Chapter 15 Archive Log 25.2 Business Talks

I had just walked inside when all the heads turned towards me, looking at me either with surprise or confusion.

There were a dozen of them in the room, with ten of them seated around a large table and two standing on the sides, with their backs against the wall.

As I scrutinized all the Goldifen Race's members in the room, I quickly surmised the ones I came to observe to be the seated ten. Quickly looking around the room to find the best spot for the observation, I spotted a couple of empty seats at the other end of it.

I was just taking my second step towards one of them when the people seated began to speak in muted voices while pointing at me. Then one of the ten, who was sitting alone at the short side of the table, even got up from his chair and yelled at me all worked up.

I honestly couldn't figure out the reason for that kind of reaction, I only came to observe them in their natural business environment.

After shouting at me some more, he turned to yell at the two standing by the sides, all the while pointing at them and me back and forth.

Those two standing, after being yelled at, seemed to get the message that eluded me. They started to walk towards me at the beginning, only to switch it to charging two steps later.

'Even if I was new to "business" and what it represented, I was sure this turn of events wasn't beneficial for it' I thought.

I didn't know their purpose, but it was apparent to me that the two Goldifens charging at me were distracting the others from continuing their business. With the problem swiftly identified I proceeded to decide the solution to it.

My first thought was to make them sleep, just like the one before who blocked me. But if I did that their sleeping presence might still be a distraction to the others. So, I went with my second thought, which was of course to completely clear out the obstacles preventing me from recording.

Of course, these thoughts of mine only lasted a fragment of the second, and by the time they closed on me with their hands stretched, I was ready to take action.

Instead of shooing them to sleep, I applied just a miniscule amount of my strength on their bodies, immediately transforming them into particles without a form to be seen, thus clearing the room for the seated Goldifens to do their thing in peace.

'That should do it! Now that the distractions are gone, they can focus on doing business, and me on recording it down!'

Very proud of myself for finding the best solution to the problem, I walked to one of the empty seats I saw earlier and sat down. I took out my Archive Log and fixated my gaze to them, ready to input everything about business.

For the next few moments, they didn't do anything else except stare at me with their unblinking eyes.

I thought they would resume their work since there are no more distractions, but instead they kept staring at me without moving.

I began to think my entry into their space was too sudden for them to handle, so I decided to give them a little more time to gather themselves since it wasn't their fault.

But even after waiting for a while, they stayed unmoving.

"Cough!" Getting a little impatient, I gave them a signal I learned through my travels - which meant to continue their actions - and see if it worked. And indeed, it did.

They finally stopped looking at me and turned towards each other.

The first one to speak and break the silence was the same who yelled at me at the beginning.

Following his lead they all took their turns to speak, sometimes flipping through the papers they had in front of them while at other times standing up to draw attention and say their piece. There were also a couple of times where the ones who stood up would initiate a light show on the white wall behind them and often point at the various illustrations.

Through their actions, gestures and what they had shown on the wall, I could infer they were proposing some sort of ideas. Since what they were discussing was all about business, I figured the ideas had to do with it too. In conclusion, what they were proposing were ideas of how to make already existent businesses better or how to create new ones.

During their business talks there were still a few who took short glances at me, but I dismissed them as unimportant.

By the end of their talks, I finally learned the ultimate goal of "business", which was to earn currency. Any currency would count as earnings as long as it held value to them.

The entire series of steps and procedures required to do a successful business were still out of my reach, but as I already gained the fundamentals for them, it wouldn't be long before I grasped them by myself.

All in all, I really admired their ingenuity and smart thinking for creating such complex and structural concepts such as business transactions and currency exchange to enrich the process of the simple act of trade.

But then again, they probably needed something exciting in order to find meaning in their short lives.

Believing to have gained every existing data about "business" available to their race, I put my Archive Log away and stood up, ready to leave in a bit of a hurry.

The data gathered this time around was very interesting and I wanted to examine it again. The stairs as a way out would be nice, but would be too slow, so I would be leaving using a faster way. 

My action almost caused them to jump off their seats. Their reaction amused me.

'They must have enjoyed my presence and don't want me to leave, but at the same time, they are shy and won't express it. In the end, as smart as they are for "business", they don't stop to be still a young race.'

After looking at all of them one final time, silently thanking them for all they had shown me, I stepped into the void and left the Goldifen Race behind, ready to plan my next venture.