Classes throughout the day went without a hitch, much to Rhys' disappointment. By the time lunch came, there was still no words of rumours about him and Xavier being close, making him give up on that plan.
"This is why you always have a backup strategy." Kane said, lecturing Rhys on and on as they made their way to the car.
Rolling his eyes, Rhys told him to shut up and get lost before reaching the car and smiling at the targets, who were all there before him.
"I swear you should of been an actor." Kane thought to himself. As Rhys greeted them, they got in the car and went to pick up some lunch.
Lunch was casual, along with their fourth class, and finally came time for them to head over to the jewellers, to pickup the ring and then the florists for flowers, before heading to Rhys' house.
Heading in, Rhys decided to just ask the woman at the counter for the description of the ring, rather than search around for it himself.
"Hello! Do you happen to have a yellow gold ring with diamonds?" Rhys asked with a smile, the woman blushed a little.
"Yes we do, but unfortunately another customer asked to buy it a few minutes ago, and said they'd be right back with someone to confirm." The woman said, trying to let Rhys down lightly.
"Could I see it then? Since they haven't bought it, could I possibly buy it for double what the price is?" Rhys asked, his face and tone now serious.
Although it wouldn't be bad if he failed the mission, he had already set out to try and complete it, and half-hearted effort wasn't good enough for such an easy task.
The woman squeaked out a yes as she got the ring out to show him, as two women came up to the counter, presumably the ones who were going to buy it.
"Here's the ring!" She said, as she noticed the women and nearly jumped back. As one of them was about to speak, Rhys cut her off.
"Excuse me, miss. Would you mind letting me buy this ring? I'm willing to even pay double the original price, it means that much to me right now." Rhys asked with a smile, however, these women weren't as easily charmed by him.
"Sorry, but we're really in a rush right now to get this ring, we really need it too." One of the women said, before pulling out her credit card.
"I really didn't want to have to do this." Rhys sighed as he grabbed his credit card out too. He figured this could happen, but what a hassle it was.
"I'll pay triple the original price if you sell it to me." Rhys said to the lady at the counter, now everyone was looking at him shocked, just why would he do that for a simple ring?
"I'll pay five times the price." The woman said, this ring probably had significance to her if she was willing to throw money out that easily, but Rhys probably had more on hand.
"Ten times the price." Rhys said, completely sure there was absolutely no way she'd budge on that, but to his surprise, she did.
"Twenty thousand." The woman next to her said, getting out her own credit card now. The lady behind the counter seemed unsure what to do, as Rhys pulled out a second credit card.
"Twenty five thousand, and if you two back out now, I'll let you pick out whatever ring you want and I'll pay for it. I just need this ring." Rhys gave a final offer, even the targets were shocked at how willing he was to go for a simple ring.
"I can't pay that much, but I need it!" The woman said again, before giving up and leaving the store, clearly agitated.
What went from a thousand dollars became twenty five thousand, and Rhys sighed in relief it was over. "Good thing you made me transfer all my remaining points." Rhys thought.
"You sure do flaunt your money easily though, host." Kane said as he watched Rhys pay with his credit cards, also happy he made a wise decision earlier.
"Are you really sure you want to pay this much? It's only one thousand." The woman tried to insist, calming down after that crazy bidding war had just happen.
Rhys gave a smile and said a yes, it wasn't going to put a dent in his pocket. Seth had to cover Xavier's mouth as he muttered a "rich boy lifestyle" while even Erin tried to keep a neutral expression on.
When he got the ring, Rhys carefully held it n his hands, as they exited the store, the world coming to a stop.
"MISSION SUCCESS" the voice rang, the rewards popping up and waiting for Rhys to accept them.
"Rewards upon completing big spender, mission, two attribute points." The screen read as it took Rhys to the attributes, putting one in handsomeness, and one in charisma.
After his body was enveloped in the light, he had grown an inch, placing him at 5'9 in height. "I'm finally getting closer to my original height." Rhys said.
"Not to burst your bubble, but do remember if one of your future targets prefers the cuter types, then you're going to have to take back all your handsome points and spend them on cuteness, try not to get too used to your look." Kane said, ruining Rhys' mood.
"Who on earth would prefer a cute guy over a hot guy?" Rhys hissed out, now waiting for the system space to end.
"A lot of people, actually. Also a self proclaimed hot guy acting like Xavier is weird." Kane said, now just purposefully trying to annoy Rhys.
