Chapter 87: Bluebird"s Problem
After everyone arrived at the mansion, they were all speechless at how vast and luxurious the mansion was. This place was even bigger than the main branch of the Victorious Wolves Sect.
"Does this place belong to that guy Sila?" Ratri exclaimed.
"Yes, Madam, everything in this dimension belongs to Mister Sila. It is divided into the mansion, the dojo, and the item maintenance room. There are many types of facilities. In this place, health and energy points will recover five times faster than normal."
"How many people live here?" Rattana couldn"t help but ask.
"Mister Sila lives alone, Madam, if you exclude monsters and Miss Julia who is the head maid. Mister Burapha and Mister Bluebird visit this place sometimes, though, especially Mister Bluebird. He comes to this place almost every day."
"A very large amount of money would have been spent, no?" Noppakorn said.
"Yeah, around 1,500,000 gold." The answer came from Burapha.
"1,500,000!!?" Ratri shouted, "How could he have that much money?"
"Mister Sila has a high credibility with the bank, Madam. He was able to receive a loan. By the way, this reminds me, I guess I should take care of the matter with the banker first," Sebastian said.
"Is it even possible for the bank to lend that much money to an individual player? Usually, only large guilds like the Royal Armament and Heavenly Dragon guilds would have that kind of authority. Even our Victorious Wolves Sect can only ask for a loan of around a few hundred thousand," Ratri said.
"If Miss Ratri saw Big Brother Sila"s item collection, you would not be this surprised," Burapha plainly said.
"If you all would like to tour around the mansion, I will call Miss Julia to guide you. I will have to take care of Mister Sila"s debt first."
"But, everyone has died. Even system NPCs of Colossia City wouldn"t survive. There would be no one at the bank," Noppakorn said.
"I don"t need to visit the bank, sir. In this mansion, we can make a financial transaction by calling Mister Sila"s personal banker to come here. I will need to ask Miss Julia to call him," Sebastian replied and called for Julia, "Miss head maid, please come here for a moment."
A soul body was slowly appearing behind everyone. Rattana was the first to notice Julia. "Kyaaa!!!" She unconsciously jumped and hugged Noppakorn who was standing closest to her.
"Good day, everyone. I am Julia, the head maid of the Mansion of Secrets. It is nice to meet you all."
"Miss Julia, how are Mister Sila and Miss Varee?" Sebastian asked with concern.
"Madam has already taken Master to rest in his room. Master is still unconscious. However, given that the mansion has a high recovery rate, Master will wake up at any moment," Julia replied.
"That"s good to hear. By the way, could you please call the banker for me?"
Prior to this, the Chamber of Secrets was merely a small room and Sila could easily call for the banker just by shouting. However, as it was upgraded to the Mansion of Secrets, its size was bigger. Every transaction with the NPC needed to be done by Julia who was in charge of the mansion.
"All right. Mister Chris will come here in another five minutes. I have instructed him to meet you in the tea room. Would you like me to lead you there, Mister Head Butler?"
"There is no need. I remember the layout of this place. This, too, is the butler"s duty. By the way, these people are Mister Sila"s guests. Please guide them around the mansion."
"All right. Ladies and gentlemen, please follow me to the living room first. I will prepare snacks for you."
"Yay, yay, snacks, snacks~" Bow was delighted.
Julia smiled gently as she said, "There is strawberry cake prepared, Lady Bow."
Hearing this, Bow happily jumped into Julia"s embrace.
Sebastian separated from the team as he needed to go meet with the banker. The rest followed Julia into the mansion. The sight behind the door was elegant like they were in a king"s palace.
"I really don"t understand that guy Sila. Why did he decide to create this dimension? Buying a house is at least three times cheaper!" Ratri criticized.
Lone Wolf replied, "Sila must have his reasons, Ratri."
"But, 1,500,000 gold can do a lot of things. To us, we have to spend years to collect that much. Seeing him waste it on something like this irritates me so much."
