Chapter 64: 63. Bribe

I raised an eyebrow and stared at the Lizardfolk messenger.

Why is he wearing Earthling clothes? And how did the leader of the city find us so quickly?

“Who are you?” I asked him.

“Rauchlim. Feel free to explore the city; I’ll find you wherever you are,” he whispered as he faded into a thick cloud of smoke that appeared in his original position.

I checked the clock, and it was quarter past four.

I’ll wait till tomorrow; this town’s leader seems more interesting than I expected.

“Well, I guess there is no incentive for us to keep a low profile,” said Ratska as he shrugged, “Besides, people would be fascinated with you if you reveal your identity.”

Ratska pointed his finger upward, and I raised my head to stare at the sky.

There were many floating black holograms, and each one of them welcomed Jason Stubbs and congratulated him on returning to Earth. An outrageous system screen stood above the holograms, and I could read it after I tilted my head.

“Welcome home, Jason Stubbs. You’ll never walk alone.” I read the text softly.

Ratska nodded and patted my back, then Mr. Gerz joined our conversation.

“It must be a thrill, you know?” he spoke with his usual coarse voice, “Living as the Initial Returnee. He must’ve been really lucky.”

Zinnia chuckled, then whispered some words in the ears of her adoptive father as we walked.

He stared at me, and his eyes were opened widely.

“That’s unbelievable,” he said, “Someone like you visiting us is truly an honor, but I suggest you keep your identity a secret. Most Lizardfolk view the other races negatively, and the Initial Returnee is the only human whose name they know of; They'll resent you. Besides, most people are jealous of you regardless of your race; some riots might start if you expose yourself.”

Oh… I am glad that the regular examination command doesn’t show the name of a sapient creature, and Scribes are rare among Lizardfolks anyway.

I nodded at the old man’s words and followed him as he started walking along the road. The ground was rough, and there wasn’t much sand on it.

I scanned my surroundings, but nothing grabbed my attention; the buildings in this area weren’t impressive like the ones that I saw in Tiny Alveria.

Most houses around us were huts that were made out of hardened sand. The ceilings were made out of translucent yellow glass just like the windows. Each hut had a rectangular door that was made out of dull gray metal; a quick examination revealed that the material was impure iron.

There was a small space between each house, but it wasn’t big enough to let a human pass through, let alone a Lizardfolk.

In short, this area was rather primitive.

I can’t imagine why Lizardfolks are living here without making a fuss about it, but they might like this kind of environment for all I know.

I thought about the meeting with the leader of the Lizardfolk, and it seemed strange that he was that interested in meeting a random human and his Gnome friend. I suspected that the boss of this place knew of my identity beforehand; one of his servants must’ve had the [Identify] skill.

I guess I can’t ambush him now, as he would blackmail me later if he manages to record the event; I’ll have to bribe him instead.

I pulled Ratska closer to me and told him about my general plan.

“We’ll try to learn about the town, find a lodging place and prepare for the negotiations with the leader of this town,” I whispered, “It seems like the general public still doesn’t know about me, so we’ll be discreet. I’ll give you more details once we find a quiet place.”

The Gnome nodded and kept walking silently. He scanned the surroundings, but his poker face indicated his disinterest in the buildings of this place.

I noticed many people staring at us through the windows, but they hid as soon as I tried to make eye contact with them.

“The area that we passed through is the outer district; this is where orphans and disabled people live,” said Mr. Gerz with a stern tone of voice, “The houses here are given for free to whoever is in need, but people still need to work for a living.”

“I’d be living here if Mr. Gerz didn’t take care of me,” said Zinnia as she lowered her eyes.

“Ha! I’d be living here myself if it wasn’t for my past as an experienced blacksmith when our people still lived on the Sihlium planet,” blurted the old man as he laughed, “Besides, our current house isn’t that better off. I’d be ashamed to show it to our guests.”

