"Pfft.. HAHAHAHA!!!"
Lily was laughing loudly while we were walking downstairs towards the tavern's dining area.
"Not funny, Lily. And here I thought we gave John a nightmare," I said.
"Were you expecting something to happen?" said Lily while she placed her index finger on her lips and winked at me.
"Even if things were to happen, there is no way I am doing it with John sleeping in the same room," I said to her.
"I was just messing with you. I saw John eating downstairs so I thought of giving you a scare by laying down next to you," said Lily.
Good thing she didn't went too as far as to strip down just to tease me. Ever since that kiss, it seems like was unlocked in Lily. It's like the floodgate of feelings has been released. Goodbye to the shy Lily Moonshine.
We saw John and Rose chatting while eating at the dining area. There was another food bowl on the table. Is that mine? How thoughtful of them to order for me in advance.
"That was quite a while for you to go to the washroom. Is everything alright?" asked Rose.
"Hm? Oh. I went up to wake Zen as well. Sorry it took so long," said Lily.
Rose squinted at me. She must have suspected something happened. I'm innocent I tell you! Glad I did not give her the bracelet instead. Her perception had always been over 9000.
So much for being thoughtful. That meal was actually Lily's. She must have ordered it and then headed up to mess with me. Sheesh.
"Why didn't any of you woke me up earlier? We could had eaten together," I asked.
"Disturb the individual who is capable of hurting the Underwater Dragon King's sleep? Who would be crazy enough to do that?" said John.
"We just wanted you to rest as much as you need, onii-chan. After all, you were the one who saved all of us yesterday," said Rose.
My food arrived as we were chatting. Oh, it seems like they did order for me in advance. Thank you, my thoughtful friends.
"Rose, how's your wound? It didn't look too good yesterday," I asked.
"Oh, it's certainly better now. The cooling gel works miracle to be honest," Rose said.
"Cooling gel?" asked Lily.
"It was something we found out when we were at the Northern continent. Too bad you weren't there, Lily. The demons was crazy to fight against. We even fought with a greater demon too. I am still amazed that we made it back alive," said John.
"You guys have healing items? Isn't that like more valuable than the water breathing potion? I want some healing items too!" said Lily.
Both John and Rose looked at me. Why are they asking me for permission? I don't own the rights to those healing items.
"If you want, I can make some for you later," I told Lily.
"Making potions and healing items, someone is trying to be the indispensable in the group. Is there anything that you can't do, Zen?" asked Lily while she smirked at me.
"Plenty of things to be honest," I said.
We finished our meals and sat for a while. We had not planned on what to do today. I have to stay in this city for two days. I am sure Rose won't leave without me. Not sure about John or Lily though on whether they will be staying or leaving.
Just then, Q popped out from the ground to pass me the daily newspaper. How is he able to find me all the way down here?! I wished I knew either. I took the paper from him while Rose picked him up to pet him. He always love his belly rub from Rose.
"Seems like you made the front news, John," I showed him the paper.
Written on the front page was his name and hand-drawn face with the title 'New Viking Lord appointed! Survived the Underwater Dragon King's carnage'.
"Will you be going back today to establish yourself as the new guildmaster? You made it, John. You should be proud of yourself," I said to him.
"Who knew that the little boy that asked me to follow him to the city would end up becoming the Viking Lord," said Lily.
"I think I'll put on hold on going back first. I wanna enjoy myself to the last before I officially take on the role of guildmaster. Two days, right Zen?" John asked me and I nodded to him.
"What about you, Lily? Going back with your Elemental guild?" I asked her.
"Huh? They already went back yesterday. I told them I'll be staying here until you return. It's been so long since I met you. I want to take this opportunity to hang out together. And besides, if the Viking Lord is still here, I can't leave without him." she said.
"What? Then what about the Viking Guild members? You're not going back with them, John?" I asked John.
"They went back along with the Elemental guild yesterday. Didn't you know about it?" asked John.
