[Nightmare]

"Heya. The name's Miskie. I was wondering if you wanted to trade cards with me." A power-weeb called out.

The woman in front of Helix was cute, albeit plain-looking.

She had dark, wavy brown hair and light brown eyes to match.

He figured that she would compete with pretty girls if she wore makeup as they did.

However, he found her [cute despite zero fucks given] vibe charming.

Helix looked down at his palm.

"Spoken to twenty people… check.

Daring, not manipulative… check.

Honest… check." He muttered to himself while pretending to check off boxes with an air pen.

He touched his neck without looking at her and pulled out a card.

"I'll trade you this card for any card of my choosing." Helix offered while looking back up at her.

He showed her the back of the card.

"However, I'm not going to show you what this card holds."

Miskie narrowed her eyes at him with an interested expression.

"Is this a trust game? Or are you hopin' to watch the world burn?"

Helix gave her a mysterious smile.

"Which are you hoping for?"

Miskie shrugged her shoulders.

"If I chose the latter, it would lose its flavor."

Helix chucked with an amused expression.

"I suppose you could call this a personality test." He explained.

"You can learn a lot about a person by seeing how they interact in a situation like this."

Miskie gave Helix a mocking expression.

"Is that so? I'll check my personality the next time I'm offered an apple or an orange."

Helix gave her a slight smile.

"Are you telling me that this transaction is frivolous and arbitrary?"

Miskie bent the corners of her mouth upward in an exaggerated wry smile.

"Are you going to mine information about my personality, or trade with me?"

Helix shrugged.

"With your level of boldness, you could easily obtain all five cards and get a sixth.

Yet you're gambling after I told you this was a personality test."

Miskie blinked twice.

"And I told you that I'm okay with watchin' the world burn, but you're still mining for information."

Helix chuckled under his breath.

Then he chuckled again.

He burst into laughter after the third iteration.

"Let's see your cards, then." Helix requested.

Miskie pulled out her cards from her item storage and handed them to Helix.

Helix burst into laughter again.

"I hope this isn't extortion." He laughed.

Helix looked down at her small deck of cards in his hand with amusement.

"Nope. It's an investment." Miskie shrugged.

Helix studied the cards with fascination.

"Are you looking to obtain a monopoly?" He chuckled.

"Yu~p." She replied with a lax smile.

"Hah. Well then, I won't keep you from it." Helix laughed.

He picked out an amusing card and then handed her his.

"Hah. You're a fuckin' lunatic." Miskie laughed in amazement.

"Yep. It's an investment." Helix replied with a shit-eating grin.

"Well, I'm glad it worked out in my favor." She scoff-laughed.

"It's not as much fun since you understand." He chuckled.

"Hoh? So you're the type that enjoys someone hatin' ya for a month only to discover you were a saint?" Miskie asked with a grin.

"Maybe I want to tell people they shouldn't question me before understanding my reasoning." Helix shrugged.

"Or maybe I want to root out people who get twisted over minor things and then watch them scrabble. Who knows."

Miskie gave him an evil smile.

"You're an asshole, but I like that about ya."

Helix scoff-laughed.

"You pass the personality test."

Miskie scoff-laughed.

"You don't."

"Thanks for the compliment." He replied with a slight smile.

"You're welcome, psycho boy." She countered with a grin.

"Any~who. Pleasure doin' business with ya.

I have a small fortune to make. Thanks for the opportunity."

"Anytime. Enjoy your rare elemental cards.

You're going to rake in a fortune sooner than you think."

Miskie turned around and walked away.

"What was that about?" Maze asked.

The two were still standing together.

Maze didn't fit in well with the power-weebs but got along with Helix fine.

He took Helix's suggestion to let people hate.

"There are elemental cards in Roshak that are required to use spells." Helix explained with a wicked smile.

"I gave everyone cards that use rare elementals.

So while the cards look basic, they're extremely valuable."

Maze listened with interest.

"Miskie identified that and is buying up all of the elementals.

