NOVEL NEXT Chapter 88: The Question
“This isn’t a library.” The fat clerk yelled, seeing how I was reading the magazine without paying for it.
I tossed her a copper coin and exited the store. Found a nearby cafe and sat on their patio. Men sitting nearby showed interest, pausing their conversations to take glances. I flashed them a smile as I activated [look-a-look]. They were average, in the 3s and 5s. Should I take off the bracelet? I wondered to myself… Most men didn’t have good resistance to charm. Resistance to charm was usually a born trait, but it can be strengthened by frequently rejecting women and through items. The men passing by on the streets also cast glances my way. I looked through them with [look-a-look], more 3s and 5s. Some of them were quite attractive… which was a distraction. I decided to take off the bracelet. They were as much a distraction to me as I was to them… Finally, their eyes were gone, and they returned to their conversations.
I had purchased the Macme Reader, the magazine published by the Macme academy. If any magazine was going to have the question in full detail, it’d be the Macme Reader. And as expected, the first article was about the challenge. Looking at the date and time, I realised why the newspaper didn’t have the question; the question was released today morning. A few hours after the newspaper was printed. “The fatherfuckers. They stole my money with false advertising… I suppose it wasn’t technically false… Hmm…” Anyway, I set my grievances aside and read through the question. The question alone took up two pages. I read through it carefully… “I need a dictionary…” Far too many terms were foreign to me. Reading it once wasn’t enough; I read through it again.
While I was reading it for the second time, a waiter leaned over and said, “You’re reading it, too.”
“Hello,” I said, looking up at the cute man.
“Think you can solve it?” He smirked mockingly.
“Maybe,” I said defensively. I didn’t like his smile.
“Really!” He exclaimed, placing his palms on the table, rubbing right up against me to stare at the magazine. He was too careless. “My girlfriend’s in there going crazy, trying to figure out the question.” He gestured to the interior of the cafe.
So, he has a girlfriend… “Your girlfriend a body magician?”
“No, an elemental.”
I placed a gentle hand on his thigh. “Then this won’t make much sense to her.”
“You a body magician?”
“Ah, no, an energy magician.”
“But you know how to solve this?”
“Well… ah…” I said ‘maybe’ because he was laughing at me…
“Waiter! We need sugar!”
“Oh, sorry, I’ll go get some.” Thankfully, a disgruntled customer called him away.
As soon as he left, I returned to the problem at hand.
5 minutes after he left, a woman in a plaid flannel shirt, with a pencil behind her ear, holding the magazine in one hand and a notebook in the other, showed up and plopped down at my table. Putting her magazine opposite to mine.
She looked tired. “Hey, Shiori.” I shook her hand. “Erfan, my boyfriend, said you’re working on the problem too.”
“Ah, the waiter’s…”
“I can’t make heads or tails of it.” She leaned her elbow on the table, and fisting her own hair, she stared down at the magazine.
“Ah…” I should’ve never pretended like I could solve it. “Sorry, I don’t know if I can help you,” I confessed. “I’m trying to figure it out too.”
“Oh.” She nodded.
“Yeah, your boyfriend must’ve gotten the wrong impression… for whatever reason.”
“Oh… okay…” She frowned. “Then you want to work together?”
“Oh, sure.” I agreed.
So we tossed around ideas and talked about this and that…
Her smiling boyfriend showed up and gave us both a cup of tea, saying, “On the house,” before returning to his job.
“We should go to the library,” I suggested while sipping tea. “If you want to pursue this further.”
“Yeah, looks like we’ll have to look through some body magic textbooks to make sense of this stuff.” She pouted.
I nodded. This was definitely a thesis-type question, not a stick-figure-type. You’d need at least a master’s in body magic to even attempt this question. I was ready to give up; I didn’t have the time or the skill. However, I’d have appreciated the reward; even an hour in the academy’s underground library would’ve been a huge help. They had thousands of skill books in their underground library. Though I was willing to give up, she seemed intent on solving the challenge. “So you an apprentice?” I guessed. Elemental magicians are pretty well-rounded, but their primary skills are for fighting, so an elemental magician in a city probably works for a university or research facility.
But I was wrong. “No,” she shook her head, “I’m an exterminator. I specialise in earth, fire, and heat. If a farm becomes infested with digbees or gophers, they call me. I crush them right in their burrows.”
