ASS 8

~Part 1~

William left Twilight Ogre's building with a smile. The Guildmaster had quickly helped him set up the job requests and was left satisfied with them. Their difficulty ranged from F to D rank as they were pretty easy since people didn't need to travel too much and had a low chance of encountering enemies. Additionally, he requested they bring him any interesting herbs or plants they found on their other jobs and promised to pay a suitable price if they were valuable.

Now, William was off to Fairy Tail to post the job requests there as well. He wasn't sure if they even bothered doing low-rank missions, but he did remember that there were a few kids in the guild, so maybe they did. Though one of them did have his book, so they'd probably bring whatever they found to them. That sucked, but hey, at least he was offering to pay them. Maybe they would be enough to win them over.

As William entered the Fairy Tail guild house, he noted how calm it was. He expected a brawl to be ongoing, but people were just chatting peacefully. He garnered quite a few looks, though none came up to talk to him.

Loke was sitting on his lonesome in a corner with a complicated expression and a mug in hand. The moment he spotted William, he tensed up and watched him like a hawk as the shopkeeper made a beeline towards the counter. He was promised his secret would be kept safe, but he was still on guard. If it came to it, Loke was ready to run at a moment's notice.

Mira was standing behind the bar, watching the people with a pleasant smile on her face. Cana was sitting in front of her on a stool, staring at the drink in her hand.

"Will, nice to see you," Mira greeted him with a charming smile. It was hard to imagine that the gentle and caring girl was one of the scariest wizards in town.

Cana turned and stared at him thoughtfully as he neared while finishing her drink in one swing.

"Hello, Mira," William greeted her back with a smile. "And Cana."

"Here to pick up Erza?" Mira asked, her kind smile never leaving her face.

"No, she should be training right about now," William replied with a shake of his head. "I'm actually here to see if Makarov has returned, and I did promise to have a discussion with Cana."

The brunette let out a small smile. The fact that William came meant that he had some ideas that could help her. They might not be beneficial, but she just might find some inspiration in them.

"Mhm," Mira nodded and peeked at Cana before turning back to William and looking him up and down. "I think you looked better in a suit."

"You think so?" He asked, feeling his ego grow. "Good thing I plan on upgrading my wardrobe with a lot of those."

"Yep, that look suits you more," Mira replied with a mischievous smile.

William did a double take at her pun while Cana groaned, resting her face in her palms and massaging her temples.

"Is this normal?" William asked Cana.

"She's been reading the lame jokes from the newspapers as of late," Cana replied with a sigh, keeping her face hidden with her palms.

Mira just giggled as she leaned forward with a hand under her chin. Her other arm was right beneath her chest, and that not only pushed up her already sizable breasts but it also gave him a perfect view down her cleavage.

'Don't look, don't look, don't look,' William kept repeating in his mind. 'Keep your gaze on her face. Focus on her eyes. Wow, Mira's blue orbs are really enchanting. Oh shit, her mouth is moving.'

"...for?"

"I'm sorry, what?" William asked and looked to the side in embarrassment.

"I asked what do you need the Master for?" Mira said with a giggle, leaning forward even more, fully knowing what she was doing.

'Saucy little minx! What a dangerous girl!' William took a deep breath.

"I want to place a few easy job requests and also discuss a particular topic with him," William replied as he decided to just avoid looking in Mira's direction altogether.

"I see, well, the Master came back yesterday, but he left earlier today. I'm not sure when he will be back, but if you want to place a few job requests, I can help you with that," Mira answered with ease.

"Hmm..." Before William could even answer, the doors to the guild pushed open. Makarov swiftly ran inside and slammed them shut.

"If anyone asks, I'm not here!" Makarov shouted for all to hear before speedily running towards the back of the building. On the way, he noticed William at the bar and stopped in place.

"Youuuu!" Makarov pointed at him with a mixture of happiness and annoyance.

"Are you the one that taught Natsu that?" William asked, blinking his eyes rapidly.

