The Insider System

Chapter 366: The Deal Pt.2

As he watched each person pass through to the surface he saw each and every one of them stop and look towards the horizon like Hampton had. They were moving through so he didn't think anything bad was happening to them, just that something must be happening that they were all watching.

Not wanting to miss out on what was going on, Lake quickly passed through and found the sky lit up with around one hundred different colors. It was happening very far away but it was obvious something big was happening. He had his own things going on so he didn't have time to just stop and stare.

"Hampton, can you pay me so I can leave?" He didn't want to kill Hampton before he got paid or in front of the others so leading him away was necessary and this was the best way to do it. "Ok, how much did I offer you again?" Lake decided to answer honestly even though he could have maybe lied and gotten a bit more.

"You said fifty thousand." Hampton seemed a bit surprised by this answer and it made Lake wonder if it was because the man didn't actually have that much but before he could ask he was cut off by the adventurer. "Are you serious? That's so much more than I'm getting paid." Lake ignored the man's cry and waved his hand to get Hampton to follow behind him towards the keep.

...

Donny eventually snapped out of looking at the sky and nudged the guard who was still staring. "We should get the food and go before Hampton has a chance to talk to the mayor about what happened inside." Donny was afraid they wouldn't get paid if their betrayal was revealed so with Hampton busy this was a good time to get what they needed and leave.

"Yes. We'll be taking the food and leaving." The guard didn't ask the mayor for help and just waved for their group to come with him. They had been promised half of the food in the town's stores and they were more than capable of taking that amount with just the eleven of them.

"The damage isn't as bad as I expected." Hearing Fendis say this Donny wasn't sure what the man meant at first so he looked to see he was staring at the buildings around them. "I guess the quake wasn't as strong up here." Stone buildings were quite tough so the fact most of them had survived with minimal damage wasn't that big of a surprise.

"Alright grab half from each stack and set it out here on the ground." Donny was sure the guard would have used Earth Magic to do all of this if the phantoms weren't in the ground right below them but since that was the case they had no choice but to do this the slow way.

Right after he and the others got to work moving boxes of food out onto the street, Fendis found him and brought up what they had seen earlier. "What do you think is happening?" Donny had already been thinking about it because you saw the sky every time you exited with a box so he had a guess ready. "Maybe the gods are finally doing something about what the Demon Lord did in the Metal Domain."

The gods had a lot of rules they had to follow so them taking this long didn't really surprise him but at the same time he wished they had moved faster because the amount of people that had been killed in the Metal Domain was probably over half already. "You think they declared war or are just doing this as a show of force and no Demigods have actually come down to fight yet."

This was an interesting question because the fact the lights were still in the sky could mean the gods were just ready to come down at any second which pointed towards some type of stand off or negotiations were currently happening between the two sides. "You're probably right about them not starting the fight just yet."

...

"Here's your money." Receiving the large bags from Hampton Lake looked again at the tiny wall vault they had been pulled from and asked. "Is the vault enchanted to be bigger on the inside?" He knew this wasn't important but he thought it was interesting that he hadn't noticed this quality the first time he was here so he just wanted to know if it was true or not.

"That's right. Is it the reason you weren't able to take what was in it when you were here before?" The true reason was he hadn't wanted to spend too much time and had forgotten about Ghost Touch but he didn't want to say that so he just nodded and said. "It might have worked if I tried but I could tell there was a good chance an alarm would go off if I used my skill so I just left it."

After he said this both of them went silent for a while and Lake could tell Hampton was on guard, probably expecting the attack Lake planned to use before leaving with his gold. He didn't think Hampton had the strength to block one of his attacks at full strength so it doesn't really matter if he was ready for it but it did make this kind of awkward.

"Alright stop please." It seemed Hampton had had enough of waiting for his death and held both of his hands up in front of him as if to protect himself. "Let's make a deal or something. I know a lot of people who could use you and I'll get you in touch with them."

Lake liked the sound of this and guessed Hampton didn't really need to die since all he had seen of him was his armor and never his face since he had changed it before taking off his helmet to come here. Because of this reason Lake had been about to accept the offer when he remembered the giant eye Hampton had shown him when they had first met.

The man himself had said it could see through most things which might have given the man the ability to get a glimpse of his face before he had changed it. Lake didn't know how he could ask about this without giving away the fact this was a false face so he decided to try and use Detector to see if Hampton had ever seen who he really was.

After he had it set and Hampton didn't start to glow, Lake made up his mind and said. "That sounds good but I'll be gone for a while. Just have the jobs ready for when I come back." After he said this Lake turned to leave the room when Hampton stopped him again. "How much should I ask for them to hire you?"

"Don't, just tell them I'll discuss it with them based on the job when we meet." After he said this Lake jumped out of the window and was about to cast Fly when Hampton yelled. "Don't try to go over the wall there's a formation to kill off the phantoms and it sometimes goes off on people using magic to fly even though it's not supposed to."

Hearing this, Lake just let himself fall to the ground before slowly walking to the gate. Passing through it he thought back to when they had first arrived and he had wondered why Hampton had chosen to go through the gate when he had seen the older man go very fast and jump large distances.

There being a small chance of getting hit by a formation not only made that make more sense but Hampton telling him increased the odds their little deal would bear fruit. If the older man had instead just let him fly over and take the chance it meant he really didn't care if he was killed.

...

"Alright Everyone get ready. I'm about to lift us up and away from the city." He and Fendis had been asked to lift the food out of town where the guard would take over and get them back to the Metal Domain because the earth platform the man used to get around was much faster than his formation.

After he lifted off they were quickly able to get out of town and were about to land when they heard someone talk to them from above. "Where are you guys headed?" Hearing a voice from the sky they all looked up to see the guy from earlier. Donny couldn't help himself and just assumed they were about to be wiped out because he couldn't think of any other reason this guy would come back to find them.

This didn't end up being the case though because soon after none of them said anything to his question he just started talking again. "Your name is Donny right?" Donny tried to think back to see if there was a way this guy knew his name but didn't have to think for long because he was told the answer. "I'm one of the people your brother tried to hire to steal the shield."

...

Lake didn't know why but he felt talking to this guy again would be worth it in the long run money wise because this guy was definitely strong enough to have money so when he saw them while flying out of town he had to come over to make another deal. "Oh, well yes it's me." Seeing the guy's face turn sad after he said this, Lake decided to just say what he wanted and leave.

"I didn't take the job back then because I don't consider myself a criminal but if you're looking to get the shield back I can look into it for you. You'll need to pay me for the work and it could be a lot. Does that sound alright?"

...

Donny couldn't help but think this was a strange turn of events but there was no way he would ever say no. "Ok." Donny was about to ask some questions about how the man would find him once he had the shield but the guy nodded and flew away before he got the chance.

This left Donny questioning where he would get the money because he had been broke for a long time but that all ended when he remembered the thing he had taken on the way out of the lab. With a Looking stone to work with he would have to be a complete idiot to not make any money.