Of course I did not know. No one told me anything.
"So, you all are going to stay with me here for the next two days? And no one planned to tell me until I asked just now?" I asked.
"We thought you knew," all three of them said.
Wow.. I am speechless.
"Well then, let's go enjoy ourselves," I said.
***
We visited various locations around the city. We visited a farm, a forestry and even a park. Underwater! I can't tell you the number of times I was mind blown that these things actually exist down here. I really respect the elves on being able to actually build a city underwater and not to mention thriving in it. To pull that off is an insane feat on it's own.
I asked Lily on whether she knew about the history on why the elves were actually willing to help the Vikings in building this underwater city. She told me that the elves was intrigued by the idea of doing the impossible. It was actually the Underwater Dragon King that even made it possible. Without his help, this city would have never existed. It was perhaps he was doing his best to help his daughter in making things work with the first Viking Lord. Without this city, it was practically impossible for mermaids to meet with humans without getting captured or something. Mermaid kidnapping was notorious before the first Viking Lord made it illegal. This city is living proof that merpeople, humans and elves can co-exist together and live in harmony.
How romantic. I never expected the Underwater Dragon King to be so idealistic. But he is certainly an honourable being, seeing that he is still willing to keep his promise to the first Viking Lord. He must have loved him like his own son.
We headed to the tallest building in the glass dome. It is a shipyard where all ships are kept or serviced. Every ship must be checked or serviced before heading back to the surface. The elves has made it an absolute rule that they will not be any accidents or deaths due to the journey here or back to the surface. Until date, there is zero deaths so far. There were some accidents in the early days when they were still testing on ships and such but the merpeople were kind enough to help out and ensure that all those lives are safe.
We bought our tickets earlier to make sure there is a seat for us to return to in two days time. I asked the receptionist on whether I can refund or change the date in the event that the city council does not allow me to leave in two days time. She said that if I can show proof that I am staying here due to the contract waiting duration then I can change the date. No refunds are allowed sadly.
***
The following day, we decided to head outside of the glass dome. But before that, I told them that I wanted to find ways to restore my gauntlet's charges. The spell charges does not restore by itself after usage. I went numerous blacksmiths and merchants and none of them knew how to restore the charges. They did not even know that it was possible for an item to contain spells. One of them recommended that I check with the priestess instead. Anything "magic" or mysterious items are usually handled by this priestess.
Doesn't hurt to check out. We don't have much to do today anyway. On our way there, I asked Lily on why she decided to be a brawler. I always thought that she would either be using a sword or bow instead. She walked closer to me and held my right hand while hiding it behind my cloak. She told me that during her training, she tried out numerous weapons but she excelled in none of them. It was her instructor that passed her these gauntlets for her to test out. She said that the words that the instructor told her, ‘Punch as hard as you can’ will be forever etched in her mind.
Even though the gauntlets increases her strength and defence, she was actually quite proficient in using it to her surprise. Hence, the gauntlets was given to her as her parting gift to which she is still using it until now.
A female that can punch you hard enough to send you flying along with lightning fortification, I better not mess with her if I really do end up going out with her.
We made it to priestess's location. I was confused with the signboard hanging outside. I am unsure whether it read as Akara or Adria as the wordings was ridiculously cursive. Either way, this should be the right location based on items found inside the building. The amount of mystic items and such was on display from the entrance to the counter area. I talked to the priestess while the other three browsed the shop. I asked her on whether she knew of a way to restore charges to an item. She said that she had heard of such a thing before based on a research which she is willing to test out for me.
I passed her my gauntlets for her to inspect. She warned me that it could be quite costly to perform. In the event that it is not successful, I will only be charged to pay a small service charge. But if it is successful and depending on my usage, it might cost me at around five to ten gold coins to restore the charges.
