49 Wishful thinking

The fruit was on the second floor.

To get there, Theo had to cross a sea of Sahallas. And his peers along with them.

But more importantly, as he was an outsider here, he was on a constant watch which he understood very well. Some eyes were merely curious while others…

'Of all things, this had to be it?'

Though he was glad he didn't have to at least kidnap someone.

He didn't yet have anything to eat and he was feeling slightly hungry too. But for the time being, the mission mattered more.

Even if he couldn't steal the fruit, the least he could do was confirm its whereabouts.

The quest menu displayed that the fruit was on the second floor. Thanks to his map, he could even pinpoint the fruit. Meaning, it was there- that was clear.

But the real question was- 'How can I steal a fruit of this importance?'

Last he checked, the fruit of this tree was really, really rare.

And definitely very precious.

He took a deep breath. Now wasn't the time to be skeptical.

Murmurs… whispers, loud chuckles, this room was filled with all kinds of people and all kinds of gossip. Of course, Theo couldn't understand them but he got the picture that he and the rest of them was the prime topic.

"Hey, Theo did you try this yet?" Halfway through he was stopped by Voli who was stuffing her face with bread. "This stuff's good!"

It looked like bread; tasted like bread.

It was bread.

But to people who'd only tasted the artificial bread- it was divine.

Theo rolled his eyes and just kept on walking. He had better things to worry about.

"SO, I hear they have a coliseum and there's a match today. Wanna go?" John came out of nowhere and wrapped his arms over Theo's shoulders. "It starts in five minutes."

"Maybe later." He got out of John's clutches and headed straight for the exit.

Oddly no one else stopped him. He did get stares but so far, nothing out of the ordinary.

Theo got out of the room and traced his steps back to the stairs.

No one followed him- or so he concluded.

There were some Sahalla here and there. Some guards were also patrolling the whole place; going down the stairs, standing by the entrance, and so on. It was true no one stopped or tried to follow Theo, but Theo could tell, they all had their eyes on him. Of course, they had, he was an outsider.

'But it's odd how they're not trying to get in my way.' Theo hadn't done anything wrong- yet. But even so, it was odd how the Sahalla didn't even try to stop him from getting out of the third floor and just going down.

It was almost as though they were used to humans?

Even just yesterday they were heavily monitored and weren't permitted in the city, and now the Sahallas weren't even trying to follow him… it was odd.

But this made things easier.

It took him four minutes, but he quickly got down the stairs and entered the second floor. There were two guards at the entrance but they just asked Theo what he was doing here. And when Theo said he was just sightseeing, they didn't stop him.

"Touching is okay, but please bear caution as some pathogens might enter your body through the exchange," one of the guards said. His speech, flawless.

'The hell is that supposed to mean?' Theo wanted to roll his eyes but- "I'll keep that in mind."

He was aware that this planet had plenty of deadly pathogens, but his suit was keeping everything at bay. Even if he removed his gloves and just gripped something, his skin was still there.

However, he sure didn't expect the guard of this place to be worried about his health.

But now that the guard knew he was here, if he ended up stealing something, he'd get caught in no time. So, instead, he just went in and tried making mental notes of how he could come back later without arousing suspicion.

Sufficed to say, he'd never stolen anything in his life before.

***

This was a large floor as well.

Perhaps not as large as the first floor, but definitely large.

The ceiling was pretty tall and there were hundreds of antique things just there. No glass, no protection. They were just there on podiums.

The scent reminded Theo of his grandmother's place….

People were here. Or rather, the Sahallas were. They numbered less than thirty. And their language was just as foreign as before.

Theo had his map in the corner of his vision, so he knew exactly where to go.

"Unschan sn bleu?"

A middle-aged Sahalla approached him.

"I'm sorry, I can't speak your language… yet." And his translator didn't work either.

The middle-aged man fumbled for a second. "My-my apologies."

Crude. But he could understand English at the very least.

"Oh, no, no apology. We good." Theo spoke slowly.

"We good." The man repeated. "This museum!" He pointed around him; his stomach bounced slightly as he moved. "Ten thousand years old." A round Sahalla. Barely as tall as Theo. He had this red small shirt and green pants that barely covered his thighs.

Hairy stuff.

Ten thousand? Theo felt a bit of a shock. This tree was old and so were the Sahallas, but this chamber was ten thousand years old?

Didn't the Sahalla only become able to carve floors during the last millennia?

But he didn't let it bother him. Instead, he landed on an idea. "Anything nice I can see?"

"Nice?" The man was oddly excited; speaking loudly. "Yes, that, very old, very nice!" He pointed at something of a statue in the distance—a statue of a Sahalla.

The two went closer.

It wasn't just any statue. Rather it was the statue of the first queen- seminude. The carvings were precise and very clean.

'Is that titanium?'

The statue was in fact beautiful but-

Theo pretended to admire it and say some praises. "Anything else?"

The man showed him some other things.

This man wasn't a soldier or a noble- at least that's what Theo deduced. However, since the man could speak English, and he had good clothing, this man might just have been a merchant? And he wanted to have a good relationship with humans for the future of his business? That seemed to be the most logical conclusion.

But this was working. Theo knew exactly how to get where he wanted without looking the least suspicious.

He was still sticking out like a sore thumb though.

After showing various interesting and very culture rich things the man finally went to the center of the room where a dozen of others were watching an egg.

An egg with stone skin.

Theo's map was also leading and pointing at the same egg.

'Then that's the fruit?'

It was shaped like an egg, the size of a duck egg. For a tree that covered literally one-tenth of the whole planet- its fruit was really small. And it awfully resembled a rock, definitely not a fruit.

"Can I hold it?" Theo said. Everyone just stared at him for a good ten seconds. "No, no, they said it was okay to touch and-" He felt like he had to explain.

'Can they even understand me?'

Sweat poured and things just got awkward.

"Sure, go on." A woman came past the crowd.

'Isn't that Sahalla-'

Just yesterday she stood in front of Theo and the others when they were running for the walls.

This wasn't looking good. Too many eyes. He never had the intention of stealing the fruit now, but he did want to at least try licking it when no one was watching. But he understood, that was perhaps just wishful thinking.