"This is the store that Roy mentioned?" Leonard asked.

  "Seems so," Dan nodded, "Though I'm more worried about whether we have enough money to buy anything from here. I noticed that we weren't left with much after our dinner."

  The dinner ended up costing 80 pennies for the four of them. 1 plate of soup was 20 pennies. Dan didn't know how Robert managed to gather that much money from the natives, but his chief officer gave him 1 silver coin and a few 5 to 50 pennies coins when they left. All in all, it amounted to about 2.5 silver coins. 1 silver coin was equal to 100 pennies.

  "That depends on how advanced their printing press is," Fleta interjected, "What we have could be enough for a book or two or none at all."

  The store they were standing in front of was just called Mandy's. It was recommended to them by the man they had dinner with in the restaurant, which was supposed to be the closest thing to a bookstore in this small town.

  "Well, standing here and thinking about that won't do us much good, let's just go in," Marcus said as he walked to the door and knocked.

  Roy had told them about the store but also that it was most likely going to be closed at that time of night. He did mention that the old lady manning it lived on the upper floor of the store, so they could find her there if they couldn't wait till morning.

  "Who could it be at this hour?" They didn't have to wait long before a grumpy voice was heard, followed by the sound of the door being opened.

  The face that Dan and the gang were met with was the face of a woman who was clearly old, but you couldn't exactly put a number on it. She looked at them before she frowned as she said,

  "And why is a group of spoiled nobles at my door this time of night?"

  "We are really sorry madam." The lady looked displeased, so Dan tried to calm her down, they did need her help after all. "It's just that we have to leave early tomorrow and we won't have time to come here then. Our only choice was to come now. We are sorry if we bothered you."

  "At least you have some manners..." The lady, whom Dan could only conclude was Mandy, grumbled to herself, before giving them another deep glance, her eyes going from one person to the other, finally she said, "What is it that you want then? Make it quick."

  "We just need some maps of the areas around here, especially the known ocean routes."

  "Huh," Mandy raised an eyebrow at Dan's words before stepping aside and waving them inside, "Come in then, and close the door behind, the cold wind hurts my weary bones."

  Dan held back a smile as he followed after the old lady. She went behind the counter as she started searching for her maps. Dan and the others found themselves eyeing the books shown all over the shop. The collection was honestly surprising for Dan, it held everything from novels, sciences, geography and history, to system-related books about classes and skills and all that. But again, as Fleta said, they didn't know how the state of the printing press was in this world, so maybe he shouldn't have been that surprised.

  The system-related books were interesting to Dan, but he had an inkling that they wouldn't be able to afford them from how they were put in a locked sturdy-looking showcase that was right beside the old lady behind the counter.

  "How much are those encyclopedias about skills and Classes?" Even though he felt that they wouldn't be able to afford them, he couldn't help but ask, a part of him hoped for a miracle.

  Unfortunately, that hope was dashed as he heard the old lady snort without even turning her head,

  "10 gold each, non-negotiable."

  "...understood."

  From what Robert told him, a gold coin was worth 10 silver coins. They only had a bit less than 2 silver coins left, a 100 silver coins book was out of the question.

  "Here are the available maps I have," The old lady dropped 3 rolled up maps and a book on the counter in front of them, "If you just want something rudimentary, then this one is for you. It only shows the biggest ports and only has 1 route. You can have it for 50 pennies."

  She pointed out the smallest map first, the one Dan excluded straight away. They needed something better than that, way better. But his heart did skip a beat at how the worst map was already more than a quarter of their budget. He felt that the other two wouldn't be just a bit more expensive.

  "This one here is much more detailed," Once she saw that they didn't seem that interested in the first one, the old lady moved to the second, "It not only covers all the towns, villages and ports along the coastline, it also covers more routes. Most ships own something like this. It costs 2 silvers."

  The second map was closer to what Dan had in mind, he found himself nodding as the old lady explained what it held for them. The only negative it had was the price, it had already gone 30 pennies above their budget. He could see the old lady lowering the price if they asked nicely... He hoped. Even though Dan knew that they for sure wouldn't be able to afford the last map, he still looked at it.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  "This one, huh?" The old lady must have been watching him, because without even needing him to say anything, she started, "The last one comes with the book you see next to it. It is quite similar to the 2nd, just with a few key differences. First, it shows all the known ocean routes and islands... at least all those that the Empire made public. The linked book shows why a route was made through that place or why a location was avoided. Second, it shows the recent activities of pirates around those routes and some information about those pirate crews. This is a copy that was printed just 2 weeks ago, so it's still considered up to date in that department. And third... It's most likely way out of your budget, so why don't you just choose one of the other two and let me go back to my rest."