As the two bickered back and forth until the safe space ended, Rhys put on his professional working face again.
"You know that you spent way too much on that, right? Twenty five grand isn't pocket change for most people." Erin said, looking at Rhys.
"I really wanted this specific design for my dad, I really feel like he deserves it after raising me, you know?" Rhys lied, hoping they'd drop it.
Luckily for him, they did. No one questioned him as they made their way over to the florist, letting him question Kane.
"I don't even know who these people are other than her voice, how do I even know if this ring is his size or if he'd like it?" Rhys thought in his head to Kane.
"The system has that stuff covered. Just be glad you outbid someone for a precious family heirloom of their's!" Kane replied.
Rhys nearly choked hearing this. Did he just steal someone's family heirloom? What was it even doing at a jewellers in the mall?
"The girls accidentally sold it, and it ended up in the mall. Sometime during the novel the female lead gets gifted this ring by Erin." Kane replied.
"How does he afford the bid war in the original novel?" Rhys asked, curious. Making Kane shake his head.
"Oh he doesn't, there's no bid war in the original novel. The system just did it because you're a host. This poor family seems to have lost their heirloom twice now, good going host." Kane said.
Although Rhys felt a little guilty, he brushed it off. You'd have to actively try and get rid of the heirloom if it really were that precious, so that's on them.
As they arrived at the florist, they were greeted by the same woman they saw two days back.
"Good afternoon, I'm here to pick up the flower bouquet I ordered on Wednesday, please." Rhys gave a smile, despite his surprise.
Erin was the pretty close, right next to his side glaring at the woman at the desk. "And be quick." He hissed out, as if the flowers were being bought by him too.
"What's up with him?" Rhys thought in his head as he brushed it off, about to take the flowers from her when Erin did it.
"You're already holding the ring, I'll hold these." Erin said as he walked off by himself, Xavier immediately catching on and pulling Rhys away from her, Seth apologising for their rude behaviour before heading out as well.
"I appreciate it, but why are you walking so fast?" Rhys asked Erin, even Kane sighing at this point.
"We already spent a lot of time in the jewellers, and since it will take a few hours to drive I don't want to get there too late." Erin said, making any excuse he could think of.
"It's because she flirted with you on Wednesday, and today you're acting like an idiot spending money, he's probably worried you can't care for yourself." Kane said, as they finally arrived back at the car.
Rhys was nearly shocked, he was a grown man already older than Erin, and Erin just acted like he was a toddler unable to do things for himself?
"They don't know you're a host, or that you only need to capture them and then you get to leave this world, to them you're just like anyone else, a regular person." Kane reminded, making Rhys slightly less irritated.
"That's right.. I haven't really thought too much about that." Rhys said before deciding to just ignore it, that's not something important enough to occupy his mind.
Hoping into the driver's seat, and putting his ring in his bag, everyone put on their seatbelts, allow Rhys to start driving.
"How many hours will it take exactly?" Xavier asked, as Rhys put the destination into his gps, thank goodness Kane could tell him where it was.
"About five and a half hours." Rhys replied, hearing Xavier gasp in surprise hearing the estimated time.
"We are going to stop and eat at the halfway mark, right?" He asked, of course the most important thing to him was when they'd eat.
"Yes, since it'd be around nine when we actually get there." Rhys responded, hearing Erin groan now.
"I thought it'd be something like two hours or three hours at most. I didn't expect to spend eleven hours of my weekend in a car driving around." He complained.
As everyone spent their time laughing and fooling around in the car, playing card games, and exchanging stories. Though nothing special happened, when they paused by a local restaurant to grab dinner, Rhys felt his affection go up.
"What's this for?" Rhys thought to Kane, Xavier's affection had gone up by two, putting him at thirty one. Seth's affection went up by one and put him at twenty three. Erin's affection raised by three, and put him at twenty-three as well, since he last checked.
"It's probably a mixture of all of today, sometimes just spending time together, protecting friends, or just enjoying time together is enough to raise affection, right?" Kane said.
"Then why the hell is it impossible to get affection points regularly!" Rhys hissed out, opening the door for the targets.
"Well because you've worked for it! If you were at affection one and tried to get them to meet your parents do you think your affection would raise?" Kane asked.
"No..." Rhys replied in his head before snapping back at Kane to shut up. At that moment, Kane contemplated filing a complaint against his host.
"OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION"
"The girl's extended family are here, listen to their story and exchange their family heirloom for a different item they offer. You will be rewarded upon completion, there is no punishment."
With the new mission, Rhys really wanted to throw a fit, but composed himself. "What's the point of me buying that ring, then?" Rhys asked in his head calmly.
"It probably triggered since you asked why they wanted the ring." Kane replied as he flew to one of the booths, close enough to be able to hear an elderly couple talking in distress.
"I never said I'd accept this. It's your fault for telling me." Rhys replied, unfortunately for him, that's where his targets also decided to sit.
"Do it for the reward, host! It's really easy, and you need the rewards for later!" Kane said, sounding a little desperate.
"Fine, whatever." He replied, taking a seat closest to the couple's. As the waitress came and gave them the menus, it was quite obvious what the couple was saying.
"She couldn't of serious of sold our ring, right? It's a precious family heirloom!" The woman said, worried.
"It's okay, she said she just misplaced it, and was going to get it, they'll meet us here soon with the ring. It's easy to misplace it since it just looks like a normal ring, dear." The man replied.
"I know that! It's just a gold ring with some diamonds, but my grandmother gave it to my mother and then my mother to me and-" the woman began to stress.
Hearing this, Rhys just decided to dive in head first, it's not like it'd hurt him anyways. "Excuse me, I couldn't help overhearing but could you tell me if the ring I recently bought today is your heirloom?" Rhys asked as he made his way to his car, signalling for them to wait a minute
This caused Erin to sigh. Didn't he just pay twenty five thousand for it? What is he doing asking people if he accidentally has their long lost heirloom?
Returning, Rhys popped open the box case for the couple and they woman cried of relief hugging him.
"Would you mind if we have this back?" She asked, causing Erin to perk up, reminding Kane of a sort of guard dog.
"He paid twenty five thousand for that, specifically for his dad's birthday, I don't think he can just hand it over." Erin spoke up for Rhys, in fear he would do something stupid again.
"I am so thankful I rose his affection up." Rhys thought as he watched Erin do half his work, Seth watching quietly while Xavier was picking out something to eat.
The woman seemed shocked, what a high price to pay. "Do you have a receipt?" She asked, a little skeptical.
Rhys understood, and pulled out his wallet where he kept all his receipts, and showed it to her to which her hand flew over her mouth.
"Oh wow, I didn't mean to doubt you, I just didn't think this ring was worth much." She said, her forehead wrinkling.
"I don't need money back, really! I have a lot of it, but do you have any jewellery that could be considered a birthday gift? I think a trade would work fine." Rhys said with a smile.
Although Erin was about to protest on Rhys' defence, the man spoke up. "It is my daughters fault for selling the ring I see now, so let me give you something worth your money. I was going to give it to a friend who's birthday is soon, but I'll give it to you."
The man pulled out a case beside him, and in it had a bunch of fine jewellery, much better than the ring. "Please, pick one! I'm sure he wouldn't mind if one is missing once I explain, he's a nice guy." He responded.
This raised Rhys' suspicion, he surely hoped this rich man wasn't a friend of his rich dad, isn't it too coincidentally to be meeting right now? Oh well, that's a later problem.
Picking up a silver ring with amethyst, Rhys considered it good enough and thanked the man, who told him he had a good eye, that ring was worth at least a thousand as well.
"Isn't a thousand too little for twenty five thousand?" Erin said, still finding the trade between them unfair.
"Please stop interfering with my mission now, Erin." Rhys thought as he defended the man, saying it was fine with a smile on his face.
"Alright, just don't come crying to me you wasted twenty four thousand dollars later." Erin said, emphasising the sheer amount he spent on a single ring again.
Sighing in relief, the "MISSION SUCESS" rang, and the world froze. Seeing the rewards screen, Rhys accepted.
"Reward upon completing family friend's missing heirloom mission, one attribute point." It took him to the attribute screen.
"I was right! I'm going to have to deal with these people later, then?! Why didn't you mention that!" Rhys hissed as he angrily spent it on handsomeness, light enveloping his body.
As the light faded, his hair was now smooth and silky, rather than messy and a little coarse, now he could actually keep his hair neat without having to comb it for long amounts of time.
"Well, at least that's a Sunday problem, and wow did I mention you look good?" Kane replied, changing the subject, making Rhys sigh.
"I just hope they don't talk to me then." Rhys replied as he waited for safe space to end. He just wanted to eat and drive home to sleep.