Chương 15: Masks and Budgets

The sun had barely crossed the horizon of Oakhaven when the backyard of the inn ceased to be silent. Ren stood dressed in his light linen shirt, observing the three women who were now part of his chessboard. The party's dynamic was still cold, but functional. Liora Valtain inspected the pommel of her curved, katana-like blade, maintaining the impeccable posture of a shadow combatant. A bit further away, Mireya Solen organized a few glass vials on the rustic wooden table.

Her dark cat ears and tail, reminiscent of the exotic demi-humans from distant lands, twitched when she felt Ren's gaze upon her. She adjusted her alchemist's cloak to try and disguise the shyness that contrasted with her mature, eighteen-year-old silhouette. Beside Ren, a small leather pouch beat against his waist. He tapped it, listening to the melancholy metallic jingle.

Last night, they had placed all their savings on the table to plan the party's budget: combining the thirty silvers from the Razorback with the coins each of the girls kept on hand, they managed to scrape together exactly seventy silver coins. The problem was that maintaining an elite party was expensive.

After paying for an entire night in separate rooms to maintain mutual respect, dining on real food to recover their strength, and Ren purchasing his first botany manuals and vials, the seventy coins had practically vanished. Only ten silver coins remained in the pouch. They were officially almost broke. Selene, however, was not focused on the finances. Her eyes remained locked on Ren, her shoulders tense and her brow slightly furrowed.

She waited for Liora to step away to fetch a wooden target and walked with firm steps up to the boy, stopping right in front of him.

"Can you explain something to me, Ren?" she asked, her voice low but heavy with an irritation she was clearly trying to contain. Ren deflected his gaze from the herbs and focused on the mage's crimson eyes, maintaining his light and casual expression.

"What is it, Selene?" This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"The party," she gestured subtly with her head toward Liora and Mireya.

"We only have ten silver coins left in the pouch after spending everything on separate rooms, food, and these books of yours. The guild is full of veteran warriors and experienced knights looking for cheap employment. But instead of focusing on the money, you recruited a fifteen-year-old human assassin and an eighteen-year-old demi-human alchemist. Why is your elite party composed purely of women?" Ren let out a light laugh, short and devoid of any affected cynicism.

He took a step forward, narrowing the personal space between them, sustaining her gaze with a tranquility that bordered on the absurd.

"Why the surprise, Selene? The answer is obvious," he replied, his voice calm, adopting a tone of surgical honesty.

"Because I always wanted it to be this way." Selene blinked, her mind stalling for half a second in the face of his utter lack of shame.

"What?" she stammered, her face beginning to take on a reddish hue.

"Are you telling me you assembled a combat party based on... a whim?"

"It's not a whim, it's personal logic," Ren inclined his head slightly, keeping the calm rhythm of a backstage conversation.

"I am sixteen. You are sixteen. We are in a bloody, dangerous world with no predictable rules. If I have to risk my life on missions, why would I choose to spend my days surrounded by noisy, sweaty men instead of extraordinary, intelligent, and beautiful women? What man in his right mind wouldn't want a harem?" Selene took a step back, shock and jealousy mingling across her features.

She opened her mouth to scoff, to call him a shameless idiot just as she had the night before, but the absolute certainty in Ren's eyes made her freeze. There was no lie in his facade; it was the naked truth laid bare.

"You... you are unbelievable," she murmured, turning her face quickly to hide her embarrassment, though an involuntary, tense smile threatened to emerge at the corner of her mouth.

"A harem... you really are shameless, newbie."

"I play to win, Selene. And I prefer to win in good company," Ren smiled faintly, watching her irritation transform into bashfulness. Before the conversation could stretch any further, Liora returned to the center of the yard, breaking the mood and pointing the scabbard of her katana toward the center of the empty ground.

"Time is passing, Ren," the fifteen-year-old assassin said, her voice polite and cold as ice.

"Put the distractions aside. It is time to see if your mind can keep up with the speed of the shadows."