Goals and Desires

Chapter 5 - Asking for a mercenary's help... we're that desperate, apparently.

The following day, we woke up earlier than usual. Miya said we should go early before they go back to UKH. They are going to escort people from Elvindom to UKH apparently. 

When we arrived at Henry's house (he's rich enough to have a house in Elvindom apparently. I never knew mercenaries were so rich), it was around 7 am. We knocked on the door and waited for a few minutes. I don't know how long it took for him to open the door — because I'll be honest, I didn't count. If I had to make a guess, I'd say around 20 minutes though. He kept saying "coming!" every once in a while but it was apparent he just woke up. He probably got ready while we were outside waiting for him. I wonder, did we come too early? The Sun was just rising, after all. But yes, we just watched the ceiling the whole time. No conversation, nor any eye contact. Nothing.

Even though (he sounded like) he was rushing, he was properly dressed and all when he opened the door and welcomed us in.
"What can I do for you lovely ladies this early in the morning?" he asked us.
"Thanks, Henry. You're as nice as always," Miya said, and quickly added "sorry for coming this early in the morning. We thought you might go on an escort again, so we didn't want to miss you."
"Not at all! I would be glad to help. How can I help you two?"
"We just have a few questions since we're new here, and we thought you might be able to help us since you know this place pretty well," Miya said.
"Of course, I would love to help. But as you know, I'm a mercenary."
"So?" I asked.
"He's basically saying he'll help but not for free," Miya said. 
She paused for a second.
"Alright, how much do you want then?" she later added.
"2 gold per question is an affordable price, I assume?"
We looked at each other. We were both surprised because both of us were expecting a price way higher.
Miya was the first one to brush it off, so she said "Yes, that is indeed affordable."
Silence. Again.
At last, "Can we convert gold to silver? Is there a conversation system in place?" I asked, breaking the silence. 
"Well, there isn't an official way to do it," he quickly answered, "but some elves might be willing to convert them since gold is also pretty valuable, you just have to find the right ones to ask. Or you could give them a good deal but that'll be a bit expensive since Elves have a habit of trying to scam foreigners as much as they possibly can."
"Most of them see humans as lowly creatures too," added Miya.
"Yes, we can't even find a job because of that," I added.
"Well that's elves for you," he said, "anything else you wanna ask?" and quickly added afterwards.
"What would be a good deal to exchange gold with Silver?" Miya asked.
"A smart question as always," he said.
Both of us looked at him with confused faces.
"Well, other than being the official currency of UKH, it's also an ore. A valuable one, too. So elves would most likely be glad to buy it off of you. You'll likely get lots of different offers, so I'd ask different elves before selling your gold. My advice would be not to sell it to anything below 10 silver, though. Any other questions?"
Miya quickly jumped in, "Yes. We also want to ask if you can find us any good teachers that could teach us Magic."
"Depends on what kind of Magic you wanna learn. I can't -and won't- find you teachers that would teach you Tier 11 Magic, for legal reasons."
"Well, anything works, really. Plus we both aim to learn up to Tier 10 anyway," I replied.
Miya nodded. 
"In that case, yes, I can help you. I'll be around for a few days anyway, so if you're willing to pay, I'll find you a teacher that would teach you magic."
"How much?" Miya asked.
"6 gold for your questions, and 15 coins for me to find you a good teacher. 21 gold in total."
Miya opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but I unintentionally interrupted her.
"Why 15 gold?" I asked.
"Well, it's hard to find a good teacher, to begin with — but you already know that. I'm going to talk to the ones I know and find you a teacher. Plus I'm going to vouch for you since most teachers here don't accept humans, as you might know. I think 15 gold is a pretty fair price."
I looked at Miya. I didn't want to talk in her plead because I ran out of money anyway; she would pay regardless.
"Yes, I think it's a fair price too," said Miya, "but I don't have much gold left. Let's make a deal for 18 gold."
"20 is as low as I will go," he quickly replied. His face suddenly turned serious.
"Come on, Henry," Miya protested, "can't you make a discount for someone in need?"
"As I said, 20 is as low as I'll go. Take it or leave it."
I was still watching everything in shock because I never thought either of them were so good at negotiation. Though I don't know why I got so surprised, honestly.
"Fine. 20 gold. Here." 
Miya gave Henry exactly 20 gold. Henry's face went back to the friendly face from before.
"Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you two! I'll let you know when I find a teacher that's willing to teach you two. Though be prepared for an exam, Elves seem to do that a lot. Especially since you're humans, they'd probably want to see if you're worth training."
"How are you going to let us know, though?" I asked.
"I'll find a way. Worst case scenario, I'll pay for someone to find you two."
"How are you even so confident in yourself, Henry?"
Miya asked this time.
"I know people. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get going."
"Alright, we'll get going too, then. We'll be waiting."