Here we were, in an underground shop that gave of a creepy vibes.
With a shopkeeper that was even more mysterious than this place itself.
With my mouth agape i watched as the man who i thought would be our enemy, started to hug Marco as if he was someone dear to him.
And that very same Marco has stopped smiling as he tried to avert his gaze somewhere else but us.
"Are you okay? Nothing bad happened at the academy right? Don't tell me someone tried to bully you already."
He checked him from all sides for any injuries acting like a worried mom.
"Im fine so let go off me." I briefly noticed his face flush red.
'my revenge!'
After the week i spent at the academy i sometimes wanted to get my revenge on him for acting like he knew everything.
But it seemed that he was too smart.
Dodging each of my attempts to humiliate him and coming back with more annoying bahaviour than before.
Now, alas.
"Heheh" i laughed to myself.
I met a person who could break his composure and make him act like this.
'im going to like this guy'
The persons eyes scanned us before landing on on Ash.
"Oh~ i didn't expect you to miss your uncle so much."
My mind went blank.
*
The pleasant smell was gone, replaced by the pleasant tea.
A ripple spead across its surface as the table shook lightly.
"Treat yourself, no need to be so tense."
The man spoke noticing Vlad's tense face.
The snakea black body coiled around his neck with it's eyes closed, not esasing in the slightest.
He raised one of the cups taking a sip from it in an elegant manner.
His way of speaking aswell as the way he looked at the children changed into more of a proffesional manner as he asked.
"If i'm not wrong then you are supposed to be studying in the academy without any way of going outside." He looked at Marco who was the one who brought us here.
"Unless you sneaked out, i don't see any other way for you to be here-"
"We got special permission thanks to being in prestige class." He cut him off, pulling out the permission slip he recieved from the professor.
The man took it from him, reading everything with suspicion before letting out a sigh and sitting down.
"Alright.. i guess i can let you off this time." He leaned back on his chair.
"So what brings you and your two friends here?"
Adressing Ash and Marco he put on a smile similar to the one marco held when we were in academy.
"I heard that there was something happening in the rift."
"You're right about that."
"And i know what kind of job you have."
"I was the one who told you that but go on."
- Thunk
Without a moment of hesitation, he threw a leather pouch on the table making the snake's eyes snap open.
As it landed, a few gold coins fell out of it, spinning on the table.
The man took a single glance at the pouch as his smile deepened.
"I want to 'hire' you to help us get something from it."
"You grew up." The man mentioned while placing the coins back into the bag.
"But what if the academy finds out about this? All of you could get expelled for just being seen near the rift but to enter it aswell? I'm don't recommend risking your life for some petty artifacts.." He turned to us. "Have your friends even agreed to this?"
"If they wouldn't want to then they wouldn't have come here."
It was like a fight of fire and water as both of them stared each other down waiting for any sign of letting go.
They made it clear that doing whatever Marco was planning wasn't something we could take lightly.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt."
Everyone's head turned to one single point where i currently sat with my hand raised.
Feeling awkward i caught yet another glance of the black snake that had almost made me faint
Their eyes seemed to ask the same question 'what?' as i became their target.
"I didn't really agree to go anywhere near the rift."
"..."
"..."
They looked at each other once again as if heaving a conversation only heard by them before the man came to a conclusion.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to but you will need to stay here, is that okay with you?"
He spoke gently but i noticed the snakes tail wiggle upon hearing the news.
'i need to get something out of this'
If Zephyr and Ash had some sort of terms for their participation then i had to get some reward from this.
And hearing them talk about the rift, it could only mean that they wanted to do something related to the supposed floor master.
The penalty for it being so big also added on to what i could recieve for participating so that needed to be taken in consideration.
"Actually." I answered while pointing fingers at Zephyr and Ash. "I heard that they were supposed to recieve some sort of payment for participating in your plan so i, as a member of our group should recieve a payment."
My gaze shifted to Marco. "Shouldn't i?"
- Scrape
Ash jumped up as the chair almost fell down, scraping against the floor.
"Why would we need someone as weak as you-"
"You have a point."
"Marco!?"
While she started to mock me, Marco agreed seemingly falling in thought.
"I'm saying he's kind of right, i didn't really tell him what we were going to do so we have to repay him with atleast something."
He continued while leaning on his palm.
'i should atleast try'
If they didn't have any idea on what to give me, then i could gladly give a suggestion.
Something that i had a problem with, ever since i came to this world and entered the academy.
The thing that people don't know how to learn.
"A book about controling mana."
I said while turning to the man.
"It shouldn't be worth that much, right?"
He looked at me, then at the snake who let out a low hiss.
"You're going to need to do more than that to earn one of my books."
'So they exist?!'
It was a shot in the dark that i asked for some sort of book but to my surprise they actually existed.
Meybe it was my fault that i was too scared to ask others.
Still, elizabeth didn't seem to do much so this could be something that changes everything.
- Ping!
As i fell in thought, a system window popped out with new quest window.
[Bonus Mission]
[Kill the floor master]
[Reward: Depending on the contribution of the individual.]
[Accept: yes/no ]
[Warning! Upon failure a random stat will be lowered by one grade]
As i expected after hearing the notification, another task assigned by the system which was quite different than the time limited entrance exam.
I wasn't sure if it was a good time for it to appear, if it was perhaps caused by where i was.
Or if the difficulty would be higher than last time.
I would have just rather recieve the penalty.
'are you serious?'
Everyone spoke of him like it was something we shouldn't even think of hunting down but the chance to recieve more rewards was tempting.
"Then maybe.." i said as i closed the notification. "we could kill the floor master? I'm pretty sturdy so i could defend Ash while she's casting her spells."
- pfft!
I noticed her holding herself back from laughing after i said that while the rest seemed to actually think about my proposition.
"Fine." Zephyr muttered after checking his backpack.
"It should work." Said Marco after some thought.
"And about that reward."
A smile had appeared on the mans face after he noticed Marco shaking his head.
"No one else is against it?"
"..."
"Well then let me introduce myself to these two young men first."
He stood up, his loose sweater revealed an engraving hidden under his thick, long, dark blue hair which had golden beads on it.
"Im their uncle, Valentine or Val for short."
His smile revealing his golden teeth.
The only thing my mind was focused on though was the blinking 'yes' option on the system screen.