Silence immediately took over the entire place. It became so quiet that the sound of someone’s breathing could be heard throughout the entire place. Everyone immediately looked at the person who said those words.
Arthur’s eyes moved to the side too when he heard that sentence. That was when he realized what kind of person he was standing next to. The player was clad in a completely red veil that covered all their body. It was baggy enough not to show whether they were a male or a female.
On their head, they wore an ominous red mask that had no eyes and no facial expression. But, by far, their most interesting detail was their aura. While the others didn’t notice it, Arthur did notice it.
‘They’re strong.’ His eyes grew colder. ‘They’re probably very high up the ranks.’
While his assumption might’ve been really shocking, his guts told him that he was indeed facing a very special player. If their request wasn’t proof of that, in the first place.
“E-Excuse me, the entire stock?” The clerk was naturally as shocked as everyone else.
“Yes.” The masked person replied. Their voice was deep and distorted, perhaps a function of the mask.
“S-Sir, we have 150 potions left in the stock.” He replied.
“Give them all to me.”
“Hold on a goddamn second.” Arthur finally spoke when he heard that back and forth. He was still stunned by the request as 150 potions sounded completely ridiculous. “I need those potions. You can then buy the rest.”
If the person next to him bought the entire stock then Arthur won’t be able to get any potions. Those were quite crucial when it came to hunting and fighting enemies. So far, Arthur hasn’t died once, and he wasn’t intending to try it any time soon if he can.
The masked player turned to look at him. Arthur couldn’t see their eyes, but he was certain it wasn’t a friendly look.
“I need all of them.” They replied. “Find potions elsewhere.”
‘What the hell?’ Arthur felt like he was about to snap but he decided to take a deep breath and looked at the Clerk. “Ignore them, can I please take my order and leave? I don’t have time.”
“I’m taking all the stock.”
“I don’t care. You don’t own this place and you certainly don’t decide what you can take. There are other customers apart from you.” Arthur retorted.
“It’s their fault that they didn’t come earlier. Is there a rule that stops me from buying their entire stock?” The masked player asked Arthur with a cold tone.
“I don’t care about rules. I stood here before you so I’m going to get my potions.”
As the two went back and forth, the tension inside the shop grew rapidly. The other players started feeling something slightly heavy falling on their shoulders. The temperature inside was also going down slightly.
‘Is there a fight about to break out?’ They all thought as they gulped down a mouthful of saliva. For some reason, these two players sent shivers down their spines and they didn’t know why.
They seemed way too terrifying compared to the rest of the players around them.
The masked player went completely silent as if they didn’t know what to say.
“That’s what I thought,” Arthur murmured before he turned to the clerk. “Should I repeat my ord-”
*Swish*
At that moment, Arthur heard a sharp sound before he felt something poking the back of his neck followed by the coldest words he had ever heard in his life.
“Leave.”
Arthur stopped in his place for a moment as if he was surprised. He didn’t even need to look back to understand what was happening.
“Are you sure about this?” Arthur asked. “Drawing your sword in a safe area won’t do anything.”
“Consider this a threat. If you wish to continue playing this game peacefully, then leave.”
What was before a cold confrontation had turned into a full-on threat.
“Sigh, why make it so hard, dude? I just want my potions. I don’t want to kill you.” Arthur replied as he rubbed his forehead.
“…” The masked player didn’t say anything else.
“Fine. If you wish to be such a pain in the ass, I will play your little game.” Saying that, Arthur turned around and grabbed the tip of the sword. His grip was light at first, but then, it slowly grew stronger and stronger till the veins in his arms protruded.
Then, he slowly pushed the sword down, against the wish of his opponent. He kept eye contact the entire time as if he was challenging them to try and do anything.
‘As I thought, they have a lot of strength.’ Arthur thought to himself as his arm started shaking subtly. Arthur was certain his strength stat was above everyone else as it was one of his highest ones. Yet, he wasn’t finding an easy time pushing the sword down.
That only meant that his opponent’s strength wasn’t that far behind him.
“P-Please, don’t fight in the shop!” The clerk nervously tried to stop them before things got out of hand. He knew that if he let them fight, they would destroy his shop and that would be a disaster.
The two continued staring at each other coldly before Arthur finally yanked the sword away and looked at the Clerk. “My apologies, sir. I had no intention to do this. Can I just have my potions and leave? I will deal with this idiot later.”
“… U-Understood.”
The clerk than hurried away before he came back with a large amount of potions in a big bag. He had pulled all the health potions he had in stock.
“Uh, these are 10 potions for you. Do you still want the rest of the stock, sir?” He asked the masked player.
“… Give it to me.” He said.
Arthur then pulled out his pouch and gave the clerk the money for his entire order which was almost 60 silvers.
Then, he stored those potions and left the shop. ‘What the hell was that person’s problem? Who the hell buys 150 health potions? Do they think that will make a huge difference? If you’re a dumbass, you will die even if you have ten billion potions in your inventory.’ Arthur muttered to himself. ‘It’s also way too goddamn expensive. A very bad idea through and through.’
Looking over his shoulder, he noticed that the masked player hadn’t come out yet. He didn’t know if he had to wait for him to deal with this matter or if he should simply go about his business.
‘If he’s going to keep chasing me, that will be really annoying.’ Arthur thought to himself. ‘I’m too bothered to deal with an idiot. Even if he’s strong.’
Rubbing the back of his head, Arthur continued walking through the village till he reached the exit. This entire time, he kept looking behind him, expecting the masked player to follow him. But, he saw nothing of that sort. At that point, he decided that it was pointless to wait for this player.
“I don’t have the entire day to waste on him. If he wants to mess around, he can just find me.” He muttered lowly as he exited the village, heading deeper into the forest.
A few minutes passed peacefully as Arthur cut his way through the thick trees. His destination was the deeper parts of the forest that he hadn’t reached yet. Since his map only showed the areas he reached, he had a lot to explore more.
‘Should I continue on the same path or should I try and expand the map in all directions?’ He asked himself as he stopped for a second to look at his map. Both options were viable since Arthur knew that the forest had way more secrets in its depths.
“Hmm, going deeper might bring me unwanted enemies. I’m not strong enough to face stronger monsters yet. Maybe expanding the map would be more useful.” He spoke to himself as he zoomed in on his position.
As he was focused on it, Arthur’s senses suddenly went off as he felt a sense of overwhelming danger fill his body. His eyes widened and his breath stopped before he immediately sprung into action.
*Swish*
Like a flash, he jumped to the side at the same time as an arrow cut through the air and hit a tree not that far away from him.
A split second later, Arthur felt the same danger as a silhouette rushed toward him. ‘Behind me? Was that a decoy?’
Arthur quickly unsheathed his sword as he summoned two arrows. The two projectiles flew instantly toward the target, making them jump to the side and stop rushing toward Arthur.
*Cling* *Cling*
At the same time, Arthur deflected a sword attack from the enemy before he slashed with his sword. However, the enemy was able to dodge and jump back. The boy looked at the attacker as he grinned.
“Very cool of you to ambush someone like this. Are you too scared to face me head-to-head?” Arthur asked as he rested his sword on his shoulder. “Should I call you ‘Masked Coward’?”
A//N: Give me all your Golden Tickets!
