The Messenger of Death

['Xander, what are you so curious about that you choose to stay here rather than leaving?'] Lex asked.

['How this woman here knew that I just escaped from those Sky realm cultivators, and also how those guys knew where I was headed to.'] Xander revealed.

['That's plausible, that way we can find out how to avoid them until the search for the Midas petal is done.'] Lex agreed with his decision to stay after listening to his reason.

['Even better, ask them about the general information of the forest that only them – the prisoners are aware of. We don't know how long it will take for the system to find a solution to our problem, so it's better we prepare properly.'] Al suggested. Now he was putting his brains to use.

['We might have what she wants, and if it's something that we can afford, then getting information from her shouldn't be expensive.'] Alex uttered.

['My thoughts exactly.'] Xander said.

['However, the moment you sense any danger, switch with me, your new technique takes too much time to activate.'] Lex instructed.

Now that they were all in on Xander's suggestion, he didn't hold back anymore…

"Just stating your truth huh? Well, your truth sounds degrading to us women, and that is what we hate the most." Kymani replied to Xander with a little bit of prejudice in her tone.

['What a group of feminists.'] Al muttered quite happily.

Xander only responded with a cold look. He had lost interest in the conversation the moment he gave her his reply. Seeing that Xander wasn't going to apologize for what he said or even say anything regarding this topic, Kymani sighed and controlled her emotions.

If Xander wasn't so abnormal, Kymani might have taught him a lesson or two for what he said. But due to the fact that she wanted something from him and the fact that Xander could escape whenever he felt like it, Kymani was adamant about taking a civil route to get what she wanted.

She forced a smile on her face and said; "Please, I insist, take a sit."

Just as she spoke, some of her companions there brought a table and two chairs. They placed the table in the middle and a chair beside Xander and Kymani. They pulled the chairs back, for the two of them.

Kymani took her seat first, and pointed at the chair beside Xander, insisting that he sits. Xander took a few more seconds before taking his seat. 'This kid either has trust issues or is overly cautious. If I wanted to hurt him I would have made my move by now, why does he still doubt me?' Kymani thought, feeling annoyed by Xander's overly cautious action.

Immediately Xander sat, the woman that was standing beside their table brought out a jug of wine, a basket of fruits, and two cups. They placed it on the table and Kymani said; "Please, help yourself."

She was being quite the host despite the rarity of wine in the forest, she chose to offer a jug to Xander. "No thanks, I don't drink." Xander refused her offer.

['But I do,'] Al muttered.

"What about the fruits? You can't say that you don't eat fruits?" She joked.

Xander only replied with his usual stern look.

"Fine, what is it that you want to know that made you stay here?" Kymani gave up on trying to be the host and asked her what he wanted directly.

"What I want is the general knowledge of the whole forest, how it is run, and special places within the forest. But before you give me the answers that I want, I want to know what it is that you want from me, and what it is that you want as payment for the information." Xander revealed.

Although he had a cold personality, Xander, generally is a fair person.

'A smart kid with trust issues. What a wise decision, he immediately outpaced my approach. Now I wouldn't be able to control my profits from this. I better extort all that I can then.' Kymani thought. She smiled at Xander and poured a little wine into her cup and downed it.

"Ahh!! It's been a long time since I've had anything this good to drink, it's the same for my girls too. You know, there's a saying that goes like this, the presence of wine in a conversation compels honesty and conveys intentions." Kymani's smile got wider as she stared at Xander.

['This bitch!! Is she saying that we provide her, and her girls with wine? She hasn't even told us what she wants as payment for the information she's about to give but she wants to extort from us!! Hahaha!!! She's quite the swindler too. Even if she's muscular, I'm starting to like her.'] Al stated merrily, he understood her words entirely. ['Xander, give her the barrel of wines that's got the blue cloths on their covers. Those are the worst of wines that I own.'] Al suggested.

['They really did come in handy.'] Alex uttered in surprise.

He was surprised because Al told him in the past that they were going to be useful to them in the future before proceeding to acquire the barrels of wines. More accurately, he scammed people and collected their wines and possessions.

Al then tasted every wine that he got and marked all of them with a cloth, categorizing them with the cloths based on his intake on their taste and percentage of alcohol in them.

Xander paused for a few seconds, before removing 15 barrels of wine. Each of the barrels was as tall as the table that was in-between Kymani and Xander, and they were all 4 feet wide.

-Fweet!!

A lot of the ladies whistled at the sight of the barrels of wine, including Kymani. She wasn't expecting Xander to have this much wine with him, and even if he did, she wasn't expecting him to be this generous with his wine.

'Damn, I can't be shameless later on to demand too much. This kid is crafty.' Kymani thought, and so did many of the ladies present. They were all unaware that while they were crafty, Al was just as crafty as every one of them, if not more.

"For someone that doesn't drink, you have a lot of wine on you," Kymani whispered, but what she said didn't escape Xander's ears.

"I don't drink, but a brother of mine does. These barrels were all for him, but he doesn't need them anymore." Xander mentioned, responding to what Kymani whispered.

['Xander, tell her that you have a special wine that can help heal injuries. If she hesitates, bring out the wine with the red cloth. And even if she doesn't hesitate, still hand it over to her. But only 2 barrels.'] Al directed. ['Let's see just how shameless you are, muscle lady.'] Al uttered mischievously.

The wine that Al was talking about is the one that he crushed healing pills into. He felt that it would be better to drink the medicine, rather than swallow or chew it.

"I still have a few barrels of a more special wine. It can heal injuries." Xander mentioned.contemporary romance

And just like Al predicted, Kymani did hesitate.

'If I accept something like this, I wouldn't be able to ask for anything worthwhile later on. I better refuse.' She thought.

Before Kymani could say anything, Xander presented her with 2 barrels of wine. As soon as the wine appeared, the medicinal scent invaded their nostrils, making the ladies around swallow their saliva.

Seeing the expression on her girls' faces, Kymani couldn't refuse the wine anymore. "T-thank you." She stuttered. 'Shit! Shit! This kid is messing with me!' She thought to herself. Kymani knew that she was quite the negotiator, after all, she was able to obtain this territory for her and her girls, but in front of Xander, she couldn't help but doubt her negotiating skills.

['Hahaha!! Look at the nervous expression on her face!! How dare you try to profit off me when you are not shameless enough to handle my generosity? Hahaha!! Your pride won't let you ask for anything over the top. This should be enough as payment to her, she's likely not to ask for more.'] Al laughed at Kymani, seeing that she had already lost her composure from the beginning. ['Now ask her what it is that she wants. Let's see if she'll be shameless enough to ask for something over the top.'] Al directed.

Alex too was laughing, he couldn't help but feel a little pity for Kymani. She had met someone that loved to scam people and loved to profit off other people's efforts.

"Now, what is it that you want from me?" Xander asked.

Kymani looked at Xander before sighing.

"I never thought that I would lose to a kid. Let me answer your questions generously first before I state what I want. I won't be so shameless to take your things and not give something equal in return, my pride won't let me. After answering your questions, I will tell you what I want, and if you have any request or have anything that you require, I will gladly help you with it in exchange for what I want."

['Hahaha!! You lost woman!! I knew that people as shameless as me, are rare!!'] Al laughed.

['Ahh, people as shameless as you are indeed rare. In fact, it might be an incurable disease.'] Alex concurred.

['Call it whatever you want rabbit. Hahaha!!']

done.co