"Taught him what?" Makarov asked, tilting his head in confusion.

The doors to the guild slammed open once more as Natsu barged in at that moment. His head darted back and forward before his gaze landed on William.

"YOUUUUU!" Natsu's yell echoed through the guild as he pointed at him.

"That!" William grumbled in clear annoyance. Though a part of him found it funny how perfectly that lined up.

"I knew I smelled you, you bastard! Time for a rematch!" Natsu slammed his fist against his open palm, heated up at the prospect of fighting William again.

Fire burst around the Dragon Slayer as the Fairy Tail members watched in interest. They hadn't seen their last fight, but they saw the state Natsu was brought back, covered in his own vomit and being carried by a gagging Happy, who kept mumbling something about fish. All of them wanted to see how William had defeated Natsu and how strong the shopkeeper was.

Well, almost all of them. Makarov had a horror-stricken face. If Natsu attacked William, and god forbid, injured him... then he could forget about getting the potion he needed, let alone asking the shopkeeper where he could find an alchemy table.

"Don't you dare!" The tiny little gremlin that didn't even reach William's waist turned into a giant in a split second. Makarov didn't use a flashy and colorful elemental magic, but damn if it wasn't scary looking at an elephant-sized man. And he should be able to grow larger, from what William knew.

Natsu's eyes were wide as saucers as Makarov cocked his fist back. The realization of how fucked he was at that moment was clearly shown on his face. Makarov then struck, and like a pitcher hitting a homerun, Natsu flew out of the guild, creating a large hole in the building.

"Natsuuuu!" Wings sprouted from the furball's back.

"Flying is my thing! Why are you copying me?" Happy yelled as he flew after Natsu.

'Holy shit!' William cursed in his mind. He'd been in this world for almost a month now. However, this was the first time William saw firsthand the superhuman feat the people of Earthland could do.

"Will he be okay?" William asked the two girls next to him. He might've not had the best first impression of the Dragon Slayer, but that didn't mean he wished Natsu to be punted like a baseball.

"Natsu's very durable," Mira replied.

"He should be fine," Cana nodded in agreement.

"William is a friend of Fairy Tail!" Makarov declared afterward as he shrank down. There was no need for any more words, the rest of the guild understanding what he meant.

"So, umm, is there anything I can help you with on this fine day?" Makarov asked, nervously rubbing his hands as he approached William.

"I actually wanted to speak with you," William replied, still a bit shaken as he looked at the hole Natsu flew out of.

"Good! Wonderful! I also wanted to speak with you!" Makarov exclaimed loudly. "Come, let's talk in private!"

There was a brief moment of silence as the guild members watched Makarov lead William to a private room. Once they disappeared from sight, they all started discussing what they saw.

"Did you see that? The Master, the MASTER, acted nervously in front of him."

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen him like that."

"I wonder how strong he really is."

"We know he's stronger than Natsu, but maybe we've underestimated him."

"You... don't think he's too offended by what happened earlier, right?" Wakaba asked with a tremble. Hearing no response, he turned to his companion. "Right, Macao?"

"Huh?" Macao looked at him weirdly.

"Who are you? I don't know you. Don't talk to me," Macao said as he stood up, moving over to a different table.

"Hey, don't leave me alone!"

"Get away from me, stranger!"

"So, how have you been? Hopefully, your business has been doing well," Makarov started as they entered a room in the back of the building. "You know, I returned yesterday from a meeting with a few of the Guildmasters in Fiore. I even advertised your store, so you should expect a visit from some of their members."

William narrowed his eyes. Makarov was acting very suspicious with how friendly he was. Something didn't smell right. William wrinkled his nose as the two sat down with a small coffee table between them.

"Then I must thank you for that," he still replied in kind.

"Oh, no, no, don't worry. It was no problem. I was happy to inform the other guilds about your business," Makarov said with a nervous chuckle.

