A Series of Unfortunate Events!

Matthew, the rune smithing intern, had never thought that his wares were going to make such a killing. Not only because of the fact that they were only good for being a bit of cooling during the summer months, but also because he had made the runes on hemp.

Which was not ideal.

But as Dobri the gnome, the small man he had basically conned into buying the robes, came back, Matthew knew that something was up.

"I would like to buy off your entire stock!" Dobri told him, a bank pouch was already in his hands. "It is still 1 gold coin per robe, right?"

Matthew was before a dilemma. He could tell the gnome that the robes were now more expensive, but Big Capybara was a small village.

Should he sell the robes to someone for just one golden coin, then Dobri would find out.

Most of the villagers were poor, Matthew included. He had really wanted to buy himself a wagon and sell his robes himself, but his student 's loan didn't let him.

The human sighed.

"How about this?" He still wanted to get more than just 100 gold coins for his robes, which were not even going to make a dent in his student 's loans. "When you go back to Mirstone, please go to the library. You are a gnome. The tax for you is just 5 gold coins per month. I will give you a list with books! Can you please get them for me?"

Dobri narrowed his eyes. He didn't want to fork over the five gold coins.

That was an entire sack of potatoes!

The part of him who was still considering himself poor wanted to protest. After all, money didn't grow on trees!

But if he got Matthew the books, he was sure that the robes would become even better! Not just pajamas anymore, but something that was good enough to be worn in battle!

Dobri nodded. Matthew began to note down the textbooks he needed.

 A soft smile on his lips.

"You know, if you keep on getting me books, I will keep the price for the robes no higher than 5 gold coins per robe!" Matthew said, wanting to leave the fly in the gnome's ear.

"That is a lot!" Dobri protested.

Matthew sucked in a breath. He didn't want to lose his only paying customer!

He, just like Angela at the convenience store and Martha, the alchemist, sold his stuff on credit.

But what could one expect from a mixed village with gnomes, humans down on their luck, and a couple werewolves?

"Yes, but this book," Matthew said as he pointed at a tome in the middle of the list. "Will let me make the robes so that they can never tear! And this one," he pointed at the very first book on the list. "Has a rune that will let me make it so that the robes wash themselves!"

Dobri put two and two together.

"So, you wish me to invest in you, and then you can give me better robes at a discount?" Dobri asked.

Matthew nodded.

"You better deliver," Dobri said. He was not without a heart. After all, Angela had given him food even when he didn't have money.

He knew that he had to give back to the universe.

Matthew helped him pile up the robes in Dobri's extended shopping bag, then gave him the list.

"Thank you!" The human told him as he bowed his head slightly. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart! It is just… I didn't have enough money to get these books. But I am working on my graduation project, and they will really help!"

Dobri nodded.

"Will you stay in Big Capybara even when you graduate?" The gnome needed to know if he was getting the goose with the golden eggs or just a migrating bird.

"My house is in here," Matthew said with a shrug. "I can make robes from here just fine. Probably even deliver them to the entire country!"

The gnome nodded, now pacified.

He looked at the other things Matthew kept on his stand. There was more silk. Which was the strange thing, since the human didn't make anything out of it.

"Hey, Matthew, where do you get the silk from?" Dobri asked as he was already stashing it away in his extended shopping bag. He wanted to see the heavenly Former Empress of the Cold Palace once more.

To bathe in her beauty, to make her happy.

Even if he was just a gnome.

"Oh, from silk spiders! They are making the silk in my backyard. I can't chase them away. But this silk is no good for runes. I just sell it for clothes." Matthew admitted.

Dobri saw a golden opportunity in that. His backyard had rocky soil, and he had long since left it to the weeds.

It was not even good for farming potatoes.

"Hey, Matthew, do you think you can sell me some of these spiders?" The gnome asked. "And the runes to make the silk look this fine?"

Matthew nodded.

"Ok, just know that if you don't harvest them soon enough, they will try to take over your house," which the human knew from bitter experience.

 Sure, he had gotten enough silk to put food on the table that first month he had gone about ignoring the spiders, but the weekend being wasted in cleaning dead flies from his house had not been worth it in his humble opinion.

They shook hands.

Dobri headed home.

As he entered his house, he decided that the wagon was an overkill. He needed to invest in something better! Into something that would take the oxen, which were prone to getting stolen, out of the equation!

He already imagined himself on a donkey or a pony, with a bottomless backpack on his back!

The problem with that, he knew, was that Gildana the Witch was the only one who sold such things.

He didn't want to deal with her, but there was no other way.

Dobri used his communication pendant.

Ready to make his case.

Not knowing that the universe had already closed the trap around his ankle…