The next two days have gone by relatively peacefully. After getting back into manning the store, he found that not much had changed, but rumors certainly had arisen during his absence.
Word was, the Red Riot had been noticeably rampant in the farther parts of the city, becoming more prone to violence and causing trouble that even the guards that normally ignore those types would come to apprehend them. There was also something going on that made the other gangs in the city act up, such as the Chainlords, who normally kept their heads down, were now becoming more active these days, and cases of disappearances suddenly ramped up.
These whispers often traveled outside of his store, but he had been practicing his Sense Vibrations long enough to hear them. When people spoke, they often left vibrations caused by the flapping of their mouths and tongues to form their words, so Aidan focused hard on understanding that even from far away. He had to really pay attention in order to do that, but he knew that if he practiced this sort of technique long enough, he would gain another rank in his useful skill.
Throughout all of this, he would gladly say that his Craft certainly improved to the point that even some of the customers who asked for custom orders noticed it. One blacksmith in particular commented how the hammer tool Aidan fixed for him was rather impressive, which in his own words was ‘better than any of my apprentices could match!’.
He was glad that he had improved enough that even someone who had more experience properly crafting items would praise it, though a twinge of guilt hit him when all he did was just magic’d up the tool. He had nowhere near enough experience to handle a forge and deal with all the excess heat and metal banging a blacksmith goes through, so he tried to keep it as silent as possible whenever a real crafter came up for help on making specific tools.
He mostly let Haley handle that, and the customers were more than gleeful to meet the cute assistant of the store rather than the owner. He wondered if perhaps Haley might have put more points into Charisma, which is sometimes needed in making sales as a merchant.
Of course that was just happening during the day. At night, Aidan would use Soul Meditation to get back out into the wild with his sword as his vessel, heading straight towards the dungeon at fast speed to make up for lost time. Now that he knew where to go, it was only a simple process of getting there without being seen, which was pretty easy as all he had to do was just fly up into the sky, being just a sword and all.
When he entered inside, he was surprised that he received the notification that he entered into the dungeon despite being just a sword. Perhaps the dungeon had enough of a will to understand that the one driving the sword was a person, and so it sent the notification straight to that person. That was enough to question how the entire thing worked, but Aidan’s mind was focused more on gaining experience than answering mundane questions like that.
He dealt with Cave Dwellers, Hell Bunnies, and all the other creatures they faced within the dungeon, tearing them down fast enough that he could feel his experience points rack up quickly. He hated how he had to leave behind the corpses with the materials he could have taken to sell, but being just a sword and all, there was no way he could delicately process the bodies and just send it all into a non-existent pack. He actually did consider bringing his spatial bag over, but that brought on too many risks. Besides, how the hell was he supposed to wrap the bag around the sword?
In the end, it was better to just focus on killing monsters and getting experience through that. He could just leave the corpses to some lucky adventurer who managed to find them. He didn’t worry much about leaving traces behind or being found out, since it was rather hard to believe someone saying that a sword is somehow killing all the monsters by itself.
Thanks to that, he managed to get another level under his belt.
Level Up! From Level 15, you became Level 16!
You have gained:
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
The night after, he kept going after the dungeon’s monsters, but despite going at it for a few hours, he wasn’t able to get another level up. He figured he needed to go down to the next floor if he planned on getting more experience, but the day was about to commence and he still needed some sleep before beginning his morning shift in the store.
It was just in the early morning when Aidan and Haley were prepping the store to open up when the door opened to reveal none other than Haley’s brother showing up with a wave.
“Hey! The guild finished with the proceeds and paid up front. I got the coins with me now.”
Van rushed in, eagerly placing a large satchel onto the counter without waiting for anything else. Aidan saw Van opening the satchel to reveal glittering coins that fell over and scattered within, tinkling sounds echoing inside.
“Wow!” Haley let out. “That’s a lot! How much did you get?”
“35 gold for the entirety,” Van answered. “We won’t have to worry about anything for the next few weeks, at least.”
“Then I’ll just take 10 gold as promised, and you guys can have the rest,” Aidan answered, and when Van looked at him as though asking if he was serious, Aidan prompted him to take the satchel away.
“Alright,” Van smirked. “If you ever plan on heading back into the dungeon, I’m always available to party up.”
“What about your friends?” Haley teased.
