Chapter 42: Su Xiao VS Kaiser
"Oh, an old acquaintance."
The golden-haired mature woman who had met before spoke up. Beside her was the young man who had purchased the 'Minotaur Lord Arm Guard.' His code name in the Paradise was Iron Pillar, given by his sister in hopes he would survive the brutal Reincarnation Paradise.
Iron Pillar looked at Su Xiao with a somewhat 'resentful' gaze, the reason being that he was wrapped in even more bandages now, looking like a mummy.
"Gu Xiaosheng, looks like your plan wasn't so great. You didn't block a single one you were supposed to."
The golden-haired woman chuckled lightly, her eyes slanting toward a young man leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette. That was Gu Xiaosheng, the leader of the Blood Wolf Adventure Group.
Gu Xiaosheng also glanced at the golden-haired woman and snorted coldly. He knew she was trying to stir up enemies for him.
"I'm not like some people who play the saint while acting like a whore. If circumstances weren't forcing my hand, I'd settle the score for Thunderbird right now, Nasha."
So the golden-haired woman's name was Nasha, and she had old grudges with the Blood Wolf Adventure Group.
"Both of you, calm down. Let's keep the peace and make money."
A middle-aged fat man smiled as he tried to mediate. He was also the leader of an adventure group.
"I don't care about your personal grudges, but in this world, if anyone starts infighting, I'll be the first to take them out."
A thin, frail-looking mage spoke. Despite his slender build, his aura was extremely strong, and the fire element around him was densely packed to a terrifying degree.
Seeing this mage, Su Xiao remembered who he was. He was the one who had formed a giant middle finger out of fire elements at the 'Star Transit Station.'
With the fire mage speaking, Nasha and Gu Xiaosheng both fell silent, seemingly very wary of him. And they had reason to be—the fire mage was the leader of a large adventure group. Though it wasn't on the scale of Blood Gate or Divine Emperor, it still had a considerable number of members. Moreover, the fire mage was very powerful, possessing three dark purple mage set pieces, ranking him among the top few in the second tier.
The four leaders were all waiting—waiting for the Merit Store to open. The cleanup forces had already returned to Black Soil Fortress, meaning the faction store's opening was imminent.
The group stood before a wooden door, from which occasional sounds and strange smells emanated.
A beautiful woman in an OL outfit with black-rimmed glasses walked up to the wooden door. She perfectly embodied the concept of 'seductive office wear.' After tidying her appearance slightly, she spoke. She was a subordinate of the fire mage, a charm-specialized contractor.
"Mr. Kaiser? Do you have time now?"
The OL woman's voice was syrupy sweet. Hearing it, young Iron Pillar felt his heart itch and his throat go dry. However, our stingy, cunning, greedy, and treacherous brother Kaiser wasn't swayed by female charms.
"No time. Wait."
The voice of Nicholas Kaiser came from inside the door, his tone very impatient.
"Then I apologize for disturbing you."
The smile on the OL woman's face faltered slightly. She shook her head at the fire mage, indicating that charm attributes were useless against Nicholas Kaiser.
"Then we wait."
The fire mage said helplessly. He had dealt with Nicholas Kaiser before, and the guy was utterly impervious to persuasion. He had bribed Kaiser with a blue-quality item, but it was useless. Kaiser was enthusiastic for three seconds, then conveniently forgot about the blue item he'd pocketed, acting as if he barely knew the fire mage.
The fire mage wasn't the only one who had suffered losses at Kaiser's hands. The other leaders had also been taken advantage of to varying degrees.
Su Xiao stepped forward and stood before the wooden door.
"Little handsome, it's useless. Just wait with us."
The OL woman sized Su Xiao up. Her intuition told her he wasn't a charm-specialized contractor; in fact, his charm attribute was probably low.
Su Xiao ignored the OL woman. He clenched his right fist.
Thump, thump, thump.
