I dragged the three from the grasp of the creatures, their cries echoing throughout the ghost town.
It was honestly quite pathetic. I mean they had conquered the first floor meaning that they should have been powerful enough to at least survive this amount of hardship.
Yet instead all they did was cry and cry about how unfair it was that I had not immediately helped them and left them to fend for themselves.
I mean honestly, how pathetic do you have to be to rely completely on someone for your protection after going through all the trials and tribulations of the tower.
I couldn't help but scoff at them as I dragged them towards the exit of the town by the ear.
Yet by the time that we had exited they were already recovered and acting arrogant again. Even if you would have thought that this sort of experience would have at least beaten it out of them for at least the day.
But no, they had to start complaining and demanding all of the runes that I had collected be given to them.
"Fuck off." I said, throwing them to the ground. Their expressions were one of both fury and fear.
Fury in that I had not obeyed their commands and fear of being left here all alone without any equipment.
"YOU- You dare!" One of them yelled at me, but I didn't even turn my back. I just kept on walking. I already knew the location of the place and could come back at will.
And even my promise to protect them had already been fulfilled, any other harm that came upon them would have been nothing more than their natural idiocy.
I wouldn't take the blame for that even if they tried.
A moment later and I was a considerable distance away from them, enough that they couldn't see me in this fog of night.
It was actually quite dark, the only thing illuminating the surroundings being the lights coming from the tower and that did as much as a dim moon.
That being said it was enough for me to be able to see through the darkness and watch the ensuing panic that came to the group.
It was quite satisfying, enough that I found myself watching for quite a while before I myself left.
There wasn't much else to do around here. I had already harvested as many runes as I could. A total of nine one-third pieces of dexterity runes or put together .3 worth of dexterity stats and another .2 worth of strength.
It wasn't much but it was more than I was getting just standing by.
Sooner than I thought I found myself staring at the gates of the city. There weren't any guards that I could see but that was most likely because I just couldn't perceive them.
I walked up and was immediately accosted by the invisible guards I had assumed to be there.
It took a moment but they recognized me from when I had left. Most of the questions they had was about where my companions were but even that wasn't too heated.
I could tell they really didn't care. It was a sort of indifference born from exhaustion, from who knows how long they were sitting here.
I sort of felt sorry for them as judging by the dark circles around their eyes they were most likely always stationed out here and for many nights at that.
"You can go in, we've got no more questions for you."
"Thanks, and here I know it's not much but you seem like you'd need it."
I threw them both a bottle of coffee that I hadn't drunk. It was something that I had bought before thinking that I might have been forced to stay up but hadn't used.
They were both almost reverential with how they cradled it in their hands, their eyes sending grateful signals to me.
"Thank you" They both said at the same time, moving to the side as they let me in.
…
I woke to the shining of the sun, it was quite eye-catching. There was just something about it today that seemed to bring good omens.
Despite the events that had transpired yesterday night, it seemed things were looking up.
"MIHR!" A voice yelled, breaking my reverie. I grumbled before picking myself from the ground and grabbing [En] from where she lay at the side of the bed.
I quickly dressed myself and opened the door of my room.
The hallway of the hotel soon revealed itself showing the people that were staring at me from the hallway.
They seemed quite young, yet despite that their backs were hunched and their eyes scrunched as if they were old men.
"Yes…" I said, giving them my most deadpan look, "Did you need something?"
"YOU-" He pointed his finger at me, as if offended that I didn't give him respect or something.
"Me?"
"I hired you for a reason, and you didn't fulfill that. I demand compensation!"
I sighed before closing the door, these people weren't worth my attention.
Before I could go back and lay down or maybe just relax I had to do something.
With a tap to the card I contacted Nia.
She seemed quite groggy, as if she had only just gotten up.
"Yeah…?" She questioned, her voice raspy in its quality.
"Did you hire me out to some… old men looking people?"
"Yeah, what about them?"
"They were saying that I didn't complete my contract. Oh, and speaking about the contract, why haven't I got paid?"
She stuttered for a moment, her expression twitching as she tried to come up with an explanation.
I just sighed and looked straight into her eyes.
"Look, I don't care much for the payment. Just find me a good sparring partner and get rid of these guys outside of my door and I'll be happy."
"Mm… Mm…" she hummed, "yeah that works, I'll do that."
…