Chapter 122: No Thanks

"You’re sure?" The man behind the large oak desk kept his chair turned toward the windows, leaving Captain Rell to speak to the back of it. Rell didn’t seem bothered by the position and kept his hands behind him as he nodded.

"I trust Veylan’s judgment, and she was certain about what she sensed." Rell paused for a moment before adding, "I’ve worked with her long enough to know when she’s guessing. She wasn’t."

The man behind the desk tapped one finger against the arm of his chair. "You said our peacekeepers logged him entering the Pale Orchard for an eating competition, correct? In that case, we should know if you’re correct very—"

The city rumbled beneath them as a pillar shot into the sky somewhere beyond the windows, and both men stopped speaking while the disturbance passed through Marr Town. Silence returned a few seconds later, but the man behind the desk still didn’t move until a quiet chuckle escaped him.

"An Archmage in Tier 1." His chair finally turned away from the windows. "Indeed, it seems our city has found a good seedling. He’ll be perfect, so go ahead and prepare."

Rell nodded and turned to leave, but he stopped before taking more than a step. "There’s one more thing. The flag we were called to respond to earlier this morning also included the little girl."

"The little girl is travelling with him?" The man’s attention sharpened.

Rell nodded once before answering. "It seems to be the case. She left with him afterward, and she was still with him when he entered the restaurant."

The man behind the desk leaned back into his chair and went quiet for several seconds. "...In that case, ignore this for the time being. Let’s observe a little bit longer."

"Understood."

**

Something wet pressed down on Jaxir’s face hard enough to pull him out of sleep, and when he squinted his eyes open, the towel moved directly onto his eyeball. He groaned and jerked his head back while Niri immediately pulled her hand away.

"Oops! Sorry!" Niri held the wet towel against her chest and gave him a guilty look. Jaxir chuckled despite the sting in his eye and pushed himself upright.

That was when he realized he’d been lying on the cold stone floor of the selection room. Nick stood nearby beside the waiter from earlier and another man with carefully gelled hair, while both employees watched Jaxir with expressions they were doing a poor job of hiding.

The waiter looked uncomfortable, but the other man seemed much worse off. His smile remained polite, yet something about the strain in his face made Jaxir wonder how long he could hold it before something popped.

Jaxir sneered inwardly and looked toward Nick. "How long have I been out?"

"About an hour."

Jaxir frowned as he got back to his feet and rubbed at his face. Passing out for an hour inside a game felt ridiculous when Divinity could have just kicked him back into the real world, but apparently it had no problem letting his character sleep on a stone floor instead.

This game was too realistic sometimes.

The man with the gelled hair cleared his throat once Jaxir had steadied himself. "Allow me to congratulate you on your performance today, both at the Pale Orchard and during your selections."

Jaxir looked at him without answering, and the man continued with the same strained smile. "Of course, a blind selection doesn’t always provide something useful to the person who receives it. If that happened to be the case, the Velorian Merchant Group would be more than happy to offer something of equivalent value in exchange."

Jaxir chuckled. "Equivalent?"

"Naturally."

Jaxir smiled and reached into his inventory, remembering the weight that had landed in his palm just before he’d passed out. When he pulled the object free, it looked almost like 2 silver bricks welded together at the center, with only a thin seam showing where one half ended and the other began.

The waiter stiffened the moment he saw it, and the manager’s smile became even harder to maintain. Jaxir noticed both reactions but didn’t comment as he turned the object around in his hands and started looking for a way to open it.

Pressing along the seam did nothing, but after a little fiddling, Jaxir noticed one half could turn slightly against the other. He twisted them in opposite directions until something clicked inside, followed by a soft puff of mist as the 2 pieces released from one another.

A scroll sat inside, tied shut with a small ribbon.

Jaxir raised an eyebrow and pulled it free. All of that for a scroll seemed a little excessive, which immediately made him more interested in whatever was written on it.

The manager and waiter had stopped doing such a good job of hiding their nerves by then. Jaxir didn’t mind making it worse, so he tossed the silver container toward Nick before slowly undoing the ribbon and unfurling the scroll.

His eyes moved across the page.

Jaxir froze.

Then he started laughing.

Nick looked at him strangely while Jaxir’s laughter continued, but Jaxir didn’t explain. He rolled the scroll back up, took the silver container from Nick and sealed everything inside before putting it away.

"Let’s go."

Niri immediately grabbed Jaxir’s hand and started skipping beside him as he headed toward the door, while Nick followed with another confused look directed at his back. The manager finally stepped forward once Jaxir was almost out of the room.

"Sir—!"

"No thank you." Jaxir waved over his shoulder without slowing and disappeared into the hall with Niri and Nick.

The door closed behind them, leaving the waiter and manager standing in silence. Neither spoke for several seconds, though the waiter’s face had already gone pale.

The manager finally rubbed at his forehead. "Contact the String Quintet Guild and tell them their item can’t be auctioned this month, then let them know we’ll compensate them appropriately."

The waiter went even paler.

The manager looked at him. "You’ll be the one explaining it."