"Aha." William was now sure there was something fishy going on.

"So, umm," Makarov fake coughed, seeing how his buttering up wasn't working. "What did you want to speak with me about?"

"Well, first of all, I want to place a few job requests for ingredients gathering," William said.

"Done!" Makarov instantly accepted. "What else?"

William just stared at him for a moment before continuing. "I wanted to ask you about the Magic Council."

Makarov turned serious in a split second. "Go on."

"What do you think their stance would be on my store? Do you think they might try something?" William asked.

He hadn't been too worried about the Magic Council until he started dating Erza. However, with his relationship in mind, William was sure Jellal might try to do something, not to hurt him specifically, but to fuck with Erza. At this point in the timeline, he wasn't sure if Jellal was part of the Magic Council or not, but William preferred to be safe than sorry.

"Have you added new potions to your stock?" Makarov asked, and William informed him of his current stock.

"Hmmm," Makarov tapped his chin. "Once your potions have proven how good they are, the Magic Council will definitely reach out to you."

"The Physical Resistance and Strengthening Potions sound like something they would want to supply their fancy little army with. The Rune Knights are supposed to be the ones to deal with magical threats, but all they do is arrive at the scene of the crime after one of the guilds had already handled it. Then they just throw their weight as if they were the ones to have done the job while noting down how much the guild owes them due to property damage."

Makarov sounded a bit biased, but William couldn't blame him since the Rune Knights were practically useless in the story.

"I expect that, but I don't know what the Magic Council can and will do? Like, could they strongarm me into providing them with potions for free? Or can they try to force me to hand over any written information about them?" William asked in concern.

"The Magic Council can confiscate dangerous magical artifacts, but you don't have to worry about that," Makarov started.

'So, no poisons. Got it.' William nodded.

"They cannot ask you to hand over the process of creating potions as that is your craft and part of your brand," Makarov continued.

"They also cannot force you to provide them with free potions since you are a legitimate business. If they could do that, the Rune Knights wouldn't be outfitted with half-assed equipment," Makarov finished.

"Okay," William nodded.

"However, the Magic Council might show up with an offer and give you a contract with a few hidden clauses that will make you indebted to them if you fail it. Then, they could keep sending Rune Knights for inspection because they happened to have heard that you might be doing Dark Magic." William gaped at Makarov as he heard that.

"All of that would be a sham just so they could keep delaying you until you fail your contract. But you can avoid that by making sure you carefully read before signing anything." William stared at Makarov with an ashen face as the old man finished.

"They haven't done that already, have they?" Makarov asked in concern after seeing his expression.

"No, no, they haven't, but..." William paused as he summoned the contract he signed the day before. He kept it in his pocket space since it didn't take much space, and he could ensure he wouldn't damage or lose it that way.

Makarov hopped over to his side, and William held the contract in such a way that both of them were able to read it. The old man probably knew more about him when it came to those things, so he didn't mind showing it to him.

William had signed a total of two contracts his entire life - not counting this one - and he hadn't spared those more than a glance. One of them had been for his retail job, and the other was with his phone company.

"Dumb, boy!" Makarov smacked him behind the head. "Why did you sign it without reading through it first?!"

"Well..." William scratched his head. He didn't know how to explain that he had gotten used to just clicking the checkmark for the Terms and Agreements. To William, signing a contract was practically the same.

"Ahhh," Makarov let out an annoyed sigh as he hopped back in his seat. "What's done is done. Just make sure you learn from this."

"I will," William nodded.

"If you can't provide them with 500 Magic Potions, you have to reimburse them the full price and supply them with enough potions to cover their business loss? Who even determines how much they've lost? I bet they do," Makarov sighed again.

"So, judging by how steep the price for failing the contract is, it'd be for the best if you prepare for them to try something. Otherwise, why would they include such a clause?" Makarov shook his head.

William stayed silent as the old man chastised him. One thing Makarov didn't mention - because he didn't know - was that the contract didn't seem to be for two weeks as they agreed, but for 13 days instead.

