Chapter 1677 (1/2)

It was something of a relief for Randidly to head into the back of the restaurant and use his Philosopher’s Key to teleport away from the awe-struck stares of the individuals both inside and outside the restaurant.

The people had been extremely polite. But each individual insisted on walking up to Randidly and shaking his hand, telling him briefly about how they had come to live in Kharon. Their stories were diverse: some were refugees from fallen Bubble Cities, others were specialists in metalworking who had come for employment, while others had been rescued in the early days when the Wildlands were slowly expanding and Kharon pioneered a way. Some were even orphans, electing to stay in Kharon after attending the Academy for a few years.

Each was so, so thankful for everything he had done. Their eyes were serious and their words were almost always the same, as they radiated their heartfelt emotions.

“Thank you, Mr. Ghosthound.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Sir Ghosthound, truly, thank you.”

“I owe you and your city so much.”

“I’m so proud to be a citizen of Kharon.”

“Thank you.”

Most of the other patrons were unwilling to leave once they realized that he was truly the famous Randidly Ghosthound, meaning that after the handshakes there was an uneasily stiff atmosphere as those at nearby tables did their best not to watch him too obviously. In turn, Randidly did his best to ignore it, and thankfully he could listen honestly to Commissioner Arrietti’s enthusiastic sales pitch for the food here.

The two had only met on a few occasions in the past, but the Commissioner did possess an extremely intimate knowledge of the menu; it seemed like he ate here on a regular basis. The owner, Selene herself, came out and announced that everything was on the house.

Randidly informed her very seriously that he ate quite a lot of food. She laughed and told him that she would be honored if he ate here until he was sated.

Randidly, who hadn’t been filled up by twelve trays of food yesterday and had again become more ravenous after a long night of working with Nether, simply grinned. Well, at least this saves me the trouble of bothering Tatiana for money… but oh, didn’t the Commissioner offer to pay for my meal?

Tsk, tsk, the way those two look at each other… heh, he’s definitely going to secretly offer again to pay after seeing how much I can eat.

So Randidly began to order.

Almost an hour and two or three of every dish on the menu later, a mountain of licked-clean plates was sitting on the table in front of Randidly. He leaned back and burped contentedly, his tail undulating in obvious pleasure.

At this point, people had begun to break off and drift away at the edges of the gathered crowd. But Randidly could feel that these individuals were suddenly free radicals in the ambient spirit of Kharon. When he closed his eyes, he could feel them burning brightly in the previously dim areas of Kharon, carrying word of his presence and spreading it like a rapacious disease through the population.

Just as quickly as a few individuals left Selene’s, a wave of bodies began to gather and flow back toward the location.

So Randidly stood, thanked Selene warmly, and walked into the back area to open a portal. He liked the invigorating effect his presence had on Kharon, but he still felt somewhat awkward feeling how deeply thankful these people were toward him.

Besides, he had to report for today’s lessons.

As Todd walked out of his cramped dormitory with a glum expression, Randidly was happy to see that he very obviously hadn’t heard that the Ghosthound was in town or connected it with Randidly himself. But then Randidly examined the kid again and noticed three copper bands snapped into place around his left wrist. “Is something wrong?”

Todd gestured to the bands with a morose expression. “These are demerits for the under-Auction, three thousand in coin weight that I have to add on top of any bids. They ambushed me when I went down for breakfast… damnit!”

In a very out of character expression, Todd walked over and punch a tree. The bark cracked a bit, but it was obvious that he hadn’t put very many of his Stats toward his physical abilities. Randidly walked over and crouched next to the kid. “Can you get rid of them? The demerits?”

“No, the duel was in front of a lot of witnesses. That’s why they did it in the mess hall.” Todd’s expression was bitter. “My Scrawl is good, you’ve seen it. But even with it, I won’t be able to handle as much coin weight as I need to win the item that I want. Urgggghhh…..!”

Randidly tilted his head to the side. “What’s the item you want? And don’t give up hope yet; you can get a credit for coin weight by donating lots for the auction, right? I know we agreed on me protecting you in exchange for your tutelage, but I few should be able to take out a few items that we could offer for auction.”