blogombal Chapter 7 The Hardcore Landlord
Chapter 7 The Hardcore Landlord
"Knock, knock, knock." Lorne knocked on Mrs. Griffin's door on the first floor.
"Who is it, so early in the morning?" came Mrs. Griffin's voice from inside the room.
Morning? It's almost noon now. Lorne's lips twitched.
He went out to buy groceries early in the morning and encountered the silver-haired woman. After he brewed and drank the potion, he took time to calm himself down. Then, in order to run away, he spent time packing his luggage. After all that trouble, it was almost noon.
"Do you know how impolite it is to disturb a lady's sleep, little Lorne?" Mrs. Griffin opened the door with a slightly annoyed expression, seemingly grumpy from being woken up.
"It's almost noon already," Lorne whispered a reminder.
"Noon? Sigh! I'm getting old after all," Mrs. Griffin sighed softly.
"No, Mrs. Griffin, you are still very young, like, like..." Lorne stammered, as he didn't have much experience in interpersonal communication.
"Well, I know I'm getting old, let's not talk about such boring topics." Mrs. Griffin quickly ended the conversation about age, glanced up at Lorne, and asked when she saw him panting.
"What do you want? Why are you in such a hurry?"
"I... I have some urgent business to attend to and may have to travel far away. I wanted to let you know."
"Going on a long trip? So you're here to check out, or to make me cancel my lease?"
"I remember we signed a contract, and that cannot be broken. Don't think you can break the contract just because I'm easy to talk to," Mrs. Griffin said sternly.
"No, no, I didn't mean to break the contract," Lorne quickly denied.
"So what do you want to do?" Mrs. Griffin asked, puzzled.
"To be honest, little Lorne, you've been acting really strange these past few days."
"Something's strange. Did they see through us?"
Lorne, being a time traveler, felt somewhat guilty.
"I..." Lorne hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Actually, it's just that while I'm away on a long trip, could you also leave for a while?"
Why?
"I've offended some people, so I need to stay out of the way. I'm afraid they'll come looking for me here, and then I'm worried about what they'll do..."
"You're afraid of implicating me, aren't you?" Mrs. Griffin interrupted before Lorne could finish speaking.
"Hmm," Lorne nodded.
"Is that all?" Mrs. Griffin asked indifferently.
Such a thing? The person on the other end might be a powerful extraordinary individual. Are you really that reckless?
"No wonder you've been acting strange these past few days, turns out you've gotten into trouble!"
"You don't need to leave," Mrs. Griffin continued. "The original contract included a clause that the landlord is responsible for the safety of the tenants. With me here, you don't need to be afraid."
"But," Mrs. Griffin said before Lorne could say anything.
"Who did you mess with? Is it a gangster, a cop, or some nobleman?"
"None of them, they're much more troublesome than that."
"Oh? What's that?" Mrs. Griffin asked, intrigued.
"Um, don't be scared if I tell you," Lorne said hesitantly.
"Don't worry, I've seen it all when I was young, and there's nothing that can frighten me," Mrs. Griffin reassured her.
"They are...they are people who have exceeded the limits of humanity." Lorne didn't know how else to describe the extraordinary, so he could only describe them this way.
"Beyond human limits? Interesting." Mrs. Griffin neither disbelieved nor showed fear; on the contrary, she was somewhat eager to try.
"How did you offend those people?" Mrs. Griffin asked with a scrutinizing look.
Lorne felt a little uneasy under that gaze and didn't say anything.
"Fine, I won't ask you about some of your secrets. Anyway, I'm not leaving."
"But..." Lorne was about to speak when he heard Mrs. Griffin say.
"Why don't you stay? This house is very safe."
"After all, I prohibit all violence here."
"As for those who supposedly surpass human limits, I took down quite a few when I was young," Mrs. Griffin said with a confident expression.
So confident? Could it be that Mrs. Griffin is also extraordinary, and a very powerful one at that?
