Chapter 24: Chaos
Plaza
"Sir Instructor will deliver the artifact today!" Neris looked around anxiously. His hand clutched the bags that he was carrying. Looking around, he felt a bit insecure holding valuables in such an open space.
Unlike before, when the plaza was closed with the bind artifact, there were a lot of people now happily walking around the park. Even though it was nighttime, the soft ambiance of the lamp and the small open stalls invited families who wanted to spend time leisurely after a busy day.
Neris's anxiety spread to Clea; she was also looking around. "What time did Sir say he would arrive?"
Hearing that, Neris wanted to scream, "He said around 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM!" He bit his nails. "That is a wide range! How would I know when he would come?"
"I hope he will come soon, or else my family will notice that I stole the Chaos Coin!"
Hal was leaning on a bench, sleeping. The heavy workload at school had almost driven him madness. But after hearing what Neris said, he immediately woke up as if he had been injected with caffeine. He looked at Neris in disbelief. "You didn't tell your family about the trade?"
Neris had an oopsie look on his face; he realized he had said something he shouldn't have. Clea was also looking at Neris as if she couldn't believe he would do something like that.
Idris looked dead, and Bram looked at Neris as if he already expected that he was this dumb. Seeing that everyone was looking at him as if he was a fool, Neris blushed. "I—I didn't do it out of malice or anything! You know my family won't let me use the Chaos Coin as a trade if I told them about the artifact!"
Hal still felt that what Neris did was pretty bad. "Of course they won't believe you. There have been a lot of scammers attempting to deceive your family for the Chaos Coin! But you could have at least told them that our source is reliable!"
Neris averted his eyes. "What if they don't believe it?" He started to feel really guilty. He had been very excited about the other half of the Arcane Brooch that he could never accept any possibility that his family would reject him.