Fantasy Realm – Infinite Worlds Adventure-Chapter 491: S*xual Harassment

Still awed by the selection of items, Alex can’t help but greedily stare at the screen in front of him.

He and Tereza take their time scrolling through all the options, carefully examining each line before they finally turn back to the others.

“Nothing of value here,” Benezia says with a shrug. “However, it seems you found something more worthy of our attention.”

“Let’s discuss it later,” Alex says calmly.

“You’ll be surprised,” Tereza adds with a small smile.

Back outside, Alex turns to Calli. “Thank you so much for the help. I found something to aim for. We’ll come back later and accept your offer for a place to rest.”

“I’ll be expecting you,” she responds, making her way back to her bull before leaving the scene.

After briefly waving her off, Alex turns his attention back to the group as they stand together in a small circle.

“Let’s go,” he says. “I’ll tell you on the way what we saw in the store. Next goal, Galley-La Company!”

Riding their bulls towards the most central part of Shipbuilding Island, Alex and Tereza relay the details of the secret shop to the others, going over everything they saw.

“That changes things,” Benezia says at once, her expression turning serious. “Money was just something we saw as a useful tool to obtain items for selling in the realm, an easy way to earn FC. Or an opportunity to outright convert them into shards. These three items, on the other hand, are quite tempting, I have to admit.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Alex says solemnly. “It was a little too easy to find that shop... don’t you agree? Obviously, multiple NPCs should know about this shop, which means if there are other players inside Water 7—and we know that’s a real possibility—these items could quickly disappear. If this were an online game, I would go full autism mode, create a smurf account, or team up with someone and constantly camp that shop 24/7, then pick off anyone who wants to enter it.”

“Your human games seem to border on madness, but I can’t deny the effectiveness of your plan. However, we hopelessly lack the personnel required to enact such a strategy,” Benezia says calmly.

“Maybe Menchi can act as a scout, it’s situated in the shopping district anyway,” Tereza suggests, which only earns her an annoyed look from Menchi.

“That sounds boring...” Menchi says dejectedly.

“It would also be useless,” Alex points out. “She can’t contact us, so even if she sees someone. So what is she gonna do? Also, as much as I like camping, it sounds dumb to do it for weeks. Remember, as long as we don’t have the money, we can’t buy the items, even if we prevent the other players from buying them as well.”

“Ah...” Tereza responds, realising the flaw in her plan.

“What do we do then?” Menchi asks, frowning.

“Just don’t think about it,” Alex says flatly. “Focus on earning as much money as fast as possible and buy as much as we can. It’s no use worrying about those things. Even if other players are faster and buy a few items, I doubt they can afford all three. That would cost them 500 million Belly. We should get what we can.”

“Indeed,” Benezia agrees. “For now, let’s meet the Mayor. I hope you are sure about the letter, Alex.”

“I trust that hag...” Alex says. “Maybe it has something to do with my LUK, but I can somehow judge people and their Aura. It’s pretty hard to betray me for some reason. I can’t describe it, but I just know certain things.”

“That sounds rather unscientific,” Benezia comments drily, her scepticism obvious.

“No, he might be onto something,” Tereza disagrees instantly. “He even risked his entire life with Glimmerwhisk a while ago.”

“At the time I thought he had gone mad,” Menchi says, “so did our little Jewel.”

Princess Jewel trusts Soulmate... she didn’t panic or worry at all!

“If things go sour, we’ll just escape,” Alex decides, looking over at Tereza. “Transform at the earliest sign of a struggle. Anyway, I don’t anticipate things will go wrong, and we really don’t want to make an enemy out of Iceburg.”

Exactly as Alex finishes his sentence, the giant Galley-La Company building, positioned close to Dock 1, nearly at the exact centre of Water 7, comes into view. It’s a huge stone structure with a large, well-kept garden.

As they enter the property, a few friendly-looking men move to block their way, but Alex walks past them without slowing down and says, “We have an appointment with the Mayor.”

At the entrance door, they are stopped again.

“Identify yourselves! You can’t barge in here as you please,” a man yells angrily.

Alex sighs, takes out the letter from Kokoro, and holds it up for the men confronting him.

“I’ve got an important letter for Iceburg, personally handed to me by Kokoro, whom we met at the Shift Station. It’s important, and I’ve been instructed to give it to the Mayor personally. Please inform him immediately. If he doesn’t want to meet us, I’ll take that letter and disappear.”

“Kokoro?!” one of the men asks. “Who is that, and why would the Mayor care?”

“Wait... I’ve heard the Mayor talk about her. She is indeed an acquaintance of the Mayor, and she also works as the stationmaster for Shift Station,” someone else remarks.

