The night was relatively quiet. I had no trouble sleeping but to many, the vibrant scene of Rudolf’s head being pierced by my spear was still vivid in their mind. They had just witnessed someone die right in front of their eyes. Knowing that the killer was living just a few houses away, many hunters felt uneasy.
Morning came and I was woken up by some noises outside. It felt strange to wake up in the morning after spending over a week like a night owl.
I walked out of my house and immediately noticed a large group of hunters outside. Eric stood at the front and was leading the discussion. I overheard the words ‘Hospital’ and ‘Sick’ and instantly knew the topic of their conversation.
I ignored the group and headed directly to the merchant tower. I felt several gazes following me; some hunters behaved cowardly and averted their gazes as soon as I looked at them while others were scornful and displayed a strong front.
“Alex! Do you have a minute? We were just discussing about the construction of the hospital.” Eric called me out as soon as he noticed me. He smiled politely and waved to attract my attention. For him to do so, it seemed that the negotiations were on the right track.
I nodded back. “I’ll be at the merchant tower. Just come if everyone agrees to pay their share.” I left him behind to deal with the hunters and disappeared inside the tower. My presence will simply make things more difficult.
“Good morning, dear customer. How may I help you today?” The clerk politely greeted me as usual with his plastic smile.
“I’m looking for a refund on these items.” I said as I took out the equipment I picked from Rudolf as well as the set of potions he bought.
The clerk briefly examined each item. “I can exchange these pieces of equipment for 150 points but I can’t do the same for the potions. They were bought with Nazlock Coins and you have to discuss with the person upstairs.”
“Fine. I have no use for them. Trade these for now. I’ll go to the second floor.”
“Please.”
I walked to the back curtain and nervously climbed up the staircase. I felt uneasy as I recalled the strong pressure emitted by the female clerk; even Levi who was a fourth circle creature had been intimidated.
On the second floor, I found the woman lazily leaning on the counter, rolling the Nazlock Coins back and forth. “Yes?” Her attitude was much colder and distant than the male clerk.
“These items were bought from your store. Is it possible to get a refund?”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “You were not the one who bought these. In any case, refunds are not accepted in this store. All items sold here will not be bought back. You should be grateful that it is the case or else, that person could have sold these items for points and earned enough to run away with a First Floor Ticket.”
“Is that so?” I was expecting this answer and yet, it was still painful to hear. “Then, can you tell me the use of each potion and the paste in this clay jar?”
“50 Coins for this information.” She said straightforwardly. She knew I had no choice but to accept or else, I would never be able to use these items. She happily picked up the coins I handed to her and started explaining.
“These two are mana recovery potions; they can instantly refill all your mana pools regardless of how empty they are. These three are healing potions that work like the Heal spell. This one is an explosive potion; toss it at your target and it will burst in flames. This one is a burn resistance potion. This one an anti-static potion…”
She went on with her explanation, giving a brief description of the effects of each potion. It was easy to distinguish between the potions thanks to their colour and the slightly different design of the bottles. Finally, she pointed at the clay jar.
“And this is a stimulating paste; rub a little bit you know where and you will last for a whole night.”
“…”
My brain froze momentarily. I was not sure if I heard correctly. “Can you repeat what you just said?”
The woman pushed the clay jar toward me. “It’s an aphrodisiac. Use it in small quantities and it is just good enough to stimulate a man for a night. In larger quantities, it will stimulate more than just your thing.”
“You mean?”
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“Use a lot and there is a chance to stimulate your skill tree and increase your affinity to it.” The woman said disinterestedly.
“Oh?” My eyes fell on the innocent looking clay jar. I would have never expected that the dirty brown paste it contained could be used to increase one’s elemental affinity. “How much did this thing cost?”
“About 2500 Nazlock Coins. It is not guaranteed to improve your affinity though. The chances are in fact very low.”
…
When I walked back to the first floor, I found a large group of hunters waiting in front of the clerk. Eric stood among them. They seemed to have come to an agreement.
“Alex? You came up from there? How did you go backstage?” Eric blurted out in surprise. Like the other hunters, he did not know of the existence of the second floor of the merchant tower.
I nodded at the clerk and jumped to the other side of the counter with a calm expression. “You can go there when you find some special items.”
“Special items?”
“The one Rudolf took from me. You will be able to go there too when you find them.”
To my surprise, Eric’s eyes shifted toward Xia Shiyu. He was not the only one as many other hunters did the same. The Asian woman smiled awkwardly. “We will probably find them too if you agree to follow me.”
