"Sure, I won't entrust my life just to anyone."
"I agree," William ignored the hidden remark she sent to him through her comment, "by the way, what spirit and spirit element do you have? What's your spirit power grade? And those guards, how strong are they?"
"Don't take me as a weakling," she returned to her playful attitude again, "I may look like a spoiled girl, but I'm not! I kept training and honing my techniques, reaching the late stage of gold grade. I only need a few more months to reach the dark gold grade. As for my guards, they are all at the mid, top, and pinnacle stages of that grade."
"Cool," William wouldn't say no to such a help, "I believe this won't come for free, right?"
"Well, the issue of the portals won't cost you anything. After all I'll keep them in my possession, help you in that quest of yours, before collecting them back. However…"
William knew there was a catch. A merchant had greed running down their veins since they were born. And she wasn't just a simple merchant after all.
"How much will it cost me?" William rolled his eyes for the zillion times, asking the same question he kept repeating in the past minutes.
"Well… I'll bring one hundred of my entrusted guards with me… Don't give me that look, I'm all but a weak and powerless girl."
"..."
William didn't speak again, just kept glaring at her.
"Fine! I'll need half of what you gained today from me."
"No way! That's enough for me to buy a few portals on my own!"
"Then pay one billion crystals and it's done," she paused, raising a hand to stop him from arguing again, "I will bring one thousand, not a hundred. And their fees, war supplies, and anything they need is on me."
"What's their power grade then?" William didn't hurry to agree. Who knew what this crazy girl would bring with her to fill in the missed quota that she expanded just now.
"Like I said, all are dark gold grade. I just cleared that point already… Don't look at me like this, I'm not a tycoon, not like you for example."
"I'm not like you, not even half close!"
"That's a lie, I can tell, hahahaha!"
"No, it's the truth! The harsh and naked truth."
"Naked, what a word that I love, hahahaha!" she returned to fool again with him. And William stood abruptly up when he knew there was no stopping to her playful behaviour.
He intended to assess her spirit using his unique way. But seeing her like this made him drop such an idea. He was interested in knowing what kind of spirit would differentiate between truth and lies.
He never heard of such a thing, except for the legendary spirits which were related to fate and cosmos. If she was like that old man he met before, he'd start growing interest in her. But like that old man, she was hard to recruit.
Any sane person wouldn't accept leaving such wealth, fame, and power behind, go outside to venture the world and fight deadly and bloody battles and wars.
But at least he could satisfy his curiosity. And right now he decided to postpone doing such a thing.
"We'll meet in two days at the northern gate of the city. Bring twenty portals of silver grade at least, with one gold grade portal as well. Make sure that five of these portals are half installed and connected to here just in case."
"This…" her face changed when he spoke about the number he had in mind. And that wasn't all.
"Prepare everything before leaving. If we fail, then it's the end for us, all of us."
"I'm sure…"
"I'm just stating our odds," William interrupted her, acting like his true self for the first time ever since he came in here asking for her help, "and get used to this. I usually speak with my team in such a way all the time."
His words left her speechless for a few seconds, before she jolted awake when William already left.
He walked through the same path that took him here. And when she returned back to her senses, she shook her head powerlessly and sighed.
"What a hard man to tame! He didn't even say his goodbyes!" she muttered to herself. She then controlled the path he was walking through, to lead him outside. As she watched him walk away, a broad smile appeared on her face, "as if I'm buying that you don't have another way to deal with everything. Anyway, let's see how you'll keep avoiding me, hahahaha!"
She was excited about all this. In her eyes, this was all worth it. But in William's eyes, this was just a silly and shitty game that a spoiled rich girl wanted to play out of boredom.
"At least I got what I wanted," he shrugged when he got away from the reach of her senses, "time to go on shopping."
William didn't just intend to place all the balls inside these two bowls. From the start, he had a backup plan that he was going to prepare for right away.
It was just as Lara suspected, he got different solutions for the problems waiting for them in this adventure.
He walked around the city streets for half an hour, asking the people around for directions. He kept hearing the same topic repeated over and over again anywhere he went.
Everyone was too excited about the battle that he fought a few hours ago. Everyone spoke as if they attended the fight and watched it from the front seats or something.
He heard lots of debates about his origins, even to the extent of being related to a god bloodline or something as scary as gods. William wanted to laugh at some point when some even linked him with the ancient legend of the ones who established this world, the Sacred Seven families.
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