Above 50 Has someone reached it A young man asked looking with bright eyes at Randidly He opened his mouth then closed it shrugging Well yes someone had but no one you would have heard of
The discussion was about to resume once more when the door to the bar opened Tatiana stepped through looking exactly like a woman who wandered away from an opera into the wrong part of town But despite the fact that she wore a cream dress covered in the prints of blooming golden flowers she confidently walked into the bar scanned around and made a beeline for their table
Feeling somewhat unsure the steelworkers shuffled out of the way She smiled at them kindly Please excuse me
It wasn’t that there were no female steelworkers or that their steel town was so small and stuffy that there weren’t any pretty women here but Tatiana truly was at her best when eyes were on her She had a strange ability to captivate She was the perfect foil to Randidly or perhaps the old Randidly Begrudgingly or not Randidly was slowly learning to deal with people It was much easier now when the people here didn’t know him as the Ghosthound Gave him a blank slate to start from
After Tatiana sat most of the steelworkers slowly started to drift away giving her awed glances Then their gazes turned envious as they looked at Griffith Randidly and Gregory but still they left To them it was probably clear that Tatiana came for a discussion that they wouldn’t be privy to
And when the last person had drifted off she started talking and it wasn’t what Randidly was expecting
Thank you Both of you
Chapter 513
“If you hadn’t intervened ” Then Tatiana paused She smiled shyly at Randidly ” well mostly your actions were extremely effective at diffusing the danger of the situation If things had escalated and you two weren’t there I suspect some of my girls would have been injured So again I am in your debt “
Sonya was snoozing quietly leaning against the wall Next to her Gregory was slowly nodding off Their lowered Vitalities were finally overwhelmed by the drink they had consumed Sonya would be quite upset that she missed this seductive woman in her new dress Randidly reflected
‘Ha did you calculate the volume of water it would take to neutralize the plasma on the fly ” Griffith asked turning to Randidly
Awkwardly Randidly could only shrug Griffith began to howl with laughter Tatiana raised her hand to cover up her own smile In order to change the subject Randidly said to Tatiana “Your girls “
“Ah Well as you may or may not have guessed Mr Stain hired several high end escorts to attend the party Although I came to work I am a part owner of the establishment that he shopped at Tatiana Rhubarb businesswoman palm reader Tier 1 Citizen at your service ” She performed a little bow To the side Griffith was still chuckling
“Ah forgive me for being a bit shocked ” Randidly said “But I’m surprised businesses like that are still around with the System’s arrival and all But I suppose “
Randidly froze He had been about to say that he was from a different Zone with less population Shrugging he left the sentence unfinished
Tatiana shrugged “You have a point but it was just coincidence that it turned out this way A lot of the apartments that the girls were staying in were included in the Zone Basically all of the management too These girls had been doing it before and there was still demand for it after the initial chaos died down So why not continue Not everyone has the strength of will to risk their life fighting monsters Others prefer a softer approach
“Plus ” she added “They were also weak to the draw of the Leveling To see themselves Leveling their charm and ah service related Skills brings a certain amount of satisfaction It’s what they were good at before and earned them PP quickly now Why would they do anything else “
Randidly couldn’t think of anything to say Luckily Griffith had recovered enough to join the conversation
“It is pretty hard to imagine things like that going on when you are on the frontlines fighting monsters Or if you are in a place like this that actually produces the products that those people rely on for safety Easy to lose touch with how the other half lives But the government takes a big slice of everything Such is the way of things “
“Well anyway ” Tatiana said “I suppose there’s no reason to bog down the conversation with political complaints I might pick up bad habits I wouldn’t want to call a general a spoiled moron the next time insults the chef that prepared his filet during our date Here is my card If you ever need anything “
She placed two cards on the table sliding them towards Griffith and Randidly but as she did so her watch lit up and began to chirp
“Ah apologies It’s my business partner Please excuse me ” Tatiana stood with an apologetic smile “Perhaps another time for the palm reading “
“Actually I should be going too ” Randidly said He needed to get back to work in the Steel factory He was pretty excited to try out some of the things he had learned at the party talking to Sonya and Gregory Nodding Griffith stood too He provided his number as well and the three agreed to meet again They left Sonya and Gregory there at the table snoring away with the tab waiting
As they all split up Randidly wondered whether these numbers were useful to him After all he didn’t have one of their weird watch phones Were they hard to get Who could he ask without seeming like an idiot
Hank looked up and sighed They felt it as soon as they passed the invisible barrier they had left the borderlands Zone 32 lay sprawled before them
It had taken much more time than Hank had expected almost two weeks It made the fact that the thorny house had appeared after two days all the more impressive It turned out that the two Zones were on a direct line East/West from each other Even though the entrance to the borderlands was to the Northeast portion of Zone 1 what you had to do was head Northeast and then swing around to head Southeast which took a bit of time for Hank’s group to realize
However it made more sense when Alan reported to him that the Zones were slowly expanding Perhaps soon the entire portion of their East/West connection would be revealed This prospect excited Alan who already had plans to expand the manatech line to facilitate trade Hank was more cautious
They hadn’t met anyone else form Zone 32 but that first group had left a powerful impression on him Before they tied their fate too closely with this group of people they needed to feel them out a bit
“What is that ” Affina asked her blind eyes turned forward toward the new Zone
Hank squinted “It looks like a fog bank in that valley Can you feel the weather somehow That’s mighty impressive “
“No I cannot ” Affina said shaking her head “But there is something something special about that area that I can feel “
“There is something inside that fog ” Laurel said her voice quiet Hank grunted Ezekiel maintained his stoic silence The group moved on cautiously going to investigate the strange fog
Hank was teetering between avoiding it and taking a closer look as they approached until the sounds of other people reached their ears It was clear that within the fog there was some sort of mining operation going on the sound of yells and the clink of chisels was clearly audible Hank’s group exchanged a bemused glance then walked into the misted area
Even still Hank was extremely cautious They hadn’t encountered them very often but there were monsters that would use illusions to confuse a person But Laurel had weapons to combat and recognize that so Hank allowed them to proceed
The mist was thin It muffled sunlight but still allowed a person to see a good 15 meters in every direction Everything was just a bit cloudy
“Look there ” Ezekiel’s voice cracked from disuse as he raised his hand and pointed He had been surprisingly introspective since parting ways with his son probably grappling with the cost of his Class in a new light after seeing his progeny Hank had little sympathy for the man but there was no denying it was a hard spot to be in