The Conciege
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August Intruder- Chapter 120- You Sly Dawg, You
🕑 Added 2025-02-21 05:26:49 +0000 UTC“What do you say about this one?”
Melmarc was currently looking at a dummy phone. From what he could get from the information written under the dud, the phone’s price was on the high side of things. As for the phone’s specifications, they didn’t look worth it.
Raising his head, he turned his attention to his brother.
They were currently in a large shop. It was like a small hall. The ground beneath his feet was white as snow. The same could be said of the walls and the tables and platforms, the mobile phones, laptops and computers in the room rested upon.
Apart from the members of staff moving around in the building dressed in black shirts and black pants, the products on sale, and a few other customers in different clothes, the place was pure white.
He often wondered what it was with tech shops and the color white. Although, in their defense, the color did give the place a tech-y feeling.
Ark stood in front of a raised platform with a single phone on display. The mobile device shared the space with nothing else. That very fact screamed expensive even if there was a chance that the phone was.
Ignoring the dud in front of him, Melmarc moved over to his brother.
“It’s got an OLED display,” Ark said, not looking up from the phone. “It’s also got that ultra zoom for spying on people from afar.”
“For taking pictures,” Melmarc said with a groan. “You don’t have to make things weird.”
One of the customer’s passing by, a lady with her son that looked like he was in his early teens, gave them a worried look.
“Taking pictures from afar, spying on people.” Ark shrugged. “Who said you can’t use one thing for two purposes.”
Melmarc looked at the price tag of the phone and shook his head. “Let’s find another one.”
Ark caught him by the arm as he turned to walk away. Melmarc did not fight it.
“I’m not buying that, Ark.”
Ark held up a black bank card. It was their mother’s credit card. Their father had one, too, but he was not in charge of its use. According to their mother, she’d seized all his credit and debit cards and changed the password to his financial applications when he’d transferred two thousand dollars to an innocent boy at a yard sale for a box he had specifically said was twenty dollars.
It had been an entire fiasco that had terrified the boy. Luckily for everybody, their mother had been present with their father that day. Since then, their father had been grounded from his rights to make transactions.
In hindsight, Melmarc wondered who’d even thought that it was a good idea to give the Oath of Madness, direct access to all his money. He was surprised his father hadn’t just withdrawn all of his money and given it to a fox in a zoo.
“Mom said we can max the card out,” Ark said, waving the credit card about. “And I have confirmed that this is the best phone here.”
“She did,” Melmarc agreed. “And it is. But I am not buying a phone of a thousand five hundred dollars, Ark. No phone deserves to be worth that much.”
“You can play games from any console on it as well,” Ark said. “Spoil yourself.”
Melmarc paused to look his brother in the eye. Ark met his gaze for only a moment before giving him a sheepish smile.
“How much was your phone?” he asked Ark.
“Four ninety-nine.”
Melmarc snorted and shook his head. “You’re the video game enthusiast Ark. If you want to start playing video games again, ask mom for a console.”
Ark gave him a flat, betrayed look. “You know that mom uses a reward system. I’m going to have to get good grades or something before she agrees or be a good boy for like a month or two. I might as well get a job.”
“Then get a job.” Melmarc pointed at a phone in the distance. “I’m getting that one. It’s the closest thing to the one I was using before.”
“Or,” Ark interrupted, “you could get this one and we could swap phones.”
Melmarc looked up at his brother as a girl their age walked past them, taking a moment to admire their heights. Sometimes Melmarc wasn’t really sure if people were admiring their heights or being terrified by it.
“Ark, get a job or be a good boy,” he told his brother.
Ark scoffed. “A good boy is a boring boy.”
“I’m good,” Melmarc pointed out.
“My point exactly.” Ark released Melmarc’s arm. “I love you, brother, but you’re as boring as watching paint dry. Let’s go get your boring phone.”
I’m not boring, Melmarc grumbled as he turned in the direction of the phone he wanted. When he moved, Ark walked with him.
“So, did mom say when we’re going to resume school?” Ark asked him as they walked. “I’ve been in the house for so long that I think I’m beginning to understand how Uncle D’s spells work.”
Ark did not have the focus of mind to understand how any spells worked without it being directly taught to him, much less their uncle’s spell that had the ability to reconstruct a broken wall.
