Black String of Fate

All eyes turned to Xavier, who looked around in curiosity and commented,

"Damn, it's a neat place."

"Welcome to the Purple Gardens, how may I help you?"

A beautiful receptionist welcomed him in a warm tone as he approached the reception desk. Xavier totally expected a snide greeting full of disdain, but he was surprised to hear such a polite greeting. But, when he looked at the receptionist's eyes, he smiled, finding those eyes extremely familiar.

'Of course, she's trained to sweet talk any customer, it's in her eyes where the disdain is hidden.'

"I want the best single-person accommodation this hotel can provide for me. I'll pay upfront."

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Xavier was not in the mood to make a big deal out of this petty situation, so he simply cleared all the misunderstandings by taking out a large bag of coins out of his storage ring.

The receptionist was shocked to see the heavy bag, and she quickly even peeked inside to confirm what was inside. Her surprise was more than visible when she saw it was filled with gold coins.

"O-Of course, honored sir. We will provide you with the best services the Purple Gardens can provide. A steward will soon come and show you to your room."

"Alright, I'm not sure how many days I'll stay, but it's more than a week, I guess."

The receptionist quickly began making a bill for Xavier's booking, and while she was doing that, Xavier heard a gossip about him that caught his ear. It was said out loud, meant for everyone to hear.

"Looks like the Purple Gardens will even allow thieves to access their services if they have enough money. Just look at him, who carries money so crudely like that? It's obvious that it's stolen, yet the management is licking his boots. Oh, how much this hotel has fallen…"

For a moment, Xavier could not believe his ears. He could clearly see a half-drunk rich young master saying these things out loud while tightly holding a girl in his hand who clearly looked uncomfortable. One would think that Xavier would feel offended, but it was quite the opposite.

'A young master arrogantly defaming me, drunk on the power of his backing? Oh, how nostalgic. These kinds of things stopped happening to me the moment I reached the expert rank, and everyone feared me. I guess that knight in the third trial did something similar in this life, but it wasn't to this blatant extent, and it did not come from a position of malicious intent…

It's been so long, and who knows when I'll once again graduate from humiliating these shit-stains once again. Let's enjoy this one, I've been quite bored these days.'

Xavier turned around and looked at the young master like he was prey. He got chills on his back and immediately quietened down, but Xavier wasn't having it.

"I heard some rat-ass-looking guy talk shit about me. It wasn't you, was it?"

Upon hearing this insult, the young master snapped and ignored his gut feeling, which was probably begging him to just quiet down.

"What did you say to me, thief?! Nobody in this town dares to call me that, so how did an outsider like you find the guts to?!"

"Haha, I say what I think. Blame your parents for giving you a rat-ass face, not me. You know, you look like you'll run away and die if I spray some bug spray on you."

"You… Damn…"

The young master's face darkened as he snapped his fingers, and immediately, two men dressed in black appeared on his right and left side.

'Oho, the classic calling for bodyguards. What route should I take… Oh yeah, haven't tried this one in a long, long time.'

"What? Bodyguards? And at expert rank? What are you guys seriously doing with your life? Are you retarded or something?"

The bodyguards, who were ready to attack the kid, were surprised when they were addressed directly instead of their young master. They remained silent, maintaining their professional attitude.

"How much do you guys get paid? Seeing as you're in this small town, it might be 100k per year, right? That's about at most 385 a day… A. Day. That's the most pathetic ripoff I've ever heard of.

I'm telling you, the adventurer's guild pays 4000 Roubles for a damn D-rank quest that's doable by mere elites within a week. You know, I myself have done the kind of jobs you're doing right now, and these rich motherfuckers exploit the shit outta us. They will pay you something like 500-1000 for killing an expert, and when you ask for more, all you get is a pat on the back and deception.

Since we've crossed paths, let me do you a favor. Drop the sword and walk away, and I'll write you a recommendation letter, I'm a new C-rank adventurer myself."

Both the bodyguards and the young master were struck silent after hearing Xavier blabber on. Except, it was just blabber to the young master, but an eye-opening speech to the bodyguards.

"You… get 4000 by doing the work of Elite ranks?"

One of the bodyguards, to the surprise of everyone present except Xavier, broke a rule and started speaking to the enemy. Xavier smiled in turn and replied,

"Of course, how do you think I'm so rich? If it pays that much on elite ranks, imagine how much it'll pay on yours…"

The bodyguard looked at his coworker in the eyes as he saw the struggle in them too. They stood still for a long moment before they finally dropped their swords and removed their masks.

"Haa, honestly, I was looking for a reason to get out of this shitty job, but I had the fear of starving from no money and dying due to the dangerous nature of jobs at our ranks. Looking at you, who hasn't even reached the Veteran rank, live such a lavish life from adventuring, was the final straw.

I wish you luck on your journey, we'll be leaving."

Both the bodyguards gave a warrior's greeting to Xavier and left, without so much glancing at their former master.