Despite his focus on business, Inox glanced at Dust from time to time, hoping to see some change in him. Since it was an unripe Grade 1 tomato, he didn't expect such a good reaction to the taste.
"However," Inox noted that besides the flavor, Dust didn't ask about anything else. Unranked seed plants contained physical energy; as the name implied, this physical energy should transform into something upon consumption. "Is it because of the plant's maturation?" he wondered before shaking his head. "Anyway, I'll do another test with a ripe tomato next time."
At the table, Aqua was the first to narrow her eyes. Seeing that everyone was silent, she swallowed the food in her mouth before slapping the table hard. "I refuse!!" She stood up and pointed a finger at Inox.
"You just want to take advantage of us!! The quest reward should be split like this: yeah, yeah, I get 70% while each of you gets 10%." She smiled and puffed out her chest.
Dust's eyes, however, didn't linger on Aqua's wide hips, narrow waist, or prominent chest; instead, he focused on the girl's almost perfect face and bright eyes.
"Miss Aqua," he said, forgetting the taste of the tomato and remembering those portraits drawn by some of the lunatics in the Axis Cult. "While my friend's proposal sounds irrational, I can promise that he never goes back on his word." He smiled.
He sounded like an idiot, and if he had heard Inox making that proposal without knowing him, he would have thought he was crazy. Where does this guy get the confidence to pay back half a million Eris to each person? he thought. With the three of them, that would be a million and a half Eris.
Dust's eyes lit up with an unusual gleam. He had seen Inox when he was a prince; at the time, he was baffled, as Inox wasn't like the other nobles. Approachable, smiling, mocking, and crazy were words that described him perfectly.
Then Dust remembered the moment they were expelled from the royal capital. Free to choose your destiny, he thought. Inox seemed like a different person then—deeper, wise in a way.
"Bah!! What do you know?" Aqua shook her head, making it clear she wouldn't cooperate.
Kazuma, however, ate a little more of the food on his plate before focusing his gaze on Inox.
"Mr. Inox, how do you plan to pay out a million and a half Eris in a month if you keep 600,000? Besides, Aqua and I are rookie adventurers, what do you want us for? Aqua and I can't even kill toads whose bounty barely reaches 5,000 Eris. What makes you think we can take on this quest?" The Japanese boy's eyes flashed with a glimmer of wisdom.
Inox opened his mouth to say something, but his mind couldn't find the words. Kazuma sighed. "My shift as a construction worker starts tomorrow. I appreciate the food, but Aqua and I need to rest up for work."
With that said, Kazuma stood up, grabbed Aqua's hand—who shook her head a couple of times—and the two of them left.
Dust wanted to argue back, but he was at a loss for words. Inox had earned some trust points by cheering him up after being banished by the king. He turned around, looking at his friend with eyes less bright than before.
What are you really thinking? Dust asked himself. In fact, even though he could say he trusted his friend, he almost always ended up evaluating people multiple times; it was a habit of his.
Inox smiled before sighing. "So, what was your plan to pay back a million and a half Eris? Why ask for the help of two rookie adventurers?" Dust asked. In truth, he had thought Eris's words about forming an adventuring party with two strangers was a joke, and he just wanted to meet the cute girl.
In Axel City, an adventuring party was made up of people who at least trusted each other. Otherwise, why team up with someone you don't know? It would be a death sentence.
"Honestly, I don't know. I was hoping to plant some vegetables and have them become popular for their taste so I could sell them and make money," he said. Aqua's rejection and Dust's questions brought him back to reality.
"Then why trust two strangers to form an adventuring party?" Dust insisted.
"I found them interesting. A girl who pretends to be the Goddess of Water, and that Kazuma guy in clothes I've never seen before."
Dust shook his head at his friend's answer. "You know, you actually sounded smarter when we got kicked out of the royal capital. Well, I thought you really had a plan beyond this." Dust let out a heavy sigh, patting his friend on the shoulder before getting up from the table.
"Think better of the things you say or do. After all, you're the master of your own destiny now, right?" His voice gradually faded away.
Inox didn't say anything. He drank a little of his juice while opening the system's holographic screen and then closing it, repeating the action several times.
He closed his eyes for a moment before standing up as well and walking back to his room. However, all of this was seen by several strangers in the tavern who were paying singular attention to Inox.
In his room, Inox patted the leaves of the tomato plant. "Just a couple of days and it will ripen," he said, his voice lacking its usual emotional brightness.
"You're not very intuitive," he said while opening his status panel and closing it. "Maybe I can complete some secret quest when these plants mature..." he sighed.
"The food here is disgusting." He covered his eyes as he remembered his days outside the royal castle. "My back hurts, and..." he gritted his teeth. "Why the fuck does there have to be so much noise at night?!!" He kicked hard at the air while lying down.
For a moment, he wanted to grab the system panel in front of him and smash it into a thousand pieces, but even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to.
In the inn, if one paid close attention, a few quiet sobs could be heard that night.
Knock Knock
Inox was pulled from his sleep by a sound at his door. With his face wrinkled in a grimace, he contorted himself to crack his back. "Is this a bed or a cold metal slab?" He cleared his throat for a moment before getting up.
He grabbed a new watering can filled with water, yawned, and began to calmly and carefully water the tomato plant and the carrot plant.
As if the perfect conditions had been met, a miniature rainbow formed next to the tomato and carrot plants; both of them in their pots seemed to sway in the light, cold morning breeze.
Inox couldn't help but smile at the sight.
Knock Knock
The sound at the door pulled him from his contemplation. He frowned before setting the watering can aside and heading over to open the door.
The person revealed outside was none other than Dust. He was wearing his usual adventurer gear, a slight smile on his face. "Good morning, Inox."
"Good morning." Inox nodded at the greeting, staring at Dust for a moment before stepping aside. "Ah, sorry, please come in."
The blond walked in calmly, letting out a light chuckle. "You know, I've been thinking about your proposal, and about..." Dust's eyes zeroed in on the tomato in the pot, his pupils flashing as he saw the two little rainbows.
"Seems like even nature appreciates these things," he said. He pulled a meat bun out of the small bag he had brought and offered it to his friend.
"Hot." Inox smiled as he took the first bite. "Ahem, actually, there's a new meat bun shop. Some weirdo said he was going to become a magic chef or something like that, hahaha." Dust shook his head.
After breakfast, the blond sat on Inox's bed. "You know, I've been thinking about your proposal... it's insane, no one will accept it," he said with a firm voice, drawing a sigh from Inox.
"No one except me," Dust added. Inox's eyes widened as he focused on his friend, both of them staring at each other as if waiting for the other to speak.
"You're not the same. When you talked to me about that destiny stuff, you looked imposing, wise, like a real man," Dust emphasized. "I didn't kill you because of that," he admitted.
Inox's eyes narrowed, his hands clenched into fists, and he put his guard up. If Dust came looking for trouble, Inox was annoyed enough not to run away from it.
"I don't think a charlatan could speak with such confidence and conviction. So I'll bet on you, my friend, just this once. We'll get the 600,000 Eris, but I don't want a million or half a million Eris in a month." Dust's smile grew wide, a smile Inox had never seen before.
"I want to receive 10% of whatever you grow... for the rest of your life."