Chapter 18-Don’t worry. It’s cheap

Chapter 18: Chapter 18-Don’t worry. It’s cheap Eva did the next best thing- she turned to Ethan. "Can we go exchange the corpse?" Ethan nodded and walked forward, guiding her. Julian, following along, asked, "What do you want to exchange it for? You didn’t check that part of the list?" "Gold coins," Eva replied matter-of-factly, her expression saying, ’What else is there?’ Nearby, Sierra stood in shock and embarrassment as they ignored her. She felt her team’s gaze, and her cheeks flushed. She forced a smile at them. "Why did she have to talk to them?’’ one teammate muttered, sounding both annoyed and impatient. "Does she want to get us in trouble again?’’ He was already set on leaving after they split the loot. He started noticing Sierra’s self-centred attitude- her constant expectation that others should bend their wishes. Sierra’s expression fell, hurt, but this time, no one stepped in to defend her. Even Derrick was busy looking for new teammates, as his current ones were ready to quit. Sierra could only stand there, feeling ignored, her heart filling with hatred towards the person she blamed for her situation. Meanwhile, Eva, unaware of Sierra’s thoughts, was having a mini-crisis. (⁠╥⁠_⁠╥⁠) Holding her pouch of coins tightly, she looked as if her life depended on it. "You have to buy dungeon gear. No excuses," Ethan and Julian said in unison, both looking serious. Eva knew it was for her safety, but she had just gotten her hands on this money, and now she had to spend it. "O-okay," She replied reluctantly, feeling pressured by their intense gazes. Deep down, she knew safety mattered. "Don’t worry. It’s cheap," Julian said trying to console her. The word ’cheap’ made Eva subconsciously relax. They left the counter, passing other booths with corpses and dungeon items. The place was crowded; people were here to exchange their loot for better gains. They pushed through the crowd, Eva following Ethan as they headed upstairs. She caught a glimpse of silver hair in the crowd and paused, looking again, but it was gone. ’For a minute there I thought I saw the female lead.’ she thought, shaking her head. ’That’s impossible.’ She dismissed it and kept walking, unaware that it was the female lead, Selina. Upstairs. Various gear options were displayed both regular and energy-imbued ones. Julian got right to work. "You’ll need this amour- it’s imbued with enough defence to withstand three hits from the high-ranked monster," Julian said, holding up a piece of armour to see if it fit. Finding it too large, he picked out a smaller, lighter one that wouldn’t restrict her movements. Ethan had gone ahead to gather the other essentials they would need, leaving Julian to drag Eva around, his arms full of items to buy. "What weapon do you want?" He asked, scanning the selection of bows, knives, daggers, barbed whips and other weapons. Eva’s mind was already going numb as things increased gradually. She pointed in the sword direction. Julian selected one for her to try. Eva swung the light sword, the edges gleaming. "I’ll take this one," Eva said, liking the lightness of it. Julian watched her swing the sword like a bat again, his brows furrowing at her lack of skill. ’This won’t do. She needs training if she’s going to use a sword.’ Eva looked up and met his intense stare, and her scalp grew numb for no reason. "Did you ever attend a training school?" He asked, wanting to gauge her skill level. Stumped, Eva hesitated. She could fight with her hands and feet but hadn’t had any formal training on weapons. And besides, she couldn’t even recall any mention of a training school in the novel. Eva tried to remember the novel, and a training school couldn’t come to mind. She wondered if it had been mentioned in one of the pages she flipped past. "Eva?" Julian called her back to the present, raising an eyebrow. "You didn’t go to any training school. Did you?" Julian grew confident in his assumptions when he saw her avoiding his gaze. "Alright, no big deal. You have some skills- otherwise, you wouldn’t have survived this long." Julian reached for a wooden sword. Feeling its weight, he nodded. "Starting tomorrow, 5 a.m., I’ll train you before we go hunting." His tone was serious as he turned to her. "What!" Eva yelped, quickly covering her mouth as a few heads turned her way. "5. a.m. ?! Didn’t you say I have basic skills?" Eva whispered-shouted, her green eyes wide with disbelief, her expression was screaming, unacceptable. ’ Oh my God, what kind of team did I join? Only two days off, and now training by 5 in the bloody morning.’ Julian was amused by her reaction, but he was serious about her training, so he did the best thing and threatened her with the thing she loved. ’’No training, no food.’’ "Gasps." Eva clutched her chest dramatically, staring at him as if he was a monster. (⁠’⁠◉⁠⌓⁠◉⁠’⁠) She was so surprised that he would use that to force her. She could only clench her fist and nod, ’ (⁠┛⁠✧⁠Д⁠✧⁠)⁠)⁠┛⁠彡⁠┻⁠━⁠┻ ah! I want to murder him. Should I tie a sack around his head and drown him in the bathtub, suck all the energy away from him or poison him?’ her mind came up with various murder scenes as she stared at him with her dark green eyes. Julian felt creeped out, breaking out in goosebumps by her stare. "It’s for your own good." He left these words and quickly went to the counter, away from her stare. Eva followed after him, with a gloomy face. Ethan who met them at the counter, signalled Julian with his gaze, motioning for Eva as if to ask what happened. Julian shook his head slightly and mouthed, ’Later.’ Ethan understood and suppressed his curiosity. Eva’s eyes stung when she saw the figures on the screen kept increasing as the salesperson scanned her item. ’ow! I can’t breathe, 150 gold coins, 180 gold coins...’ Her mind numbed from pain as the amount kept on increasing and it finally stopped at 200 gold coins.