"It"s Sila"s money anyway. He collected it himself so it is his choice to spend it on whatever he wants. It isn"t our place to criticize him," Lone Wolf said.
"That"s true, but…"
Ratri"s irritation over how Sila had spent his money was not strange at all. That much money was not insignificant. It could be traded for 15,000,000 Baht in the real world. Anyone could live comfortably for a lifetime with this kind of money. Anyone would be irritated if they knew Sila had wasted it on something useless.
[T/N: For your information, the monthly average wages in Thailand is around 10,000 Baht, meaning 15,000,000 Baht equals 125 years" worth of incomes.]
"Big Brother Sila isn"t the one who spent the money on the mansion. It"s Big Brother Blue instead," Burapha quickly explained.
"Blue?" Noppakorn and Rattana simultaneously said.
"Yes, Big Brother Blue spent money on upgrading and decorating this place. It"s only that the bill ended up in Big Brother Sila"s hands."
"What!? So, you are saying that b.a.s.t.a.r.d put Sila in debt? Isn"t Sila angry?" Noppakorn asked.
"Big Brother Sila didn"t mind much. As for why, you will realize if you get to know him."
Julia had heard that the guests were talking about Bluebird, so she said, "Oh, about Mister Blue, he is also currently in this mansion."
"Huh? Where?" Noppakorn asked.
"Mister Blue arrived quite some time ago. He is in the sauna room."
Noppakorn gritted his teeth. "Geez, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I was even worried about him. In the end, he is just lazing around!"
"Would you like me to call him?"
"Please do."
Once they arrived at the living room, Julia served them snacks and desserts. Then, she vanished to call for Bluebird. In the meantime, everybody took their time enjoying desserts while waiting for Sila to wake up. Their topic of conversation was unavoidably about Sila and this mansion.
Sila woke up on a big, white bed. The first thing he saw was Varee sitting beside him at the edge of the bed.
"Oh, she even follows me into my dream to haunt me?" Sila muttered while getting up.
*Pa!* A big pillow slammed into Sila"s face. This pillow was even reinforced with psychic power.
"Oww, what is this about?" Sila was still in dazed so he didn"t dodge nor evade. He was lucky that it was a pillow. If it was a sword, he would already be dead.
"Are you sick of me that much?" Varee said. Her face showed a cold expression.
"Varee? Ah, is this not a dream? Where are we?" Sila turned around to observe the room. This single room was even larger than his old house.
"The Mansion of Secrets. What? You can"t remember your room?"
Sila scratched his head. It might sound like a joke, but Sila had yet to enter his own mansion even a single time. The only places that he had visited were the swimming pool and the dojo.
"Is that so? This is my room, then. Well… Hey, wait!? This is the Mansion of Secrets so how can you be here!?" Sila exclaimed. His reason for buying this place was to avoid Varee. Despite him having a debt of millions of Baht, he was still holding onto it as he didn"t want to lose this private s.p.a.ce. If Varee could come here, then what was the point of him buying it?
"Mister Sebastian gave me the invitation card. Your mansion is very big. You must have spent a lot on it. Is this the reason for your debt?"
Sila sighed. It was his fault for not informing Sebastian beforehand. Well, there was no problem. He could take back the invitation card later.
"That"s right. By the way, did I win?" Sila asked for the result of the match.
"You won. I"ll explain the details later. Now, everybody is very worried about you, Sila."
"Is that so? Where are they?"
"They told me that they will follow us to this place soon."
"Um, wait… Release Lookhin." Sila realized that he had sealed the injured Lookhin into the ring.
The ring flashed and the little bird flew out. Lookhin seemed to be better to some degree due to the ring having a high recovery rate.
As Lookhin noticed Varee, it flew and landed itself onto Varee"s palm. Looking back, Varee was the one who purchased and took Lookhin from the pet shop. She was also the one who named it. Hence, Lookhin was on very familiar terms with Varee.
