Earth: The Second

Unforeseen

“Poor fella,” said Boss, his eyes are fixated on that dead slave body. From the distance, they can see that the slave trader is calling his goons to take the dead body away. Neither Adma and Boss know what will happen to that body. Would they gave him a proper burial? or toss his body into the forest and let the animals deal with it?

“Slaves never have a past or future. For them, money speaks for everything, even for their freedom,” said Boss.

“But they are still wrong, from the place where I come from, the act of s*****y is a relic of the past, still and all, the scar it creates won’t close even after generations later,” replied Adma, Boss eyebrow is lifted, interested to Adma’s word.

“I guess you’re finally open up a little bit to me, eh?” he asked. But however, Adma still giving him a sharp eye.

“Don’t be misunderstood. I’ll just say this because you also told me about your past. In reality, you’re the one who pushed me to the limit,” glare Adma, he warns Boss about all of his actions in Horundah. Being hunted is not something he is fond of.

“I understand, once enemy will always an enemy,” said Boss, “But Adma, I think of you higher than that,” he tried to act friendly by grabbing Adma’s shoulder, which he quickly brushed off.

Boss sighed, then continues talking. “When Udeka tasked me to investigate someone who owns an Artifact, I thought getting it from you will be piece of cake, turns out not so much,” he lifts his shoulders and shakes his head.

“In our second battle, I noticed the actual difference between our strength. And I noticed that your power is not coming from the artifact, but from your own instead,” he continues,

“Are you still thinking that I wear some sort of battle suit?” asked Adma in turn.

“No, I misinformed it on purpose, because it’s easier for people to understand. What would they imagine if I talked about living Artifact who is able to speak?”

Adma looks away to the spot where the slave selling was, then turned around. 

“Anyway, what has happened in Horundah after our last battle? From the rumor, I heard that the city is in chaos with riots and looters. Is that one of your doing too?” asked Boss, not letting his rival to walked away yet.

Boss’s words shocked Adma for a bit. Just this once, he gets reminded about the outcome of his action.

“Udeka is dead, the city is in chaos, but I supposed the soldier right now has arrived with reinforcement to get things done,” said Adma, “And to answers your question: No, I’m not at fault for what happened in that city.” 

Boss whistling. “Whatever, it’s not like my job after all,” he said.

“Yeah, I think our conversation is over now, let us part here and never meet again,” again, Adma moved his body preparing to leave, but Boss is holding him off again.

“I see you are heading to the Adventurer Guild right? Nice timing, I’m just on my way over there either!” laughed Boss.

Adma can feel Boss’s arm wrapping around his shoulder and pushed him in the direction of Guild’s building. Adma is not in battle mode yet and that is why he lets his former enemy accompany him along the way. After all, if something bad happened, he believes that he is able to handle it.

Some times later, they are at one of the tables of the guild, with ale and snacks in their hands.

“Now let’s drink! For Adma, and the Black Claws!” shouted Boss, full of spirits. He rams his wooden cup to Adma’s and takes a big gulp from it. Adma on the other hand, just stare at him. His expression is a mix of confusion and suspicion.

“So, Adma, I can guess your intention to come to this city. It must be about the dungeon isn’t it?” asked Boss.

“Oh, I see you can guess it right after all,” replied Adma half-heartedly.

“There are no other interesting spots for adventurers rather than dungeons. The fame, the glory, and the riches have been made in this place for dozens of years,” Boss drinking his beer again, “Although, some people say that this dungeon is starting to die out.” 

Adma is interested to hear that. “What do you mean die out?” 

Lifting both of his shoulders, Boss told Adma about how the explorer has dwelled in this dungeon for so long, and they have discovered every possible secret inside. Meaning that the treasures that used to be the main attraction has gone, and the only job people have are hunting beasts, so their component can be used as medicines or weapon.

“The situation even getting worse with how the number of the beasts are also decreasing lately,” said Boss. “This place is probably won’t see another three or five years.”

“Without the main attraction, people would also lose their interest in this place,” said Adma, confirming the information told by Boss. “What are the treasures that have been found there previously?” He asked.

