Chapter 48: The Problem His Majesty Mentioned
Sila left the branch of the Blue Pigeon information guild feeling disappointed. He had thought that being an information guild, it would be more reliable. He was still unaware that his actions had greatly affected the life of Bluebird, the vice-leader of the Blue Pigeon information guild.
Sila had nothing to do while waiting for Burapha to contact him back. He wasn"t sure how long he would have to wait for Burapha to come online. Hence, he decided to release Bow and Lookhin.
"Release Lookhin. Release Bow."
A brown light flashed out of the ring. Lookhin flew around the air before resting on Sila"s shoulder. Meanwhile, a pink light flashed onto the ground. A pink slime appeared after the flash and was looking around.
"Big Brother Sila, is this the outside world?" Bow asked, "It"s so bright."
"Yes. The outside world is bright like this. You"ll get used to it in no time."
"The outside world is so big. It"s hard for me to see."
Sila put Bow onto his head. Bow was light so it wasn"t a problem. He felt like he was wearing a hat.
"You can see many things this way, right?" Sila said.
"We better go around the town, Big Brother Sila."
Sila nodded prior to walking toward the market square. During his walk, Sila noticed that many people were looking at him. But he didn"t care. News of him was bound to spread all over Monster Soul. It wasn"t strange that some players might recognize him.
Sila was shopping around the market, which Bow was very energetic about. She was interested in many things and told Sila to stop at a shop that sells hair ribbons.
"How much is this ribbon?" Sila asked the merchant girl.
"500 silver coins, sir," She answered while looking at Sila"s hair without blinking.
"Here is it. The money."
Sila handed over silver coins. The merchant girl took it. She was still looking at Sila"s head though.
Sila put the hair ribbon onto Bow. "Do you like it, Bow? Take it as a gift to celebrate you getting out of the Slime Kingdom."
"Thank you, Big Brother Sila," Bow replied, causing the merchant girl to widen her eyes.
"We better find something to eat. I"m quite hungry," Sila told Bow. Both of them went to the largest restaurant in the city.
Once Sila had gone, the merchant girl muttered by herself. "That thing can talk?"
The news about the talking pink creature began to spread.
***
Sila arrived at the largest restaurant in the city. It was his first meal on the Main Continent so he wanted it to be memorable. He also used this chance to introduce Bow to some good food.
"Welcome! Welcome to Lockheart"s restaurant. May I ask how many of you will be eating?" The waiter came and greeted Sila.
Sila was hesitating for a while. Lookhin shouldn"t be counted, right? But how about Bow?
Finally, he answered. "Two people, please."
"Please come this way, sir. There are the seats next to the window on the second floor. You can enjoy the good view of the sea there."
"What is the sea, Big Brother Sila?" Bow asked.
"Umm. It is a very big well with water being salty, I guess?" Sila himself wasn"t sure about his explanation. How could he describe the ocean or the sea?
"I want to see it."
"You will see it soon. No, I"ll even take you there in an upcoming day," Sila said. He had business at Underwater Palace anyway.
"Really?" Bow smiled happily.
"Of course. Well, it"s time to eat first," Sila followed the waiter inside.
Once he had arrived at his seat, Bow jumped and landed herself on the table. She was looking at the sea with sparkling eyes.
Sila decided to not interrupt her. He ordered many dishes and started to eat once the foods arrived. The foods here were very delicious.
The best food he had had was still a meal at Mansion of Seven Deadly Sins though.
Bow tried out every dish. Sila was surprised. He had deliberately ordered more food than necessary to keep some of it in his bento but Bow was able to finish it all. The amount of food she had eaten was obviously larger than her small size. It was a wonder.
"Big Brother Sila, it is rude to stare at a lady while she is eating, you know?" Bow pouted.
"Ermm. I"m just curious. It seems Bow has a very big appet.i.te."
"Appet.i.te? It isn"t like that. We slime can eat however much we want. The amount of food doesn"t matter. I just saw that there was a lot of food left so I finished it."
Sila nodded at Bow"s answer. He was thinking to himself that he needed to order less food next time.
The system sound alerted at that time.
Player Sila is being contacted by Player Burapha.
Sila was happy to hear the notification. He quickly opened his system window. An image of Burapha appeared on Sila"s screen.
"h.e.l.lo, Big Brother Sila. Where have you been for many days? Big Sis Varee and I have been searching for you," Burapha asked.
"I have been in the Slime Kingdom," Sila replied.
"Slime Kingdom?"
Sila just realized that he had never mentioned to Burapha that he was slime race. "I"m a slime-race player. I went there to obtain the racial skills."
"You"re a slime-race player, Big Bro? Did I hear wrongly? You mean those slimes around Beginning Town?"
"Yes. Those slimes," Sila replied, causing Burapha to become silent for a while.
"Sometimes I feel like I can"t understand your action at all, Big Bro. You have a ton of rare cards like Merpeople Cards. But you"re playing as the weakest slime race?"
As Bow had heard the words "weakest slime race", she disputed, "Slimes aren"t weak!!"
Burapha didn"t see Bow, so he asked. "Who was that, big bro?"
Sila put Bow onto his hand and showed her to the screen.
"Wow. Big Bro. What is that? It"s cute."
"A slime," Sila replied.
"A slime?" Burapha stopped for a moment before continuing. "Oh, so this is its real form."
"Real form?" This time was Sila"s turn to be curious.
"Yes, Big Bro. Many monsters in the game usually don"t show their real form to us. The real form is only visible to the player of that race, or by being a pet or a partner with a player. For example, have you ever seen a mermaid?" Burapha explained.
Sila nodded. He had seen them in the event at Beginning Island.
