"I will be forthcoming about this matter since everything I have tried so far has failed..." Kaiser trailed off. "My mother is sick."

We all stood, waiting for him to finish his explanation. But I suddenly had a light bulb going off in my head and my imagination jumped two miles farther with just those words. I'd already listed a couple of plausible scenarios alongside explanations behind his actions. Piecing two and two together, I finally came to a rather absurd story. Now, the only thing left was to verify whether my thoughts were right.

"It is not known yet to the public, and we're not generally inclined to confide this matter to outsiders. But my father has inquired of the possibilities to ease her condition," he said. "I wanted to use this opportunity to enlist your help discreetly, but you really did not give in."

"Is this related to me having to play for you?" I asked. Then I realized my tone was a little numb, which might come across a little rude. I tried to ease my stance and tilted my head to the side loosely. Hopefully, this wouldn't worsen my resting bitch face...even make me look a bit more approachable.

He gazed at me, slight surprise twinkling in his eyes, and nodded firmly. "That's right. It is for that reason. Her condition is a little special, though," he said.

"How will this help your mother?" I asked.

"She was poisoned."

We were silent, taking a few moments to digest that fact.

"And do angel strings help with it?" I continued.

"Angel's strings are special because they have healing capabilities. To be specific, these healing capabilities are very specific for this poison," he told me. "This poison is very harsh. It is especially agonizing during winter season or cold nights."

I sighed, troubled. While I wished I could help this person, I had my own circumstances to consider. I was not exactly in the position to think of others while in such a delicate situation myself.

However, I might be able to find a compromise.

"You know, as much as I'd really like to play for you, I really can't. I'm not saying this because I'm merciless or completely lacking in sympathy, but my skills are not worthy of that harp," I sincerely stated. With each word of mine, his face grew more disappointed. But I wasn't one to string someone along. "If you really need it for curing your mother, I can lend it to you."

His eyes lit up. "That's a great idea! To be honest, I was considering having to steal them from you, but my ever-righteous father would beat me if I did! And he hits like no other." He twiddled thumbs and tried to keep his smile from becoming heavy and bright. "It was unfortunate, and I was running out of ideas."

"Explains this broken competition," Arondite muttered from the corner.

"So what are you saying? Did we win not because we were good but because of Evyionne?" Miles's face crumpled in dissatisfaction.

"T-that is, well..." Kaiser looked stiffly to the side. "It's actually good that you had a really good performance because if I took on something mediocre, then I would be a run over by rumors. People liked your performance, and it was very good too. It...it was convenient."

Miles looked insulted. His face soured, and he restlessly stomped his foot. "I can't believe this! I can't!" He huffed. "We worked so hard and you demean us like this! Unbelievable!"

"All performers get free beers at the bar," he said. "Oh, but you're minors—"

Miles came forward and grasped his collar. "We'll take it."

I chuckled. "While I can't speak for Mr. Kaiser here for his actions, just comfort yourself with the fact you got a death relic. It's still worth a couple of tens of thousands," I said.

"A-a couple of...tens of thousands?" Miles stammered.

"Right. Didn't you know?" I asked.

"More than that," Erlan stepped in, holding up both hands. "Since when did you two know each other?"

"I ate here before when we came out of the bank," I said. "I was carrying the harp at that time and he must've seen it."

"Right. It was like a miracle! I was just wondering what to do, you know? I've searched high and low. Angel's strings—you know, this can't be bought or taken from the common market. It can retail for millions for just one string! And she has a harp full of it!" Kaiser said.

They all looked at me. Maun was not so surprised. He even yawned.

"Wait. Are you rich?" Erlan asked.

I hummed.

"Come on, don't be stingy with the truth!" Erlan urged.

"I suppose," I replied. Actually, I still couldn't wrap my head around it.

But I get it now. I think the quintessence of being rich was being so rich you were unaware you were rich—lived a life so comfortable you were ignorant of that very comfort. Angel's strings? Bah. I saw that every day. Mistress Marian might have "treasured it" but I saw her leaving it on one corner of Oblivion to accumulate dust during the weekends when she didn't feel like playing. Just dumped it there.

"Damn! Dinner's on you next time. We deserve compensation for damaged self-esteem and feelings!" Erlan said, pulling me back to reality.

"That's right. And it's not just next dinner! The dinner after that, too!" Miles agreed.

I felt my ego being pumped with their eyes full of eagerness and praise, but was also rather discomfited by it. I shook the topic away and decided to proceed with the discussions.

I turned back to Kaiser, ignoring the two guys kicking up a fuss beside me.

Teenagers. I reminded myself of the fact that these were kids. I had to be patient as the adult—the one with the adult soul, at least.