"Can you complete it on time?" Makarov asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Yeah, I can," William replied in a near whisper. If he hadn't gotten the alchemy lab, he might've failed.

If he didn't know he needed to complete it one day earlier than what they verbally agreed, he still might've failed.

And if they hired some thugs, for example, to trash and break his store during the night? Yeah, William would fail if he didn't take any precautions.

"Good, good," Makarov nodded.

"Now..." the old man tensed up as he continued. "I have something to talk about with you as well. I was wondering, you know, where might one be able to get their hands on an alchemy table?"

William looked at him as a large grin formed on his face. The topic about his mistake was forgotten for a moment as he heard a Cha-Ching sound going off in his head. Makarov gulped after seeing his expression.

"As far as I'm aware, I should have the only one around here. Maybe in the entire continent even," William replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Can you perhaps get another one? Or maybe make a new one?" Makarov asked.

"No, I can't make a new one," William shook his head. He still didn't have the necessary skills for that.

"However, I might be willing to part ways with my current alchemy table," he continued with a grin.

"H-how much?" Makarov's voice trembled, already knowing where this was going.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe around 50 000 000 Jewels?" William replied.

Makarov opened his mouth and quickly closed it. He already learned his lesson. The last time he questioned the price, William increased it by five times.

50 000 000 Jewels was a lot of money, the equivalent of half a million dollars. At one point in his life, Makarov might've been able to afford it with ease since the high-ranked jobs paid good money. However, he didn't even remember the last time he went on a mission himself.

Sure, Makarov got some money from the people that posted jobs at his guild, but he had to use most of that for the reparations Fairy Tail had to regularly pay. Although he might not be dirt poor, Makarov was far from being rich.

"Can't we figure out some other way for me to pay for it?" Makarov questioned, remembering how their last exchange had gone.

"Hmm," William hummed. "I might be willing to lower it a bit if I get access to Fairy Tail's magic library?"

"You could also get that if you join Fairy Tail, for example," Makarov countered with a smug look.

"But then I'd be obliged to give the alchemy table for free, right?" William asked back.

"Naturally, for the good of the family," Makarov replied before shaking his head. "I can't give you free access to the magic library if you aren't part of Fairy Tail."

"Let's see then," William said and tapped his chin, thinking of what to ask for then. He currently had two different magics - Requip, which he had already learned, and Archive, which he was still attempting to learn. As much as he wanted to request for something like Plant Magic or the likes, he knew he would be spreading himself thin.

'What's most important for me at the moment?' William asked himself and quickly came to an answer. 'The protection of my building.'

"I can lower the price by half if you can set up some kind of defense around my shop," William said.

"Defense? What kind?" Makarov questioned.

"Well, I'd like for my windows and walls to be enhanced, so no one can break inside in the middle of the night, for example," William replied before quickly adding. "I'd also like for the doors and walls on the inside to be enhanced in the same way."

"Can we... lower it just a bit more? Can't you take some pity on this poor old man?" Makarov was on the verge of crying. Even lowered by half, that was still 25 000 000 Jewels.

"Well, since you did help me out just now, I can shave off 5 000 000, but no more." It could've cost William way more than that if it wasn't for Makarov. And even at that price, William was still selling the alchemy table for more than 10 times its initial cost from the system store.

"Fine, you greedy brat," Makarov grumbled. "20 000 000 Jewels, and I will get someone to enhance your building."

"Starving would be better than dying at the hands of Porlyusica," he mumbled to himself as he stood up. "Come on, let's go and grab this table made out of gold."

William swallowed the saliva that was building inside his mouth. The money was a large amount, but... the 1 000 store credits was the real price. He didn't even know what to use them for. Plus, the protection of his store, he couldn't forget about that.

Following Makarov, William had the biggest grin plastered on his face. He ignored all the looks he was given by the various wizards, though he didn't forget about Cana.

