From Player To Npc

Chapter 112: Captain Harbin

Shingi kept following Harbin through the town, and they seemed to head towards the market area.

"How is little Garry? It has been a long time since I last saw him. Still having his shop?"[Harbin]

"He had left some time ago but didn't say where he was heading. I take care of the shop with the help of some friends. Business is better."[Shingi]

Harbin didn't at any point turned towards Shingi and kept leading the way while randomly making questions.

Shingi kept following him and answering.

They reached soon enough the market area, and their destination seemed actually to be a bank.

As they got in, Shingi noticed Players checking crystals similar to those on the auction house or talking to people behind counters working here.

This wasn't just a place to store your in-game money but also worked as a storehouse where someone could rent or buy a private space for his items.

Those spaces were unique dimensions and not physical places, so other banks could access them in different areas if the Player weren't near the bank he stored the item.

Of course, buying or even renting one space like that wasn't cheap, and some said it would be cheaper to get a Spatial Ring, but those were hard to get, and even the Bag version of them didn't have as much space as some Players wanted.

Most people here were to store their money which was cheaper to do, and they didn't need to buy or rent one of their special storage units for this.

Harbin got to one of the counters to speak at one of the people working here.

It was a male gnome, but his skin wasn't greyish as Beliss since he wasn't a Dark Gnome, who seemed to doze off reading something, but he put what he was reading away, as he noticed the client and who it was.

"Oh, Captain Harbin. A pleasure seeing you today. How may I be of assistance?"[Gnome Banker]

"I am here to get access to a storage unit of yours, Jorhim. Here is its id."[Harbin]

He summoned a small piece of paper from his Spatial Ring and gave it to the Gnome.

The Gnome took it and read it while turning to a crystal he had at his side and opened a panel. He inputted some codes and went through different menus.

"Everything seems to be in order. Would you like a specific item or items from there or everything to be brought to you?"[Jorhim]

Harbin was considering for a moment before he gave his response.

"I believe it was under the id of A06, but I would appreciate if I could check the list to make sure."[Harbin]

Jorhim went through some more menus before making the panel turn toward Harbin.

Shingi was surprised to hear the id of the item they were here to get. 

It was the same as his Player account.

Ids were selected by the ones who owned the storage unit, so he doubted that it was a coincidence.

"Yes, it is as I remembered. I need only this item today."[Harbin]

The panel turned toward the Gnome once more, who seemed to be reading something after pressing the option of the item Harbin wanted to get.

"Cause of its nature, you will need to wait for it a bit. Our VIP waiting room is open for you, or we can deliver it to you."[Jorhim]

Shingi knew that the only time that something would take time to be taken by a bank's storage unit was of things that were considered of great importance, and there had to be an agreement from the higher-ups, which took some time.

"I understand. We are going to be at The Imperfect Lily. You can deliver this there."[Harbin]

Harbin then turned and left the bank, followed by Shingi, who stayed silent during the whole process. He was curious what would get delivered to them, but he wasn't impatient as he knew that he would learn soon; otherwise, why would Harbin tell him to follow him.

They walked a few minutes until they reached an Inn with a sign with the drawing of a lily with some of its petals being cut and have next to it written with big letters 'The Imperfect Lily.'

This was one of the best inns in the town, and Ameanum rarely came here when in town as he wasn't much on spending his money in that high place except if they had some special food or something.

Getting in the place was full of people, and Shingi noticed some having a particular poster with them.

On the posters, there was witting that said that today was going to be a special event at the Imperfect Lily, of a group of entertainers going by the name of Strings of Four Seasons would make an appearance today.

There was even a drawing of Meyana in her dancing outfit, mainly why many people kept those posters.

Harbin spoke with one of the people working here and got a private room for him and Shingi to have their drinks, food, and discuss.

Of course, they wouldn't be able to see the special even from there, but they could get out to enter the public area if they wanted to check it out.

He ordered a few drinks and some food as a young female waitress took his order and informed the ones in charge of them and brought them.

