As quickly as her face changed, it was quickly changed back. Because of the massive shift in her emotions she failed to control her expression so it created a rather comical view if one was watching. The man across the fire smiled a bit helplessly, “To be fair, it wasn’t exactly you. I only knew the one I was looking for turned out to be you once I reached this place and sensed the fire.”
Letting out a heavy sigh he couldn’t help but ask, she could see in his eyes there was still a smidgen of hope, “If you don’t mind, do you think you can allow me to see the record crystal he gave you?”
Like a continuous condition, she felt another chill run down her back. The only thing keeping her calm right now was the fact that the man before her tried to disarm her at every avenue. While it was true that each turn he made caused her heart to jump, his efforts weren’t in vain, as he had helped alleviate some of her worries. It was a fact that someone like him didn’t need the cooperation or opinion of someone like her. With enough determination, if he wanted a result he had the means to achieve it with or without any regard to her.
Taking out the crystal from inside a hidden pocket in her pants, she reached out and put the crystal on top. What surprised her was that the smidgen of hope was wiped out as a rather cold and desolate expression filled the man’s eyes. The small crystal that was slightly transparent with small black lines of formations that caused the crystal to be tinted black, sat on her palm for a moment. When he did pick it up, he didn’t have much strength in his grasp.
Almost absentmindedly he tried to put some strength into his voice, still it was clear he was currently distraught, “Do you mind if I read the information on the crystal?”
At this moment she was slightly distracted, she didn’t really think about it at the time but when he handed her the crystal she believed it had video evidence on what happened in Fort George, but when the collar fell off it meant he was dead, and she was no longer bound. That was to mean the crystal couldn’t have that evidence, as it was still intact after their contract expired. So what was on the crystal?
Nodding her head, she was able to pull herself from her turmoil as she focused on the man’s actions. Record crystals could be anything from identification, bank account, to a recording of a song or an event. Unlike that stone she found in the laboratory, record crystals couldn’t hold nearly that much information. What was held on it was difficult to say. It required a special machine, but the man in front of her was using his finger to draw in the dirt next to the fire…
She couldn’t help but question the man’s identity one more time, memory crystals were a product produced by dwarves that worked for the Adventurer's Guild. The only people that had the ability to read record crystals were high level Adventurer Guild employees. Once a circle with a very complicated design was drawn, she started to get a headache, so she had no choice but to stop focusing on the circle details. Once he was done, he tucked in his fingers and pushed into the ground. Using the crystal, he placed it in the indent at the center of the circle.
The next step was what she was the most interested in. Grade C confirmation, but more importantly, creation. Only at Grade C could one use mana to not interfere, but create. It was also the grade required to really use mana outside the body. Before Grade C, the best one could do was send out a distorted amount of mana that very quickly dissipated, and the loss rate was awful and consuming. Yet slowly, from his palm on top of the crystal, a light blue plasma type of substance started to appear very lightly as it started to fill the circle cut into the ground.
Once the process was done, he slowly lifted his hand as the crystal replaced his hand with a small screen made of mana. Seeing the contents she had a confused expression but the man responsible for the display had a sad smile on his face. Seeing her expression, he couldn’t help but sign, “I am guessing you believed what was probably on this was a video. To be more specific, a video of events that transpired in Fort George.”
Using the subtle change in her eyes, he got his confirmation, “I guess an apology is in order. You see the person that showed him that video was me. Coincidentally at the time I was doing research on the late General Ivon. Believe it or not the general was laid to rest near Fort George. Back then it was part of the front lines in the human expansion plan. It wasn’t only you that heard about what was transpiring there.”
For the first time, the sad expression left his face as he recounted from memory, “I have to say your ability to gather information is rather impressive. Even I didn’t understand the entire situation until after. And I am rather confident in my ability to gather information. Only when I arrived, the situation was already being handled. Though I do have to say I was a bit nervous but to report the wrong doings I took a record crystal and if you needed help I was going to help.”
Letting out a heavy sigh as her face started to crumble, “Who knew that instead of helping, not only did I not help, I even produced extremely damning information against the hero of the story. So I put a restriction on the crystal and I showed it to an old friend of mine. While part of the reason I put a restriction on the crystal to make it a one time use and to stop the contents from being rerecorded, it was because I didn’t think you did anything wrong. The second reason was because of the type of person John was.”
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Having come to this information, the bigger picture started to come to light, and she couldn’t help but get a bit angry, “Why did you even show it to him in the first place?”
While slightly embarrassed, he took out a photo and handed it to her. It wasn’t anything special, just a normal picture of three young people. While the person in front of her wasn’t by any means old, he wasn’t young either. In fact, she could identify a younger version of the man in front of her and a much younger John, but the one that drew her attention wasn’t these two but the last person.
