Great, until...

"Sold out?!" Hilda gasps as Neska gives her a wide smile.

"The stores are clamoring for more. They can't keep it on the shelves," the merchant giddily declares. "I've already pre-sold the next three printings of it!"

"How is that even possible?" Hilda mumbles as she slumps down in her chair, utterly shocked by the news.

"Word of mouth really did us a lot of good," Neska says. "Everyone's talking about it. I hear even Queen Belinda is reading it!"

Hilda blinks.

I never pegged the queen for the type to read romance novels, or well... anything at all really.

"We're gonna be sooooo rich!" Neska squeals as she throws her hands in the air.

Sally claps her hands and hugs Hilda as joy overtakes her.

The noble knight meanwhile remains stunned.

"Just think of what we could do with that money!" Sally says as she continues to hold Hilda.

"We... we could buy back the keep!" Hilda says as she starts to perk up. "I... I could buy back some of my things too. I've seen my sword and some of my armor at the pawn shop in town..."

Sally and Hilda both sigh wistfully.

"Oh, um..." Neska clears her throat as she tries to regain the girls' attention. "Since you wrote it, I figured you should probably have your own copy of the finalized product."

The merchant opens a drawer in her desk and pulls out a lovely, leather-bound, hard-cover copy of 'What I Did For The Baron.'

"I think it turned out really well," Neska says as Hilda takes the book and looks it over.

Sally looks on, smiling until she notices a problem. "Oh no..." she mumbles as her face goes pale.