"So mind to tell me why you used a different name. I am confident that your name isn't Vangel."[Harbin]

"You remember correctly. The name is Shingi, Shingi Maki. Have to use an alias as there are a few people who would be best not to know I am around here."[Shingi]

Harbin seemed to be calm for a captain guard that had just heard someone telling him that he lied his way in. This could be a simple thing, but it was against the laws and would be punishable by a few days of jails.

But Shingi didn't find any reason to hide the fact that Harbin already knew he was lying, so hiding the face wouldn't help him as he didn't have to admit it to get in jail.

"You seem to be bold for someone at your age. It reminds me a bit of your mother; even among the Blessed Ones, she was one of the boldest out there. I still wait for her to show up out of nowhere, but they rarely do after being missing for that long."[Harbin]

"How do you know my family?"[Shingi]

"Oh, I guess Garry didn't speak of his older brother. Well, we haven't spoken since you were born, and that was through letters. As a Captain of the town, it is rare for me to leave the town except for special cases, so I wasn't able to visit Carda. How is Annoue, by the way? She must have grown to a beautiful young lady at this point if you have grown that much."[Harbin]

Shingi kept his sadness and anger away from showing on his face by the mention of his missing sister.

"She is currently away from home, but she will return soon. So how did you know about my eyes, and why can you see their true color?"[Shingi]

At this point, the female waitress returned with some drinks and some simple food to come with them. After letting them and making sure everything was ok, she left the room.

"This is something you got from our side of the family, but you seem not to have full control of it yet."[Harbin]

Then the eyes of Harbin changed from black to golden.

Shingi didn't know what that meant as he didn't know of humans having the ability to do that without the use of magic.

"I see that Garry hasn't informed you. As expected of him, after Angel left, he seemed not to care for many things. We are still humans, but as there are some sub-races of other races, so is it for us. We may be considered humans by the Gods, but we have some unique abilities that normal humans don't have. Although I assume because of your mother, you and Annoue may have more innate abilities than the rest of us."[Harbin]

Shingi never heard of humans having any sub-race in the game, but since the System didn't seem to refer to them differently, it made sense.

"So what abilities other than turning our eyes different color do we have?"[Shingi]

"Right to the point, I see. Changing our eyes' color is mostly a sign for us to recognize each other, and each color represents a different specialization we belong to. People who don't belong to our race see our eyes as being black all the time. My eyes help me to be a better leader and helped me in my tasks as a Captain. Garry's green eyes have helped him to recognize different materials; that's why he chose to become a craftsman. As for your red eyes, I am not sure what they are supposed to do. I haven't met anyone of that color, but some people may know. We try to keep a secret our existence and power, so you should also keep it like that."[Harbin]

Shingi didn't expect that there was a reason like that behind the color of his eyes.

He thought back to Annoue eyes being black all the time, and he thought if she knew of that all along.

"Do you know what color Annoue's eyes were? I have only seen them being black."[Shingi]

"Hm... if my memory is correct, her eyes were white. It is a rare one and was supposed to give her the ability to fight better by increasing her awareness, speed, and reaction. This is one of the rare cases of having the eye active can easily put a great strain on its user's body if overused. I doubt Garry taught her how to use it."[Harbin]

This sounded like his HASTE Spell, but he understood that it would have some differences since it was an innate ability.

"Does what we wait for have to do with learning about my eye then? And is there a danger for me to have it active all the time?"[Shingi]

Harbin considered his answer for a few seconds.

"Well, if there was any danger, it would show up soon enough as if it was to put a strain on you as it wouldn't need much time. So unless you get tired pretty easily, then you are fine. Just having eyes at their true color doesn't always mean that it is active, as most of the time, you need to focus on it too to get activated. We also prefer to keep our eyes on the black color if we encounter a few people who can notice it and trust me, and you don't want to meet them. Just focus on your eyes, and you will feel some power on them, and you could turn it off and on."[Harbin]

Shingi focused, and he really felt something in his eyes that he hadn't detected before as he never focused on that area only.

He was able to switch it off pretty easily.

"I see you are a fast learner. As for your other question, no, it doesn't have to do with the eyes. It is a gift left from your mother."[Harbin]