Gold and Glory

"Hey Isaac?"

"Yes?"

"Why do monsters drop gold?"

"Hmm…"

Hmm. It wasn't the answer Garet was expecting. Most of what Isaac said (when he spoke at all) could be boiled down to "yes" or "no." But that wasn't to say his friend wasn't capable of speech at all. So when he asked the Venus adept about why monsters dropped gold, he'd expected an answer. Not a "hmm…"

"Not sure."

He hadn't expected that answer either.

"Why do you ask?" Isaac continued.

"Well, you know how it is," Garet said, using a whetstone on his greatsword as the group made camp outside the Mogall Forest. "We've been travelling for months. We've slain monster after monster, gained strength, psynergy, even defeated Saturos."

"They still lit the lighthouse."

"Well, yeah," the Mars adept said, not liking to be reminded of that little fact. "But about the monsters. Almost every time we defeat them they drop gold, in addition to the odd herb." He held up his hands in mock defence. "And hey, plants I can get behind. I can accept walking mushrooms and rats armed with spears and shields carrying plants. Heck, they'd get on well with my sister. But why gold?"

"Because…well…" Isaac sighed. "It's…gold, you know? I…" He sighed. "Didn't Kraden cover this once? A lecture on the nature of monsters and the hero economy?"

"The what?"

"Never mind," Isaac said. "Gold…gold…hey Ivan?"

"Hmm?"

There was it again. "Hmm." Days of walking across empty plains had done a number on the group's communication skills. Ivan and Mia were more chatty than Isaac, but even they only seemed to speak when the quest demanded it. As if circumstances dictated dialogue or whatnot.

"Why do monsters carry gold?"

And for all Garet knew, the quest did demand it. The gold that monsters dropped had kept them going. Rests in inns, buying goods, food and drink…solving the mystery might be the key to saving Weyard.

"Monsters and gold…" the Jupiter adept mused, closing the book he was reading and shuffling across the grass to the campfire. "Why, everyone knows why monsters carry gold."

"Which is?" Garet asked.

"It's because…well…" Ivan frowned. "I could swear Master Hammet explained it to me once. He's a great trader you know, best Angara's ever seen. He understands the intricacies of economics-"

"Yes yes yes," said Garet quickly – he'd heard this lecture a million times, how Hammet was the greatest man in Weyard, never mind that he'd got himself captured in Lunpa. "But what about the monster-gold problem?"

"It…damn, I should know this." Ivan looked around. "Hey Mia. Why do monsters carry gold?"

"Pardon?"

Pardon. Well, at least it wasn't a "hmm."

"Gold. Monsters." Isaac had said more words in the space of a few minutes than he'd said over the past few days. "Why do monsters have gold on them?"

"Monsters and gold," Mia mused, coming to sit by the campfire herself. "I honestly can't say."

"Can't say?" Garet exclaimed. Out of Kraden and Master Hammet, of what they'd supposedly said at some point in time but with the listeners unable to recall, it was strange to come across a flat-out admission.

"I'm sorry," the Mercury adept said. "But until I left Imil, it never came up. I'm a healer, not a slayer."

"Got that right," said Ivan. "Most of the time I take out monsters with a single lightning blast."

"Hey, I help," Garet protested.

"Hardly. You always attack last."

"Well at least I attack effectively," Garet shot back. "What's Isaac doing? He's somewhere between a warrior and healer and can't seem to decide which."

"Didn't this start about monsters and gold?" Isaac asked. He met Garet's gaze. "Alright Garet, why do you think monsters carry gold?"

Garet looked at Ivan. Then Mia. Then Isaac. All three had their eyes on him. Six eyes shone in the gloom, the fire reflected off them. Garet took a breath.

"Alright," he said. "You wanna know why I think monsters carry gold?"

They nodded.

"It's because I think this is a giant game the Wise One's playing with us. It's part of why we're growing stronger. He's giving us the monsters to fight, and the gold to use. It's like…like we're players, ya know?" He threw up his arms. "It's a conspiracy, I tell you!"

"Garet," Isaac sighed. "Do you really believe that?"

"No," he said. "But you have to admit, my idea has merit. After all, it-"

"No," Ivan said. "It really doesn't."

"Oh," Garet said, feeling crestfallen. He looked at Mia. "What about you? You're the only one that hasn't put forward a theory yet." He grinned. "Gold and glory. The story of four adepts solved the great mystery of why monsters carry gold with them, despite not needing to use it."

"I think there's bigger issues at stake," said Mia, getting to her feet. "And that if you're going to write that book, you need a shorter title."

"I dunno," said Ivan. "I mean, Master Hammet's books have really long titles. And I'm not just talking about those from Gondowan. Xian writing is symbol rather than numeral based, but-"

Garet sighed, burying his face in his hands.

This was going to be a long night.