Chapter 47 - Strange Employees

Blood Ties is a bracelet that Nathan purchased from the system using all his 'hard earned' exp and gold points.

It's a powerful protective artifact that is able to protect its wearer from death 5 times as well as teleport them to a previously designated location once all the protection has been used up.

Nathan has already set the location for the teleportation on his dimensional space as it is the safest place that he knows of.

The reason he bought this bracelet is of course for Natalie's safety.

With how the world is like nowadays, as well as the gangsters that he previously provoked, a lot of dangers are lurking around.

You might be wondering, with all the money that he has in his hands, why don't he just hire a bodyguard for her?

It was because, Nathan has quite an issue with trusting people, specifically bodyguards, because of something that happened in his previous life which caused him to develop trust issues.

Until now, Nathan still find it hard to fully trust anyone.

Of course, Natalie is an exception.

Because of that, he wants to at least have a guarantee that Natalie will always be safe.

What has the best guarantee you ask?

The system, of course!

Surely the system won't cheat you with fake products, right?

...Well, maybe.

Anyway, this bracelet cost Nathan almost all of his exp and gold points.

100 Gold Points.

That, in Nathan's opinion, is worth it for Natalie's safety.

It was almost all the exp that Nathan saved up after paying the house and the car.

Since he already had 5 gold points from the mission last night, Nathan was still left with several hundreds of thousands of exp which he plans to use to upgrade the level of the system later.

Nathan hasn't forgotten the importance of the system.

An additional ₱1 per tap might not be a big deal to him now, but Nathan still doesn't plan to start neglecting the system now.

He only left it as it is because he felt that finding a means to protect Natalie is more urgent than the system's level.

This became more obvious after he encountered the gangsters from yesterday.

Now that Natalie has the Blood Ties in her hand, Nathan will finally be able to relax himself from worrying about her all the time.

…

After Nathan told her the details of the Blood Ties, Natalie's eyes shone brighter.

Just like a normal human, she gets curious about things that are new to her.

Soul Talent and Awakener are just examples of that.

Now getting a 'supernatural' bracelet, Natalies naturally got excited!

Holding Blood Ties carefully, she happily showed her smile at Nathan.

"Waaa, I like it! Thank you, brother!"

"It's good that you like it." Said Nathan.

After telling her to take care, Nathan said goodbye and headed to his car.

Because of his excitement, he did not notice that he forgot to turn off the tv.

On the screen, a news anchor is broadcasting the latest news.

"The citizens are very happy with the sudden rise of the economy which opened a lot of job opportunities.

All of this is thanks to the Illuminati Group, an international investment firm.

Illuminati Group has made several big investments in our country that…

Leading all these projects is their director, Miss Julia Morena."

At the same time, a picture of a beautiful but cold looking woman was shown on the tv screen.

It was Julia, whom Nathan has saved in the past.

…

Ignorant to all that, Nathan arrived outside of his own cafe, Mountain's Fragrance!

"It's still as popular as the last time I saw it!"

It was still pretty early in the morning, which is a perfect time for coffee.

A lot of people enter and leave the cafe at this time, showing just how popular it is.

Nathan even overheard a conversation between a tourist who seems to have especially travelled to Olongapo just to visit this cafe!

That caused Nathan to nod his head in satisfaction.

"It's really a good cafe!" he said.

He stopped standing around and walked inside.

Like a normal customer, he ordered a coffee latte and a cheesecake.

Waiting for his order, Nathan started to observe the cafe.

It was clean and easy to the eye. The ambiance it gives off and the harmony of the decorations really seems to soothe your soul and reduce your fatigue.

Just from that, Nathan can't help but become more and more satisfied.

Next, the employees.

When he turned to them, the smile on his face suddenly turned into a frown.

"Why do all of them seem… down?" he murmured,

Nathan did not immediately notice it before because of the interior of the cafe as it takes your attention.

But now that he intentionally started to observe the employees, he saw that they all looked tired and exhausted.

As he was wondering about that, Nathan's order arrived.

"Enjoy." lifelessly said the employee.

That made Nathan certain that there really is a problem here.

"I need to know what is happening here."

But seeing the time, Nathan knows that he won't be able to handle it now.

That's why he decided to take a look at it once he came back from the trip.

Then he finished his coffee and cheesecake and left the cafe.

Inside his car, Nathan pondered for a while about the reason the employees are like that.

"Hmm… for all the employees to look so exhausted and downcasted… maybe it's about salary? But this is a popular cafe, so that might not be the case…"

After he racks his brains for a while, Nathan still can't think of a possible reason.

Then, at this time he remembered something.

"Don't I have an Appraisal skill? I should just use it to know what the matter is!"

Nathan almost knocked his head for not thinking about this earlier.

He was about to step out of the car. But he stopped his movements when he saw the time.

"Hmm, If I delay more I'll be late." Looking at the cafe for a while, Nathan decided to put off the investigation for now.

Then Nathan started the car and left.

40 minutes later, Nathan arrived at the foot of Mt. Tralala.

Parking his car, he stepped out of the car and looked for the hiker's club members.

Soon, he saw 10 people under the tree not far away from him with hiking tools on their back.

"There they are!"