酷视

The jammer was off. Our cuddly time in the bedroom now came to an end, even though we didn\'t talk through most of the topics that I had planned to discuss.

Right now, we were in a time-out, giving ourselves some time to process and internalize all that we talked about and potentially figured out.

And as I relaxed and allowed my thoughts to freely wander, the phone in my pocket finally started to ring.

Pulling it out, I took a quick glance at the screen and heaved a sigh.

\'Took him a while,\' I thought with an ugly grimace on my lips before shaking my head and accepting my call.

"Peter?" exclusive-content-MvLeMpYr

By now, I could easily recognize Makary\'s voice on the other end of the call.

"Yeah, what\'s up?"

My question was pretty much void. For this man to call me a mere quarter of an hour after I\'d turned the signal jammer off was pretty much proof that this house was indeed rigged with bugs and wires.

"I couldn\'t reach you before, and I have a pretty big news. But give me just one minute…" Makary\'s voice cut on the spot, followed by the noise of someone furiously typing something. "Okay, we should be able to talk safely now."

My eyebrows moved up a bit.

\'What kind of news would require him to secure the call?\' I asked myself while taking another sip of Fay\'s drink.

The fruity, slightly sour taste filled my mouth before setting my throat on a pleasant fire when I gulped it down.

"First thing first, when can you get another batch?" Makary didn\'t bother with any small talk, cutting straight to the business instead.

And quite frankly, I couldn\'t blame him for it. For how trashy this herb was in Fay\'s word, on earth… On earth, it was a discovery on the level of discovering a damn penicillin!

And as long as Makary managed to figure out what exact chemical compound was responsible for the effects of this herb, its value would either skyrocket or drop, depending on whether it was possible or even profitable to artificially replicate it.

Yet, when it came to his question, I replied with nothing but silence. His question wasn\'t that easy to answer, after all.

\'I think two more days here should be enough to settle all the urgent matters. Then, we should be able to go back to Fay\'s words, where we will have to wait a bit more than three more days…\'

"I don\'t care what outrageous demands you have, I will fulfill them all. With this herb…"

Now it was Makary\'s turn to suddenly cut his sentence short and let the silence take over the call.

And once again, I couldn\'t really blame him. His silence spoke more of how he thought about this cheap herb than any words could.

"I never thought you would take me for an unreasonable man," I muttered, allowing a slight tone of dissatisfaction to hint through my voice.

\'And that means this herb, at least for now, is at least as valuable as I expected it to be,\' I thought while heaving a deep, long sigh. \'But the moment I proved a living sample, its worth will plummet. That is, assuming it\'s even possible to cultivate it in this world\'s soil.\'

I shook my head.

\'That means I was right by starting with just the cheapest herb of all. In this way, even if Makary manages to synthesize whatever is responsible for that herb\'s effects, I will still have things to sell.\'

"I should be able to get some more in a week\'s time or so, give or take two days," I finally gave out the most concrete answer I could afford.

\'It would be foolish to assume we will be able to go back the moment the portal reopens,\' I thought. \'I hope nothing will go disastrously wrong… but one can never know!\'

"I don\'t have any ridiculous demands either. There are two things, though, both of which might be slightly problematic."

"Speak," Makary didn\'t bother to waste his or my time again.

"I\'m going to need tactical gear. And I\'m talking full package, vests, nades, long guns…" I spoke out a bit too quickly, so, just for safety\'s sake, I added, "I\'m talking ASG of course. What else I could be talking about, after all?"

The change to my voice should be enough of a message to let Makary know how the latter part of my request was just a load of crap designed to mask the real request.

And quite frankly, after going through the battle back in Fay\'s world… I didn\'t want to participate in one again with nothing more but a side-arm. It was powerful and easily capable of piercing the defense of the local adventurer\'s slash mercenaries… But I\'ve experienced myself the distraught of running out of bullets in the mag.

And I wasn\'t John Wisk or any other action hero to be able to conjure the bullets in the mag as I shot them, reloading only to add dramatic tension to the action sequence.

"That can be done," Makary didn\'t mount any problems. He didn\'t bother asking why I needed guns either. Or rather… "Is this how you want to deal with your aunt?"

Going against my expectations, he actually asked. But given how he was already seen by the police interacting with that bitch of a woman, I couldn\'t blame him.

Having a murder on his hands that could be easily tracked back to a gun he provided had to be a legitimate worry for a man balancing on the edge of what the police would be willing to turn their eyes away from.

"No, it\'s not. But that\'s all I can say in regard to those airsoft guns. When it comes to my aunt, though…"