Caution X Courage

As Tolan returned to their camp that was set up a little bit outside Lowdan, he was welcomed by his followers.

"Were you able to find out anything about the warrior?" One of them asked eagerly 

"Him and the craftsman are partners," He replied.

"That means he can possibly convince the craftsman?" the 2nd follower asked.

"He also rejected my offer, we would have to move forward with our initial plan to bring the shop to the ground," Tolan unhesitantly replied.

"and how do you plan on doing that?" Aiden asked, joining the small gathering of three men.

His appearance left the three men uncertain and cautious. The two followers instinctively reached for their concealed weapons, while Tolan remained unfazed, hinting at the level of trust he had in his bodyguards.

"Forgive my sudden intrusion," he began, his tone smooth yet laden with ambiguity. 

"Who are you?" One of the guards questioned.

"My name is Aiden, I am a resident of Lowdan and I come bearing neither sword nor shield, but rather a proposition."

"A proposition?" Tolan repeated, sounding intrigued.

"I overheard you talking to that warrior earlier, and it seemed like you had some business with Sir Owain from the Branwen Craftshop," Aiden continued.

"And how is that your business?" The 1st bodyguard asked with a hostile tone.

"As a resident of this village I happen to be very familiar with Sir Owain, and lucky for you I also have history with that warrior, so I'm the best person to help you with your plans," Aiden explained.

'He has been following me since I met with the warrior and I didn't notice, this must be a very skilled individual' Tolan reasoned.

"And what do you want in return?" Tolan asked.

"In truth I don't really want anything… but I do have one request though, all I ask is that you try to trust me, I respect the Kalzhir merchant group and only wish to prove that to you," Aiden said with his head bowed, implying his willingness to serve.

Tolan gave it a few seconds of thought before responding to Aiden, "okay, what's your big idea?" 

"First of all I'll need to know exactly how far you intend to go?"

Tolan let out a short sinister laughter, "how far I intend to go? If I say I'm going to pull it to the ground then that's exactly what I plan on doing, I'll burn it and make sure the craftsman can never craft again. I gave him a chance to join me but he made his choice and now I have to show him mine,"

' That's not going to work, I can't let them go after Sir Owain. Even if I don't know him that well Sir Owain has always been a good man so I'd prefer to avoid putting him in any danger... Instead I'll throw warrior Levi to the wolves' Aiden reasoned 

"If you plan on doing anything to the craftsman then you have to first of all take care of the warrior, Levi. If you can do that then that shop is practically yours," Aiden calmly but confidently stated.

'I'm not certain the type of relationship Levi has with Sir Owain but I need them to go after Levi first, at least that would give Levi an opportunity to use his strength to protect Sir Owain, instead of letting them go after sir Owain and destroy the shop. I'll make them fight Levi head-on, hopefully he doesn't disappoint me. Then after they are defeated I can offer them a way out,'

'.… whatever happened to Sir Owain's weird son, I haven't seen him around since that day,' Aiden thought to himself.

"Taking down the warrior isn't going to be much of a problem, I'll hire some bandits to do the job, all we'll have to do is lure him out of the village," Tolan smirked.

For Tolan, even if he couldn't trust a total stranger he couldn't just overlook the fact that Aiden had better insight into the situation, so he had no problems considering Aiden's advice as long as it wasn't anything absurd, he just had to be cautious with his dealings. He always embraced the dance between caution and courage, for in the realm of calculated risk lies the melody of success.

…..

Levi took off his console and connected it to the wall socket so it would charge. He sat up and then picked up his phone.

'No missed calls, no text messages…'

"Everyday life of a loner" he sighed.

The first thing on his mind was the money he had just deposited, so he quickly opened the AET app to confirm his balance but he was met by an unexpected figure.

"$1800!!" He exclaimed.

'I'm only supposed to receive half of the deposited amount after they collect taxes and other charges… could it be that they didn't collect any tax from me because of my title as Hero?' 

Levi grinned menacingly as he stared at the balance, 'that means I get to exchange my money for the full amount as long as I deposit it in the Lowlands'

"I'm going to be rich!" he yelled excitedly.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, I still have to find a way to attract more customers,"

'Maybe I should try the group chat' he considered.

Like usual the group chat was filled with messages, mostly just friends talking about their everyday lives and a few stories about Aetheria, there was nothing out of the ordinary until one the members sent a new message 

>Did anyone else hear a rumour about a new mythical grade item owner?<

>Yeah I think someone said they saw a mythical grade axe today at the Lowlands<

>At the Lowlands? Definitely an attention seeker<

"They are talking about me!" this realization felt unreal to Levi. 

>I heard it belonged to an Anti-player<

>Yeah, an Anti-player with a sprite<

"I'm not an Anti-player," he growled in annoyance as he continued reading.

>Well I heard she looked really pretty<

"she?! and they aren't mentioning anything about the Craftshop,"

'Rumours always have a way of spreading so fast, and the story would continue to evolve as time goes on… maybe it's for the best they don't know who I really am, nothing good can come from this type of fame'

"But how do I advertise the shop, while keeping a low profile?" He wondered, lying back on the bed.

As he sat there pondering on how he would accomplish his goal, he recalled everything that had happened over the past few days. He realized that slowly but steady as he was getting integrated into his new life, his memories of his past as an NPC was gradually being replaced by this new memories. 

The image of Elsa's beautiful face was no more as vivid as it once was in his mind, the time he spent with her was slowly getting harder to remember, but the scary thing was that the hunting memory of her battered and bruised face was still as clear as day, every single detail, from her swollen shut eyes, to the dried blood streaked across her pallid skin, with deep bruises and contusions that distorted her familiar features.

"Leviathan, just you wait," he whispered coldly, reminding himself he needed to get stronger real fast.