Chapter 20: Unexpected Gift
Lianna and Anna were dumbfounded. They were actually friends? Charlie who seldom left the guild had friend outside the guild as well? And from their behavior and expression, it seemed like they knew each other for a long time.
Anna immediately convinced herself because it wasn't impossible after all. Even human and god could be friends, so couldn't human and human not be?
But she wasn't all happy about it. She hadn't forgiven him for deceiving her.
"You lied to me about your identity. So, as a client, I feel insecure. I think I'll deduct the price to four and a half million now."
Her voice didn't come from her mouth as her mouth didn't even seem to be moving. It also directly rung inside Oslo's ear which allowed him and only him to listen to what Anna had said, which made him alarmed. She had transmitted what she wanted to say directly in his ear without others realizing or noticing.
Sound Transmission!
Anna had used sound transmission to directly inform Oslo about his misdoings and punishment he received in exchange. One could use mana to directly to enter ones ear and with a good control over mana, adventurers could even control the frequency and vibration which would help them to transfer message to other party without anybody surrounding him/her realizing it. It was of greater use during some quest where one need to hide themselves.
Oslo hearing it gave a meaningful look to Anna gesturing with his eyes that not to be heartless like that.
"What? Do you want another million deduction?" Another voice played inside his ear. Although he point how, but he felt like if he kept pestering her more...half of money would disappear just like that.
Disappear! Out of his reach!
Oslo didn't look at her anymore. Further bargain was sure to cause the deduction of his pay even more, so how could he? He helplessly scratched his head and said,
"Miss Anna, I think we should part for now."
"I think so too..." Anna replied immediately and humbly, "But I don't know you bank account number, so I cannot transfer you the advance money. So I think I'll wait a bit."
Although it seemed like she was doing it out of goodwill, Oslo could point just from her behavior that she was up to something. He realized that she was surprised seeing him as the friend of James and it seemed as if she wanted to be in friendly terms with James. She was just using his account number as an excuse.
Why wouldn't she want to be friendly with the person who was likely to be the successor of one of the top guild in city Xean? If she could even enter such guild, she would've danced like an idiot with joy.
If one could join such guild then it wouldn't be an exaggeration to claim that their future would be secure and limitless. With all kind of resources to nurture a talent, they could walk in the path of magic with the support of one of the great guilds. If we considered that one needed legs to walk in the path of magic then the support would be like wings which would help them roam the unventured vastness. That was the might of great guilds but there were some guilds even greater.
"My name is Anna Raygal. I'm a friend of Oslo." Anna introduced herself formally as she threw a glance at Oslo.
"You're a friend of Oslo? Then it is nice to meet you. My name is..." He frowned before answering,"...Charlie! "
Friend? What friend? Hearing her words polite as an honorable person, Oslo's lips twitched. He felt like he was being used at the moment.
"Charlie, we cannot waste time chatting here any further. Time is of very importance now. Let's first clear the dungeon, we can chat later formally while having a dinner between friends." Licht said as he glanced at the watch on his wrist.
Time was of essence today of most day in James' life. It seemed like they couldn't waste time chatting any further as there were rules that one must be present at least five minute before the raid. If he were to be late in this auspicious day of his then James was bound to lose his face and other guild members wouldn't also want such careless leader.
Although he had realized that James' was his original name, Licht thought there there might have been a reason behind changing it. If not why would the old man try to keep the information regarding Charlie's past confidential. Besides, he was more comfortable in calling him Charlie so why bother calling him as James. The alias was easier for his mouth than sudden revelation of original name.
Lia although didn't say anything, her posture made her look like she was agreeing to what Licht had just said. Seeing them pestering him like that, James sighed.
"Times up?" He frowned and said, "It seems we'll have to meet some other time."
Just as the thought passed through his head, he stopped for a while before continuing again.
"...But I have something for you." James added.
"TADA!"
Like before, out of nowhere, a pill of a size of a marble appeared in the palm of his hand. It was mesmerizing and breath taking to look at. It was like a pearl but looking closer made one see that there was like a miniature world entrapped inside it. White smokes like clouds were moving inside as if they were real and when the moved they revealed the green mass which seemed like the piece of land covered with forest.
In the miniature world, there were Oceans, seas, mountains, plains, forests and many more...just glancing at the bead like pill made one think that the world the pill contained within was never ending far which even crossed past the horizon.
It was very life-like. Even though he could tell that it was a man made product, even Oslo felt like the pill was crafted by nature itself, gently entrapping everything inside the world in one marble sized pill. The world which the pill contained within was in fact the Magic World which was vast and endless. Some even say that the lands and others shown in the pill was just a small fragment of Magic World...so they termed the part as Magic Land of magic world which was the place the humans were currently settling themselves.
"This is...?" Oslo was confused as whether his guess of the product being that was correct or not.