Yikes! That is a lot! I seriously hope that my potion royalty would start hitting off, otherwise I'll be eating grass due to using my gauntlets alone. I checked my pockets on whether I had enough money. Thankfully I still have enough with me since I only took a small portion out of my total. Why bring so much when you don't even know if you might survive the journey? My will states that I will be giving all my possessions to Rose or Q should anything happen to me. Obviously Q is unaware of it.
I told the priestess to proceed after I showed her that I have enough to pay her. Good thing she accepts Western currency as payment. She brought out some tools and stones or gems. I asked her on whether it would take long but she said that it will take at most ten minutes. I can wait for that.
I headed to check out on what the three was browsing. John was alone checking out some weird artefacts. As I walked closer towards Lily and Rose, I could hear them talking about a ring. Is there another enchanted ring here? I am definitely eager to buy another one if there is. But it turns out the conversation is about Rose's ring. Lily was asking Rose on who bought it for her and she said it was me. When Lily was about to ask on whether it was a proposal ring, she quickly shot down the idea and said that it was just a constitution ring that boosted her stats.
Huh? The ‘Rose’ that I know would had taken the opportunity to boast about it but she quickly cleared up the misunderstanding with her. What is going on?
I decided to hang out with John instead as I do not want to be caught in between the conversation of two ladies. It was not long when the priestess called out to me to inform on the success of the charges recovery. As I did not use too many of the spells, it ended up costing me around six gold coins in total. Still painful, but thankfully not the full payment.
I asked the priestess on whether there are other locations in different cities that would be knowledgable in performing the charges recovery. She said that usually all the major cities should have a priestess that can perform. She will be teaching her findings on the upcoming meeting with all the other priestess.
Wow, I did not know that priestess had their own gatherings to discuss about new things. Perhaps it is due to the mysteries of using magic which is still foreign to us. We have only unlocked fortification magic and nothing else. I am sure someone out there are finding ways to unlock magic to its full potential.
I curiously asked on what gem or stone that she used to recover the charges. I hope it is not gem that contains soul or something. She told me that she used a stone that contains the soul of a dying child screaming on the brink of death.
I gave the most worried and concerned look at her to which she said "Just kidding". I was not expecting priestess to joke like that. She said that it is a rare stone that contains magical properties in them. It is certainly rare but not impossible to find. Perhaps I should find out more about this stones in the library one day. Hopefully there is a book about it.
I said my thanks to the priestess and we left the store. Onwards to our underwater tour! We decided to head to the Southern entrance instead. That was where I saw the merpeople's building and houses when we first came here.
Rose walked up to John who is ahead of us and pulled on his arm. Huh? What is going on? Since when did Rose have romantic interest in John? Perhaps something happened that I am not aware of.
The idea of Rose and John together? Not the worst I can think of. John is a Viking Lord now and he is certainly my best friend (I confirmed with him). I would not deny them should they actually get together.
Lily took opportunity and got close to me. She wanted to hold my hand but I asked her on whether we should really be doing that when we are unclear on our relationship. She was taken aback by my words but nodded lightly. I would like to know where we stand before we started going all lovey-dovey or something. I proposed to her the idea about a date when we returned to the City Of Pines. She agreed immediately to the idea. Until then, we just kept close to each other.
The underwater walk was certainly a sight to behold. There is something captivating in being able to walk, breathe and see clearly underwater. Between the fishes swimming around and the merpeople, it was.. breathtaking indeed. Some of the merpeople noticed that we weren’t wearing any helmet and immediately rushed to check on us. We told them everything is fine and they would be knowing more about it on the news, hopefully by tomorrow. I really hope nothing goes wrong with the recipe and potion. I want to go back to the surface.
No matter how much I looked at it, I cannot get used to seeing a building without a door. There is something unique yet feels wrong at the same time for a building to only have windows. We enjoyed walking around while keeping track of the potion’s duration with an hourglass. I really should start thinking about other ways to estimate the time more portably. We garnered a lot of attention from the merpeople and some elves that saw us walking around without a bubble helmet. We told them that we are not at liberty to discuss about the details of it. Should they wish to know more, the city council will be telling them in details soon.
