FAVOR REPAID

After glancing at his reflection, Lynne nodded, satisfied. He now appeared to be a middle-aged man yet again with chest-long beard and black hair tied up in a ponytail. As the day the teleportation array would activate has arrived, Lynne took the same precautions again as he headed to the square.

As it was a massive teleportation array, there was equally a large number of people waiting for it. In order to use it, one has to show the verification medallion to the guard, otherwise it’s impossible. As Lynne walked through the cobblestone paved streets, he saw numerous people selling the same medallions; two weeks ago, Lynne reserved one for merely a hundred Mana Stones, yet now they were being sold for nearly a thousand. Dammit, if I had time I’d do it too!

As he walked dejectedly, he suddenly spotted a familiar face; a woman who had sold him a shitty jade pendant for almost 20000 Mana Stones was haggling with one of the people selling the medallion.

“… come on June, help the big sis out!” the woman smiled coquettishly at the youth before her. “Once I come back, I’ll be sure to reward you!”

“Ah, sister Jane, you’re really pulling my hand here,” the youth replied, his cheeks reddened. “I can’t sell it to you for less than six hundred… it’s really impossible.”

“Ah, so you’ve really forgotten how big sis treated you well,” the smile on woman’s face was replaced with the expression of utter sadness. “I should have known…”

“No, no, don’t say it like that!” the youth immediately tried to explain himself. “Of course I want to help you out, but this…”

“Big sis understands,” the woman shook her head lightly. “I would never have asked you to do this if it wasn’t for the fact that I have no money… I haven’t managed to sell anything in the past two months…” Bullshit!! Lynne exclaimed inwardly as he paused his steps, coming to a halt a few paces away from the woman and the youth.

“That bad, huh?” the youth asked.

“Yes,” the woman truly appeared heart-broken as she spoke. “It must be because I’ve grown old, and men no longer care about me…”

“Ah, how can you say that big sis! You are beyond beautiful! Only idiots would say otherwise!”

“Ah…”

“Ugh, fine, I can’t possibly look at you like this. I would never forgive myself,” the youth suddenly handed her the medallion. “Two hundred and it’s yours.”

“Ah, little June, you really are the best!!” the woman exclaimed as she gave the youth a quick peck on a cheek. “Here,” she then tossed a small, brown bag at the youth. “I promise I’ll make it up to you once I come back.”

“I can’t wait for it!”

Lynne was slightly stunned as he watched this; that bitch totally screwed him over!! And she probably screwed me over as well!! Dammit, who gave you the right, huh? Just because you have two moons doesn’t mean you get to do whatever you want! Ugh, but they truly are massive… just what the hell did they feed her with when she was growing up…

Lynne quickly found a small alleyway where he changed his appearance back to that of a youth who bought the jade pendant, leaving back towards the crowd and locating the woman standing there. Without delaying, he quickly scrambled through the mass of people and managed to land next to her, his face that of pure innocence.

“Ah!! What a coincidence big sis!” Lynne exclaimed, startling the woman slightly. “It really is you! Ah, how do you do?”

“Oh, little brother,” the woman was clearly startled by his sudden appearance, but also recovered just as quickly. “You traveling to the Holy Paradise as well?”

“Of course!” Lynne puffed his chest out. “That’s where all heroes are going nowadays! I might be lucky enough to get the autograph from hero Flint, hero Unnu, hero Cicla, hero Klokster, hero Yuno, hero Onnu and hero Unnu!” Who the hell are those?!!

“Ah, is that so?” the woman followed up nonetheless.

“Why are you traveling, big sis?” Lynne asked, his eyes growing ever so rounder.

“Big… big sis likes to travel from time to time, to see the world.”

“Ah, I totally understand!” Lynne suddenly put their arms in a tight hold as they moved along the line. “The world is a beautiful, majestic, grand place! From east to west, south to north, brimming with life and voices of heroes! Ah, my grandma – who was a good vampire, by the way – often spoke of the world’s amazing places! Like the Waterfall of Bitchyu, an absolutely amazing place!”

“Oh, I heard about that place,” Unless it’s located in your ass, the hell you did!! “It’s supposedly really beautiful.”

“Of course it is!” Lynne exclaimed, writhed in smiles. “It’s also the only place were you can find the fruit called Skewu, and it supposedly grants you a hundred more years of youth!” the woman’s eyebrows suddenly shot upwards when she heard it; examining Lynne’s expression from a profile, he didn’t appear to be lying, so she decided to probe further.

“Really? Who told you that? Your grandma?”

“Grandma? No, my grandma was absolutely insane. She ate children for breakfast, what the hell would she need a Skewu for?”

“… didn’t you say your grandma was a good vampire?”

“Well, she didn’t eat me, so that makes her good, right?”

“… right. So, about the fruit…?”

