-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Buying a new Car-

‘Witch’ a term reserved for a special breed of ghost type of monsters. But unlike other monsters, they are a little different. They feed on the fear of their victims, it is what made them very dangerous. Actually, if one has to clearly investigate it, they would find that more than 20% of monsters that roam on earth actually had some likeness to all those legendary monsters in myths.

How so?

According to theorists, it was because of a unique property of magic that runs in the atmosphere, it gave life to all those myths that should have stayed as myths. But scientists didn’t agree to it, they claimed that it was a unique evolution due to the unique radioactive energy that is magic and coincidentally resembles all those monsters in myths and legends. Whatever the reason may be, the fact that these monsters not only resembles those mythical creatures but also their powers was very worrying. At this rate, people dreaded the appearance of devils and demons that were noted to have incredible powers.

Witches were one of the dreaded creatures there was, it could be said that they were an evolved version of shades that feed on the life force of their victims. These creatures were formed from lingering souls whose desire to live was too much to let them peacefully pass through to another world. Unlike shades, they don't hunt in mass and always go solo. They choose a single target and penetrate their brain to see their deepest fear, then impersonating their fear they repeatedly haunt them and feed on their fears until that person dies of depression.

To current Kenshin, this type of monsters pose no threat, but humans couldn’t just eliminate their innate fear for ghosts. In this era where grotesque monsters roam and people hunt them, they were still afraid of ghosts and the likes. Kenshin was no exception, he knew that with his variety of skills, it would be easy for him to eliminate this thing but he couldn’t do so due to his innate fear. Even with his higher WIL and WIS, he still couldn’t think clearly. Its one of the main reason why these witches were so dreaded.

The woman with reverse legs looked at Kenshin with her flawless face, then slowly, in front of him her lower mouth parted and stretched all the way to her abdomen. Her sharp teeth and longer than usual tongue looked exceptionally horrifying.

“HHEEELLLPPP!!” with a sound that could make one’s hairs on the end stand, she shouted towards Kenshin.

“Shit!!” in his panic, he activated his flame related skill that rose to the sky like a flame pillar, eradicating the witch and the mist with.

“YAAAAA!!” with another cringy noise, the witch turned to dust, unable to cope with the purification effect of fires produced by Kenshin. With his eyes as wide as plates, he watched her reduced to dust. Its only after that he took a breath of relief.

“I didn’t know I am still afraid of these things!” it has to expected, although he one-shotted the creature, the ferocity and the body structure that could make one die from fright still lingered in his mind. That flawless face that suddenly started to show a hideous face, that bent to backwards legs…thinking about these made Kenshin shudder involuntarily.

“What the hell these things doing out of a dungeon?” Kenshin wondered. It was his first time encountering one of these creatures, before today, he had always assumed that these fearsome creatures only live in dungeons. It was a serious matter, he wondered how there was no news of disappearance or deaths till now. Then again he had just returned from his foreign tour, so, it's possible that he didn’t know.

“Sigh. What a morning! It's completely ruined.” While in a bad mood he watched the mist surrounding him lifted little by little before the whole place cleared up and the first rays of sun penetrated through them. The witch burned to dust and scattered in the air leaving behind a large piece of charred ground that’s emanating a burned smell in the atmosphere.

A second later a transparent bubble appeared around Kenshin, and the charred ground vanished and returned to how it was before, with lush green grass covered in dews. For nth time Kenshin marvelled this miraculous skill of his that made him sometimes wonder how it wasn’t a divine skill.

After that, he turned around and walked back towards the direction of his house, unaware of a silver flick of light on the same place which he restored just now. The light blinked for a few seconds before stealthily following behind Kenshin from a distance.

XXX

Although the events of the morning dampened his mood a lot, it still couldn’t stop him from what he had planned to do today. Every time he opens his bank’s app and checks his balance, his face would involuntarily split into a smile. Today he had decided to inform Akari of his new status as one of the richest people in all Japan.

Five hundred million gold coins wasn’t a small amount. Even a gold class hunter has to spend at least ten years before he could earn that much amount of gold. The exchange rate of gold to the dollar also wasn’t low. No matter how he thinks of it, he was now a rich person through and through. Finishing his bath and breakfast, he grabbed his phone and looked at Akari’s number for a few seconds.

