"What you grinning at?"
Malissa gave Moros a kind of mocking facial expression in between shoving inhuman amounts of ice cream down her throat.
But Moros did not care what the hater sitting across from him was saying. His mind was way too happy to pay any attention to his surroundings.
In his hands were energy cores, so big, so beautiful…it was like the most perfect thing to ever appear in front of his eyes, far more beautiful than anything he had seen prior.
Nothing could ever compare to the ethereal beauty these babies in front of him had. To him it felt like he had taken a 100 happy pills again, but that also could not compare or capture the charm of these stones.
Moros, at this very moment in time, was the happiest man on Earth.
He knew their time together would be brief and soon he would have to say goodbye to them, handing them over to people, who would never appreciate them for what they are.
They would never see these monster cores for what they are worth…but that was okay, Moros would remember them for his entire life.
"Why…are…you crying?" Malissa asked, her mouth filled to the brink with expensive deliciousness.
She could never understand, she could never comprehend their relationship.
Moros might have hold these monster cores in his hands for a mere minute, but in his mind, they were like his kids. He was holding them with tender love, seeing them grow up, getting married and soon about to leave the house.
In the span of a minute, he had lived decades with them, learning everything about them, seeing them turn into something he could never be.
He was the proudest Dad, seeing them grow up into the best money kids he could have ever lived for. Regardless of what he would accomplish in this life, nothing could ever compare to this moment.
"I should be the one to cry, you heartless bastard. Making me worry for nothing."
Malissa attempted to make a heartfelt message, which did not come across as genuine as she wanted, since her face was covered in several layers of residue ice cream.
Something that Moros had to pay for…
Not that Moros could be affected by the childish tantrum of a childhood friend.
In his mind, the vision and future life of his new monster cores flashed forward. Happy times, sad times they all passed by in the blink of an eye as Moros saw their life change him too.
These stones, they did not only look beautiful, but their insides were shining brightly too. Most people just reduced them to the values on the outside…they could buy things and pay for stuff…
…but that is not what Moros saw in them. These pristine children were opportunities; they were chances, a chance to do almost everything.
They could serve to feed a young, mad lady and keep her quiet. They could get you murdered, they could turn you into a murderer.
That was exactly what made Moros love and yearn for money to such an extent. It was not just the bigger the better, he did like seeing numbers go up, though that was hardly what made him crave money to such an extent.
No, to him money was something that made everything possible. It brought a freedom that nothing else could bring.
It could accomplish things that no singular person, company or anyone else could achieve.
The world's strongest magician? How about buying place 2-99 to fight him? How about buying people to take care of their family? How about poisoning their food? The options were endless, the possibilities that money offered were versatile enough.
"If you don't stop grinning, I will wipe that creepy smile out of your face…"
Money could also buy you new friends that were less inclined to harm your manhood for leaving them alone. Did one need any further proof for the vast, limitless ability and powers of money?
That's why Moros could only take the Gods, be they the old or new, not seriously. Instead of using this power for good, none of them concern themselves with it.
It has so much potential and these entities flaunt all their abilities and still insist on old contracts that serve no purpose other than getting the individual stronger.
They should go with the times, instead they insist on doing things the way it has always been. Much like Malissa's clothing choice, one could clearly say that the strategy had holes all over it.
By now the woman, still mad due to a variety of reasons Moros could not possibly understand, had finished her enormous pile of ice cream.
Her anger had subsided by quite a margin, as she looked with a lot of schadenfreude in her eyes towards the waiter that came towards their table with practised precision.
Finally, she could make him feel a fraction of the worry that she had felt, she would strike him where it hurt him the most─right into his wallet.
Moros spotted the butler, realisation dawned upon him. The time, he and the monster cores were spending together would soon come to an end.
A few more tears slid down his eyes, causing his eyes to appear misty.
The last moments between the 4 of them seemed to last a few lifetimes, yet they passed in the blink of a sad eye.
Moros, the worried, proud father was carrying his children to their grave, so that they could rest easy, knowing that they had served their purpose.
The man, about to drop a fortune on some melting cream, wished that all of them would come together in another life again. Their paths would intersect again and they would find each other again, somewhere…he was certain of that.
Moros gave him to the butler, his heart breaking into countless pieces in the process.
Goodbyes were never easy.
"Keep the change, you are doing a fine job!"
Moros spoke, his voice appearing normal, yet it was just moments away from breaking and turning into a whisper. He could not look at the waiter, he could not say goodbye to his kids with tears running over his faces, they did not deserve this.
"I lab yu," he whispered to them…as his children were ripped away for him, carried towards many like them, but nothing could ever change just how special they were in the eyes of Moros.
They would always live on as a memory in his head. Having saved, changed, and forever bettered his life.
Malissa looked at the scene and seriously contemplated if her best friend was still okay in the head. She knew that he valued money more than else, but at this point it seemed more like he was married to it.
…and it looked like the money left him for a bigger, human leaving Moros behind as a poor loser…whatever affected his mind, did not appear to be very healthy.
On the other hand though, who really was sane on this planet anyhow?
It would be weirder if he was not a little weirdo after all the things he had to do in the name of the family. He was still her best friend, despite all his little weird traits that made him appear slightly less sane than expected.
She would still not want to have the little lunatic out of her life.
Though he did need that kind of lesson at this very moment, he should never avoid responsibilities as he did the last 2 weeks. Judging by his expression, he took the lesson to heart.
…at least, she thought he learned something, somewhere.
It was hard to predict the thought process of Moros because it ranged from surprisingly simple to absolutely insane, with absolutely no line in between.
Moros would laugh at this evaluation, imagining a story and a life for money he had just received a minute prior was a normal thing to do, indirectly proving her point right.
Moros' mind wandered a bit, reflecting on the last few days and all the things that had happened.
It had not been a month and yet he felt like he had experienced more in it, than he did in the 16 years he had lived up to this point.
From happy pills to killing goblins, from ballas mutating to a goblin that refused to die. He met old gods, he met a new one, he set a forest on fire and captured a horde of goblins using stinky clothing produced by sweaty woman.
All these memories flashed past his inner eye and he understood that he was just really lucky to live to see the day and reflect on it.
Yet, as strange as it appeared, he knew deep down, his journey was far from over. The thing in the dungeon, his enormous debt, Albert One Stone and the weird system!
There were so many things he did not know about.
Maybe, it truly was the beginning of something wonderful. Just maybe amongst this vast array of issues, there was a way to achieve the freedom he had always longed for.
He was certain he would earn a pile of money and make his dream come true…
Onto a future filled with money!