Foreword from The Profound and Pretty Princess' Ultimate Guide to Cultivation, Captivation, Cuteness, and Carving Your Way to the Top, English Edition (the worst-selling guide in the history of Putijama)

On the Utter Bullshit of Restricted Markets

There are some markets in The Kingdom of Verdant Earth where you need special permission to sell goods or services. Most of these are related to delving and food as buying something subpar in either could get you badly hurt or killed.

Unfortunately, that extends to amazingly written guides from 'unknown sources'. Just read the damn thing! It's better than anything on the market!

Yes, this includes The Delver's Delight. Well, at least the sample. It was useless!

It totally makes sense that food is regulated. Delving goods too – you can't have people going into rifts with subpar gear or crap potions.

But eloquent and amazingly insightful… insights… into the world at large and the very heart and soul of delving? How can someone restrict that?

Unfortunately, that means, for now, this guide will only be available in English. And that autotranslated copy into some MM language. But let's pretend that one doesn't exist…

Upon arriving in Velez, despite the late afternoon hour, I sent a message requesting an audience to Lurka, the Council's extremely tall protocol officer. His reply was polite but I could sense the nervous energy underlying the words – I had caused some issues before with a similar impromptu meeting.

I met with him for about fifteen minutes before being let in to the main chambers. His mood was brightened significantly by my remembering his love of both chocolate and cheese as I stopped at a few shops along the way. He ate them together in one bite to my mild dismay.

My main two goals were to inform the Council I'd be taking a few day break – making clear I was informing rather than asking for permission – and to lay out my new terms for doing any larger series of city-sponsored delves, like I'd completed mere hours before in Struva.

As it was a routine day, not open to the public and with no scheduled petitioners, only three Councilors were in attendance and in informal attire. I was quite glad at which three it was.

Every day, the Council had a few people on emergency duty should something urgent come up – as happened when my team was assigned the delve where Steve got hurt – and to make progress on a number of smaller initiatives so actual votes flowed more smoothly. It was far easier to make a decision when someone you trusted – at least to do a good job in information gathering and summation – provided you a packet on the topic.

There was Katarina Illeva, my former friend who I probably needed to patch things up with, shooting me an encouraging smile.

Aleksandra Podlipa, a potential new ally, especially in fighting the Church of Unullification, seemed to be weighing her own reaction, keeping a neutral face.

Finally, Uros Barno, the slimy man who had done essentially nothing but treat me well, at least as far as I could tell. He had a smile so predatory, it sent a million thoughts and worries running through my head.

Katarina clapped her hands. "Ah, our intrepid delver, returned from his first delve-plomatic mission. Nope, that doesn't work," she laughed. "But yes, we got the positive news from the Struva Council, Zita Bartko was rather complimentary of your work. Now, what's this about changing our terms suddenly?"

Nodding, I began my talking points. "Yes, it was rather successful in a number of ways so thank you to the Council for setting it up. In most regards, it went smoothly."

Uros chuckled darkly. "Yes, I heard about your run-ins with the Councilors of not just one but two cities. Impressive." Rolling my eyes and preparing to defend myself, he continued. "I see you have one item to 'inform' the Council of and another to put in front of us for further discussion. We're just wrapping up so please, let's save the bullshit or speeches, my chef is preparing a wonderful meal that I want to enjoy fresh out of the oven."

Slightly surprised, I stepped forward to be a bit less formal. Lurka gasped, though quietly, and I realized I crossed the line – an actual physical line petitioners were not supposed to step past. All three Councilors smiled at Lurka and I got the sense he received three AAI messages saying it was clearly okay.

"Yes, I need a break. I have had maybe two total days off since I arrived here. So, I am informing you I will be taking the next three days off."

"You don't dictate the terms here, Terry," Aleksandra said, though there was something in her voice I found odd.

"In this case, I do. I won't—"

"All in favor?" Katarina said, cutting me off and raising her hand. The other two quickly followed suit. "Granted. We shall also be scheduling some R&R time any time you do more than say twelve delves on one of your city contracts. Let's be clear, twelve or greater. Sound good?"

I nodded and she pressed forward. "Now, there was a renegotiation of terms you also wanted to discuss? I cannot pass such a new agreement without full Council consideration but… I may be able to put it in the best light, so to speak." She gave me a knowing smile.