"You have grown a lot, Lookhin. You are very strong too."
Sila didn"t mind the two. He tried circulating qi and found that his power was recovering at a very fast pace. His condition would be better in a few hours even if he didn"t keep circulating qi.
"Sila, I purchased Lookhin for you to take a good care of it. How can it become so strong? Did you do something to it? Moreover, how could you let it fight? It"s just a little bird."
"I just wanted Lookhin to be able to protect itself. I won"t let it fight if it is not necessary."
Julia knocked on the door as she said, "Master, everyone is waiting for you in the living room."
Sila got up from his bed. "h.e.l.lo, Julia. Could you please lead me to them? I don"t know the direction."
"Please come this way, Master."
Sila must be the only one who didn"t know the direction within his own house. Julia led the way while Sila, Varee, and Lookhin shortly followed. During the walk, Sila was talking to Varee about what happened in the last match.
"Big Brother Sila is awake!" Bow was the first to notice Sila. She jumped at Sila and let him hug her.
Sila asked Julia for a handkerchief. He wiped the cream around Bow"s lip.
"h.e.l.lo, Bow. I haven"t seen you for a while but you seem to be heavier."
"Big Brother Sila!" Bow"s cheeks puffed up. She hopped from Sila"s embrace to Julia"s.
"I"m kidding, Bow. It"s better for a kid like you to eat a lot." Sila walked to everybody that was sitting nearby. "h.e.l.lo, everybody, do you have some business with me? Varee told me that you have something to tell me."
"h.e.l.lo, I"m Noppakorn and this is Rattana. We are friends of Blue. About our matter, please wait for a while until Blue arrives," Noppakorn introduced themselves.
Burapha said, "Then, Big Brother Sila, Mister Lone Wolf said that he has something to tell you."
Lone Wolf lightly nodded as he said, "Hi, Sila. This is my friend, Ratri."
Ratri slightly bowed at Sila as her greeting.
"Hi, Mister Lone Wolf, Miss Ratri, what is it that you want to tell me?"
"I originally had something, but now it"s no longer important," Lone Wolf replied.
"What do you mean?" Sila wondered.
"At the beginning, I was afraid that Sila would be hara.s.sed by the Royal Armament and Heavenly Dragon guilds, so I planned to invite you into our guild. However, I have witnessed your matches today and realize that I worried too much."
Lone Wolf"s wariness wasn"t baseless. A single individual player being the mutual enemy of the two largest guilds in the game was practically a death sentence. Sila didn"t even have a grudge against a minor member. He was having issues with both guild leaders. If Sila entered Victorious Wolves Sect, at least he would have some backup. The Royal Armament and Heavenly Dragon guilds would have to think twice before hara.s.sing Sila.
Sila smiled at Lone Wolf as he said, "Thank you for your concern. Mister Lone Wolf has helped me a lot. However, the problem between me and Montra is something I need to take care of myself. So, I will have to decline your kind offer." Sila politely rejected.
Seeing Lone Wolf, Sila was reminded of something. "Oh, right. It"s good that I met you. I would like to return this item to you." Sila took out the bottle of Emperor Qi Pellets and handed it to Lone Wolf.
"Emperor Qi Pellets!!" Ratri was startled. She hurriedly s.n.a.t.c.hed the bottle into her hand as she turned her head to scold Lone Wolf, "How could you give it to someone else?"
Lone Wolf furrowed his brows. "That"s rude, Ratri. How can one or two pellets compare to the life of a person?"
"You"re always like this. Do you know how much effort Hermit has to spend to refine these pellets for you? We have spent a fortune on these. Watch me, I will tell Hermit what you did once I return."
Ratri poured the pellets into her hand to count them.
"How many have you consumed? One, two, three, four, five. Ah? Why are there still five pellets?"
Sila realized that they were something expensive so he wasn"t mad at Ratri. Rather, he admired Lone Wolf more, in the sense that Lone Wolf was kind enough to give such a precious item to someone he barely knows.
