Chapter 15 - "Why isn't he dandy?" (IAF)

A splitting headache forced Steve to wake up, he woke up in a dark room, which wasn’t the worst thing to wake up to but it was bad nonetheless. He could barely recollect what had happened, but the strain on his chest hinted that he had been through a lot of pain, and this then reminded him that he had suffered a couple of cracked ribs a few hours ago, he remembered! It was very painful initially, but now it was reduced to a simple strain in the chest, which was manageable, and it certainly wasn’t painful enough to kill him.

“Maybe Arleesa felt bad, and then gave me a potion…” He chuckled.

“I'd never feel bad for you, dickhead!” Her voice suddenly reverberated in the room.

Just like that, Steve realized that he wasn't alone here. For a second he felt terrified, because he was sure that Arleesa would try to kill him, but since he was fine so far, it was unlikely that she had the advantage right now. He was quiet for a second, and as he noticed that his wrists and ankles were bound, he started putting two-and-two together!

To put his theories to the test, he asked. “Where are we? Did we get arrested?”

“Fuck you, you little shit! I wish I was arrested, because then I could get out of here in less than an hour!” She yelled.

Considering her overall mood, he came to the conclusion that the two of them got kidnapped. In fact, he found it very hard to ignore this conclusion, as it was most likely the case, it couldn't be anything else.

“So that dandy bastard got us captured, huh?” Tim then added, “I get why I'm here, but what the hell are you doing in here with me?”

Arleesa wasn’t allowed to answer that question, and instead she held her breath out of nervousness, because the room's door suddenly opened up! The rays of light slipped between the doorframe, and hit the couple of them right in the eyes, so they were blinded for a moment.

Two men walked in, and started dragging the two ‘prisoners’ by the collar. They dragged the prisoners across the floor, and in the meantime they didn't utter a single word, which was very frightening! Their professionalism was frightening.

The prisoners were dragged in another, well-lit room, and there they were set free. Well, they were set free from the ropes that had bounded them, but this didn't necessarily mean that they could run away! There were four other men in this room, and each of them seemed more dangerous than the other, there was no escaping them.

Anyway, Steve didn’t want to run away right now, as crazy as that may sound. He noticed a little girl in the room, she was sitting at the other end of this large, round table that took most of the space, and by all odds, she could be his sister, which in this world was basically the only bit of family that he had! He initially hadn't cared about her that much, because he could barely recall her face, but now that Steve saw her, his frog brain almost malfunctioned with the warm feeling of having a little sister to care for! He felt responsible.

He said, “Hey… sis.”

“Shut up, you maniac.” She bit back, and refused to look at Steve directly. “You’re gonna get us all killed, just like dad said you would!”

Just now, he could recall that her name was Oneta, it was a beautiful name. At the sight of her, he managed to recall a lot of memories that this body of his possessed, and he was not a fan of these memories, as the previous owner of this same frogezoid body had been a terrible person, not to mention a horrific brother! Steve felt partially responsible for the latter part, although he was completely innocent.

With that said, he felt entitled to make things right for some reason, so he tried to console her. “We'll get out of this, trust me.”

“You will,” One of the men in the room interrupted him, he was in his thirties. “You’re lucky that I'm a patient man, Steve. Very patient!”

“To hell with you, Andy!” Steve answered him, he recalled this person's face as well, though he still couldn't find it within himself to fear another man. “You almost had me killed, your henchmen almost stabbed through my heart, so you can call yourself whatever you want, but you are not a patient man!”

“Your sister is fine, isn't she?” The other argued, “A twelve year old girl is considered mature to most, you know that. She could've been torn apart up until now, but I kept her safe, heck, I didn't even feed her to my pet snakes, so you have no grounds to question my patience! Now where is the rest of my money, you low-life bastard?”

“Money?” Arleesa interrupted them, and sneered at Steve. “I got knocked on my head because you spent all your gold on prostitutes!? You stupid bastard, I'm going to kill you myself!”

Arleesa did not give empty threats. Her hands were no longer tied, so she lunged towards Steve and grabbed him by the neck, as she wanted to choke him out here, and for good!

The two men who brought them here, pulled her away, and they did so easily because they were quite strong. Steve was okay, he was alive, though now he noticed that every man in the room was holding their laugh in, it was obvious that they barely considered Steve a man, their lips quivered humorously, and they had enough reasons to think about him the way that they did.

Things got even worse for his manhood, and ego, when Arleesa then added. “I'll pay his debt off, just let us go. Let me finish what you guys started, this bastard doesn't deserve to see the sunlight ever again!”

“Yes, what she said.” His sister, Oneta nodded along. “Please free us, Andrew.”

“No,” Andrew shook his head, as he stroked his beardless chin. “I want him to pay me, and no one else, I won't take any substitutes. A man must live below his means, and Steve here failed to do that so far, so ironically, I will be the one who'll put some hair on his chest. He must take responsibility!”

“Your men robbed me, so I will be taking nothing but ‘responsibility’ over my shoulder soon!” Steve added, though he steered off topic a little bit. “I have ten men and women to pay by the end of the month, they're my guards, they're armed, and they won't be happy if they figure out that I can’t pay them!”

“Ten guards, huh?” Andrew asked, then it was obvious that he was thinking about something, deeply. His thin, toned face moved around in such a way, where it would make one think that he was battling with a hemorrhoid, but he seemed smart nonetheless.

Afterwards, he pitched. “Here's a way to get yourself out of trouble, then. I will give you a little map, a location, where something very important is hidden beneath. A very important treasure is hidden there, well it isn't hidden, it's just that no one can get to it, people have tried for two hundred years...”

“Are you talking about the black diamond?” Arleesa interrupted him, unapologetically.

“Yes, well, the black crown is hidden there as well.” He continued, “Both of them are very expensive, so if you reluctantly retrieve them, don't try to run away with them because I will hunt you down no matter what, heck, the whole city will hunt you. Take responsibility, get me the crown and the gem, and you'll be debt free, you won't owe me anything anymore. I'll even pay your guards extra for this expedition if they choose to join you, though you have to handle your side of the fees yourself.”

“You frog bastards and your stupid crowns…” Steve thought, he cussed internally. “Why can't this bastard just be a dandy retard? It's in his name, he's supposed to be Dandy, not professional and clever!”

Steve was pissed, but nevertheless, he felt pressured to accept. “Give me the map.”

A few mere seconds later, the system popped a notification in his head. [Congratulations, you officially chose to spare Dandy Andy, because you're cooperating with him now. The task regarding this matter is now closed, and you won 1,800 system points as a reward. I'm removing 20 of the points from your sum, because you owed them to me.]

This was perhaps the best thing he heard throughout the day, or the whole week come to think of it. The amount of points he got was a game-changer for him, and he could only smirk in response, he was excited.