Chapter 1695 (2/2)
Somehow, Claudette had the weird impression that this happened to Randidly quite often. Her observing self squirmed, oddly distressed by this information. Either way, she cleared her throat and turned to the blue-skinned goblin. “...as you might have gathered, I am Claudette Beigon, the daughter of Don Beigon. If you contact the Beigon Estate, you will definitely be reimbursed for your troubles.”
“Bah! At least he has the decency to look guilty about not paying me.” The goblin tugged on one of his ears. “But you… you feed me shit and expect me to thank you for the meal? Peh. If neither of you is good for the money, just say so.”
“I-” Claudette sucked in a breath. A frown creased her face. Today was just apparently not a good day for her. When was the last time she had gotten so upset over petty trifles? “I… you don’t know who I am? If you ask anyone-”
“Should I know her?” The goblin looked at Randidly as he asked then. And Claudette was incensed to see that Randidly just shrugged.
“Who’s side are you on?!?” She hissed at him across the heavy wooden table.
Randidly rubbed the back of his head with his metal arm. “I mean, I didn’t know who you were until I ran into you coincidentally in the Fifth Cohort… So can you really blame him for not recognizing your name?”
Claudette gurgled. That was all the sound she managed. Her small self at the bottom of the pool was twitching frantically. You…. you two…. Is this a joke?!?! Did you arrange a play just to piss me off?!?!
“Is there anything else I can do to pay you back?” The Ghosthound asked the goblin.
The goblin considered that. Then he sighed. “Baaaah… well, my son left a while ago to pursue a life of misplaced justice, so… I’m a little short-handed on my farm… and you do appear to have a pretty robust frame…”
*****
“You didn’t have to come, you know,” Randidly said to Claudette, who still wore her fashionable sundress as they walked down the busy streets to the nearest entrance to the Nexus Ways. In order to repay his debt, they were currently heading to the goblin’s homeworld.
Claudette had been acting strangely since the goblin had refused to take her family credit. She gave Randidly a look with a pair of eyes that suddenly resembled a dead fish. “It’s the least I can do for you.”
Randidly’s lips twitched, but he turned around before she could see his smile. Do you really need to be so insulted just from the fact he doesn’t know your family…? Well, maybe she was more disturbed by how much I want to antagonize her father for the way he treats her… haaaah, there are some complications for letting my emotions move freely inside of me…
With the small goblin leading the way, they soon arrived at a teleportation station and walked to the proper portal. The three of them, all different heights, stood on the platform and were whisked away. Randidly idly watched the Aether Engravings around the platform activate, but mostly he understood the process well enough that he didn’t gain anything from examining them closely.
Instead, Randidly thought about his current situation. I’m willing to help for a short time because of how excellent a chef this goblin is… but if the work takes too long, I’ll just have Octavius bring me some spare money to make up the difference...
The trio flashed into existence underneath a wide blue sky without a single cloud spoiling the pure color. Rolling hills stretched around them in every direction, occasionally dotted with dirt roads or small homesteads. Aside from the fact that the greenery had a slight blue tint and all of the buildings were built sunk a meter into the ground, Randidly refreshingly felt like he could be on Expira right now.
“Keep up,” The goblin grumbled as he glanced over his shoulder. Then he started jogging down the dirt track. Despite the fact that his legs were short, they quickly blurred roadrunner style and the goblin zipped forward. Randidly stretched his legs and loped after the chef to keep up. Claudette blew out a loud sigh but utilized some strange ice-skating Skill to keep up.
With their speeds, the hills quickly blurred around them. They covered quite a bit of distance, traveling for about a half-hour before they slowed down. Immediately, Randidly’s eyebrows rose as he saw their destination. Compared to the small hobbit houses that they passed to get here, they now stood in front of an alabaster fortress with ten-meter tall walls.
But Randidly only grew more impressed as they approached. Because he quickly noticed that the entire wall was covered in thick and powerful Engravings. Luckily the goblin slowed as they approached, so Randidly could slow too. His eyes grew wider and wider as he neared the wall. He recognized these Engravings, although it had been a while since he had seen anything like it.
“These Engravings…” Randidly began slowly. “They block the System, yes? The Overlay System. And in addition… those isolation runes… does this wall completely block images from entering the interior…?”
“Heh, you liked my food, yea? Wondered how it tasted so good?” The goblin smirked with obvious pride. “Well, I’ll tell ya the secret; I don’t let the Nexus’ shitty ‘growth’ image touch my livestock. Everything inside matures the old-fashioned way.”