Well, this is going about twenty times better than expected.

"Yes, thank you. Much appreciated." I gave a little bow and then realized that probably wasn't the right move as Lurka shook his head slightly in my peripheral vision.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #46: When someone does you a solid, whether you are on shaky grounds with them or not, acknowledge it. There's no reason to be mean or petulant just because of any current tension in your relationship with them. Being the bigger person can go a long ways towards repairing relationships.

Plowing ahead while ignoring the man, I said, "So, I would like to start meeting with what I'll simply call 'important people' when I am on these delving trips. That should be a mix of political figures, merchants and shopkeepers, and just generally people with influence. I can't tell you exactly who because I have no idea who is important, especially city-by-city, but I think you understand the gist."

It wasn't the best explanation I'd come up with but I had a small enforcement mechanism. "If I run into something like what happened on my first day in Struva – and again on the third day," I said, referring to dealing with Stavros Klimas, "I won't be returning to that city for six months, agreements be damned."

This is where I see how much pull I have. It is probably the most likely place for a bit where they might decide to clap me in chains…

Aleksandra nodded. "Not of your own making. That's the key clause. If you get yourself in trouble, if you anger the wrong people, that is not on this Council. If needed, we will review AAI footage so do record more often. We won't allow other cities to treat you unfairly if you did nothing wrong. But that also means you don't have a free pass to do as you please."

"Fair," I replied, as it was certainly a reasonable stipulation.

"Does that mean you won't be returning to Struva? I know Zita was slightly concerned you threatened to pull your teams out of delving there," Katarina said, putting a hand to her chin as if thinking.

I made sure to inject a slight warning tone into my voice as I said, "I didn't. I threatened to tell the teams they shouldn't go there. I don't command them, as we discussed. That's a key part of our existing agreement."

"That it is. Okay, well, I think we'll see what concessions our broader Council will want in exchange. Normally, formal introductions to, as you called them, 'important people' would be a very large ask. However, half the in-process contracts I've seen almost require the meetings with you anyway. This probably relieves some headaches on our end," Katarina said with a big smile.

"Katarina, do not give up our negotiating leverage so easily," Aleksandra admonished, her tone very heavy but she failed to keep the creeping smile from her face.

Uros chuckled. "Our recordings of this conversation may be reviewed, hence we need to pretend to be neutral," he explained. "I don't really care. This is a win-win, so we'll get it done. Thank you Terry, enjoy your time off." He made a shooing motion which felt excessive but still released me for the rest of the day.

I had a nice home-cooked meal at Risto's, just the two of us talking before he took me to the training yard to go over a bit of the footage from my recent delves. He didn't work me too hard, which I sincerely appreciated.

***

As I walked into the inn, Vana lit up like a grandma seeing her favorite grandchild for the first time all year at Christmas.

"So good to have my least favorite customer back!" she bellowed to laughs from the patrons speckled throughout the common room. I handed Steve over to her with an eyeroll and she headed over to where she kept some food ready to hand off to hungry customers.

"So, did you have a fun trip?" the innkeeper, this time dressed like she should be leading the dance team at an NBA game, asked. She was preparing two trays after sticking Steve down her top to free up her hands. His head popped up and then went to the side, falling asleep immediately.

"Uh, is that uncomfortable?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Not an option for you!" she shouted with a laugh. I rolled my eyes. "So, I want to hear all about it, how did this trip go?"

I explained most of what had happened, leaving out some of the more sensitive parts, but still mentioned finding the lab where I'd been 'born', meeting with merchants including the weird eight-course meal, and the run-ins with the local Council.

"Oh yeah, love Zita. In my younger days, I fought with her over a man. I got him first but she got him to the last," she said with a fond smile. "Fun time but he was right to marry her, he and I would have been an awful pairing. Anyway, I called in Elda so after you eat and bathe – yes, non-negotiable – we're going to head to my place." She gave me a saucy wink and huge sway of her hips.

I can see why she and Gabby get along so well. Will be good to talk with the dungeon again. I have an essence stone but don't think she'll want a null affinity one…

Half an hour later and much cleaner, I arrived at Vana's just as she let Jasna in.

Before we could start, Gabby made trumpet noises, something I was beginning to realize she'd always do despite no one else but me really understanding it.

