Jeremiah woke up late the next day. The house had been silent when he`d returned the evening before, and he`d collapsed into bed with the accumulated exhaustion of weeks of sleeping rough. He slept like the dead. It was with great reluctance that he forced himself to leave the comfort of the bed in the morning, convinced finally by the aroma of breakfast wafting up the stairs.

　　Delilah was practically dancing about the kitchen, humming to herself as she cooked, wearing a smart dress and bodice in the fashion that Jeremiah had seen near the palace yesterday. There was no sign of the weariness or fatigue that had so recently plagued her. She beamed as Jeremiah came in. "Good morning! Did you sleep well? I stopped by the market earlier, so we have fresh food for a change! Would you like milk in your tea?"

　　Jeremiah thanked her, his grogginess banished by her energy. He busied himself finding plates and utensils and set four places at the table.

　　Delilah deposited a serving of ham, eggs, tomatoes, and toast in front of Jeremiah, then darted into the hallway and rap sharply at the doors. "Up, up! Breakfast is ready and we`ve got things to do!"

　　Bruno and Allison emerged, looking rested but groggy. The difference between their appearance now and while adventuring was striking. Bruno was any day laborer, overworked and underfed, with a fondness for tattoos, while Allison wore a simple belted tunic that suggested her muscular frame may have been acquired by toiling in a field. They joined Jeremiah and Delilah at the table.

　　Breakfast was delicious, doing almost as much to restore their strength as the night`s rest. As they ate, Delilah issued instructions. "Allison, go see a healer about that arm today. Get it fixed. Add it to your debt if you need to. Bruno, check the Hall of Records for anything about fortress doors that were ordered and never delivered. Name drop me if they give you any difficulty. If the Hall doesn`t have anything, we`ll need to browse your usual contacts, but I`m hoping we`ll have payment in hand by the end of the day."

　　"Good," said Allison. Her eyes flicked to Jeremiah, then away.

　　Jeremiah hadn`t realized he could be out on his own again so soon. He poked at his eggs. "Your arm seems a lot better, Allison. Do you still think you need a healer?"

　　Allison wiggled the fingers her injured arm. "I really depend on my shield arm. Delilah`s a great doctor, but there`s always a chance it`ll heal wrong and cost me strength or mobility. Magical healing is expensive, but it removes that chance, and gets me back out there faster."

　　Jeremiah turned to Delilah. "You`re a doctor and an alchemist?"

　　Delilah blushed and smiled. "And a legal counselor. Not to boast, but I`m one of those prodigy types. If I`m not working toward some lofty goal or another, I go stir crazy."

　　"She`s fixing to be queen one day," said Bruno with a wink.

　　"Not necessarily queen!" said Delilah. "I just want to make the jump into politics. I think I can do a lot of good for a lot of people, and&okay, yes. I want to be queen. One step at a time, though."

　　Bruno and Allison laughed, but Jeremiah detected a distinct sense of pride in their friend.

　　"Anything I should do?" Jeremiah asked Delilah, who had begun sorting through the pile of mail that had accumulated in her absence.

　　Delilah stared off for a moment. "Umm&you`re welcome to explore the city, if you like."

　　"I spent quite a while wandering yesterday. Actually ran into some recruiters for a mercenary company, The Keepsmen." The two gold coins still glittered in Jeremiah`s mind.

　　Allison shuddered. "Nowhere is a boy`s life more disposable than in the Keepsmen."

　　Jeremiah remembered the young half-orc. All at once, those two gold seemed less lustrous. He scrambled for a more a less distressing thought. "Delilah, do you actually own this house?"

　　"I do, yes. Actually, my family owned all of these houses at one time." She gestured toward the identical houses along the street.

　　"One time? What happened? If you don`t mind my asking."

　　"I sold them all. I didn`t want to be a property manager type. Needed the money to pay for law school, medical school, and alchemy training." She paused, reading a letter. "Speaking of which, I`ve apparently got a symposium to get to. I`ll see you later tonight!" Delilah leapt out of her chair and sprinted out the door. Bruno and Allison finished their breakfast soon after and headed out as well.

　　Jeremiah found himself alone once again. He decided to be at least a little useful and cleaned up the plates from breakfast. The mundanity of the task stood in contrast to the enormity of the unknown before him. What was he going to do? He`d never even considered mercenary work before yesterday (although Allison`s reaction did sour the idea). But what other opportunities were out there? He didn`t even know what he didn`t know. He buried himself in chores to keep from having to think of it.

　　By the time Delilah returned several hours later, the house was pristine. Jeremiah had banished the dust and cobwebs in the corners, vanquished the layer of grease in the kitchen, and even obliterated the forgotten dirt nestled in neglected crevices around the house. "Hi Jay," said Delilah as she entered. "Have you been cleaning this whole time?"

　　Jeremiah emerged from under the sofa with his dust rag. "Just started tidying up a few things&guess I got carried away. I hope you don`t mind."

　　"Of course not, thank you very much! I`ve been meaning to get to it." Delilah dropped a stack of papers on the kitchen table with a thud. She began signing and stamping them at a rapid pace. "So, how do you like Dramir?"

