Novel Full 51 Fake Artifacts [1]
Author Note:
Finally the contract is approved!
Golden Tickets can be sent to this novel from now on, and I appreciate a single one of it xD
Please do sent me those tickets or power stones to support me, thanks!
***
[21 April 2023, 11:00 AM]
[House]
Chloe arrived at the house after she had bought groceries from the store. She put down the groceries in the fridge before walking upstairs to change her clothes to casual ones. She wore a white shirt and short black pants because they were comfortable, and she could move freely while wearing them.
She had planned to make some seafood soup for lunch because she remembered that there was shrimp in the fridge. However, when she was about to take out the shrimp, she noticed that the shrimp had gone bad for whatever reason.
“Huh? What happened?” She muttered as she smelled the shrimp. As expected, the smell was unbearable, and there was an acid smile on it. “Yikes! It’s nasty!”
Maybe because her cooking teacher always cursed whenever he didn’t like any food, Chloe unconsciously developed a bad habit whenever she found something that she didn’t like. She threw the bad shrimp into the trash and sighed.
“I should go back to the supermarket…”
She took her magic back and disguised herself using the Necklace enhanced by Vincent before going out of the house. She didn’t forget to lock it and put the key in the magic bag. The supermarket was located near the house, but she still needed around 10 minutes of walk to reach it.-.
She walked through a crowded street, and as usual, a lot of people were stealing a glance at her with interest. Their glances were a bit uncomfortable for her; she was not a show. It never happened whenever she was with Vincent for some reason.
‘Maybe because they are afraid of Vincent? Or, Vincent did something to make them look away from me.’ Such thought flashed in her mind as she kept walking to the supermarket.
***
[Supermarket]
The supermarket was big. A first-timer would be lost if they were bad with directions. But, Chloe had visited this supermarket a few times, and even some housewives recognized her immediately.
“My, isn’t this Chloe?” The housewife who entered the supermarket at the same time as Chloe greeted her. She was also one of the students in the cooking school that Chloe attended.
The housewife had a kind smile. She wore a cream dress and glasses. Her hair was done in a bun, and overall she looked like the usual kind housewife from the neighborhood.
“Mrs. Marita. Good afternoon.” Chloe greeted back with a smile.
“Good afternoon. Are you here to shop for ingredients for cooking?” Asked the housewife, Mrs. Marita.
“Yes. When I was about to cook seafood soup, I noticed that the shrimp had gone bad, so I am here to buy some shrimp.”
“Oh! Seafood Soup! That’s a good choice for lunch. Is that your boyfriend’s request?” Mrs. Marita asked in a teasing tone, clearly enjoying teasing Chloe, who looked innocent.
“Umm, no. Vincent didn’t request anything, but… I think having some soup will be good for lunch, especially because we ate Mapo Tofu this morning.”
Mrs. Marita looked at her in surprise as she exclaimed, “Mapo Tofu?! For breakfast?”
Chloe nodded her head. “Yes. Is there anything wrong with it?”
“Umm, nothing. Anyway, do you want me to help you with cooking the seafood soup? I have a secret recipe that can make any seafood soup delicious!”
“Really?!” Chloe’s eyes glittered in anticipation after she heard the special recipe. “Please teach me!”
“Fufufu. Then let’s shop for the ingredients first! We need some oysters and some shrimp!”
“Yes!”
Both of them entered the area where the supermarket sold fish and anything related to the sea with high spirits. Chloe chose the ingredients for the seafood soup, while Mrs. Marita gave her tips on how to choose the fresh ingredients.
They spent around 30 minutes looking for ingredients before finally going to the cashier to pay for them. The queue at the cashier was long, so Chloe chatted with Mrs. Marita for a bit.
Mrs. Marita told her the secret recipe to make the soup delicious and took note in her mind. Surprisingly, the secret ingredient Mrs. Marita talked about was the Oyster, more specifically, Oyster sauce.
As Chloe learned the secret ingredient, the queue kept moving. When she was busy taking a note of the secret ingredient, someone suddenly called her from behind the line.
“Eh, Chloe?”
She looked at the source of the voice and found Lisa walking to them before stopping behind Mrs. Marita while holding a cart full of ingredients.