“She said next month,” Melmarc answered him before gesturing to get the attention of one of the members of staff. “She said we should wait until I get a feedback from any of the schools I applied to.”
“You applied to them on my computer last night,” Ark pointed out. “Schools like that take forever to get back to you… Right?”
“Three business days,” Melmarc corrected as a young lady approached them in the staff uniform.
She was pretty as far as pretty girls went, pretty enough for Melmarc to want to say hi. She had brown hair wrapped up in a loose ponytail and lips so pink there had to be lip gloss of some level playing a part. She also looked like she would be around their age, which had him thinking she was probably a part-time worker or something.
“Good afternoon, sir,” she greeted, hesitating with the title for some reason. “Have you found a device you like?”
She had a soft voice, gentle. The kind of voice that led a hymn, and her smile seemed to light up the room.
Tell her to sing the Adventures of Melo theme song.
Melmarc paused at the thought. He didn’t know if it had come from him or from the part of his brain in charge of his Oath reactions. He blinked twice, pulling himself back to the present as he ignored the thought.
That was weird.
“Yes, we have,” he told her with a smile of his own.
“That’s nice,” she replied. “And what have you chosen?”
Ark raised a hand to interrupt Melmarc and leaned casually against the edge of the platform.
“Would you mind doing me a favor… Claire,” he had paused for a moment to read her name tag while giving her his trademark boyish grin. “I’m trying to convince my brother over here to be more daring in life. You would say that being daring in life is a good thing, right?”
The girl tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, realizing a moment too late that there was in fact no stray strand of hair to tuck. Her smile widened a little as she looked at Ark. Melmarc rolled his eyes.
“I would say it is a good thing,” she conceded. “How daring are you trying to make him.”
“Very,” Ark said in a voice that could be mistaken for sultry.
Out of sight, Melmarc’s hand pinched Ark in the side. Whenever his brother was single, he had a habit of flirting with any girl that was pretty enough in his eyes.
Ark pointed at the phone he’d wanted Melmarc to get. “I’m trying to get him to buy that phone, but he keeps being stuck up about it. It’s annoying because he has more than enough money to afford it.”
Melmarc would’ve pointed out how it was actually their mother that had more than enough money to afford it, but he didn’t want to ruin whatever it was that his brother was up to. Ark didn’t flirt when he was in a relationship, at least not intentionally, so Melmarc didn’t interrupt his flirting unless he was feeling especially mischievous.
The girl, Claire, was quick to dive into a series of marketing and flirtatious words. One was designed to get them to buy the phone while the latter was likely designed to get Ark’s number. Then again, it was possible that she was not flirting but flirting back. Ninra always said that there was a difference between a girl flirting with you and a girl flirting back.
Ark stopped the girl after a while then gestured to Melmarc. “So sorry to interrupt your beautiful use of words,” he said. “But while I do have money, my brother here’s the one with the business acumen. I’m rich, but—I’m not ashamed to say—he’s richer. Let’s convince him to buy the phone. I think you’ll have better luck than I’ve had.”
Claire turned and gave Melmarc her smile. Melmarc was certain she had gotten away with a lot of things using that smile. Why? Because buying the expensive phone didn’t look like a bad idea when he looked at her smile.
“So what do you say?” she asked with a smile that reached her eyes. “The phone is definitely worth the price.”
Melmarc looked at Ark who had positioned himself to stand right beside the girl. Whether it was to be close to her or to escape his pinching fingers, Melmarc could not say. What he could say was that his brother had the most suggestive grin on his face.
He wasn’t sure if his brother was actively trying to get him to buy the phone or trying to get him to talk to the girl. Knowing his brother, though, it could’ve easily been both.
“How about I make you a counteroffer,” Melmarc said, moving his attention back to the girl. “I promise you that it sounds reasonable in my head. I can only hope it sounds reasonable coming out of my mouth.”
Claire’s eyes moved to his lips, paused there for a moment, then moved back to his eyes. “I’m listening.”
“Let’s do this,” Melmarc said, noticing the eye widening panic Ark had suddenly found himself in. His brother gave him a warning look that he ignored as he continued. “How about, I buy this phone now, then I come back when that phone’s price has gone down. I just cannot bring myself to buy a phone of that price strictly on principle. As for how I’ll know the price has gone down,” he added, interrupting her before she could reply. “I believe it would be to everyone’s benefit if you had my brother’s number to keep him updated on the price.”