We reached a famous site where we stood on top of a cliff overlooking the city from above. We can see the entirety of the city from here. We sat down for a while to enjoy the scenery. Lily rested her head on my shoulder. I decided to allow it as we are enjoying the moment. I already denied her the chance of holding hands together earlier so I should give her some leeway IF I wish to stand a chance at dating her.
We decided to call it a day when John’s stomach started to rumble loudly. As I was standing up, Lily gave me a peck on the cheek and went on ahead. That certainly made me smile a little. John walked beside me and whispered.
“You… might want to start treating Rose better after this,” whispered John.
“Huh? What brought this on? I have never treated Rose badly before,” I said to John.
He just tapped on my shoulder and walked away.
Damn, Something must be going on and I need to get to the bottom of this or my name is not Watson.
I walked up to Rose and tried talking to her but she was tight-lipped. She is definitely not acting like her usual self. I don’t really like when things are awkward between us. What did I do wrong? What exactly happened while I was asleep? Is it possible for Kirin or Byakko to affect my friends or something?
***
Another day arrives and also the moment of truth. Did the founder successfully created the potion based on my recipe or did he failed? I've written down every single details on how to create it down to the measurements in the recipe for him.
We met the founder at his office along with a city council member waiting there. When I walked up to him. All he did was smile and held out his hand which I took it. He shook it with extreme excitement. He was smiling and laughing like a little boy receiving his first toy. I’ll take that as a sign that the recipe is a success. The city council handed out a scroll for the founder to sign. His signature is required to confirm that he had succeeded in making it and he cannot perform a U-turn in saying that he made changes to the recipe which might dispute in not paying me because of that. As I was the one who provided the main recipe. Any changes or addition to the recipe does not affect me as I am still the one who provided the original recipe. Unless it is using a completely new recipe that uses different ingredients then that is debatable.
Until then, I am entitled to my royalty profits. My luxury life awaits me in the City Of Pines. Once again, how wrong was I.
"Pfft.. HAHAHAHA!!!"
Lily was laughing loudly while we were walking downstairs towards the tavern's dining area.
"Not funny, Lily. And here I thought we gave John a nightmare," I said.
"Were you expecting something to happen?" said Lily while she placed her index finger on her lips and winked at me.
"Even if things were to happen, there is no way I am doing it with John sleeping in the same room," I said to her.
"I was just messing with you. I saw John eating downstairs so I thought of giving you a scare by laying down next to you," said Lily.
Good thing she didn't went too as far as to strip down just to tease me. Ever since that kiss, it seems like was unlocked in Lily. It's like the floodgate of feelings has been released. Goodbye to the shy Lily Moonshine.
We saw John and Rose chatting while eating at the dining area. There was another food bowl on the table. Is that mine? How thoughtful of them to order for me in advance.
"That was quite a while for you to go to the washroom. Is everything alright?" asked Rose.
"Hm? Oh. I went up to wake Zen as well. Sorry it took so long," said Lily.
Rose squinted at me. She must have suspected something happened. I'm innocent I tell you! Glad I did not give her the bracelet instead. Her perception had always been over 9000.
So much for being thoughtful. That meal was actually Lily's. She must have ordered it and then headed up to mess with me. Sheesh.
"Why didn't any of you woke me up earlier? We could had eaten together," I asked.
"Disturb the individual who is capable of hurting the Underwater Dragon King's sleep? Who would be crazy enough to do that?" said John.
"We just wanted you to rest as much as you need, onii-chan. After all, you were the one who saved all of us yesterday," said Rose.
My food arrived as we were chatting. Oh, it seems like they did order for me in advance. Thank you, my thoughtful friends.
"Rose, how's your wound? It didn't look too good yesterday," I asked.
"Oh, it's certainly better now. The cooling gel works miracle to be honest," Rose said.
"Cooling gel?" asked Lily.
