Even though Aron was constantly pushing everyone, trying to spend as less time as possible, which they were already short on, it still took more than thirty minutes to get everything resolved.

"Zayne, how much time do you have left?" Aron asked looking at Zayne, who was lying on the massive stone table in the basement of Roland's house.

[Your body is infected with Chaos particles! Cure yourself if you wish to survive and not receive a terrible punishment! Time left: 1:10:32]

"Just over an hour... Honestly, I didn't think it had been that long, though apparently, I don't have anything to worry about anymore, do I?" Zayne looked at Rina, who was looking for something in her bag.

Rina didn't answer, gradually her face filled with worry and her hands began to move more nervously.

"Rina, is something wrong?" Roland asked as he approached her.

She stopped, took a deep breath, and turned to Roland, "Commander... I had some problems, I forgot to take the Mana Stone..."

There was silence in the room, everyone was staring intently at Rina while her face grew paler. She wanted to say something, but she was too frightened.

"Agh... Rina, I asked you several times if you had taken everything you needed before you came here..." Roland sighed while shaking his head, "Okay, let's not dwell on that. How many Mana Stones do you need?"

Rina slowly raised her hand with her head down, "Just one... Without it I can't activate the spell, I don't have that much mana..."

A chill ran down Zayne's back. He didn't want to blame it all on Rina, even if it was her fault, but the realization that he could have gotten a serious penalty was really something scary for him.

"Hey, don't get so upset." Harald smirked as he put his hand on Rina's shoulder, "It's bad enough that you forgot the Mana Stone, but we have a way to get it."

Rina turned around and with sparkling eyes asked, "What...? Are you telling the truth?"

"Hah, sure." Harald smirked, "Mana Stone is pretty expensive stuff, none of the villagers have that much money, but there is one man in our village who can get just about anything!"

As soon as Harald's words were spoken, everyone immediately knew who he was talking about, even Zayne, though he was less familiar with the village than the others.

...

Ten minutes later, six silhouettes with only one lantern illuminated approached a massive three-story mansion. It was the only place in the village that had its own guards.

"Who are you? Get out of here! This is private property!" One of the two guards said menacingly as he held out his spear forward.

The silhouettes stopped as one of them stepped forward. Aron stared at the sentinel, smoothly put the spear away with his palm, and walked on. The guard had no choice but to watch as Zayne and the others passed him, though he was paid precisely to keep this from happening.

"What is the Elder doing here...? Has he done something wrong again?" The guard muttered in confusion as he looked at his mate.

"I don't know. Don't fixate on that. He's not someone we could have stopped." The other guard shrugged his shoulders.

...

In the spacious room on the massive red, velvet bed lay a burly man with a broad smile on his face through which it was obvious that he was missing a few teeth.

"Mr. Feto, how are you feeling?" The pretty girl asked kneading his back.

"Agh... Much better than before... Harald, that bastard, he's a great doctor, but what did I do so badly that he knocked out half my teeth!" Feto exclaimed grudgingly, raising his head, the girl immediately pressed the point, causing Feto to relax and tuck his head back into the pillow.

"Perhaps you should talk to him? Dr. Harald is a strict and harsh man, but I think he's the kind of man who's willing to act with justice." The girl said calmly as she continued to press on Feto's back, "You need to call me more often, or soon you won't even be able to stand up straight."

"That's the downside of my job. There's nothing I can do about it. If I stop trading, it'll be the same as the end of my life." Feto took a deep breath with a complicated expression, "I've been trading for years, and I'll keep doing it, although you're right about something. I really need to talk to Harald..."

Crackle.

At the same moment, the doors opened as several silhouettes stepped inside, ahead of which was Harald with a confident smirk on his face.

For a while, there was complete silence. Feto with wide eyes stared at Harald, while Elin and Rina looked at Feto and the girl above him with shocked faces.

"Pervert!!!" Elin exclaimed with flushed cheeks pointing at Feto. Rina just covered her face with her hands.

"What? What kind of nonsense are you talking about!? I'm just a person with a bad back! Moreover, what the hell are you doing here?" Feto exclaimed in confusion as he waved his hands.

"We have a business for you, and as you can guess it's urgent, considering what time we came to see you. Get yourself in shape, you've got a minute." Harald said calmly, sitting down in a chair and resting his hands on its back.

Feto was completely puzzled, but Aron's stern look literally left him no other choice, so in a few minutes they were all seated at the large oak table while the maids carried them hot tea.

"I would tell you to help yourselves, but I have absolutely no desire to do so. Tell me why you came here." Feto spoke grudgingly before taking a sip from the porcelain cup.

"Our request is very simple. Zayne has been infected with Chaos particles and he has less than an hour to find a way to get rid of it." Aron said calmly with folded hands and looked at Rina, "Our Oracle can easily handle this problem, but we are short of Mana Stone."

Feto nodded deeply with seriousness in his gaze, "I see, what kind of Mana Stone do you need?"

Everyone looked at Rina, who was the only one eating the cookies the maids had brought along with the tea.

She slowly broke off the last piece, put the cookie aside, and said, "Sorry, I was just really hungry... About the Mana Stone, any kind will do, I don't need very much mana."

"Fine, that's not a problem. I understand that the situation is an emergency so I won't complain much, but next time you better come to me in the afternoon or at one of my stores." Feto said, putting the cup on the table and touching his ring.

In his hand appeared a small black stone with some cracks from beneath which a bright blue glow emerged.

"Here. I will not charge you full price and will sell this Mana Stone at cost price. You must pay 100 Gold Coins." Feto said calmly, sliding the stone toward Rina.

Everyone's eyes went wide as they had completely forgotten that they had come to the merchant for the goods, which meant they had to be willing to pay.

"I'll pay for it." Aron said calmly about to take the Mana Stone, but suddenly Zayne stopped him.

"You shouldn't. I need this Mana Stone, so that means I have to give money for it." Zayne said calmly with a slight smile.