The woman in the pub answered Sunders’ question, much to Sennefer’s surprise, “Rules? We do. Though it remains to be seen whether you are an honest customer.”
Her alluring voice caused Sunders to space out for a moment. But he recovered soon enough. He raised a hand, rubbed his thumb and index finger, and released a puff of glittering sand into the air, which was carried away by a sudden gust of wind.
The “shiny dust” was blown to a far cliff where people couldn’t see. There, a woman with a fine body curve appeared and caught Sunders’ “gift” in her hand.
“Nice quality. Taken from the Scorched Forest from level 6? Heh. He’s a brave one.”
She stepped to the edge of the cliff and scattered the sand below, into an endless ocean.
The calm water responded to her with calm tides.
Seeing this, the woman began humming her song with a gentle look. It was a song of endless remembrance.
“Here it comes again...” Madelyne frowned as the sound traveled to the graveyard. “She’s no longer in the pub?”
“Compared to that, I want to know what Mister Phantom meant. What’s with this ‘customer’ thing?” Vifet questioned with an inquisitive look.
“He came here on his own will. He’s looking for something,” Brofen added. “If he’s only here to rescue Angor, he could have done it from the outside.”
People were all busy wondering what this place meant to Sunders, so they weren’t paying attention to the woman’s song.
The skeleton army and the Grave Knights were her only audience, who quietly enjoyed her performance before they slowly returned to their resting places.
The entire graveyard returned to be a silent ground again when the song ended. There were only broken gravestones and random craters that signified an intense battle.
When there was only the reverberation of her voice echoing in the graveyard, she cast one last glance at the calm ocean and disappeared.
“The trade is on. Get inside,” she said from inside the pub house this time. The apathetic hostility in her voice was replaced by imperceptible sadness.
Sunders removed his hat and bowed slightly before entering through the entrance. The light barrier did not appear.
Sennefer hesitated and tried moving into the building as well, only to see the barrier coming back.
“Humph!” Furious, she returned to Dokibell.
“Trade?” Brofen questioned. “What trade? Is Mister Phantom buying stuff?”
“He paid with that dust, or whatever that is,” Sennefer commented. She was right behind Sunders when Sunders offered his “price”. “Just wait for him to come back out and we’ll know the answer.”
For now, they could see nothing other than the dim yellow light coming from the windows.
Sennefer tried to meditate and recover her mana, but the faint smell of good wine prevented her.
About ten minutes later, Sunders reappeared at the door, walked outside, and put on his top hat.
“Thank you for your kind hospitality.” Sunders bowed toward the door again.
People heard the sound of another set of footsteps approaching the entrance and quickly looked that way.
A pair of red, polished high-heels entered their view, followed by white, slim legs. Then a hand with silky skin and red fingernails slowly pushed the door open.
When people finally saw the woman for real, they realized that she didn’t look as breathtaking as they expected from her beautiful voice.
She had long, curly hair combed into perfect waves. A single beauty spot was right beside her slightly unbalanced lips. However, her common look did not give people the boring impression they should be feeling. Instead, they feel captivated.
Her strange charm was fully enchanted by the other details on her, such as her fine body, her unintended yet suggestive moves, and a long-handled smoking pipe that amplified her appeal of maturity.
It was a different kind of beauty.
“I once heard that Balalaika is more fascinating a being than the most seasoned succubus. I see it was not a lie,” Sunders spoke softly.
Balalaika smiled brightly. “I appreciate your commendation. However, note that I do not take beautiful words as payment. Should you come again, remember to bring what’s due.”
“Of course.”
“What are you two trading?” Sennefer suddenly chipped in. Telling from her hasty voice, she had yet to get rid of her frustration.
Sunders looked at Sennefer but did not answer.
Balalaika inhaled from her pipe and released a cloud of white smoke in front of her. “We have rules, if you don’t know already. We don’t share the privacy of our customers to those not involved in our agreement. Of course, you may choose to become another customer and buy the information you need, in which case I’ll not refuse.”
“So you’re trading information?” Sennefer insisted. “What do I need to pay you?”
“Sand of Resurrection.”
Sennefer frowned. She never heard of such a thing before.
“If you don’t have it, let me see if you have something else of interest.” Balalaika seemed more friendly to the team, probably because she just spent some time with a human.
“Such as?”
Instead of answering, Balalaika scanned everyone as her eyes glowed, which allowed her to look at every single object the team was carrying, including those protected by personal storage containers.
“What have you done??” Sennefer didn’t look pleased.
“Pfft. You want to know what I’m interested in, no? I saw... two particular items on you. Too bad they don’t belong to you, telling from the magic marks.”
Sennefer widened her eyes because what Balalaika said was true. She carried two items entrusted by Mister Monkey, and this was supposed to be a secret.
Disappointed, Balalaika looked away, only to get attracted by another individual behind Sennefer—Angor.
She raised a hand and pointed Angor’s way. “You. You have something fun. Do you want to trade with me?”
Angor instantly became the center of everyone’s attention.
Sunders was the one who looked surprised now. “This boy has something you need?”
“Correct. More than one, actually.”
How come? Sennefer was also astonished now. It’s natural that Mister Monkey’s possessions are of great value. So is Angor holding something equally important??!
“May I know what you’re referring too?” asked Sunders, not so friendly this time.
“Of course. His hand... I mean, the right one.”
People all gazed at Angor’s right hand and carefully checked. When they fully focused, they managed to see through the illusion and find out that this hand was slightly larger than the other one. They also saw the green symbols floating around it.
They had no idea what all these meant. But since Balalaika said that it was worth noticing, then the strange sight must be holding a great mystery.
Sennefer just remembered that Brofen once attempted to look into Angor’s hand but failed to do so.
Brofen, on the other hand, was greatly frustrated that he would never find a chance to check Angor as long as Sunders was here.
Sunders took a closer look at Angor and saw Angor’s entire right wrist tainted by nightmare energy. Whatever had gotten into Angor’s body grew worse, since the last time they were together.
“Angor ran into the blond stranger again? Is that why he must talk to me at the time like this?” Sunders mumbled.
Balalaika suddenly spoke again, “Other than his interesting hand, there’s something around his chest...”