Snaglok was perched upon the chair like a fat doll.
He had an overgrown, hawk-like nose, and there were many pimples on his face. Except for a few gray hairs dangling down his head, he was as good as being called bald. His eyes were black and mean and his thick lips were curled in a smirk and disgust.
Two emotions Kai couldn't fathom how one person could show at the same time.
"What is this?" Snaglok demanded hoarsely. "They assured me I would meet only one."
Petyr smiled. He was sitting on the chair opposite the goblin, and Kai was standing behind him. "We are one, my lord," Petyr said. "We have always been one."
Kai had noticed Snaglok looking at his face many times by now.
His Charisma was working, but not as much as it had worked before. His identity as a squib was doing more harm than good. Either he should have remained a complete muggle or a wizard.
Snaglok grunted. "I can't see anything special about him," he said, pointing at Kai. "I think I have wasted my time by coming here."
"Haha!" Petyr laughed. "Don't go on his age and appearance. He specializes in dealing with low-class wizards. Arlen, show him."
Kai's right hand reached into his left sleeve, and he took out the wand.
Snaglok's eyes widened, and before the goblin could sense its oddness, Kai thrust it back into his sleeve. But in reality, he had sent it to the Inventory where even the goblin couldn't sense it.
"A wand?!" the goblin asked, almost getting up from his chair.
"That should be proof enough for his capabilities," Petyr said. "He hates the wizarding community for an apparent reason, as you must know by now."
Snaglok couldn't help but nod. There was no worse fate for a squib than being disowned by the great magical family. Hate was a natural emotion. An emotion Kai could easily bring upon his face and in his eyes.
"But…" Snaglok muttered. "But I am still not sure about it."
"Why not show a bit of faith in each other?" Petyr asked. "Don't select him, not now. Let's just trade. Gold for your plans, huh?"
With that, Petyr took out 10 Galleons and put them straight into Goblin's stubby palm. Some coins fell, but Snaglok, like a bloodthirsty hound, reached down and gobbled them up in no time.
"Yes, yes," the goblin mumbled, stuffing the coins into his pockets. "Some months ago, I was going through the ancient records of the bank when I stumbled upon an unusual entry. It was a thousand-year-old entry, mind you. It mentioned a particular Vault No. 999 whose owner has never come to claim the contents even once in the last millennium.
"Now there are older things stored in the abyss below the Gringotts (-the goblin's chest swelled up in pride-), but someone had always come to check up on their contents, unlike this one."
"You think the owner is dead?" Petyr added. "So, because of curiosity, you took it upon yourself to find out what is in the vault."
Snaglok threw himself at the word carefully planted by Petyr. "Yes, I was just curious," he said. "But the search of what lies within that vault has emptied my pockets…"
Petyr produced 5 more Galleons.
"It's a chest of petrified eggs!" Snaglok hissed. "Rare magical species which once roamed below and above the earth. Think of the gold even one egg will get me… us, I mean. Think."
"More than this, I am sure," Petyr said, slyly, handing over 5 more Galleons. The Goblin's pockets didn't seem enough to hold that amount, so he started to stuff the coins in his shirt.
"Yes, more than this," Snaglok said. "After a long time, I could only find the identity of one egg. A Dragon's egg… Extinct Green-scaled Hungarian Horntail!"
Kai and Petyr shared the briefest of the glance.
"I am curious about something too, my lord," Petyr said. "You are an employee of the Bank. Why don't you take out the egg? Surely it would be safer and easier, right?"
Snaglok sniggered, his face looking like a rooster. "I am just a clerk," he said. "And only the Head Goblin of the Bank has the key to open the vault. The key is his both palms. I can't just ask him to open the vault. There is no reason."
"So that's why you need our help," Petyr reflected. "Well, we will be glad to help you as a part of the trade, of course."
This time, Petyr didn't take out just a few Galleons, but a full 50. The Goblin gaped at the gold, almost lunging at Petyr to snatch them away. Snaglok, the poor, shrewd goblin, didn't even know when the interview to select the thief had become a common matter of trade.
"Very well," Snaglok said, his eyes never leaving the gold coins. "On 25th November, the bank will recruit guards for the Bank's Security Task Force. I will push your name on that list. Three days later, I will fake an attack on Vault No. 999. The guards will have to go down there, along with the High Goblin, to check the safety of the contents. It will be on you to steal the biggest green-gold egg within the chest. Can you do it?"
The successive notifications brought immense joy to Kai.
…
[
Side Mission: Snaglok's delusion
Side Mission Status: Success
Side Mission Rewards: 150 Mission Credits
…
Main Mission Timer is triggered
Initiating Battle Sequence…
Floor: 3 (1st Set)
Kill Count: (0/100)
Battle Number: Not Applicable
…
Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn
You have triggered a Side Mission
…
Main Mission: Three heads of the Targaryen Dragon
Side Mission: The Birth of Rhaegal
Side Mission Summary: Snaglok has already doomed himself by going against the Goblin's code of conduct. Now he wants to steal the contents of the chest within Vault No. 999.
Join the Security Task Force on November 25, and help Snaglok steal the eggs when the time comes.
