Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 052 - How Rich Am I? (Patreon)

Kaen sat his mug of milk on Sulenda’s desk for a moment, and after he saw her eyes narrow at him, he picked it up and chose to set it on the ground near him.

A small smile flashed across her face, and Kaen remembered what Hess had said about Sulenda’s desk.  The rest of the room be damned with its dust, dirty shelves, and overgrown piles of paperwork, but that woman’s desk was off-limit.

“Now tell me why you need money?”

Glancing at Hess, Kaen realized that Hess was looking at him differently.  He had asked for money back in Minoosh to spend in town occasionally, but this was different, like grown-up talk.

“You both know what Luca did for me, right?”

Hess and Sulenda glanced at each other and shared a look. It was uncanny how they both seemed to cock their head the same way when they looked at him.

“Be specific, Kaen.  What are you getting at?” inquired Hess.

Kaen shared what Master Bren had told him about what Luca had done, and each of them nodded they also believed that.

A sigh escaped Hess’s lips as he leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head.

“Well, I’m glad you figured that out.  How are you handling the pressure of all that?”

“I’m doing ok with it,” Kaen admitted.  “It was hard to hear, but if I am going to achieve what Luca felt I could, I need to do more than just adventure and quest.  I need to build something greater than myself.  That is why I need to find out how much money I have and use it right.”

“This has to do with the boys you mentioned?” Sulenda asked.

Kaen nodded and informed them about the promise he had made them.  When he finished talking, he noticed Hess smiling and nodding.

“Boy, you never cease to make me proud or amaze me,” he declared as he leaned forward and slapped his hand on Kaen’s knee.  “That is something your father would have done.”

A sense of price flooded his heart, knowing what he felt was the proper thing was the right thing.

“I can help with the guild request,” Hess continued as he shook his head in disbelief at Kaen’s maturity.  “I can probably get you a discount on the lifestones since you are attaching them to a quest for these two boys and the prospect of two new adventurers in nine or ten years.”

Kaen nodded and looked at Sulenda.

“So, how much money do I earn?”

A groan came from her throat as she opened her desk and pulled out that same small wooden box he had seen her use before.  She once again pricked her finger with the quill, and after putting the bloody thumb on the top of the box, a small drawer popped out.

As she took the paper out, she shifted in her seat and gazed at Kaen.

“I need to say something before I give you actual numbers.  I need you to understand a few things about what took place this last week in town and how you will need some help managing the funds.”

Kaen glanced at Hess and saw Hess smiling at him.

“Do you know how much it is already?”

Chuckling, Hess nodded and shrugged.

“One day, you will learn the need for pillow talk, and nothing is better than talking about how amazing the person next to you is or how rich you just made them.”

Sulenda shook her head from side to side and groaned again.

“Please don’t fill that boy with nonsense.  You and I both know you fell asleep afterward.”

Kaen burst into laughter as Hess turned red and held his hands in protest at her statement.

“Just tell the boy what we discussed,” Hess declared as he sat back in his chair.

Nodding, she winked at Hess, then turned her attention back to Kaen.

“Hess told me, you know, that almost four-fifths of the entire population who could place a wager did.  I am sure he did not mention many side bets took place outside of the places I am responsible for.  The truth is more than ninety percent of the people who bet lost.  Usually, that would end in a blood bath, but because of your early statement of buying alcohol for all those who lost, combined with what you actually managed to pull off, and,” Sulenda paused as she took a breath.  “How you spoke about Luca and gave him the honor that most would never do. The city cannot help but love you and somehow not care that they lost their shirts!”

Sulenda chuckled and grabbed a piece of paper that was on the always neat stack she pulled from.  She took a pen from her desk and started writing a few numbers on the new sheet.

“The king, his house, the other nobles, and most of the merchants are what drove this number as high as it is,” Sulenda spoke as she continued to write down different columns on the page.  “I heard you gave away a gold coin last night to some crab. Is that true?”

Kaen grimaced and nodded but realized Sulenda had never looked up from her paper.

“I did,” Kaen admitted.

Sulenda nodded and grunted.

“You know how much a gold coin is worth, right?”

The tone that Sulenda had just used obviously meant that she did not believe he did.

Sighing, Kaen shrugged.

“I know one hundred silver coins is worth one gold coin.  When I worked at the quarry, I earned seven copper coins daily,” Kaen paused and looked at Hess.  “I should have gotten more, but it is what it is.”

Hess chuckled and shrugged at that comment directed at him.

Sulenda sighed at the two of them as she looked up from her writing and then focused on Kaen.

“So tell me, how many days did you need to work to earn a silver coin?”

Using his fingers, Kaen started to count.

“Roughly fourteen days, Kaen,” she interjected, not waiting on him to do the math.  “How many days would it take for you to earn a gold coin?”

“One thousand and forty days,” Kaen answered in a weak voice.  He knew what she was pointing out to him.

