Chapter 42
Unexpected changes
The next morning, all the plans Kalysto had made the day before came crashing down when she opened her eyes to find a violet window in front of her.
And with Tsuki lying on top of her chest, his tail covering half of her face. Kalysto brushed it off and had to wipe the white hairs from her face with the help of the inside of her sheet.
“We need new sleeping arrangements, Tsuki!” She scolded him, but the little one continued sleeping as if nothing had happened and Kalysto let out a frustrated sigh.
Then she focused on the violet window.
Why does he insist on talking through this medium if I’m in his castle... Is it because I’m human? Although she felt a little rejected by the idea, she tried her best to ignore it.
She just had to do her job, and that was all.
[I heard that you had an altercation with the instructor I assigned you. What happened? Why did you refuse to work with her?]
So you already went to tell her your side of the story? How quick of you Artemis.
“I think the boss has been misinformed,” she replied calmly. “As far as I understand, Artemis is just an assigned instructor and not someone who has the authority to impose missions on me in exchange for teaching me. Besides, it was obvious that she had been somewhat careless with her illness, which ended up causing her own daughter, Medea, to be exposed to the black plague.”
[What did you say?]
Kalysto could feel the alarm, anger and fear growing in her boss, even though she couldn’t see it. So she frowned uncomprehendingly.
“She tried to impose...” Kalysto began, but was interrupted.
[The other thing!]
“There are certain cares that a person with such a contagious disease should take, and obviously neither she nor many of the other sick people have been taking them. Hence why there are so many other cases of infected people who have never been exposed to either the monsters or the miasma. One of them was Medea. But I already cured her. You can ask Galatea. She was there during the whole session, and she also helped me with the surveys we did on the patients.”
[I’ll find out more about that. For now, explain yourself!]
“It is known on Earth that there are several ways to catch a disease. With flus for example if someone sick coughs or sneezes in front of someone whose defenses are low - then she realized that maybe in this world they didn’t know about antibodies or microscopes, so she decided to change her approach - or is susceptible to getting sick, just by breathing near the emitted saliva of someone with the disease, the other person will also catch it. According to what was explained to me, if someone breathes the miasma they can become infected, so it would not be strange to think that the sweat or any type of secretions of an infected person could also infect others in small percentages of the plague, which, as it accumulates in the body of another individual due to constant exposure to other sick people, he himself will end up getting sick. The same thing happens with wounds, if someone in contact with a sick person, has a small wound on his hands, and let’s say he was helping Artemis to take a bath or change clothes, and let’s suppose he was so unlucky that Artemis in that instant, was touched in an area of her body where some scab on her body fell or has a tiny wound, her blood or sweat could contaminate the wound on the other person’s hands. So I asked Galatea to get me a dressmaker to make some items that will help protect people who come in contact with the sick. And thus avoid unnecessary contagions.”
[What about the surveys? I don’t see why you need to get information from my people. Our lifestyle is none of your business.]
“I believe I told you that I would need to do some research on the subject before signing the contract. And in my world, there is no such disease.”
[I remember.]
“When the research is finished, I will pass the data to you or if you like, you can read the questions and answers that were collected yesterday and then hand them over to me.”
[I will order Galatea to give them to me. Now, keep telling me what happened with Artemis. I heard that you spent yesterday healing the sick and purifying the forest, and not doing what I assigned you.]
- You said I should meet my instructor and choose my first profession, and so I did. But as soon as I saw that I would not come to any agreement with her, I went on with what I thought was the most important thing, which was to cure Medea and then see what condition the other sick people were in. Then one thing led me to the other.
[What was it she wanted you to do?]
“She wanted to send me on a mission to heal the elves in exchange for the potions they gave her as material for classes. But as I recall, in our contract I am completely free to refuse, plus I am under no obligation to accept any mission or any contract that anyone else tries to force me to do. Least of all for class materials that are not my responsibility to get. Unless you are telling me that I must get potions in order to take the classes, in which case the classes must be postponed because it means I must get myself a job in the human kingdom in order to get the money to be able to buy the potions. Which, as you may already know, are not so easy to come by in the human kingdom," she said, “which in turn would leave me without much free time to hold up my end of the deal. But if I am forced to do that, then the best thing to do would be to simply wait for my mana capacity to regenerate naturally. Although I think that would take quite some time, but since according to the contract I have 3 human years to fulfill my obligations, that means I have enough time and I don’t have any rush. Also, you should keep in mind that if I have to get money to cover my expenses in this world, it will take me much longer to get the money for the potions that apparently the professor wants me to pay for just because she chose a very intensive curriculum, which puts too much pressure on my body, which in the long run will be very detrimental to my health. Just with what I did yesterday, I already suffered from continuous headaches and excessive fatigue. Even now, having just woken up, I feel exhausted. And since I can’t cure myself, being continually sick will hurt my performance.”
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[...]
An awkward silence lingered between them until finally a new violet screen opened before her.
