A Bet

When Elijah returned to his dorm room, the cold room immediately welcomed him to the place. There was no greeting from Damian when Elijah returned. Even the bed was neat when Elijah returned, a sign that Damian hadn't returned yet, even though classes would start tomorrow.

Normally, Damian's greetings and babbling would have annoyed Elijah to death. But when Damian left for a few days, Elijah finally realized that his room felt very lonely without the presence of the noisy elf. Elijah unconsciously laughed at himself. As someone who had sworn to live only to achieve his goals, Elijah did not expect that there would come a time when he would miss an NPC who always bothered him at the academy.

Elijah's feet stepped towards the bathroom after he took off all his clothes. The patrol mission of the adventurer's guild, which was followed by the mission of catching criminals, had consumed all of Elijah's energy. Elijah just wanted to sleep for now. Because tomorrow, another grueling day must be passed without the slightest complaint.

After Elijah finished showering and changing his clothes, the teenager immediately flopped onto his bed. Today was a strange day for Elijah. He experienced many things on the same day. But strangely, Elijah no longer felt like it was a bad thing this time.

He fought, gambled, and rewarded more than he deserved. Closing the day with the beautiful scenery that filled the sky of Arlo City, for the first time, Elijah felt that life on the Rhodes Continent was not as bad as he thought.

Elijah knew he shouldn't be complacent with how he felt right now. But for today alone, Elijah wanted to sleep without feeling that he didn't deserve to be in that place anymore.

***

"Haha, he really did well on that ridiculous mission."

"Shut up, Grian. You said that. Yet, you ignored the rules and gave something to that human."

Elsewhere, a group of people was relaxing while watching how Elijah continued to strive on the Rhodes Continent. Elijah's every move and decision could be seen on the large screen in the place. While someone was struggling out there, these people found Elijah to be quite an interesting spectacle.

The person called Grian was a well-built woman who lay back casually while watching Elijah's life. Grian turned her head to see who had just protested about her decision. Standing in front of her was Hada, a beautiful elf who didn't stop frowning when she saw Grian.

"Oh, come on, Hada. Don't you feel touched to see how he sacrificed himself just to make me happy?"

"Ha. He did it because of the mission. You know yourself that without that mission, he wouldn't be willing to offer anything to a narcissistic goddess like you."

Hada spoke cruelly, completely incompatible with her beautiful face. Grian laughed again at Hada's answer. Grian lay down lazily while her eyes fell back on Elijah, who had fallen asleep.

"No matter what, I like him for presenting such an amazing dance for me. What I give to him won't affect the storyline. I'm sure you can also see that he will still struggle with the mission even if I give him something like that."

Grian's eyes shifted to the person sitting in front of the large screen in the room, then smiled as if she was teasing the glasses woman sitting there while continuing to stare at the screen seriously.

"Isn't that so... system?"

Being called the system by Grian made the woman who was originally focused on staring at the screen turn her head, then looked flatly at Grian, who smiled annoyingly. The woman raised her glasses which were about to fall off, then answered Grian's question in a tone that was flatter than her expression.

"Even so, I hope you refrain from giving him things impulsively like that. He already has too many suspicions about how the world works. If his suspicions grow deeper, he can start questioning the authenticity of the system and the world."

"Oh, my goodness. Your threats are scary, Sasra."

Grian complained casually because of the words of Sasra, the woman with glasses who had just spoken in a flat tone. Sasra's face looked more serious when Grian took her warning lightly this time. And only when Grian saw Sasra seriously warning her this time, did Grian let out a long breath, then shrugged her shoulders in a resigned gesture.

"Alright, alright. I understand. This will be the last time I interfere in that human's life."

"You'd better," Hada threatened. Grian smiled again as Hada spoke to her. In a place where time stood still and only boredom enveloped them, Hada's arrogant and haughty attitude gave entertainment to Grian, who was easily bored.

"And yet... you feel it, don't you? There's something different about the human we sent this time."

"Of course, he's different. He's gloomy, dull, and doesn't have enough energy to carry out the mission we've been given."

Another voice sounded, and someone emerged from the dark side of the place. A well-built man with flames wrapped around his body came into view. Just like Hada, the man also continued to have wrinkles on his forehead.

"I'm almost annoyed when I saw him take so long just to beat one giant knight. If it continues like this, he won't even manage to defeat the demon king in five years," he grumbled endlessly.

"Please don't talk like that, Faber. We sent him without any power. Judging from how fast he's grown in this short time, I'm sure he's trying his best in that world."

Another figure also appeared, but the other man had a calm and patient aura compared to the man enveloped in flames. The man called Faber rolled his eyes resentfully after listening to the words of the calm man. "Of course. A person like you would value the life of even a lazy person, Aku," he said cynically.

"What I said is true, Faber. This human, this time, is indeed different. Not only does he take missions more seriously than anyone else, but he's also quite capable of using his brain in various situations."

Grian added as Faber still seemed to feel that Elijah was a useless boring human. Faber looked at Grian, who smiled lazily again while looking at him, who was standing.

"What we want is a change in the boring cycle, right? I bet this time he will do that," Grian continued confidently.

"He will break this boring cycle? Ha! Well then, let's make it official, Grian. I bet he'll end up just like the others," Faber replied confidently. Grian nodded to accept the bet. Apparently, she believed in Elijah, who caught her attention since dancing something so beautifully before.

"Agreed. I hope you don't regret having a bet with me, Faber."

"In your dreams!" retorted Faber with emotion. The temperamental man snorted and walked away from Grian after that. Hada also followed Faber to watch from another place. Meanwhile, Sasra refocused on the screen in front of her and began to ignore Grian after that.

Apparently, because Grian's personality was quite different from the others, many gods didn't like being around the goddess. Only Aku was willing to approach Grian after the situation calmed down. The bet between Grian and Faber seemed to have disturbed the mind of the considerate man.

"...Are you not too confident, Grian? Although he did fight harder than the others, his attitude so far makes it look like he'll take the same path as the other humans in my eyes."

Grian continued to smile, seemingly not worried about it at all.

"I have a feeling that he'll change, Aku. It's been a long time since the last time I made a bet. This time, I want to trust in my feelings," she informed.

I let out a long sigh after hearing Grian's answer. Everyone knew that once Grian had decided to follow her feelings, there would be nothing that could make her change her mind again.

"Then I hope your feelings are right this time, Grian. You know yourself that Faber will be hard to handle if he gets to win this tough gamble," I warned.