“From what I know, the scholar from capital found what it looked like a green-tablet, with ancient words written in gold. They also found idols, and one batch of kingdom’s Dolls are also found here, so to speak.”

“Kingdom’s Dolls?” replied Adma, He has never these words before.

“Oh, I see you haven’t heard about it right? This is something that is similar to urban legends, or public secrets, that the royalties have their own collection Artifacts weapon,” Boss finished his drink, and continuing his story. “The story said, that the Dolls are King’s most loyal soldiers. They don’t need to eat, sleep, and only obey his word. When the time of crisis has come, and Henriah needs protection against invaders, these Dolls will be awakened, and will not sleep until all of their enemies is killed.” finish Boss.

Finally this time, Adma takes his first sips of beer. Listening to Boss’ story is very interesting because he understands how far this civilization has contacted with the technology of the old world.

“Even if all the treasures have been gone, it’s not like they can take all the treasures aren’t there? For instance, if those things are planted to the wall, and they can’t determine their functionality, they probably won’t put too much resource on that particular thing?” asked Adma.

“Maybe? I don’t know either. I did have seen them before, but no one ever told me what is actually their function. We just usually called them ‘ancient windows.’” 

Ancient windows… Something called that does resemble a computer. Thought Adma to himself.

Boss’s noticed that Adma’s attention has been shifted. Previously he always glaring at him, but after they talked about the dungeon, Adma becomes more reactive.

“After I said that the dungeon has been explored, do you still interested to go there?” asked Boss.

“Of course isn’t it? If not, then my journey here would be useless,” replied Adma. He also has an objective to investigate who is the user of the Central Database, but he didn’t say that to Boss.

“Well, you can start by putting a request for the guild,” Boss pointing at the receptionist behind his head. “After they make the contract and hang it on the quest board, the adventurers who are interested in your job will contact you around one until three days.”

“I know, I know,” said Adma, he put his drink down and walked toward the receptionist. He does not realize the smirk on Boss’s face right now.

“Welcome, what can I help?” asked the female receptionist behind the counter. This is the first time Adma talked to the guild as a customer.

“I want to submit a request, please,” said Adma. The receptionist gives him a smile and professionally guides him to put every needed information so that the quest could be made.

“Let’s see… The requirement adventurer’s rank, and the difficulty of the quest… Alright, this will do,” mutter Adma as he gave back the paper to the receptionist.

“Umm… I see that you are putting quite a lot of demand into this job,” said the receptionist, a little bit worried. 

“Because I don’t want to be ripped off by some unprofessional adventurer,” said Adma, he doesn’t mean anything. Adma just wanted a person who is best at their work.

“Ok then, because of guild’s regulation, you’re required to pay upfront the half amount of money first to the guild,” said her.

“I see, how much?”

“Three pieces of gold.”

Adma froze up listening to that. Basically, he (or Gon, depending on what kind of employer he is) has to pay 6 coins for these services. 

“Are you serious?” muttered Adma.

“For the request to be accepted and displayed on the guild, upfront payment is needed,” said the receptionist again. She is smiling, but it looked like the soulless smile that only she did because of the professionalism. “So how about it sir? Would you continue to proceed with the request?”

Adma gives up. From his pocket, he takes out three gold coins and places them on the counter. For some reason, he can not stand the receptionist’s smile, as if she is silently able to curse him if he chooses to decline the request.

After sacrificing his last money, Adma back to the table where Boss was.

“Thank you for the info, It was very useful for my plans for the next few days,” said Adma, he did not take a seat because he is planning to leave.

“I just telling you the public information around this place is not that much of a deal,” replied Boss. He crosses his arm and leaning back to the chair. 

“It feels nice to know you better than in sense of combat. I hope our relationship would not become nemesis, but more of a rival and partner along our way,” say Adma.

Boss just put on a smile and waving at him as Adma walked out of the building.

“Heh…” Boss is giggling for the last time, he proceeds to walk to the counter, and face to face with the receptionist.

“That previous man. I want his job,” said Boss plainly.

The female receptionist smiled as she handed over the paper request that Adma just made.