She has around fifty cards, and only one was an attack card." He laughed.

"Everyone's interested in getting rid of them because they think they can easily acquire them later. But—"

"They're rare. So people will need to buy the cards back from her to use cards they traded for." Maze laughed.

"Yup." Helix chuckled.

"She's rockin' the whole, [works when necessary to achieve laziness] vibe. I like that." Maze chuckled.

"Me too. It's interesting." He laughed.

"So what card did you give her?" Maze asked.

Helix shot him a wicked grin.

"The elemental card she's monopolizing." He grinned.

Maze's eyes widened in surprise before he burst into laughter.

"That's… hahaha… amazing…." Maze cried.

"I agree." Helix chuckled.

"There are five hundred cards in circulation, and two hundred are those elemental cards.

Those cards are also rare, and most are in circulation.

Miskie will achieve eighty percent of the elemental market if she continues monopolizing.

It's so lucrative it's a joke."

The two chatted about it and shared some laughs.

When it was time to conclude the [meet and greet] ceremony, Helix was approached by a different set of people.

"Hey, man…." A super-otaku called out.

"Hey, Leo." Helix replied tactfully.

"I… We… want to say thank you." Leo announced with sad eyes.

Behind him, there were five women.

Helix gave them an empathetic expression.

"You're welcome." He replied with a gentle tone.

"I planned on approaching you five later to say thank you as well."

Everyone gave Helix a bewildered expression.

"Wait… what? Why?" Leo asked hesitantly.

"Because your Circle of Remembrances are the reason I'm here." Helix replied with a genuine smile.

"Honestly. The messages from you and Millie were the main reason I came back.

They helped me a lot, and I cannot express my gratitude enough."

Helix bowed slightly, and all six wiggled around in a panic.

Millie turned bright red and was covering her face.

Sarah was extremely shocked and awkward.

Lily and Tammy were still shaken, so they were confused.

"D-Don't bow, Helix." Leo stuttered.

"Honestly. Sarah, Lily, Tammy… your circles are very precious to me too." Helix continued with a gentle smile.

"I'm… glad I came back."

Leo fell silent. He couldn't express the words he wanted to say.

"Helix…. After what I just experienced, I wish that I stood up to help you." Leo confessed after a period of contemplation.

Helix closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Leo, Millie, Sarah, Lily, Tammy, Mary… I'm grateful for your appreciation." Helix began tactfully.

"I hope you know what happened then and now are the same and that we shouldn't live in a world where thanks are necessary for this."

Helix averted his gaze to prevent tearing up.

The women in the group did the same.

"Leo…. The only difference between helping you today and your position back then is that I had the power to help and was in the right location." He reasoned.

"If you had Marie's power and were in the Kina district three months ago, you would have done the same. I'm certain of it."

Leo started tearing up, and Helix did the same.

Soon all five of the women started tearing up lightly as well.

Maze understood the sensitivity of the situation and took his leave.

Helix gave him a thankful nod.

"Do… any of you want a hug?" Helix asked.

Leo nodded with slight shame in his eyes but hugged Helix.

Millie was the last person to walk up to Helix hesitantly.

He took a step forward to embrace her slowly.

His move was to ensure she wouldn't feel so awkward.

When she was in his arms, she started bawling.

"Millie. I came back to protect you." Helix whispered with a gentle voice.

The tiny blonde looked up in shock and stared at him with her puffy eyes.

Helix sent her a kind smile.

"I'm not here forever. But I came back to ensure you were safe and to set up a new legal system that would protect you." He explained.

"Also, I'd like to advocate for you to get into a non-combat position.

I know powerful people now. I'm sure they can make your life safe."

Millie burst into tears again and hugged Helix closely.

Leo, Sarah, Tammy, and Lily watched the scene with true happiness in their eyes.

Learning Helix came back to protect a small woman living in fear was what they needed to hear.

"T-Thank you. H-Helix." Millie cried.

"You're welcome, Millie." He whispered while hugging her tighter.

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)