I looked at her curiously. ‘What is this woman planning?’
“We all agreed to build the Hospital. Will you join us in purchasing the blueprint?” Eric said to break the heavy atmosphere.
“I’ll keep my words.” 50 points was not a small sum but at the same time, if I did not contribute, the situation would quickly worsen as the hunters would be less likely to believe Eric.
The latter spoke to the clerk who took out the blueprint of the hospital.
“Let me confirm this, Alex, are you willing to pay 50 points for the blueprint.” The clerk asked solemnly.
I nodded in agreement and the clerk moved on to the next person. “Aditya, are you willing to pay 95 points for the blueprint?” The clerk asked each child to confirm the transaction before he handed over the blueprint to Eric. “Go outside and simply release the blueprint. It will fly around and the hospital will be built where the blueprint touches the ground.”
“Thank you.” Eric said sincerely to the clerk. He then faced the crowd of hunters, waving the blueprint excitedly. “Let’s go and have a look.”
He led the group outside while I took my time to avoid the crowd. The hunters left one by one, eager to witness the construction of the hospital. When the crowd started to thin out, I heard a familiar scornful voice from the side.
“So rich and yet only paying 50 points.” I easily recognised Xia Shiyu’s voice who quickly disappeared in the crowd.
‘That woman…’
“Ignore her. We all know you are contributing more than anyone else.” Jacob patted me on my shoulder.
“We are all grateful for what you contributed. Many are starting to feel sick and will soon realise the importance of the hospital.” Elisa said behind her partner.
“She has been acting against me from the beginning because I pulled ahead. I don’t really care what she says.”
“Well. You should be careful though. She called us out earlier and said that she would be willing to guide us all to your secret hunting area today.”
I paused for a moment, taken by surprise. “She knows my hunting area? Not impossible since she did send her fairy ahead… And what did you say?”
“Well… We did not believe her at first because according to her personality, she would have kept the location for herself, but she came to us asking for 50 points for the location. She said that if you did not openly kill Rudolf last night, she would not have shared the location. We kind of believed her at this point and agreed. I believe the other teams have also accepted.” Jacob and Elisa smiled apologetically.
“It’s fine. I understand that you all want part of it. It is not going to affect me much. I just won’t need to sneak out to that place anymore.” I said bitterly. I felt like I wasted my time. Rudolf wasted all the Nazlock Coins I brought back and now, because of Xia Shiyu, the tombs are going to be exposed and I will have to share it with everyone else.
At that moment, the ground trembled. I knew the hospital was being built. We walked out of the merchant tower and noticed a large building emerging from the ground. Being a blueprint building, the hospital had a much nicer appearance than the desolate houses. It was made of clay bricks and wooden planks. It even had a small garden on the side where medicinal plants grew.
The hunters watched the beautiful structure of the building arranging itself in awe. They rushed toward it, wanting to be the first to enter. I was not interested in the hospital as I was a healer myself and did not need any special services. I did not need to guide the hunters through the procedures either; as long as they asked the right questions, they would be fine.
Instead, I quietly walked out of the village, heading to the canyon. I did not have much time to explore the tombs of Nazlock alone. In at most a couple hours, everyone else will know of the tombs’ location.
The surroundings were still wet from yesterday’s rainfall. It felt chilly and humid; the complete opposite of the usual environment of the canyon.
“Levi?” I said out loud. The fairy was nowhere to be seen and would usually stay by my side unless we were at the village.
“Yes? You do not seem to be in a good mood right now…” Levi magically appeared next to me, looking exhausted.
“And you do not seem to be in great shape. You got in a fight with the other fairies? Your face is even more hideous than usual as if you got punched.” I remarked sharply, pointing at his black eye.
“Tssk. Don’t mention it. Just a small conflict between fairies which won’t affect us much. You on the other hand, killed Desei’s host. He was instantly sent back to the upper floor of the tower which caused quite a stir among the fairies.”
“Do my actions affect the fairies?” I asked curiously.
“To some extent but they understand that it is a natural selection process. They won’t be happy that their host die but at the same time, they can’t do anything about it.”
“Then, there’s no need to mention it. For now, I just learned that another hunter has discovered the location of the tombs. I don’t know if her fairy followed you back or discovered the tombs by herself but the point is that we do not have much time. I called you to go there quickly and gather as much as possible before the other hunters get into the tomb… I feel like I wasted so much time and yet earned nothing from exploring the tombs.”