  "How much is it?" Dan didn't even have to ask the question himself before a voice beat him to it. He turned to the source of the voice and saw Marcus's eyes glued to the third map, and he could understand why, they needed that map, or more specifically, that included book.

  "2 golds, not negotiable," The old lady said again with the same tone as before, "It was leaked from the Navy. It's not some high-level secret, but still, good luck finding anything like this out there."

  Dan found himself wincing at the price. It wasn't that the price was high, he felt that it was worth it. The knowledge the book held was something they needed. The only problem was that they were too poor.

  "Do you accept barter," Dan thought for a bit before saying, "We might have something that might interest you?"

  "You'd better come up with something really interesting for me to give up a 2 golds book boy," The old lady rolled her eyes at him, even though Dan guessed that she might have been quite interested from the way she looked at them.

  Dan turned to his friends with a questioning look on his face. To be honest, he didn't know what they could give for the book, especially with how expensive it seemed to be. Leonard just met his face with a smile as he shrugged, while Marcus faced him blankly. It was clear that he had nothing too.

  "What about this," Fleta's voice sounded from next to him, dropping a pair of earrings on the counter. "I'm sure that you won't find anything similar to their craftsmanship. They are one of a kind."

  Dan looked at the earrings and saw that they were flower-shaped golden earrings with small red gems on each petal. They were well kept and so exquisite. One look and it was clear that they were quite expensive.

  The old lady took the earrings from the counter and brought them close to her eyes, a deep frown on her face. She studied them for a while before finally putting them down. Dan couldn't read her face as she looked deeply at Fleta, the doctor meeting her gaze unflinchingly.

  "You sure you want to exchange these for the book?" It was the old lady who broke the silence first, her eyes staring unblinkingly at the doctor.

  "Yes," Fleta's voice was resolute.

  "Unfortunately, I can't do that," The old lady finally said while shaking her head, "I still have a heart it seems. I can't trick a lady selling her jewellery to take care of such brutes."

  Dan coughed at her dig.

  "Here, take the book and map," The old lady first pushed the book and map to Fleta before continuing, "I think your earrings are worth 4 gold at the very least. And I still might be lowballing you. But that's what I feel comfortable parting with. Here, take these 2 gold coins."

  Fleta didn't take the gold coins straight away, she first looked around before saying,

  "I would like to take some other books. Guys, see what might be of help to us."

  "Okay," They answered as they spread around, searching for what might be of help to them.

  Dan tried to ignore the disdainful look the old lady was giving him as he took some books from the shelves. Ships and the Ocean was the first he chose. Followed by General History of the Empire, and a couple of books that appeared to be novels like, Ocean and its Legends. He chose those for the people back at the ship, they needed to make full use of the translation skill before it runs out. Hopefully, they would have people get the written language through these books.

  "Do you have any books in the standard western continent language?" He asked after thinking for a bit. "I'm interested in such a thing,"

  "I only have a few novels from them. They have been here for ages so I can give you a deal for them," Saying that, the lady turned to Fleta and whispered, "You better find yourself less shameful partners. At least someone who can pay for their own things."

  Dan could feel his lips twitch at her attempt at whispering as he did his best to ignore her. He grabbed a few other books before returning to the counter. He saw that the others also got their books.

  "I will round that to 8 silvers, take that gold coin and here are your 2 silver coins," The old lady said. Dan could see that she was quite happy with this exchange.

  They said goodbye to the lady and made to leave the shop, loaded with books. As they were leaving, Dan noticed something and he had the others leave first as he went back to the old lady.

  "What did you go back for?" Fleta asked with a raised brow.

  "Nothing important," he waved her off, hiding a smaller bag behind the one that had his books. "Don't worry about it."

  "Okay," she decided not to waste her time on the matter.

  "Well, I guess it was a fruitful adventure," Dan said, "And thank you Fleta, I will make sure to pay you back."

  "It's alright," Fleta shook her head slowly, "We are in this together."

  Dan was about to say something else when he felt as if he heard something. Turning his head down the road with a frown, he listened hard, just for the voice to sound again, yet still unclear. Moving a few more steps down the road, it seemed that the sound was getting clearer, as if whoever was shouting was also heading towards them. Finally, they were close enough to be distinguishable,

  "Captain Dan! Can you hear me!"

  It was a young woman's voice.