"Hey, I'll be right back, just need to deal with something with the old man."

"That's fine with me," Cana nodded with a smile. "Just don't make me wait too much."

~Part 2~

"You greedy little brat!" Makarov looked at William, betrayal written on his face.

"What is that?!" The old man pointed at the large alchemy lab right next to the table he had just purchased.

"Oh, that? Well, it's called an alchemy lab," William replied, a smug grin growing on his face. "Looks pretty cool, am I right?"

"Why didn't you mention it? I thought you were making a great sacrifice by offering your alchemy table?" Makarov felt like crying, and tears were even building inside his eyes.

"Oh?" William cleaned his ear with a pinky. "Are you complaining, or did I hear incorrectly?"

"Stinky, greedy, brat. No respect for the elders," Makarov mumbled things under his breath as he walked over to the table, barely fitting it in his pocket space. A glance to the side, he noted the alchemy lab was twice as big.

"How'd you even get this inside?" Makarov asked, judging there was no way it could fit through the door. "Erza?"

"Nope," William replied, popping the 'p' as he did.

"I happened to have heard something interesting about that," Makarov said with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Something about you and Erza going out together? Anything to say about that?"

"I'll take care of her and keep her happy," William answered earnestly. Erza was too precious to be mistreated. Unless they were doing some kind of roleplay, but that was neither here nor there.

"Make sure that you do," Makarov nodded after judging him for a long moment.

"And about Lisanna? Mira mentioned your... magic?" Makarov continued interrogating him.

"In Edolas, a place you should know off," William replied with a pointed look. He was honestly surprised Makarov hadn't mentioned anything about that until now. Mira or even Erza should've told him about it, and he wouldn't even blame them if they did. Makarov was like a father figure to everyone in the guild, after all.

"Why would I be aware of Edolas?" Makarov asked, not accusatory, but with interest. He was testing him.

"Mystogan," just saying that was enough.

"So you weren't speaking out of your ass," Makarov nodded. "Anything else you'd like to add?"

There were so many things William could mention. However, him meddling too much could deviate from how events proceed. Fairy Tail had also weathered everything thrown their way and pulled through no matter what in the story, so he decided on a simple warning.

"The one that injured Gildards was Acnologia, the Black Dragon. Fairy Tail currently can't even contend against him."

Makarov took a deep breath and nodded. He was far from stupid and understood what William meant. Not only did he prove again he was telling the truth by mentioning Gildarts, but he also hinted at what might await them in the future. Acnologia, a Dragon recorded in the history books of destroying entire countries. He was such a being that Gildarts had barely managed to survive the encounter, losing two limbs in the process.

"Troubled times are ahead of us, huh?" Makarov frowned.

"If you stick together, you will pull through," William assured the old man as they left the building. "Helping out the members improve wouldn't hurt, though."

"Something which you're already attempting to do?" Makarov shot him a grateful look. The guild was family, and William was trying to help them out. That meant more than anything else he could do in the old man's eyes.

"I try," William shrugged. "On a good note, I might be able to get the potion you asked for very soon."

"How soon?!" Makarov asked/demanded to know.

"As early as tomorrow, I guess," William tapped his chin. "However..."

"H-how much?" Makarov gulped, already having a grasp at how the shopkeeper worked.

"Look, since you've been such a good sport, I'm gonna give it to you at a discount," William said, and Makarov waited with bated breath.

"5 000 000 Jewels." That was the lowest William was willing to sell it for since it cost 250 credits. He even offered it at this price because he liked the old man and wanted Fairy Tail to be in tip-top shape when things escalated.

"You greedy rascal!" Makarov couldn't believe it.

"You sold me the alchemy table, 'shaved' 5 000 000 of the price, and now you tell me you can sell me the potion I need for that much? Tell me, are you just trying to bleed me out? Be honest with me," Makarov said, heartbroken and devastated at the betrayal.

