NOVEL WEB Chapter 21: Neutral
I walked to the table and plopped down next to the short man, he watched me with a sly look and nodded in greeting. I immediately activated my ability.
'Character Info'.
[Name: Belora Lockwood
Age: 41
Strength: Purity level 8
Titles: The greedy man.
Bloodline: None
Love: 0% Strangers]
"What's your name?" Belora asked, his black eyes scanning my face through his dark glasses.
"Adam" I responded instantly.
"Are you new around here?" He probed, wanting to know how much personal information I was willing to reveal.
"You could say that." I said evasively, and he nodded, but he didn't shift his gaze; he continued to stare me down.
This was a simple psychological trick to get someone to talk while leaving them in an uncomfortable silence. I was surprised that someone of this age would voluntarily do that, as it is usually learned through study or by chance while surfing the internet. Should I fall for it or ignore it now? Both options had advantages and disadvantages, but I finally pretended to be uncomfortable and said something to break the silence.
"I'm a merchant, it's my first time at Luria."
"Ho~? You've never visited here before?" He questioned, sounding interested, but I grimaced at the system notification.
[Belora Lockwood
Love 0% >>> -1% (Slight distrust)]
'So it also shows that kind of affection' I mentally nodded as I discovered the new feature.
"Something like that, I just sold a lot last season and wanted to try my luck here." I said it disinterestedly, as if it were no big deal.
The man just nodded "I see" and called the croupier.
The sexy woman who was handing out rectangles with lion symbols and other symbols extended her hand to me. I had an idea for a game to play because I wouldn't go to a casino without doing some research, the games was a variation on one of the most popular games; it was similar to Majong, and whoever finished first won, so it was simple. The older man, who was surrounded by his friends, looked at his hand and then smiled, slid a pile of gold coins as he looked at me, challenging me.
I shrugged and only bet a couple of coins, which caused the man to frown. We kept playing, and my losses totaled more than 70 gold coins, causing the man to laugh. My neutral expression remained, as if I didn't care about the small sum of money. Belora noticed this and looked at me with a sly smile on his face. They were also buying me drinks, but thanks to my dimensional ring, the liquid vanished quickly without their notice, though I had to drink a little to keep up appearances. I scanned the crowd of tables and noticed my sister staring at me. Novem looked worried as she looked for me.
'Well, I'm almost out of time.' I stated.
Dragging my small mountain of gold coins to the table's center."I'm betting it all." I stated emphatically.
The older, pompously dressed man's face lit up as he stacked a small pile of coins. The game ended, and I was defeated once more. I sighed sadly, my face a little hurt, as I looked at the coins that were handed to the man.
"I don't think my wife will mind." I snorted, a hurt expression on my face but an open tone.
"Oh?" The man said but didn't ask, leaning in close, interested in the continuation but not intruding too much. Perhaps he was just trying to learn more about me.
"I discovered the bitch was cheating on me." After an awkward silence, I clicked my tongue and sighed.
While this may seem like superfluous information to Belora, I am should quite drunk in this point If I had been drinking and not storing the beer in my dimensional ring, so it is natural for me to be more talkative.
"Oh, she's a bitch; you should get rid of her." He nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face.
As if the beer wasn't enough, I rolled the last of my drink. "It's yours for ten gold coins." I joked about getting up from my seat, but Belora grabbed my arm.
"Isn't it too early for you to leave? Let's continue talking." With a smile, Belora said.
"I wish I could, but I'm out of cash. I'll be here tomorrow."
The man nodded with compression, then stood up and patted my back in a friendly manner after releasing my arm. "I'll be waiting for you."
[Name: Belora Lockwood.
Love: -1 >>> 0% Neutral]
I turned and walked to the restroom. "(Novem and you go out first, I'll catch up with you)" I said, amused by Novem's appearance as a meerkat looking for me.
"(Understood, big brother)" After that, they both got up from their seats, Novem discreetly looked in my direction and nodded, probably understanding that it was suspicious to leave together now that Belora had focused attention on me.
"(Did you discover anything from our conversation?)" I inquired as I stay in the restroom, doing nothing.
"(Nothing really, but had some suspicious thoughts)."
"(Okay, we'll be back here tomorrow.)" I nodded.
I finally left the bar, stretching and yawning. It was most likely early in the morning. I should get some rest. I waved to Novem when I arrived after a few minutes of walking; her thin black brows furrowed slightly and her full red lips pouted slightly as she watched me. A Novem's take on a pout? Shouldn't the system give me an achievement for a Novem poutine? that is an achievement.
[Negative host 1]
"Let's go" I said as I waved my hand. Ignoring the system
"Young master, what took you so long?" Novem asked worriedly.
"We talked for a while." I responded, and she gave me a reproachful look, which I simply ignored.
As the moon shone over the now-silent city, we left behind the establishment. The stars were like grains of salt in the darkened sky, and I could see entire constellations without straining my eyes. This was the marvel of zero pollution. The only thing keeping me from seeing more was my vision, which was slightly distorted by the tavern's lights, but it was still a dreamscape. Charlotte smiled as she looked up, clearly having a good time. The moon was slightly larger than the one we were used to, which added to the enchantment of the starry night.
I'd gotten a key suspect, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he brought it up if we kept talking. What would be my next course of action? I wasn't sure I could infiltrate and save the heroine on my own, but maybe I could? I had a fairly powerful ability that I had only used once, because the last time I used it, the sudden burst of magic caused panic in the mantion for possible intruders. It was the ability [Overload], which increased my magical power by up to three times for five minutes, but increasing only three times would be the equivalent of me being slightly stronger than a purity level 7, and it would also be difficult with Novem present. Should I seek assistance from our mother? I was more inclined to that, but I also wanted to gain favor with the heroine by personally saving her... What should I do?
"(Are you planning without me again?)" Telepathy allowed me to hear a somewhat grumpy voice.
"(Just thinking)" I said, but Charlotte wasn't convinced.
"(Remember I won the bet, you must let me help you)"
"(I know, I know. I was just going over possible plans, then I was going to ask you for your opinion)" I said, mentally shrugging my shoulders.
Charlotte shifted her gaze away from me and toward the nighttime scenery. "(Big brother. Why are you acting this way?)" She inquired, her face hidden beneath her black hair.
"(Act?)"
"(You seem to want to leave me out on purpose, as if you have to do it all by yourself)"
"(You're imagining it)" I said, uncomfortably scratching my hair.
"(I understand you better than anyone else)" She said this as she turned to face me. "(Are you trying to keep something from me?)" She inquired, but instead of anger or suspicion, she expressed sadness, as if she was afraid of alienating herself from me.
I sighed and shook my head, looking up at the stars. "(Remember the last birthday we celebrated as a family?)"
"(Yes, when you turned 13, why do you inquire?)" Charlotte gave me a puzzled expression.
I shook my head. "(What about my 14th birthday? You remember we transmigrated when I was 20 and you were 18 right?)" I said, and she nodded.
"(Hmm, I don't remember, it was a long time ago...)" Charlotte was deep in thought, but after a few seconds, she pouted. "(However, what does that have to do with you keeping your plans a secret from me?)" She said this with a sulky expression, as if she thought I had changed the subject on purpose.
"(Don't mind me, I was just confirming some things)" I laughed telepathically as I walked over to her and ruffled her hair. "(Let us now devise some strategies)" When I proposed, she gave me a puzzled look but nodded.