Chapter 215 40.3 Random Encounters?

NICOLE

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"Well, there goes my first impression..." she lamented.

"Is there something wrong?"

Shaking her head, Nicole did her best to recover. She had suffered through worse humiliating positions like this. This would be no different than her utterly failing her oral test just this last week.

"Right!" she yelled out, consolidating her shattered confidence once more as she pointed her finger at the admittedly smooth man beside her. "This man broke a very precious and priceless invention of mine!"

The Kattleynan lady blinked, tilting her head in confusion even as her smile never left her face. "Okay?"

"I-"

Nicole's eyes widened, her mind thankfully catching up to her mouth as she promptly thought about her next few words. Being demanding wasn't going to be the best move here, especially after her failed grandstanding attempts with this lady's servant. No, she needed some tact here, one that she was admittedly never the best at no matter how hard her parents tried to beat it out of her.

"Yes?" the lady asked once more, clearly waiting for the wannabe to explain herself.

"R-Right, I'm here because I'd like to ask for reparations for the... damages your employee caused," Nicole carefully worded, her mind struggling to keep itself from burning out from how foreign her own words sounded in her ears. "If you would be so kind as to spare me around five Chips, I'll be on my way."

"Five Chips?!"

Nicole resisted the urge to flinch at the way the kid servant cried aloud. She knew she was asking for a lot, but it was insurance for her future projects, one that would last her a decent while before she got to retake her Academic exams next month. In a way, she was only extracting what was expected of her invention once it went into production. It was even cheap considering just how much-

"Absolutely not, lady!"

...

...Eh? Were her ears correct in hearing that it was the servant kid that answered her demands?

Looking back down, the kid was absolutely fuming, their chest puffed up like before even as the pout on their face only made her squee at how adorable they looked.

"It's the potential costs of what I lost," Nicole smiled, kneeling down and patting the kid's beret. "But enough of that, I want to hear from your boss here."

Standing back up, she ignored the way the kid tried to pull her back down to their height. Surely, they'd be punished for acting above their station later anyway.

"I see," the Kattleynan lady hummed in thought. "I supposed I can give you that much?"

Her eyes widened, her mind already running with the amount of stuff she could do and make with that much money. It was more than what she'd make in three months, and it'd more than tide her over for her rent among other things!

"Thank you for understanding," Nicole smugly thanked, her own feelings showing themselves on her face no matter how much she tried to hide it.

"Nope! We're all out, Shizu!"

...

...What?

Nicole felt her cheeks strain as the smile on her face almost fell of with what she just heard. Why- What- How? Clearly, they were some kind of rich tourists that came from the neighboring nation. Travel between the Deep was practically as expensive as buying a house, and yet she was still here buying up what looked to be the entire port market's yearly supply of books. It almost made her suspect that they were spies from Kattleyna, but it didn't matter to her at the moment.

She wanted her money, and she wanted it now.

"Huh? Surely that's not the case," the newly named Shizu addressed her servant, the smile on her face wavering just a bit. "I feel like we've only been buying stuff an hour ago."

"Dat's with ya buying up everything in sight!"

This was surreal...

Nicole could only stand in awe as the young kid servant began chiding their boss as if it was nothing to them. All the while, Shizu just stood there and smiled, not even looking worried despite just hearing of their current lack of Chips.

"W-wait, you mean you can't pay?" Nicole couldn't help but ask.

"We still can. We just have to get Moriya to give us more Chips," Shizu waved off as if it was nothing. "Shade?"

"Yes? Shizu?"

"Can you take all this stuff off our hands before we go make our way back to the market square?" the Kattleynan lady gracefully instructed. "I'll just take Shen with us with Nicole here."

"Wha-Of course."

Somehow, the Marquean gawked as the man she now knew was named Shade, the man that she was just accosting earlier, had come and picked up the massive amount of stuff that the lady was carrying with one hand. To her surprise, he actually struggled to pick them up from Shizu's hands, resorting to using both arms to even carry the load. He was positively sweating, all while his boss didn't even look like she hadn't been carrying much since they first met.

How strong was she?

"Alright, with that out of the way, let's go meet Moriya!"

Nicole was once more taken out of her element as she saw the servant, Shen, sigh at their boss's antics. Or was it her? Shen was a woman's name, right?

Ugh.. She couldn't hold back her burning curiosity anymore! "If you don't mind me asking, are you a boy or a girl?"

The kid projected the barest hint of a flinch before they turned their head to face her. With a pout, they responded, "I have the exact same stuff that you have, lady."

O-Oh... "Thank you."

Ignoring the way the girl rolled her eyes at her, Nicole was quick to catalog what she just learned of this new group she had found herself tagging along with. There was Shizu, the obviously Kattleynan boss of the group, Shen, which was the servant girl, and Shade, who was probably acting as some sort of bodyguard. Also, there was also this Moriya she hadn't met yet. Judging by their name, they were probably another Kattleynan, possibly a treasurer of some sort if Shizu needed to get her money from the guy.

Silently, Nicole followed, her mind inevitably roaming back to all the things she could do with the amount of money she was about to receive. Sure, she was more than ready to do anything to get her funding, but this was pretty much the best-case scenario she could've gotten. Granted, her prototype got destroyed, but it was more than paid for by the generosity of this graceful Kattleynan lady.

Truly, the stereotypes surrounding Kattleynans and their grace were correct and factual.

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GUIDANCE

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Lazily sitting beside Moriya, Guidance couldn't help but feel as if she was losing herself in the moment like this. It was her first time ever feeling like she was loved apart from her best friend, and it was borderline intoxicating just how much she was pining for the man that she had just given her virginity to.

Then again, she was also a nerd that was practically allergic to romance until recently.

"Say, after all of this, what do you think will happen?" she absently asked. "To us being in another world, I mean."

"How should I know?" Moriya scoffed, his tone somehow having smoothened out over the course of their journey. "Aren't you the one that made this whole thing?"

"As I've said, I don't have full control of this world anymore," she chuckled, relishing the warmth that his shoulder was giving her. "If anything, we're at the mercy of the Re:Mind Engine. The more it sputters out, the more the world changes."

It was the universal truth that they currently had to live with. With her access being limited even further and further, she didn't even know how long she had until she was fully locked out of the system. Sure, she, along with Shizu, had adapted rather well to the random changes to the coding language, but there was still a chance that the hexadecimal structure she was currently working with would change into something that would be much more of a pain to work with.

C++... Prolog... LISP... She'd rather work with Binary than touch those godforsaken programming languages.

"So it would seem," Moriya sighed. "Still, do you mind getting stuck in here? In this world?"

Guidance hummed in thought before she responded. "It's my world. I'd rather live here than back in our old world. At least here, I'll have the power to change things. To be more than just a random programmer working long shifts."

"Heh, I'm glad then."

"Oh?"

Flashing her a smile, Moriya chuckled as he replied, "Well, I wasn't planning on going back either way. What's there to go back to anyway? Besides basic comforts, at least?"

"I guess you're right," Guidance chuckled. "If you want, I can get to upgrading the [Rig] once we have the time."

"I'll look forward to it then."

Once more, the ambient noise of the markets settled between them. It was relaxing, to say the least, especially with Moriya by her side like this. She didn't think she'd end up liking this man, but at least she-

"Moriya!"

Guidance blinked as she heard Shizu's voice approaching. She couldn't help but sigh even as a smile adorned her face. Well, at least it was fun while the peace lasted.

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