Chapter 41 – Quest for Food

"I might have a way to help you, but it won't be easy," Nick said with a thoughtful expression.

Horua opened his eyes widely in surprise. "You do?" he asked.

Nick nodded. "I mean, I'm the Chief Zephyx Extractor in a company, and we still need to optimize the Zephyx production of one of our Specters."

"Horua, would you be interested in becoming a Zephyx Extractor?" Nick asked.

Horua's eyes opened even more, but this time, with wonder. 

"Me? A Zephyx Extractor?"

Nick nodded with a smile. "Why not?"

"But I just turned eleven," Horua said with a bit of nervousness.

Nick just laughed. "So? Why not start early? Even more, it's not even difficult to work with that Specter. You basically just have to fall asleep in its presence! Additionally, since your Zephyx Synchronizer hasn't been attuned yet, you should also get a nice ability from it."

"As long as you don't die, nothing bad can happen."

Horua looked at Nick like he couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Are you sure? Can I really become a Zephyx Extractor?"

"Of course," Nick said with a chuckle. "You will gain an ability, a stable job, and lots of money. You might not earn as much as me, but you will still earn more than everyone in the Dregs."

Horua started to jump up and down in excitement. "Thank you! Thank you so much! You're the best, Nick!"

Nick just laughed some more. He always enjoyed it when Horua was excited.

Due to Horua's bad situation, he was rarely happy.

Whenever Nick wasn't present, Horua was worried and stressed. He even had trouble sleeping due to all the pressure.

"Anyway, I apparently have three days of vacation for now, which means I can't take you there right now, but after my vacation is over, I'll take you to your future workplace."

"You're going to see a real Specter, Horua," Nick said with a laugh.

"Wow, a real Specter," Horua echoed in wonder.

The two of them talked some more, but a couple of minutes later, Nick left the house again.

Earlier, Nick had felt aimless. He hadn't known what he should do with his newfound freedom.

But now, that problem had been solved.

Nick could use his position to help one of his friends out.

'It feels good to do good deeds.'

'Now, since the problem with Horua has been solved, I should take a look at some houses in the Outer City!' Nick thought with excitement.

But before long, Nick stopped.

Grumble.

'You know, I'm actually quite hungry. I think I haven't eaten anything in like a day or so,' Nick thought.

'What do I want to eat today?'

'Rat?'

'Fly?'

'Some veggie cubes from the market? I can now buy a lot of them with my money!'

'I could also go with rust mushroom, but I don't really want to. It tastes a bit too acidic for me.'

'Although, the house does have a ripe colony of rust mushrooms, and if I don't eat it soon, it will turn toxic and start releasing toxic spores.'

Nick scratched the back of his neck.

'I should just check out the market,' he thought with a shrug.

Nick changed direction and walked towards the market of the Dregs.

As soon as he arrived, most people turned to him.

Why was a Zephyx Extractor here?!

Nick tried his best to ignore the stares, but they still pulled his mood down a bit.

In the end, Nick entered one of the shops at the side of the market.

He had only gone into some of them due to a job, but he had never bought anything there.

The things in these shops were just too expensive.

The shop Nick had entered had many different pieces of food lying around.

There was rat, cat, dog, fly, and bird, and they even had several different kinds of veggie cubes!

The selection was amazing.

"H-How can I help you, sir?" the owner of the shop asked Nick as soon as he entered.

"Hey, I'm hungry. Do you have anything good to eat?" he asked.

The owner of the shop looked with confusion and suspicion at Nick. "Ye-yes, but I'm not sure if my wares have the quality your tongue desires, sir," he said with a bitter smile.

Nick just waved his hand to signal that it wasn't a big deal. "Just tell me what tastes good in here."

The owner of the shop became more nervous. "Well, I made a new cauldron of veggie cube soup. I'm not sure if sir is interested in veggie cubes, though. Sir is probably more familiar with real vegetables."

"Real vegetables?" Nick repeated with surprise. "Oh, right! I totally forgot that there are supposed to be real vegetables somewhere! Do you have any?"

The shop owner became more nervous.

This Zephyx Extractor was acting very strangely.

Was this some kind of scheme or technique to get some information out of the shop owner?

The Extractor's conduct made no sense.

Nevertheless, the shop owner had no chance but to go along with it.

"Sadly, no, sir," the shop owner said. "No one in the Dregs would buy them due to the price."

"Oh, okay," Nick said. "Then, give me some of that veggie cube soup."

"Of course, sir," the shop owner said as he quickly walked over to a cauldron.

The owner took the lid off, and Nick could smell the aroma.

It smelled absolutely amazing!

The next moment, the owner took out a bowl made of rusty metal and scooped some of the soup out of the cauldron.

"That will be ten credits, sir," the owner said nervously as he put the bowl down on the counter.

Ten credits were 10% of the monthly tax.

Only rich people in the Dregs could afford to eat something this luxurious.

The majority of the shop's customers probably came from the gangs.

Nick took out the card he had received from Wyntor and placed it on the counter. 

When the shop owner saw the card, he smiled bitterly.

"Sir, we can't trade with bank cards in the Dregs."

"I'm not allowed to collect the outstanding balance from the banks since I am living in the Dregs."