"So, you don't want it? And here I was offering it at such a big discount. Well, guess I will ask for the full price next time," William said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"No, no, that's not what I meant," Makarov said tiredly, defeated and resigned to his fate. "I'm... just gonna live on the streets and eat from the trash cans."

"Or alternatively, hear me out, you can live in the guild and eat there," William countered, not falling for the gremlin's words.

"Just... come to me when you have the potion. I will get you your stinky Jewels," Makarov grumbled as he kicked the ground. "Who needs money anyway? They are overrated."

"Are you crying, gramps? Please don't. You will make my heart bleed," William looked at him with a saddened expression that couldn't be any faker.

"I'm not crying, just something entered into my eye is all," Makarov rubbed his eyes as the two of them entered the guild, the Fairy Tail members all bearing witness to the crying Makarov.

"I'll come find you when I'm ready," William waved the old man goodbye as he beelined towards Cana, ignoring all the looks from the rest of the members.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long," he said as he sat down next to her.

"Not at all," Cana replied. She seemed interested in what had happened just a moment ago, but she hesitated to ask.

"Now, I'm not very knowledgeable about Card Magic, but as I said earlier, I do have some ideas. First, however, why don't you start with telling me more about your magic," William said.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Mira asked before Cana could reply.

"Sure, why not. A beer would do fine," William told her, figuring he could go for one.

"Coming right up," Mira cheerfully replied.

"Well, for starters, the name of my magic is Magic Card. It's a Holder type that uses Magic Cards if you couldn't guess," Cana said with a faint smirk.

"It's very versatile, and the effects all vary depending on what card I use. I'd say my biggest problem is that I lack the firepower other types of magics provide their users," she continued, frowning at the last statement.

"That's... not necessarily bad. Instead of using firepower, you can spam cards with crowd control effects to take down your enemies," William mused, remembering how he took down Natsu. Granted, the Dragon Slayer had been injured at that point, but it still worked.

"Here you go," Mira placed two mugs on the bar. "One for Cana as well, which I'm sure you wouldn't mind paying for."

The minx shot him a mischievous look, and William's eyebrow twitched, but he waved her off.

"Crowd control?" Cana asked in interest as she absentmindedly took her drink, her hand moving without her guiding it and seeking out the mug on pure instinct.

"Debilitating effects that weaken your foes such as sleep, paralysis, and etc. Stacking enough of them could potentially take down most enemies without even causing them harm. Unless they have some resistance to that." William explained.

Knowing what kind of world this was, there was a high likelihood of people who could resist those effects existing. Natsu might've even gained some type of poison resistance because of their previous encounter. William wouldn't be surprised if he did. That was typical main character behavior, after all.

"This... could be helpful," Cana muttered. She did have one card that had a similar function, though she rarely used it as she mainly focused on trying to catch up to the firepower of the more powerful wizards. Using her Sleep Card on a single opponent multiple times hadn't really crossed her mind. Then again, Cana had only one of those, to begin with.

"We'll get back to this topic later," William said, tasting the beer. It tasted as he expected it to, but it was far stronger than what he was used to. Though, the foreign students he met usually compared the beer in the states to water. Is this what real beer was supposed to feel like?

"I'd like to know how you get your cards. Do you buy them or create them yourself?" William asked before realization flickered through his eyes.

'I hadn't even considered it since I lacked store credits, but now...' Mentally, he brought up his system. His eyes began scanning the various items in the store, searching for any card-related ones there.

"Bought. I have one tarot deck, one with elemental cards, and a few specialized cards," Cana answered.

"I've also been experimenting with creating my own with the help of Levy, who is currently on a mission, and Reedus, that's the big guy over there with the weird black hat," Cana continued hesitantly.

"That's good," William nodded. "If you need any ideas, I know there is a card that could capture others inside it. Though that falls into the crowd control category again."

Cana looked fairly interested in that.

