Chapter 1252 (1/2)

Making minute adjustments to his disguise, Randidly hurried to the Western portion of Kharon. While the Southern fourth was industrial and the East was heavily populated, the West was where most of Kharon’s undeveloped land was located. Or rather than referring to the area as undeveloped, it was fair to say that Tatiana had transformed this area into a mixture of parks and agricultural land.

As Randidly walked briskly along the path that meandered into the West, in order to pass himself off as an average individual, he looked with genuine cheer at the areas filled with children and teenagers playing sports next to placid lakes. On his other side, wide aisles of colorful flowers released attractive scents that filled the air.

Honest, it was quite idyllic. Some of Randidly’s hesitation about whether his presence on Kharon was a good thing eased as he fondly watched the yelling and romping of the children. Then, like all others, Randidly froze briefly as a System announcement appeared in front of him.

However, unlike most others, Randidly was probably the first one to chuckle.

Congratulations! The Danger Zone “The Sulfurous Caves” has been cleared! The clearer has chosen to provide New Earth with an experience boost for everyone!

Congratulations! The world-wide boost has been chosen four times. Clear one more Danger Zone to obtain a special benefit from the System!

Immediately after the notification appeared, Randidly received the private message he had been expecting from Naffur.

It’s finished.

While the rest of the teenagers in the park next to Randidly ceased their game of soccer and began to talk excitedly, he continued to stroll forward. You work fast. It’s only been three days since you left Kharon.

There was a short period of silence, and then Naffur responded. ...it was easier than expected. Even I am surprised how much the Order Ducis has grown with the help of Heiffal in his people. But I wanted to know if you had any thoughts on what we should do next.

Randidly shook his head and then belatedly realized Naffur couldn’t see. No. Feel free to pick your own mission.

Another pause. I’m worried about the inaugural football game.

Scratching the back of his neck, Randidly felt profoundly tired. But after thinking about it, he responded rather noncommittally. I’ve given the Order Ducis’ official response. We will never be security guards. But the decisions over what we do are yours to make. I trust Neveah’s faith in you.

To that, as Randidly had expected, Naffur didn’t reply. Which was good, because Randidly had passed through the heavy flower fields and arrived at several boutique flower shops. Narrowing his eyes, Randidly scanned through their names until he located the one which had produced the Ghosthound scent. The building was painted green, but otherwise, it was extremely similar to the other businesses in the area.

Randidly walked toward the door and checked himself. Before he had come over, he had gone to a barber and shorn his hair quite short. Without his hair, his cheekbones and nose created extremely stark lines across his face. In addition to that, Randidly had bought a rather luxurious sable robe with gold trim that he now wore. Rather than his usual spartan dress, Randidly was confident that he was practically unrecognizable. Especially after hearing from Antonio that most of the people of Chicago were suspicious of him precisely because he was known to wear rather well-used clothes.

And well-used is probably editing on the part of Antonio for my benefit… Randidly thought wryly. But he didn’t really mind. Despite how soft and comfortable his current robe was, he would be quite content to return to his usual clothes after this disguise. Well, perhaps he really should obtain a new outfit of training leathers…

With a delicate touch, Randidly pushed open the door to the soap shop. A tinkling bell revealed his entrance, but Randidly didn’t bat an eyelash. He walked confidently into the shop and spoke in what he believed to be a sophisticated tone. “Shopkeeper? I am here for business.”

A balding man hurried out of a backroom, rubbing some dyes off of his hands as he moved to greet his customer. When he saw Randidly, he stopped briefly and scanned him from his head to toe. Then a wry smile came across the man’s face. “Ah, Mr. Ghosthound. What an honor, to have you grace my shop.”

Sighing, Randidly shifted his weight and put both of his hands on his hips. With his extremely luxurious robe, the motion made him seem positively regal. “How did you know it was me?”

“Mr. Ghosthound, your bare feet are a dead give away.” The balding man flashed a smile toward Randidly. He rubbed his greasy hands on his wide leather apron to rid himself of the remaining dyes. “I’m afraid that unless you are willing to put on shoes, there just isn’t a chance of you tricking anyone into making you pay for something.”

Randidly’s face fell further. So he even knows I’m here to actually pay...

“Why am I the bad guy for trying to pay for something,” Randidly muttered sourly, but he didn’t really push the issue. The man smiled and gestured to several wooden crates sitting up against the wall of the storefront. Then the man turned away and walked back into the room he had left without trying to help Randidly shop.

Nodding as a dawning realization hit him, Randidly moved over to the crates and tore off the nailed lid of the top crate. As he looked down at the bright oranges, yellows, and lime greens, Randidly took a tentative sniff.

“Smells good, right?” The balding man called out from the door into the back area of the store. Randidly waved his hand and the man willingly retreated, content to have the little bit of conversation with Randidly that he just had. Sighing, Randidly could only shake his head as the man left him alone.

Randidly reached into the crate and pulled up one of the brightly colored bars. He breathed deeply through his nose; almost immediately his eyebrows shot upward. Tatiana wasn’t kidding. These bars of soap deserved to be selling as quickly as they were; the scents were good. The one Randidly had grabbed smelled like sea salt and lavender. Probably not the scent that Randidly would use for himself, but still pleasant.

It actually didn’t take long for Randidly to find the soap in question. After pushing the rainbow assortment of soaps to the side, one stood out. Rather than being eye-catching, it was honestly rather sedated. The bar in question was a steel grey color with a large ‘G’ impressed onto the front. Although Randidly’s mood had been relatively sour when he had heard that someone had made soap based on him, his mood lightened quite a bit when he realized that he didn’t mind the design nearly as much as the other examples he had seen.

Still, the fact there was a soap based on him was a bit...

Although what am I really going to do, tell the maker I’m not going to let him sell it? Randidly thought rather sardonically as he flipped one of the heavy bars in his hand. He raised the bar to his face and scratched his fingernail across the surface. The scent floated upward.

Although he didn’t like to admit it, Randidly actually quite liked the Ghosthound scent. It was woodsmoke and steel, teakwood with a little bit of cinnamon. Quite mollified, Randidly pulled the bar back away from his face and considered it. Then he shook his head. “Probably a bit dumb to run out here just because someone named a soap after me…”

Randidly opened the other two crates. Although the first one only contained a few stacks of bars of the Ghosthound scent, the second and third boxes were completely full of the stuff. Each box contained two hundred carefully prepared bars of soap, so all in all, that meant that there might be four hundred and fifty people would be rubbing the bar of his scent on their naked body in short order…

Randidly pinched the bridge on his nose with the cool, metal fingers of his left hand. “Being famous is definitely not worth it.”