“Ew.” I frowned. “Sounds grizzly.”
She shrugged. “I set up traps in homes too, for insects and the like.”
“Hmm…”
“Today’s my day off.”
“Oh, I see.” There was an awkward pause. “I just didn’t think exterminators were interested in solving Macme’s challenges.”
“Most aren’t.” She shrugged. “It’s a hobby.”
“Ah, that’s nice.” I nodded. “I guess it’s the same for me.”
“You’re an energy magician. But…” She looked me up and down. “I don’t have a guess.” She laughed. “I have no idea where you work.”
“I’m an adventurer.” I smiled.
“Oh, so you’re here to explore Greinsdu.”
“Then you should go to the amusement park.” Erfan, her boyfriend said, appearing out of nowhere with three plates. “On the house.” He said as he placed a plate with a burger and fries in front of me. He handed Shiori a plate and sat down with his own.
“Oh, thanks.” I hadn’t eaten lunch, so I was happy to dig in. “Yeah, num num num, I plan on num num going. There are things I need to do there. Num num…”
“It’s really fun.” He dabbed his lips with a napkin. “We went there last month.”
“We go there every year. Both of them love the stupid circus show.” The amusement park is pretty bare; it resembles a carnival by modern Earth standards.
“Oh, you love it too. Don’t lie.” Erfan smiled. “You laughed when the baby elephant was rolling around on the ball.”
“I wasn’t laughing at it rolling around. I was laughing at the idiots trying to control it.”
“You loved it.” He stated confidently.
“Both of them?” I questioned.
“Ah, my other partner.” She said. “He works as a librarian. We might be able to see him if we leave now.”
“You’re going to the library?” Erfan asked.
“Yeah, we need to look up some stuff.”
“For the challenge?”
“Yeah.” She said. I was ready to give up, but she still wanted to look into it.
“Okay.” He said. “What about you, Ah… I don’t know your name.”
“Sherrie.”
He smiled. “Sherrie, you got a boyfriend?”
“Yeah, two. Like you guys.” Just thinking about them made me smile. “They’re in Delaron.”
“You’re touring, and you didn’t bring them?” He asked suspiciously.
“I said, I’m kind of touring.”
“Yeah, kind of.” He grinned, knowing precisely what I’d be up to without my boyfriends around.
“You should’ve at least brought them to see the amusement park,” Shiori said, not seeing the point in not bringing them along.
“Ah, no… It’s not just that. We do plan on adventuring, but in Gwawleon. We’re just stopping along the way.” I explained.
“An E-rank dungeon.” She nodded.
“Yeah…”
“Alright, I have to get back to work.” He got up with his empty plate.
“Can you bring me something to drink,” I asked.
“Coffee? Tea?”
“Oh no, juice, please. Any type will do.”
“Make it to go,” Shiori told him. “We’re going to the library.”
“Alright.” He said and disappeared into the cafe.
“So we’re going to the library?” I asked.
“Yeah, don’t you want to look into it too?”
“Sure, but I just don’t think we’ll be able to solve it.”
“Hm…”
***
As soon as we entered the library, a cute guy exited the counter and briskly paced toward us. He wrapped his arms around Shiori’s waist and planted his lips on hers. She arched her back and looped her arms around his neck. A wet, passionate kiss. She moaned into his mouth and melted into his arms. His hands drifted lower and clutched her tush.
He released her mouth and hissed, “When we get home, I’m going to get on my knees and eat your pussy until you cum on my face.” I was simply standing beside her, and it made my pussy tingle; I could only imagine what was going on in her pants.
“Ah…” Her eyes bulged, shifting awkwardly between him and me. “This is Sherrie. We just met at the cafe. A friend.” She said, pushing his hands away.
“Oh, nice to meet you.” With a big grin on his face, he extended a hand.
Smiling, I shook his hand, “Yeah, nice to meet you too.”
“We came to study some body magic books.” She unrolled the magazine that was in her pocket. “Macme’s new challenge is a body magic problem.”
“You’re not a body magician.” He said.
“I know, but I can still try.”
“Just fundamental stuff.” I bud in. “A dictionary would be helpful too. A specialised dictionary on body magic terms.”
