Zaroth walked slowly behind the man as he entered the building.
The first thing he noticed was the unpleasant smell that reached his nostrils.
He had been witness to some horrific smells, but this one took the cake by a long shot. Zaroth had to force himself not to gag as he kept walking.
The salesman in front of him seemed unbothered in the slightest as he peacefully walked forward.
They were in a hallway with numerous black doors, each with a number of their own.
Zaroth didn't have time to count them as he quickly followed the man.
The walls around them were painted red, the same color as blood. The floor was the same, with no carpet of any sort. The ceiling was painted black, similar to the doors themselves.
'From what I know, he thinks that I've taken those pills he gave me, so should I act as if I'm desperate for more?' It didn't take a genius to guess that these pills probably had some kind of addictive side to them. There was no other way to explain the amount of people waiting in line to enter the building.
The man made a left turn, and so did Zaroth, who walked quietly behind him. They reached a staircase and quickly climbed it, only for Zaroth's eyes to widen as he realized something.
'These stairs… they only lead one floor up?' This didn't make sense. Just from looking at the building from the outside, it was clear there were five floors.
'Maybe there's a separate staircase for each floor? If that's the case, it means their security must be really tight here.'
Unlike the first floor, which was empty, here there were a lot of rough-looking men with weapons in their hands. Though each one of them turned their gazes away when they saw the salesman.
'Is this security?' Zaroth wondered.
They quickly reached another staircase and climbed it as well. Now they were on the third floor. It was the same as the second but with increased security. The fourth floor had even more staff. Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire
But that all changed when they reached the final—fifth—floor. The first thing that was different was that on the black doors, instead of numbers, there were golden stars. It wouldn't be a lie to say that Zaroth wondered about the sudden change but didn't ask questions.
Not only that, but there was no security on this floor, and as such, it was quiet to an uncanny degree.
Both of them stopped, and Zaroth's eyes fell on a door that seemed to have neither a star nor a number on it.
"We're here," the salesman spoke as he shifted his gaze to Zaroth, who was still looking at the ground, pretending to be nervous.
"Before we enter, I must ask you—at that academy you go to… what class are you?" the salesman asked with a friendly smile. Though Zaroth wasn't easily fooled, as he caught a glimpse of the man's hostility.
He shifted his gaze to the man as he spoke, "Class A."
The salesman's smile grew even wider as he patted Zaroth on the shoulder. "Isn't that something?"
The man opened his suitcase and brought out a bottle of pills. "But you see, I like to be on the safer side. As such, before we enter, I want you to take one pill in front of me."
Zaroth cursed inwardly. 'Goddammit! He's the type of person I hate the most—the ones who always check to make sure they haven't made a mistake! Fuck it, I've gone this far already, I'm not backing down!'
"If that's what you wish for," he spoke as he extended his arm.
The man opened the bottle and placed a medium-shaped red pill on Zaroth's hand.
Zaroth took a deep breath before putting it in his mouth. 'I hope this works.'
He wasn't an idiot, so he wasn't planning on swallowing it, as he had an idea. 'I just hope my gamble works…' he thought. He wasn't a person who usually liked to gamble, but sometimes there wasn't another option.
As Zaroth put the pill in his mouth, he used his skill, Firebreath, and breathed fire into his mouth. 'I just hope this doesn't damage my mouth's insides…'
The pill inside his mouth disintegrated into nothingness, and surprisingly enough, his mouth didn't hurt at all.
He wondered why he hadn't burned the inside of his mouth, but in a way, it made sense. The skill he was using worked thanks to his connection to Luna, and from what he knew, dragons couldn't burn the insides of their mouths with their flames.
After he successfully managed to destroy the pill, he shifted his gaze to the salesman, who was looking at him with doubt in his eyes.
'Oh yes, from his point of view, I swallowed the pill, so I should probably react somehow.'
The problem was that Zaroth didn't really know what the pill was supposed to do.
'Well, the first time we met, he offered them to me because my head hurt, so they could numb pain… or maybe bring pleasure?'
Deciding that he didn't really have other options, he brought his head up and opened his mouth as he let saliva fall down. The only way to sell the act was to think of something pleasurable. As such, the only thing that came to mind was the night he'd spent with Midnight.
It was kind of weird, staring into the ceiling as saliva poured down from his open mouth, but it seemed Zaroth had turned out to be a good actor.
After a few minutes of staring into the ceiling, Zaroth closed his mouth and shifted his gaze to the salesman, who was watching patiently.
"Two minutes… You recover fast," the man spoke as he stored the bottle back into his suitcase and opened the black door.
'Success! I'm a genius!' he thought proudly.
'I'm sorry to interrupt, but you do realize that you've infiltrated a heavily guarded building that seems to sell some kind of weird drugs just because you need money to fix the bed you broke after sleeping with a demon because you couldn't hold it in your pants, right? Where is the genius in that?' Luna spoke in his head, shattering his confidence in seconds.
'It seems the women who know you best also know exactly where to strike when it hurts the most,' Zaroth thought, stepping into the room the salesman was leading him toward.
The first thing he noticed was a disgusting energy that seemed to radiate from an older man who was curiously looking out from the window.
The man had his back to Zaroth, yet he felt like he was being watched from multiple places. Just looking at the old man made his skin crawl, and his instincts screamed at him that he was in danger.
'What the hell is this? I can barely breathe!' Zaroth cursed inwardly. How could a human give off such repulsive, disgusting energy? he wondered.
'Zaroth…' Luna's voice, which echoed in his mind, sounded serious, and in response, Zaroth's muscles tightened, expecting bad news.
'That thing… that thing isn't a human. It's just wearing the skin of one.'
Zaroth cursed inwardly. It seemed he had bitten off much more than he could chew.