"This place is amazing," Beth commented as they slipped into a medium sized pool that was unoccupied.

  "The Blue Queen really doesn't spare any expense with her resorts," Tasha said. "That's why access is highly sought after."

  "Lucky us," Beth said with a chuckle.

  "How did you get access?" Sera asked.

  "We met somebody who is apparently a super high-ranked member," Beth started explaining. "We were in the wrong place at the right time, I guess. Some people tried to get into a fight with us while we were at a Blue Rose Bar, and the guy we were with was way more important, and powerful, than anybody thought. He was at least an Ascended, if not more, and he made everyone there that was acting up kneel just by telling them to. After the whole thing was cleared up, we, that is, Blood and I, got presented a white rose each as an apology."

  "Not the craziest story I've heard, but a unique way to wind up with a rose," Sera said with a nod.

  "You must have heard quite a bit in your time here," Beth said leadingly as they swam to a point in the pool where they could float or tread water and relax. She didn't fail to notice that the air temperature around that specific pool was fairly warm and the water was rather cool, meaning they adjusted both air and water temperature to create an ideal environment for each pool.

  "Three years left me with a lot of tales, but mostly we don't kiss and tell," Sera replied with a big grin.

  "You're pretty close to four now, aren't you?" Tasha asked.

  "Hmm, am I?" Sera asked with a small frown while cocking one eyebrow. "I haven't really kept careful track."

  "You're the only one who doesn't," Tasha said with a laugh.

  "Eager to leave?" Beth asked her as they floated in the cool water.

  "Not at all," Tasha laughed again. "But how long we've been here has to do with our pay, mainly in that there has to be a break period in-between contracts."

  "Ah, these are CRA enforced contracts," Beth said with a nod.

  "Yeah, that's right. It's the only outside interference the Blue Queen tolerates with her resort worlds," Sera confirmed.

  "What's special about a CRA contract?" Blood asked, having not looked too deeply into them any more probingly to see what the difference between a non-CRA contract and a CRA contract would be after her CRA Silver Emblem exam.

  "They're limited to five years at most and you have to take a full year off without signing up for a contract after that five years," Sera explained the basics. "There's other stringent rules, but for all that, your contract is guaranteed by the CRA itself. Any dispute is settled by Senior Enforcers, and contracts are something they take very seriously. They also have just a slight tendency to view the people actually doing the work more favorably than the employer since it's more often the employer trying to do the screwing. Though, in our case, we're being paid to be the ones doing all the screwing."

  "Right, and other contracts aren't as strictly regulated," Tasha said. "If we weren't using the CRA for Pledges of the Path, then we'd be taking basically any old contract."

  "It's not quite that bad," Sera interjected, getting an eyeroll from Tasha.

  "CRA contracts are great, all others are shit," Tasha said in a lecturing tone, specifically looking at Beth and Blood and ignoring Sera.

  "You just have to be careful," Sera insisted, adjusting the bikini top she had substituted her half-jacket for as the others ignored her. The top was black and in a style that the upper straps crossed over the top of her chest to the opposite shoulders, covering a good deal of her breasts, but the cut left a decent bit of underboob showing, which Beth greatly liked.

  "Like I said, don't do a contract if it isn't a Pledge of the Path; no reason to take the risk," Tasha said, responding to Sera without actually looking at her.

  "Noted," said Beth, distracting Sera from continuing the argument by floating over and bumping into her.

  "Any other gems of wisdom?" Blood asked while Sera was feeling Beth up, hands under the floating girl to hide her actions from casual observation.

  "I'd mostly recommend stuff about saving money, but it doesn't seem a problem for you," Tash replied, drifting over to Blood and sliding against her back, wrapping her thin arms around Blood's neck and shoulders.

  "We have a good bit, yeah," Blood said, easily treading water with the demoness hanging on her.

  "Is it all from doing jobs?" Tasha asked conversationally.

  "I mean, kinda," Beth replied lazily, floating in front of Sera. "We made a lot of money by having some luck with finding rare resources and selling them at auctions. We've done really well for ourselves, but we have tons of expenses, too."

  "Not mithril-level expenses?" Sera asked a bit jokingly.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Not yet," Beth replied.

  "What does that mean?" Tasha asked.

  "We've been doing True Rebirths," Beth said simply.

  "Pricey," Sera commented.