Their life from the day their parents died to now flashed in front of his eyes, those struggles, those sad days where they have to eat conservatively. Those days where he had to watch his sister’s sad eyes when she was unable to buy that toy or dress that’s on display. Those days where he couldn’t provide a new set of clothes even in a year…all these sad days…they flashed in front of eyes.

Tears freely streamed from his eyes as he remembered those days. Then he remembered his sister’s promise to work on a high paying job after her graduation so that they could live luxuriously. Everything passed by his eyes as he watched listlessly to those humongous numbers in his app.

“Finally! Those days…I am no longer going to go through those depressing days. Mom! Dad! Your son finally became a millionaire. I am no longer a small character who would scarp a single penny for his ends to meet.” Kenshin was so elated that he even included his deceased parents in his daydream and thanksgiving.

After that just when he was about to call his sister to give this piece of good news, an idea struck him like a thunder bolt. Why would he say to her verbally when he could just show her visually. Out of five hundred million golds, he had exchanged 1 million to dollars, making him the owner of more than fifty million dollars in cash. Buying one or two high-class sports car was of no problem to him. of course he could buy a villa with that much amount of money but he was already sued to Mrs Yui’s rented apartment, there was no need for buying a villa.

Concluding his plan to buy an expensive sports car, he immediately went online and checked the prices of various high-class sports cars. After the tragedy that happened more than a century ago, humanity suffered heavy losses, but they eventually stood from their ashes like phoenixes. The later civilisation soared like a rocket, the development that took more than ten years to happen before the tragedy occurred in a mere three years.

In a century, humanity long since surpassed what it could have done in the tragedy didn’t happen. Although flying cars or hyperspace jumps weren't possible yet, it could be likely in the near future at the rate which science was moving forward. The addition of magic and skills also hastened this process of development. As such, cars that could travel at speed nearing the speed of sound was already available in the market.

The maximum price of the most costly car that was available in the Japanese market was a model of Ferrari that just came this year. Its named Ferrari Skillez 1000*. Its body was made from some of the hardest but lightest metals found in the dungeon. Its tyres were made of an interesting mixture that’s although had all the property of rubber, but more durable than a rubber tyre. The market price of this car was 400, 000$.

Being a limited edition car, it was scheduled to stop manufacture within this month. As such, Kenshin immediately booked one for himself. He even deposited 60% of the car’s total price in one go. Just as he finished completing his money transfer, his phone vibrated.

“Hello?”

{Is it Mr Muto speaking!?} soft voice of a female came from another side who spoke in Japanese.

“Yes?”

{Hello! Mr Muto, I am Miwa Kyoko from Ferrari Japanese division. You have just booked for our limited edition Skillez 1000* and also paid 60% of the price that is 240,000$ as advance. Thank you for booking this limited edition car. For your more than 60% payment, you are eligible for becoming a platinum member of our franchise. Are you willing for this?}

“Ho! Platinum member! What’s is in it for me?” Kenshin wondered. He wanted to know what extra things he would be enjoying by getting himself a platinum membership card.

{Yes. By getting a platinum membership card, you can buy any car of our product at a discounted price up to 20%. You will also have all your car related issues checked for free at any Ferrari showroom near you.}

“What really? Up to 20% discount? Is it applicable to the car I am just buying?” Kenshin was very elated at the offers, being a small character until recently, he couldn’t help but excite at a discount the lady offered on the other side.

{I am sorry sir. The discount will not apply to your current purchase. But purchases from hereon would be at the discount price.}

“Is that so! Okay. I will apply one.” he was a little deflated for not getting a discount, but it didn’t hamper his excited mood.

{Thank you, sir. As our newest Platinum member, we will process your order as soon as possible. You will be getting your car at the end of this week. Thank you. Have a nice day.}

After saying so, the lady on the other side hung the call. Putting his phone on the table beside his computer, he leaned back on his chair he looked unfocused, seemingly thinking about some complicated matters. Every now and then a smile would leak from his lips as if thinking about something funny.