"I can lend the harp to you, but you're going to help me with something else too," I said. "I think you'll be very capable of that. In fact, you're a perfect fit for the job!" I nodded when I ran through the plan in my mind.

"Good, then I don't have to owe you a favor."

I paused. "I guess," I said.

"So what is it?" he asked.

"This." I tapped on the table, nodding at the death relic on the table. It was nothing more than an old junk that simply emitted death energy, but intimidating waves that rippled from it made it so that it was hard not to notice.

"You cheat! I thought you said this was mine!" Miles said.

"Shhh. Stop yelling everything you say. Talk normally. You don't have to roar out every single word that comes out of your mouth. I get you have a lot of energy, but tone it down," I said impatiently.

"But you..."

"I'm not talking about your relic specifically," I said. "I want Kaiser to lead me to where these things come from." I turned to Kaiser. "You have connections directly with the Mercenary Guild, and you did say they frequent sites like this to retrieve whatever for whatever task. I need to go to one of those places."

Might give me some progress regarding Amber's manifestation problem. He'd used up most of his energy lending me assistance when I dearly needed it, which meant he'd been setback a couple of times. The guy didn't usually share his worries with me, but his frequent silence and constant complaints told me well enough he was troubled.

Kaiser's brows slowly lifted to his hairline, wrinkling his young and round forehead. "That is...Do you know what you're asking for?!" he nearly yelled. "This is a dangerous place we're talking about, and preparations to enter such places require ample preparations. Not to mention a lot of money!"

"Yes," I said. "We can prepare, and..." I gave a smile. "I have a lot of money."

Kaiser hesitated and prepared to convince me. "We can't go in there alone, too. There are often creatures who live in these places that tend to take on the characteristics of the element they're bathed in. Amongst the elements, creatures associated with death are the most dangerous. More often than not, you can't see them too!"

He stepped forward, curly hair bobbing nervously with each step. We weren't close enough for skin contact so he only lowered his head to reach my eye level. It pissed me off somewhat, because then I realized this guy was actually a bit tall.

"We're going to have to be escorted by veterans," he continued to say.

"You can arrange for that. Right?" I replied, unruffled.

He nodded. "This is also a death energy rich site. It'll be a miracle to take away one or two relics. You're going to need to find means of storage once you take them. People can't handle them directly. Usually for other elements, we have people who belong under that particular domain who can tolerate them and take them with no worries, but death relics are another story!"

"Do I need to store them?" I asked in my mind.

"No. No, you don't. That place probably won't be enough to make me full. Those relics will have been sucked dry by me by the time we leave."

"You don't have to worry," I said, after a few beats. "I want to go there. Naturally, I will investigate and prepare thoroughly for it too. Besides, don't you want to borrow the harp?" I asked.

He gazed away for a bit, then finally sighed. "Fine. Don't say I didn't try to warn you! Well, I can't understand you. I can't probably ask for your reasons either."

"I don't blame you for being curious," I said. "I don't blame you for worrying to that extent either. I understand your worries. Just do what you can and leave the rest to me."

"Okay, then."

"Do we have a deal?" I asked, stretching my hand forward to offer a shake.

"Okay, but I must have that harp. Tomorrow, at latest! Since my mother's conditions are not optimistic at the moment. I'll inquire immediately about what I can do and we can reach terms of our deal then!"

"Cool. You sound like adults. Amazing!" Erlan clapped.

I would have to make an elaborate excuse to justify my visit of such a place later. My ability to wield death was still unknown to many, so I could not be forthright about my reasons for going there. At some point, people would begin to wonder. I had to have something fairly consistent with the truth. The most convincing lie is always backed by truths!

"Tomorrow is the weekend, so we have a lot of time to go through this. I'll come here tonight the same hour since I still have some things to do during the day. Should give you some time as well, right?"

"No problem. I'd have inquired by then, which is perfect." His smile was bright and hopeful, splitting his round face in half and pushing some flesh that bulged like curved hills on each cheek. "Now, I'll show you out first. You seem to have riled up some people, so it's best to take the quiet way out so you don't get in trouble just in case."

He snapped close the box of the death relic, handing it to the very eager Miles. We then followed his eager gait out of the office and were led down a set of stairs that shuttled to a place other than the restaurant.

"By the way, how old are you?" I asked.

"I'm turning seventeen in two months!"

"Very young. You did this whole place by yourself?"

"Why do you sound like one of those aunties?" he asked sheepishly. "Anyway, my uncle handles much of everything else. I help around where I can," he said.

We came through a short hall and finally reached the exit doors. After reconfirming our details for tomorrow's meeting, we bid our goodbyes.