Chapter 82 - The Message To Old Friends

'Huf... They really are in trouble.' Alexis judged, seeing from afar the warning about the Guild and the Dungeon of Vasconcelos being closed. 

Besides the port, the town of Vasconcelos, like Oukiwa, is a town that grows up around the exploitation of its Dungeon. 

There is no farming, no mining, no tourism, and even fewer universities or temples in this city. In other words, the entire economy revolves solely around the adventurers' efforts to explore Dungeoneering.

However, the fact that the Dungeon is closed does not mean that the economy freezes; in fact, it tends to plummet. Because it is a rare occurrence, wealthy people begin to take their investments out of the city.

'Isn't Ayu an investor in that Dungeon too? I wonder why she didn't seem worried?' The half-dragon wondered. 'Anyway, once the Cardinal Church learns that it's gone very public, they'll probably send someone here to sort it out.'

Silently, Luke, Nathalia, and Alexis walked to the post office, hoping not to be recognized by anyone who had been at the ball. 

As they entered the post office building and closed the double door, the crowd's chatter and the shouting of the merchants ceased. 

The establishment was charming. The entire dark granite floor gleamed, as did the beautiful columns that supported the open-concept architecture of the place.

Everything was calm, empty, and silent until Alexis broke that peace. "Ah! That place is pretty fancy!" Fascinated, she exclaimed. 

"How can I help you?" A stylish receptionist with brown hair and a long skirt asked.

Since Luke had never done the process of sending money this way, early on, he asked Nathalia to help him with the process.

"Yes, I need to send money to some friends and a letter."

"I'll be happy to help you. Can you follow me?" The woman said, but Luke could quickly tell that the girl was judging him with her eyes while maintaining a fake smile.

'I knew this would happen...' he thought and started to follow the woman to the counter. 'Should I invest in more... respectable clothes?' Looking down and seeing her shabby clothes, he wondered.

Nathalia followed the half-wolf closely the whole time, and Alexis sat on a stool to wait, next to a woman holding a baby in her arms.

As they approached the counter, the receptionist passed the customer to an attendant, who also analyzed the half-wolf from head to toe. 

"Tsk!" he clicked his tongue, a little stressed. If there was one thing Luke didn't like, it was bureaucracy and bellyaching. 

'Tsk? What a poor rude... I'll have his shipment misplaced.' She thought, with a wicked smile on her face. 

However, when she looked back at Luke, she saw him staring at her intensely, with his piercing yellow eyes. 

'He's staring at me... I wonder if he's going to rob the post office. No... No one would have the courage to do that in broad daylight.' She cogitated.

Some force made her not want to look at the half-wolf again, so she started pretending to sign some papers. Knock! She heard a tapping on the wood of the counter and then dragging. Rrrrr!

'Is it a letter that says not to scream? Or worse... is he threatening me with a knife?' Soon, the woman couldn't help being curious and looked to see what he had placed on the counter.

On the counter was a heavy bag of coins. "Now will you attend to me, please?" Luke asked, almost losing his patience. 

The woman looked at him fearfully and then looked at the girl standing next to him. "What do you need, sir?"

"I need to write a letter and send money to Oukiwa."

"That's fine; we'll just need you to sign some papers, plus the fee of 10% of the amount sent."

Luke looked at the woman and quickly tried to calculate by himself how much that would give. Already knowing that the half-wolf had the equivalent of 900 silver coins, Nathalia helped him by whispering the result of the bill in his ear:

"The fee is 90 silver coins."

"90!? That's too much stuff, that's not a fee, that's theft." Luke exclaimed.

In the end, he had to give in, as this was the only postage institution present in Vasconcelos. Luckily, Luke called Nathalia to accompany him in this process, so he didn't have to ask a stranger for help when it came time to write the letter.

"Address?" The Elf inquired before dipping the fiber quill into the black ink. 

'I don't think it's a good idea to put my real address.' The half-wolf judged. "Please send it to a tavern called Lemon Barrel."

"A tavern?"

"Yes, there is no way for me to know if my colleagues have changed their address, so since I know the owner of this tavern, I trust that he will deliver the money to them."

"Okay~, then I won't put a recipient. Next step... The message."

Then Luke narrated everything he wanted to tell Meredith and company. Although he tried to make it clear that he was proceeding carefully to not raise the Strogueher's suspicion, it was a bit difficult considering that the possible victim of the theft was the one writing the letter.

'Huf... That was harder than I thought.' Luke was exasperated as he watched Nathalia go to the counter to hand over the stationery.

When the Elf returned, she decided to finally clear up her doubt. "Luke, why are you sending much of your salary to your colleagues?"

The half-wolf thought long and hard before answering; after all, he couldn't tell them that the money would help them get by without stealing.

"Ann... This money will serve as a thank-you. You see, I was always alone until I met you and since then we have grown together. In a way, I feel that I will always have to do my best to help them... To repay them for being the warmth that kept me warm on cold mornings." 

Nathalia smiled, satisfied as she heard the man's response.

"Ahhh!" The adventuring duo heard Alexis' voice approaching, and it captured their attention. "Can you believe that woman managed to win half my precious money?" she pointed to the woman holding a baby on her lap.

"You're pretty unlucky." Luke and Nathalia said with a negative expression.

*

Letter to the gang of thieves in Oukiwa:

[Address intended: Lemon Barrel Tavern.

Hi guys, how are you? Good, I hope.

Things have been pretty busy around here, and well, Vasconcelos is a much cleaner town than Oukiwa, so I'll tell you that if you ever want to move here, I will help you with everything I can.

By the way, remember the plans we made for the future? I am thinking calmly. There are many people stronger than us in this world and things that we cannot even understand what they are.

In Vasconcelos, there are many more things than I thought, and let's just say that the Strogueher people were much more receptive than I expected.

Regardless of all this, don't wait to hear from me to pursue your dreams. I have already reached E-Class, and the goal of the contract was to make it to D-Class, but I feel that this goal may take a little longer than the first rank.

I can't wait to tell you guys some stories. 

Signed: Luke].

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