“Ah, yes,” as if remembering something, Lynne slowed down the pace a bit. “After grandma mentioned it once, I decided to investigate. Most of the news I’ve got was actually from traveling merchants and bards,” Lynne explained. “Supposedly, the waterfall is located on this island called Withered Willow Island, and is hidden inside a deep cave. However, the cave has some sort of an ancient puzzle, so only few people ever actually managed to get the fruit.” the woman’s eyes were glistening by now; in the end, she wasn’t a dedicated Magic practitioner, and the most she could live was around two hundred years. As she was already getting up in years, her body had started showing signs of aging – some that even make-up had trouble covering – so Lynne’s sudden information about a fruit granting a hundred years of youth struck her deep.

“Do you know where the island is?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Can you tell me?”

“No.”

“… why?”

“Why does the big sis need to go there?” Lynne probed innocently. “You’re already as dazzling as the morning sun. That fruit would be wasted on you…” Wasted your mother!!

“Ha ha, it’s not that; the big sis is just curious. So, how about you help the big sis out by quenching her curiosity?”

“Ah, forget that, if you’re curious let me tell you about the island of only men!” Lynne exclaimed joyfully. “Apparently, men there simply pop out of earth every few months, but all of them are immediately old and saggy. Apparently, not one lives longer than three years, and they can’t even reproduce normally. Some travelers said that the island stinks so much some military generals wanted to kidnap some of the men and refine them into stinky bombs! Can you believe that?!” Why are you telling me about the smelly men?! Dammit brat, what about the fruit! Give me the fruit!

“Ha… ha… is, is that so?” the woman’s eyes twitched slightly as she began losing patience. “It’s… it’s not as interesting as the other island though.”

“Ah, what am I saying; of course the big sis wouldn’t be interested in old, saggy men.” No shit! “So let me tell you the story of muscular barbarians traveling the southern beaches,” No more men! Screw the men! Stop with the men! Are you into men?! Dammit, this brat is thick-skulled as shit! “So, they travel—aoo!!” Lynne suddenly broke out in a cry as the woman pressed his arm, nearly snapping it at half.

“Tell me where that Withered whatever island is,” the tone of her voice grew deeper and her expression turned absolutely ugly. “Or I’ll snap your arm in half!”

“Murder, murder!!” Lynne suddenly screamed atop his voice, completely ignoring the woman. “She’s trying to kill me, she’s trying to rape me, help, help, I’m completely innocent!!” Eh?! Masses quickly turned towards the source of the voice; then, suddenly, a breaking sound could be heard as Lynne forcibly broke his arm, but made it look like the woman did it. “AAAAHH! Why did you break it?!! What did I ever do to you sister? I treated you with respect!! Aaah, it hurts! It hurts so much!!” Holy fuck, this kid!! the woman was suddenly enlightened, but alas, it was too late as the guards had already encircled them.

“Let the kid go, now!!” the lead guard barked in a deep voice. “I knew you were shady Jane, but I never thought you’d fall so low!”

“No—this--”

“AAHH, stop, please!!” another breaking sound could be heard; Lynne’s forearm suddenly limped, as if there was no bone holding it straight, making it appear extremely ugly. “Please, it hurts!!” tears flew like rivers as Lynne collapsed onto the floor, holding tightly onto his broken arm as he crawled away from the woman, terrified expression on his face. “Big sis, you’re too mean!! I never did anything to you, and look at my arm now!! It’ll be amazing if I ever even get to see it whole again!!” Damn you brat, I’ll skin you alive!!

The group of guards quickly subdued her and dragged her away, taking her medallion. The lead guard watched for a moment before walking over to Lynne and inspecting his arm. When he saw the extent of the boy’s injuries, he furrowed his brows lightly.

“Maybe you shouldn’t go to the Holy Paradise yet,” the guard proposed. “It’d be best if you didn’t move with this type of an injury.”

“No, I can’t! I must go! My dear grandma is waiting for me!! She’s extremely sick, and I don’t have a clue when she’ll get better! By the way, she’s a complete cripple, and she can’t even eat on her own!” Lynne raised his voice just enough for Jane to hear him talk; the moment she heard it, though, she passed out, forcing the guards to carry her.

“Ah…” the lead guard shook his head as he suddenly procured a thumb-sized, green pill and handed it over to Lynne. “Eat this. If you don’t hurt yourself any further, it should help you stabilize your injuries. As for completely healing them… I’m afraid that would be…”

“N-no-- no way!” Lynne’s face immediately turned pale as his eyes grew. “I’m an artist! How am I going to… art with a broken arm?! Noooo!!”

Alas, the lead guard eventually left him as he saw that Lynne had no intention to stop crying. The poor boy looked like his entire world crumbled, and the lead guard could only promise silently that he’ll punish Jane accordingly before leaving.

As Lynne watched him leave, his moans grew lower and lower as he quickly crawled out of the group and back into a small alleyway. As his Infinite Faces already had the ability to change the bones, he didn’t actually break them, but simply molded them in a different way. They only appeared to be broken as normal people’s bones are usually structured in the similar way.

After quickly changing from the youth back into the middle-aged man and restoring his arm back to the normal appearance, Lynne rejoined the group while humming a joyful melody, slowly awaiting his turn to board the teleportation array. Screwing with me? Humph! You are hundred years too young!