"Prontera to Geffen would be... less than a thousand zeny, I think? Six hundredish? And when Annika's here she can teleport us to Prontera. Kind of surprised in hindsight that you know about teleportation but not about resurrection points."

"It isn't as if adventurers were dying in front of me all the time! Anybody can teleport! Anyway, I've got that much, but if I needed to take a dozen trips like it I'd want to find somewhere to sell a ring."

"Oh you'll almost certainly get about fifty to a hundred thousand as your share for that bounty, for what that's worth."

"What am I supposed to do with it???"

"Typically adventurers will use that kind of money for teleportation, healing consumables, and to feed the insatiable maw of the gear and enchantment market."

"Those blue potions were convenient," Arik admits. "And... it would probably make sense to get more equipment. I just - it feels ridiculous to spend that much on it! If I gave a hundred thousand zeny to one of the people in this village, they wouldn't have to work for a year!"

He probably shouldn't bring up the six hundred million zeny earrings he saw that one time even though Arik's reaction would be very funny. "That necklace of yours is probably somewhere between the tens and hundreds of millions depending on exactly how it's managed to keep you alive this long. How many lives have you saved, do you think, that you couldn't have without it?"

"...oh."

He thinks about this.

"I don't think you're wrong. But it feels like... what I would say, if I were going to justify spending millions of zeny on shiny swords instead of on the people around me. And I don't know if I like it being true."

"My friend will probably also have a better understanding of stuff like that. Market forces and the like. But that's the gist of it, if I understand it well enough, that adventurers only pay that much because it's worth that much. Or, well, I guess not all adventurers are trying to save a bunch of people as a, ah, an objective itself. But something along those lines."

"I need to think about it. ...maybe over some food, I think it'd ground me. The locals have these really nice fried mutton-and-chickpea things, do you want one if I get myself some?"

"Nah, you go ahead, I'm going to catch some sleep."

"Alright. Rest like death, and wake to life." 

"...is that a thing the evil witch used to say? It's badass, if a little creepy."

"I've always thought so. The Cult of Hel isn't well-stocked with lullabies, but Beuriman was nothing if not creative."

"You know, Hel isn't really meant to be the patron goddess of evil witches, in standard Odinian and Freyjan mythology."

"Oh? I never actually got very much of a primer, I was born Deic and for some reason she raised me that way."

"Deic... hang on, I know that one, is that the religion of the natives of the Arunafeltz States?" A.k.a. the country they're in right now?

"Yeah. S'been interesting being around people who, uh, understand the religion. Mostly much better than I do. I stop in at the temples sometimes. -the main difference between us and the Odinites is that we've got the Father and the Mother and a couple others, but we don't give them... character traits? There's none of this 'Odin's beard!' or 'Freyja's saggy tits!' or stories about the Shadow fucking a horse. All seems a bit twee."

...he cracks up. "You know, when you put it like that, it does sound a bit absurd."

"Only a bit! But, yes, what I know about Hel is 'the girl Shadow, the one who's about people dying unpleasantly'."

"I suppose that's a way to put it," he says, shaking his head with a small smile. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it, I'm running on fumes right now and should hit the hay."

"Yes, hit your hay. I'm off to achieve falafel."

It's a few hours later, after everyone except for Arik is asleep, that there's the characteristic sound of a teleport outside and Annika's blue silhouette blinks into existence for a moment before the monk herself replaces it. She freezes for a fraction of a second to orient, then makes her way towards the building Arik and Taharqi are in.

Well, Arik's actually no longer in the building but running out the door with the intention of giving her a very firm hug.

The close proximity triggers her fight instincts but she notices it's him and—freezes.

"What are you doing," she asks, after a couple of seconds of it.