“Isn’t it gonna die soon anyways?” Bel said.
Cayn replied, “Yes, but we can’t just kill it and hope for the best, what if it crumbles on the barrier, breaches it and falls on people?”
“Blue-eyes, can you help me convince green-eyes that it’s ok to kill it, his arguments are weird.”
Astor was staring at the samples, obsessively. His curiosity had been mildly troublesome for the party, as his priority would shift once he wanted to learn about something. They had to deal with the mystery to get him back on track. Not that it bothered Cayn all that much, he liked learning new things too, and now it was related to corals, so it was even better.
Astor asked, “How can I get the [Appraiser] class?”
“Now we are talking!” Bel said.
“Tell me you two are not going to bother that poor person.”
Astor and Bel avoided his eyes, they were going to do just that, were they not?
***
The party waited in front of the [Appraiser]’s shop.
He opened. “What can I do for you three again?”
“We volunteer to help you out!” Bel started.
Astor continued with a monotone voice, like he was reciting a text, which he was, “We have seen how truly difficult your way of living were,” he took a breather, “and have decided to land you a magnificent hand in order to alleviate the sheer constraints of the shackles, represented by the long queues, are weighing on your mind.”
The sentence made no sense whatsoever.
Hyakinth briefly digested the bloat of information then spoke, “Whatever it means, sure.” He welcomed them to his humble abode.
It was a small shop, surprisingly. Most [Appraisers] were known for their opulence due to the demand their class had, so for one to live in such a small place was unusual. The four could barely fit in the place without bumping into each other constantly, it was going to be a long day, wasn't it? Well, at least it gave them one more day to think about the World Boss.
The first client came in, presenting an item. Hyakinth used [Appraise] on it, added some complementary info, then Astor took care of the payment on the side. Bel, her, was outside. She made sure the queuers were doing fine, tending to their every need. As for Cayn, he didn’t really know what to do, so he cleaned up the shop here and there and helped where needed.
A lousy client came in. “You scammer!!” he yelled. “You said it was a Legendary item, so why does it have no effects?!”
A common misconception, legendary classified a rarity, it doesn’t guarantee an effect. Should Cayn deal with him?
“Sir, it’s not my fault you didn’t listen at school. Kindly, have you tried going back?” Hyakinth said.
The client got angry and raised his fist. Cayn spawned chains, he locked down the fist, rendering it unable to move any further. Cayn checked on Hyakinth, making sure he was alright.
“Thank you,” Hyakinth said, removing a hand from a talisman he wore. “Could you show him the door and beyond?”
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Cayn did as told. Gently pulling down the client’s fist. Putting himself between Hyakinth and the client, he politely asked him to begone, and so they did. Even with the System’s penalty being a thing, some persons still omitted it and took risks. With behavior like that unchecked, it won’t be long before their System’s access would be revoked.
Cayn told Bel about the client and she made sure to ban him for the foreseeable future. Going back to the shop, he resumed his cleaning activity.
Hyakinth spoke as he took care of someone else, “Sorry about that you two, some people don’t believe in the System’s screens sometimes and it leads to improper behavior.”
Well, Cayn had some doubts about the Great Coral’s screens too but he didn’t result to violence. The System was omniscient after all, faith in it was primordial.
“Does it happen often?” the client being served asked.
“More than I would like to,” Hyakinth showed his numerous talismans, “that’s why I’m well prepared now.”
The day went on without any other incidents. Cayn learned a lot about items and their uses; Astor must have adored his day as well. As for Bel? Probably fooled around with the clients outside all day long, enjoying life.
Hyakinth stretched and yawned while the last client quit the shop. “That was a long day of work… I might skip dinner and go to sleep directly.”
“That won’t do!” Cayn scolded him by accident, force of habit. “I mean— don’t neglect your health please.”
Hyakinth’s eyes were wide open, “Sorry?”
Cayn felt bad. “No, no, I am the one who is sorry.” He bowed awkwardly.
“Fine, I will go eat something. Thanks you three for helping. Even though I don’t know why, I do appreciate it a lot.” Hyakinth went ahead after closing his store and leaving the trio to themselves.
“Any time now,” Bel prayed hard for a screen to appear, probably just wanted a rare class for the sake of it.
Astor joined the exercise too, a high-paying class would help him a lot.
Should Cayn pray too? Isn’t it a bit too vainglorious? But if it’s for others, isn’t it fine? If Astor got the class, he’d be set for life and if Bel had it too she’d be happy, so why not?
Cayn joined his hands together and thought hard about them getting the class. A screen appeared.
[Appraiser] class acquired.
He glanced at Astor, nothing. Then at Bel, neither. He prayed for others, not for .
Bel spoke to Cayn, “Have anyone ever told you that you are favored by the System?”
“Not really no.”
“Well I’m glad I’m the first,” she said in a playful tone.
Astor was silent.
“Now what?” Bel said.
Cayn replied, “Let’s go home?”
On the way home, they stumbled on Dietrich. “Hi there, kiddos. I’m free tonight, care to listen to my stand-up?”
“Sure!” Bel said playfully.
At the church, Dietrich stood on stage as the trio, Uncle and two ghouls sat down.
“Ahem, I must disclaim first that my jokes are experimental, but I do hope you like them!”
The room fell silent, and expectations rose up. Dietrich launched the first joke, “I present myself, Dietrich! Why? Because my is ”
“We know!” Bel said from the back of the church.
“I know you know, just pretend you’re a new spectator!”
“My bad!”
“Ahem, where was I… Oh yeah, do you know why [Necromancers] are funny?”
Bel played along, “Why?!” her voice resonated in the whole church.
“Because laughter is the language of the soul. It's only natural for a [Necromancer] to get close to it!”
Cayn didn’t get the joke, but his uncle was laughing his heart out. What was Astor doing? He looked at him; he was playing around with his samples. Right! They were supposed to check them out. Cayn felt bad, how could he forget, and Astor was too polite to derange too.
Cayn sat beside him and used all three of [Appraiser]’s skills. “Sorry, I should have done that earlier.”
“Thank you.” Under the ever-present hood, Cayn could see a discreet smirk form on Astor’s face. Was he smiling? It might be the first time Cayn ever made him smile. Or maybe was it the first time he saw him smile at all? Do Astor even enjoy his Journey? As his train of thoughts started going, it got interrupted by his uncle’s loud cackle.
“And that’s why mana is stored in the balls!” Dietrich said.
What could possibly be the context of this?
Bel yelled at the back again, “Come on, you can do a better joke than that!”
“R-Right!” Dietrich stuttered while going through his notebook.
The night went on until the wannabe [Comedian] ran out of jokes. “Thank you so much for listening to my ramblings!”
A common screen appeared in front of the trio.
[Necromancer] class acquired.
He must have meant it from the bottom of his heart. Cayn wished Dietrich the best. For he believed that everyone should be able to attain their dreams one day.
The trio went to sleep as Dietrich and Uncle stayed a bit longer to chat. Cayn had never seen his uncle laugh so much since day, good for him.
And as Cayn was about to turn the light off, Astor dropped a bomb, “The microscopic eukaryotes are the true World Boss by the way.”
“What?!” Bel and Cayn shouted at the same time.
“Good night.” Astor curled into his bed as usual.
How do you even defeat a microscopic monster?