“Jonah Anderson, as you might already have figured out, she married that scammer. While he was a great friend of mine.” With a sigh, he couldn’t stop, “I honestly didn’t want the two to get together. I will say that his antics stopped after they got together. Still, he would take her out on adventurers. She chose not to gather mana and so very quickly she aged and ended up leaving.”
Standing up, he bowed to her, “I apologize for any suffering I might have caused you. With your likeness, I couldn’t help but show the video to John. I am already a Grade C being, and John’s talent was equal if not greater than my own. But once Jonah died, he gave up on life and disappeared into the world. For one last hope to create a spark of joy, I have inconvenienced you.”
There were a large many things going through her head. But ultimately, she came out on top. Not only did she survive, she acquired a finished product. She tried to think positively, as she knew everything was already over. Looking at the person in front of her, she was trying to figure out what she could get in compensation, “How did you know to come looking?”
“I was sent word. It was through a delayed respondent. It wasn’t anything related to the original content, it was a distress call. Furthermore, it was only just yesterday I finally arrived after tracing his tracks here. Though I only found you after a day of searching the forest without stopping.”
As he spoke, he continued to look down on the text that was being projected from the record crystal. She had scanned the screen and couldn’t really understand what it was. Only after slight hesitation did she ask, “What exactly is on this record crystal?”
“Their assets.”
With only two words, they were rather heavy. It was only with that reply, she was able to make sense of the text. But more than this, what she was focusing on was his attitude. From start to finish, he continued to act in deference to her. It appeared he took his role in this incident rather seriously. This meant one thing. Money!
Possibly from her expression he was the first to broach the topic, “Looking at the market value of the items, it is clear John had no intentions of continuing on. His remaining assets only range around a hundred gold coins.” Taking out another crystal, he handed it to her after he applied some mana to it, “This is my Adventurer's Guild bank account. Using this, you will be able to take over the account as a guest transfer. On the crystal you will find a thousand gold, with this I hope to buy John and Jonah’s assets.”
Only once he said this did he let go of the crystal he was handing her. Only once she accepted the crystal did he pull away. Standing up he bowed to her one more time, “As the instigator of this event and a form of apology if you send word through the Adventurer’s Guild for me, Fred Smiths, I will return three favors. If I can’t accomplish what you ask, I will die trying.”
She stood up, in a rather distracted manner. The compensation was a bit too much. It wasn’t uncommon to return a wrong or favor with a set of favors. In fact, it was rather common in Adventurer’s Guild culture. That was to say, if someone owed a favor and heard the creditor was in trouble, they would do everything in their power to help. What was not common was the second sentence.
That was something that was almost never said. The seriousness of that sentence from a random person was basically a joke. But from someone from Adventurer’s Guild and someone that was likely from Mercury City was entirely different. She had stood up to stop him as the man was far too high in status. In the end she couldn’t do anything, even when trying not to be arrogant. What he did was tantamount to pushing her off a cliff without any care.
In the end, she said nothing as she held the record crystal in her hand as the man disappeared into the dark. Once the darkness swallowed him, he was forever gone. The night was a long one. When she returned to the road the next day they were able to find a small caravan moving to Green River, without much of an episode they were able to get a ride and arrive in less than a day. Once there, she checked into an inn and didn’t leave her room for a week.
The boy seemed surprised by the facilities. It wasn’t really that expensive, but for some reason, he didn’t expect to see a full bathroom with a tub and toilet. Having laid in bed to relax, she had talked to him a bit, but she still couldn’t understand how they had the same type of things in his world but without using mana. Most of the boy’s time was spent reading the memory slip. Having put the sword on the table, she put the stone together to allow him to browse it anytime he wanted.
As she was relaxing, she had a few things she really needed and should do, only couldn’t muster the energy as she lay in bed. Only opening the door to take the three meals a day she was using a lot of funds, however she could replenish it with what she received. In the end, she deserved a break and was going to make the most of it. Her body needed time to recover anyway.
She wasn’t the only one. It was only during this week the boy was able to remove the scar on his face. She didn’t have the heart to talk or mention it, as it was her own doing. In the end, the wall really was fake, but neither of the two brought it up. During the week, they became a bit closer. To her pleasure, the boy hadn’t had any big outbursts since they had been here.
When the week was over, she had to start moving today. With a heavy sigh, she opened her eyes. With a start, she nimbly sat up quickly before remembering the presence in her room was the boy. He was sitting at the desk in the room as he put his hand on the stone. Currently, there was no mana flow between the two as he was staring outside at the sun shining through the window.