"About that, I guess that they were very precious, so I gave you new ones instead," Sila revealed.
"The new one? Do you mean, you are able to refine Emperor Qi Pellets?"
Sila didn"t want to talk about Greed Card so he answered indistinctly, "You could say that."
With that answer, everyone believed that Sila really had the ability to refine Emperor Qi Pellet. The recipe for this pellet wasn"t a secret anymore but the hard parts were the large number of resources and the refining ability. Well, seeing this mansion, at least Sila had an adequate capital.
Ratri was embarra.s.sed. She didn"t know anything but always talked badly about Sila.
"Oh, right, Burapha, I have something to give to you," Sila said to Burapha.
"To me? What is it, Big Brother?"
"This. I got it from the h.e.l.lfire Dragon. You might be able to craft some accessories using it." Sila handed the h.e.l.lfire Dragon"s Scale to Burapha.
"Umm, Big Brother, about this…" Burapha flinched. He didn"t take it.
"Hm? What? Take it. I don"t know what to do with it anyway."
"About this, after Big Brother Sila defeated the dragon, I collected hundreds of them. I also collected its blood. I was about to share them with you."
"Ah? Is that so? Since you have collected them yourself, keep them. I"m not the one who collected them," Sila replied using his logic. Although he was the one who defeated the h.e.l.lfire Dragon, he was unconscious and didn"t collect the items. If Burapha didn"t take the items, there would be no dragon"s scales. So, it was proper for Burapha to own those items.
"You, do you know their worth?" Ratri was about to persuade Sila to change his mind. She thought that Sila just wasn"t aware of the items" worth.
"If they are with me, I won"t know what to do with them anyway. I think Burapha can make the most money with them, at least more than I can."
Burapha knew Sila"s personality so he was aware that Sila was sincere. However, the rest of the people, especially Ratri, Noppakorn and Rattana were looking at Sila as if he was an alien.
"I"ll try crafting various kinds of accessory, then. If you like any, you must take them with you, is that fine?"
"It"s fine. In this case, you better follow me to the item maintenance room. If you think you can use anything, just take them."
"Okay, I guarantee I won"t disappoint Big Brother Sila."
At that time, Bluebird who was missing for a while, stepped into the room with a serious expression. In his hand, there was a big roll of paper. Everybody stared at him.
"Oh, Sila. I heard the news. Congratulations," Bluebird greeted Sila as soon as he entered the room.
"Ah, yes, do you want something from me?"
"First, let me ask you, how much money did we obtain?" Bluebird asked with a very serious tone.
"After deducting the debt, Big Brother Sila would have around a million left," Burapha answered in Sila"s place as he knew more about Sila"s financial status.
Bluebird sighed in relieved. "That"s a relief. I thought it wouldn"t be enough. I would like to use around a hundred thousand on information gathering, is that okay?"
Sila thought that, if it was about finding his missing teacher, this amount of money didn"t matter to him.
"Sure, it"s okay. You can consider it the payment for hiring you."
"That"s cool. One problem is solved. Then, there is only one last problem. I have been thinking about it for two hours but still couldn"t come up with a solution."
Everybody was tense. What was the problem that Bluebird couldn"t come up with a solution? They were waiting for Bluebird to explain.
Bluebird walked to the table and spread out the paper in his hand. Apparently, this sheet of paper was a map of the Colossia City. There were many unreadable symbols scattered on the map.
Only Noppakorn and Rattana frowned at the sight of these symbols.
"These are… Blue… Don"t tell me you"re…" Rattana muttered. Her voice was hoa.r.s.e.
"That"s right. I have been thinking about it for two hours but still couldn"t decide where I should place the singing stage. In the next two hours, the banquet celebrating Sila"s victory that I have spent so much time preparing is about to begin. Hey, Sila, where do you think it should be?"
In the blink of an eye, Noppakorn"s foot was stamped onto Bluebird"s face without anyone stopping him.