Zarin didn't expect to see Ais like that. However, she made no appearance during the past week, so it made him think that his actions may have caused some problems.
'Did she forget to let me know of another warning?'
He wanted to wave at her to signal her to come later, but something strange happened.
The two boys who ran ahead had headed for Ais, and they would bump with her.
Before Zarin could say anything, they reached Ais and passed her. Or, more precisely, they passed through her like she wasn't even then.
Zarin thought he was delusional and was seeing things at that moment, but Ais turned and waved toward him.
"I should go back to finish my watering and will join you for lunch."
Lady Emlyn looked towards Zarin for a second but kept moving towards the house, saying nothing. Gele followed her mother as she was her cooking helper.
"Zarin, you are finally here."
Ais looked happy to see him, and there was a defined change in her. Her clothes revealed more skin than before. Before, she wore a robe kind of dress, which still showcased her curves, but now she wore a one-piece dress that the lower half was like a miniskirt, and the top half just covered her belly and most of her chest area.
She also wore long boots, and the entire outfit added to her temptation meter.
"Why are you here? And why did Alth and Alos pass through you?"
"Who? When did that happen?" Ais asked, with apparent confusion in her eyes.
Zarin sighed at the response. He didn't dislike Ais, even if she had been a little help initially, but she had grown at him. He was an honest man and knew that her appearance was why he didn't consider her annoying. He may have died and been in so much pain a few days ago, but a man is a man, no matter what.
"Well, I wanted to check on you. But, unfortunately, things up are too boring. I also heard you have been in a fight recently."
"Wouldn't call it like being in a fight. My reward from the last quest did everything."
Zarin would not make himself look great by doing something he didn't do. It was true that he was the one that called Kester, but other than that, he had nothing else to do with how things ended.
"It is still part of your power. You should give more credit to yourself."
"Part of my power? But it didn't use any of my skills or stats to use it. Wait… does that mean I will be able to create items like that myself?"
Zarin had thought of that possibility and tried to create a die with that ability. Still, he never succeeded in making any special dice like that.
"I do not know," Ais said and shrugged.
'I forgot I am the first Dice Master,' Zarin reminded himself.
"There are C-Rank Mages that can make summons of copies of other people, so it is a possibility."
At their previous talk, Zarin had heard from Ais that Mage is one of the Basic Classes.
Basic Classes are Classes that any person has to start with unless they get a Special Class like Dice Master. Warrior was another Basic Class.
He knew Basic Classes as D-Rank classes and had a Max Level of 100. When reaching Max Level, one could evolve their class to get a choice among dozens or even hundreds of C-Rank Classes. One only got a dozen or less to choose from, which depended on their style.
C-Rank classes had a max level of 50 and could evolve at B-Rank after reaching max level. A person needed different requirements to evolve a class, and passing a particular quest was typical.
Of course, the rest of the people who didn't have access to the System, like Chosen Ones, took lots of time to evolve their classes.
Zarin described to Ais the fight while he went to finish watering the field. There wasn't much left, as he needed to make three trips from the well to the place the watering trench started.
Ais looked invested in the story and was hearing every detail with evident excitement in her eyes.
"… so we decided to return to have lunch, and I saw you. So, do you mind telling me why everyone else seems to not be able to see you?"
Zarin was certain that the boys didn't see her, and if Lady Emlyn had noticed her, she would have said something.
"Only our clients can see us and interact with us. We are trying to keep our company's information a secret, so people don't expect they will make it to the list."
Zarin nodded as he understood the point of that. People always wondered what happened when someone died. If they knew they could have a second chance, they could waste their current life.
"Wait, what happens if I die? Can I go through another reincarnation?"
Ais stared at him for a few seconds, and soon her face had a look that Zarin was familiar with — she was unaware of the answer to that question.
"…I hadn't heard of anyone to have reincarnated twice, to tell the truth. But it may be possible?"
Her last sentence was full of uncertainty, which Zarin didn't like.
Still, he didn't plan to die anytime soon to find out the answer to his question.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I brought you a gift."
Zarin was surprised by what Ais had just said. He never considered getting a gift from a beautiful young girl like that.
But then he had a thought.
'She is part of the afterlife. So she could be thousands of years old.'
Ais looked to be in her early twenties, but because of where she was coming from, who knew her actual age. But, of course, Zarin didn't plan to ask her age, as he knew it was impolite to ask a lady her age.
Ais opened her palm and had it horizontally as a spark of light appeared for a split second. Then a blue gem appeared out of nowhere and landed on her hand. The gem was semi-transparent and had a rhombus kind of shape.
"Here you go," Ais said as she extended her hand to give the gem to Zarin.
"What is that?" he asked as he took it.
But he didn't get his answer from Ais, but from a panel window.
____________________
SCRY GEM (TRANSMITTER)
Description: A gem coming in pairs. One of the gem act as a transmitter and the other as a receiver. One can see what the transmitter's holder is doing through the receiver.
____________________
As he finished reading the description, the gem lightened up and vanished. He then felt a slight annoyance at the lower left part of his neck, which didn't last for long.
A tattoo had appeared at that place, which was a blue rhombus.
"What is… where did you go, Ais?"
Zarin turned to ask Ais what was going on, but she had disappeared. He looked around, and she was nowhere to be seen.
'Did she just put a surveillance system on me?'
Zarin felt like his privacy had been heavily breached, as she could peek at him whenever she wanted, and he wouldn't know.
And the biggest problem was that he couldn't do it himself, as the transmission was going one way.
Zarin sighed and returned to join the others for lunch. He could do nothing for Ais, but there could be a way to sense when the transmission was on. He had to keep an eye out for any sign showing that he was under watch.
As he entered the dining area of the house, he saw that Lady Emlyn was bringing out a plate with a roasted chicken on it cut in slices. Usually, roasting a chicken takes a long time, but that was if you didn't use any enchanted tools.
Lady Emlyn's kitchen was full of tools with carvings and functions to make cooking much easier and faster without affecting quality.
Zarin didn't know how common those items were, but he had seen no other enchanted things outside the kitchen. He had asked Lady Emlyn where she got them from, and she just responded that they were gifts. There was no mention of who gifted them to her, though.
He took the usual seat of his, which was the one at the furthest corner of the table. The table could easily keep up to eight people dining simultaneously.
They had their lunch in silence, as this was the only point of the day that the boys weren't making any noise other than them eating. Still, their manners on the table were pretty good for what they could consider commoners, at least in Zarin's perspective.
As they finished lunch, the kids left to play/train outside. The boys used to fight each other with their wooden swords and train swordsmanship that their 'Uncle' Aldis had taught them.
Lady Emlyn took the plates to clean them, and typically Gele would help her, but this time she asked Zarin to help. Gele left to watch over her brothers since she didn't need to help.
"So, you are an Otherworlder."
Zarin's eyes got wide, as he didn't expect Lady Emlyn to say something like that out of the blue.
"Your power is too uncommon for someone of your age. This means either that your background is way higher than you have let us think it is, or that you aren't from this world but were brought here as a second chance."
Zarin didn't know what to say. From his discussion with Ais just a few moments ago, he understood that this wasn't common knowledge. Even if she used a different title, he was sure that she referred to what was his situation.
"No need to worry. I am probably the only one who knows your secret," she said to him reassuringly.
"How… how do you know? I was told that people shouldn't know about that."
Lady Emlyn threw him a wide smile as a response.