Chapter 105: Burapha and the Qi Kingdom - Thank You for the Love Rejection

Burapha brought his cloudy mind with him while entering one of the restaurants in Zhongsuyuan City. As tonight was the last day of the event, there were a lot of players in the restaurant. Burapha made a blank face at the entrance for a moment before the owner of the restaurant came and greeted him.

"Mister Customer, we are terribly sorry but all of the seats are already taken. Could you please wait for a moment?" politely asked the owner.

Even though Burapha didn"t have anything better to do, he didn"t want to waste his time waiting. Thus, he planned to leave the restaurant and search for another one with an available seat.

Suddenly, there was a sound coming from the farthest table next to the window. "Owner, I"m sitting alone and don"t have any friends to talk with. If that young man doesn"t mind, how about inviting him to sit with me?"

Burapha and the owner turned their heads and saw that the sound was coming from the man who sat at the innermost table of the restaurant. There was quite a distance but this man"s voice was loud and clear like he was right beside them without shouting. Moreover, it seemed the only ones who heard him were Burapha and the owner. Surely, this man was quite skilled.

The owner asked Burapha. "How about it, Mister Customer? If you are fine, I will prepare a seat for you over there."

Burapha nodded and walked inside. Meanwhile, the owner quickly ordered his employee to bring out one more chair.

The man who called Burapha over was a tall, bulky, muscular man. He wasn"t particularly handsome but he possessed a profound manliness.

Burapha raised his hands to salute the man. "Thank you, Big Brother, for inviting me to join your table."

The man saluted back. "No problem, Little Brother. Sitting alone is quite lonely. With you, I can have someone to talk to."

Burapha sat down on the new chair that the employee brought to him. The man poured the liquor in the cup and handed it to Burapha. "This liquor is Pine Hermit Liquor, the famous drink of Zhongsuyuan City. It was tasteless when I drank it alone. Hopefully, drinking it with you will make it tastier."

Burapha didn"t intend to drink alcohol. However, since the man had poured it for him, rejecting it would be disrespectful. He took the cup from the man and sipped it. The fragrance of a pine tree entered his nose. As his heart was heavy, he decided to swallow the rest down in one go.

"Hahaha, that"s the correct way to drink. I"m bored of those men who only take a sip and say the liquor is delicious. They are a bunch of fools who don"t know a thing about its true flavor," said the man as he poured another cup for Burapha.

"Thank you, Big Brother. My name is Burapha. Can I ask for your name?"

"I have some complicated circ.u.mstances so I can"t tell you that. Well, you can call me Little Whale."

As the other person didn"t want to say his real name, Burapha didn"t pry on it. Little Whale didn"t choose to lie but directly confessed to him that he wouldn"t tell him his real name. It made Burapha feel that this person"s personality wasn"t bad.

Little Whale lifted his own cup up and continued the conversation.

"Burapha, it seems you have some concern as I can see that you are making a tired face. Sorry for me b.u.t.ting in, I"m always like this, can"t help but intruding myself into others" business."

Burapha smiled mildly. "It"s nothing big, Big Brother Whale. I just need some time to think."

"Why don"t you try letting it out? I"m quite experienced with problems as I always have to face them. In fact, I have to handle a lot of problems every single day. d.a.m.n! I wonder where they came from. Anyway, you should consider speaking your mind. Although it might not turn out to be useful, it is possible that it will put some of your mind at ease."

Burapha drank another cup of liquor and silently watched Little Whale. He didn"t know why but he felt the strong urge to tell others about his problems. His issue wasn"t something secret nor useful anyway.

"I"m the successor of a certain martial dojo in real life but I don"t like fighting at all. My dad forces me to play Monster Soul for some reason that I do not care about. So, I didn"t bother practicing combat skills but rather improved myself as a merchant. I started by crafting jewel accessories. Sadly, I couldn"t sell even one of them."

Burapha"s story was quite ordinary within the world of Monster Soul. It was common for people pursuing something when entering this game, be it for fun, power, wealth, or fame. However, only a handful of them can obtain what they seek.

"During my dispirited days, I thought to myself that, if there is something like being able to be granted three wishes, I would wish for people to see value in what I had made. I didn"t want to disappear from the world unnoticed. I didn"t want to be a n.o.body. I wanted to be respected by someone."

Little Whale took a sip while silently listening to Burapha"s story. Although he hadn"t known Burapha for very long, he could grasp that Burapha just wanted to be noticed. Well, it"s something ordinary for everyone. It wasn"t to the extent that he would say that it was a bad trait.

