Chapter 73

Of course, the universe didn’t cut Natalie a break.

“Sixteen monster cores,” Ana said. “Natalie collected eight, Sofia six, and Jordan two. Sixteen total. Then there’s the ring, the gloves, the cloak, the ore, the herbs, and the bag of coins.”

“Bag of coins?” Jordan asked.

“Elizabeth found it,” Ana said.

“And the cloak?” Natalie asked. Clearly, in her misadventure with the vines, she’d missed a few discoveries.

“Reduces the chances of a monster focusing on you,” Jordan said. “Probably something for me or Liz.”

The two squishiest—rogue and healer. Though Ana was probably in contention, too. Sofia, though physically weaker than most fighters, still could hold up better than a rogue or healer. She was the second most durable in the group, though by a large margin to Natalie.

“Didn’t have time to talk about it in the rush,” Jordan added. “And what kind of coins?”

“Found them beneath a ridge,” Liz said. “Silver, about thirty of them, it’ll sell real well. Honestly, though, I’m surprised we didn’t find more. That last room was pretty big.”

“We didn’t have time to properly search it,” Ana said. She glanced Natalie’s way, unconsciously, though not accusatorily, putting the blame on her. Which was fair. Natalie’s debacle had cut off the rest of the team’s search efforts as they scrambled to help her. “Regardless,” she continued, “how are we handling the split? Equal cores, then have the rest appraised? For that matter, how are the raw resources working?”

Natalie supposed it was time to get this out of the way. She rummaged around in her pouch as Ana talked. A moment later, she said, “Eight? I’ve only got seven cores.”

The group looked at her, and Natalie’s skin crawled. She didn’t consider herself a poor liar, but that didn’t mean she liked doing it. Especially to her team. These were about the only circumstances she could imagine being forced into it. It wasn’t, obviously, greed guiding her, but a need for secrecy. She simply wouldn’t be able to explain away a monster core stuffed with infertility potion.

“You collected eight,” Ana said. “I’m certain.”

And wasn’t that unfortunate? Ana’s apparently impressive memory, and scrutinizing attention to detail, was an invaluable trait down in the dungeon, but in this case? Highly inconvenient.

“Only got seven,” Natalie said, frowning as she made a show of rummaging around and tapping her hand against her other pouches, feeling for more. “Look.” She held out the orbs. The hidden core tucked into her boot burned against her ankle.

Ana frowned at her.

Liz, in return, frowned at Ana. “It’s not like she’d lie. It’s one core.”

“She could have hidden something valuable in it.”

Liz’s eyes widened at the accusation.

“Hey, now,” Jordan said. “I don’t think—”

Natalie waved the protest away. “She’s not accusing me. She’s just pointing it out.” It had taken a second to recognize that, but it was pretty obvious. Ana was just, in that continued fashion of hers, stating things without consideration for tact.

“Obviously,” Ana said, looking around at the group, confused. She’d been totally oblivious to how most people would interpret what she’d said. “What could she possibly have found that would be worth earning that sort of reputation, so early? But a core isn’t necessarily ‘just a core’, and that was worth stating.” She turned to Natalie. “You need to check your pouches for holes or faulty buckles. Or handle them more carefully. You picked up eight.”

“I didn’t count,” Natalie said. “But I also don’t think I lost one.”