36 . Side Mission and thoughts on charm

POV : MIKAEL 

Mikael and the others had separated . Each embarking on their own separate side missions before their main mission begun . Small steps that would accumulate to the final bid step . As Renny had said , their was a process to everything . The process they were following at this very moment 

Funnily , their journey was not starting today but instead the next day early in the morning when the birds begun their first tunes . And now he could understand why they were doing this now .

Mikael was curious about a lot of things . Many of his questions were still unanswered but sometimes not asking questions was a good thing . You never know . A wrongful answer or a deceitful one could lead to future mistakes that could have been avoided or cause greater harm that could have been avoided . 

But his curiosity would still remain . For instance , if side missions could be generated , was their a limit to it . To Mikael the entire thing sounded like a way to abuse the system . Or had no contestant thought of doing this .

Taking advantage of the glitch in the system . but could he take Renny's word as the truth . He looked beside him at the guy as he walked unbothered by the surrounding . 

' Probably not '

And how exactly did the system manage mixing contestants that are significantly stronger with contestants that were weaker . No matter how uncaring the system was , doing something such as that would only lead to a waste of resources and have no benefit at all , in time , he would find out . 

Mikael had been paired up with Renny and was now walking through the village or what he thought was a village. A rustic but still well maintained group of stone houses . The area had basic houses and wooden stalls selling vegetables , fruits and other products . A mixture of people doing business and others going back to their homes . 

Mikael would continue to look around at the novel experience because to him this was truly an intriguing site . The advancement of technology in his normal world had prevented him from ever seeing such an ancient site .

' They look happy .' he thought knowing how harsh it was to survive in such a era .

Renny was at the front leading the way and Mikael was following behind . He gave the occasional smile to the passing ladies who smiled back and blushed red before quickly looking away . He had been doing this since earlier as he noticed how for some odd reason it angered Renny and Mikael wanted to bait him to start talking .

With his bright blue eyes and his highly attractive figure , they were easily attracting attention which Renny did not find helpful at all . Mika noticed the slight side eye the man was giving him and but pretended to be his unaware self as he looked around like a country bumpkin . 

His charm was proving to be very effective . 

" Hurry up and stop joking around . We're almost there . " Renny said slowly but authoritavely easily causing Mikael to quicken his pace . 

Mikael quickly thought over the mask that woudl placate the guy . It seemed his showing off of his charm had angered him . He could hear the slight hint of irritation in his voice 

Mikael quickly got to action as his features transformed to a sorry expression and he smiled awkwardly. Like a person who was getting the attention he did not know how to stop . He at least needed to maintain a good repo with his current allies and an ally that could give him information was a very good ally to Mikael . 

" Sorry Captain . " His voice was low and hesitant and his head was slightly lowered . A perfect act for someone seeking for forgiveness . Mikael was at a age that any mistake he made could be attributed to his young age but what ecxuse did Renny have . As the older guy in this scenario . He could only bite his tongue and accept that Mikael did no wrong 

" SIGHH "

" Don't worry kid . It's not your fault . But . . . " Renny hesitated to ask what he wanted and Mikael looked at him curiously . He wondered what was bothering the stoic man now . 

" . . . Is that your real face " Was that jealousy Mikael could sense from those words . He noticed Renny's slight increase in speed and the way his body seemed to tense waiting for his answer . 

' What was the problem ' He slightly gazed at Renny's eye's that were trying hard not to meet his and he saw a hint of something . Hate , reluctance and hope ? He looked on at the way Renny eyes widened as he waited for his answer and he suddenly came to a sort of conclusion . ' Yes , that may just be it '

" Haha " Mikael only laughed awkwardly in response and did not reply. He made sure to show he was uncomfortable with the topic with his body language . Not giving an answer was the best reply he could give . It would make Renny come to his own conclusions and that was good for Mikael . 

It was simple human psychology . Any normal attractive person would want to show others their attractive features but any un attractive person if given the chance would change their un attractive features .His lack of response was an indirect way of showing he was not very confident in himself and to Renny , that could translate to a predictable conclusion 

" Don't worry kid . " Renny had slowed down to pat his back in what Mikael thought was a show of camaraderie and acceptance and Mikael made sure to emphasize his gratitude with his smile . Silence sometimes truly was the greatest answer . The real question though was whether this was really Renny's real face

The next part of the journey was silent but still the attention attracted by Mikael did not reduce . But they choose to ignore the ladies and girls who were looking at Mikael and blushing red . Silence truly was the greatest answer . 

