Chapter 42: Ruins of Marten part-3

As Flame Emperor inspected the skeleton, it showed the same as the previous ones, which led him to wonder whether this is as harmless as before.

Meanwhile, looking no damage occurred on Blademaster Valdis as the Giant Skeleton guard land a hit him, Wil suddenly gave an order, "Valdis, Huxley, Hiro, all three of you back off. Too many people distracting it is useless. Remia, block it, and try to get it away from there for a while."

Although Remia was taken aback with the weird order, she nodded silently and skillfully drags it away from there to the corner of the chamber while the remaining gathered at the old rusty Giant treasure chest.

Then, Wil opened the chest and his face glowed as he saw the items in the chest. But, then, it was replaced by a frown.

Looking at Wil's face, SnowDew curiously put her head forward and saw the items in the treasure chest and let out a squeal, "wah! So many gold coins. We've struck it big."

Inside of the chest, there are no items or skill books of such sort. As Snow Dew described, it's completely filled with gold coins.

Looking at the number of gold coins, Flame Emperor gulped and a greedy look appeared on NPCs but they controlled themselves.

Meanwhile, Wil, who was frowning, started to think, "Judging by the size of the chest, there must be at least 5000-10000 gold coins. Even in my previous life, there's no treasure chest that gave this many gold coins."

Wil then took out a gold coin and used inspection on it.

Gold coin (corrupted)

Description: It's a gold coin that was corrupted by the demonic energy.

Wil laughed and gave it to Flame Emperor, "it's worthless. Inspect it."

As Flame Emperor inspected the coin, he was taken aback, "a corrupted gold coin?"

Wil replied, "It cannot be used as a currency. Let's go."

Upon hearing him, the three NPCs were taken aback in a surprise and Huxley spoke, "you weren't kidding, right? Are all of these worthless, now? A corrupted gold coin is still a gold coin, right?"

Wil snorted as he saw their intelligence dropped because of greed, "is a human corrupted with demonic energy, a human too? No, he's called a demon. Once you bring it out to the city, higher beings like city guardians or mayor will sense it and you will be punished for it."

Hearing his explanation, their bodies shook with fear as they even imagined the situation.

But then, SnowDew asked curiously, "if they are corrupted, then maybe we can purify them, later?"

Suddenly, Wil saw a hopeful look appeared on the despaired NPCs as their salaries are only in single digits of gold and even if they get their one-seventh share, each one would become rich.

But he once again dashed their hopes by replying, "once a being is corrupted, you will them by killing. In the same way, a corrupted thing can only be purified by destroying it."

While Flame Emperor and the NPCs were convinced, SnowDew argued back, "but we don't know if we don't try it."

"If you want, you can store them. I won't stop you. But, I should warn you though. If you place corrupted things in your inventory, it will corrupt other items in your inventory."

Wil turned away and began to walk towards the outside without any care while the NPCs followed him with a disappointed look.

Meanwhile, as SnowDew was looking at them as if her treasure was being taken away, Flame Emperor dragged her, "forget it. Dad will buy you gold coins, later. Okay? Why take our chances..."

Just then, Flame Emperor received a private message, "store all the gold in your inventory. We'll split 50-50 later."

Flame Emperor immediately turned his head towards Wil who was already out of the room with others.

"What a sly b*****d."

Then, he quickly stopped SnowDew who was about to walk away.

"Wait a bit. I'll pass all the items in my inventory to you. You store them while I'll store all the gold in my inventory. That way, none of the items will be corrupted."

SnowDew's face was lit up as soon as she heard her dad's suggestion, "I knew Dad's the best."

After storing away, as they quickly exited the room, the Skeleton guardian fell on the ground lifeless.

Meanwhile, Remia whose eyes were glowing in red as she was observing them from the start while holding back the skeleton guardian in the corner mumbled, "these damn humans. I knew they can't keep their greediness in their hearts and take the treasure even it was worthless."

***

The team of 7 continued their journey while Wil and Flame Emperor are exchanging private messages.

Time Traveler: How many gold coins were you able to collect?

Flame Emperor: 7350. I'm not hiding any gold coins. This is the true number. If you want, I can screenshot my inventory and send it to you.

Time Traveler: No, it's fine. Even if you take some for yourself, you can't do anything. After all, you still can't use it without purifying, or else you will be caught by the guardian.

Flame Emperor: So, that part is really true. I thought you were just spouting lies to make sure the others give up.

Time Traveler: I only lied about how they can't be purified. The rest of them is the truth.

Flame Emperor: What if I want to keep everything to myself?

Time Traveler: Then, I'll just kick the two of you out of the party and kill you. And it wouldn't matter if you run away to another city. You won't get any penny. Only I know how to purify them.

Flame Emperor: And you won't certainly do it for free.

Time Traveler: bingo.

Flame Emperor: If I'm right about your character, you'll ask for more share of the gold coins cuz it's the only valuable thing I can offer you.

Time Traveler: Wow, you judge my character perfectly. Hmm, since we tactically agreed on 50-50, that means I get 3675 gold as my share. So, I ask 1000 gold as a payment to purify the remaining 2675 gold. Either that or...

Flame Emperor: Or?

Time Traveler: I want the two of you to join my guild. I mean, not just limited to the game. I will neither restrict your freedom nor will order you two to do something against your wishes.

Time Traveler: Honestly, I invited the two of you with me to try and poach you to join my guild because you leveled-up without the use of guards like me and didn't use the numbers as you don't have a guild.

Time Traveler: So, are you willing to join with these conditions and have 3675 coins or will you take 2675 coins and continue your life as before?

*

After sending the message with an ultimate choice, Wil thought, "if you chose the latter, I won't bother with you two again after this quest is over and treat you the same as strangers."