She gave him a look he could not quite place. “Your brother’s? Why not yours?”
“Alas,” Melmarc held his hands out. “I do not have a phone, as such, I do not have a phone number. My older brother, however, does. As long as he has the updates, I, too, will have the updates.”
Ark groaned inaudibly. He looked as if the only thing stopping him from executing an S-rank face palm was the fact that they were in a public space.
Purchasing the phone of his choice had gone smoothly from there. Claire had turned away, her smile never wavering, and had gone to get them the actual phone while directing them to the counter where they would make payment.
When she brought the phone, it was in a sealed, sleek, black box. As Melmarc waited for the cashier to tally the numbers, Ark and the girl started up a conversation.
He watched his brother make her blush and almost giggle a few times before—to his surprise—reluctantly taking her phone when she offered it to him.
“Would you like to it enchanted?” the cashier asked, drawing Melmarc’s attention.
“Sorry, what?” Melmarc asked, turning away as Ark started imputing his number in the girl’s phone.
“We offer the options of enchantments,” the cashier said. “We offer tracking enchantments as well as concealment enchantments to avoid having your phone tracked. We also offer fashionable enchantments that give you the option of customizing your phone into different colors and designs as you see fit. It has a selection of up to five different colors. Blue, pink, yellow, beige, and mint green. Mint green has been very famous among our customers in recent times.”
Melmarc declined politely with a shake of his head. “No, thank you. I’m fine with just an ordinary phone.”
“If you are not Gifted,” the cashier added, still pitching his sale, “you do not have to worry about it. Our mobile devices are fitted with a mana processor chip that acts as a power source for the enchantments. And if this one does not have it, we will be more than happy to fit it with one at no cost.”
Melmarc’s polite smile waned a little, but he kept it plastered on his face. “No, thank you. I’m fine with a completely normal phone. I’m really not into the whole magitech thing.”
Dissonant.
Oh, shut up, I know when I’m lying. You don’t have to tell me.
Payment was quick after that. No one offered any other marketing pitch, and Melmarc and Ark were out of the store. Melmarc only hoped that he hadn’t been moving so fast that people would think he was running.
Outside the store they took a turn down the sidewalk. Together they walked in silence. Melmarc took in the space around them. The sun was high in the afternoon sky but there was no heat from it, at least no perceptible heat. The air was cool to the touch, winter’s obvious presence was gone in the absence of snow, but its touch still settled on the world with its cool weight.
The weather wasn’t cold, it was simply cool.
As they walked, Melmarc paid attention to the mana particles in the air. They were countless in myriads of colors. They didn’t obstruct his sight in any way. Simply put, they were there, but he had to focus to actually see them.
As usual they interacted amongst people, hovering close with every action but not too close. To the side a man sneezed into his elbow as he passed Melmarc and Ark. The result was a burst of mana colors. There was green, blue, and something that reminded Melmarc of the color of the thing you get when you picked your nose.
It was safe to say that even germs carried their form of mana.
Around Ark, the mana was crazy. From Melmarc’s observation, mana clung to those that were Gifted and hovered very closely to people the younger they were. For Ark, the mana quite literally bounced off him. They did not react to his presence. They stayed in place, and he walked into them. In response, they bounced off him whenever he struck them.
Melmarc wondered if it was the effect of him being a [Demon King]. If Spitfire had given him the mana that had made him Gifted, then there was a chance that the mana of their world reacted differently to the mana of whatever world Spitfire came from.
It was also possible that there was something else involved, though.
Another thing he noticed was how much more mana there was out in the world than at home. There was mana at home but compared to the world around him now, the mana density at home was significantly low. If he reached out his hand to grab the mana at home and reached out to grab the mana here, he would find himself with a handful probably eight times the size of what he would get at home.
Did it have something to do with the number of people existing in the outside world as against the five people at home or was there something else involved?
“Are we not taking a cab?” Ark asked.
Melmarc shook his head. It felt like a long while since he’d felt the freedom of walking down a simple road. Too long, actually.
So he was going to enjoy the little stroll he could get.
“It’s a thirty minutes’ walk back,” Ark pointed out.
