Chapter 79: Inn

"In two weeks? So early? I thought it was next month!" another rogue replied, surprised.

"Life is not easy, man," another mercenary continued, lowering his voice further.

"I heard that the Alpha of the Vaelis Pack has sent some elders to oversee the security everywhere. They say they are looking for a group of thieves who stole a precious elixir from their pack treasury."

"I heard it’s not about a thief, but his five sons from the 2nd Nova eloped with a witch."

"Shhh, don’t talk out loud. Just pretend it’s a theft story."

Some people started to toast and giggle.

Ugo and Axe paused their chopsticks for a second before continuing to eat. Nox also kept his eyes low.

Moon took a sip of his wine, a cold light passing through his eyes.

The Vaelis were really persistent.

But since they were looking for six teenage boys, they would not suspect a group accompanied by a hunter and a child.

Not for now.

But the real problem was the timeline. The mercenary said the unified recruitment for the seven academies was in two weeks. That was fourteen days.

And the full moon was in exactly thirteen days.

The timing was cut too close.

The admission required passing a strict wolf spirit test, and right now, the brothers were still defective, with no wolf spirits to show. And Moon himself was wolfless, though he suspected he had one to begin with.

If they couldn’t trigger their spirits during the next full moon, they wouldn’t even be able to pass the academy gates.

Not to mention, Leo and Rio were still stuck in their pup forms inside the Lupine Palace, their adult minds entirely reverted.

He needed to find the exact method to wake them up and break the seal on their spirits before that moon rose to its full phase.

Once they finished eating every single scrap of food on the table, Moon stood up.

The pouch containing the 4,500 siki from Levi and the 5,000 siki from the Vesper boy felt really good against his waist.

"Let’s get out of here," Moon said softly, pulling his bamboo hat lower.

"Are we going back to the merchant hall?" Marina asked.

"No, we will find an inn," Moon said.

He waved to the waiter and then paid the bill.

He had secretly sent two servings of the meal to his Lupine Palace when everyone was eating. He didn’t worry about the pups starving. They had raw food, but those pups still had the human taste buds.

Sometimes they just don’t want to eat raw.

They walked out of the crowded tavern, leaving the furious Lyra and the Vesper boy upstairs to choke on their own resentment.

As they stepped out of the tavern, the winter evening hit their faces with its cold hand.

Even on this cold night, the market was bustling.

The lamp posts were fully lit along the stone pathways.

Stalls lined both sides of the cobblestone street, overflowing with dried herbs, leftover meat, colorful trinkets, weapons, and raw ore.

There were also big shops like the Jade Pavilion, Clothier, Weapon Pavilion, Treasures Pavilion, Rouge Pavilion, and many more on both sides of the road.

Though the shops were not crowded, the roadside was. Many people were standing and gossiping. Some even had fistfights and brawls.

Moon led them to a small crystal stall down a side alley.

He reached into his satchel and took out the fire stones Chika had given him earlier in the Lost Realm. The stones glowed a low, warm red in the dark.

The shop owner’s eyes narrowed as he inspected the purity. "That’s a good stone with a rough cut, but the core heat is still pure."

"How much will it fetch, elder?" Moon asked politely.

"10 siki each at most," the owner said, smiling at Moon.

"Can’t it be 12 siki?" Nox asked.

The shop owner smiled at him. "No, young man. This kind of stone, though useful, is only used for lighting fires. Other than witches who need to concoct elixirs, people don’t buy them a lot."

"I want to sell five," Moon said.

The old man was happy.

After a short negotiation, the old man handed over 50 siki.

When they turned onto the main road again, Ugo suddenly asked in a low voice, "Why did you sell those? You need fire stones, right?"

Moon nodded, "Just wanted to know the value. We can have more from Chika later. It’s good to know what we are spending."

The group strolled through a few shops aimlessly to digest their heavy meal.

With their pockets full, they walked down a quieter street and found a decent, multi-story inn away from the main city square.

Oshan handled the registration with a random name.

They were quite a large group, so he had to book three separate rooms after a huge argument with the Vaelis brothers.

Oshan took the first single room, and Marina had her own small room right next to it.

But when it came to the last room, it was a big trouble.

Moon initially wanted to rent four separate rooms, but Nox would not leave his side. Axe and Ugo surprisingly also agreed with Nox that they should save up siki, and that just renting one room was enough.

They even started bickering in the corridor in front of the door.

"I am the one staying with Moon," Axe grumbled in a low, teasing voice, stepping in front of the door and blocking it with his broad shoulders. "You two can go share with Oshan. I am enough to guard Moon."

"In your dreams, Axe!" Nox snapped under his mask. Feeling irritated, and since the mask was getting in his way, he pulled it off roughly.

"Actually, we all can stay together; don’t argue," Ugo from the side said gently.

Moon looked at the three brothers, his lips twitching with slight amusement behind the shadow of his bamboo hat.

He knew exactly what these wolves were thinking—they simply didn’t want to leave his side, and wanted to take advantage of him.

"Enough," Moon snapped, reaching out and taking the key from Axe’s hand.