By the time Kaizen and Klank managed to escort Yokoso and Rismar to Galilei University City, it was already morning.
The distance from the cave they were in to the city was considerable, but fortunately they had no setbacks along the way.
Their arrival in the city didn't mean that the mission was complete, but it didn't take more than fifteen minutes for them to arrive at the Center for Astronomical Studies. This meant that the agreement was fulfilled and the mission was successfully completed despite the damage.
Rismar Ferris gladly delivered the Reddish Meteorite Crystal to Klank, as well as the other rewards.
As Kaizen demanded, Yokoso gave more gold than usual to apologize for what he did. The butler handed over a bag of gold with 100 extra coins, however, the Psyker did not seem satisfied after seeing that amount of gold, so Yokoso had to give in and gave everything he would be entitled to as salary while working as a butler at the Astronomical Studies Center for the next few, which was almost 300 gold coins for everything.
After Kaizen said goodbye to the Ferris's and left the Center for Astronomical Studies, he practically hummed as he walked around from such happiness.
"Are you happy like that just because you got a lot of money?" Klank asked with a smile.
"Um... Of course you are. I got five hundred gold coins in a single side mission, that's more than I got than in story missions. Not to mention that you promised me a thousand gold too, don't forget."
"Yes, you are right. As soon as we get to a more discreet location, I'll make that transfer for you." Klank looked as pleased as Psyker, who was curious about this.
"Dude, is it really okay for you to keep only that weird rock as a reward for the mission? I said we could split the money half and half."
Klank shook his head negatively. "I'm fine with it. You practically carried me on this mission, there's no way I could ask for anything else. Besides, that crystal will help Bleeding Lily. That's a great reward for me too."
Kaizen smiled. "Good, then. I bet she'll appreciate that gesture if this item is something she's looking for so much.... That reminds me that I have unfinished business with her. Some time ago, she made me promise to help her defeat the Centaur Druid."
"Oh! Are you guys planning to fight the Druid Centaur again? Well, it's normal for Lily to want a rematch, but you too? Why would you be interested in that?"
"First, because I don't want to have your boss as an enemy. Second, there is an item drop from that monster that I have an interest in."
pAn,Da n<0,>v,e1 Klank wondered what kind of item the Psyker might want to get him in the mood to battle again against such a tough mythical creature as the Centaur Druid, but didn't risk asking.
After they walked around the city a bit, they found the store that sold what they were looking for: teleportation crystals.
As the name implies, teleportation crystals have the purpose of teleporting a user from one point to another. They are very useful for those who want to save a lot of travel time, but are proportionally expensive for the convenience.
There are two types of teleportation crystals in Rise Online: empty and specific ones.
Empty teleportation crystals can teleport their user wherever they wish to go, on the condition that the user has visited this place before. On the other hand, specific ones already have their travel locations set, which is great for those who wish to visit a place they have never been to.
In any case, both types are very expensive for most people, even the location-specific crystals, so their use is not very common among NPCs and players, not to mention that many hate to use this method of travel because it causes motion sickness.
Since Kaizen and Klank had no problem with this, they bought empty teleportation crystals. Both were in a hurry to return to the capital. Kaizen didn't want to leave his store alone for even a day, and Klank wanted to give the crystal to Bleeding Lily as soon as possible.
Before they parted, Klank made the money transfer to Kaizen, who thanked him, said goodbye to his colleague, and firmly held the teleportation crystal in his right hand. Then the Psyker uttered:
"Teleport Home."
Mentally, Kaizen hoped that this teleportation crystal was not like the one Jayaa had given him once.
A second later, Kaizen felt his whole body being pulled and stretched, like a piece of gum and when he opened his eyes again he was already in the lobby of his residence, where his weapons were on display and all his furniture.
"Ow!!! Ah, it's you, Kaizen... What a fright you gave me!" Og'tharoz uttered. He was standing behind a counter. "How did you do that? How did you suddenly appear here?"
Kaizen looked at the demon, raised his right hand and showed the teleportation crystal, which was now completely gray.