Melmarc nodded. “It’s not that long then.”
Ark groaned. “You’re no fun.”
“What did I do?” Melmarc asked as they turned down the road. “I haven’t had a taste of real fresh air in a long time.”
“Not that,” Ark protested. “I mean back in the store.”
“I’m not getting a phone that expensive, Ark.”
Ark shook his head. “Not that. I’m talking about Claire.”
“What about her?”
Ark held his hands out to his side and said in a hoarse and pretentious tone. “‘Alas, I do not have a phone.’ Who talks like that?”
“A brother trying to wingman his brother.”
“I was wingman-ing you,” Ark groaned. “And why did you give her my number. You know for a fact that you’re just going to get your number back when you restore your phone.”
Melmarc paused to look at his brother. “Are you complaining about giving a girl your number? Is the great Tar’arkna complaining about that.”
“Mel,” Ark said very precisely. “You need to get laid.”
Melmarc snorted. “A cute girl does not automatically interpret as someone that should be taken to bed.”
“A cute girl does not, however, if a cute girl is interested in you and you are interested in her, taking her to bed or being taken to bed does not sound like an option that should be so blatantly ignored.”
“Let her take you to bed.”
“Nope, there seems to be a misunderstanding here.” Ark sighed. “I know that you’re the decent and civilized one. I’m not saying that you should just smash and dash—”
“Really?” Melmarc gave him a flat look. “Smash and dash?”
“Ejaculate and evacuate?” Ark shrugged. “Hit and run? Whichever one works for you.”
Melmarc ran a hand down his face, laughing. “You are a terror, Ark.”
“All I’m saying is that you don’t have to be a player. You can spend some time getting to know her. You could fall in love and she could be your girlfriend.”
“Really? I thought your plan was for me to get laid.”
Ark slapped him on the back. “Of course it is. But not everybody can happily jump in bed with a girl just because she’s beautiful. I need her to have a little bit of sense that can only be discovered after two to four conversations, and you need to be in love with her.”
“I don’t need to be in love with her,” Melmarc grumbled. “It’s just more… reasonable to me.”
“In love with her, like her. Whatever floats your boat. All I’m saying is that you and her could get along. Like each other.”
Melmarc wasn’t sure he was ready to get along with a girl who started out by showing interest in his brother. It just wasn’t him right now.
“We’ll soon be off to school,” he reminded his brother.
“In a month, Mel. A month.” Ark shrugged. “A lot can happen in a month.”
“Then what? Long distance relationship?”
“If you can make it work, maybe?”
“And what if I find a girl I like in school? You know that none of the schools we applied to are in town, right? We’ll be living there until the holidays.”
“True.”
“So, I don’t want to risk starting anything I can’t finish. If it was a casual thing that we both agree to, that’s different. But—”
“You don’t do casual,” Ark finished for him. “That makes sense, I guess.”
Ark paused, slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants and brought out his phone. Holding the screen up for Melmarc to see, he shook it to get his attention. On the screen as a notification from an unsaved number. Melmarc didn’t get the chance to read it before Ark started typing.
“The lady from the store?” Melmarc asked, knowing the answer.
“Claire. Yes.” Done typing, Ark put the phone back into his pocket. “She says hi.”
Melmarc nodded. “Good for you. She seems like a nice girl.”
“She probably is. I just hope that—”
“Hi.”
Melmarc and Ark came to an abrupt stop at the sound of the voice. It was female, soft with a tone of excitement in it.
Slowly, they both turned around and looked down. The girl wasn’t necessarily short, but she was standing close enough that they had to. She took a large step away from them so that she didn’t have to tilt her head too far back to meet their eyes.
She waved at Melmarc with a confident smile. “Hi. Never thought I’d run into you again, half-smile and wry grin.”
Melmarc and Ark shared a look. She was definitely looking at Melmarc. With her green highlights and black hair something about her almost looked gothic. But she didn’t have the gothic clothes to go with it. She wore a simple blue tee with the map of an African country Melmarc could not remember on the front and blue body fit jeans that made her curves hard to ignore.
She also wore sneakers. The goth vibes definitely ended on her face. She also looked like the kind of girl that would stab you if you breathed wrong. And something about that made her seem familiar.