"I present to you, the most complete and amazing guide ever known to man, here on Putijama, on Earth, anywhere!" she exclaimed.

[Incoming AAI Message from The Lady Princess Gabriela The Never Delved XVII, The First of Her Name, The Destroyer of Dreams and Delights, The Defeater of Delvers: File]

Slightly wary but still trusting her enough to risk a virus, I opened the attachment.

The Profound and Pretty Princess' Ultimate Guide to Cultivation, Captivation, Cuteness, and Carving Your Way to the Top, English Edition

I looked to my two female companions; both seemed more confused than I was. Jasna responded first. "Gabby, this is just gibberish."

The dungeon laughed in my head. "Oh shoot, hold on, wrong file. Must have labeled them… yup. Damn Terry, I thought that was a joke memory, proper file management actually is a massive pain!"

Vana's eyes started going wider and wider. "Wait, did you put together your own delving and cultivation guide?" she asked, amazed. "Damn, I would have killed – hopefully not literally but maybe – for this when I was a fresh Tier 1.0. What are you going to do with this? It could cause some trouble…"

"I already tried to list it – the Verdantese version first – on an online marketplace but… while I can access the general Planet Web, I can't register myself. I tried. And selling any delver guides is pretty heavily restricted. Right now, I can only sell the non-Verdantese versions." She sighed dramatically like she was hamming it up but I felt honest sadness from her.

I get it. She doesn't want just the rich to have access to information.

"I was able to do a pretty poorly translated guide in a language they use in some parts of The Monetary Might Kingdom but… it's only sold about 50 copies. And the English one is at zero…" she said with a sniffle I thought was only half fake.

"Hey, thanks for doing this, it will be immensely helpful for me," I said, putting my hand on the core and trying to pulse happy thoughts.

"This pervert is getting handsy!" she yelled with a laugh.

In a far quieter tone through a message I could tell was only sent to me, she said, "…we're kinda in this together. At least I am with you, somehow. I know you were mad you didn't get good information when you came here. And everything people share with you is a bit disjointed, no one sure what to tell you since it's assumed knowledge… I thought you could use a break."

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"I get it," I said with a smile. "Thanks."

She went on to sass the three of us for a few more minutes before I brought things back on track.

"So, do we have anything else for Gabby? Where we might deploy her?" I asked.

Jasna gave her update – essentially nothing good near Struva, they were too aware of any rifts around there and a new dungeon popping up would mean that a Tier 1 rift had been undetected and broke which would cause a ton of scrutiny. We all thought it was too risky.

Vana had been carefully poking around through her contacts and there were a few places to the south of Velez, a few hours away, that might work.

As we were wrapping up on next steps, I asked, "Gabby did you still need an essence stone?"

At her wishy-washy response, I continued. "So I am going to say I think this is a terrible idea but I would be a bit of an ass if I didn't bring it up. I do have an essence stone—" Gabby sent a shockwave of excitement through to me, "—but it's null-affinity."

Our hostess winced. Jasna already knew of course. Gabby seemed a little reluctant to say anything, finally breaking her silence. "Uh… I'm guessing that's not good but no one that I ate had info about essence stones on them. Could you just trade it for a regular one or something?"

Vana explained that essence stones with an affinity were normally worth a bit more than the typical stones without an affinity but when I shared I bought it for eight gold, she confirmed my guess that it was cheap. Exceptionally cheap, even, as a typical stone could go for over 50 gold and a rare affinity could go for far more.

We decided that since a high null essence essentially drove the dungeon insane previously, it wasn't the best idea…

Overall though, Gabby seemed in good spirits while waiting for a more permanent spot. Things with Jasna were also feeling relatively normal, which was a relief.

***

The next day, I got a surprise message early from Aras. He wanted to thank me for the 'gift' of his new second essence affinity.

He took me to six different bakeries, greatly offending at least four of the proprietors as he told me what they did well and where they were greatly lacking. The last one threatened to fight him when Aras mentioned the weakness of her croissant skills.

"Here, let's do a blind taste test," Aras said with a laugh. It was the most animated I'd ever seen him for more than a quick flash; though every minute or so, he'd go silent for a few seconds.

The baker reluctantly agreed and, upon tasting the croissant from a bakery all the way across town, she spat and started swearing. "Ugh, guess I have to step up my game," was all she said after a long moment before giving both of us a 'lifetime ban' that would expire in a week. At my questioning look, she shrugged. "Can't actually shove away good customers, especially if my crullers are the best in the city. Would be a crime to deprive people like that."

