Chapter 43: A Valuable lesson (1)
Mister Barum has hurriedly bolted as if a dog was chasing after him, leaving the two boys stranded on a desolate road. Standing beside each other, they gazed into each other eyes and cracked up in a fit of laughter for some reason.
Whittaker said, "Maybe the milk shop is about to close, and he needs to buy milk for his baby?"
Shadow replied, "That might be it."
Winter Smog covered their vision by a certain amount, but they could see the towering Adventure Association building. Taking the stable grassy pathway decorated with lit lanterns on each side, the two boys took off towards the Adventure Association building to return to the Frost Fall Academy.
It was cold and all, but because of mana and battle energy, they barely bore the frontal assault of the chill. Such was the mystic nature of magical energies.
A few minutes later, they entered the building under the "Welcome" exclamation made by the GRS spirit Doro. Inside, it was far cozier than outside. Seems like a lot of magical spells have been used to control the temperature and make it suitable for human-liking.
"It will be better to hand in our quest here, before we return to the Frost Fall Academy. The transaction time in the Adventure Association building is faster than our Academy Quest Hall." Shadow said.
The second floor of every Adventure Association building is generally used as the transaction area. The rewards for completing the quests are also handed out in the transaction area by the staff.
"Okay!" Whittaker answered back with a beaming smile while thinking 'Finally, I am going to get my platinum.' His mind was only filled with the thoughts of swimming in gold.
Shadow took Whittaker to the second floor of the Adventure Association building. Whittaker saw that there were many service counters on this floor. All of the counters were empty. It was a snowy day, not many like to hunt when it's cold, with peoples returning to their homes to nuzzle in the warm embrace of their bed or the soft body of their wife, most of the staff had also taken an early leave.
All the counter were empty except for one, it was located at the end of the line. Shadow and Whittaker started to walk up to the counter located at the end of the line.
With sadness enriching her heart, silently, Abigail cried. She was just a commoner with a sick mother to take care of and two children to feed. Because of her beautiful face, intelligence, and diligent nature, she passed the interview and managed to successfully become a full-timer in the financial department of the adventure association, last month, but the good news came with a bad one, her mother illness has spread and the situation has taken a turn for the worse. If her mother doesn't get treatment within a month she will be paralyzed for life or might even die.
Her mother needed urgent treatment under the hand of multiple healers, but the healers demanded an extravagant price to heal her mother, Abigail still needed some more platinum bars before she could afford the price to treat her mother, even though she had sold all her precious items.
Her wet eyes dropped low as she remembered that no one was willing to give her such a huge sum, except her colleague, who was willing to pay her 2 Platinum, if she becomes his plaything for a week!
'My dignity or my mother's life, which one is more important?' She thought.
Her fist clenched so tight that the nails slightly cut into the skin. She huffed and huffed, 'It's only a week!'
In the end, she decided to sacrifice herself so that her mother could live to see more beautiful days.
Right then, she heard the sounds of footsteps coming closer to her location. 'Who could it be at this time?' She dabbed the tears away from her face and eyes and turned around to take a look.
She saw two cute little boys coming towards her. The snowy-haired boy waved his hand towards her,
"Welcome customers, how can I help you?" Abigail said, displaying a professional level work ethic by beaming a wide smile to the customers.
The pain she was feeling a moment ago was hidden beneath that forced smile that she had put on to not disturb others.
Abigail was really beautiful. With her Silver, shoulder-length hair and her fantastic face whose beauty was enhanced by her shining blue eyes, set deep within almond-sized sockets, she looked stunning and kind.
The moment she smiled, Whittaker felt like he had seen an angel.
"Miss, we are here to turn in the quest!" Whittaker said, he pulled his mana com and handed it over to the counter Lady.
He knew how the transaction system work as Shadow had told him about it.
Abigail, the counter lady took his mana com and placed it on an empty crystal screen that was as blue as an ocean.