"It was something we found out when we were at the Northern continent. Too bad you weren't there, Lily. The demons was crazy to fight against. We even fought with a greater demon too. I am still amazed that we made it back alive," said John.
"You guys have healing items? Isn't that like more valuable than the water breathing potion? I want some healing items too!" said Lily.
Both John and Rose looked at me. Why are they asking me for permission? I don't own the rights to those healing items.
"If you want, I can make some for you later," I told Lily.
"Making potions and healing items, someone is trying to be the indispensable in the group. Is there anything that you can't do, Zen?" asked Lily while she smirked at me.
"Plenty of things to be honest," I said.
We finished our meals and sat for a while. We had not planned on what to do today. I have to stay in this city for two days. I am sure Rose won't leave without me. Not sure about John or Lily though on whether they will be staying or leaving.
Just then, Q popped out from the ground to pass me the daily newspaper. How is he able to find me all the way down here?! I wished I knew either. I took the paper from him while Rose picked him up to pet him. He always love his belly rub from Rose.
"Seems like you made the front news, John," I showed him the paper.
Written on the front page was his name and hand-drawn face with the title 'New Viking Lord appointed! Survived the Underwater Dragon King's carnage'.
"Will you be going back today to establish yourself as the new guildmaster? You made it, John. You should be proud of yourself," I said to him.
"Who knew that the little boy that asked me to follow him to the city would end up becoming the Viking Lord," said Lily.
"I think I'll put on hold on going back first. I wanna enjoy myself to the last before I officially take on the role of guildmaster. Two days, right Zen?" John asked me and I nodded to him.
"What about you, Lily? Going back with your Elemental guild?" I asked her.
"Huh? They already went back yesterday. I told them I'll be staying here until you return. It's been so long since I met you. I want to take this opportunity to hang out together. And besides, if the Viking Lord is still here, I can't leave without him." she said.
"What? Then what about the Viking Guild members? You're not going back with them, John?" I asked John.
"They went back along with the Elemental guild yesterday. Didn't you know about it?" asked John.
Of course I did not know. No one told me anything.
"So, you all are going to stay with me here for the next two days? And no one planned to tell me until I asked just now?" I asked.
"We thought you knew," all three of them said.
Wow.. I am speechless.
"Well then, let's go enjoy ourselves," I said.
***
We visited various locations around the city. We visited a farm, a forestry and even a park. Underwater! I can't tell you the number of times I was mind blown that these things actually exist down here. I really respect the elves on being able to actually build a city underwater and not to mention thriving in it. To pull that off is an insane feat on it's own.
I asked Lily on whether she knew about the history on why the elves were actually willing to help the Vikings in building this underwater city. She told me that the elves was intrigued by the idea of doing the impossible. It was actually the Underwater Dragon King that even made it possible. Without his help, this city would have never existed. It was perhaps he was doing his best to help his daughter in making things work with the first Viking Lord. Without this city, it was practically impossible for mermaids to meet with humans without getting captured or something. Mermaid kidnapping was notorious before the first Viking Lord made it illegal. This city is living proof that merpeople, humans and elves can co-exist together and live in harmony.
How romantic. I never expected the Underwater Dragon King to be so idealistic. But he is certainly an honourable being, seeing that he is still willing to keep his promise to the first Viking Lord. He must have loved him like his own son.
We headed to the tallest building in the glass dome. It is a shipyard where all ships are kept or serviced. Every ship must be checked or serviced before heading back to the surface. The elves has made it an absolute rule that they will not be any accidents or deaths due to the journey here or back to the surface. Until date, there is zero deaths so far. There were some accidents in the early days when they were still testing on ships and such but the merpeople were kind enough to help out and ensure that all those lives are safe.
We bought our tickets earlier to make sure there is a seat for us to return to in two days time. I asked the receptionist on whether I can refund or change the date in the event that the city council does not allow me to leave in two days time. She said that if I can show proof that I am staying here due to the contract waiting duration then I can change the date. No refunds are allowed sadly.
