Chapter 6: Too early to go for an impossible

The resident’s status displayed his name.

“Bard is my name, though I am not the bard! Haha!” He laughed before pointing at his carriage, which waited near the gates.

A few players had already settled here, and they talked with each other while wearing smiles. From time to time, they burst into laughter, and many male players bluntly tried to get on the girls’ good sides.

Reylin commented, “A rare sight for our world’s standards.”

“Oh, carriages are rare in your world?” Bard asked, his eyes shining with genuine curiosity.

“It’s a thing of the past, for the majority,” Reylin replied, leaving Bard shocked.

He told him a little about cars, then asked about the contract.

Bard was thrown out of the flow, as no player mentioned their world, solely because nothing was so interesting in their lives on Earth they had to share about it here. Most of Bard’s clients were young people who spent most of their time on their studies.

Reylin was just a little different.

Bard reached for one of the contracts from his pocket and presented it for Reylin. It was like a scroll, and upon unfolding it, Reylin’s eyes flashed with the system that converted the content into a system window.

It was more convenient to read this way, so Reylin kept his eyes on the system.

Next to him, Bard didn’t show any reaction, knowing that it would happen.

[You have learned about the NPCs’ Contracts.]

[The residents of this world had integrated The Contract Clauses to their system by praying to the Ascended. By breaking the contract, your name will become yellow to all residents, players excluded, and NPCs will know the name of the person you have lied to.]

“Oh, look at this. There’s a penalty system! How amazing, Bard.” Reylin joked, then pushed the contract back to the resident’s hands.

“Are you not interested in taking a ride?” Bard asked, his expression the same as ever.

“Different worlds, the same scam. Let’s see… You wear somewhat expensive clothes. I don’t see many residents with similar ones. Adding your business smile, you make yourself look like a wealthy merchant.

So why do you have just one carriage? A wealthy man has at least a few attendants around and a few guards in this dangerous world. You are alone.” Reylin said.

“That’s because-” Bard said, but he got cut by the fireworks lover.

“Yeah, in the contract, it says you will give a quest to get rid of any monsters on the road. Every monster group is a new quest, and the rewards here are a little too much. I mean, I killed so many slimes, but I still can’t see a silver coin, yet you offer one.

You actually don’t mind losing your carriage, do you?” Reylin smirked.

Bard’s face paled, and his lips were quivering, so the man’s whole image nearly crumbled. He kept swallowing a mouthful of saliva, and his eyes turned around to seek help from his other ‘buddies’ hiding in the alley.

But Reylin extended his hand, “What a good deal!” He shouted and grabbed Bard’s hand.

For onlookers, it looked like they were just handshaking after a good deal!

Reylin brought himself closer, “The first scenario. You lose your carriage, and you miraculously get help from passing residents. What does it mean? Players are forced to take another carriage, which they surely will. And that’s when they get yellow nicknames.

The second scenario. Your journey is all merry and bountiful in experiences. With the gallant new players, you manage to go between the cities and part with both sides satisfied! Where’s the twist? Ah, there is no fucking carriage! Players take another one, and the yellow name is here! Ah, those youngsters!

The third scenario… Fireball.”

“Uhhhh!” Bard’s hand became hotter, and he soon felt like he soaked his hand in lava. His face formed more sweat beads, which tumbled down like a waterfall. On his pale face, it was easy to see those.

He kept his screams to himself by biting his lips firmly. From the corner of his lips, blood trickled down.

Reylin whispered, “One silver, or I will blow up your house in the future.”

“Y-Yes…” Bard took out one silver as fast as he could.

“I don’t mind two, actually.”

“I- I don’t have any more….” Bard stuttered, his eyes closed tightly.

“Haha. You must have expected players to work for your dirty ass, but what a pity is that I have seen many contracts in my life. My father is a politician, you see. A leader of the leading party even! Haha.” Reylin chuckled and let Bard go.

That resident took an instant turn, and he disappeared in the alley’s shadows where his other buddies were waiting in.

Reylin glanced at his palm, “It’s easy to just use a little mana.”

[Fireball(A)(E)(10 MANA)]

[Rey Flames Lin Lv. 3 HP: 100/100 MP: 120/125]

“The opposite should be harder, then.” Reylin smiled, and he tried to pour more mana into his fireball.

That kind of control was impossible for players, but the archmages were a different breed. For one spell, they could pour their full mana and make it utterly grand!

Reylin was aiming for such a level, and he failed.

