Chapter 260: Classes Of Elite (Post This Second) (1/2)
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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A/N
[1]: Yeah, the brackets in the Title are personal notes for a mistake in Draft listing. I'm keeping it. *thumbs up*.
[2]: So.. . yesterday, A Magical Journey was removed from Ao3 (Archive Of Our Own,) another fanfiction site I parallelly post the fic. Most probably it's because of the Patreón promotion, which is much milder than it's here on Webnovel. My mood got soured because of that yesterday, so I took a leave because I could no longer write for the day.. . and that's it, continue to read.
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Quinn, Helena, Alexia walked with Gair and Ixquic as they traversed the complicated maze that was Monolith.
”Fun fact about the bank,” said Gair, ”its first location was in a mountain, as literally in a mountain. Ixquic, tell them about it.”
Ixquic, who walked along with Helena and Alexia, who were behind Quinn and Gair, spoke about the history of the bank, ”The founder, two dwarves — Bromrag and Dhummak, they craved the mountain to create the bank's first headquarters, and because the entire place was a single structure made from rock-cutting, they named it Monolith.”
Gair half-chuckled, ”Technically, it was something in dwarven, but I, for my life, can't pronounce it, and so couldn't most of our clients, so they changed it to Monolith.”
”What happened to the place in the mountains?” asked Quinn.
”Landslide,” said Gair
”Damn, must be rocky.”
Gair laughed, ”Yes, it must have been rocky, good one.”
”So dwarves founded Monolith, huh. Then how did you become a part-owner?” asked Quinn.
”Well, I have been part of the bank for a long time, obviously one of its best people, and after working so long here and playing the right moves, the stars aligned, and they rewarded with me a minor ownership,” said Gair before sighing. ”Though I don't like the extra work they piled upon me. I swear they only gave me the swig of the blood so they could dump work on me.”
Which told Quinn nothing, but from his impression of the Vampire, he probably would have derailed a person or two's career (probably much more) to get to his position.
”Office politics,” said Quinn, ”must be tough.”
”You have no idea, kid.”
Quinn noticed that the corridors were slanting downwards slightly for a while now. He was sure they had long left the surface and were underground. Soon, the walls turned into dungeon-ish with rough rock walls, only the floor remained smooth and flat. Soon, they reached an elevator with a shutter-type door and walls and floors, which had tiny holes through which one could see.
A stocky-dwarf with fizzled hair and pointy beard sat outside, slumped into a chair with feet hanging forward. When he saw the group approach, he stood up.
”Arsek, how're you doing today?” asked Gair in German.
”Master Gair, rare to see you in the mines,” said the newly-identified Arsek replied in German but with a bulkish accent.
”You know how it is; it's good down to the mines and sniff all that gold behind the doors,” said Gair before taking out a key. ”I would like to use the elevator.”
Arsek eyed the key and then the group — mainly Quinn, Helena, and Alexia, who weren't part of Monolith. ”As you ask, Master Gair.” Arsek pulled the shutter open, inviting the group inside.
Inside, Arsek took out a ring hoop with dozens of keys and deftly detached a key from it. In front of him, beside the door, where yet again tens of keyholes without any indicators marking them. Arsek took the key and inserted it in one of the unmarked keyholes before looking at Gair, who inserted his key into the sole keyhole on his side of the door. With a nod to each other, they turned the keys, and an earthen yellow trail of magic cruised through the elevator's body.
The elevator began moving down with a tiny tremor before stopping and speeding right horizontally and then in several different directions on both vertical and horizontal axes.
”Arsek, tell our guests here a little something about the elevator.”
The dwarf looked at the three non-Monolithites and puffed his chest as he spoke, ”The elevator's special. To wake the baby,” he caressed the wall, ”you need two key — employee man one, and other from elevator man like me. Without two, the elevator not moving.”
He pointed at the unmarked keyholes. ”Employee man key go into one hole, but elevator man needs to choose right key and right hole to start the elevator,” he said with pride before growing somber. ”Only elevator maker knows how elevator move, and no one else, so only right key in right hole take people to the right place.”
After a while, the elevator opened, and the group exited the elevator with Arsek sitting on another chair placed outside the elevator.
”Don't think less of dwarves,” said Gair. ”They're highly intelligent, master of magical engineering and construction. But most of them prefer to stay with their own kind, and for that reason, they aren't well-versed in human languages. If you heard them in dwarven, you'd realize how smart they are.”
Quinn nodded in understanding, realizing why Arsek spoke in German. Basel was in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, after all.
”I never thought less of them,” said Quinn, recalling an experience from his travels with his grandfather. ”I remember talking to a dwarf who was proficient in English, and he was one of the most well-spoken and smart people I had encountered.”
”It's good that you understand,” said Gair; the Vampire had developed a soft spot of the dwarven-kind in a bank that had a large dwarf population. ”We have arrived at your new vault.”
Ixquic stepped forward, took out her wand, and with a cast, the door split into numerous cubes that crawled to the sides, leaving a passage open to the vault. A gust of wind came rushing from behind, entering the vault, leaving them with a cold shiver.
”Shall we,” said Gair and stepped inside.
”I'll be waiting here; please call for me if you desire my assistance,” said Helena.
Quinn nodded and entered the vault behind Gair. He felt a magic scan him as he stepped through the threshold.
”All yours,” said Gair, pointing at the empty vault.
Quinn observed the space, ”Hmm, this is going to be barely enough. Oh, well, I'm sure you guys will figure it out.” He set down this briefcase on the floor; the briefcase expanded to a larger size when Quinn flipped the top open. He looked at Gair, ”May I draw my wand?”
”Be my guest.”
Quinn drew his fake wand and said, ”Stand back.” He made a light swing before stepping back himself.
When nothing after a few breaths of time, Gair said, ”Is there something—”
With a threatening rumble that shook the briefcase, a geyser of glimmering gold coins came bursting out, spraying in whatever direction Quinn pointed his fake-wand to.
”Hmm, this reminds me of where I piss in the toilet bowl,” said Gair.
”Vampire can urinate?”
”Of course, we can. I, at my base, still have human-like physiology.”
”Is it true that Vampires can heal by drinking blood?”
Gair glanced at Quinn for a brief second before returning to the gold shower. ”Yes, we can. Every Vampire has the ability, but not all can do it.”
”What do you mean?”
”We feed on blood to sate the thirst for it. But the damned thirst never really subsides, so Vampires who can't control the thirst just end up drinking the blood without using it for healing. It's common in young ones who don't have the experience, but there are a few old ones who give in to the thirst and never control it — well, those guys are usually put down because of their drinking sprees.”
”Have you ever gone on one?”
Gair laughed in reply — a fake laugh that had been used so much that it had turned real.