“No! Absolutely not!”

“My offer stand. I don’t see anything else you had offered that otherwise would be worth my time.”

He turned his head left as if dismissing his objection. However, the truth was not that the grand elder had said something absurd. In fact, his point was salient — grounded even. What had prompted his strong-arm response was a twitch. 

Yes, a twitch. 

Holding that particular subconscious at bay had been draining. It started mildly, a mere tinge on the far oft corner of the mind, something could easily be ignored. However as time passed, the thing began to creep — multiplied. Like virus which he as its host, it burst and burst in replicate, occupying three then seven then fifteen then almost half of his concentration. Something that he couldn’t allow to continue. Thus this instance — this unwarranted mule-like reply was actually a mask — a disguise to let the sigh escape through his gritted teeth. Temporary relief at most. The root cause was that the geometric that starting to collapse. The used to be hairline crack, now, was a spreading hairline crack. It broke off every corner like how the smallest fragment of peeling paint ruined the entire coat. He could see some bubbles of emotion spewed through every so often, clouding his thought.

Thus it was not surprising that heuristic demanded that he proceed. Even with the flimsy, flip-floppy, open to interpretation contract that the other party had thrust upon him. It cited the corollary of the first objective:

Therefore, while immediate safety was the most paramount, achieving a stable level of safety should not be neglected. This particularly when abandoning a small part of immediate safety could result in a high chance of obtaining long-term safety (defined by deviation of more than three sigmas). 

“The vessel is important transport between this island and the town, human Euca. We could accommodate you to use it once in a while, but allowing you to permanently reserve it…. It just too much.”

“So make me better offer, Lady Crystal.”

“Why do you refuse gold, human? We thought that what your kinds love. Is a chest worth not enough for you?” 

At once image displaying a box half of Clar’s height overflowing with yellow coins, in all of their lusters, appeared in front of him. He allowed himself a gulp.

“That’s not it, grand el—”

“—no? ...had their race finally wise up and stop using useless metal as their currency, Crystal?”

“Unlikely grand elder. The latest supply shipment for the upper floor was dated three days ago. It was paid in gold.”

“Good, good. That is good. Otherwise, we need to throw away the entire room. Not even dwarves want that much gold.”

“I... I have enough gold, grand elder.” he said, leaving the unsaid ‘for now’ and ‘did he just refuse two million coins’ unsaid. “It just if I’m to trade a specialized product to you, which again, quite hard for me to obtain,” he strengthen his smile and hopefully, his heart. “I’m hoping to get something equivalently valuable in return.”

“Treasure then? There are surely several magic items unused in the vault. Crystal, do we have artifact that we could spare?”

“Grade D and lower is always open for peruse.”

“Grade D, Grade D, That the human’s term right? Grade D.”

“Yes grand elder, the switch was decided fifteen summers ago when the distinction their system afforded proven to be superior.” 

“Human again. What is the equivalent to our classification, then?”

“That would be halfway between spring rain and just a third of the upstream roar.”

“Then... Carnell’s Headdress? Or maybe the feather of bounty? The thing had been taking too much space.” 

“Not recommended grand elder, those two are ...problematic.”

“...what you suggest then?”

“Perhaps we should start small grand elder?”

“Hmm, what? The winterfount drops?”

“That is acceptable.”

“Good — Human, the winterfount drops will be your first payment for the first batch. We would need at least ten worth of your containers before the sunburst… how many do we need again? A hundred stone? Two hundred?”

“A hundred for this calendar. Another hundred for the next.”

“Yes, one hundred. Deliver it before the end of the calendar, human.”

“Grand elder,” he said, smiling wanly. “While I ...appreciate your consideration, I still ...rather have the ship,” 

Ugh… They not suppose to outright offer substitutes. They were supposed to say something like ‘how about one day each month’ and then he would back and forth until it settled on one week observation per month. At least. Now instead of bargaining from the position of power, he needed to gently refuse their already generous offer. Which of course would invite suspicion. What a disaster. ”It doesn’t even need like always, just two, no, just one week! One week per moon. That fair right? I mean rather than sparing an artifact, you could allow me to have five-six hours a day using the ship. That should not be too much to ask, in fa—” 

“—tell us.”

“Ah?”

“Tell us what do you intend to do with the ship, human.” the voice took a sharp edge, grating. Like a stare that unseen, it was peering toward him. The room turned cold.

“I assure you. It is nothing malicious,” he stately nodded, trying his best to maintain a smile. “I just intend to use the ship for — for you know, stuff. Staying on the lake, bathing under the sun, fishing, ...enjoying the view.” Of that teleportation geometric. So he could return to earth... 

