VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne-Chapter 118: What day is it?
Belladonna didn’t much remember her trek back to the city, or even when she cleaned the blood off of her hands after they healed. It was all a blur of rage, pain, bloodied fists and a thousand other ruinous emotions. It didn’t help that her mind was still a mess from the memories forced into it,or the fact that her journey had ended up pointless.
She hadn’t collected any sort of proof for the hunting quest. If she had been in a clear frame of mind, she would have chopped off a part of that creeps undead, or simply taken the maul as proof.
Hell she could have picked up anything on the ground as proof and claimed that was the Phagan she was sent there to kill. But she had been too rage filled to think about such things and now she was empty handed.
At the very least, she had one mission complete. Her other side quest to collect mushrooms. She had been intending to just do it while she was in the area, but it had been completed by the group that tried to kill her and since she had appropriated their belongings, she had completed it too.
It was a terrible reward but... it was something, and right now she felt like she could do with any kind of victory.
Plus she had her Orchids for Beans, even if they felt utterly tainted by their source. So what was something. It wasn’t many though, and like hell was she going back to that ass for more.
Before she knew it, she was back in the city, wandering through the Market district with a heavy and dark cloud hanging over her head, when she noticed a particular scruffy looking young man with a ratty blanket sitting in front of him displaying his wares.
For some reason, at the sight of Midas, Belladonna was overrun with thoughts of anger, rage and expectations of betrayal. Well... It wasn’t for some reason. She knew the exact reason, and she knew that projecting her feelings about the creep onto Midas wasn’t fair to him, nor was it healthy in the slightest.
But her mindset was not the best at the moment and right now she didn’t care about what was right. Just what felt good.
However, as she stormed over and before she could start chewing him out for lying to her about her money, Midas noticed her and broke out into a wide smile.
"Ah, my wonderful investor! Do I have a gift for you my friend, I told you that I would get you the best price around."
He reached into his bag, pulling out a small, neatly wrapped bundle like one would wrap meat and tossed it to her. Catching it on reflex, the jingle of the package gave Belladonna’s messy emotional storm a slight pause.
She quickly unwrapped it, being met with the glimmering shine of twenty or so coins. The golden coins were obviously Regil, but there was an odd one out. A purplish, square metal plate just as large as the other coins.
Belladonna’s rage faded, replaced by confusion and relief. But even her confusion didn’t have time to settle before Midas began to explain.
"I know, I know. It doesn’t look like much. But believe me, it is. That right there, is a Nux, it’s worth 100 Regil. Although even that is on the cheaper side for some of the nobles. After some negotiation, and my fee of course, those Antlers got you 124 Regil. Not a bad price, if I do say so myself."
Belladonna’s eyes watered slightly as she stared at the coins in her hand before quickly wrapping them up and clutching them against her chest, as if she was afraid someone would snatch them from her hand.
"I- I don’t understand... You said it would be ready tomorrow."
"Uh yeah..." Midas said with a laugh, "It is tomorrow. Girl... You haven’t been up all night, have you? That’s really not good for your mental health."
Belladonna paused for a moment, thinking back to everything that had happened since she had spoke with Midas. She had gotten food, covered the entire shift and then... went right back into the game and got lost in doing her activities.
Oh god... It really was the next day... Maybe drinking so much of that energy drink and living two lives was not a good idea. She had too much energy and couldn’t even keep track of the time that was passing.
Her eyes drifted down to Midas’ wares as he was lecturing her on the benefits of a good nights sleep, when Belladonna suddenly interrupted him with a slight tremor in her voice.
"Is that... Lord’s Orchid?"
"Hmm?" Midas muttered, glancing down at the item that had caught her attention. He had a variety of herbs sitting on his blanket, as his wares had expanded since her last visit, but he found her staring at a particular herb that he had to admit did look like an Orchid.
"Oh, is that what they are called? I didn’t really get their names, but I’ll make a note of that for later."
"How many do you have?" Belladonna quickly asked, whipping her head up to Midas.
"Oh I uh... A few dozen. I met someone who really liked picking flowers but filled their inventory with them. They actually gave me lots of different plants and I have no idea what half of them are call- Oof!" Midas’ sentence was cut off as Belladonna suddenly tackled him as she pulled the skinny, scraggly boy into a tight hug.
One that was surprisingly wetter than he expected, as tears were streaming down Belladonna’s cheeks for reasons he could not come close to understanding. Nor could he ask for those reasons, as he was currently being crushed by that same hug.
He had to weakly tap at her arm to get her to release him.
"Is everything okay?" He asked softly.
"Yes, everything is fine now." Belladonna replied with an embarrassed chuckle, quickly wiping away the humiliating tears before smiling brightly.
"I guess I just needed a reminder that not everyone is as bad as some others. Thank you again for helping me with the money. Now, could I please buy some of these Orchids, and I hope you can get some more in stock in the future."
Midas laughed, performing an exaggerated bow like he was a noble prince asking her to dance,
"Of course, anything for my best customer. I will always appreciate your business."