***
The following day, we decided to head outside of the glass dome. But before that, I told them that I wanted to find ways to restore my gauntlet's charges. The spell charges does not restore by itself after usage. I went numerous blacksmiths and merchants and none of them knew how to restore the charges. They did not even know that it was possible for an item to contain spells. One of them recommended that I check with the priestess instead. Anything "magic" or mysterious items are usually handled by this priestess.
Doesn't hurt to check out. We don't have much to do today anyway. On our way there, I asked Lily on why she decided to be a brawler. I always thought that she would either be using a sword or bow instead. She walked closer to me and held my right hand while hiding it behind my cloak. She told me that during her training, she tried out numerous weapons but she excelled in none of them. It was her instructor that passed her these gauntlets for her to test out. She said that the words that the instructor told her, ‘Punch as hard as you can’ will be forever etched in her mind.
Even though the gauntlets increases her strength and defence, she was actually quite proficient in using it to her surprise. Hence, the gauntlets was given to her as her parting gift to which she is still using it until now.
A female that can punch you hard enough to send you flying along with lightning fortification, I better not mess with her if I really do end up going out with her.
We made it to priestess's location. I was confused with the signboard hanging outside. I am unsure whether it read as Akara or Adria as the wordings was ridiculously cursive. Either way, this should be the right location based on items found inside the building. The amount of mystic items and such was on display from the entrance to the counter area. I talked to the priestess while the other three browsed the shop. I asked her on whether she knew of a way to restore charges to an item. She said that she had heard of such a thing before based on a research which she is willing to test out for me.
I passed her my gauntlets for her to inspect. She warned me that it could be quite costly to perform. In the event that it is not successful, I will only be charged to pay a small service charge. But if it is successful and depending on my usage, it might cost me at around five to ten gold coins to restore the charges.
Yikes! That is a lot! I seriously hope that my potion royalty would start hitting off, otherwise I'll be eating grass due to using my gauntlets alone. I checked my pockets on whether I had enough money. Thankfully I still have enough with me since I only took a small portion out of my total. Why bring so much when you don't even know if you might survive the journey? My will states that I will be giving all my possessions to Rose or Q should anything happen to me. Obviously Q is unaware of it.
I told the priestess to proceed after I showed her that I have enough to pay her. Good thing she accepts Western currency as payment. She brought out some tools and stones or gems. I asked her on whether it would take long but she said that it will take at most ten minutes. I can wait for that.
I headed to check out on what the three was browsing. John was alone checking out some weird artefacts. As I walked closer towards Lily and Rose, I could hear them talking about a ring. Is there another enchanted ring here? I am definitely eager to buy another one if there is. But it turns out the conversation is about Rose's ring. Lily was asking Rose on who bought it for her and she said it was me. When Lily was about to ask on whether it was a proposal ring, she quickly shot down the idea and said that it was just a constitution ring that boosted her stats.
Huh? The ‘Rose’ that I know would had taken the opportunity to boast about it but she quickly cleared up the misunderstanding with her. What is going on?
I decided to hang out with John instead as I do not want to be caught in between the conversation of two ladies. It was not long when the priestess called out to me to inform on the success of the charges recovery. As I did not use too many of the spells, it ended up costing me around six gold coins in total. Still painful, but thankfully not the full payment.
I asked the priestess on whether there are other locations in different cities that would be knowledgable in performing the charges recovery. She said that usually all the major cities should have a priestess that can perform. She will be teaching her findings on the upcoming meeting with all the other priestess.
Wow, I did not know that priestess had their own gatherings to discuss about new things. Perhaps it is due to the mysteries of using magic which is still foreign to us. We have only unlocked fortification magic and nothing else. I am sure someone out there are finding ways to unlock magic to its full potential.
I curiously asked on what gem or stone that she used to recover the charges. I hope it is not gem that contains soul or something. She told me that she used a stone that contains the soul of a dying child screaming on the brink of death.
