"So, you were serious about not reporting them?" Phil asks as Caelus pushes his wheelchair.
"I was being serious, brat," Caelus says with a huff, ignoring the annoyed glare from Phil. "Unless it's a heinous crime like murder, rape, anything similar or worse, I'll leave them be."
"...they might do something like that," Phil mutters.
"Even if they did, we don't have proper evidence. Innocent till proven guilty." Caelus says as Phil glances at him in surprise.
"I didn't take you to be that kind of person," Phil mutters. "But, given what you did yesterday, it does make sense."
"I may dislike getting trouble cause of laws, but I ain't a saint," Caelus says with a frown. "Laws are...imperfect. Criminals can abuse the possible loopholes, and some laws are meant to benefit a corrupt government. It's why I tend to follow my own motto, rules are meant to be broken."
"...with your appearance and your seemingly indestructible bat, people would see you as a delinquent," Phil says in a deadpan manner, causing a tick mark to form on Caelus's forehead.
"I could just push this wheelchair and let it crash into that trash can, you know..." Caelus says with a sickly sweet manner, sending shivers down Phil's spine.
"I'm sorry!" Phil instantly apologizes as he comically tears up. Before Caelus could respond, he noticed something shining on a plant pot. He walks away from Phil and gets a closer look before realizing it's a coin engraved with HIA on it.
Ping!
[New Mission: Embrace Your Inner Trash Panda!]
'...no...' Caelus is horrified by the mission title. Like most HSR's fans, he loves the meme about Caelus/Stelle being the cosmic's trash panda and he tends to laugh at it. Now, it seems karma decides to be a complete bitch by forcing him to embrace the role.
'...maybe, just maybe the title's being a joke, and the content of the mission might not be literally rummaging through the trash can...' Caelus thought before he desperately prays in his heart and opens the mission panel.
[Info: Take a single step to embrace your spirit animal-]
'Nope!' Caelus immediately closes his mission panel before walking back to Phil, who's been confused for the entire time. Without a word, Caelus continues to push the wheelchair, hoping he can get to the train station without encountering any trouble.
Sadly, the universe had other ideas as several cats started to meow at a trash can at the corner of the street. Caelus tries to get away from them, but Phil has other ideas.
"Caelus, can you push the wheelchair towards there?" Phil says as he points at the cats and the trash can.
"Why?" Caelus asks hesitantly. He really wants to avoid the trash can.
"Are you blind, deaf, or both?" Phil asks, causing Caelus's left eye to twitch. "Those cats keep meowing at the trash can. At least lend a helping hand to the strays, as their lives are already hard enough. I could do it myself, but as you can see...."
"..." Caelus wants to help the cats, he really did. But the mission assigned to him concerns him, and anything related to the system always involves the cosmic fate itself.
To make things worse, some cats start to approach Caelus with big wide eyes while letting out a pitiful 'meow', begging him to help. Caelus's eyebrows furrow as he tries to look away, but the pitiful meows got louder and louder, to the point he can't ignore them.
So, he reluctantly lends a hand and now, he's standing in front of the trash can, staring at the menace to his new life disdainfully. Without any warning, he kicks the trash can so hard that it bounces off the wall, a clear dent visible on it, and the lid opens.
From the trash can, an elderly man pops out, his eyes swirl comically, and drool escapes from his mouth. Both Phil and Caelus look horrified by the man's appearance while the cats start to crowd the man.
A moment later, the man regains his consciousness while surrounded by cats, Caelus, and Phil. The man glances at them before he got spooked out of his mind.
"Oh, my god! Please don't kill me!" The man says while covering his head fearfully. Caelus sweatdrops while sheepishly scratching his cheek, while Phil glances at Caelus with a questioning look.
"Um, sorry about that," Caelus says apologetically. "But, can I ask...what are you doing inside the trash can?"
"I-I am the Sage in the Barrel, and I provide knowledge about the Hollow and even rare items, in exchange for a HIA Commemorative Coin! Please, don't hurt me!" The man trembles fearfully, shielding his face. Phil gives Caelus a judgmental glance while Caelus slumps down.
"You didn't answer my question," Caelus says in a weak tone, but the man mistakes it as a threat.
"I-I like living in the trash can! But, cats keep taking my favorite spots! This is the only time I ever get the chance for myself!" The man comically tears up. Caelus glances at the man blankly before walking away and pushing Phil's wheelchair. Phil also shares Caelus's expression.
"You should've kicked the trash can harder," Phil says blankly.
"I remember you gave me a judgmental glance," Caelus calls him out, but Phil didn't respond. Then, out of nowhere, the system's screen appears, which fills Caelus with dread.
[You have completed your mission! Receive your reward!]
'...no...' Caelus thought in horror as the system automatically collects them.
[You receive a Title: Trash Panda!]
[Title: Trash Panda - Grants the wielder an increased chance to gain an item in a trash by 100%]
[You receive a Title: The TruE Sage in a Barrel]
[Title: The TruE Sage in a Barrel - Allows the wielder to guarantee a middle-rank item from trash cans]
[Automatically equipped the title...]