“Another incomplete truth.”

“Oh,” he raised his eyebrow, his hand folded to the still opened system window. It didn’t even react just silently floating there, unmoving. “Apparently that promise was a sham huh?” he rolled his eyes. “Can’t say that I’m surprised.”

“Do not be mistaken, human.” the voice laughed, mocking. “Knowing truth is part of us. Like how dwarves could see two hundred paces around them with just a wick on their hat, how goblin could sense death that approached them. How humans could forget the passing of their friends in just a few summers. We could taste holes, frays, in your words even without the power that undeserving clout lent.” 

What the heck. Did it mean he could only do a government official trick when they wanted to secure a piece of information from the public eye? Saying that the information was confidential, a state secret, or something something security reason. And they didn’t have the capacity to discuss it. But that just the same as saying, he didn’t trust them. 

“Human Euca.”

“...yes, Lady Crystal?” 

“If you just elaborate of why you need our ship, perhaps we could come to an arrangement. Otherwise, even with our need of siren’s tear, we are afraid we could not give it up to you.”

“Very well…” he sighed. It was not like he had any other choice. Second corollary: achieving safety was more important than anything else. Especially, if the secret had already spilled.

“I’m hoping to observe the spell on the lake, Lady Crystal…”

“Which spell?”

“The teleportation one.”

“WHAT?!”

The scream was so loud that he swore that it was like thousand pieces of glass shattering then crumbling, then smacked to his face. In fact, a cloud of dusted ice was whirring in front of them right now. He put a hand to Clar’s shoulder, stopping the girl before she could do anything he and she regret. 

What was happening?

“You, you. You, a human. You, could see the gate?!”

“Yes?” he slowly wiped his face, taking care to not look offended. “No offense, grand elder. I mean it was quite obvious. When I traveled on the ship, well, at first the island seemed to be far away, out of reach even when the ship was sailing quickly. But suddenly at one point it crossed this spell formation and transported us to near — well, near-ish the island’s shore. Three minutes distances if I wasn’t mistaken.”

“What?” 

“...I reckon that the ship doesn’t normally do that?”

“YES!!”

“Err…” he paused. “Umm, is this correlated with the park-wide illusion? The spell is kinda— ”

“You could see the illusion, too?”

“Yes… I mean it was well-built of course, seamless. But there some kind of warps here and there on the sky when I was coming, it was small, but then again when the rest it that smooth, the slight crease make it more prominent...”

“...they came back, then.”

“...they? Who’s they?”

“His minion, human! Crystal, send three higher devas to check the north and northwest anchor point!”

“They will arrive in three wicks grand elder. Should we notify the—”

“No, no. Do not tell him that. Not yet. We need to confirm it first. Still, assume the worst. Start the preparation.”

“Is that your decision, grand elder? This gem warns you, it is irreversible.”

“Yes.” the voice took a solemn note. Between sighing and surrender. A long breath, then silence.

“Acknowledged, grand elder.” the crystal lifeform lady said. Nodding gravely.

“Human…” the grand elder said after a while.

“Yes, grand elder?”

“You can use the ship.”

“Ah?” That — that easy? How about their resistance before? Their ‘you better told us what do you want to do with our ship stance?’ 

Was this correlated with whoever coming back? The sprites’ enemy?

“However, we must warn you that it was not a spell. It was an ...old working.” grand elder continued, ignoring his worry. “Older than us. Older than even Crystal. Many [Archmages] and so-called old masters of magic, waterbornes, even the ...visitors had tried to study and replicate it. They failed. They consumed by it, Half of their lifespan wasted there, never once succeeding.” he paused. “You are not the first human. This we warn you.”

“Knowing all of that. Are you sure you want to try?”

“Yes.” Euca nodded, firm. If there was a chance. Just a chance, he’d be a fool to not see it through. Even if it was dangerous. It’d be a danger that came from experimentation right? So he’d set a safety protocol that would even make a BSL-4 lab’s blush. He’d set a certainty requirement equivalent to what particle physicists did to confirm new particles. He had done those before, what once more. 

“...your kind always does this useless endeavor. Very well, it is done!”

“Thank you.” he smiled, The picturesque landscape took an opaque tinge, blurry and mirror-glistened. Image of a fifth-floor apartment, night smoked sky, and its light firmament; blue, red, and yellow bright as rainbow plucked from the long term memory to the now of his mind’s eyes. Home, a tinge of tear escaped from the corner of his lacrimal. At last — at last. At last hope!

Looking inside as relief washed him ashore, he found himself unsurprised. The [Calm Emotion] had ended a minute ago.