As all three of them stood, unmoving on a busy sidewalk, Ark leaned in and whispered, “I didn’t know you knew girls this cute.”
Melmarc didn’t know how to inform Ark of the fact that he actually didn’t. At least not without offending the girl if she heard him. The last thing he wanted to do was deny someone he was actually supposed to know.
The girl cocked her head to the side and held out her hand for a handshake.
“Hi,” she said. “My name is Patience, and I don’t smoke.”
That was a weird introduction. Also, a familiar one. Melmarc could swear he knew someone that had introduced themselves like that from somewhere.
He took her hand in his and shook it. “Hi, Patience. I’m Ma—”
“Marc,” she said, interrupting him. “I know. I just feel offended that you don’t know me. Even after my trademark introduction. I thought it was like our thing.”
Ark chuckled lightly beside Ark before holding out his own hand for a handshake.
“Hi,” he said as the girl, Patience, released Melmarc’s hand and shook his. “I’m Ark.”
“The brother,” she said, pointing at him. “Do you smoke?”
Ark looked from her to Melmarc then back. “I do not, actually. I have had a blunt or two before though.”
“Because you’re a daring soul unlike your brother?”
“Exactly.” Ark nodded. “Tell me, would you be interested in hanging out wi—”
Melmarc elbowed him in the side and Ark bent over.
“Oh, fuck you,” Ark wheezed even though Melmarc was very sure that it hadn’t hurt. “I was just being polite.”
Patience gave Melmarc a look. “I thought he was the rough one.”
“He’s the less civilized but more fun one,” Melmarc replied. “Now, I’m very very very sorry but—”
“Three ‘very,’” she laughed, shaking her head. “I take it you’re about to tell me that you don’t remember me.”
Melmarc sucked in his lips in awkward yet apologetic guilt. “I’m sorry but I don’t.”
“And here I thought I would’ve made an impression,” she muttered. “At least with you knowing who my mum was, I thought you’d definitely remember me. I guess you weren’t lying when you acted like you didn’t care.”
Melmarc was only slightly more confused. He was sure he knew the girl, just not how or from where.
“You definitely left an impression, tall and handsome.”
Ark chuckled beside Melmarc.
“You really know how to break a girl’s heart, Marc,” she said in a teasing voice. “We met at the Gifted registration. I asked if you had weed.”
Melmarc’s eyes widened in realization.
A famous Delver's daughter.
“I remember,” he said, smiling. “What are you doing here? Do you stay around?”
Patience smiled back at him. “Oh, God, no. I stay at Tatelat.”
“What’s a girl from the Gifted capital of the city like you doing in a place like this?” Ark asked, done with his pretentious bent over wheezing.
“Visiting.”
“On a vacation?”
“Something like that.”
Dissonant.
Melmarc didn’t like that. If the daughter of [Dragon-Knight] was lying about the reason she was in town, that didn’t sound like a good thing. If he remembered correctly, from his encounter with her at the registration center, she had said something about having a rebellious phase.
“Are we rebelling, Patience?” he teased, even though he was slightly serious.
Patience chuckled. “Call me Pat. And no, I’m not rebelling, Marc. My rebellious phase is behind me. But it’s good to know that you still remember our conversations.”
“Then what’s this vacation you’re on?”
“Nothing serious. Remember I told you my brother’s a Delver?”
Melmarc remembered. “I do.”
“Well, something’s brought him here, so I decided to hitch a ride with him. A little vacation before I go to school. My mom says I can follow him on his work if he allows me. It could build some experience.”
“His work?” Melmarc asked. “If I’m not mistaken, there hasn’t been a portal around for a while now. I saw it on the internet.”
“A few days, actually,” she confirmed. “My brother was actually in a portal when he was just expelled from it like a bad case of diarrhea.”
Melmarc looked at Ark, expecting him to say something, maybe crack a diarrhea joke. Ark did not. In fact, he seemed more than happy to stand to the side and let them talk.
“Anyway,” Patience continued. “That’s what brought me here.”
“Any idea what your brother’s here for, though?” Melmarc asked.
“Something about a major disturbance they are trying to investigate. I’m not very sure. But that’s all I’ve got. He thinks that it might be a portal.”
“Doubt it,” Ark muttered so low that Melmarc wasn’t sure if Patience heard him.