With that, Caelus slumps down as his soul leaves his body, causing Phil to panic.
"Caelus! Oi, what happened!?! Caelus!!!!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later
"Don't scare me like that! Do you have any idea how scary it was when you suddenly dropped into my wheelchair lifelessly!?!?" Phil berates Caelus, who could only chuckle nervously. He had zero excuse for what happened except for being too tired after not getting a proper rest last night.
"Sorry, sorry," Caelus says apologetically.
"...maybe next time, get a proper rest," Phil mutters with concern in his voice. Caelus merely smiles before glancing at the toy shop nearby.
"Before we go back, how about taking a look at this toy store?" Caelus asks as Phil glances at the store.
"...you won't fall unconscious like earlier, right?" Phil asks in concern.
"I trust my body won't fail me," Caelus says as Phil sighs.
"That is not reassuring, but fine..." Phil says as they approach the store. In front of the store, they notice a familiar girl standing in front of the store.
"Oh, Anby?" Caelus says in surprise. "Didn't expect to see you here."
"Hello, Caelus, Phil," Anby greets. "What brings you two here?"
"We're just planning to look around the toy store," Caelus says with Phil nodding. Anby looks at them in slight surprise.
"You two really didn't know, huh?" Anby mutters quietly, but Phil's ears catch that and he tilts his head in confusion. What does the Hollow Raider mean?
Out of nowhere, Wise appears and looks at the duo in surprise with a hint of wary towards Caelus before he glances at Anby.
"Hello, Caelus and Phil, and hello to you too, Anby." Wise greets as they all nod. "I was expecting you to be clearing commissions with Nicole."
"I was, but my W-Engine broke. So, I was getting it fixed." Anby says as Wise nods in understanding. Then, out of nowhere, a black haired girl walks out while holding a box.
"Oh, hi! Wow, wasn't expecting this many customers..." The girl says in surprise. "Anyways, hello. I'm Susie, and my boss tells me to send this to someone named...Anby Demara?"
"That'll be me," Anby says as the girl, Susie, gives her the box. "Thank you."
"No problem. Although, I can't help but wonder, what kind of thing is that?" Susie asks in confusion, causing Wise and Anby to stiffen a bit.
"It's....a toy," Wise says as smoothly as he can, trying to cover the truth.
"...that's one weird toy," Susie says bluntly before shrugging and looking at Caelus and Phil. "Would you two want to look around the store? Maybe something might interest you."
"That's the plan," Caelus nods as he glances at Anby, who makes a motion of 'come closer'. "But, I need to talk with my friend for a moment."
"Sure," Susie nods before entering the store. As she left, Phil didn't waste any time asking his question.
"That's the W-Engine you got to repair?" Phil asks as Anby nods. "Why did the store manager not know a thing, and why did you guys keep them secret from her?"
"First, she's an intern, not a store manager," Wise explains calmly. "Second, she's....not part of the illegal Hollow activities, so we didn't want to drag her into any trouble. Even if we somehow got caught, she would not get into trouble."
"Oh..." Phil mutters, understands the entire situation. "But, her being here will get her involved someday."
"True, but we'll try as hard as we can to keep her away." Anby nods. "Innocents don't have a place in an outlaw's domain."
"..." Phil and Caelus glance at each other before nodding. "We'll...try to keep her out of it as well."
Anby and Wise nod at them before Susie walks out of the store with a box filled with scraps, causing everyone to tense up before sighing in relief upon seeing her wearing a pair of headphones. Caelus notices something falling off the box and picks it up.
It's an old pocket watch, it seems to be normal, and the chains on it are still intact. Upon opening its cover, Caelus can see that the watch didn't work at all.
Before he could dismiss it, his eyes glowed and he saw lines pointing at the watch with foreign words that he somehow understood next to the line. He unconsciously opens the face of the watch and it reveals a weird mechanism he has never seen inside an old pocket watch.
"Why does a watch consist an old W-Engine components?" Wise asks in surprise as he looks over Caelus's shoulder.
"...at least give me a warning," Caelus says as a baseball bat already appears in his hand. Wise widened his eyes before taking a few steps back.
'Where did he pull that from!?' Anby and Phil ask themselves in disbelief.
"Oh, sorry about that," Susie says apologetically. "That was supposed to be thrown away along with the rest of the scraps."
"...can I buy this one?" Caelus asks as everyone looks at him in surprise. Everyone wonders what is he thinking, while Caelus was reminded by the system about one of his passives.
[Basic Engineering (Lvl 1)]
'If I could level it up, I could modify this watch into my own W-Engines,' Caelus thought. 'But, it'll take quite a time. Thankfully, time is all I got.'
"Um, that's a scrap. It doesn't cost anything. So, you can just take it," Susie says as Caelus nods.
"...I think that so-called 'sage' may have slightly corrupted my friend," Phil says in a blank tone, earning a confused look from Wise and Anby.
To be Continued