If that's the case, then maybe I don't have to leave. Lorne analyzed the current situation in his mind.
But at that moment, Lorne became dazed again, and a picture suddenly appeared in his mind: a sparse crowd and a steam train rushing by.
That's Backlund train station.
"Is fate taking me away?" Lorne wondered.
He was still willing to believe in this possible cheat.
"Little Lorne? Are you alright?" Mrs. Lorne Griffin asked, looking at the stunned Lorne standing there.
"Um... I'm fine, I just didn't expect you to be so brave."
"Of course, when I was young I was..." Mrs. Griffin was pleased with the compliment and began to talk at length about her youth.
"I know you're very capable."
"But I still need to leave for a while." Lorne decided to temporarily follow the guidance of fate.
"You think I can't protect you?"
"No, no," Lorne quickly denied, making up an excuse, "I just had plans to leave temporarily anyway, and it's my own business. I didn't want to involve you."
That's true; Lorne isn't the type to like owing favors. And although Mrs. Griffin seems very confident, what if something goes wrong? She's old; what if she can't beat her opponent?
Since I'm not here, even if that silver-haired woman comes knocking, she probably won't risk going after Mrs. Griffin, who's an unrelated person. After all, the wronged should be dealt with by the right person.
Griffin gave Lorne a deep look and nodded.
"Fine, I won't stop you if you want to leave."
"But you don't need to worry about me. No one can hurt me in my own home," Mrs. Griffin said with a confident smile.
"When are you leaving?"
"Probably tonight?" Lorne asked, somewhat uncertain.
"Then walk quietly so as not to disturb me."
"Alright, you go ahead and do your thing. I need to catch up on some sleep." With that, Mrs. Griffin turned and closed the door.
"Um, goodbye."
After saying goodbye to Mrs. Griffin, Lorne returned to his room. He had arranged to meet "Bottle" at 8:30 p.m., and it was only around noon, so he had plenty of time.
He planned to use this time to test the abilities he gained after drinking the potion.
"It seems like I've gotten a bit stronger?" Lorne walked to the desk, put his left hand under it, and then lifted the desk up with one hand.
"That's right, my strength has indeed increased. Neither I before transmigrating nor the original body had this much strength."
Lorne felt changes in his body, and it wasn't just his strength; his entire physical condition had improved.
But Lorne wasn't very happy.
"His strength has indeed increased, but it hasn't exceeded the level of an ordinary person." Lorne did the math in his mind. To spend several hundred pounds for this little improvement was clearly not a worthwhile deal.
"How can we verify inspiration that far surpasses that of ordinary people?"
After thinking for a while, Lorne took out a penny from his pocket, flicked it lightly, and tossed it into the air. His gaze followed the coin as it rose to its peak, and just as it was falling, he suddenly caught it with his hand.
"I guess it's a word." Lorne flipped his palm over and found that the side with the word was indeed facing up.
Then he tossed a coin.
"I guess it's human heads."
……
"I guess it is..."
After trying several times and finding that he could guess correctly every time, Lorne finally understood what inspiration far beyond that of ordinary people really meant.
At least for now, it can be considered an exceptionally accurate intuition.
"Maybe I can become a gambling god."
"With this ability, guessing the size of a die should be easy, right?" Lorne muttered to himself.
Although he finally felt a bit like an extraordinary being, Lorne wasn't really happy.
Firstly, this ability is too idealistic and doesn't suit a science and engineering guy like Lorne at all.
Secondly, this ability is not intuitive enough; it completely lacks the tangible feeling of holding something extraordinary.
"Strange, why am I so tired?"
Lorne looked up at the mechanical clock on the wall.
"Is it already past 5 PM?"
Realizing he had spent almost an entire afternoon testing his inspiration, Lorne quickly perked up.
The agreed time with the bottle was 8:30 pm, and considering the time spent on the road, it's almost time to set off.