“Okay, I know where they are.” He said, remaining motionless, pressed against his girlfriend. A hand still on her lower back.
We stood in silence until Shiori said his name with a whiny grunt, “Rento.”
“Fine.” He pouted before leaving to look for the books.
“Let’s find a table.” She said, with him finally gone.
“He seems nice.”
“He is.” She smiled. “She led the way to a table.”
***
The day was getting dark. The lambs on the table shone on the stack of books Rento had brought us. He was slouched on the seat beside his girlfriend.
He whined, “Come on, guys, how long are we going to stay here?” His shift had ended an hour ago.
I agreed with him; it was time to head home. “Yeah, this is too complicated.” We had a better understanding of the question now, but that changed nothing; this was a thesis type question. “We’ll have to write a thesis to win this reward.”
“Yeah.” Shiori sulked. She sought the honorary degree that’s usually awarded to those who complete the challenge.
“And, to be honest, I have no idea how the system affected our biology.” As I had suspected, this was way above my pay grade.
“It’s asking how it affected male and female biology, right?” She was still perplexed because everything was asked in difficult-to-understand genetic and ancestral terms. “Correct?”
“Yeah. That’s what it seems like.” I looked over the question again. “It’s asking what certain genetic markers mean and…” I didn’t finish the sentence… I had no idea why she was asking me these questions; I wouldn’t have even spent this much time on this problem if it wasn’t for her. She seemed academically interested in the question, whereas all I wanted was the reward. “Yeah… I should head back to the hotel.” I changed the subject while looking out the window. The street lights were coming on. “I said I’d be back by 8.”
“There’s still time,” Shiori said.
“Come on, babe,” Rento whined.
“Yeah, but do you see us actually making any progress in the next 2 hours?” I looked up at the clock. “Less than 2 hours.”
“Hmm… You’re right.”
“Let’s call it a day. Let’s not make your boys wait.”
“Thank you.” He smiled at me.
***
As we exited the library, I stopped to gaze at the park on the other side of the library. Shiori, babbling, went on without me. “The chess loser might still be there…” I mumbled. My target was known for playing chess in that park. I touched the bracelet in my pocket, wondering, “Will it work…”
“Hey, what’re you doing!?” Shiori yelled, realising I wasn’t following her. “Aren’t you coming?”
“Ah, yeah.” I decided to leave it for tomorrow and caught up to them.
“I guess I’ll need to read The Power Gene by Rachel Bach, and…” She was still going on about it.
“Dudette,” I didn’t want to rain on her parade, but “by the time you figure out how to even answer this question, someone else will have collected the reward. Let it go Shiori. Maybe in another 6 months, we’ll have another challenge.”
“Hmm…” She was disappointed.
“I mean, if you want to read it, go ahead. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up.”
“Shiori, if you want to go to school, we can support you. Erfan and I both have jobs now, so if you want to-”
“No, we already talked about this. I like being an exterminator. I’m fine with it.”
“We know you’re fine with it, but we don’t want you to do something you don’t like for the rest of your-”
“No,” she interrupted him again, “I’m not going to some money-sucking university while you guys are working.”
“Why are you being so stubborn. Neither Erfan nor I care if you’re working, and we know-”
“No! We’re not having this conversation again. I’m not…” This seemed like something they needed to deal with in private, so I slid away from them… I walked a few steps behind them and let them have their argument.
And when they turned to the right at a crossing, I said, “I’m going this way.”
They stopped their argument to say, “Oh, you’re staying at The Boudica.”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm… I have work tomorrow, but we can meet up on Saturday.” She said.
“Ah…” I scratched my head, trying to come up with an excuse. “I’ll be kind of busy… I have a lot to do before we leave for Pallad, and I can’t really spend too much time on the problem…”
“Oh, right. An adventurer in the city, huh…”
“Right.” I awkwardly laughed.
“Then we’ll see each other if we see each other.” She shrugged.
“Yeah, I might still hang out at the cafe; it’s pretty close to the Boudica.”
“Okay.” She sounded unhappy. Based on our earlier conversations, she doesn’t appear to have many friends with whom she could talk magic.
“Goodbye, Sherrie.” He waved me off with a smile.
“Yeah, bye,” I said as we split up. They went back to arguing as we moved further apart.
It was already 8… The hotel lights were on. It looked monumental. I was going to be late.