The side Mission the two of the were doing was rather simple and straight to the point , 

 [[ 

Main Mission : Assist in the transportation of little red riding hood .

Side Mission : Acquire horses 

Side Mission objective : Aquire the horses before the time limit expires 

Side Mission Time Limit : Before the sun sets 

Side Mission Hint : Charm

]]

Mikael had already accepted the mission now all that was left was to let Renny do all the magic . The good thing Mikael had noticed about working with a faction was the distribution of work . Alone he would have had to do all the side missions at once and still looking for information . 

And then it was when he had a sudden thought . If Him and Zen had been in a form of a enclosed space until they chose to take part in the mission , what about Renny and Von .Had they waited for them or had they already formed deep connection in this world and for some odd reason finally called for help . That line of reasoning actually made sense . 

He wondered if it was possible to know the world you were going to before you were transported . With that kind of information , he could maximise his profits in every individual word without loosing out on anything . The system did say anything could be bought right . Mika would have to test if that was possible for his next world . 

Their destination was a horse stable called the pony express

The walls were made with new looking wood which looked to be well maintained . The floors were dirty but clean enough for such a time period and the sign was impressive enough to attract customers .

By impressive he meant it was barely broken . Mika was not impressed by the outer perimeter of the establishment at all . The only saving grace of the place was that it was big from what he was seeing and looked to be joined to other establishments

A sudden wind came and rustled the loose sign that was hanging the loose sign . Mikael saw a tumble weed go past him. Also being swept away by the wind . 

' CREAKK '

The door did not hide their entry and the two of them quickly attrated the attention of what Mikael was now seeing acted also as a tavern . 

Their was the isolated persons who kept to themselves in the large room but their eyes were still trained on the two of them . Curiously gazing at the two in wonder of the new faces . 

Renny ignored all the curiouse eyes , even the maliciouse ones and approached the counter . A sole male was there cleaning the cups in what Mikael clearly saw was not clean water . 

The guy was what one could say was being old while still being young because Mikael was very sure he was not past his thirties . 

" We're here to rent horses . " Renny went straight to the point without a change in his voice . Mikael would have found it interesting because of his level of bluntness if he did not already forsee what was about to happen .

Mikael had noticed how the man's eyes seemed to have darkened . Truthfully , what Renny had said had no problem . His only fault was one key thing that involved his attribute and what Mikael was now confirming for himself . He had low charm .

" G'it outa here . I have no hors for the like of ya !! " The man was brutal and spit immedaitely after he finished talking . Mikael had noticed the moment he was talking he lacked two of his front teeth .

Every other interaction Renny had tried from that point onwards was ignored by the man which made Renny significantly angry with each failed attempt . 

Mikael for the first time was seeing a live demonstration of how important the charm attribute was . He was seeing how spectaculary Renny was failing at the negotiation and stepped forward otherwise , he saw himself failing the side mission . 

" Let me handle this . " He said as he pulled the scowling Renny back . It was time to showcase a master at work .

There was something Mikael had realized about charm . It was more mythical than actually physical in a sense . Yes , as much as facial attractiveness was important he realised it was not what charm was based of . Renny was obviously not ugly . Or atleast from what he could see he was not . So the only conclusion was that his charm value was low 

Mikael had experience with dealing with different people . Some with hard resolves and others with weak ones . Bot at the end of the day , they had all broken . And that was all that mattered in the end . 

His smile changed from the small awkward one to a wide smile that spoke of fondness . His eyes relaxed and his calm was replaced with a slight joy with his eyes slightly squinted . His intent changed from the normal blank to a sort of warm undertone . 

To most people , charm was just that . Something that made your interaction with in world characters easier and to others it held no value . But to Mikael , charm was a weapon . A weapon he did not hesitate to make use of in his old world and a weapon he would make use of now .

But charm was still not that simple . Several factors were needed to maximixe it's potetial . How you smiled , how you squinted your eyes , how welcoming your body language was , what intent you gave of . With all this factors put together , charm was a deadly weapon .

The results were immediate as soon as Mikael approached the man's counter . His eyes were sparkling . 

'' ' ' ' ' ' 

A/N

FOR ANYONE CURIOUSE WHY I ADDED THE RED RIDDING HOOD WORLD , PLEASE REMAIN PATIENT AND WAIT TILL THE END . ALL YOU QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED .