บท 29: Art Gallery!

"Are you alright!" Sarah tried to calm her daughter. Anna quickly recovered as she sheepishly smiled.

"I'm fine," Then she glared at Seth, "you dumb ass. Why didn't you tell me what it is!"

"Buhaha. So you are indeed scared of yourself…" he was about to tease her more he saw Sarah glaring at him, so he shut off.

"It's really good. I really thought I was in the game." Anna tries to reason.

"This painting is not the one I have seen. When did you make it?" Sarah asked

"Well, you see this is a skill called Realistic Portraits. It's magnificent….."

Then Seth enthusiastically began to explain the skill behind it and the two ladies only stared at him without understanding a thing.

Seeing the explanation was not going to end, Sarah looked at her daughter and said.

"Apparently, you Lil bro can improve his Talent from the game!"

"That's understandable. At the last conference I attended, I heard training in games will be like training in real-life and with low fatigue, one can train for longer periods"

The revelation seemed nothing new to her but Sarah and Seth knew she did not understand what they imply. So, Seth grabbed blank canvas paper and a coloured pencil. His hand move fast as he made a comic book depicting a story of Anna:

~Sarah told Anna a secret while Anna dismissed it as something doable. But then Seth showed her how the talent works then she was terrified.~

Ten minutes brought about ten pages of the little story. True to Seth's assumption, Anna was speechless.

Calming herself down, she said, "Okay, Raaz said I should look after you but I didn't know he would know about this before me!"

Now she was upset about being in the dark, but still terrified of what Seth did.

"Raaz means something else..." Seth answered with a frown.

"What did he mean!" Both ladies asked.

"We will discuss that later."

From Sarah's reaction, she was beginning to worry. As a mother, anything that may affect her children negatively, she is against it.

She knew Asteroids Online brought Seth benefits but if that will be at the cost of his health or life, it better be avoided.

"Okay, you didn't scare me just to make fun of me, right?" Anna quickly diverted the conversation.

"Here is my business plan. I want to establish an industry!" Seth gave her the plan.

"Idiot, you shouldn't call it Industry, it should be Workshop!" She ruffled his head and said before a more serious conversation began. Then later the conversation went against Sarah and Seth's predictions.

According to Anna, Sarah was too protective of Seth. Even though she handles the painting with her method. It can't be sustained long-term.

Only one painting was generating good money; Audu Makama Painting.

Audu Makama was the first president. And his painting generates 150,000 Nim a month in the museum.

Nim is the currency in Ni Country.

And that was more than what the parents have been earning in the past. Though it was nothing compared to Anna's lucky draw.

"I'm not saying expose Seth's talent. That will be stupid. What I'm saying is we are going to gradually expose him. He has collected many art medals and certifications in various competitions at school and none school activities. Not to forget he has a client that he paints every birthday. We can just hide behind the fact that Seth was blooming due to our sudden rise."

"In the past, a lot of things can hinder him.

Such as a lack of money to buy good materials, a lack of a good coach, and also he has no time to try many things. There are various ways to mask this." Anna did not convince Sarah but they have an agreement. How to turn Seth's Talent into a profession.

"Damn, this amount is high!" Anna cursed under her breath as she read the monetary requirements of the workshop plan

"Ahm...It's just 1000U. Not that much!" Seth forced a smile.

"Yeah, if you put it that way. But convert it to Nim. That will be around 147,000,000Nim. Plucking this amount will get those old geezers glaring at me!"

"Well, even I thought it was too much but gradual growth will do!" Sarah said.

The three establish an agreement before Anna leaves the room—but the moment she was out, her face crumbled into a frown.

"I don't know what to think anymore!" Anna whispered. She went back to her house and met with Sam. She can't help but wonder what Seth showed her.

If the game can improve one's Talent then it's a game-changer, but at the end of the day, she realized she was jealous of Seth.

She has nothing to show in raw Talent but hard work, still, she was happy about it. Many times she understands Seth considered himself a burden to the family but now he has something to give.

On a king-size bed, a couple was lying, the woman, in particular, had her head on her husband's chest.

"Sam, I have been thinking about something we talked about."

"Regarding?"

"Having our feet in a Class A city. With that apartment that I was given in Glow Business District we have a chance, right?"

"Competitions Anna. We can't afford to compete with them. Having money is not everything, connection is!"

"What if there is no competition, or we have a backing." She pressed.

"What do you have in mind?"

"With the upcoming election, I want to use that to deliver posters and support one of the candidates. One way or the other we can draw his attention and make him recognise our efforts. With that, if he wins we will have an easy putting."

It's a basic plan that most people use to get close to political figures and then use that figure to achieve things that would otherwise be hard.

"I don't like politics. It only brings trouble in the long run. What if the person we support failed. And many people are into using elections for their benefit. There is competition in that too!"

"But the one we support doesn't have to win. We just need to win him by heart.'' she continued to explain.

***

The next day Anna confronted Seth and asked him.

"As an artist, I want you to search for ways to make a magnificent Arts Gallery. But it should not attract attention very much, but a gradual thing that can grow on people. And how good are you with posters and printed things alike? Can you use your talent in that manner? And this teacher of yours can you invite him. You know we need someone big for the introduction of the Art Gallery."

Seth stared at her agape before he had an exaggerated smile. "You want an Art Gallery. Come and select from my various Plans that this country has never seen before!"

Anna felt a chill down her spine. It's as if she was awakening a sleeping Beast!