RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 230

“I would like to kill as many of them as possible,” said Balthazar. He gave a pause as he thought about the materials of the beasts. Thinking for a second, he felt that there would be a good use for them too. “I would also like to get the carcasses of the dead beasts,” he added.

When Kiriti and Karma heard that he would like to kill as many as possible, they were immediately concerned. Such a quest would usually be something that would be a clearance quest which would give a player, a lot of reputation or even land if they considered any of the previous games. Either of which would be detrimental to the progress of their own guild as Balthazar would definitely be competition if he weren’t a part of them. So, Karma himself couldn’t promise that.

“I would need to discuss that with the guild and Harley. She needs to take the call on that,” said Karma as he couldn’t make a decision himself. Though he was a competitive professional player, he couldn’t make a decision on this as it could affect the situation of the guild’s development in the town. So, he could only let the local guild head deal with it.

“I have no comments about it. It is not my place to decide on it,” said Kiriti to both of them. “Should I call Harley?” he asked looking at Karma.

“Already did. She intends to come to meet you,” said Karma.

“She can be a bit forceful. A bit of diplomacy might be required from you,” said Kiriti to Balthazar in a private message. “By that, I mean that you need to yield a bit to her. Maybe let her know why you want to kill the Knuckers. Give details of your quest as she would not be willing to accept your request, if she has no idea what the effect could be, of you killing them.”

His words put Balthazar at dilemma as he didn’t want to give much information to her. Giving them the detail of his weapon and the need to upgrade them by killing dragon lineage creatures was definitely not an option as that would reveal his identity which he intends to keep a secret. They would definitely not accept any form of cooperation and would try to force him out of the town, if they come to know of him as Shadow Tyrant.

“I have no quest of any sort that requires me to kill them. I am just trying to get their materials for experimenting,” said Balthazar but neither Karma nor Kiriti believed him.

“If you are going to be like this, we might be here for quite some time,” said Karma. “Someone as stubborn as that crazy woman. It would be fun to watch them argue,” thought Karma.

“Ok. Let us forget about the quest or your interest in the knuckers for now,” said Kiriti. “Any other requests from either of you?”

“Nothing, but it would be good to know of your quest. Since, you guys are clearly using all this money for some kind of quest. It would be good to know of it, so that I wouldn’t accidentally cause any hindrance to your work,” said Balthazar.

“Haha,” Karma started laughing as he heard Balthazar. “You don’t want to inform us about your quest, but want me to tell you about mine?”

“I have no quest, you idiots,” said Balthazar pissed at his words. He was getting irritated by them. “Why do you think that one has to have a quest to explore new stuff. I am not even playing this game for money, but for fun.”

“Calm down! Calm down!” said Kiriti to both Balthazar and Karma. “Let us not get angry about such stuff.”

“Mr. Rogue, I am sure you can understand our expectations. We are definitely doing all this due to a quest and you should understand how hard we find it to expect that you are just doing this for fun,” said Kiriti.

“Right, how could anyone believe that you don’t have a quest or a proper reason for asking us to allow you to participate in the fight. You wanted to kill the knuckers. Even if you want just the materials, we can give it to you and you don’t need to personally join the fight,” yelled Karma pointing his finger at Balthazar.

“Oh! So, that was what got you confused,” said Balthazar laughing as he quickly thought of a plausible reason for Karma’s inquiry. “It is actually very simple,” he continued laughing while he slapped at the table repeatedly acting like he was genuinely amused by their doubts. A couple of seconds letter, he stopped his action as he good idea struck him.

“I suppose that you would find this hard to understand the way you have been behaving in the town, but the reason is really simple. I don’t trust the guild. Not even the slightest bit,” said Balthazar. Karma was slightly shocked by this accusation. It was rare that any person would be so candid. He just sat there his jay slightly open.

“You are making it worse,” said Kiriti in a singsong tone.

“I am not saying that I don’t trust you or Karma,” said Balthazar before they could continue. “I don’t trust your guild. There are a lot of members in your guild and they have gotten used to getting their way in the town. Here, they consider themselves the kings. So, they would surely not find it hard to keep some materials for themselves and would rather sell them for money.”

“They would surely find me an eyesore as I am not offering to join the guild. To be frank, quite a few of them are local bullies and wouldn’t like the fact that I am demanding. I can’t have a contract with everyone participating in the activity and they would have a few tricks to keep some materials from me or harm me,” said Balthazar. “So, you should be able to understand that I intend to supervise.”

“Your words have some validity, but you can’t expect us to believe that is the only reason for you to want to join us. You want us to believe that an alchemist like you wants to take part in the action. It is highly unexpected,” said Kiriti.

“Well, I am not the usual secondary occupation player,” snarled Balthazar in an angry tone as he stood up walked towards them biting his teeth. He glared at them for a few seconds in that manner which made the atmosphere almost suffocating. It was clear to both Karma and Kiriti that he was extremely angered by their comment that he might not be good at fighting. There were almost frightened by his behaviour like it was not a game and real life.

