A plus to survival rate III

Marcus

I could have sworn my bed was less soft than this. It feels like I was laying down on a smooth and fluffy cloud. I rolled a bit and stretched my body, with my eyes still closed. Huh, I guess I’ll just continue my sleep then.

“You seem pretty complacent, little one.” A voice appeared from my right side.

I opened my eyes rather slowly in response to that voice. Not that I was not surprised, it’s just I was rather annoyed when he called me right now. I mean, why must now?

“…Rox.” My tone deepened in despise.

The vampire quest giver raised one of his eyebrows, as if he was surprised, but smiling at the same time.

“What is it?” I decided to sit up from laying down. Seeing his pale face instantly washed away all my fatigue. I didn’t mean it in a good way obviously.

“I didn’t know that you could sound like that. Your voice is usually so… cranky, you know?” Rox replied, looking so fascinated. “Like you had something stuck inside your throat that you couldn’t seem to get it out, something like that. But the voice you made just now sounded so smooth and seductive. You might have to sound more like that in the future.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. You think I’m a voice changer or something?

“I don’t want to. I am free to do whatever I wanted to, and making that kind of voice is a privilege I have upon myself.” I shuffled my sitting position. I seemed to be laying down on a circle shaped bed, with extra layers of white comforters covered by a smooth cream coloured satin bed sheet. The colour itself is charmingly pure. A complete opposite to the ambience of the room, which looked like I was inside some sort of old and abandoned room or something. The colour of the wallpaper is magenta and dull, and I could smell the scent of blood somewhere nearby.

I scooted to the edge of the bed, next to the chair where Rox was sitting on. The quest giver wore his usual cold expression, though he looked a bit sly and playful right now. And I couldn’t even stand up from the bed because he was leaning in towards my direction, closing the distance between us.

I should have scooted to the other side of the bed if I knew this would happen. Rox wasn’t usually this brazen. I was the one who would always close the distance, taking for granted of the fact that I would get curious about any situations easily. However, this time, it was as if our roles have been reversed. This time, Rox was the one who look like he didn’t mind having his skin touched mine, when before he would grimace at the fact that I was getting closer to him, while I was raring for an opening so I could escape this uncomfortable distance between us, when I usually was too dense to notice that.

“…Don’t you have a quest to give me right now, Rox?” I averted my gaze away from him. Rox didn’t seem to mind my behaviour, though he is still close.

“A quest?” Rox paused briefly, while flashing a hint of confusion in his expression. "Oh, you mean, the maze? Didn’t know that you think of it as a quest.” Rox then backed away for a bit.

“No, not tonight. I was just calling you because I want to see your face, that’s all.” Rox pulled his long hair to one side and crossed his legs as he leaned back against his chair.

…What?

“Excuse me?” My eyebrows creased into a frown. So, he called me just to see my face? I’m glad that there would be no monsters to kill and no life to save tonight, but really? Just calling to see my face.

More importantly, how was he able to call me anyway?

“How are you able to summon me here, anyway? I don’t think I heard any news about the CEO’s life being in danger or anything.” I said, recalling the news I watched and heard this morning. The news of someone famous would always appear in the news even before I noticed it, so it was easy to track his activities. Though, I might not be too sure about any incidence that the media weren’t able to cover.

“So, you kept in track of the King’s activities. That was commendable of you.” Rox snickered.

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. It’s too late to feel annoyed by anything this vampire quest giver in front of me does, so I’ll just bear with it.

“I can call you here because the King has already tasted your blood. It’s like a memory function where we can summon the avatars that the King have bitten.” Rox explained.

“Huh.” I spoke. I didn’t know where these words came from, and why they did, but apparently, I just blurted out, “So does that mean you have summoned someone like me before to have a leisure meeting like this?”

Wow, Marcus. I know I am random, but I didn’t know to this extent. That oddball title is starting to bite back at me it seems.

“I never did that, though.” Ros blinked his eyes. He didn’t look burdened by my question at all like it was not something hard to say about. Am I the only one taking this question seriously?

“All of the people before you died before they can even come to where you are now, so I have never summoned them like this.”

That was so dark, I’m starting to feel guilty for asking him this kind of question.

“…I see.” What can I do, I could only laugh awkwardly.

“Anyways,” Rox started. “There’s another reason as to why I called you here, you see.”

I knew it, there must be some sort of secret mission that he wanted me to do, is it not?

“The King said that he’d feel bad if he didn’t compensate you properly, given how much effort you put in in helping him all this time. So, he wanted to know what you want.” Rox informed.

My jaw dropped a bit. It retracted soon after that as I said, “You want to compensate me? Really?”

Rox nodded.

“Then-” The idea of all the anime figurines flooded into my mind. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could have all the collections that I wanted? But if I want to do that, then that means I need only one thing, the most mediocre answer that I believe every young adult wants and needs.

“I want a salary.” I said, briefly.

Rox didn’t even look that surprised. He might even expect for me to say that. He agreed to it pretty easily as he said, “Now, your account number.”

I gladly recited my account number to him. Fair enough, the King is a rich CEO so of course he has a lot of money. I wonder how much money would he give me?

“Well then,” Rox shuffled his sitting position to sit straight. “I hope you don’t mind commuting to college.”