The man sat there, in front of me, with his disturbing smile, in elegant black robes with dark blue fabrics. He was tall with oily black hair neatly pulled back, although all of those features would be hidden by the large ridiculous hat on top of his head.
Everything about this man felt out of place, the large brimmed hat, a smile that hid mockery behind it, his whole body just seemed wrong, from the way he sat so unnaturally, not to mention the mere fact that I couldn't sense him at all.
It wasn't something I was used to, I began to wonder if this was an angry employer or perhaps someone I might have crossed, or if he was an assassin hired by someone. Regardless I watched him with a gaze that wasn't exactly welcoming.
“I’m sure you’re quite skeptical about my sudden break-in… well, if I could call it that,” He said with a chortle. “But, I’m actually here to hire you, if possible?” he continued as I stared at him with an air of disinterest.
"Really now... can’t say I’ve had an employer come right to me... how did you find me?" I replied with a scoff while the man simply laughed at my response. His smile remained in place.
"Well, that doesn't really matter. What matters is you're quite the competent person to hire,” he said as if that was some sort of compliment or a reasonable response.
My gaze merely shifted away, “You said so yourself. I’m quite skeptical here... Start off with a name, and why someone like you would come right to me like this?" I retorted with a slight scowl.
The man raised his brow, simply chortling at my remark, "Ah, How rude of me," he mused, "the name is Kairo, and to put it simply, I know of you quite well, not specifically you but the Xiao to be more exact. Although I wouldn’t say you’re much different than the one I knew… in fact, you are a spitting image of him. But that doesn’t matter," he said with a faint annoyance at the mention of the Xiao like they had wronged him in some way.
I hummed at his explanation as I glanced him over once again, “.. very interesting… so you rather just avoid how you know exactly where I live,” I remarked, not really caring for his poor attempt to hide the truth.
Yet I was only met with a smile. "Nothing ever misses a Xiao, does it? But It’s not that I’m avoiding it... you see... I thought I’d spare you the pointless details. Besides, there's no reason for the how and why I am here after all. This specific job I have can only be done by someone like you. The only question left is... do you accept the offer?" he replied again with the same half-baked reasoning he insisted on using.
I let out a sigh. It honestly seemed like I was being pestered. There was no reason to even trust this Kairo in the first place, and his attitude didn't seem to get along with mine at all. “I expect the details of this little job aren’t as cheap as your reasoning to get my attention. So give me a straight answer. no games, and if you can’t provide me with what I need, then there's no reason for me to bother." I bluntly stated as I kept my gaze on him, making my thoughts clear.
The man only smiled at my response, "That is more like it, and truthfully I expected you to react that way... however, the payment for this is certainly more than any other job that you would take from one of the usual employers you go through, so hopefully that is enough to satisfy your bitter nature."
At this point, I didn’t expect him to give me the amount at all. Just another means to get me to do the job. “Don’t waste my time, I can assure you If I get double-crossed, I will make you regret it...” I said to make sure I made my point.
The man let out a chortle at my threat, "Well... I can assure you that I would never cross you like that... and this job isn’t that complicated either. all you need to do is retrieve an Artifact for me, however, this artifact is deep within a dungeon near the Vectus border, and I can only provide you with the location of the artifact in the dungeon, but I have never gone into the dungeon myself, and I’ll admit it was only up until recently, this peculiar artifact resurfaced.” He explained, still keeping up his fake friendly demeanor that I wasn't buying.
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"A dungeon? Are you serious… if you didn’t already know, Cursed clans, or any clanless for that matter, can’t enter dungeons,” I remarked a well-known fact among the Clan laws of this continent, most dungeon resources were reserved for clans that were considered part of society, those that the Monarchs ruled over. As for a certain guild that was present in every domain, the condition was that all dungeon raids and affairs were overseen by them, so they had rights to enter as well. The point is that I could never enter a dungeon. I heard Dungeons have seals placed over them that served two purposes, one was to prevent anything they saw fit from entering, and the other was also to prevent the mana beasts from leaking out uncontrollably. Regardless this wasn't something I would usually care about, and I had to assume this Kairo already knew all of that.