"One day, a woman came to my stall and bought an accessory that I had made. Even though it was just a cheap ring, I was very glad to have my first customer. We didn"t talk to each other but she made the depressed me feel hope. Since then, I started over again by going back to Beginning Town. I also wanted to meet her again."

Little Whale couldn"t help but express his guess, "So, Burapha, you still haven"t met her until this day, right? That"s why you"re sad."

Burapha shook his head. "Maybe it would have been better if I hadn"t reunited with her. Coincidentally, I met her again. I am no longer a shoddy merchant so I tried every way I could think of to stay by her side. However, she isn"t like the kind of woman I thought." Burapha couldn"t help but smile as he realized that her name was similar to a certain magical spirit in a lamp who could grant three wishes to the lamp"s master.

A human"s imagination is often a false reality. The world wouldn"t always work out the way we wanted...

"Oh, so it"s a relationship problem, huh? Sadly, I can"t help you. I can"t even find a partner for myself. Anyway, I think you should deal with this problem soon. Don"t let it remain unfinished as it will affect other things."

"Deal with it? I don"t even know where to start."

"My advice is to just directly confront the problem and you will find the solution for it. Well, you better be prepared since sometimes the best solution might not be the desired solution."

Burapha drank another cup before put his cup face down on the table, indicating that he wouldn"t continue the drink. Then, he stood up and bid farewell.

"Thank you, Big Brother Little Whale, for the advice. I have something to do so I will take my leave here. Let me treat you a drink next time. I would like to hear your story too."

Little Whale stood up and said his goodbye, sending Burapha off.

Once Burapha left the restaurant, instantly, a young man came to the table and sat down on the chair Burapha was sitting in moments before. This young man wore a cloak concealing his entire body. Only the black arm guard on his left hand was visible outside of the cloak.

"Boss, Nednapha has warned you many times that you shouldn"t blindly acquaint yourself with a stranger. It would be troublesome for us if he is an a.s.sa.s.sin from the Heavenly Dragon Guild."

"Elso, you and Nednapha always act like you"re my parents. No need to worry. Even if he is an a.s.sa.s.sin, I can take care of the matter myself. I just happened to meet an interesting person, that"s all."

"Interesting? Pardon? He seems pretty ordinary in my eyes."

"That"s why I"m the leader while you"re a vice-leader. My eyes can discern people better than yours. I looked into his eyes and was able to see that he will be anything but ordinary. For a guy like him, we should befriend him instead of making him our enemy."

"If that"s the case, should we have someone tail him?"

Little Whale shook his head. "No need. For someone like him, he will surely appear before us by himself someday."

He poured the liquor for Elso to drink, which Elso declined. However, as he was a leader of the team, he gave out a command for Elso to drink a cup. It was a funny sight to see Elso, who was weak to liquor, drink one and make a pained expression.

***

Midnight came. Sounds of battle broke out from the middle of the city. Burapha slowly brought himself closer to the source of the sound. The closer he was to it, the higher the number of people he saw. He deliberately came to this place slightly after midnight.

The current battles in front of Burapha were quite tasteless. Even he could realize that they were at a level of a street fight. Apparently, the skilled players had decided to bare their fangs during the very last moment to reign as the victor.

Burapha"s gaze wandered around the square and immediately recognized four similar figures. The first was Ratri, who was standing and talking to someone seemingly from the Victorious Wolves Sect. The second was Big Brother Little Whale, who stood next to the mysterious man in a black cloak. The third was White Swan, who was likely aiming for the information regarding the result of the tonight"s event. Lastly, it was Ginny who was having a conversation with a red-haired man.

Even though he had expected that he would witness such a sight beforehand, to actually see it unfold before his eyes brought pain to his heart.

Then, Little Whale noticed him and waved a hand at him. Burapha nodded in response while regaining his composure. Meanwhile, White Swan, who noticed the shared greetings, was amazed to see that they knew each other.

Burapha stepped forward. His destination wasn"t the battle area where players were tussling with each other, but the place where Revin and Ginny were standing.

Many eyes stopped giving the attention to the battle area but followed Burapha to see what he was about to do.

Revin, who seemed to be having fun conversing with Ginny, stopped talking and shifted his gaze to Burapha. The distance between the two was exactly one meter.

"Who are you?" Revin asked.

"My name is Burapha," he replied indifferently.

"What are you doing here, Burapha?" Ginny asked. This made Revin realize that these two knew each other.

Burapha didn"t even know himself what he was trying to achieve by standing there. It was his gut feeling that told him to come to this place, otherwise he would miss something important to him.

