“Well, we have what we need. Put these back where you found them, and let’s get out of here before anyone notices we were ever here at all.” Lucas passed the real accounting book and seal back to Nick so that he could stash them where he found them. He knew that he should have put the journal back too if he wanted to make sure that Kegan didn’t notice their presence, but some nagging feeling in the back of his mind encouraged him to keep it.

What are you doing keeping the journal? Lucas shook his head, took one last long glance at the painting of Kegan and his wife, and then opened up the trap door and began his descent back down into the cavern below.

“So, not to be optimistic and claim the bounty early,” Bonnie began, giving Lucas a big wide-eyed and expectant look, “but I think the first quest was successful, wouldn’t you say?”

Lucas didn’t want to jinx it since he had actually messed up horribly by taking Kegan’s journal, but he couldn’t outright ignore her question either. “Yeah, it should be.”

“Then . . .” Bonnie’s grin grew bigger. “You think it’s okay to pay us those five gold coins yet? I mean, you got to go make that whole accounting book and whatnot, and that’s gonna take time right? So, paying me now would be okay, right?”

“Five gold coins, is it?” Lucas looked over at Nick. He hadn’t expected the greedy kid who had swallowed his own pride for money to not cheat the one person he had managed to hire. The fact that Nick didn’t act as the middleman and skim even a single coin was shocking.

“Yeah, boss,” Bonnie asserted. “That’s what Nick told me: five gold coins. And don’t even try to cheat me a copper.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Lucas pulled out six gold coins, tossed Bonnie five of them, and then threw one to a confused Nick, who likely didn’t expect to get anything more for this particular quest since Lucas had already paid him. “Now, if you two wanna go level, have at it. Just make sure not to kill any Imperium. I’m going to need a bit of time to finish creating the replica accounting book, so go have fun.”

They climbed out of the tunnel and exited back through the shabby hut into the overgrown field. “Will do, boss,” Bonnie said, running ahead of Nick and Lucas toward the village.

Nick darted after her, leaving Lucas alone to meander back toward the tavern. He pulled out Kegan’s journal during the walk and began scratching the itch on his brain that had been nagging him since he first found it.