Chapter 11 – Small Payback

When I asked Suuru about spatial mages, she told me that they were more things of legends now. As for why they didn't exist anymore, she wasn't sure. Some rumors said they exhausted themselves to establish the gate network linking the domes and died of sel depletion.

The shop owner finished dealing with a client before coming to us to see what the fuss was about. When the warehouse manager explained the situation to her, they both turned to me, seeking an explanation.

"Are you a powerful air mage or something? No, but…"

I know what the shop owner wanted to say. Currently, I was exuding the aura of a rank 0, which didn't align with her assumption. I learned how to hide my rank and affinity during my training. Yet, this wasn't something normal people would do. Even for me, it took seven years before I mastered it. For normal people, investing efforts into this was useless. On the contrary, showing off a decent rank was usually enough to deter most minor problems. This ability was only useful for fighters since it gave them the advantage of surprise. Back then, I also argued that I planned to be a trader and didn't need it. Unfortunately, my trainers were merciless and forced me to master it.

"I'm pretty strong and I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

After looking at me weirdly for a bit more, they reluctantly nodded. It seemed it was considered rude to ask about someone's skills even in this world.

"Fine. It doesn't matter to me as long as you get the job done."

She turned toward the warden.

"Thank you for coming to check it."

"I'm just doing my job."

The two of us departed toward the warehouse again, where I loaded two more selnic items before teleporting closer to the store. They didn't ask me anything anymore after that and, less than thirty minutes later, I was done. The owner came to check that nothing was missing or broken and nodded approvingly.

"Good job. You did much better than I expected. Here."

She took two coins from her pocket and handed them to me. At least, she didn't try to cheat me any more than she already did. I inspected them, one with 5 on one side and a dome on the other. The second coin was larger, with a 10 on one side and a similar picture of a dome on the other.

"Thank you. Then, I'll get going now."

"Wait. Are you looking for more work?"

"I am."

She took a piece of paper and wrote something on it.

"Go to this water store and show this paper. They'll give you work."

That was quite unexpected. She only appeared as an unfriendly person at first but maybe she was impressed by my work. Of course, I couldn't read so I had to ask her for directions, which she gave me. I thanked and wished her a good day, going out of her place to head to the water store. When I was there, the piece of paper smoothed the whole recruitment process and I was quickly given a similar job, with slightly better pay too.

Just like that, I worked until it was time for shops to close. I was given many jobs in different businesses, mainly about transporting goods from one place to another. By the end of the day, I managed to earn 90 lods, which wasn't too shabby for a total foreigner in a different world. Of course, this was mostly due to teleporting all around the city and saving a lot of time.

I placed the money in my storage and teleported back "home", at Suuru's place. This stellar system's sun, which was one of the very few things that were still visible through the otherwise opaque dome, was slowly setting over the horizon.

I knocked on the house's door and Suuru almost immediately opened it. Her face shined as she recognized me. She scanned me from top to bottom, suddenly anxious. Finally, she let out a breath of relief and smiled.

"Welcome back, Tila. Come in. How was the city?"

"Hi Suuru. It was very interesting. Completely different from my dome. I learned a lot about dome 82."

"You didn't run into trouble?"

"Not at all. How about you? How was your day?"

"Well, you know. I just worked the whole day inside the house."

She showed me the pile of new metal items she created throughout the day.

"Wow. You did a lot. Good job!"

"T-thanks."

She grinned bashfully, a little awkward at my praise. Yet, it was obvious she was happy about it. It hadn't taken me long to understand what she liked. Being stuck working in her house all the time just to scrape by, far from the city, and meeting almost nobody most of the time, she was craving human contact, attention, and praise.

Now that the mood was good, it was time for me to start repaying her kindness.

"You must be tired. There's something I want to do for you."

"What is it?"

"Aren't your shoulders stiff since you're extending your arms forward the whole day?"

"Well, that's true. It's not that bad, though."

"Still, I want to give you a massage, to repay your kindness toward me even a little bit."

"Oh… A massage… You don't have to…"

"I insist. And it isn't just any other massage. It's a special one passed down in my family from mother to daughter for generations. It'll feel amazing."

"Haha, you're exaggerating."

"Not at all. Just wait and you'll see."

"Well, okay. I've never gotten a massage before. It's a bit exciting. What should I do?"

She was all smiles, clearly pleased by my initiative.

"You just need to leave your back to me."

She nodded and headed toward the chairs in front of the table in the living room. She sat on one of them, facing toward the backrest, and looked behind her to see what I would do. I placed myself behind her, ready for the task.

It was now time to repay my benefactor. My intentions were pure. Obviously.

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