Side Mission Objective: Steal the green-bronze Dragon egg
Side Mission Time Limit: Not Applicable
…
Do you accept the side-mission?
]
…
Kai looked into Goblin's greedy eyes and grinned.
*
*
"Chaos," Kai called out. "Create a Side Mission to Kill the nearest 4th-floor Contestant of Order. Adjust Mission Summary accordingly."
This was the brilliant plan Cersei had come up with.
Kai had known that he could create Side Missions by using his privilege as the 3rd ranked Contestant in the Ranking of Worth Stat. Yet, even he hadn't thought of something so devious. The reason was simple.
Whenever it had come to knowing information regarding another Contestant, the System had gone haywire, spiking prices up unnaturally.
But with this Side Mission, Kai could easily ignore mentioning what he truly needed. The mission being given to him by Chaos itself, as Cersei had told him, would definitely give him a location.
This plan was devious wasn't because Kai could force the System to reveal a Contestant's position, but because if he didn't like the mission or the Contestant's position, he could just give it up and rather ask for the second nearest option.
Cersei's devilish grin hadn't ceased after telling him this much, though.
For the first time, Kai had found out he had been looking down on Cersei too much just because of her extremely flirtatious nature. Once she had put her mind to figuring something out, she just didn't find the solution. Rather, she had ripped the problem apart from the roots.
If you don't like any 4th-floor Contestant in this world, she had said, then just create a Side Mission including another world. You can easily go to King's Landing now that you are familiar with the city, can't you?
Even though Kai had found it an excellent suggestion, he finally refrained from using the second method. There were two reasons for his decision.
First, he would be spending Mission Credits for a mission that might or might not be completed.
Second, every Mission Credit spent now would affect the Time Compression he had been planning at the end of Main Mission.
…
[
Analyzing the Contestant's Stats…
Analyzation Complete
…
Creating Side Mission…
…
Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn
You have triggered a Side Mission
…
Main Mission: Three heads of the Targaryen Dragon
Side Mission: Kill Captain of Guard Heavy Block
Side Mission Summary: Heavy Block, a 4th-floor Contestant, is in the command of the Prime Minister's Field Task Force for a month. His Main Mission includes guarding the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street.
Side Mission Objective: Kill Heavy Block
Side Mission Time Limit: before 23 November
…
Do you accept the side-mission?
]
…
Hmm, Kai deliberated over the mission. The Thunder Faction's data had something about it. It said major figures are always protected by some Task Force of Contestants openly or from behind the curtains. Here, even the Aurors will be there, the wizards no Contestant would like to face in battle.
Then it's a Task Force. So I can assume he will have at least 5 lower floor Contestants. I will have to lure him away from his team somehow.
Kai's brows furrowed as he kept thinking over it.
Suddenly, he felt a cold and soothing sensation moving across his temples. Cold, yes. Just cold enough to make him relax and close his eyes in bliss. Then Kai shuddered. What if the serpent wouldn't control the chill she was imparting into Kai's soul? What would happen then?
Kai didn't trust anyone, anything.
Yet… when the silver mist came out of Kai's head and solidified, Kai couldn't help but stare into those red slits with warmth. Magic. Kai had blamed this one word for the feelings of trust that were welling up in his heart for the Ghost Serpent.
Kai's entire body became red hot then, giving off light trails of steam. The hot steam met the cool mist from where the serpent's half body was coming out of Kai's head. A ghostly pleasant sensation coursed through Kai's body. Even the serpent's body shook under the effects of this thrill.
Hisss!
-What?- Kai hissed out the question as an intention. It had become an involuntary action to activate Elementary Snake Language.
The serpent came close to Kai and her forked tongue kissed Kai's chin. She hissed out her own intention. -Trust?-
It struck Kai, then. The serpent was nothing but an untainted child. The category of living beings who Kai found the easiest to be manipulated. He grinned. The grin became a shrill laugh.
The serpent felt Kai's joy and hissed along, going in and out of Kai's body in its intangible form.
"Not even a year old," a voice came from Kai's behind, "and you have already started its corruption."
"HER," Kai said through his gritted teeth as he turned around.
Petyr was sitting there on the chair with the Basic Spellbook opened on the last page on his lap.
One day had gone by since their meeting with the Goblin. Today was the night of November 7.
Kai didn't have any plans to stay here any longer. "Let's go," he said. "We are going out of here."
"Hmm?" Petyr raised an eyebrow, closing the book. "Snaglok said the recruiters would come here on the 25th. We don't have to go anywhere. Leaky Cauldron is the safest place, and now we even have all the money."
Kai pitied the fool. "Power would never present itself to those who seek comfort, Petyr," he said. "I thought you of all would know of it."
"Haha!" Petyr laughed, standing up, his figure blurring. "We two have a very different definition of Power, my lord. Yours will make you stand at the top and will let you look down at the others as if they are ants. Mine… well, I am content with everyone dancing around on my fingers. So, where are we going?"
Petyr asked, but he had already become a part of Kai by then.
"London is a big city," Kai muttered to himself, collecting all his valuables. "And Big Cities always have good Sewer Systems."