"What is it?" questioned Og'tharoz, interested, crossing the counter like a ghost.
The Psyker arched his eyebrows in surprise, for Og'tharoz was a demon, so it was strange that he didn't know what that crystal in his hand was.
"That's a teleportation crystal. You are old, aren't you? How can you not know what it is?"
Og'tharoz stared at the object closely with great curiosity and replied:
"A teleportation crystal...? How fascinating. That's probably something that was invented in the last hundred years, so I don't know about it."
"Gee, you've been in this house a long time, haven't you? I have always been curious as to why you are still here, can you tell me?" Kaizen thought it would be nice to maybe get a mission from a demon.
Og'tharoz flinched at the Psyker's question and looked away. "I'm waiting for... someone."
"Someone? Who?"
"A person who promised she would return to this house. A friend. As long as she doesn't come back, I will keep waiting."
Og'tharoz's devotion to this person made Kaizen ponder this a bit.
How devoted could someone be to a promise?
In the world of Rise Online, promises seemed to be things taken very seriously, and Og'tharoz's commitment was not the only example of this. Kaizen remembered that the dwarf Zahir had a very powerful sword in his store, which already had an owner who Zahir faithfully believed would one day return for the great weapon.
Even after logging out of Rise Online to get some rest from this long day, Klaus was still thinking about it.
'Promises... How lasting can they be?'
As a child, Klaus was a boy who took promises and oaths very seriously, just like any other child. That was a time when he was still very innocent and didn't even think about breaking the commitments he made himself.
Now he was no longer so naïve and surely knew that he could not keep everything he had once promised.
Even so, he remembered all the various promises he had already made to various people, such as saying he wouldn't be late for his next day's work so his boss at the construction site wouldn't fire him, or when he told his mother he was eating right during his work break when he really wasn't. It was undeniable that despite all this, he still believed that promises made with sincerity should be taken seriously.
Among the many empty promises Klaus had made in his life, one in particular was very special.
On the day he made this promise, Klaus was at the Gaming House together with his team. Soon the first of five matches would begin for them to qualify for the national championship. This would be his debut match as a professional player. All his teammates were already known players on the professional scene, so there were some expectations on them, but Klaus was just a child in this strange world.
Despite this, Klaus was not nervous about finally being considered a professional. He was very confident in his abilities and, in a way, was already used to playing among the professionals in the Myth2 Ranked matches. However, he knew that championship matches would be more complicated than usual, which is why he decided to venture into this environment in search of a challenge.
However, Klaus' only real fear was disappointing his older brother and his parents, who were present at GH to support him in this first step of his career.
Rhyzer Park was a born observer and knew his brother well enough to know when Klaus was well and when he was not.
While waiting for the start of the match, Klaus paced back and forth across the room, while also persisting in pulling the contents of his juice carton through the straw until there was not a drop left in the carton.
Rhyzer approached his younger brother and said:
"Klaus, I want you to promise me something, okay?"
The 12-year-old was confused, "What?"
"I want you to promise me that this match will not be the last of your career. Good or bad, don't give up yet. Promise me that you will always play to make your opponents fear you and your teammates respect you. If you can promise all this to me, I promise that I will tell you the secret to becoming as handsome as me when you grow up."
Klaus stared at his brother and laughed. "Handsome like you? Thanks, but I don't want to... You have very short hair."
"Eh? You think so?" Rhyzer ran his hand over his head. "So, in exchange for you promising all this to me, I promise I'll let my hair grow."
"That's a bit of an unfair exchange, don't you think?" Klaus asked.
"Come on, just promise." Rhyzer said and gave Kaizen a nip on the forehead.
"Ouch! Okay, I promise I will crush all my opponents and make my companions respect me!"
"That's it!"
Kaizen smiled as Rhyzer messed up his hair. "Hehe!"
After that, Klaus was more relaxed and was able to focus on what he had to do. In the following matches, he kept in mind the promise he made to Rhyzer and gave it his all until he became world champion. On the other side, Rhyzer never cut a hair again.
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
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