Nodding, Sulenda returned to her paperwork and started drawing a few more columns and rows.

“So you gave away what is basically a large chunk of what someone might make after years of working to watch a crab dance around with it.  Seem like it was still worth it?”

“I thought it did, but now I realize it was not a good use of it.”

Grunting in approval, Sulenda went on.

“Your choice to help those two boys is a cause worthy of a gold coin.  Your decision to watch a crab dance and give you a lemon was not.  Even if you were like most men and chose to spend coin on a woman’s company, not that I expect you to have to do that for a while, very few men, even nobles, would spend a gold coin on that one experience.”

Raising her head just enough to glare at Kaen, she held his eyes with her momentarily.

“Do you understand what I am saying?”

Nodding, Kaen fidgeted in his seat.

“I do.  Thank you for the lesson.”

Squinting her eyes at Kaen, Sulenda tried to decide if Kaen was serious or sarcastic.  Eventually, she gave up worrying about that and turned back to the paper before her.

“Back to what I said before, the real money came from the nobles and merchants.  A wager placed by the king was a gift to you.”
“A gift?”

“He placed a bet that you would be a wood rank.  He did this after you set out on the road with Luca and Aubri.  He knew he would lose and that I would know it and tell you about it.  He bet ten gold, years worth of work, knowing it would be lost.”

Leaning back in her chair, she stretched her neck for a moment before leaning on her desk with both arms.  She tapped her pen against the desk and grimaced.

“Hess told you the King wants to meet you?”
Kaen nodded.

“You need to meet with him.  It is a courtesy for what he did.  Of that, ten gold, eight of it goes straight to you.  He paid a fair price for when he wants to meet with you.”

A lump in Kaen’s throat started to grow.  Meeting with the King?  He knew he would need to find some much better clothing if that were going to happen.

“The King wasn’t the only one who made bets like this. A few other nobles did as well, but Hess will help you deal with those.  I’m here if he needs help, but for now, this is your total.”

Sulenda folded the paper she had been writing on and slid it across the desk to Kaen.  As he reached over and tried to pick it up, her hand held it firmly on the desk, and she leveled a serious gaze at him.

“Do not,” she emphasized, “share that number with anyone outside this room.  You will also learn to carry a small amount of money, but you will not keep more than one or two coins on you at a time.  Golden goose or not, remember the lesson in the story.  People sometimes think killing the goose is the best way to get richer.”

After speaking, she let go of the paper, and Kaen pulled it from the desk and held it in both his hands.  He could see Hess and Sulenda watching and waiting for his reaction to the number she had written down on it.

Opening the paper, he scanned all the numbers and columns, and his eyes quickly found a number circled in ink.

“SEVEN COPPERS?!” he shouted.

Hess and Sulenda started laughing uncontrollably.

Kean stood up, shook the paper at both of them, and then flung it on the desk. Huffing and puffing, he groaned as the other two continued to laugh and then began to cry.

“Seven coppers is your normal day's wages, right?” teased Sulenda as she leaned back in her chair.

“Perhaps he does deserve a raise,” chimed in Hess.

Kaen growled and sat back down on his chair.  He knew it was funny, but he had been expecting a real number.  Taking a deep breath, he let it out and repeated the process once more.

What has you so worked up? Pammon suddenly asked through their bond.  You woke me up with whatever that was.

Sighing to himself, Kaen shook his head.

Hess and Sulenda played a joke on me and told me I only earned seven copper for my help with all the betting.

Pammon began to laugh through their connection.  No, it was more than laughter.  It was harder and heavier than he had ever experienced form of amusement coming through their bond.

Are you laughing about this?

Yes! Exclaimed Pammon.  That number isn’t worthy of being part of a horde I one day hope to call my own.  I wouldn’t get up and move to lie down on seven copper.

Kaen groaned and realized even his dragon was having a laugh at his expense.

Turning to Hess, Kaen tapped his head where he always did when mentioning Pammon.

“It seems everyone thinks this is pretty funny.  I seem to recall you all forgetting that I worked more than one day.  It was at least five days, so that number should be at least thirty-five copper.”

Sulenda nodded and wiped a tear from her eye, opening her desk drawer and pulling out a small coin pouch.

“Would you like that all now or just a little bit of it,” she teased.

“Just a few coins if you please, ma’am,” Kaen joked back.  “I wouldn’t want to carry too much around town, risking a dagger in my back over my fortune.”

Not missing a blink, Sulenda undid the pouch and slid two copper coins toward Kaen.

“As you wish!”

Groaning, Kaen picked them up with a smile.

“Now, any chance I can find out how much I really made?”

Hess nodded, pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and handed it to Kaen.

“You bastard!” Kaen called out.  “You had that this whole time? What then was all the time we spent watching Sulenda writing numbers on a paper?”

Hess winked as he handed Kaen the paper.

“That my son was for the both of us.  We needed a good laugh!”