Chapter 126 – Not Any Better
Selva eventually understood the situation and her face morphed into one of anger.
“No. You can’t refuse.”
“Why not?”
She raised her fist menacingly.
“Because I’m rank 2 and you’re rank 0.”
And here I thought she was being a bit too docile. This is what happened the moment Wico was out of sight.
“You’re revealing your true colors.”
She moved one step closer.
“So what?”
“Are you going to beat a kind and innocent rank 0 non-combatant?”
She took one more step towards me, leaving her dangerously close now.
“Sure will.”
Nothing seemed to matter much to her now that anger blinded her.
“Do you know you’re acting exactly like the women of this country that you despise?”
“It’s completely different. This is all for your own good.”
“Ha! So, why are you interested in me? And what do you mean by “being yours”?”
This made her stop and she released the tension from her fist.
“You should have asked first. It’s nothing complicated. I’m the future strongest in the world and you’re a future great merchant. Nothing can stop us if we cooperate. You’ll earn money and I’ll protect you.”
“You want us to work together? How’s that related to you owning me?”
“I’ll always be stronger so of course I’ll be the boss. You’ll be part of my group so you’ll be mine.”
What a simple mindset. Strength was indeed important but it wasn’t everything. This trip was a good example of this. I acted as a rank 0 from start to finish but managed to deal with many people stronger than me. What about Sevla? In the same circumstances, she probably would have been robbed at best and killed in the worst case.
Plus, she was far from being “manager” material. It was nice and cool to call oneself the boss yet the reality is that the boss wasn’t a role of action but of people management. It was all about thinking globally, making decisions, and handing the correct tasks to the right people. No matter what, she was too immature for such a role now. Her concept of “group” also seemed to be quite vague.
“I see. I’ve got no plans to be part of someone else’s group so I refuse.”
This irritated her and her arm readied itself for action again.
“Are you sure?”
“What about this? Let’s play a game and the winner gets to do what he or she wants.”
“A game? No. Why would I?”
“Isn’t it unfair to go for physical force when you’re a sorceress two ranks above me?”
“That’s why you should listen to me.”
“Or what, do you want to be my boss but you’re afraid of losing a game against your much weaker subordinate?”
This made her stop and I could see her thinking hard. Before she could come up with something, I continued.
“Don’t worry, it’s a game that’s extremely advantageous to you.”
“…What game?”
“You close your eyes and count to ten. Meanwhile, I’ll go and hide somewhere in the woods. After ten seconds, you need to find me. If you can find me within one hour, you win. If you can’t, I win. Easy, right?”
She looked at me with surprise and suspicion.
“You get ten seconds to hide?”
“Yes.”
“And I have one whole hour to find you?”
“That’s right. What do you think?”
She pondered about it some more but finally nodded.
“Fine, I accept.”
“Great. Let’s talk about what happens in case each of us wins. If you win, I’ll become part of your group and we’ll work together. Correct?”
“Yes. And you must obey me.”
“Of course. If I win… Let’s see. Oh, I know. What about this? If I win, we’ll become sex friends.”
Her rage surged once again.
“I’m not sure what that is but I know it can’t be anything good.”
“You’re wrong, it’s very good. A sex friend, you see, is a friend you have sex with without any deep feelings. It’s a perfect relationship to mix good company and pleasure.”
Her face reddened in exasperation and she came so close that her horn was right in front of my forehead, ready to impale me in between the eyes.
“You and master only think about sex all the time. I said I’m not interested already.”
“Who said anything about being interested? This is what’s going to happen if you lose the game. Just like I don’t want to be part of your group.”
She bit her lips in annoyance.
“These are the terms. No need to act like you hate it that much anyway. We’re both young and healthy people. We have our needs. It’s not like I’m asking you to have sex with anyone either. It’s fine if it’s between good friends like us, right?”
She glared at me but didn’t respond.
“It’s up to you now. Are we doing this or not?”
“Or I could just beat you up.”
“Then, master will know about it. I’ll also withhold your salary for this escort job. And you’ll need to pay me back the one gold you already earned.”
This made her frown. After another moment of silence, she opened her mouth.
“…All right. You better keep your promise if I win.”
“My words exactly.”
We went back to the carriage and informed Wico of our game. She joked that our sexual escapade was starting to slow down the trip and asked if she should come to help but we avoided answering her. She had to stay there to guard the carriage and horses since many people were still traveling on the road.
I usually used one of the clocks produced in 82 when wanting to get the time since they were so much smaller and handy compared to what was made in Geola. Since I couldn’t show that here, I had no choice but to take out one of the large round hand clocks from the outer world, which were bulky and expansive, used only by wealthy people instead of the simpler hourglasses. I had bought a few since they made for very nice potential presents.
We returned to the woods and I showed her the time. I would keep the clock on me and we could check the time when she managed to find me. Or when I came out of my hiding place because the time ran out.
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