I was curious about Mr. Gerz’s living conditions, and we arrived at his place after walking for about two minutes.

The architectural style was similar to that of the buildings that we saw in the outer district of the city, but his house was much bigger. The building was thrice as long as the ones that we saw before, and it had two floors. Each floor contained three rooms, and each one of them was as big as a hut.

“Vexilla!” shouted the old man at the closest window to the door, “We have guests; prepare the living room!”

“Coming!” a slightly high-pitched voice replied from within the house, then she added after a couple of seconds, “I’ve already organized the tools; you can bring them in!”

The old man invited me and Ratska inside the house, and we followed him. The hallway’s walls, ground, and ceiling were all made of hardened sand, and there were no decorations on the wall.

He led us to a large room on our left, and we sat on shiny blocks of metal around a wooden table. The metal was azure, and it reflected the light that seeped through the windows brightly.

“Mythril…,” I mumbled, “Do you work with metals?”

“I am a blacksmith, just like my father and his,” Mr. Ger replied with a softer voice than usual, “I used to make good items, but this leg of mine ruined my prospects as I lost a lot of strength. Nowadays, I stick to making daggers and simple tools.”

The old man was sitting on a similar block of Mythril, and he pointed toward his right pegleg. He put his cane on the ground, then stared at his artificial limb with an anguished face.

“Don’t worry, father,” Zinnia comforted the old man, “I am old enough to take care of myself, and I can even help you. I've saved up some money, and I can lend it to you if you need it."

“Oh, Zinnia. What would I do without you; just don't put yourself in risky situations like today, as you would've died if it wasn't for Jason,” Mr. Gerz hugged his daughter, then spoke to me, “I know nothing about humans’ palate, but I’ll tell Vexilla to prepare something similar to what the other squishy creatures usually eat. You can sleep inside this room tonight, but we don’t have any mattresses as we sleep on the ground.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I replied with a smirk, “I appreciate your help, but I am an independent person. It’ll tarnish my reputation if people knew that I took advantage of others instead of using my wealth. We’ll take this chance to learn about Lizardfolks’ culture, and we’ll stay at an inn until we accomplish our goals.”

Zinnia’s family’s financial situation was horrendous and I didn’t want to be a burden on them. Her adoptive father was generous enough to help me enter the town legally, and I didn’t plan to over-welcome my stay.

“Oh, really?” he asked, and I nodded, “Then, at least tell me some stories about the events that happened to you at the tutorial. You must’ve had a lot of action going on, right? I miss the days when I used to fight large creatures; I used to be our city’s best fighter even though my class wasn’t specialized in combat.”

I was curious about the old man’s level; I bought some information from the shop, and he turned out to have a class called Hammer Hoodman, with a level of sixty-eight.

It was an uncommon class that focused on blacksmithing with combat on the side.

You are reading story System Dilemma at novel35.com

That’s impressive!

“All right then,” I said, “I’ll give you the abridged version of what I faced in my tutorial iteration.”

The old man stared at me with great interest, and so were Ratska and Nina. All of them grinned, and their eyes were opened widely.

After about two hours, I finished telling them about the part where I killed the Primordial. I edited the story slightly so as not to reveal my connection to deities, but I kept all the action.

“Damn,” said Ratska as he clapped, “Gnomes call people like you ‘action heroes’; I am not sure if that word got translated properly. Your tutorial experience was much better than mine, as I spent a lot of time tinkering around with herbs and didn’t level up at all.”

“I was born in a world that already had the system, so I didn’t go through a tutorial,” blurted Zinnia, “But now I am somewhat sad because I missed such an opportunity to grow stronger and make good memories. I am also interested in that Primordial creature you spoke about; you said that he resembled dragons, right?”

“The tutorial isn’t as easy as you might think,” interrupted Mr. Gerz with a stern voice, “Jason had a strong class, and it played a big role in his success. I am thankful that you don’t need to go through the tutorial; many of my friends got traumatized because of it.”