[Did you say elves?]
“Yes, that’s what I said.”
[Wait a moment.]
And several minutes passed before another screen appeared again.
[I thank you for what you did for my people yesterday. I’ll check later on the surveys you had Galatea do yesterday and Medea’s status personally. You and your pet can stay and live in the room you are in until our contract is up. I will assign a fairy to take care of your meals. But it would be wise for you to perform the mission for the elves. The plague has begun to spread among their people, and since you have had some success in this part of the mission with my people, you could be of help to them. What do you want in return?]]
Another window popped up.
[Mission: travel to the kingdom of Elenium and cure the elves who have been contaminated with the black plague. Reward: a home stone and a return stone. (The home stone will take the user back to her current room
That will definitely come in handy. She thought, but what struck her most was how easily he was giving her things she hadn’t asked for.
“ In other words, it would be convenient for the boss to turn the elves into allies, wouldn’t it?”
[...]
[What do you want in return?]
And Kalysto smiled, knowing that she had all the advantages in this new negotiation.
“I want you to increase my mana capacity and that of all my basic stats by at least 100 points, I want 1000 gold coins, plus I want you to give me the option to have at least three more professions, and remove the lock on the healing skill so I can heal myself” for some reason she got the impression that he would refuse the latter.
[You are asking too much.]
“And you’re asking me to heal an entire race when you know I don’t have enough mana, and my human body doesn’t possess the stamina or stats to bear such a burden without getting sick,” Kalysto defended herself.
[ I will not remove the restriction.]
That annoyed Kalysto. And it also confirmed her suspicion that her boss was the violet system administrator.
“May I know why? “
[...I don’t trust you.]
“And what does that have to do with removing the restriction? Are you aware that I could catch the plague myself while I’m healing your people?” she questioned. Do they think I will turn against them in the future and are they taking the necessary steps to make sure I am eliminable... Why are they afraid I will become a future enemy in the first place? That raised all her suspicions. Does it have to do with the third mission? Distrust surfaced again.
And Kalysto folded her arms and waited in silence for several minutes while her boss refused to answer. But sitting on her new, wide, comfortable bed, with only a T-shirt on and her hair tousled, she didn’t look at all intimidating.
[I never said anything about curing the entire elven race.]
“But neither did you deny it or specify it. Besides, Artemis said they were being attacked by monsters, which meant I could be in danger at any moment. What if a monster killed me while I was healing them?”
Immediately, the window containing the mission changed. Limiting the healing to only elves who lived in the city he was sending her to. And added another home stone that would send her back to the same spot where the boss’s summoning circle would leave her when Kalysto went to the elves so she could use it in case of danger. Along with another unbound home stone, so she could set it up freely, plus their respective return stones.
[ I can’t change your basic stats either.]
She continued as if nothing, and before Kalysto could argue. Another window appeared.
[But I can give you 5 skill crystals which will each increase your strength, vitality, stamina and intelligence by 10 points, respectively. In addition, I can give you another 5 skill crystals to increase your intelligence... I can increase your professions by two. Considering that I took away your freedom to choose professions, it’s only fair that I restore them].
“I heard that some fairies are allowed to have up to three professions.”
[And you’re not one of mine, are you?]
“But could I become one?”
Silence.
Seeing that I didn’t answer, she continued.
“In that case, I will need more potions during the mission. Yesterday, I spent several of the potions that the instructor had negotiated. And it was thanks to that that I was able to make so much progress with the patients, since my mana regeneration is quite slow, as I am human," she reminded him, using her humanity, and the fact that her boss saw them as an inferior race, as an excuse to get more potions. “Besides, what about the gold?”
[I don’t possess human gold, but I can give you enough emeralds and other precious stones to trade with to get the gold you want.]
“How many?” She demanded. She had already realized that with her new boss it was always best to be as explicit as possible.
[10 medium-sized emeralds should be more than enough.]
Kalysto nodded. She didn’t know how much gold coins equaled in this world or how much one could buy with just one, but she was sure that 10 emeralds would definitely pay for any of her and her pet’s expenses for a few months.
I need to buy clothes.
“How do you use these crystals you told me about?”
[ You can absorb them using your absorption ability. ]
How the hell do you know about that? I only found out about it yesterday! Are you spying on me? Kalysto frowned.
“I don’t have such an ability," Kalysto said, because, even though she had used it, it didn’t appear in her status window. So she opened it, going to the ability tab of her two systems.
[You have it, just check and you’ll see.]
So Kalysto did as instructed and closed the window of both systems, then invoked them again. But this time, unlike the previous one, in the purple window, one of the innate abilities that previously appeared with a collection of question marks, now clearly read: ‘Absorb: level 3.’
“Is this an ability that many people have?” She questioned, surprise reflecting in the tone of her voice.
[ No. I only know of 4 beings on the entire continent who currently possess it.]
Beings?...not people? That means it is not an innate ability of humans.