As Burapha didn"t answer, Ginny guessed, "Do you want to take back the swords?"

"The swords? Do you mean the one that you told me you borrowed from your friend? The Dorolia Sword?"

Ginny nodded. "Yes."

"Never mind that. Last time, I said that to you without thinking much. I never believed that someone except me would be able to solo a dragon anyway." Although Revin didn"t say it loudly, his arrogant sentence had brought all the attention to him. It clearly implied that "No one except him would be able to solo-kill a dragon."

Many people began to feel irritated, but no one dared to voice their discontent. That was because they themselves didn"t have the confidence in their ability to solo-kill a dragon as they were insulted. Revin"s sentence wasn"t a mere word. It was a reality.

Burapha began to dislike Revin"s character. "I wasn"t the one who killed a dragon. It"s my friend who did that. I"m just taking care of the sword in his place. By the way, the number of dragons he has slain isn"t just one. It is four. Unfortunately, Solaria Sword was already dropped, otherwise, he would get it too."

The surrounding players began to talk to each other. If what Burapha said was true, it meant that, aside from Revin, there was someone else who had the ability to kill not one but four dragons.

"Really? If that kind of person really existed, I would want to meet him too. Who is he?"

"Weapon Subduing Fist Sila," Burapha replied indifferently. He didn"t act on impulse but he had thought about it thoroughly and came to the conclusion that Sila"s feat wasn"t a secret. Sila had already become famous. Instead of pointlessly trying to cover the news, it would be more beneficial for Sila to make this information spread. At the very least, it would inspire players that one wouldn"t have to be a member of the Heavenly Dragon Guild to become a splendid player.

Burapha didn"t try to hide this fact. So, his reply could be clearly heard by many onlookers. As a result, this feat of Sila quickly became a hot topic.

"Is he the same Sila who lost in a match against Montra?"

"That match wasn"t a fair one. Montra played dirty." Burapha didn"t yield and dared to call Montra"s name without respect. As a result, the fights stopped. All of the attention was focused on him and Revin.

"There is no way Montra played dirty. He isn"t someone like that. I know Montra"s personality better than anyone. Are you sure that guy Sila didn"t just make an excuse?"

"I also know Big Brother Sila"s personality. He isn"t someone like that."

"Umm, that"s too bad. I don"t like the way you"re bad-mouthing my friend. It seems I will have to take care of you." Revin"s words weren"t just an empty threat. Magic power emanated from his body and caused the atmosphere to become hot. Many players started to clad themselves with power reinforcement to resist the heat.

Burapha didn"t say anything in return. He silently clad himself with psychic reinforcement. Despite being clearly weaker than the opposing side, his eyes were firm and didn"t show any sign of giving up.

Instantly, he tightened the Oceanic Trishula in his hand, clearly stating the enmity between them.

Ginny interrupted. "Burapha, in the end, what do you want?"

Burapha looked into Ginny"s eyes. He wanted his words to come from his heart regardless of whether they were able to reach the heart of the listener or not.

"Ginny, what do you think of me?" The simple, short question that could summarize the situation could be heard. Many onlookers began to realize what was going on. Meanwhile, Ginny was shocked. She did not expect that Burapha would directly ask for her reply to his feelings like this.

"...Sorry." It was a short reply that distinctly denied his feeling.

White Swan who was close by gritted her teeth. The fight was about to start yet Burapha was inferior in power and his heart was also wrecked. To the eyes of everyone, it was obviously a painful moment for Burapha.

The only exception was Little Whale, who was smiling at such a sight while nodding. Even though his conversation with Burapha didn"t last longer than five minutes, his keen eyes could grasp Burapha"s character. Burapha wasn"t a simple man like that. And Burapha"s next action proved that his thoughts were right.

Burapha burst into laughter. Some onlookers thought that he was full of grief due to the rejection and had become crazy. However, Burapha"s next sentence changed their mind.

"Why do you have to say sorry? Actually, I should give you my thanks, Ginny. You may think that you have hurt my feelings, but in fact, you have released me from my slumber. From now on, my mind is clear and I will be able to give my all in the fight."

"Well said, Little Brother," Little Whale shouted, followed by the cheers hoping for Burapha"s victory.

Burapha stood firmly in front of Revin who had the attention s.n.a.t.c.hed away by him.

Burapha gripped his Trishula even tighter than before. Its blades were shaking to prepare for the attack that would come from the Flame Monarch.

Burapha had never dreamt that there would be one day that his life would gain this much of an attention.

Even he himself wasn"t aware that his fight today would be the start of his new life.