Mougin's hands paused. Not being well versed in the ettiquette of using cutlery, he had opted to use his tongue to carefully sample each dish. He would usually go at it hands and all, but that would probably be rude. Each dish was quite delectable, regardless of how he ate it. But he still ate carefully. Food didn't come from nowhere, and it required effort to make. Thus, there was an unspoken desire for reciprocation. A return for their efforts. Mougin suspected that his man was the same.

The man's request was suspect. It was in what he said, or rather, what he hadn't said. 30 coins were earned for a hard day's work, and this man claimed that he could let Mougin do the same work for a lesser amount of time, with the same amount of pay. The math didn't add up. It was true that things would be harder after the sun went down. As everyone knew, mana came from the sun. Living beings absorbed mana from the sun's rays during the day, and when the sun went away at night, the flow stopped. It wasn't as if the mana was gone all together, though. Perhaps the tiny trickle that seeped in through the night came from the moon. Or the stars. Mougin wouldn't know, he was no astrologer. 

In any case, the minotaur had regained a healthy stock of mana over the sunset period. Tired as he was, he never forgot to save some his resources for an emergency. With that stockpile he should be able to complete the task fairly easly. That was what made the man's request suspicious. Even so, the man [i]had[/i] treated him to dinner.
[color=007236][b]"Very well."[/b][/color] Mougin said, getting up from his seat. [color=007236][b]"In return for the meal, I will cooperate."[/b][/color]
Effort for effort. Goodwill should be reciprocated, even to the most suspicious people.