“There’s three ways you can free the prisoners.” The guard said.

  I don’t know how to get a Royal Pardon, and I don’t feel like dying. “Pay bail.”

  When I first arrived in Dagon, I would have thought the fee was expensive, today it’s a meagre amount compared to my fat stacks. The option was chosen, and the bill paid.

  “Hmph, if you ask me these people shouldn’t be allowed out!” the guard said as he left to collect Catherine. I went to follow him but, “Wait here!” he said.

  The clamour of their footsteps marked their return…

  Wait as second, ‘people’?

  The guard came through first, followed by… a young cat-girl and cat-boy.

  “Thank you, Sir, we don’t know how we can repay you!”

  “Please, come visit us in Bright End,” the two kittens said before scurrying off.

  Useful… I put a hand to the guard’s shoulder, “Umm… Where’s Catherine, errm, Reicat?”

  He brushed me off and sat back down, “You’ll need to purchase a visitor’s pass.” The same green see-through list appeared before my eyes, again. Okay…

  “I’d like to pay bail for Reicat.”

  “You’ll need to purchase a visitor’s pass,” the guard repeated.

  Huh?! Crap! So, you can only free the person you visit? What BS.

  “Okay, fine!”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  *Ching*

  The door opened, just like before, “Don’t let us catch you doing anything suspicious, ya hear?!”

  Yeah, you already said that. “I’d like to bail out Reicat.”

  “W-W-What?! Why is it so much? What is the charge?”

  The guard stood at the door and continued to wait, “The prisoner Reicat is guilty of 2 counts of theft from an Enchanter, and 3 counts of assault against an Enchanter, and 4 counts of assault against the guards.”

  Holy crap… so what is that exactly? 2a+3b+4c=80 effing thousand?! How much do I have now?

  Damn, what do I do… I better talk to Catherine. As I slowly walked back to the prison door, a light bulb moment hit me, and I braced against the frame. Wait a damn second, if I go through now, I might have to repay that visitor’s pass when I come back, errgh. Maybe I should just leave her, she’s probably safer here anyways, hahaha, no-no… can’t do that.

  I crept away from the door, watching the guard closely, he just hung there like a bellboy waiting for his tip.

  Yeah… if you could just hold that until I get back, no, I don’t know when that’ll be, and there probably won’t be any tip.

  ? ? ?

  How am I going to make 3.5k? No one has enough cash to buy my big ticket items, not unless I join the adventurer’s guild, which is a whole problem in itself… which leaves only crafting.

  Walking around shirtless felt really weird, though not that the NPCs would mind, would they? There was still that poncho in my bag, better than nothing.

  ? ? ?

  “Did you hear?” The merchant NPC said to his patron buddy.

  “No?” he replied, leaning in.

  “The Beastmen invasion is coming this way!”

  “Oh dear! You don’t think it’s because the Angels of Divinity slayed the Lizard Queen, do you?”

  The NPCs rattled on as I headed into the kitchen at the back of the Frog’s Pond.

  With the fresh tuna steak I bought from the market earlier, which admittedly priced me out of Catherine’s bail, I now had all the ingredients necessary to make the sushi…

  I used my broken sword to carefully slice the fresh steak into sashimi sized slices, laid them on my sushi rice from before and topped them with some soy-sauce and wasabi.

  What’s the point of the crafting system if you have to manually create it anyway?

  “YES!”

  I picked up the sushi and inspected it from all angles. It looked alright, nothing worse than out of the shopping mall sushi shop. My stomach was letting me know that I needed to taste test it. I hadn’t eaten anything but ash and porridge for a couple of days.

  “Mmm.”

  ‘Mm.”

  “Mhmm.”

  The tuna was soft and delicate, and melted in your mouth like butter, the rice was salty, sweet, and sour. It was probably the tastiest sushi I had ever tasted! When I finished the last mouthful, I received a notification.

  It actually worked! And some of my stats have gone up, temporarily.

  I continued on like a machine.

  And that was it, no more tuna steak…

  “I should be able to complete that quest now… I’m sure Catherine won’t mind waiting a tiny bit longer…”