Special Petitions

Then something else occurred to Arthur. "Miss S, if I'm not mistaken, weren't you looking at the Book of Thoth earlier? Why did you do that? Is there anything you're looking for inside the book? Also now that we're on that topic, how did you get into this place before midnight?"

Miss S. repeated her shrug. "Who knows."

It was obvious that Miss S had her own agenda but Arthur couldn't yet tell whether her agenda would be detrimental to him or not. Her intention was hard to read. Technically, she had sent him on a death mission but it was also due to her petition that Arthur got an introductory class to the vibrancy and dangers of the mythical world. In a way, her petition was a tutorial of sort... albeit one that could cost his life if he was not careful.

In any case, currently he still had no way to force the information out from Miss S. so technically, there was nothing he could do.

"There's plenty you'll need to do. Like I said earlier, refer to that book of yours." Miss S. said before turning around to leave. Arthur did not stop her from leaving because temporarily their transaction was done. He had held up his end of the bargain and so did she. Maybe their paths might cross again in the future and based on the many evidence, the chance of that happening was very high but now there was nothing else to be said between them. Everything that could be said had been said.

Before she stepped out of the store, she turned back to tell Arthur, "By the way, that other petition, the one by Mr. M, don't accept it yet."

"Huh?!" Arthur was surprised by this sudden advice. His natural reaction was to ask, "Why?"

A meaningful smirk appeared on Miss S.' face and she said, "Because you're not ready yet. I'd hate to see that pretty head of yours roll on the floor. Wait until you have the blessing of a dryad then perhaps you can try it out. Til then... Adieu."

Miss S. proceeded to close the door and seconds later, Arthur could hear the sound of horse neighing before it galloping away into the distance.

Based on what Miss S. said, Arthur was going to have many information to process, in a situation like this, the best method was to do it step by step and that was what Arthur did, starting with the most immediate, the very last thing Miss S. mentioned before she exited the Midnight Emporium.

She warned Arthur from taking the petition by Mr. M because he was not yet ready for it. Arthur considered the possibility of Miss S. lying to him and ultimately, he'd figured there was no reason for her to do so, although at the same time, Arthur could not really fathom why she was looking out for him either. On off-chance that she was right, Arthur believed there was less harm coming from believing her.

Other than that, she also mentioned he needed the blessing of a dryad before he could take on Mr. M's petition. He wondered how did Miss S. know about such information but he had no one to ask. Perhaps she saw something when she was looking through the Book of Thoth earlier, that was the only logical explanation Arthur could come up with.

After all, the book presented different level of readability depending on the reader, perhaps Miss S. had access to more information than he did. It would make sense since she was more familiar with this mythical world than Arthur was.

Then, there was the case of a dryad's blessing. Arthur did know dryad was a mythical woodland creature from Greek mythology but beyond that, he did not know that much. Thankfully, he had his handy phone to help him.

According to internet, dryad came from the Greek term, drys which signifies oak. Therefore, at least in Greek mythology, dryad refers to spirit of the oak tree. However, with modernization and popularization, the term has come to known as the umbrella term for all tree spirits. They are considered very shy creatures and prefer the accompaniment of nature than disturbance of humans.

Arthur frowned when he read that piece of information. Now how was he going to gather the blessing of a dryad, was he going to go around hugging trees to ask for a respond?

Without a concrete lead, Arthur didn't know where to start. This could be a crisis depending on the petitions in the Book of Thoth. Last time he checked, there were only two petitions available, one by Miss S. which he had completed and the other, by Mr. M.

If there was no new petition added to the mix, then what was he going to do? Wait until a dryad appear in his life?

With a worried heart, Arthur turned towards the Book of Thoth. When he opened to the page for Available Petitions, his heart arrested. There were more changes than he could have expected.

The first thing that caught his attention was a new section underneath the Available Petitions called Special Petitions. The line of explanation said the following, "When you are out and about in the world, you might come across mythical creatures that would require your aid. Assisting them will earn you the goodwill of the mythical community in general and the Midnight Emporium will reward you accordingly.

"These petitions will be more obscure than normal petitions because the clients wouldn't know they're technically the clients. Therefore, you'd need to figure most of the things out yourself.

"Of course, the contribution you've done will draw parallel to the effort you'll receive. Completing a Special Petition will earn you a better reward than a normal petition and the reward will generally revolve around upgrading the Midnight Emporium and your ability to manage the Midnight Emporium."

The first thought that crossed Arthur's mind when he read that long introduction was only one--This is such a scam!