Chapter 66: Sandy

'Can you tell me who she is?'

Once he exited the entire alley, Jim hurried to ask his old man with much curiosity.

'She is one of those ancient unique races,' the old man simply answered.

'Meaning?'

'She is one of a kind, or perhaps there are only a few in her clan left at each generation. She is a seducer, a very frightening soul race that excels best at soul attacks and spells.'

'Like reading mind?'

'Frankly speaking, she can't read your mind directly. But she can feel your soul and from it she can get a vague idea about what you think of.'

'Scary,' Jim muttered.

'Indeed,' the old man said, 'but she is also a strong ally that once served our race with much loyalty and devotion.'

Jim recalled her words back there. 'Is it true that she was supposed to get married to a human?'

'One of her ancestors perhaps had such a deal,' the old man muttered, 'strange though that this had some eco within me, but so far I can't recall the exact memory correctly. Strange!'

'You might just have gone senile old man,' Jim joked with him.

'Nah, I shouldn't forget anything,' he muttered, 'but strange enough that I can't recall exactly what she mentioned.'

Jim went into silence for a moment before asking, 'Is she really strong? Can she help in protecting me?'

'Indeed she is strong,' the old man said, 'and she is loyal, but the issue is how to get her loyalty.'

'She offered to help,' Jim said.

'I heard,' the old man responded, 'but that means only to be a customer to her to satisfy her needs. You'll need more than that to gain her trust.'

'How can I do that?' Jim asked with eagerness. If he could secure her as a backing, then alongside his future elf master and two mysterious buyers he would be much secured than ever.

No one would dare to touch him at the academy.

'You need to… devour her,' the old man's answer was something that instantly paralyzed his mind.

'What do you mean old man?' he asked.

'Y'know what I mean,' the old man laughed, ' you need to make her your own girl, this is the only way to guarantee her loyalty,' the old man said before explaining, 'seducers are such scary race, but once one delivered her body to someone, she would turn absolutely loyal to him, acting as both his strongest sword and mightiest shield.'

Jim stopped as he turned to glance at the distant alley while muttering to himself, "This will be very difficult to achieve."

'Yet not impossible.'

"Is there anything wrong?" Rili suddenly asked, distracting Jim from his deep thoughts.

"Is there an inn to stay at?" Jim simply asked before adding, "we need to eat and rest today before heading out tomorrow."

Everyone nodded. Despite not doing anything big, they didn't rest after the fight outside the walls of the town.

"There are many of such inns," Rili said before adding, "which one would you prefer?"

"One that can hold us for one hundred coins max for the rest of the week," Jim responded.

"Well," Rili paused, "this is such a high price for a small inn. I shall recommend a hotel, what do you think?"

"Shouldn't we keep some coins for the academy?" Rick said before adding, "we will have many challenges there it seems."

"Saving coins is a must, master," Roo said before whispering, "how was the lady of the goblin store? She seemed… special."

Everyone glanced at Jim with curious looks over their faces. This look made him sigh. "She is dangerous," he simply said those words before turning to Rili, "lead us towards a hotel then."

"Follow me," Rili said while Jim moved with his team towards the hotel.

"I want to hire rooms here, may I know the prices for it?" Rili led them to the counter where a rat headed race stood there wearing a silver cloak over his body and waited for any customer in a respectful manner.

"The prices are based on the academy coins," the receptionist said, "for one room, a night would cost two coins and a week cost ten."

"Good," Jim said from the side, "I want to hire thirteen rooms then," he took out the coins and gave them to the rat man.

The hotel was so luxurious, with many sparkling ores all around and the blue color prevailed here. There were many races inside the lobby. The presence of Jim and his team attracted much attention, but when he spoke and hired the rooms, the attention escalated to a higher degree.

"Why are they glancing this way towards us?" Ashley was restless from these gazes they met during their ascend to the fifth floor where their rooms were.

There was another rat man leading them on the way, acting humble and respectful and she didn't mean him by her words.

"This hotel is one of the famous hotels in the town," Rili said before helplessly adding, "a human leading a Bulltor is a scene to make everyone marvel."

Everyone understood his meaning, and they just kept their silence before they finally reached their rooms.

Everyone entered there with the promise to rest well and be awake early in the morning to fulfill Jim's plan.

Yet when he reached Ashley's room, she hesitated before turning to glance at Deno for a moment then towards Jim as she asked:

"Don't you want some company?"

Jim smiled before saying, "you can come to me at night to… chat."

She smiled and a tinge of redness appeared on her face before hurrying to enter her room.

"Sigh, she is totally in for you man," Rili said while he entered the room with Jim.

"I just had some stuff to do first," Jim didn't deny his desire in her.

"Just ask and I'll fulfill your needs," Rili wasn't stupid as he realized what Jim wanted. He wanted something from him, or else why would he invite him to be here?

"I want you to go back to the lady and ask her about her needs," Jim was slightly hesitant to do this. During his walk to here he thought many times about this, and the pros were more tempting than the risk of being exposed.

"The lady you mean… her?" Rili carefully asked before sighing when he noticed the calm face of Jim. "Man, she is dangerous as you said."

"I know that."

"Then why play with fire?"

"Just ask her about her most precious needs," Jim said, "if I can I will try to fulfill her needs and gain her as my client," he said while Rili sighed.

"Don't tell me you have already fallen for her," he said before adding, "playing with miss Sandy isn't nice. No one managed to ever crack her cold heart, and she is well known for her merciless nature. Please heed my advice and stay away from this calamity veiled in beauty."

Jim knew he was telling the truth, and he just felt glad for his honest advice. "Can you do that?" he ignored yet all his warning, which made Rili sigh again.

"Sure," he said before adding, "gimme a couple of minutes and I'll return to you with an answer."

"I'm waiting," Jim went to the room to check it before muttering, "at least I can start eating until you return."