship and we headed straight into town until we got to the front of Mr. Doglud’s shop.

We needed to unload the goods this time.

“Sharla, you carry that over there.”

“It’s heavy…!”

“Come on, now. Eriel and Luimin are working hard.”

Luimin was hauling the goods as best she could, despite her small size. We really needed to up our game too. We started putting away the goods according to Mr. Doglud’s directions. That was when things went wrong.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

When I looked where the cry had come from, I found Luimin had fallen down. “Luimin, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I tripped.” She stood up. “Uh…oh…”

“What is it?”

“...” Luimin didn’t answer. She was just looking at something and quivering.

When I went up to her, I noticed the torn painting in front of her.

“Is something the matter?” Mr. Doglud made his way over now.

“The painting...” Luimin whispered.

Doglud looked at the painting grimly.

 

The painting Luimin had torn was incredibly expensive. Just hearing the price tag blew me away. We couldn’t cough up that much cash even if we worked for a million years.

“This is quite a predicament,” said Mr. Doglud. “We already had a buyer set up for this painting.” The more she heard, the paler Luimin’s face got.

“Is it really that expensive?” I asked. It wasn’t as though I doubted Mr. Doguld, but I still had to be sure.

“Yes, the painter is quite famous.”

Just to make absolutely sure, we checked in with the Merchant Guild. It was, without a doubt, the work of a famous artist, and a painting that would fetch a hefty sum. We’d flubbed the quest, but we had no idea what to do about the money. Sure, we could’ve put the blame on Luimin, but we couldn’t do that to the poor, shivering girl.

Soon enough, dinnertime came around. We decided to put off the details until the next day and headed to the house we were renting.

“Luimin, it’ll be okay.”

“I’m sorry…” Luimin had been doing nothing but apologizing this whole time.

I wanted to do something for her, but I had no idea what. For the time being, the only thing I could think of was negotiating to lower the price of the painting. Luimin still looked rather pale when we got her to bed and turned in for the night.

 

When we woke up the next day, Luimin was gone. We tried looking for her, but we only found a letter on the table.

 

“I’m going to pay for the painting. Thank you all for being so kind to me.

— Luimin”

 

I clutched the letter in my hand. “She’s paying for it? But she doesn’t have any money...”

Eriel started to panic. “You don’t think she’s selling her body or something, do you?!”

“No, I heard Luimin and Mr. Doglud talking yesterday,” said Sharla. “Something about a bracelet…”

“A bracelet?” When I thought back on it, I remembered that Luimin had been wearing a pretty prominent one on her wrist.

“I’m pretty sure those things are really important to elves,” said Sharla. “And it’s also worth a lot, from what I’ve heard.”

“You don’t think she sold it, do you?!”

We rushed out of the room and headed for Mr. Doglud’s shop. We got there earlier than we’d intended—and Mr. Doglud was already there to receive us.

“I thought you would be coming,” he said. He led us to a back room, where the bracelet was on a table. This looked like the one I’d seen Luimin wearing. “She left this here.”

I knew it. “And where’s Luimin now?”

“She’s left town.”

Eriel stood from her seat after hearing that. “We need to go after her as soon as we can!”

“Calm down, Eriel.”

“But Sharla, what’ll happen to Luimin?”

Sharla stopped Eriel from bolting out. “I’m worried too, all right? That’s why we need to think clearly.”

“Miss Luimin was very apologetic,” said Mr. Doglud. “She asked me to let you know how sorry she was if you came by.”

Eriel sighed. “Oh, Luimin...”

“And you still took the bracelet from her, Mr. Doglud?” I asked.

“No matter my own feelings on such matters. I’m a merchant. I can’t just shrug off a torn, priceless painting.”

“I suppose you have a point...” Still, it all made me sick at heart. “What are you planning on doing with the bracelet?”

“I don’t have any concrete plans.”

“In that case, we’ll buy it from you.”

“You will?”

“We won’t be able to buy it right away, but I’m sure that we’ll be able to save up enough eventually. Just promise us that you won’t sell it to anyone else, won’t you?”

Poor as we were, we had no idea how long it would take to pay him for it…but we couldn’t let Luimin suffer like this.

“You’re all fine doing that too, right?” he asked.

“I’m on the right side of history, thank you very much,” said Eriel. “The side of adorable girls!~”

“Yes,” said Sharla. “It’s not as though we don’t share part of the blame.”

Everyone agreed to my proposal.

“I see how you all feel,” he said. “I’ll avoid selling it as best I can.”

We took on gigs so we could buy Luimin’s bracelet back. Someday, we’d give it back to her.

Then, one fateful day, we headed to the Adventurer Guild…