The unannounced female voice startled everyone, making them jump away from their chairs.
Thrax quickly pulled his spear and the other also followed, They all pointed their weapons at the person who was wearing a huge black robe that covered all aspects of her body except for the red mask with a white stripe on the forehead.
For her to be able to walk in the dining room without being noticed, it was clear that they couldn't compare to her. And sneaking into a private residence without announcement most likely meant the person was up to no good.
"Who are you! What do you want!" Thrax shouted, pointing his spear.
"I am sorry. I understand that it's very impolite of me to suddenly barge in like this, but please be assured that I mean no harm," muffedly said the girl behind her mask. However, she kept her hands unseen inside the robe. Either she was confident she could overpower them even if they all attacked her at the same time or she truly meant no evil intentions.
Klea though wasn't convinced. A person coming in in the middle of the night, fully hiding their identity, the tip of her staff began to light up as she readied her spell. She said first, "Sneaking in at night like that, it's very hard to believe whatever you are saying."
"I am here under the order of my master. My master has asked me to come in secret. Again, I bear no ill-will," said the girl, showing her pale lady hands.
"Whatever you are selling, we are not interested!" roared Thrax. He was about to attack when Julian stopped him.
Julian quickly said, "Wait! Let us hear what she has to say first."
The girl nodded in appreciation and said, "My master was disappointed with what the five of you have been doing the last few days. Therefore, he sent a gift to support you on your way.' "
She then lifted her pale hands, took out a bursting-looking bag from her storage ring and walked slowly. It fell on the table with a solid thud. She then walked backward until her back was against the wall.
Everyone's eyes kept switching between the girl and the packed bag. They figured that if it was something dangerous, then she would have probably stood near the door. But since she was away from it nor from any windows, Julian cautiously walked up to open up the bag. As he untied the first knot, a ray of yellowish light reflected off his face and his expression became widened with disbelief. He took one gulped before turning to them and saying, "It's-it's spirit stones. Lots of it!"
The woman wearing the red mask crossed her arms and said, "1,000 piece of yellow spirit stones, to be precise. It is my master's gift for the five of you."
The group stared at the woman in shock. 1,000 yellow spirit stones? It was equivalent to 100,000 white spirit stones. As Emery remembered, the lowest price he had seen for tier three equipment was 10,000 white spirit stones, which should be 100 yellow spirit stones. This meant that all five of them could have tier three weapons and there would still be some left! Truly, this was a huge boon.
Then, Emery's mind took a step back. Calming himself, he stared at the thousand yellow spirit stones before looking at the woman wearing a red mask by the wall. Sure, it may not be a lot for her 'master', however, receiving something like this for free never happened. There must be a catch. Hence, Emery said, "What does your master want in return?"
"Nothing, it's just a friendly gesture," answered the woman, now leaning her back on the wall.
Julian picked up on Emery's questioning and said, "Nothing is free, unless you tell us what this is about, we… cannot accept it."
Everyone in the room noticed how Julian had sounded hesitant for a moment. They could tell he was conflicted in the thoughts of grabbing these stones so they could have a chance in the Magus Games against what was the real meaning behind this 'friendly gesture'. In fact, it was the same for everyone.
"Ahhh… I see. You people are either the proud type who think so highly of themselves or the clueless type who knew nothing. In any case, both are fools," said the woman in an exasperated tone.
Thrax, who had been constantly being called a fool, flared up again at this moment. His reckless nature got the better of him. He stomped the floor and bellowed, "Who are you calling fools! It's you're master whose the the fucking fool—"
Before Thrax could finish his sentence, the woman suddenly appeared behind Thrax, holding a short, sharp blade pressed against his neck. It took a good two or three seconds before their minds registered what she had just done. They looked back at the wall where she was leaning and they could see a small crack where her foot had been placed. This woman's speed was beyond comparison against anyone from the group, in fact, even Emery didn't think he could match this woman's speed even if he was in his Fae form.
They all became on guard. But the woman did nothing else as she let the blade on Thrax's sit on top of Thrax's throat. She pressed it again a bit harder, touching Thrax's skin, which made it bleed a bit wherein she quickly said in the coldest voice they had ever heard, "Don't you dare insult my master in front of me, fool. If only my master hadn't told me to not kill or hadn't taken interest in any one of you. I would have already severed all of your heads, and as for you, the foolest person amongst them, I would have minced it until it became dust."
Emery quickly said, "Please, senior. We have meant no offense. We truly just wished to make sense of this. Surely your master has some reasons or wishes for us. We just wanted to know more about it."
The woman gave Emery a cold stare before she unsummoned her blade and kicked Thrax away. She walked with her back turned against them to another side of the wall, leaned on it, and said, "My master had indeed mentioned to me that you guys might find it difficult to trust his gesture with just this. Therefore, he had ordered me to ask the girl, Cleopatra, a question."
Klea was startled upon hearing her name. While the others didn't seem impressed that the woman had stated Klea's name, they had reasoned out within themselves that this person had access to the class or the acolytes' information, Then, the next expression even garnered more reaction from her.
"My master wanted to ask, 'does Khufu's Tomb still exist today?' "
They all could see how Klea had become shocked. She tried to gain her composure before slowly answering, "Yes… Yes it is," with great respect.
"My master hope one day he can see the great pyramid of Gaza once again"
Klea seems to understand what it means, she then moved toward the table, took it and bow deeply. She said, "Please tell your master that we are accepting his graciousness with hearts full of gratefulness. Please also tell your master that we wish to meet him at his earliest convenience."
The cold and rough tone of the woman wearing the red mask softened for the first time. She nodded and said, "To answer you now, my master had given me a message to that question. He said, 'If your team didn't make it to the top 20 on the Magus Games, he shall not bother meeting you at all.' "
Klea bowed again and said, "Yes, we understand. Once again, we thank him for his graciousness."
Almost everyone in the room became confused as to why Klea had suddenly become docile upon the mention of a tomb. Well, except for Emery and Julian who seemed to have understood a gist of it.
The woman moved her position and said, "My task here is almost done. I just have one more message from my master. He said, 'Use your contribution points wisely. If you haven't figured it out by now, you should know that there are things that spirit stones can't buy, that's what contribution points are for.' "
After saying the sentence, the woman covered in black robe from top to bottom wearing a red mask with white stripes on the forehead became hazy right in front of them.
They all looked around for any signs, but it looked like she had disappeared like how she had appeared. Then, they all sat down lost in words while looking at the bountiful fortune they had been given out of their expectations.