“Lisa?” Chloe asked, confused by Lisa’s sudden appearance.
Lisa was supposed to be in the Academy today, but why was she here?
Mrs. Marita turned around and looked at Lisa before turning back to Chloe. “Your friend?”
Chloe nodded her head. “Un.” She then turned to Lisa and asked. “You’re not in the Academy?”
Lisa scratched her cheek in embarrassment as she answered. “Ha-hahaha. I-I can’t seem to concentrate on studying, so I left early.”
Chloe couldn’t understand her, but she knew that it was related to Zaiden. Vincent told her that Lisa and the others loved Zaiden, and as proof, when Zaiden told them that he would leave the Academy, they were in shock, and even Marina got angry at him.
So she didn’t blame her for leaving early as she knew that some feelings couldn’t be forced. She only learned that after living with Vincent, and she knew one more thing.
“I see. Then, do you want to come over to our house? I plan to make some seafood soup.” Offered Chloe.
Lisa smiled and asked in a higher voice. “Is that okay?”
“Of course!” Answered Chloe. “Let me text Vincent real quick. Even Mrs. Marita is coming to help cook the seafood soup!” She pulled out her phone and sent a message to Vincent.
“Mrs. Marita?” Lisa asked, puzzled.
“I am Mrs. Marita, my dear. Nice to meet you.”
“U-umm, nice to meet you too.”
The three of them chatted as they were waiting for their turn to pay for them to pay at the cashier. However, when it was their turn, for better or worse, there was a man who had just paid for his groceries, took a phone call right in front of the cashier, and didn’t want to budge even though the cashier told him politely not to block the path.
The man stayed silent for a moment, a few minutes to be exact. As he didn’t seem to want to leave, Lisa stepped in and called out to the man.
“Excuse me, can you move from our way? We want to pay the cashier.”
The cashier lady seemed to be sorry as she looked at Lisa, but then, the man suddenly turned to Lisa.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch! You don’t know what happened!” He shouted angrily and lashed out at her.
“Excuse me, but what?” Lisa asked, confused as to why the man suddenly shouted at her.
“I told you to shut the fuck up!” The man raised his hand and was about to hit Lisa. His hand was covered in a blue light, a sign that he used mana and was an Awakener.
It was so sudden that Lisa froze in her place. However, Chloe was different. She moved between Lisa and the man in an instant and caught the man’s hand with her free hand before throwing him to the ground. Although she was holding a tray full of ingredients, there was not even one ingredient in her tray that moved.
She proceeded to pin down the man on the ground and handed the tray that she held to Lisa, which she took with shaking hands.
The man tried to move away but couldn’t do anything against Chloe’s strength. He then looked at her and screamed.
“Release me, you slut!”
In all her life, she was never called that. She knew that the man was calling her something bad, so she put more strength into pinning down the man and hit the back of his head with a chop, causing him to groan in pain before losing consciousness. She stood up and turned to the cashier lady after that.
“Can you call the police?” She asked without changing her stoic expression.
“Y-yes!”
The cashier lady hurriedly nodded her head and pulled out her phone from her pocket, and called the police.
“Wow! That’s incredible, Chloe!” Exclaimed Mrs. Marita.
“It’s nothing.”
Lisa walked up to Chloe nervously and said, “U-umm, thank you. If it’s not for you, then…” Before Lisa finished her sentence, Chloe smiled at her and repeated.
“It’s nothing, Lisa. I’m glad that you are safe.”
Lisa returned her smile and said, “Yes. Thank you, Chloe.”
The police arrived shortly after. Chloe and the others were asked some questions regarding the incident by the police, but they stopped after a word from Mrs. Marita. They seemed terrified by her for whatever reason.
The girls were confused by what happened, but Mrs. Marita told them that they were her husband’s co-workers, and they were satisfied with Mrs. Marita’s explanation. They left the supermarket after paying for the ingredients that they bought, but Chloe had something in mind.
‘That man… He’s talking about Fake Artifacts or something on the phone. The one on the other side of the phone is asking why his Artifact didn’t work, I think.’
It was the reason why Chloe didn’t ask the man to leave. She was curious about the man’s conversation with someone on the other side of the phone.
‘I should tell Vincent about it later. For now… I need to make delicious seafood for lunch!’