　　"Oh, it`s incredible!" said Jeremiah. "All the people and the history and the things to do and see—though I`ll be able to enjoy more of it once I get a few more silver from selling those doors."

　　Delilah glanced up when he said this, the steady rhythm of her stamp pausing. She studied him for a moment, then returned to her work. "Mm-hm," was all she said.

　　The front door opened again and Bruno poked his head in. "Hey Delilah, we might have a problem. The doors were ordered by the city of Dramir, but over sixty years ago. There`s a record, but they`re saying they can`t make a payment on it."

　　"Incorrect," Delilah said. "Tell them that pursuant to Article fifty—" she squinted at the ceiling—"four? Actually, tell them that pursuant to the Commerce and Trade Declaration of King Kuro the Unstoppable, procurements of kingdom security (which the doors certainly are) maintain a protected status of—"

　　"Delilah?" interrupted Bruno, eyebrow raised.

　　"Right, I`ll just come with you," said Delilah. "Jay, can you give me a hand with something?"If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

　　"Sure," Jeremiah said. "How can I help?"

　　She sat him down in her chair and stamped the back of his right hand. "You are hereby authorized to sign in my name for twenty-four hours. Please sign all of these documents in my name, Delilah Fortune, or initial as appropriate, and stamp after each signature." She placed a quill, stamp, ink pad, and two copper coins in front of him. "Some of these papers are confidential, classified, or sworn to attorney/doctor client privilege, so please don`t read them. Thanks!"

　　She and Bruno were out the door before Jeremiah could ask for clarification. He shrugged and began slogging his way through the stack of papers.

　　Allison returned an hour later. Jeremiah smiled a greeting. "How`s the shoulder?" he asked.

　　"Like new," she said. "Healing magic is powerful stuff." She rotated her arm to demonstrate, then frowned as she watched him stamping Delilah`s paperwork. "Should you be doing that?"

　　Jeremiah held up his stamped hand. "Delilah authorized me to work on this while she and Bruno deal with the door payment."

　　Allison hesitated a beat longer, then grunted, turned on her heel, and retreated to her room. She did not emerge. Jeremiah sighed and resumed signing and stamping. If she wanted to be moody about his being here, that was her problem, he decided. He`d be gone soon enough.

　　The sun was beginning to set by the time Delilah and Bruno returned. Jeremiah offered his handiwork to Delilah for inspection, but she merely thanked him and set the stack of papers aside.

　　Bruno set a plain but sturdy-looking chest onto the table. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "may I have your attention! Please be seated, as we`re about to begin that most delightful of chores: the splitting of the take."

　　Allison and Delilah took their places around the table. Jeremiah suddenly remembered something. "Hey, wait a minute! You never gave me my share from the card game!"

　　Bruno looked a bit taken aback at having his dramatization interrupted. "Your share? It was my money you went in with, and I gave you a silver anyways."

　　"Right, but I helped. I should get a share of the whole take."

　　"Bruno, be fair. You almost got the kid killed," said Allison.

　　Bruno looked at her with surprise. "Well then! I suppose fair is, indeed, fair." He gave Jeremiah a sarcastic smile, reached into a pouch and pulled out two silvers and ten coppers. "I hope a total of three silver in payment is amenable to you, given the distribution of expertise in the matter."

　　Jeremiah was thrilled to have the extra three silver. Combined with the split from the take he might even have a gold or more! More than enough to enjoy the city to its fullest, and to secure safe passage to wherever he decided to go next. He scooped up the coins and jingled them in his hand. "Three silver is fine, thank you Bruno." He tried to return the sarcastic smile, but his was all too genuine.

　　"But of course! Three silver is nothing to sneeze at is it?"

　　"Umm, no. Certainly not." Jeremiah was confused. What was Bruno doing? Was he making fun of Jeremiah for being poor? That didn`t seem right.

　　"Now then. If there are no other points to discuss, shall we continue?" Bruno looked pointedly around the table. "No? Are we sure? Are we absolutely, positively certain—"

　　"Get on with it," said Allison, rolling her eyes while Delilah snickered.

　　Bruno unlatched the chest and lifted the lid. Jeremiah`s anticipation mounted. It was a sizable chest, and would hold quite a lot of copper!

　　Bruno wiggled his fingers in delight, reached into the chest, and dropped a small golden bar in front of Jeremiah. It landed with a dull metallic thud. Jeremiah stared at it as a chill ran down his spine. The bar was as long as Jeremiah`s palm and covered in intricate stamps and numbers.

　　Then a second gold bar appeared next to the first. Jeremiah was hypnotized by their gleam, their hue, their size&and they were his.

　　A third bar appeared, then a fourth and a fifth. Jeremiah broke out in a sweat. His heart pounded in his chest. He was dimly aware of movement around him. Gold. He had gold. He tried to think but his thoughts were gone.

