109 Seventh Quest (3)

Wayne covered his mouth with his hand and a trickle of blood slipped through it.

ARE YOU CRAZY?!

Was what he wanted to shout at Vivian but stopped himself.

"If you let us go, then we won't press charges at you at the guild."

Vivian bit her lower lip to stop herself from smiling.

A moment later, she finally calmed herself.

"But that's nothing but a verbal agreement, is it? What's stopping you from turning on your word?" Vivian said and then pointed at the unconscious man, Azi, laying down on the ground, "Especially him?"

"Nothing. But just like you, we don't want to deal with unnecessary things. We just want to let this go and move on. We don't have any personal grudges after all."

"True. But what about my compensation?"

"What?"

"You people were the ones who attacked me first."

"You were the one who came to us and stole our prey!"

Vivian looked around.

"I don't see any sign here that says you people own anything here or this is your private property," she said before returning her gaze to him. "Is there?"

"There are unspoken rules when adventuring or hunting. You might not be aware of it since you're a Copper I Rank."

"But this little Copper I Rank defeated all of you without breaking a sweat, right?"

Wayne became silent.

"Then you must be aware of the term Law of the Jungle. Or are you still going to wave around your Silver I Rank title on my face, oh Mr. Great Silver Rank? I wouldn't mind playing another round with you all."

Wayne gritted his teeth but calmed himself.

"What do you want?"

"I want 2 things: Gold and I want to know what are your Magic Affinities. All of you."

Wayne looked at Jessica. Their eyes talking to each other.

"Hurry up, Mr. Great Silver Rank. Your companion over there is dying. He could die any moment now."

"T-Then his death will be in your hands!" said Jessica.

Vivian turned to her and smiled.

"Well, that just means I just have to kill all of you so that no one will know what happened here, right?" 

"We'll give you all of our coins and tell you our Magic Affinities," said Wayne. "In return, you have to heal our companion and you'll let us leave."

"I don't have any potions with me."

Based on what Vivian knows, people without the Light Affinity can still join the Temple of Priests as long as they have at least 3 Magic Art Affinities.

"Fine, you'll just let us leave," said Wayne.

"Now give me your coins as compensation for attacking me without any provocation," said Vivian.

Wayne and Jessica began taking out their coin pouch.

"And I want the girl to hand all of the coins to me."

"All of our coins?"

"The right amount for hurting me."

After taking out some coins from her pockets, Jessica went over to Wayne.

"Can we heal our companion?" asked Wayne.

"Sure, as long as you guys behave," Vivian said and then a grin appeared on her face. "Just so you know, I wouldn't mind going another round."

Wayne and Jessica then went over to Azi.

Wayne shifted Azi's body to his back.

Jessica took out a healing potion and opened it. She poured half of it on Azi's wounds and the remaining half on his mouth.

A refreshing feeling coursed over Azi's body. His eyes slowly opened and he saw Wayne and Jessica. Although the potion healed his wounds, it didn't heal all of it and his body still experienced some pain.

After remembering his last memory, his eyes turned wide and he grabbed Jessica's arm.

"Wayne! Jessica!"

"Relax, Azi," Wayne said and pushed him down before looking at Vivian. "We're not done yet."

Azi turned to where Wayne was looking and saw Vivian.

His face contorted to a murderous expression.

"So, what now, Mr. Great Silver Rank?" Vivian asked with a mocking smile on her face.

Wayne wanted nothing in the world but to wipe that smirk on Vivian's face. However, he knew that he couldn't do anything so he calmed the negative emotions swirling inside of him and turned to Azi.

"Azi, we made a deal. She's gonna let us go as long as we pay her some coins and tell us our Magic Art Affinities."

"Why are you --"

"AZI!" Wayne bellowed. "Tell me, can you defeat her 1-on-1? Because if you can, I'll follow whatever plan you can think of."

Azi opened his mouth but closed it and then looked at Jessica for a moment before returning his gaze to Wayne.

"I can't…"

He remembered casting his Class Magic Skill [Intimidate] on Vivian and noticed that it did nothing that it was supposed to do. It only left her confused.

"I threw a [Fire Arrow] on her and it only managed to poke her," said Wayne.

"I've seen it too," said Jessica.

"Are you guys done scheming behind my back?" Vivian asked with a bored expression on her face, causing all of them to look at her.

Wayne returned his gaze to Azi.

"Take you some coins so that we can be over with this."

Azi pulled out his coin pouch and began taking out coins.

A few moments later, Jessica got up and headed over Vivian.

"This is what we can give you."

Vivian looked at the coin pouch on Jessica's hands.

Is there something like a tracking magic in this world…?

Hmm…

I'll just make sure to burn that coin pouch once I'm far away…

She took the coin pouch and kept it inside one of her pockets.

"Now, tell me what Magic Art Affinities do you have."

"I have Poison," said Jessica.

"I have  Fire," said Wayne.

"I have Wind," said Azi.

Vivian's brows knitted together.

"Are those all of your Magic Art Affinities or just the ones you opened?"

"It's our only Magic Art Affinities and what we've opened."

"Huh?" Vivian asked and then a dark expression appeared on her face. "You people still have the guts to lie to me, huh."

She tightened her grip around her poleaxe.

"No! We're not!" Wayne cried out.

"It's the truth!" said Jessica.

As for Azi, he didn't say anything and just stared Vivian.

Vivian tried to study their faces, trying to see if there were any signs that they were lying or not.

If such things were even possible.

They…

Their…

Their faces seem too serious…

I can't…

I can't see any hesitation or signs…

"So are you telling me you guys only have 1 Magic Art each?"

"Yes," said Wayne.

Vivian took out the coin pouch that Jessica gave her.

"Please take this back…"

She went over to Jessica who flinched once she got closer.

Even this current body of mine despite being a broke homeless loser had 2 Magic Arts…

And these people only have 1 Magic Art Affinity…

"Please take this back, I can't accept it," she said as she handed back the coin pouch.

Although Vivian detests poor, lazy and broke people, it was a different story if it was a poor or rich person working hard to earn money without intentionally stepping on other people's shoes.

There is no amount of excuses and mental gymnastics that Vivian could think of in order to justify hurting them.

In Vivian's head, those people are the backbone of society.

Seeing Vivian return the coin pouch, Jessica, Wayne and Azi all wore a confused expression.

"I'm sorry for bullying you all, let me heal you all before I leave."

Vivian raised her hand.

[Heal].

A faint yellow light enveloped Jessica's body and then Vivian went over to Wayne and Azi.

"Again, I'm sorry for bullying you all. Please let me heal you."

She cast [Heal] on both Wayne and Azi twice to make sure they were completely healed.

"Just be careful next time and learn how to control your mouth. There's a reason why humans have 2 ears and only 1 mouth. You might piss off another powerful person in the future and they might not be that forgiving like me. Bye."

Vivian burst into a run and disappeared.

The trio looked at each other.