Last Pact Standing (11)

"Hohoho! Here's your cheeseburger meal with a large chocolate milkshake and fries." Malnourished Santa wore a fast food worker's attire and was by a burger stall. Though, on the signboard it stated token deposit center. 

"What fries? Didn't we agree on cheesy loaded fries?" Julien took the package and complained. 

They had deposited so many tokens by now that the malnourished merchant had begun giving them potions and elixirs along with essential items and whatever food they asked.

Jackie and Amelia didn't have much of a food preference so Julien got them the same stuff he was having. The meals right now were far better than the plain hotdog he had for the first time here.

"Hoh?" The merchant curled his milky white mustache and said apologetically, "I beg your pardon, Player. The store is out of chicken and can't do loaded fries anymore."

"Tsk. Then as a compensation, I'd take a stamina elixir instead. You know, the loaded fries really would've fueled me, but you're out of it, making me incur a loss." Julien argued. 

"Hohohohoho!" Malnourished Santa Claus looked up at the sky and laughed loudly. "Interesting! Very interesting!"

Throughout the history of trials, there had never been an instance where a Player bargained with the merchant. They all thought of him as a NPC and assumed that he only had a few sets of lines to say.

Though, the Players weren't wrong in this regard. 

In the initial phases, the merchant was indeed like that. However, as one progressed, the NPCs would barely seem like NPCs given how sentient they would become. 

Right now, Julien was able to bargain because of his special condition. 

All teams were in an alliance except his. He had a lot of tokens to deposit, and with each token came a reward. The reward would become better as time ran out.

Before, the meals came as a reward in exchange. Now, they became complimentary with other rewards. 

In the final stretch of his past life, Julien ran out of money so he was barely surviving on instant noodles. He had lost all taste and was just eating for sustenance, which continued on for many weeks. 

He remembered craving a cheeseburger but was too broke to have it delivered. 

Right now, he did not have much thought behind his speech. The merchant was just an NPC in his eyes and he was bargaining plainly out of boredom and curiosity. 

The merchant took out a blue-colored vial from under the stall and gave it to Julien. He twirled his mustache and said, "Your compensation, Player. One stamina elixir."

"Eh?" Julien was taken aback. 

"Ehhh?" Jackie and Amelia were shocked too. 

"You could do that?" Jackie asked. 

"Oh my… the lord's really generous today…" Amelia said with a soft smile. 

"Merchant, I don't want food. Can you take all of this and give me a high grade sword in exchange?" Julien asked.

"Pleasure doing business, hohoho!" The merchant replied.

"Huh? Can we exchange it or not?" Julien asked again. 

"Pleasure doing business, hohoho!" The merchant replied again. 

"Tsk. He broke." Julien clicked his tongue and shook his head. 

"Better luck next time, Master." Jackie said and patted Julien's shoulder. 

Better luck next time? Hah! If only you knew… 

Julien shook his head and walked away with the cheeseburger meals. 

He handed one to Jackie, and another to Amelia.

The three members of the Pact God's Beloved Children sipped on their chocolate milkshakes and leisurely walked away from the deposit center. 

"The burger is good. Very meaty, cheesy, and saucy." Julien said while taking a big bite out of it. 

Jackie and Amelia had small bites of their own burger and tasted it. 

Indeed, it was meaty and tasty. Jackie liked it while Amelia had a complicated expression on her face. 

Watching that, Julien asked, "Are nuns not supposed to have meat? Like, is all life important?"

Amelia swallowed the food and washed it down with the milkshake. She then turned to Julien and answered, "That's a philosophical question and everyone has a different belief regarding it. Like for instance…"

Different cultures resulted in different practices. 

If a church was in a place where wheat and potatoes were scarce, they would resort to eating meat for sustenance. 

A church usually sustained itself through donation. If people gave them meat for food, it was seen as a grace of god. Rejecting it may be blasphemous. 

Another belief was that by consuming meat, the nuns acknowledge the spiritual significance of the cycle of life, and ensure that the energy from the animal continues to sustain life. 

There were many beliefs and traditions. 

"…personally, I wouldn't hunt any animal but also wouldn't reject if anyone offered food. For instance, Master has worked hard to obtain these. Turning it down would be disrespectful and ungrateful of me." 

Jackie nibbled on his cheeseburger and said, "Seems quite contradictory and hypocritical, if you ask me."

Amelia sipped on her milkshake and said with a smile, "I don't make the rules. It's just how it is traditionally."

The world sure is a fascinating place, thought Julien. 

"In any case, there's still 58 teams left." Julien changed the topic. "If those guys aren't stupid, they would band together and wait for us to approach them."

"If they band together in one place, it would be difficult for us to kill them." Jackie said casually and sipped on some milkshake. 

Julien shook his head. "It won't be a problem. I have just the right strategy."

"Oh?" Jackie was interested. "What is it?"

"I'll let you know when we reach." 

"Alright."

…..

[00:19:59_59]

[The safe zone is shrinking.]

[Stay within the safe zone to avoid disqualification.]

…and yet again, we are within the safe zone. Julien thought. 

The trio had reached the dwelling of the temporary alliance. From a distance, they could see more than a hundred silhouettes gathered in an open field between a dense jungle area. 

Julien, Jackie, and Amelia were on a tall tree, watching those people. 

"Shall we start?" Julien asked. 

"I'm ready." Jackie gave his approval. 

"Me too." Amelia added. 

Julien stared at the silhouettes and fixed his gaze on a particular person standing at the outer edge of the group, getting no attention from anyone. 

"Jackie, I'll bring a Player here, attack immediately and don't let him fight back. Amelia, act as support. Keep your distance to give enough room to Jackie to fight." 

"Understood." The two said in unison. 

After getting their response, Julien vanished from his spot.