Su Xiao pounded a few times on the door as a form of knocking. The entire wooden door was dented inward from his blows. Seeing this, the several leaders were stunned. Their first thought was, 'Where did this reckless fool come from, and he's about to be in trouble.'
"Who is it! My poor door! Which chaotic..."
Kaiser's shrill voice came from inside. From the sound of it, the stingy Mr. Kaiser was furious—this was damage to his personal property.
"It's me."
Hearing Su Xiao's voice, Kaiser inside paused, then opened the door.
"My dear friend! When did you arrive? Have you been waiting long? Come in, come in, sit down."
Kaiser wedged the now-deformed door open, his green face full of a smarmy grin.
Su Xiao entered the room, and the dozen or so contractors outside couldn't sit still.
Bang!
The door slammed shut, the door panel nearly smacking the fire mage on the nose.
"What the hell..."
The fire mage was at a loss for words to express his current feelings. The several leaders locked outside stared at each other wide-eyed.
"What do we do? Is the Sacred Oak Branch gone?"
"Not necessarily. The one who went in is probably a lone wolf. Getting 16,000 merit points alone is just too exaggerated."
"16,000 points? I thought it was 10,000?"
"Who said that? It's definitely 16,000."
The dozen or so contractors buzzed with discussion.
"It should be fine. Reincarnation Paradise hasn't prompted the Merit Store to open yet. Even if that guy can get into the room, he can't exchange for the Sacred Oak Branch early."
The fire mage was a bit nervous. His strength was indeed formidable, but in this world, he couldn't be hostile toward allied contractors. The consequences of hostility were severe, so he could only obtain the [Sacred Oak Branch] through legitimate means.
Thinking of this, the fire mage felt stifled. He was using legitimate means, sure, but that guy who went into the room had clearly taken the back door.
Inside the room, Su Xiao surveyed the situation. Kaiser's room was very large, conservatively estimated at over 400 square meters. There was a large workbench, several neatly arranged material racks, and supplies piled up in various corners.
Bedroom, dining area, and other facilities were all available. Perhaps even the room of Legion Commander Carlos wouldn't be of this standard.
"Make yourself at home."
Kaiser said this, but in reality, he tossed his coat onto the large leather sofa and dragged over a broken wooden chair.
Su Xiao wasn't dealing with Kaiser for the first time. He threw the coat from the leather sofa onto the wooden chair and settled comfortably into the sofa.
Though it looked like a sofa, it was actually a large wooden chair wrapped in several layers of animal hide, very comfortable to sit on.
"My dear friend, Kaiser has missed you so much."
[Prompt: Quartermaster Nicholas Kaiser's Favorability -5. Current Favorability: 90 points.]
Su Xiao ignored this prompt. Kaiser's favorability was useless. This guy wouldn't lift a finger without seeing profit. Relying on favorability to get benefits from Kaiser was harder than stopping Bubu Wang from wrecking the house.
"Mm. I've 'missed' you too."
For some reason, after saying this, Su Xiao felt a pang of guilt in his conscience.
"Have you come to teach me alchemy? You have, right? You must have. Yes, where should I start..."
Kaiser's 'question' to 'rhetorical question' to 'affirmation' to 'confirmation' was seamless, as if Su Xiao had come specifically to teach him alchemy.
If it were a contractor dealing with Kaiser for the first time, they might be stumped by this 'four-hit combo' and, to preserve favorability, teach Kaiser alchemy knowledge.
"Nice idea. But no."
Su Xiao's attitude was firm.
[Prompt: Quartermaster Nicholas Kaiser's Favorability -20. Current Favorability: 70 points.]
Routine favorability loss. Su Xiao felt it was like a gentle breeze—his heart was utterly calm, and he even felt like lighting a cigarette.
Kaiser's face cycled through green and red. He clearly realized that Su Xiao was even harder to deal with now.
"My dear friend, you've worked hard fighting on the battlefield. Kaiser deeply admires warriors like you. Wait for me a moment."
Kaiser headed toward the kitchen. Su Xiao's expression stiffened, sensing something was wrong.