"Then look at this… release Lala," Burapha said.
There was a beautiful woman appearing beside Burapha.
"This is Lala. She is my partner. I was surprised when I heard that people who choose merperson as their race get a partner once one pa.s.ses the racial ordeal. I guess it must be due to the fact that jewelry production is impossible to perform alone. So, the system prepares a partner for players who select this race."
Sila was starting to feel jealous of Burapha. No, he wasn"t jealous of Burapha getting a partner. He was just comparing Burapha"s case to himself. The slime skills were very hard to obtain. Plus, once he had gotten them, he had to undergo the h.e.l.lish practice with the Slime King.
If it wasn"t for the fact that he was training at Cliff of Heroes, Sila"s level would"ve dropped. The training was so difficult that he had died twice.
"I see," Sila replied.
"About the jewelry that you asked me to make, I have already finished it. But as I couldn"t contact you, and big sis Varee is too far away, I"m going to give it to you directly."
"That"s good. But the reason I contacted you isn"t about this."
"What is it, then?"
"Can you stay underwater?" Sila asked.
"Of course, Big Bro. I"m a merperson. I can stay underwater for an entire day."
"Then, do you have the skill to allow me to stay underwater?"
"I have. But you can"t stay for long. Only about half an hour or so. Why do you want to stay underwater, Big Bro?"
Sila was glad that he could stay underwater for half an hour. "I would like to go to the Underwater Palace."
"The Underwater Palace? Why don"t you just wait for it to float up?"
"I"m in urgent need of the Qi of Little Turtle"s skill book," Sila replied.
Burapha fell silent for a moment. He couldn"t understand why Sila was so hurried as they didn"t know each other that much. But based on the last time they had met, Burapha could see that Sila was a good man.
As Burapha also wanted to return the favor of receiving Merpeople Cards, he didn"t ask for the reason behind Sila"s urgency.
"Okay, Big Bro. I will help. Where are you right now?"
"Lockheart City."
"Good. I"m currently on the ship going to Lockheart City. It will dock at the port tomorrow evening. In this case, let"s meet in the city. I will contact you once I arrive there." Burapha said.
"Okay. See you tomorrow." Sila was about to end the conversation.
"Wait for a moment, Big Bro. I have something to warn you about."
"What is it, Burapha?"
"It"s about your pink slime. What is its name again?"
"My name is Bow," Bow replied as she heard the other party asking for her name.
"Yes. About Bow. I personally think that it would be the best if Big Bro doesn"t let her go outside while you"re in the city."
"Why?" Sila wondered. As Bow had only been in the Slime Kingdom, he wanted her to experience new sceneries.
"Because this place is Monster Soul. If we"re in another game, there would be several rules to prevent players to perform evil deeds otherwise players would be punished. But Monster Soul is a world without any rules. The system only provides users with basic conveniences but doesn"t b.u.t.t in no matter what players do. It is this game"s charm while it"s also what makes this game dangerous. Players can do whatever they want. Well, there were rules that were created by the majority of players, but there are far too many who don"t follow those rules."
Sila had heard about this from Divine. Monster Soul is a lawless virtual reality.
"What"s the problem? How is it related to Bow?" Sila asked.
"The problem is; Big Bro has a cute slime that can talk. As I"m a merchant, I know very well that this kind of product would sell at a ridiculously high price. There are many people who would pay millions to make themselves stand out. Owning a unique pet is one way to do so. There will definitely be someone who would succ.u.mb to this greed and want to s.n.a.t.c.h Bow from you."
"I"m not a pet," Bow said.
"Yes, and Bow is also not a product," Sila expressionlessly said.
"I understand, Big Brother. But not everyone is like Big Bro or myself. They might think differently and this could easily make you enemies," Burapha explained.
Sila was now suppressing his anger. He wasn"t angry at Burapha, he was angry at the fact that the world was filled with evil people. The people who s.n.a.t.c.h other people"s possessions. The people who exploit others. The people who would completely ignore other"s pain just for the sake of obtaining something they selfishly want.
Sila couldn"t help but think about Montra. "Disregarding the pain of other people just for the sake of his personal gain."
Burapha kept his mouth shut as he didn"t know what Sila was thinking. The silence continued until a loud voice broke out.
There were loud voices on the first floor of the restaurant. The previous waiter came at Sila.
"Mister Customer, we"re terribly sorry. There are people looking for you. May we ask for you to pay the bill now? Don"t worry, sir, we will guide you to the exit at the backdoor," The waiter politely suggested.
"Do you know why they"re looking for me?" Sila asked with an expressionless face.
The waiter looked at Bow and softly said. "They ask mister customer to hand them your pet, or else… erm…"
"Or else…?" Sila asked.
"Or else they will kill you… The backdoor exit is this way, sir, I will personally guide you there," The waiter replied.
Sila handed his credit card to the waiter prior to talking to Burapha. "See you tomorrow, Burapha. Contact me when you"re here."
"Okay, Big Bro. Please be careful," Burapha said. He didn"t dare to imagine what kind of fate is waiting for those people who made Sila angry.
Sila stood up. Bow jumped onto his head while Lookhin rested its claws on Sila"s right shoulder. Its eyes were shone with greenish light. With Mind Connection, once Sila was angry, it would become angry too.
Sila went to the first floor. The waiter immediately tried to stop him. "Mister Customer! That way leads to the front door, sir!" But Sila didn"t mind him and walked outside.
Now Sila understood what problem the Slime King had mentioned about bringing Bow to the outside world. But Sila didn"t care anymore. He already had so many enemies. Making one or two more groups into his enemies wouldn"t make a difference.
Finally, Sila was outside. Surrounding him was a group of twenty fully-armed players.