[WP] “Valiant hero, I and my people thank you for your great deeds. And as a reward, I give you my child’s hand i-“ “I’d prefer to take my thanks in gold, Your Majesty.”
“Valiant hero, I and my people thank you for your great deeds,” the King addressed Aurelio directly. It was the dawning of a new day, and early morning light illuminated the nobles-filled throne room and sparkled off the King’s crown. Aurelio stood in a casual, relaxed pose while the young 10-year-old blonde girl next to him stood at full attention. The little girl was taking the situation seriously and hung on the King’s every word. “And as a reward, I give you my child’s hand i-” the King’s reward was interrupted.
“I’d prefer to take my thanks in gold, Your Majesty,” Aurelio answered. The girl looked up at him with a sour sneer.
“Aury!” She quickly learned he didn’t respond to ‘dad’. “It’s a chain quest!”
“We made a deal,” he turned and nodded at her. “ONE quest, not one chain.”
“Fine,” she sighed. He wasn’t wrong, technically. And she did consider rewording the bargain at the time. But she was thrilled he wanted to spend time with her and assumed that was the point. Now she had a lesson to carry forward.
“Valiant hero, I and my people thank you for your great deeds,” the King turned his attention to the young girl. A guard entered the throne room and carried a melon-sized sack with both hands. “And as a reward-,”
“Gold too,” she interrupted him with a sigh. If they weren’t going to get engaged to start the princess rescue portion, she didn’t want to do it alone.
“Of course,” the King nodded, and within moments, a second guard entered the throne room. The first was already walking out, having awarded the sack. Aurelio hefted it with his right hand, then brought his left hand under the bottom. He lowered the coin bag onto the node in his hand, and it disintegrated into white dust.
“How’d you do that?” the girl asked. The bag was bigger than her head, but she was strong enough to hold it with a single hand, the same way Aurelio had. She was trying to place it onto the node in her other hand, but nothing was happening.
“You need a bank account,” Aurelio answered with a shrug. “So, quest done. You gotta help me with a project.”
“Okay!” the girl nodded. “You want this?” She didn’t have any practical use for money at the moment, nor the interest in arranging an account.
“Sure, thanks,” Aurelio nodded, accepted the bag, and deposited it all in a single motion. It was gone even before the girl registered his agreement.
“So, what’s next?” she asked.
“I’m still finishing up some testing. I’ll let you know when it’s ready,” he said as he opened a portal.
“I can help with the testing! I’m basically nanos,” she reminded him by holding up a blurry hand in front of his face. It looked as if the individual cells in her hand lost cohesion and began drifting apart in a hand-like shape. She didn’t know what project he was working on yet, but she knew she could be helpful.
“Don’t need it. I’ll let you know when I do,” he said and stepped into the portal. “See ya later,” the portal closed, and at the exact same moment, another opened. A lean, pale teenager with black hair emerged facing in one direction as Aurelio exited facing the other. The newcomer spun to take in the location, then his eyes fell on the young girl with dusty blonde hair.
“Is your daddy here?” Oren grinned from ear to ear as he said it, and the young girl giggled.
“We were playing a game, but he just left,” she replied.
“Oh,” he looked confused. “Really? He was playing with you?”
“We made a deal,” she nodded.
“Oh, that makes more sense,” Oren replied. He waited for a couple of moments, trying to think up an exit.
“Do you want to play a game?” she asked. It was the reason he’d gone looking for Aurelio.
“Sure, I’m curious what you can do,” Oren agreed. He opened a portal to a different server and encouraged the young girl through it. “You’d probably make a great Dark Lord.”
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Cast
