"I see that this time you are considerate enough not to break this expensive window." Tarma voices his thoughts with a confident voice.
"If I join you…. What would be the pay?"
"Haah. At last, you understand my importance."
I furrow my eyebrow in annoyance. "Don't get cocky. The only reason I am here is because-"
"Of money… I know. I know. Afterall that's the ultimate goal, isn't it? To get rich enough to not worry about anything." He pours a cup of tea and offers it to me.
I take the ceramic cup which has beautiful artwork on the sides. "The pay. Tell me."
"Patience! Patience is the key of success. You haven't heard this?" Tarma continues talking with his sharp tongue. "This work isn't for soft hearted people. Have you killed someone?"
Once again, lighting flashes in the distance, my golden eyes react to the sudden flash and glows for split second. "I am not afraid to."
My answer definitely caught the arrogant noble boy off guard, he takes a moment to fix his shirt. "That… is a fine answer. Now let's get down business." Tarma opens the wardrobe and takes out a scroll. It has the seal of Silvertusks family embedded in it. He breaks the seal and reveals a list of people. "These are the names of every influential person of the Silverblade family. A branch family of the SilverTusks. I need you to quietly dispose of them."
I take the list from Tarma's hand. Three men and two women, all of them belong to aristocrat class, with two of them having independent titles. "These three are fine but I can't just walk up two barons and hand them a glass of poison."
Tarma smiles creepily as I take sip of tea. "That is no problem. Three weeks from now, the annual dungeon harvest festival is going to commence. I pull my connections and get you an exploration license. Win the festival and the baron's themselves will reward you. Perfect opportunity, right?" I put the cup aside on bed and stand up.
"Depends on the pay." I say in a cold voice.
Tarma chuckles as pours some tea for himself. "Haha. Pay? Is the exploration license not enough? How about this? 50 gold."
I unsheathe my sword and raise it sideways towards the wooden wall. "10 gold. Immediately after every kill."
Tarma fixes his hair as he giggles nervously. "What? What are you saying? Haha. That's not how jobs work. No payment before the end-"
I slightly pierce the wooden wall and ask again. "Yes or no?"
"Y-Yes! You will get the payment!" I smirk and sheathe sword again. "I will be taking this." I take the scroll and jump out of the window. THUD! CRACK!
The door quickly opens up as Lenia walks in the room. "What happened? Did he take the job? Oh no! He broke through the window again! That little-"
"Be quiet!!" Tarma snaps at his grandma. "I told you to stay downstairs! Why did you come?"
"I was just-"
"He noticed you! He can see through walls. Ugh. I could have corned him more if you didn't come."
Surprised, Lenia silently watches her grandson throwing a tantrum.
Tarma rubs his own face as he talks with himself. "Don't worry. He still took the job and Melsier is on the borders. Things are still under control."
"T-Tarma… Are you okay? Ever since you recovered from the dungeon, I can't help but notice that-"
"Grandma! Stop spewing bullshit and go rest. Your age is showing nothing else. I am going to bring us back into the main family, just like you wished. Now go rest."
Lenia's gaze softens as she heard her grandson's ambitious words. ''Hehe. He is nothing like you Ryhard. My grandson will be the one to bring back all the lost glory to our house." The old woman mumbles as she exits Tarma's room.
The sun's setting in the distance as I finally reach the village. To my surprise I saw Alexia outside of the house. She sees me and hits me in the head.
"Ow!"
"You told me, we see you on lunch? It's evening now!!"
"Sorry, okay? I was busy."
"No excuses! You are not allowed to leave the house anymore!!"
I shrug her off and walk ahead. "You can't order me around."
"Hey wait!!"
Inside the house, everyone was fast asleep. I saw Rushian lying next to Kela. "Did they eat well?"
"Yes… Father Patrick had brought sweets."
My face noticeably changes as I hear Alexia's words. "Everyone was happy and they ate a lot. Also, Rushian told me that Father was asking for you."
I put my sword in the corner and stretch my back. "Rushian? You didn't eat?"
"No."
I raise my eyebrow and turn to Alexia. "Why not?"
She pouts cutely. "Because I was waiting for you, dummy."
"W-What?" I suddenly feel embarrassed for making her wait. "L-Let's go now. To eat something."
"Do you have money?"
I freeze at her words. "N-No? But I can figure something out."
Alexia laughs at me. "Figure something? Sure, you will. Now come I am starving." She leans to reveal a bag full of bread hidden in the corner.
"Where did you got this?"
"Rushian saved some for us. No sweets though."
I smile as we sat down on the floor to eat. After few bites, Alexia starts asking question. "Where did you go?"
"Work."
"Why did you even go? You didn't go to see big sister Helen, right?"
"No."
"When you met her yesterday, how was she?"
"She was…. Fine."
Alexia narrows her eyes, clearly not believing my words. "Do you need water?"
The bread was not the driest bread I ever ate but it was dry enough. "Yes please."
She stands up only to turn to me. "Take off your coat, it will get dirty by breadcrumbs."
As I was busy eating, I didn't think much of it and handed my coat. My mind engulfed in thinking. '50 coins. So I need to somehow make another 50 while exploring…. What's an exploration license anyway? Tarma was quite overplaying that-'
CLANK!
I quickly turn back and see a broken wooden glass on the floor. "Altaris…. What is this?"
Alexia asks me as she hold the scroll bearing the broken seal of SilverTusks.