“What about the last time?” Melmarc asked her. “What brought you here? You could’ve done the registration in Tatelat?”
“My mom didn’t want me doing it there,” she answered. “I might be a nobody out here, but I’m something of a big deal back home. She didn’t want all the press and favoritism.”
A side glance told him that Ark was metaphorically on the edge of his seat wanting to ask who her mother was.
“So, what’s the school update for you?” she asked Melmarc.
“None yet,” he answered, realizing that for some reason he had been a bit ashamed to admit it. “Haven’t gotten any feedback from the schools I’ve applied to.”
“Really?” she asked, surprised.
Ark leaned in to interject. “In his defense, I quite literally had to consistently remind him to apply. He finally got around to applying last night. So, fingers crossed for three to five days.”
“Oh.” She looked at Melmarc. “Didn’t strike you as nonchalant. I guess you must’ve been very busy.”
Isn’t that the understatement of the year.
Between the portal and everything that had happened, it was a miracle that he was at least still alive.
“You said you’re on vacation before school,” Melmarc said. “Do you mind telling me which school?”
“Fallen High,” she said proudly. “Best school in the country.”
“Are you sure we can’t just go somewhere and chill,” Ark interjected again. “It’s getting kind of awkward just standing out here.”
Patience gave him an apologetic smile. “I would love to, but I actually have to run.” She took a step away from them. “But it was nice seeing you, Marc and Marc’s brother.”
Melmarc held his hand up in a silent wave as she hurried off. Five steps in, she stopped and turned around.
She recovered the five steps until she was standing in front of them again.
“Do you stay around here?”
“We’re a bit far, but we definitely stay in town,” Ark answered.
She gave him a thankful smile before looking back to Melmarc. “And you didn’t even try to get my number for us to hang out.” She looked at Ark. “He doesn’t get any bitches, does he?”
Ark laughed. “No, he does not.”
“And he knows that it’s entirely his fault, right?”
“He’s a bit of a nerd. Please forgive him.”
“Forgiven.” She looked back at Melmarc and held her hand out. “Phone,” she demanded.
Ark sucked his teeth in dismay interrupting Melmarc before he could reply.
“He’s got a bit of an issue with his phone,” he told her. “In summary, he hasn’t unboxed his new one.”
“So how is he going to get my number?”
“Oh, that’s easy.” Ark had a devious grin on his face. “Marc has a good memory when he puts his mind to it. Say it, and I assure you he’ll remember it.”
Patience gave him a doubtful look.
Ark raised his hand. “Scout’s honor.”
Melmarc intentionally stopped himself from pointing out that Ark had never joined the scouts. In fact, he had adamantly refused to join the scouts as a child.
“Alright, then.” Patience looked at Melmarc. “Here goes.”
When she called her number, he listened. When she asked him to call it back, he did exactly that without missing a number.
He wasn’t very good at math, but he was good at memorizing numbers. They just didn’t stay very long in his head unless they were very important like his parents’ numbers and the likes.
Her number would be in his head for at least a few hours before he forgot it. If he still wanted to remember it, he could probably piece it back together within the next day or two. After that, it would be gone.
Ark could remember numbers for a longer period of time than him. So, even if he didn’t remember Patience’s number, he was more than certain Ark had memorized it for him.
“That’s actually more interesting than people think,” Patience said. “I can’t remember random numbers to save my life. Make sure you remember to call me,” she added, walking away. “If this is just an excuse to avoid me because of who I am, I’ll be very pissed off the next time we meet.”
Her voice dwindled as she continued to go until she turned her back on them and blended into the crowd.
When she was gone, Ark gave Melmarc an impish smile.
“You sly dawg, you,” he teased, bumping Melmarc’s shoulder with his. “You’ve been holding out on me. I didn’t know you liked them feisty.”
“I don’t, and I haven’t been holding out on you,” he said, turning and forcing them to start walking. “She’s just a girl I met at the registration center.”
“The one you wanted us to wait for outside that never came out.”
Melmarc nodded, remembering the whole thing. He’d wanted to talk to her a little more back then.
“She was saying something about being famous,” Ark said after they’d walked for a while in relative silence. “What was that about?”
“Her mom’s famous,” Melmarc answered. “So, by extension, she’s famous.”
“And her mom is?”
“[Dragon Knight].”