　　A sixth bar, layered on top of the neat row of five. Seven, eight. Jeremiah was starting to feel nauseous as his excitement corroded into shock. Nine, ten. Bruno was building a pyramid of gold in front of him. Time slowed down and disbelief left him a passive observer to more money than he had ever seen in his life accumulating before him. The bars kept coming, building the pyramid higher and higher, until, with a touch of exaggerated finality, Bruno placed a final bar on top of the pyramid with a soft clink.

　　Fifteen bars in total. Jeremiah slowly looked up and saw the other three had pyramids of their own, and another was set aside. They grinned at his obvious shock.

　　"Fifteen," he managed to say. "I have fifteen gold?" He expected to be informed he was having a hallucination.

　　Delilah cleared her throat. "Actually," she said gently, "Those are Dramir Crown Reserve Ingots. Used for more official transactions and payments. Each of those is worth five gold."

　　"Five&five times&" Jeremiah felt numb. "I have seventy-five gold?"

　　"Well, no," said Delilah. "You`ll also receive a quarter share from the party fund, as you`re leaving. That`s an additional fifteen gold, seven silver, five copper. I`ll make change o-"

　　Jeremiah was looking at the ceiling. He was lying on the floor, Delilah looming over him and tapping his cheek. He vaguely remembered a jolt to his body when he fell out of his chair.

　　Allison and Bruno made no effort to hide their laughter as Delilah helped Jeremiah back into his seat. He didn`t mind, he lacked the ability to feel self-conscious right now. Carefully, as though it were made of glass, he lifted the bar of gold off the top of his pyramid and hefted it in his palm. "I-I`ve never seen&Is this normal? For adventuring?"

　　Bruno waved his hands over the table. "Not exactly. It`s nothing shocking, but I wouldn`t say it`s typical. We`re adventurers, we don`t risk our lives for coppers. Big risk, big reward."

　　Jeremiah couldn`t believe he was so calm. "But you`re rich now! We all are! I don`t even know what to DO with this much money!"

　　Allison shifted in her seat. "You know my armor? It`s custom made. My weapons are the best money can buy. I spend a lot on personal training, supplies, and better equipment. To succeed in this lifestyle, you`re never good enough—you`ve always got to be improving, and that costs gold. A lot of gold. And all that`s before I get to my healer debt, which is why I`m doing any of this in the first place.

　　Bruno nodded. "I`ve got a whole network of contacts to pay—informants, fences, engineers to keep me up-to-date on lock and trap advances. My arrows are expensive and my toolkit always needs updating."

　　"And I`m always restocking the lab," said Delilah. "The medical, legal, and alchemical guilds all have membership fees, and new alchemical recipes can be very expensive. If you want to pursue adventuring, you need to always be pushing yourself to gain every possible advantage you can. Adventurers aren`t rare, but, well..."

　　"They die in droves," Allison said.

　　Jeremiah listened without comment, still staring at his pyramid.

　　"But maybe..." said Allison, plucking three bars from the group pile and sliding them toward Jeremiah, "you should think of retiring. You got damn lucky—hell, we all did—but I bet if you take that home, you can have yourself quite a comfortable life."

　　Delilah slid the three bars back to where they started. "Don`t touch the pile," she said curtly.

　　Bruno tutted them. "Now, now, ladies. He`s a man with three more silver than he started the day with, and we must take him out to make some impulsive big city choices before we send him on his way!" Bruno slammed his palm on the table. "Jay, change into your finest clothes! We`re going to Corbyn`s!"

　　Jeremiah hesitated, but Allison and Delilah stood as well. Delilah stopped him as he started to collect his gold. "I`ll take care of that," she said. "We`ve got a safe spot to store money."

　　In his room, Jeremiah realized there wasn`t exactly anything fancy to change into. His bag held a few simple shirts, trousers, and braces. At least the black robes he was already wearing were a little mysterious, he decided. He cinched a belt around his waist and thought briefly about the clothes he could buy now. The word "retirement" echoed in his head. He shook it off and reminded himself to focus on enjoying the evening. After all, he was alive and wealthy in the greatest city in the land!

　　He returned downstairs to find Bruno fastening a black fur-trimmed cape to his collar. He wore a white low-cut shirt that showed off his tattoos. Allison emerged from her room in a blood-red tunic, black breeches and high leather boots. She looked lethal. They both regarded Jeremiah with a look of mild disappointment.

　　"Looking&classic?" said Bruno.

　　Jeremiah just shrugged. The knowledge that he could now afford to dress any way he pleased blunted the sting of embarrassment.

　　Delilah made them wait quite a while longer, but she emerged from her room a completely different person. Her floor-length midnight blue dress matched her eyeshadow, and her normally tied-back hair was styled down across half of her face with a lazy twisting curl. The look was nothing short of glamorous. Jeremiah`s eyes went wide.

　　"Well, now I feel like a heap of rags," Jeremiah said.

　　Allison sighed. "How come I can`t look like that?"

　　"You can look like this," Delilah said, "but every time I offer, you get too impatient. Also you cry when I try to brush out your hair."

　　Bruno clapped his hands. "Alright! Now that we`ve all seen Delilah in husband hunting mode, let`s get out of this house and into a bottle!"