"Its Heavenly Pill!" James immediately answered with a radiant smile.
"It is made by human experts who are very proficient in terms of alchemy. They used the world bead as a base and used scientific technology as well as magic to prepare this pill." James added.
A world bead was believed to be the bead that contained the truths of Magic World; fragments of world law. But it was very difficult to perceive the laws of Magic as such one needed to consume a large amount of world beads just to get slight knowledge about the laws and truths. Since it was very unlikely that it would give one insights on laws in Magic World, researchers used it as their base to manufacture heavenly pill in mass so that it would help a lot of adventurers.
The heavenly pill was their hard work, intelligence and their knowledge related to alchemy all combined.
"This pill..." Oslo hesitated before answering. Although he wanted such pill, he couldn't just take such precious gift as if nothing.
"I can't take such expensive gift!"
"Is it that costly?" Anna said frowning, "From what I know, it only costs about fifty thousand dollars."
Hearing her, Oslo's eyes twitched. Rich people and their 'Is it that costly?'. How could he make them realize that fifty thousand dollars was very big of a deal and not such small pieces of paper.
He sighed. Although he coveted it, he couldn't just take such expensive unexpected gift, James was trying to hand him. But he appreciated the sentiment behind it.
"You don't have to reject it!" James said as he forcefully pushed the pill inside the pocket of Oslo's pant. "You don't have to stand on ceremony. It's just a small gift!"
James didn't think that the gift was of much value either and the other nodded in agreement as well. If it was that expensive then why did the old man gave James five of those pills casually.
He didn't want to flaunt his wealth nor did he want to make Oslo look poor, he just wanted to present his friend from aback with a simple gift. He had always looked up to Oslo and grew up just to surpass Oslo and walk alongside him with his head high. He could already discern the current prowess Oslo possessed.
All he wanted was that his friend to whom he looked up to soar even higher than himself. Show me how far you can go! Show me that I as always have a long way to go before I am able to catch you! All he wanted was a goal, a light to look up to as before.
Oslo couldn't even refuse as James acted like he wasn't listening to anything he was saying to the point James started denying that he even knew Oslo.
Alright you win! Oslo looked at James whose face was suffused with a radiant smile and asked a question before James was about to leave. It was the question regarding the heavenly pill which he was very eager to know. He asked it right away,
"James. Does this pill really enable one to hear the voice of God which will then guide the one who consumed it to their path of adventure?"
He had perked his ears just to listen as what might be the question Oslo was about to ask but hearing it, his lips twitched.
Voice of God? Was it the rumors that was circulating among adventurers regarding the Heavenly Pill? He frowned as it wasn't all wrong, bit it was different.
Slowly choosing his words, James spoke,
"You will indeed hear voices upon consuming the pill and it will help you a lot as well but the thing about voice of God...it is nothing but nonsense. It'll not guide as you always have to make choices yourself."
"The voice you'll hear will not be of God as well. How can I say it? If you were to think it through, it is very similar to videogames but different in many ways, if you were to compare it that is."
"You,...AAAARRGH~" James started scratching his head like crazy as he couldn't just point it out that what exactly it was Oslo would experience after he consumed the pill although he had experienced it himself before.
"You'll know when you consume it!" James spoke the last sentence before immediately started running as he didn't have time for answering other queries. Licht followed him from back.
As he described it, it was similar to videogames but different in many other ways. The pill was the harmony humans had ever created or so people thought. It wasn't just the end of it as well because it was tendency of humans to try discovering new things. As they say, you'll die from itchiness, if you don't try for looking something new.
'Like a game, huh? But different as well.'
Pinching the pill inside his pocket, he frowned. What would really happen if he were to consume the pill? Would it make him stronger than before or was it just going to be helpful sometimes? After a moment he sighed.
"There's no point in racking my brain! I'll ask him the next time I meet him." Oslo mumbled to himself.
"We might not know each other but seeing you're a friend of Charlie, I have a question to ask of you!" Lia said after affirming that Charlie had indeed departed.
It wasn't the question related to his identity because from what she knew, Licht will definitely share some info if he came across one with her. It was something else and was in her mind from the first meeting with Charlie.
"Oh? What?" Oslo said.
She exhaled a mouthful of air before asking in normal voice, "Do you know how Charlie got that gruesome scar on his back?"
Charlie was a fearsome elite in their eyes who had a promised future and bound to be a distinguished man. The scar on his back wouldn't hinder his fame as well but what she wanted to know was that, what magic beast was such fearsome to give him such scar. Until now, they could only imagine how strong the magic beast had been.
But she hadn't kept her hopes up because even though they may have been friend, even this Oslo dude might not know about it. Heck, she would even believe if he was shocked knowing that Charlie had a scar on his back. But she had asked him as to not let any opportunity pass by.
"Do you know?"
Oslo frowned before nodding,
"Yeah...I know!"
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