I escort Natasha to her house. Well, that was the plan. But on the way there, we can see her father, the richest man in Emerald City, is giving some order to adventurers and local people that anyone who can return his daughter to him will be given a reward.
"Dad!"
Natasha runs up to her father. Her father is shocked to see her when he was just briefing the mission to everyone. But why do this instead of giving the request officially through the guild?
Now that she has returned, I leave her alone for now until she comes back to find me for my reward. At least I hope she will keep her promise.
When I enter the guild later on, I found out that most of the missions are about Natasha. I guess he has tried it.
I have told Natasha where I will stay for a while until she gives me the reward. I don't care about the reward from the father because Natasha promised me a reward first. I can't be too greedy because I might offend a powerful person.
The next morning, a neat elderly man in a suit that makes him look like a butler comes to the inn I stayed. He introduces himself as a butler of Gunnar and asks me politely to come to his master's residence. I guess it's time for the reward.
The house is huge. It's behind the main store as Natasha said yesterday.
The maids and butlers greet me as if I'm a VIP. Wait, I am one today.
The elderly butler guides me to a room where Natasha and her father, Gunnar, are waiting. He also enters afterward.
From his posture, he's still strong despite his age. Though it's not like I'm here to fight him.
Then a man in his 50s greets me. That's Gunnar. First time seeing him because he's not in the game.
"You're Miroslav, right? I'm Gunnar. Natasha's father. I thank you for finding and bringing Natasha back here. I heard everything from her. You used a unique magic," Gunnar says.
"It's not a unique magic at all. It's an easy to learn magic but I used it uniquely thanks to my talent," I say.
"You're honest. So it's because of your talent, huh?"
"It's because of knowing my talent helps me which path I should go to improve myself. Talent is nothing special without skills after all. And you need effort to get skills," I say.
Why the questions? I just want my reward.
"That's an interesting wisdom. Talent is useless if you don't know what to do with it. Now, let's go to the main point of why I invited you here. I have a favor to ask of you," Gunnar says.
"Excuse me but I'd like to refuse if it takes so much time. I'm here only for the reward Natasha promised. If there's no reward then I shall take my leave," I stand up from my seat ready to go.
A favor? I only have three years to get stronger before attending the academy. Even then I don't know if I will be strong enough to survive against the demons. There will be so many of them and I don't know if the protagonist can be trusted to save the world. Whether he will be strong enough to defeat all demons or not.
Well, maybe I have longer than three years to get stronger. But that's the limit I put myself so I can improve faster. That's also why I smoke a lot every day.
"Please don't be like that. I want you to train Natasha for a while. I don't need her to marry someone anymore to gain some connections. I want to support her dream of becoming an adventurer. But as you know, being an adventurer is a highly risky job. So I want you to train her while you're doing your things. You can travel to another place quickly, right? Then you can return here quickly as well. Whenever you're available, I want you to train Natasha and improve her skills. Just whenever you can. Take her to a mission or something once in a while and teach her what she needs to know. She can still be an adventurer affiliated with my group so in the future she can gather materials for our company."
Gunnar explains his plan. So I guess there's no more arranged marriage. And Natasha has told him about how I travel even though they don't know it yet that I use slip magic.
But if I agree, they will know soon anyway. But that doesn't matter.
Being in a friendly relationship with Gunnar is great. I like that.
I have checked the store yesterday. The price here for the items are many times cheaper than they were in the game. The corruption must be really crazy after Natasha died because they increased the price so high so easily. Gunnar should have cared about his store more in the game.
But why do they still succeed despite the corruption? They sell the right item to the right buyers. That's the easiest explanation.
Since Natasha is still alive, there's no increase in price. And that means it will be easier for normal adventurers to get stronger because of the equipment and items bought from Cabal Stores. Those adventurers will be helpful in the battle against the demons in the future.
Well, I guess it's decided that I will agree to this condition.
"Only as long as I can. But can you really trust a man you just met to train your daughter? And second, I'm just fifteen. Are you okay with someone younger than your daughter teaching her? If people know this they will think you're crazy," I say.
"You're fifteen? But still, you're better than most other men older than you. I don't mind it as long as Natasha can be a reliable adventurer in the future. I believe you know a lot about adventurer," Gunnar says.
"Being fifteen means I just became an adventurer not long ago. She should have more experience than I do," I say.
"…Well, the fact that you're so upfront about that means I can trust you even more. Just come back here whenever you're free and you can teach Natasha a thing or two to improve her skills. I will be grateful for that," Gunnar says.
Archery talent, huh? That's the talent Natasha has. I can't do archery but maybe I can learn a little from Natasha as well. And I can give her some insight on how she should train in other areas.
Like back then with Hal, he only relied on the common sense of how to use fire magic to improve. He should rely more on his talent and thanks to my advice he started doing it. Maybe I can help Natasha like that.
"As for your reward, it's interesting that you told Natasha that she can only give you something with her authority instead of you being greedy and ask her to get the most expensive item. You are young but you are smart enough to know how to not try to mess with someone powerful. I'll give you this ring. Give me your hand."
Gunnar grabs my wrist and put a ring on my palm. Good thing it's not on my finger.
"What does this ring do?" I ask.
"That's a bound item. It means that once it's bounded to someone, no one else can use it without the owner's permission. It's still ownerless so I'll give it to you," Gunnar says.
I know what a bound item is. There were some in the game. Even my own party members couldn't use bound item if the owner didn't give the permission.
"That ring's ability is to absorb another magical item and use its effect. I suggest you use it on your Spatial Pouch to turn that ring into a Storage Ring. This knowledge hasn't spread yet so not many people know about this," Gunnar says.
Really? Turning my Spatial Pouch into a Storage Ring? That's amazing. Does it mean I don't need to put my hand into the pouch to withdraw something anymore?
I put on the ring on my right middle finger. Then I use the ring's ability to absorb the pouch.
Oh, I forgot to pull out the items inside the pouch first!
But when I think about what's inside the storage, I have the images of everything inside the storage in my mind clearly. Including some sand I put inside the pouch but forgot about.
"This is amazing. Thank you!" I say.
"No. Thank you for finding my daughter. If not for you, she would have died from starvation. I heard everything from her. I almost lost my daughter but thanks to you we can reunite," Gunnar says.
"You're welcome. I like the reward. I will teach Natasha what I can. And Natasha, prepare yourself. I threw your weapons away so you need new ones. We can start your training tomorrow. I don't think I can teach you much other than giving some insight but I'll do my best. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning and we can go to the guild to take a mission together. How about that?" I suggest.
"Sure. Let's meet again tomorrow."
What a great reward. I got myself a Storage Ring. It's better than the pouch. And I can feel how big the storage size in my mind.
But teaching Natasha? What can I teach her? I need to see what she can do first.