“We’ll tell the Mayor. Please wait here,” the man in front decides.

He then quickly disappears into the building.

Alex shrugs and glances at the others, who seem just as clueless, minus Benezia, who shows no emotion at all.

Five minutes later, the same man hurries back and gestures for them to follow.

“Please come inside quickly! The Mayor wants to meet you right away, but he is in the middle of an important conversation. He’s giving you a few minutes.”

“Fine,” Alex replies.

They are rather trusting, allowing a bunch of pirates to meet the Mayor. They don’t recognise us? Looks like pirates are no real issue here.

The group follows the man through the headquarters, which feels more like a wealthy mansion than a place of business.

Eventually, they step into Iceburg’s office.

To their surprise, they see not just Iceburg, but several familiar faces.

Iceburg is a tall, middle-aged man with blue hair, wearing a red-and-orange striped jacket over an orange shirt. Alex immediately recognises his small pet mouse, Tyrannosaurus, peeking out from the jacket pocket.

Tasty snack! Princess Jewel wants to eat that white mouse.

I’m glad you can’t say that out loud. Stop spewing bullshit, that’s disgusting. The mouse is cute.

Princess Jewel is cuter!

He also spots Paulie, the blonde foreman of Dock 1, and a master shipwright and ropemaker. Paulie is wearing his work gear, smoking a cigar, and staring at the group with interest.

Next to him stands Kalifa, the well-endowed blonde secretary of the Mayor, in her mid-twenties but still with the air of a mature beauty, dressed in a low-cut blouse and a skirt, looking like the stereotypical sexy secretary.

Alex can’t help but briefly glance at her exposed legs and cleavage.

Nice tits... bab—

“That’s sexual harassment,” she says immediately, her voice calm but firm.

What the?! I didn’t even stare, I just briefly glanced at her!

Soulmate...!

“Oy, Kalifa! First of all, don’t insult the Mayor’s guests! Also, nobody cares about you! You should stop wearing such indecent clothes in the first place, if you somehow think people are staring,” Paulie snaps at her.

“That’s sexual harassment as well,” Kalifa states coldly, glaring at Paulie, who now looks embarrassed.

“Welcome, visitors,” Iceburg says, ignoring his subordinates’ bickering, his expression filled with concern. “I’ve heard you’ve got a letter from Kokoro. Is she alright?”

“Yes, she is, don’t worry,” Alex answers, stepping forward. “I’m a little surprised, honestly. You’re a rather friendly and easy-to-meet Mayor. I didn’t think you would see us so quickly—I expected trouble.”

And make it dou—

Shut up! You already said that a while ago.

“Why?” Iceburg asks. “Are you bringing trouble with you?”

“Yes,” Alex replies without hesitation. “I thought we would be easily recognised. Frankly speaking, your employees should be more careful about who they let into your company headquarters. Maybe screen your visitors—though I’m not complaining. However, others might take advantage of your trusting and friendly nature. Anyway, here is the letter.”

He hands the letter over.

“What are you talking about?” Paulie asks. “I don’t recognise you. Should I?”

“I don’t care. In fact, I prefer it that way,” Alex says with a smile.

“The Butcher, bounty of 80 million Belly. Behind him, his crew. A total combined bounty of 252.5 million Belly,” Kalifa says quietly.

At the mention of Alex’s identity, both Paulie and Iceburg suddenly look up.

“I hate Marines. Everything they say about us is a lie. We are not here to cause trouble either...” Alex says with a shrug.

“You think we can believe that?!” Paulie yells, untying a large rope from his outfit.

“Believe it!” Alex shoots back, then quickly realises what he has said and facepalms.

❤️

“It’s not the time for that... Alex!” Tereza says, clearly annoyed.

“That wasn’t on purpose,” Alex insists. “Anyway, Mayor... please read the letter. We are here to do a favour for our friend Kokoro.”

Iceburg does exactly as Alex suggests and reads the letter, his expression growing more serious with every line.

“Kalifa, Paulie, please step outside for a moment.”

“Mayor, we can’t leave you alone with these criminals!” Paulie protests, clearly outraged.

“I agree, that sounds way too risky,” Kalifa adds.

“Please,” Iceburg says with a gentle smile. “I trust these people, and the topic is of the utmost importance.”

He then looks at the group and points towards a couch and a single chair. “Sit down, my friends.”

“Sure,” Alex replies, doing as he is told.

Tereza, Benezia, and Menchi quickly follow, all sitting next to him on the couch, making him feel a little self-aware as he suddenly finds himself surrounded.

Finally, Iceburg sits down on the single chair, opposite the group.