by Leona Jarnefeldt 15th January 2020, 1:19 am
-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Guild Mistress' office-
Sitting behind her official desk in her official wooden chair and dressed in her blue-and-white outfit for a change, Leona set aside the last of the official guild paperwork she had to do for today. It covered a grab bag of topics like how much the food and alcohol served at the guild social cost, the time it would take for the books in the library to be converted from Braille back to normal language, the cost of coffee for the week, and a lot of other administrivia that was inherent to the position of responsibility that Leona had been entrusted with years ago. Leona shuffled the completed paperwork into a little wire basket labeled COMPLETE and noticed a letter from Desierto sitting on her desk that had been buried beneath the paperwork.
Overcome with curiosity, Leona gently opened the immaculate white envelope, gently pulled out a piece of brown parchment, and held her breath as she began to read it. She was afraid that the bill for the help the sultan's army had rendered Nebdoui had finally come due. She shuddered to think what services the sultan would demand in return for his army putting pressure on the outlaw gangs of Central Desierto. Instead of a royal demand for service, Leona was greeted by the words of her mother.
"Dear Leona:
Remember that Kemal fellow I told you about a month or two ago, the one who owns the bookstore in the Tri-Council City? The one where I think that book on the Muserian language is? I've got good news and bad news.
I'll give you the good news first. Kemal's bookstore has the book we're looking for. I went to the Tri-Council City the other day and dropped by his shop, where I saw it myself. Unfortunately I didn't have enough money to buy it, but he IS willing to barter for it, which is where the bad news comes in.
The bad news is that in exchange for the Muserian language book he wants a particular vintage of wine from Pergrande. He said it's a rare and expensive vintage named Maison D'Everett, so you'll have to pay a lot of Jewels to get it. I know that mages aren't allowed in Pergrande, so the easiest and safest way to find it is to go Capital Crocus and visit a wine shop called Chateau DuVine. Kemal's a good customer of theirs and orders vintage wines from their catalog frequently, so trust him on this.
I haven't been to Capital Crocus before, so I can't help you. You'll just have to go and find it yourself. I know you can do it!
Sincerely,
Mom"
Leona calmly paired the letter with the envelope and took a deep breath. She would soon be paying a visit to Capital Crocus to visit a wine shop named Chateau DuVine and search for a vintage Pergrande wine named Maison D'Everett. Leona did not know how much the bottle would cost, but she anticipated that it would cost at least five figures, if not more. Thankfully she had saved back a lot of money from past jobs; ass a result the purchase of the wine would be more of a minor setback than a serious financial blow to the Wizard Saint.
Leona would be unable to go to Capital Crocus today because there were too many things that required her attention here. She needed to check on the guild library's progress with converting books from Braille back to normal writing, see how the Aces were doing with their paperwork, help them if they needed it, see if any other guild paperwork awaited her in her office, and numerous other chores that were part of running a guild. Leona put the envelope and letter in the central desk drawer and closed it. As soon as an opening in her schedule appeared Leona would visit Chateau DuVine and see if she could make the purchase before a wealthy wine connoisseur snapped it up.
[Post Word Count: 673]
[Total Word Count: 673/500]