Hundreds of eyes immediately turned towards them. Hearing millions would have attracted anyone's attention.
Most of them immediately turned their heads away, disinterested. Millions? They must be talking about gold coins, which was impressive for normal people, but tame in the context of New Sparta where everyone was in the top 1% of the world. The fact that they were talking about Sand Dollars didn't even cross their minds. Any other denomination would have come up first. The number of sand particles in a handful, the number of fishes in a lake, etc. But definitely not Sand Dollars.
"Venerable Keo… are you telling the truth?" Jasper muttered.
"Yes. I am serious. That's the reason why I came here in the first place. Jot'un you bragged about selling as many GodForge pieces as you can. Now's your chance to prove it."
Both Jot'un and Jasper knew that the Thunderfoot company was the only company capable of selling large amounts of GodForge pieces. But 7 million? Even they didn't think they could sell that much in one single transaction.
To prove his intention, Michael summoned his shadow in front of their feets, before a treasure chest emerged from the tenebrous darkness.
The chest opened with a click, showcasing an almost overflowing mound of Sand Dollars inside.
Both of them were blinded by the sight.
Jasper immediately slammed the chest shut before any other customer saw such a sight. Now, people here usually weren't prone to violence, but the tantalizing sight of millions of Sand Dollars would definitely motivate some people to act nefariously. He didn't want to burden that on Keo, who had now proven his worth to be a VIP customer.
"I have verified your wherewithal," Jasper said, trying his best to stay calm.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU HAVE THAT—"
Jasper covered the guy's mouth, causing his words to come out muffled.
"...that's too much!... does being a historian really pay that much?!"
Michael didn't answer, giving no indication as to how he earned his money. On the other hand, Jasper acted with propriety, not asking any questions and simply doing what a butler should do. Serve.
"Venerable Keo, with that much money, you will be able to purchase 700 kilograms of GodForge pieces…. Ahem… I won't be able to carry that much by myself, so I hereby mandate you to enter into our warehouse."
Jasper opened the door behind him, guiding Michael and Jot'un inside. At least in there, nobody would be able to hear their conversation.
Michael was led inside what looked to be an underground giant, mining space. It didn't look like the temple at all, with dark granite stone surrounding them from all sides.
"Please follow me," Jasper said, walking forward with an oil lamp mysteriously in his hand.
With the butler walking on forward, Jot'un took this chance to drag Michael behind to ask him some questions.
"You didn't tell me you were rich! You're practically a conglomerate!"
Well, you're kinda right. "You also didn't tell me why you wanted me to lie to Jasper."
Jot'un pursed his lips, looking forward to seeing the butler already far off ahead of them.
"Truthfully, I wanted to talk to you alone. And this warehouse is the only place that is completely free from surveillance."
"From your enemies?"
"No, from my father. He doesn't want anyone outside of the family knowing about our circumstances."
Michael raised his eyebrows. Is he talking about the incident they were talking about earlier?
In the distance, they heard the sound of crackling as the lambent light of a giant fire from further down the tunnel lit the entire place a warm orange.
Jot'un walked forward, and Michael followed behind.
"Something was stolen from us this morning," Jot'un confessed. "I… can't tell you what it is, but it is vital to the continuation of our company. Without it, we would slowly degrade into obscurity."
They continued walking, coming closer to the end of the tunnel where Michael saw a bright light almost blinding his view.
"Who stole it?"
"We don't know. They moved like the shadows, disappearing out of our sights before we could even catch up. They struck us hard and fast, bypassing all of our security like it was nothing. They seemed to know all of our patterns and routines.
This was definitely planned months before this."
As Michael listened to Jot'un's explanation, he couldn't help but feel that it was very similar to a recent event.
The Elves. The Vandals. A sudden siege.
Could the Ersatz have attacked the Thunderfoot Company?
But why?
"Our family is currently doing everything they can to retrieve this object," Jot'un said, his doubt betrayed by his eyes.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Jot'un stopped just as they were about to exit the mining tunnel. Then, he looked at Jot'un.
"I've always been special. Perceptive, they called me. I always know when someone can solve a problem that is afflicting me. It's weird. Some kind of prescient ability, the priest said. It's like I could see how much a person would be able to affect the future, like a storm brewing in the skies.
And when I saw you enter into the Soiree, I saw something I have never seen before.
A super typhoon. A calamity. I've never seen anything like it. From then on, I knew that there was something special with you. I just didn't know it.
And it wasn't until this morning that I realized why my ability showed me that vision. I need your help. I think that you're the only person that can help our family retrieve that object."
Michael stared at Jot'un, completely shocked at the man's revelation.
He immediately looked at Jot'un's identity screen again.
[Jot'un]
[Realm: 6th stage Body Formation realm]
[Aubility Power: Perceptive Eye]
[This Aubility Power allows its user to sense the future effects of someone's power.]
When Michael first saw Jot'un's ability, he thought it only allowed him to see attacks ahead of time. But as it turned out, it also worked as some kind of prophetic vision!