"That one I know for a fact that it exists," William stated with certainty and continued. "And my next idea plays on that function. What if instead of capturing someone else, you capture a spell instead and keep it in stasis?"

Now, Cana was visibly excited as she had a sense of where this was going.

"For example, you can have one of the other guild members charge the card with a spell for you and use it in battle afterward. Or... if it works as intended, you might be able to use it in a fight. You know, use it to block and capture an enemy's spell and fire it back at them."

"That... sounds promising. If it works, it should increase my firepower, even by just a little bit, but I will be a step closer to my goal," Cana mumbled to herself.

"Continuing with the possibility of sealing a particular magic in a card," William continued on as he took another sip from his drink.

"What if you made a card that someone could charge with their magic, and you can, later on, equip that card and use their magic for a time? Don't know if that would work, but it'd be pretty strong and versatile if you can get all of your guild members to charge a card like that for you. Will probably have to learn how to use everyone's magic, though, so don't know how good it would be."

Like the Servant Cards from the Fate series, but those ones didn't exist on Earthland. That shouldn't stop them from trying to replicate those cards, though. Whether they would succeed was another topic entirely, however.

"And lastly, which you've probably thought about already, would be to buy stronger cards," William finished lamely with a shrug.

"You think I haven't looked? I check The Trick Sleeve, the magic store I purchase my cards from, regularly. For the past few years, they haven't released any new ones," Cana complained, looking over at Mira, who understood her intentions, quickly providing her with another drink.

The minx then smirked at him, and William felt a headache incoming. He understood what she meant, alright. The drink was added to his tab.

"Well..." William quickly dawned his own drink and pulled out the money to pay.

"Well?" Cana urged him to go on.

"I might be able to acquire such a deck for you. With more powerful cards, I mean." William did find a few in his system store, though he didn't know what some of them did. A few were self-explanatory, like Advanced Elemental Deck. However, he had no clue what the Hocus Pocus Deck, for example, was all about. There were a few other weirdly named ones like that.

'If only my system offered me more than their names, but nooo, why would it do that?'

"You can?" Cana stood up in surprise. "You really can?"

"I can," William nodded. "I'll see what I can do and come seek you out in the next few days, okay?"

"Thank you, I would appreciate that," Cana gratefully replied.

"Pleasure talking with you, but I did promise to have a talk with Loke as well," William waved Cana and Mira goodbye before quickly walking away. If he stayed there any longer, he just might lose all of his newly earned money by paying for Cana's drinks. The girl could more than all the men in the guild combined.

No words were shared between Loke and William, but the orange-haired wizard stood up just as the shopkeeper got up. The two then walked out of the guild together as if they had previously arranged to do that.

"So... you haven't?" Loke asked weakly.

"Nah, I promised, after all. Your secret is safe with me," William replied before quietly muttering. "Unless someone pays me enough. Wonder if I can get credits for that."

"What?!" Loke exclaimed.

"Nothing, nothing," William just grinned at him.

Loke just stared at him for a moment before shaking his head with a sigh.

"Anyway, were the potions helpful?" William changed the topic.

"Both Magic Potions were. They made it... more bearable. The Health ones had no effect, though," Loke admitted.

"Good to know," William nodded, and what followed after was one very long moment of silence as both of them just kept on walking without any direction.

"Were you serious? With what you asked of me earlier?" Loke couldn't take it anymore and asked, his voice laced with disbelief.

"Oh, definitely," William replied, looking up and staring at the clear sky.

"Damn, dude," Loke said softly.

"So, you think you could help with that?" William turned towards the orange-haired wizard and asked.

"If there is anyone that could help you with that, then that's me," Loke pointed at himself with his thumb, full of confidence.

"Now you just have to finish that with 'believe it!'" William chuckled, confusing Loke.

"Nevermind, that was a joke," he continued seeing his expression.

'I wonder if I can plagiarize fictional stories from Earth and publish them here to earn store credits... I will have to try it out when I get Archive done.'