Crossover World (4)

When I heard that, I chuckled a little bit and said, "Thank you for helping me anyway. I have to go now."

I picked up the glass of water in front of me and drank it all in one go and put it back down. Then I took out a few gold coins I had stolen from Gojo from one pocket of my uniform and gave them to Decim.

Decim tried to refuse me when I forced the gold coins into his hand, but when I insisted, he remained silent.

I took a few steps away from them and for the first time, I heard Chiyuki talking to me.

"Dear customer, please save the human race and everyone else from these three heroes." Decim didn't open his mouth, but I could tell by his eyes that he was trying to tell me the same thing.

After hearing that, I just nodded my head and left the bar.

After I left the bar, I wanted to look around a bit more, so I checked out some of the merchants around the street to see if they were selling anything I was interested in.

Some of them were selling nice magical items and weapons, but not nice enough for me to buy. The only reason I could figure out what they were was that ROB had dumped this information on me when he sent me here.

Just as I was about to cross another street, a voice called out to me from all directions.

"Come here, young friend. Enter the little alley of the building on your right. Then you will understand."

I didn't understand where the voice was coming from, nor its gender. But my instincts told me I could trust it. And my instincts have not failed me so far.

I entered the alley the voice had told me about and went all the way to the end. When I reached the end, there was nothing but a wall in front of me.

"I don't know who you are, but you have to stop playing with me." I warned the voice but what happened surprised me.

I was in the alley and suddenly I found myself in a wide landscape. And there was no one around but me and another being.

"Hoho my young friend, let's not talk about playfulness, it may be misunderstood by others. My name is Vu-Selkie and yours is Jugram. Am I wrong?" The person who spoke to me was not a human being. But if I couldn't see his face I would say he was of a humanoid race. This Vu-Selkie was a skeleton. He wore a different pair of glasses over his eyes, a merchant's hat on his head and a different outfit on his body. In his hand, he was holding a pipe that was blowing smoke into the air. And what was even stranger was that he carried a big closet on his back.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" I immediately put one hand on my sword. One wrong move and the conflict would start.

"My friend, there is no need to explode right away. We can talk about everything calmly, don't worry. No one can come here except some beings. Anyway, even if I tell you my name, I think I should introduce myself in more detail. I am a merchant who jumps from universe to universe, buying and selling items to reincarnated people. You are the new reincarnate hunter who is now famous among beings like us." Vu-Selkie explained and sucked the smoke from his pipes with his skeleton mouth.

'So there are beings other than ROB who are aware of such things...' I thought and slowly withdrew my hand from my sword.

"You're saying you called me because you want to sell me stuff." I told him.

"Indeed, but I don't exchange in gold or anything like that. My currency is either hero's essence or the seeds of the mysterious tree that has gained consciousness." I don't know how he did it, but the smoke he had just inhaled was now blowing out of his nose.

"I don't know what either of them is." I told him with a blank expression.

"Ohhhh I see. So you need me to explain then? Anyway, the hero's essence is the most critical point for reincarnated people. Even if you kill them, even if you destroy their souls, you cannot remove their essence. That's why I trade with them."

Although I was annoyed by the way he spoke, I didn't interrupt him. I waited for him to finish his explanation.

"What are you doing with these essences?" I doubted he would answer this question, but I asked it anyway.

"Me? I'm just collecting them. If you knew whose essence has fallen into my hands, your jaw would drop to the floor." As I thought, he gave me an evasive answer.

"And the seed of the mysterious tree that has gained consciousness, what is it?"

"Forget about that for now, my friend. Let's get down to business. I know you've never collected any essence, but since you're the shining star of our community, I'll give you your first item for free."