Third Step to Riches

Well, it turns out that anything is possible with Astra's help. We kept the clouds low to not raise any suspicion. We tried blizzards, sandstorms, mini-hurricanes, even flash floods, which I guess are just Faye's water miracles but on another level.

Before we knew it, it was noon, so we headed back to the west gate. The two girls weren't there when we arrived, so we waited a few minutes, and they showed up.

"Kris, why are you all wet?" Faye asks.

"Don't worry about it. How did it go?"

"We are sorry, but we didn't find anything."

"That's fine. We have nothing, as well," I say.

"That means we will have to pay the fine, right?"

"We will if we report mission failure, but I think we should give it another try tomorrow. Maybe it will be better," I say.

"Yeah, we can always try again. Oh, one second."

Faye reaches into her corset dress, which apparently has a pocket. That's already more advanced than women fashion back on Earth. She takes out a little flower.

"We didn't find any yams, but I came across this flower that I thought is really pretty. I wanted to give it to you to make up for our failure," Faye says and hands it to me.

It's indeed a pretty flower, but unlike dense forests, pretty flowers were not rare back on Earth. This one is yellow and looks a little bit like a rose. Its pedals form this intricate pattern and cradle the golden pollen inside.

"Oh, that's nice," I say, "Thank you."

I take it from Faye's hands. Her smile is more flowery than the flower.

"What? You didn't get me anything?" Astra complains.

"How could I forget about you, Astra? I found a shiny little rock for you. Here."

She found a rock? I get Astra is supposed to be a little kid, but even ten years of age is a little too old to be fascinated by random rocks.

Faye takes out a pebble about the size of her pinkie nail. It's translucent with a slight tint of green. Its ragged edges refract the light in all directions, making it shine like diamond.

"Whoa, you found a prayer stone," Astra says after taking a look at the rock.

"I found a prayer stone?" Faye asks.

"Yeah. People mine them in the Cimavetta Highlands."

"Cimavetta? How did it end up here?" Faye takes a closer look at the rock.

"Someone must have dropped it."

"Oh, what is it used for?"

"Prayer stones can capture divinity levels from the environment and store them. They are the most important material when smithing a holy weapon," Astra says.

"Really? This must be valuable, then."

"Oh, yeah, incredibly, but the one you found is too small to be used for anything. I guess maybe a ring? But one that size isn't worth that much."

"Interesting. I didn't know this little rock is so unique."

Seeing the rock's resemblance to diamond, I suddenly get a spark of an idea.

"Lohikaarmi, can you do something for me?" I ask.

"Yes, Master. What is it?"

I reach into my pouch and take out a gold coin.

"Kris, what are you doing with that?" Faye asks.

"You will see. Can I have the stone for a second?"

"Sure? Here you go."

I pinch the little pebble from Faye's hand.

"Astra, you and Faye go back to the shrine first. We will be right there."

"Just us two?" Faye says.

"Yeah. Astra is actually a lot more vicious than you think. She should be able to keep you two safe."

"I didn't know Astra was so amazing." Faye looks at her with a smile.

"Of course!" Astra responds with a thumbs up. "Alright, we will go ahead then. See you guys in a bit."

"Yeah, see you."

The two leave for the city gate, and I turn to Lohikaarmi.

"Give me your hand for a second," I say.

"Yes, Master." Lohikaarmi opens up her palm and holds it in front of me.

I put the gold coin in her hand.

"Can you melt this?" I ask.

"Yes."

I feel a sudden heat emitting from her hand, and the coin begins glowing red. Soon, it loses its shape and degrades into a puddle.

"Alright, turn down the heat a little bit."

The melted gold quickly gains viscosity.

I press the button on my Exosuit pendant and equip the armor, then I raise my gloved hand and poke my finger into the puddle.

O, sweet Goddess, make it cold around my fingertip.

I can't see the glow under the Exosuit, but the gold immediately turns back into solid. It's now a ring around my finger.

"What is this for, Master?" Lohikaarmi asks.

"It's a piece of jewelry," I say and take the prayer stone and press it into the top of the ring.

Gold is soft. With a hard push, the stone becomes embedded into the metal.

"Look at this," I say and raise up the ring.

"It is a fair piece, Master, but why waste the gold coin?"

"Well, that won't matter very soon. Shall we head back in?"

"Yes, Master."

I don't really know what suddenly got over me to make this thing, but now I have a rather luxurious-looking ring. I figured Faye might like this.

It is only when we reach the shrine gate am I reminded of the symbolic meaning of a gemmed ring that resembles a diamond. Oh, well, the people here probably don't have that culture. Diamond is probably not an easy find with the mining technology of this era, so I doubt they are used for engagements.

We enter the shrine lobby and find a huge crowd of people around the C+ board. Owen, Faye, and Astra are watching from the side.

I walk up to the group.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Look there," Faye says and points to a mission on the C+ board.

It's the prairie yam gathering mission. After the morning, it looks like it moved up four ranks. The current reward is… nine silver slabs?

Holy crap. That is so much more than I thought, considering it's eight silver coins to raise it to C-.

"Why is the reward so high? Didn't its difficulty only increase four times?" I ask.

"Yeah, but there were a lot more than four mission failures," Owen says, "When more than one crusader of the same rank report failure, the mission only moves up one rank, but they all pay their fines and the reward increases multiple times."

"Oh wow, when did it get like this?"

"I did what you told me to, Kris. I raised its level to C-, and a bunch of people saw it as super easy and took the mission. After the morning, they all somehow came back empty-handed and gave up to do something else."

"Oh, that's what those people were doing," Faye says.

"What people?" I ask.

"We came across some other crusaders who were also looking for something. I didn't know they were searching for the same yams as us."

That's perfect. This went even smoother than I thought.

"And I can still turn in this mission even though it's above my rank, right?" I ask.

"Yes. The limit only applies to the rank of the mission when you accepted it," Owen says.

"Nice."

"I can't believe prairie yams are suddenly so hard to find." Owen scratches his head.

Astra gives me a sideways glance and catches the smile on my face.