“I don’t want them to know anything about Aidan, and after what happened, I got accustomed to the easy hunting,” Van admitted, receiving a chuckle from Aidan.
Once the coins were properly exchanged, the siblings were 25 gold richer than before, and with Van and Haley keeping the chest piece and bow respectively, they certainly got away with a lot more than Aidan did.
Aidan, however, was more than happy to keep the ring and his valuable Soul-Mending water container. When he was about to ask about how they planned on selling the water without anyone asking where it came from, the door opened up and Nina walked through.
The mood around the room turned silent and tense when she entered, her very presence demanding attention. She stepped forth without hesitation, and her gaze swept over to Aidan, Haley, then to Van.
Aidan could tell from Van’s soul that he instantly chilled when she looked at him, the usual steady beat getting disrupted and out of balance. She was practically scaring the shit out of him.
“Aidan, who’s this?” Nina asked, approaching the counter, her hand resting on it like a predator prowling around her territory. “I don’t believe he works here, does he?”
“Nina, this is Van,” Aidan went over to the other side, pushing himself between Nina and Van. “He’s Haley’s brother, and found us before we headed out into the dungeon. At first everything got a little intense, but he agreed to drop everything as long as he joined the dungeon with us.”
“And you allowed him?” Nina raised a brow. After glancing over at Van again, sending another chill down his soul, she glared at Aidan. “He’s not anything impressive.”
He felt Haley’s soul spike up in anger at that response, but he glanced over at her, his eyes begging for her to chill out. She kept herself steady, and Aidan continued.
“Sure, he’s not impressive, but he really helped me out on protecting us against some pretty nasty threats. We would’ve suffered some heavy damage before we could even find what we were looking for.”
“And he knows what you were looking for?”
That question alone was the reason why Nina seemed so adamant on Van. If there was anything she valued more, it was information, and having that information shared to anyone else she didn’t know was causing her soul to rise with hostility.
It was actually the first time he ever felt her becoming angry at him, something that he quickly tried to amend before continuing the topic further.
“Before I tell you, Van was the one that found us first. He wouldn’t have let us go with some flimsy excuse as to why we’re keeping Haley around. I considered the options, so I chose to have him travel with us. If he wasn’t the trustworthy type, I would’ve never let him see what we saw, but he risked life and limb for not just Haley, but me too. If you still feel uncomfortable, then he’s also willing to sign a contract just to protect his sister.”
His words felt like he was sending a man to the gallows. He looked back at the older brother, noticing his soul quivering despite showing nothing on his expression, just a steely will to do what was asked of him.
Anyone would be nervous to find themselves forced to sign a contract, but Aidan knew he would do it for Haley’s sake, which she herself was having a bit of a meltdown from the way she glanced over at Aidan then at Van and Nina.
In Nina's case, she kept observing Van for a while, studying him intently and never once faltering. The way she kept glaring at the man would send even an ordinary person to his knees from the intensity, something that Aidan knew quite well, being the recipient of such a stare just seconds ago.
“...Alright, if you say so,” Nina answered. “I find no need to sign him up for a contract. Having his sister as collateral is good enough. Any older brother would gladly do anything for their precious little sister, especially for someone with such a rare talent. He knows more than anyone else what would happen if he crosses me. But just to be sure… Aidan, you will be the one to monitor him if anything seems off. Of course, you’ll also take responsibility should anything happen, correct?”
“I’ll be more than happy to,” Aidan answered immediately. “Van’s a smart man, and he’s easy to work with. Plus, it’ll only make Haley work better knowing that her family can help out.”
“I see you also took that into consideration,” Nina then turned back to Van, once again leaving his soul rattled beneath the surface. “While you’re not as impressive, I hope you can work with us for your sister’s sake, at the very least.”
“...I don’t like having you two talk as if I wasn’t here, but I know where I stand. As long as my sister’s safe, I’ll work for you.”
“Ooh, he is a smart man,” Nina smiled. “That’s good. Then I’ll be glad to welcome you as a member of Raining Treasures from now on. Make sure to follow protocol during working hours, and I’ll make sure you’re properly rewarded. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” Van nodded, his soul calming down slightly to the point where his expression eased up.
“Good, now,” Nina spun around to Aidan, her eyes piercing straight through him. “Tell me what you found.”
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