"That may be true, but fortunately for us, you are in a unique position," he said with a small chuckle as he pulled out a Sphere-like object that fit in his palm. Its clear white surface, a jewel seemed to glow softly within it. "… let us call this an Artifact. This will allow you to find the dungeon along the border with a vibration that increases as you near it, and not only that but it will allow you to enter the seal undetected. I actually made this myself, it’s more of a means to get rare resources, and they are a real pain to create. But I do find them useful." he said, tossing the Artifact to me, which I caught without a second thought.
I couldn’t help but to scoff at him, "... you make them? and you’re forgetting I’m only hearing what you have to say, I didn’t accept your little job. Every time you speak the more I question, if this is some sort of trap." I retorted, not missing the chance to remind him that I wasn't even remotely interested. My gaze fixed on him as I gave him the same cold glare I had for everyone else.
Yet, Kairo seemed to ignore my remarks with ease. "...hmm, well, I understand where you are coming from, but like I said, you are the only one who can do this job for me, as for this being a trap... I am not some common street rat, and I have nothing to gain, however It is true I have my own intentions here, but by this discovery, you will gain much more from this than I would,” he said with his unpleasant smile.
I simply eyed him over, it was almost as if he was begging me to take the job, “Do I now,” I scoffed.
"I don’t expect you to understand yet, but after you’ve retrieved the Artifact in the dungeon, the artifact I gave you will return you to the surface, There will be no need to look for me, I will find you, then I’ll tell you just what my objective is. until then, all you need to do is retrieve the artifact," He stated once more, trying to assure me of his sincerity.
I merely stared at him while I simply twirled the Artifact in my hand with no interest, "... seriously, you’re threatening me with no choice here…?” I mused with a roll of my eyes at his growing impatience.
“It’s not a threat, more of a statement of fact. Surely you know how a dungeon operates. There will be mana beasts within, Easy enough for a Xiao, and here is a layout on how to find the artifact I need from the dungeon. As for directions to your destination, just follow the main road toward Vectus and the Artifact I gave you will react accordingly,” he stated as he pulled out a scroll and placed it in front of me on the table.
I gazed at the scroll with little to no interest, yet it was clearly a map of the dungeon. From what I could understand, this Artifact seemed to be deep inside and down twelve floors. Still, he had planned this out well putting me in an unpleasant position. A click of my tongue left me as my eyes shifted back to Kairo, "...Fine, anything to get you out of my sight." I replied after a moment of thought, and his face seemed to brighten up.
"Very good, Kazu. I have no doubt this will be the job that changes your life," He said with a smile as he began to stand from his seat, "I will be looking forward to your return. A Xiao like you, will be able to complete this task,” he said happily.
“It has nothing to do with being Xiao. Just get out. I already said I’d take your little job." I retorted with a sigh before Kairo unpleasantly smiled wider as if he was trying to hold back something.
"Of course, and as much as I enjoy talking with you... I will take my leave," He said before reaching into his cloak and pulling out three gold coins. “This is a gesture of good faith. For this job, you will need to travel there. I recommend preparing after all, it is still a dungeon," he said, dropping the coins to the table and then turning his back to me.
My gaze shifted to the table where the gold coins spun around to a halt, “good riddance,” I remarked before leaning back in my chair as I waited for Kairo to leave before grabbing one of the gold coins to further inspect it. "What a pain…" I scoffed as I bit into the coin to make sure it was real.
I let out another sigh and tossed the Artifact aside. As for the map, I decided to look at it a bit more in detail before tossing that to the side as well. The Gold coins he gave me to prepare would have their use, anything I wouldn’t spend would be kept in my stash.
After that, my gaze shifted back up to the ceiling, I began to plan what I needed to prepare for my next job, even if I wasn’t in any real rush. The path Kairo provided avoided any real dangers, so it should be relatively simple. My mind began to piece together possibilities and all I would need to complete this job before I eventually closed my eyes to rest for a few hours.