Chapter 45 The Guild, Wickedness Incarnate I
Amelia presented her son's newest craft, a bread cake with clusters of cheese inside.
It wasn't only Constantine who sampled it, the entire family did.
It tasted wonderfully.
'I know you would have liked this, Lucille… you always ate everything, sometimes even took my dishes, little mink.' he sighed at the fact that he couldn't eat this revolutionary dish with his wife, Lucille.
They often went out to eat a lot of everything.
[S-Save some for me… that looks-] She was about to say 'tasty', but how could he allow her?
'Who's saving anything for you? Fool! I'm eating everything!'
[You damned cheapskate!]
'Miss one karma point, why do you even need a cheesecake? You're the size of a mountain, go eat a star or something.'
[*SNORT!*]
…
"It was wonderful, Sammie, you're defiitely heading down the right path." He rubbed the boy's head and disarranged the hair that his mother surely spent a lot of time tidying up, regardless, the boy was content, it is the first time anyone tastes his craft.
"You're welcome, Mr Constantine!"
'Such a good boy Aish, he reminds me of Brandon... stop thinking about them, they're here no longer...' He rubbed his forehead, he'd surely find Lucille, but his descendence, they'd stay where they are and that's for the best.
...
Amelia paid attention to how Constantine treated her son with a concealed glint.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Amelia." Zamira, seeing that once again Constantine was engulfed in his thoughts, spoke while Amelia and her son said their farewells to the family.
It was then that yet another gaze was shot at Constantine.
"It was nothing, please come here again whenever you like, Mr Constantine. I will have lots of delicious treats prepared for you." She giggled even, producing yet another twitch of the eye for the warrior lady.
'Why is she focusing on him!?' Zamira clenched her hands tightly.
Sophia's gaze moved back and forth between the three of them before she giggled and held her clueless' husband hand tightly.
Anya also held the clueless Malik.
"I'll make sure to come whenever I desire a 'treat' Miss Amelia, have a good day."
Zamira and Andre ended up paying for the cheesecakes, the bread cakes were given for free as they were 'sampling' them.
A hundred cooper coins total for five cheesecakes, a single silver coin.
According to them, this was quite expensive, but even then Constantine thought it was worth it.
Or at least, that was Amelia's excuse.
'Souvenir Treats, huh? I'll definitely come again. What a delicious widow' Constantine thought, his gaze fixed in Amelia who was now attending another customer as they left.
[You mean the cakes...]
*cough!*
'Yes, that.'
...
With everything said, the group excused themselves leaving a rejoicing Amelia whose face started to turn slightly red.
"Oh my... what a wonderful first meeting, perhaps- I hope he does come again sometime." She drifted in her thoughts while taking the customer's order, placed her finger underneath her chin and started to 'think'.
She had the bad habit of thinking too much.
'He has such a fragile looking body yet is so confident, Mr Andre seemed to respect him a lot too... and Zamira, that girl's gaze could tell stories, but she's a mercenary while I... am just a commoner... a widow even, with child, thirty-three years old already, not too long to go... perhaps he won't come again...' The more she thought about her circumstances, the more depressed she became.
"Are you okay mom?"
"O-Oh, yes... son, I'm very okay, come on, why don't you be a cutie and prepare some more of that cake? they loved it~"
She tried to act strong for her son, thankfully, he was still too young to notice her loneliness and maybe, until she perishes in the hands of rotborn, he never will.
'And that's for the best.'
"Yes!" the boy yelled happily and started to prepare his cake, unaware of his mother's dark thoughts.
**
**
"Where can we find an exchange place, Zamira? It's time we go and sell the 'goodies'~" Constantine moved the rock that was hanging from his back and slapped it several times with clear intent.
They did a slow tour through several spots in the city, clothing stores, weapons shops, pubs, there were many places that Constantine wanted to visit, but he couldn't keep relying on Andre and Zamira's pockets.
!!!
She naturally understood where the 'Goodie' was.
In truth, she didn't want to touch upon that subject just yet, but if he wanted to do so, she could only relent.
For a moment the family wondered what he meant, only Andre and Zamira knew.
"Oh… there is actually one, but it is concealed well… mercenaries are allowed entry."
"Are you taking him there, Zamira?" Andre'a gaze turned solemn.
"It is better if you don't come Andre." Zamira told the bulky guy who upon recalling where they're heading, he couldn't take his family in there and hence he just nodded.
"We will wait for you in this street, please, be careful, even if violence is prohibited there, those bastards know their way." He warned her and she nodded, taking Constantine with her.
…
"Constantine, the place we're heading too is slightly dangerous, but it is the only place I think we can sell something that valuable." She led him by the hand into an alleyway after waking several blocks.
"What's the mystery around this place?" He looked around, it was quite concealed, his alerts rang inadvertently.
"Valuable items like our 'goods' can't be exchanged normally in a simple shop, we have to contact the underworld." She said, the size of that rock was enough to tell that it would likely be above the thousand golden coins, something too valuable for a normal shop to suffice.
!!!
"Underworld!" His blood boiled and possibilities rained in his mind.
'So there is such a degree of corruption here too? as expected, wickedness abounds regardless of the place~'
[Why does that make you happy? won't that make it more difficult for you to start your 'Empire'?]
'Of course not, why do you think corruption exists?'
[Greed...]
'Correct, it is created by those that seek profit with underhanded methods, so long as you give them 'profit' they're going to willingly wave their tails to others than the ones that gave them that privilege in the first place~'
[So you can use it to your advantage?]
'Watch me.'