Aras took me to his home and his wife showered kisses upon my now-bald head. She tried to explain why she was so worked up and happy but Aras managed to wrangle her upstairs for a nap, despite it being only about 9:30am.

He looked me in the eye. "I really do want to thank you. My Innate Capability is… dangerous. This new dual-affinity has given me more control over it. You really have changed my life – our lives," he said pointing upstairs, "for the better. I won't forget that."

"You are using longer sentences too, I think one almost hit double digit words," I laughingly said and he joined in.

I invited him and his wife to a group dinner we were planning later but he declined.

***

"Uh Gabor, where are we going? The restaurant is that way," I said, slightly exasperatedly. The man had been giggling for the last twenty minutes before we left and five more on our walk.

"Oh, I've made better arrangements. It's a surprise. Plus, now it's free!" he exclaimed, doing a little hop into the air.

I looked to Tiesa who gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Just because he's my husband doesn't mean he's my responsibility, especially tonight. Mama Tiesa is not on duty, drinking until tipsy Tiesa is."

Vana looked between all of us and started wagging her finger. "Nope, I deal with enough stupid drunks on a day-to-day basis, not handling it tonight. Not doing it."

"Is everyone here that irresponsible with booze?" I felt the need to ask, more than a little concerned.

Risto, as the second youngest there behind Sofia – the tailor that Nikolaj invited – stepped forward. "Fine. I volunteer. Terry, I volunteer Terry," he said, ducking behind Gabor for cover like I would hit him.

"I'll just call you all a carriage or something. Maybe toss you in a big horse crap cart to drag you home," I responded.

We turned a corner just as I realized what part of town we were in…

I gave the woman of the estate – as it couldn't only be called a house – a strange look as she greeted us outside the grounds.

Katarina Illeva smiled warmly "Welcome, welcome. I trust Gabor gave you a run down of everything beforehand?" At everyone's blank stare, she looked to Tiesa. "I made an awful decision choosing him, didn't I?" she asked.

Tiesa nodded. Gabor helpfully added, "But free food! And they have two chefs. Not just one. Two!"

"Yes, as he said, we've set up a lovely meal for you all. I do hope this gesture of friendship is… well taken as it's meant. I heard Gabor was trying to make arrangements for a large number of people at a restaurant Maksim's cousin owns and decided to offer our house and our chef instead. Even brought in a second to make it a meal to remember." She looked proud of herself but also a bit worried like I might spit in her face.

"Can we talk?" I indicated to the side for just the two of us. "I guess everyone else head inside?" I half said, half asked.

"No AAI restrictions tonight, have fun," Katarina said to their retreating backs, then turned to me. "Before you say anything, I should have come to you instead of that one. Poor choice. This probably is another knock against that three-legged stool of friendship, trust, and usefulness… Although maybe it is at least useful?" Her wry grin was muted but there all-the-same.

Sighing, I gave her a nod. "Yeah, not thrilled at the curveball – sorry, it means sudden unexpected change – as this was supposed to be a quiet night. But can't really blame you here. That dipshit should have said something," I said chuckling. "I am guessing Tiesa is going to give him a talking to."

"Happening right now. Maksim had to call off the staff from responding to it. She only yelled one word before quieting down to normal volume and it wasn't Verdantese. Something you taught her?"

I couldn't help but laugh trying to think of which swear she'd use. "Okay, thank you for the gesture here. I know you didn't mean for the extra complications."

We exchanged a few more pleasantries before Katarina excused herself to take Maksim to the symphony, leaving the house to us.

Over dinner, which was far less fancy but also quite a bit more fun than the Caravanner's Cuisine and Chat with the merchants, Nikolaj regaled the group with tales of my merchantly might, greatly exaggerating my contributions and playing up how well I'd shown up anyone who challenged me.

I found out he got to know Sofia when she purchased the 73 bolts of birds of paradise print fabric we got as a delve reward a few days prior. He offered to deliver it to her since he was heading to Velez anyway. The two got to talking and this was their second date in two nights. They were holding hands under the table between courses.

It was exceptionally cute.