“In case, you forgot all the materials that I used to make the antidote were acquired by joining you guys on your expedition. I like fighting more than making antidotes. I have been a combat medic in real life. I actually enjoy the fighting the most,” continued Balthazar.

Both Karma and Kiriti had never seen such behaviour in other players in games before. All players they had interacted with usually were players from similar backgrounds like them. This behaviour was new to them. Moreover, the only ones that were forceful with them were guild leaders or representatives of big guilds. It was rare for an independent player to behave in this manner with them in this way. Previously no player would have behaved so as they would be afraid of retaliation. This discussion with Balthazar had left them both surprised. They understood that they wouldn’t be successful in getting Balthazar to be more complaint to their requests and only hoped that Harley would be better at it.

“Fine, we are cool with it,” said Karma taking initiative to break the silence. “My quest is to get a Knucker egg from their lair. It is supposedly in the cave and it is a chain quest. I am going to get a special skill by the end of the quest.”

“Anything that I should look out for during the attempt to finish the quest?” asked Balthazar happy that Karma finally relinquished.

“Nothing. Any and all methods are acceptable, except for one thing. I shouldn’t let the eggs be harmed in any manner and after our preliminary check, we came to realize that the egg would probably have a knucker in its vicinity. So, we can’t use methods like the bombs and have to fight physically with a Knucker or two,” said Karma.

“Oh! I am more than willing to help you fight it at close quarters,” said Balthazar. One of his worries was that they might be tempted to kill them completely with explosives as they had previously tried. The poison was the main reason for them to stop using the method, but after the antidote, he had been a bit worried that they would resort to that approach again if they were not much successful. He no longer needed to worry about this as he would get to fight at the very least one of the beasts.

“It is good to know that. Would be counting on your help. I would be leading the team that would be hunting the beast,” said Karma. “Anyway, Harley is here. We will go ahead with the quest a couple of days later after we get the required antidotes,” he continued as he got up and left the room. A couple of seconds later, he brought a paladin player back to the room.

The lady was wearing black heavy plated armor with a big shield over her back. Her helmet covered her entire face only her green eyes visible from a couple of slits. She was a little over 5 feet tall and had a petite build which made her attire sharply contrasting to her body.

“So, you are the player selling the antidote,” said Harley as she shook Balthazar’s hand. She had a high voice that sounded like that of a little girl. She rested her b.u.t.t.o.c.k.s on the table instead of sitting on a chair and signalled both Karma and Kiriti to get out.

“Nice to meet you,” said Balthazar. “Harley, is it?”

“Yes, let us get to the point. I wouldn’t have come here if not for your stupid requests. Karma’s stupid quest itself is wasting the guilds time. I hate these competitive players, especially the ones that depend on the guild for their quests. Hardly any useful economically and they think that they own the damn guild. Such idiots are easy to fool by clever players like you,” said Harley.

“I swear that I am not trying to fool anyone,” said Balthazar putting his hand flat on his head in an act of swearing. “At least not the way you think,” thought Balthazar.

“Tch, what is the point of swearing? It is not binding like a contract,” replied Harley irately. She always hated such pointless actions.

“So, what can I do to convince you?” asked Balthazar.

“Sign a contract that you don’t have any quest that requires you to kill those knuckers or clear that area. Only those kinds of quests would bother me as they would affect the guild in the town. I don’t want any competition here and I have been working hard for the past few days to maintain it so,” said Harley.

“Killing those beasts would be bound to give some kind of experience or might even start a quest,” said Balthazar. “What am I to do in such scenarios?”

“Then, we will add that you should inform of any quest that is initiated for killing them. If you don’t accept then there is no need for any cooperation. Karma can do his goddamn quest by himself,” said Harley. She was sure that Balthazar would end up telling her the truth about his quest. Even if he didn’t, the contract would at least restrict him and he wouldn’t pose much of a problem, but she was sure that he would never accept.

“Fine,” said Balthazar agreeing to her request. He wanted to upgrade his equipment and that wasn’t a restriction in the contract. “Get the contract and I am willing to sign, but in return I need an assurance that your guild wouldn’t actively provoke or attack the shop that I am establishing and it might be nice to have some business transactions among us.”

Harley was a bit surprised that he accepted to sign the contract. She thought about other possible scenarios but couldn’t find any that would affect the guild. It was hard to believe that he saw so amicable and couldn’t find any reason to doubt him. She just found him a bit hard-headed but being such a personality herself she didn’t mind much other than the fact that he didn’t join the guild.

“Ok. Then, I will allow your requests. Karma will sign the contract with you,” said Harley as she walked out. It was better for the guild that a competitive professional player signs the contract as at least the guild owner would take serious action if someone made a fool out of Karma. So, she decided to let him be the party signing the contract.