Unleash the Chuunibyou!

Chapter 18: Money Problems

"Dispel!" Fumiko called out, thankfully being able to move again after the long break that she took while she waited for the rain to water Fred's field. And thankfully cancelling her magic was both easy and magic efficient as the clouds dispersed as soon as she called out, though she still stayed a few minutes even after the sun began to shine again seeing as she wanted to be sure that she didn't cause any flash floods or anything. But once she was finished, she moved Arashi back to the surface where she finally stood on solid ground again before it turned into a bracelet yet again seeing as she was finished using it at the moment.

"Well I'll be... To think that magic can really do something like that." Fred, who had returned to his front porch and was scratching behind his farm dog's ear, whistled slightly as he watched the last of the clouds disappear. "And here I was sure that you'd be here til' morning watering the crops."

"If you'd like to confirm that my job is completed, I'm willing to wait here while you inspect your field." Fumiko offered.

"Nah. I can already see by the way that the light's hitting the crops that they've all been watered." Fred replied before digging into his pocket and taking out a folded white card. "Here ya' go. Thanks for the help, Lass, and I might have you out here again if you're this efficient."

"Have a good day, Mr. Fred!" Fumiko replied with a smile as she accepted the card and began to walk back towards Algus. And while she could just fly back on Arashi, Fumiko now knew why the vision had shown her standing on top of the staff rather than sitting down seeing as her bottom was already sore from just having sat down while resting. But thankfully the adventurers guild was close to the city's eastern gate and it wasn't long before Fumiko was back at the guild and handing the card that she'd received from Fred to Jennifer.

"They always seem to want to fold the cards." Jennifer sighed as she took the paper and began to unravel it. "But it seems that you've done an excellent job and the client is happy, so I declare that your quest complete. Just hold on a moment and I'll prepare your reward."

"Thank you!" Fumiko replied happily, not only thankful that she'd had such a productive day in upgrading Arashi but she even completed her first quest as well. But even if she was happy, she was exhausted too seeing as she still hadn't quite recovered from her magic use. And so, more than anything, she was looking forward to going back to the inn so that she could rest and recuperate before Jennifer finally finished gathing the reward and returned to the desk.

"The quest reward was set for three silver and fifty copper coins. Please confirm the amount." Jennifer asked, and Fumiko quickly counted out the coins before separating the silver coins and putting them into the bag with the others before just throwing the copper coins into the bottom of her satchel so that she would have fast access to them. And seeing as she'd given Hani eight silver and she'd spent ten copper on her breakfast, Fumiko quickly did the math and figured that she had about forty-four silver coins and one-hundred and forty copper. However, having made only three and a half silver today and seeing as the inn costed two silver per night which didn't include the cost of dinner or the bath, she quickly realized that living in this world wasn't going to be easy with just G-Rank quests alone. Though she currently didn't care seeing as she was still exhausted and she figured that she wouldn't have to enchant her staff again tomorrow so there was the possibility of getting two quests done instead of only one.

After collecting her reward and thanking Jennifer again, Fumiko walked out of the guild and stretched before she began to head towards the Clawford Inn so that she could hopefully eat dinner and get another bath before bedtime. However, as soon as she entered the building, she ran into a problem that she hadn't been expecting.

"Fu! Over here!" Hani yelled happily, though with how loud the section of the inn where the voice was coming from was, Fumiko felt as if she might need to ignore her friend as she could already tell that the woman had slurred words. But before she could walk up to her room, an arm wrapped around her shoulder and began to lead her towards a table that was already filled with a bunch of rough, thug-looking characters. "Come and join us for dinner!"

"So you had enough money to get drunk but you didn't have enough to pay for the fee in order to enter the tournament tomorrow?" Fumiko asked. "You're only fifteen, right? Is drinking even legal for you?"

"Huh?! You don't even know that?!" Hani asked while exhaling her alcohol-laced breath in front of the witch. "Drinking age depends on your occupation! And seeing as you're an adventurer now, you can drink too!"

"That's right! If you're old enough to fight and risk your life, then you're old enough to drink!" Several men from the table all agreed at the same time.

"Take a drink, Fu!" Hani continued.

"The usage of alcohol has been proven to be bad for children, both in short and long-term." Fumiko explained while gently shoving away a full tankard that was being offered to her by her friend. "And seeing as I rely on my mind to do pretty much everything, I'll pass. Thanks."

"Oh, don't be such a stick in the mud!" Hani continued, though by now Fumiko was able to duck underneath the woman's arm and escape, losing her hat in the process before she stole it back and escaped up to her and Hani's room. And while she wanted to scold the beastkin for her behavior, Fumiko had been around enough drunk people in her time to know that talking to her would be useless. And so she asked the innkeeper to draw a bath before she relaxed in the tub for almost half an hour until she finally returned to their room and withdrew the Arcane Codex so that she could read it before going to bed. Though after reading more about Hail's history, Hani eventually stumbled through the door and didn't even say anything before falling face-first on her bed and going to sleep immediately. And seeing as she started snoring enough so that Fumiko couldn't concentrate, she let out a small sigh before she released the codex and got ready for bed herself. Though this was easy seeing as she didn't have any pajamas and only had to take off her boots, socks and hat before she was ready for bed.

After cleaning her dress, Fumiko let Haru out into the room before she leaned over and turned the valve closed on the lamp between the beds so that the flame slowly died instead of just blowing it out like Hani did the night before. And even despite her friend's snoring, Fumiko was able to close her eyes and go to sleep after only a few minutes of trying, thankfully not having any visions at all as she slept soundly for the first full night in recent memory.