Zinnia nodded, but she still stared at me.

“How about I take you to the nearest inn to our house?” she proposed, “It’s not far away from here, and their prices are good.”

I suspected that she wanted more information on the Primordial, but I played along as I wanted to get some sleep too.

She left the house, and Ratska followed her. I waved my hand at the old man and left while closing the door behind me.

“So,” said Zinnia as she led the way, “about the Primordial. Did you manage to get any items out of it?”

I took out the Bahamut’s horn and showed it to the little girl. She stared at it with wide eyes and tried to touch it. However, I hid it inside the storage ring before she managed to do so.

“Maybe I got some items, maybe I didn’t,” I grinned as I made a hushing motion with my left index finger, “Why are you interested in that creature anyway?”

“It’s related to my biggest dream in life,” she mumbled, “Anyway, here’s the inn. I’ll introduce you to the owner.”

Her biggest dream? I am curious about that…

The building in front of us was made out of hardened sand, but it was more pleasing to the eye. It had five floors, and each one of them contained six rooms.

On its door were words that I’d never seen before, but I recognized their meaning to be ‘Inn’. The translation skills were weird, and the weirder part was that people readily accepted their existence.

Zinnia entered the building and spoke with a woman. Her body was covered in white scales, except for her head which was covered in red ones. She wore a tight black robe, and she looked stunning even by human standards.

After a while, the little girl came out and invited us to enter the inn, then she bid us farewell and went back home.

She seems hurried for some reason, but I can't do anything about it...

“Welcome, Gentlemen,” said the owner of the inn, “I am Quaya, and I’ll lead you to your rooms. Follow me.”

We nodded and followed her.

She asked us about our names and about the kind of rooms that we wanted. Ratska told her to give him a cheap room, but I interrupted him. I asked for our rooms to be among the best ones, and for them to be as quiet as possible. Quaya nodded and led the way.

"Don't worry about the cost," I whispered to the Gnome, and he nodded.

We ascended the stairs of the building until we reached the second floor.

“Please, touch this orb,” she asked me, and I complied. I felt the orb siphoning a small amount of my mana.

She asked Ratska to do the same, then she resumed speaking after he did.

“Good; these are your rooms,” she pointed toward two adjacent rooms, “The door will recognize your mana and it’ll open when you touch it. The daily fee is ten lesser mana stones, and you can pay the total fee when you’re about to leave. We’ll offer you two custom meals per day, and they’ll be delivered to your rooms. You’ll find a communication crystal inside your rooms; you can use it to contact a manager or even me.”

“When’s the next meal,” asked Ratska, “I am dying of hunger, and I am tired.”

I also felt hungry, but I could suppress the urge if I concentrated enough. I could go for days without sleep at my current level, but a good night’s sleep would never hurt.

“It’ll be delivered to your room in an hour,” she replied, “We’ll prepare it based on your species’ culinary preferences. If you don’t like it, then you can ask the chefs to cook a different one using the communication crystal.”

“Thank you, Quaya,” I spoke with a smile, “I appreciate your professionalism. We can take care of ourselves at this point; I'll call you if I need anything.”

She nodded and descended the stairs.

As soon as she left, Ratska tried to enter his room, but I grabbed his shirt.

“Wait,” I whispered, “Don’t let your guard down inside the room, and sleep early because you'll be busy tomorrow. An important mission is waiting for you.”

“What?” he said as he yawned, “Hurry up, I already want to take a nap.”

“We’re going to bribe the leader of this town,” I whispered, and the Gnome opened his eyes widely, “For that, I want you to brew some potions.”

#

Special shoutout to:

GenericKane

chris

Water Dragon

Bladesunder

#

See you next Monday!

You can find story with these keywords: System Dilemma, Read System Dilemma, System Dilemma novel, System Dilemma book, System Dilemma story, System Dilemma full, System Dilemma Latest Chapter