  "You haven't?" Beth asked her.

  "Two of my three," Sera said. Seeing Beth's look, she explained, "I was more impatient early on and didn't do the full thing for my first."

  "I see," Beth replied, not having anything to say about it one way or the other.

  "I want some heat. Anybody else?" Sera asked.

  "Sure," Beth said, swimming over to a ramp with Sera. Blood followed after and Tasha simply continued to hang on her back as the wolf walked up the ramp and to the next pool.

  Sera led them up to a pool further up and back in the room where the air was rather cool and there was plenty of steam coming off the water. This pool had tons of places to sit around the edge, including places where one could just dip their legs in. The four slid in all next to each other, though Tasha slid around onto Blood's lap almost immediately. The water was quite hot, though Beth suspected that was due to most people who visited here having at least decent END stats, being able to withstand hotter temperatures and even enjoy it.

  The water felt great, and Beth thought it was even better with Sera's body heat, and amazing body, pressed against her. The heat seeped into her very bones, though it felt amazing, and she felt herself nodding off at one point from it. She was stopped by Sera, who said even with their high stats, they shouldn't spend too long in the high heat. She led the group to a pool with an even lower temperature than the first one they were in earlier, allowing them to cool down. The juxtaposition between the heat and the cold was not only pleasant, it certainly woke Beth back up and got her focused again.

  "What next?" asked Beth after they were cooled down.

  "Booze!" demanded Blood.

  "There's a good store that focuses on that stuff," Tasha said, riding Blood piggyback as she left the pool.

  "I've got some stuff I could get, as well," Beth said.

  "Hmm, what?" Sera asked, following Beth out of the pool last.

  "This," Beth said, sending the picture of the bottle to Sera.

  "Oh, that's good, I like that," Sera replied.

  "I could also use some more redgold salt," Beth continued.

  "Oh, you're one of those," Sera said.

  "Why does everyone say that?" Beth huffed, turning her head as they walked to see the huge grin on Sera's face. "You're fucking around…I see."

  "The salt's fine," Sera replied anyway. "It's just, usually rich assholes are the ones that drink or, sometimes, eat it."

  "I like it," Beth replied, though it was a simple statement with no heat in her voice.

  "No shame," Sera said, holding up her hands as she walked behind Beth.

  "Certainly not from you," Beth muttered, though Sera's throaty chuckle definitely indicated she had heard the comment.

  Tasha led the way as they moved through the building, having dried off at the entrance to the pools in a room that had enchantments to very much mimic a stand-in blow dryer. Suitably dry, with Beth grumbling about how Sera's silky, dark black hair settled perfectly into place after drying with no frizz without the need to comb, they moved through the main building and out a large door at the back to a massive open area. To call it a field or even a park would be to do it an injustice, and Beth took everything in as they walked down a carefully placed stone path with artfully arranged flowers and hedges around them. She wasn't too entranced to notice Sera move up beside her and take her right hand in the dragon woman's left, and she made sure to interlace their fingers and give her a squeeze in response.

  Tasha led them to a large building that lacked walls on the ground floor, instead having a few dozen artfully arranged columns supporting the entire structure. The whole place was a bazaar, with all kinds of goods on display on tables set up all over. Tasha ignored what was on the first floor, Beth observing everything with interest but following along as they went upstairs, past the second floor and onto the third. This floor still had an open feeling, but it was separated into distinct shops that were sectioned off from the rest and, of course, it had external walls. Tasha was like a little guided missile, leading them directly to a large shop that was filled floor-to-ceiling with bottles and cases, all of which just contained more bottles but packed away.

  "This is Beryl's Brewery," she stated proudly, gesturing around the place. "If it's some kind of liquor, they either make it here or at least have it available for sale from elsewhere."

  "This place is pretty big," Beth commented as they walked in.

  "They do a lot of business," Tasha explained. "Both by bottles sold and by coins collected."

  "And I see we'll be collecting some more soon," said a short woman from behind the counter at the back as they walked further in.

  "Beryl! I've brought friends," Tasha said as it became clear the two were well-acquainted.

  "So I see," the woman with golden blonde hair and dark blue eyes commented. "What can I do for you?"

  "The wolf likes beer, so maybe you could get some of your specials for her…?" Tasha said leadingly, earning a big grin from Beryl.