I gave the most worried and concerned look at her to which she said "Just kidding". I was not expecting priestess to joke like that. She said that it is a rare stone that contains magical properties in them. It is certainly rare but not impossible to find. Perhaps I should find out more about this stones in the library one day. Hopefully there is a book about it.
I said my thanks to the priestess and we left the store. Onwards to our underwater tour! We decided to head to the Southern entrance instead. That was where I saw the merpeople's building and houses when we first came here.
Rose walked up to John who is ahead of us and pulled on his arm. Huh? What is going on? Since when did Rose have romantic interest in John? Perhaps something happened that I am not aware of.
The idea of Rose and John together? Not the worst I can think of. John is a Viking Lord now and he is certainly my best friend (I confirmed with him). I would not deny them should they actually get together.
Lily took opportunity and got close to me. She wanted to hold my hand but I asked her on whether we should really be doing that when we are unclear on our relationship. She was taken aback by my words but nodded lightly. I would like to know where we stand before we started going all lovey-dovey or something. I proposed to her the idea about a date when we returned to the City Of Pines. She agreed immediately to the idea. Until then, we just kept close to each other.
The underwater walk was certainly a sight to behold. There is something captivating in being able to walk, breathe and see clearly underwater. Between the fishes swimming around and the merpeople, it was.. breathtaking indeed. Some of the merpeople noticed that we weren’t wearing any helmet and immediately rushed to check on us. We told them everything is fine and they would be knowing more about it on the news, hopefully by tomorrow. I really hope nothing goes wrong with the recipe and potion. I want to go back to the surface.
No matter how much I looked at it, I cannot get used to seeing a building without a door. There is something unique yet feels wrong at the same time for a building to only have windows. We enjoyed walking around while keeping track of the potion’s duration with an hourglass. I really should start thinking about other ways to estimate the time more portably. We garnered a lot of attention from the merpeople and some elves that saw us walking around without a bubble helmet. We told them that we are not at liberty to discuss about the details of it. Should they wish to know more, the city council will be telling them in details soon.
We reached a famous site where we stood on top of a cliff overlooking the city from above. We can see the entirety of the city from here. We sat down for a while to enjoy the scenery. Lily rested her head on my shoulder. I decided to allow it as we are enjoying the moment. I already denied her the chance of holding hands together earlier so I should give her some leeway IF I wish to stand a chance at dating her.
We decided to call it a day when John’s stomach started to rumble loudly. As I was standing up, Lily gave me a peck on the cheek and went on ahead. That certainly made me smile a little. John walked beside me and whispered.
“You… might want to start treating Rose better after this,” whispered John.
“Huh? What brought this on? I have never treated Rose badly before,” I said to John.
He just tapped on my shoulder and walked away.
Damn, Something must be going on and I need to get to the bottom of this or my name is not Watson.
I walked up to Rose and tried talking to her but she was tight-lipped. She is definitely not acting like her usual self. I don’t really like when things are awkward between us. What did I do wrong? What exactly happened while I was asleep? Is it possible for Kirin or Byakko to affect my friends or something?
***
Another day arrives and also the moment of truth. Did the founder successfully created the potion based on my recipe or did he failed? I've written down every single details on how to create it down to the measurements in the recipe for him.
We met the founder at his office along with a city council member waiting there. When I walked up to him. All he did was smile and held out his hand which I took it. He shook it with extreme excitement. He was smiling and laughing like a little boy receiving his first toy. I’ll take that as a sign that the recipe is a success. The city council handed out a scroll for the founder to sign. His signature is required to confirm that he had succeeded in making it and he cannot perform a U-turn in saying that he made changes to the recipe which might dispute in not paying me because of that. As I was the one who provided the main recipe. Any changes or addition to the recipe does not affect me as I am still the one who provided the original recipe. Unless it is using a completely new recipe that uses different ingredients then that is debatable.
Until then, I am entitled to my royalty profits. My luxury life awaits me in the City Of Pines. Once again, how wrong was I.