“Had I never failed, I wouldn’t have been your father, Reylin.” He repeated a known saying in his family and strutted toward the gates. “Tsk. The bigger, the better. Big fireball should howl like my bombs… Oh, dear… fire waifu…”

But as he passed through the naive and young players, Reylin checked their statuses. To be exact, he checked the male players.

All of them had exposed their nicknames so that the girls could add them at any moment, just in case they had forgotten about their nicknames!

Not like they didn’t often ‘reminded’ them…

[Rey Lin Flames wants to add you to the friend list.]

One of the players was chosen!

He blinked at the sudden invitation and added Reylin in curiosity.

[Marius: Hi! What do you want? Where are you, dude?]

[Rey Flames Lin: Son, you have been deceived. I did a little counting-out game, and you were chosen.]

Reylin explained about Bard, and though it sounded really shocking, Marius stood up in indignation! He looked around for Bard, and he didn’t find him! If nothing suspicious was going on, he would have been here!

Marius abruptly stood up, “Let’s leave this carriage! I’ve just realized something!”

One of the girls tilted her head, “You were oddly silent… What happened?”

“We are in serious trouble! I think…” Marius passed what Reylin had told him, and his words sounded plausible.

The silence from Bard and the lack of his appearance helped players leave the carriage.

They left it and slowly walked toward the main gates.

“So we can’t take… any carriages from now on?” A lady asked.

Marius’ eyes flashed, following a certain wingman’s words, “It’s fine! It’s fine! We can always get horses, you know? Have you ever ridden a horse? I haven’t!”

“That’s true! Let’s learn it!” Another guy followed.

He imagined a scene with him and one of the girls sitting on a horse. They were pretty close, and certain parts of bodies stuck really close to each other… Well, the scene was somewhat vague, so the young man could only rely on reality!

But in the group this big, one was fated to prevail!

Marius… He didn’t have to imagine…

“Hey. Want to learn it together? Horses… are pretty big and strong too… This game is just like real life, so I am a little scared.” The cutest girl pulled Marius’ sleeve, and her shy words turned him red but also slack-jawed!

“S-Sure… Of course…” He stuttered while scratching the back of his head.

Inwardly, Marius screamed, “I will… do it! I can do it… Finally… I will get a girlfriend!” He was about to end high school without any relationship! But fear not, the best wingman had blessed him already!

Marius wanted to type back to Reylin, but as he opened his friend list, no name remained online… and offline…

Reylin was gone from the friend list, but his nickname would remain etched in Marius’ heart for eternity… And no one would be able to erase that as that was Marius’ first real chance of getting a girlfriend!

“Let’s have fun!” Marius brightly shouted, and his life turned on one of the best chapters in his life.

On the other hand, far away from the beginner city, Reylin went through the main road monsters rarely stepped on.

Of course, ‘rarely’ was vague as there were many monsters and people in the world.

They didn’t fear being close to the main road and sometimes passed through it, hence the danger and battles.

For now, Reylin didn’t get attacked, and he calmly strutted forth…

Or it looked like that.

In reality, Reylin kept trying to achieve what only archmages could.

All skills had preset mana after all.

From behind, it looked like he walked normally. But the front exposed his ire as if the demoness’ hand molded his face into her race. He looked like an enraged beast, wanting to smash something.

His fingers kept flicking, aiming to get the big fireball, to no avail…

“Tsk. I get it, I get it. You can’t have anything on your plate.” Reylin titled his head and spat to the side. He summoned flames and soothed his heart.

In the next second, the ground shook, and an army of monsters appeared before him.

It wasn’t a natural occurrence as leading this army were humans, running away from them!

“Help! Help!” They shouted in tandem.

Seeing Reylin looking at them with a smile, their hearts leaped in joy, and all aimed to use him as cannon fodder!

“Yeah… You all expect me to clear those monsters… or you expect me to carry you on my back? That’s the place for my ginger goddess, you twats.” Reylin whispered and raised his hand.

For a moment, he stopped.

The concept of pouring all his mana was tempting, and it excited him. But that was simple and yet impossible as of now.

What about his fist?

If he clenched his hand, imagined the fireball appearing exactly within his fist, then what would happen?

Would his hand embrace flames? Would he hurt himself? That second question wasn’t the case since he had unique passive skill!

“True… I got skill on my own,” Reylin licked his lips and prepared for some fun!

A fun where the laugh his butler was so familiar with would prevail.