  "No problem, let me grab a couple things. Browse for a minute while I fetch them," she said, disappearing into the back.

  Beth took her up on the offer, walking through the shop, which seemed messy at first, but was very clearly organized. Liquors and brews of various kinds were grouped by types with sub-groupings of specific types of brewing method, mash bill, or certain styles. She moved rather quickly into a section with whiskeys and bourbon-like bottles, taking time to carefully look through what was on display. While she was still searching, Beryl returned with a tall, rather young-looking man behind her, both carrying a few cases of drinks. Tasha whispered loud enough for all of them to hear that the youngster was Beryl's youngest nephew, there for a little work experience in the shop, which caused the gangly teen to blush. Beth was sure it was that and not the four insanely beautiful, barely dressed women in the shop.

  Blood moved over to the counter with Tasha to browse what Beryl had brought while Beth continued with the shelves, getting some advice from Sera. Beryl pulled out several bottles to present to Blood, the wolf sampling what was suggested. There was a wide variety in what Beryl had brought, trying to narrow down what Blood's preference was in terms of type of beer. It turned out harder than she had thought, as the wolf had a broad palette, and also an expensive one, appreciating everything Beryl showed her. All of Beryl's stock was expensive, high-quality liquor that stood far above most of what Blood had ever tried.

  The wolf wasn't stingy, much to Beryl's delight, and pointed out more than half a dozen bottles, ordering more of each. The wolf bought at least three cases of each type of drink and they could practically see the dollar signs shining in Beryl's eyes, though that was nothing compared to what was coming up. While the beer and mead that Blood bought was expensive and very, very good, Beth was browsing a section where the initial prices were earth-shattering. Beryl let her nephew stay at the counter in case anyone else came in and moved over to Beth and Sera, taking bottles off the shelves and showing them to the girls and explaining them.

  "Sorry I can't let you sample most of these, but one beer or bottle of mead is a lot cheaper as a sample then even a sip is here," Beryl apologized, showing Beth a bottle with a red and black label on the front that was priced at eighty platinum coins.

  "I understand, but I have the money to buy some of these just to try them," she said, looking over two of the bottles Beryl had recommended. "Oh, also, do you have any of this or something made by the firm?"

  Beth sent the picture of the bottle she had taken at the Seven Lights to Beryl, the one she had just shown Sera, figuring someone running an alcohol and spirits shop would know what it was. She was correct, it turned out, with Beryl saying, "That's a bottle of Derridan's Golden Reserve. Derridan's is a large, famous distillery in the Milky Way, though they're very high-end. Anything from them will be just as pricey, though even I will admit their quality speaks for itself."

  "You don't have any bottles of theirs, do you?" Beth asked, handing Sera both bottles she had been inspecting to place on the counter.

  "Sure, they're on the other side," Beryl said, leading Beth around the shelves she was examining. She pointed to a shelf that was high for her but at Beth's head height, and Beth saw several copies of the bottle she had taken the picture of, plus some other bottles with the company's name and symbol stamped on the label.

  "All their stuff is good? Or would you recommend just one of theirs?" Beth asked Beryl, looking at each of the bottles.

  "If you really liked the Golden Reserve so much you're hunting it, get at least one bottle of that. Beyond that, and trust me, I'm not saying this to try to get more money from you, hon, but you should get the Century Reserve. Aged in a special type of wood from an ancient tree that's like, hmm, how do I describe it? Something like the maple tree, but not quite? It's hard to explain, but the wood gives their Century Reserve a sort of smoky syrup quality. That, and the fact that it's aged for a century means both extremely complex and mellow flavors, and-"

  "And high price," Beth cut in at the end, seeing the eight diamond coin price tag on the shelf.

  "I always tell people to buy what you can afford," Beryl said. "If that's not in your price range or would be all your coins, don't buy. If you can afford it, you should at the least try a bottle."

  Beth calmly handed two bottle of Golden Reserve and a bottle of Century Reserve to Sera, who was happily ferrying Beth's growing purchase lot to the counter. Beryl recommended a few other bottles, and Beth also threw in three others that she thought were interesting before heading to the counter. Her total damage from the whisky was more than sixteen diamond coins, a fortune to anyone else, but still little more than a rounding error to her. The group profusely thanked Beryl for the help before leaving the shop, deciding to spend a bit of time exploring the bazaar building next.