Negotiation

"And what is the price of an artefact that changes appearance?"

Nikolai stared blankly at Luck, not understanding what Luck was getting at.

"It is not easy to find such an item... but such an artefact can be sold for an average of 300 gold."

Luck started to smile slightly "But unlike my mask, such artefacts can be easily detected, right?"

Nikolai hesitated, "By star mages with high star power, yes... you could say so..."

Luck turned to Horace, pretending to think, "Horace, how much gold do you think the plastic mask is worth?"

"It's hard to put a price on it, Luck...but I guarantee it's worth more than an artefact like that."

Nikolai grunted as if he'd heard something ridiculous.

"Don't be ridiculous, how can something that contains no star power be worth more than an artefact?

Senna also said that the plastic mask on your face was shattered when she found you injured, so it must have been easily damaged."

Luck waved his hand dismissively "Do you have a star mage with high star power?"

Surprised by Luck's sudden question, Nikolai shook his head, "Senna and Elsa are star mages with 4-star power..."

"So you're saying that an artefact that changes appearance in front of them has no effect?"

Nikolai nodded "As long as it's not a very high-level artefact, yes...why do you ask?"

A sassy smile appeared on Luck's face and he turned to Senna.

"Did you notice the plastic mask on my staff's faces when you found me injured?"

...

Nikolai: (ﾟ⊿ﾟ) It's a trap! My daughter, don't answer!

Senna shook her head from side to side as if to say no.

"No, I didn't realise."

Realising that the conversation was out of his control, Nikolai slammed his palm on the table.

"That doesn't make sense! In that case, she wouldn't even have used her star power to investigate you! It doesn't make any sense!"

Looking at Luck and Nikolay, Horace came up with an idea.

"Then how about we test the plastic mask?"

"Test plastic masks, how?" Nikolay asked curiously.

Horace smiled knowingly "Simple, like this..."

...

When Nikolai, Elsa, Senna and Luck entered, Horace greeted them.

"Welcome, this is the room where we will do our test."

Inside the room, five women and five men stood side by side.

Nikolai looked carefully at the unfamiliar faces in front of him

"You seem to have other plastic masks... No one here has used one of the previous plastic masks."

Luck nodded, "If we used the previous masks, this test would be pointless, wouldn't it?"

Horace pointed to the people in the room and said, "Here's what we agreed, I randomly selected ten people from the compound... One of them is wearing a plastic mask. If Elsa or Senna can find the person wearing a plastic mask, we will value each plastic mask at 200 gold as Nikolay said, but if not, they will be worth 500 gold as Luck said."

Nikolai locked eyes with Luck and nodded his head in agreement.

"My girls will find your plastic mask easily..."

"We'll see..."

Ignoring the exchange of glances between the two, Horace said, "The rules are simple, you have to find the person wearing the plastic mask without any physical contact, just your star power, got it?"

Senna and Elsa nodded at the same time, "Yes."

"Let's get started then..." said Horace as he pulled away from the two girls and the ten people behind him.

As Horace stepped aside, the two girls began to scrutinise the ten people in front of them with murderous eyes.

Both of them frowned as they spread out their star power for examination.

There was no trace of star power on any of them... Even if they examined their faces carefully, they couldn't find any clues...

Nikolay said with confidence, "Did you find the girls? Don't keep us waiting too long hhahahah."

Senna and Elsa: "..."

Nikolay: "Girls... You found the person wearing the plastic mask, right?"

Senna and Elsa: "..."

Nikolay: ( ͡° ʖ ͡°) 

Luck: (⌐■_■)

No matter how many times he called out to his daughters, he could not get an answer, and Nikolay began to sweat.

'Can they not find the plastic mask? Seriously?

After another 10 minutes of silence, Senna returned with her head bowed.

"I'm sorry Dad...I can't detect any star power...I can't find it..."

Putting his hand on Senna's shoulder, Nikolai said, "It's okay, you don't need to blame yourself... Maybe Elsa..."

"What the hell!!!" Elsa shouted, grabbing her hair.

"They're all the same, no star power! Could they be lying and not wearing the plastic mask?"

Nikolai's eyes sparkled when he heard what Elsa said.

"Of course! You're lying without a plastic mask, aren't you? That's why we can't find anything!"

Horace: (ー_ー)

Pointing to a man and a woman, Horace said, "You and you stay here, the rest of you can go out, I'll give you your money when I get out.

They could not understand why Horace wanted all but two of them to come out, but when those he wanted to come out came out, he continued his speech

"Liam, can you take off your mask?"

When the man in the third row of men removed the plastic mask starting from his chest at Horace's command, Liam's face was revealed.

Looking at Nikolay, Horace said, "Are we lying?"

Nikolay: (￣◇￣;)

Without waiting for Nikolay to answer, Horace continued his speech, surprising everyone in the room except Luck.

"Velma, take off your mask."

When the second of the five women took off her mask, Nikolai froze in place.

Elsa : (｢⊙Д⊙)｢

Senna : （〇Д〇）

They said there was one person wearing a plastic mask, but there were two! We couldn't find them both! 

Luck: 凸(⊙▂⊂⊙✖ ) 

Nikolai looked in shock at the two men who removed the mask from his face "Impossible! How can it be..."

Luck put his hand on Nikolai's shoulder as if to comfort him.

"It happens... we said 500 gold per mask, right?"

Nikolay gritted his teeth, "Yes...500 gold...we agreed."

Realising that he would not be able to buy as many plastic masks as he wanted because the price would be 500 gold coins, Nikolay wore a thoughtful expression.

Luck grinned and said, "Don't brood! We can agree on payment. For example, you can sell me artefacts that will be useful to me and you can help me with some experiments."

Nikolai became hopeful "Can we agree on payment? Are you serious?"

A widening smile appeared on Luck's face "Of course, I also need you to help me with some experiments..."

Although Nikolai had 5-star power, the smile on Luck's face sent shivers down his spine."Some experiments...what experiments are you talking about, what am I supposed to do?"

Luck took out his pistol from his waistband and put it on the table while a smile appeared on his face that scared Nikolai. "Things that a starfighter with 5-star power like you can easily overcome, don't worry!"

Unable to sense any star power from the metal thing Luck had removed and placed on the table, Nikolai remembered the report he had been given the other day.

The report he had received on how the 4-star Flame Claw had been killed said that this metal thing might have played a role in killing the Flame Claw.

'Again, something that doesn't emit star power... But why does my instinct tell me this thing could be dangerous?

Lifting his head, Nikolai looked solemnly at Luck "What is this thing you put on the table?

Luck smiled showing his teeth "It's called a firearm, we're going to use it in our experiments with you."

Nikolai shuddered again.

'The smile of someone who has barely reached 1-star power scared me again, what the hell is going on?