Vana took over the room next, telling bawdy tales of her delving days along with leading the group in a few of the more salacious songs popular in Velez at the moment.

Risto told embarrassing stories about his students and their fights. It would have been at most slightly entertaining but he had put together a blooper reel that he put up on an AAI screen the staff wheeled in which made it pretty darn funny.

Throughout the meal, Steve regularly escaped his high chair to pilfer from people's plates. Nikolaj and Sofia were slightly scandalized the first few times but by the end, they were just as used to it as any of us.

All-in-all, it was just a nice night.

***

On my second and third day of 'rest', Nikolaj and I worked on our business venture. The first two prototypes of the debit card machines had been delivered to us but before we installed them with our beta customers – Tilda and Vana – we needed to hire a few people, at least part-time, to help out on some of our plans.

I was out of the city half the time and Nikolaj had his own shop and merchant business to look after.

The first person I asked to interview was Zdenka Illeva, Maksim's niece. She had been very helpful when we were figuring out Steve's Innate Capability, powering the Scanner with her own mana. The young woman also handled the Magister of Scans exceptionally well so I figured she could deal with surly business people well.

Maksim had talked her up a few times, saying she had an exceptional head for business. It set off my hiring 'Spidey Senses' – something that had rarely steered me wrong.

Nikolaj had never hired anyone outside of family members while I had participated in hundreds of interviews total from both sides of the table so I took point.

"Okay, Uncle Maksim told me you were grumpy with him so I have to play nice but… why am I here?" Zdenka said, flopping into the cushy chair on the other side of the gorgeous wooden table in Nikolaj's shop. He had a well-appointed office for himself and a separate conference room just for occasions like this.

"Well Zdenka, your aunt and uncle both spoke highly of you and, to be frank, you don't seem to take shit from people so I thought you might be useful. Putting the Magister of Scans in his place was brave. And hilarious." I chuckled to which she responded with a confused smile.

"Right, getting more to the point. We're building out a large business operation and I figured you might want to be in on the ground floor. I think it could be a great learning opportunity. You won't be doing the most glamorous of work, at least at first. But we need someone who isn't going to be intimidated and is sharp enough to spot when things don't look right. You'll be reporting into us but moderately independent, once trained."

She scoffed. "That's incredibly nebulous. I could be cleaning toilets or being a booth babe at the Town Hall. Neither of which sound like something I want to do, ya know?"

I glanced at Nikolaj who was giving me a look like he couldn't believe what was happening. Because it was going exactly to plan.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #47: Sometimes you need to let someone pull the information out of you so they can start to shape the narrative they want. Let people fill in the blanks and they will show you what matters to them, then focus on those aspects when selling the vision back to them.

"Great point. Do you know specifically what you want to do?" I asked.

She shook her head though she started to lean forward slightly. "I've got ideas but they are a bit vague."

"So we're doing some financial services work and need someone to partner with the people who sell things. As in literally transact with physical money, whatever they might sell. Food, delving gear, farming equipment, livestock, services, you name it," I said. "It will mean building relationships and reacting on the fly."

"So you want me to go to brothels and help them sell sex?" Zdenka replied, crossing her arms.

"Is that where you spend most of your physical money?" I asked before I could stop myself.

But it was apparently the perfect thing to say.

She started laughing uncontrollably. Finally regaining herself, she said, "Okay, that was a good one. I wanted to see if you were just boring or whatever. I still don't get it though, you are bad at selling. Tell me more if you want me interested."

"I'll tell you what we're doing and why don't you tell me what we need and what might interest you. Does that sound good?" I asked.

At Zdenka's nod, Nikolaj and I laid out the initial plans of money changing stations – needing to find good locations especially which shops to work with, how we planned to protect the money, what we'd use the word of mouth generated by the money changing stations for, and a lot more details. After that, we dug into the near-term plans of the debit card system. She seemed especially interested in trying to get people bought in to the debit card system. The young woman even started testing out little slogans.

"So, you want to be doing outreach to potential customers? You know these aren't nobles, right?" I asked.

"My dad, Maksim's brother, is the fourth born of a pretty minor noble family, if we could even be called one. We kind of bounce in and out of being qualified as nobles and Velez also pretends to not have nobles. My mom is definitely a commoner. So talking to non-nobles is way better than with elitist pricks, at least in my book."

And with that, we had our first 'Head of Marketing' for our little initiative. She was tasked with getting 50 businesses and 500 people a week to sign up for the debit card side.

There was no way we could actually supply that many machines but it was a problem for another day.

We also asked Zdenka to scout out five additional locations for our money changing stations. Our initial three money changing stations were set: one inside Nikolaj's store, one at the fighting pits, and one at Vana's inn.

Our criteria were simple: someone who could protect the money changing station of Tier 3 or higher, a business that did most of its transactions in silver and bronze, and a business where the average transaction size was usually in the five to 50 silver range and/or anyone who had great traffic in general that might spread the word to other stores.

Nikolaj and I moved on to interviewing a technician, a very strange woman in her mid-50s that played with her hair the entire time.

Tamara was a Tier 2 so had the strength to pretty easily collect blood samples from those who were signing up – a Tier 1.0 to possibly even 1.4 might have difficulty exerting the force to pierce the skin of a high Tier 2 or above – and was deft enough with the needle that I didn't even feel it prick my skin.

Also important was her knowledge of how machines communicated via the Planet Web network so we'd be able to have people spend their money freely at multiple stores without overdrawing. Her understanding of essence scans – also called spirit scans – left a bit to be desired but overall, she was a great, if odd, find.

Lastly, we hired a retired bookkeeper, mostly for when we started to actually audit the books of businesses who wanted to use deposits to purchase inventory.

Erik was going to be watching the transaction logs too for debit purchases to try to detect anomalies but really, he was someone we got in early so we'd have him when we needed him.

Plus, he was paid by the hour so we weren't going to be out an arm and a leg. He was very happy to only work when it was necessary and the flexible hours were great for focusing on spending time with his grandkids.

***

The installation of the debit card machine at Vana's inn was incredibly anticlimactic. It all went off without a hitch.

To test it, she forced three of her regulars over to the counter and 'collected their blood in lieu of payment for today's lunch'. It sounded ominous to me but we had our first beta customers.

I had to remind our technician to not call them test subjects to their faces.

Tamara had them registered in our system via blood, essence scan, and picture within ten seconds of Vana calling them over. I had to explain a strong password system as all three tried to use '123'.

After they got the meal on the house, Vana's customers seemed hesitant to hand over their money as a deposit until she offered them a small discount on meals going forward.

Instead of the 70 bronze to a silver they would owe – depending on how many cups of ale they had – for a meal, each handed over about twenty silver.

Vana immediately charged them for meals for the next few weeks, bringing their deposits down to half what they were seconds before.

Surprisingly, all seemed rather happy about it. The customers got a ten percent discount and didn't have to keep lugging money around or have Vana breathing down their necks to pay and Vana got her money now with a small transaction fee.

We only made a few tens of bronze as the prototype machine was free to Vana for the time being but it went far more smoothly than I was expecting.

Tilda's on the other hand…

Tilda's Trifles and Treasures was extremely busy when we showed up to install the debit card machine. She had apparently put out word she was having a massive sale, presumably just to mess with us.

The woman negotiated with Zdenka for twenty minutes in between helping customers about a finder's fee for every person who signed up.

I made sure nothing got too out-of-hand but let Zdenka take lead on making the agreement.

The shopkeeper was a wonderful salesperson, both to us and her customers. Finally, we acquiesced to a finder's fee of one percent for anything over three gold total deposited.

She earned almost ten silver by the end of the day as well as the agreement of every customer to demand all the other places they shopped install the machines.

She even used giving Steve pets or food as an incentive: deposit over 50 silver and you get to pet a real bond for ten seconds. Over a gold and you get to feed him.

Steve sent me feelings of wanting us to be at Tilda's every day.

That's trouble my dude…

Nikolaj took the deposits from the crafty shopkeeper, who handed them over rather reluctantly, and we went back to his store to have a small celebration with our burgeoning business, just Nikolaj and me and our three employees.

***

The third day was spent reading, switching every few hours between my bed and the relatively quiet common room, after Aras stopped by the inn with a few bags of baked goods. Vana pretended to be upset that he brought in outside food until he bribed her with a few of her favorite pastries, two of which she was shocked were significantly better than her own.

Aras brought a few of his favorite books as well and spent some time reading alongside me.

I knew it was the last day of my break but the following day was supposed to be pretty quiet.

Yeah right…

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