Peaceful Life System: I only need to live peacefully-Chapter 164: Eye of Cauli (2)

"HOW DO YOU HAVE THIS??" Gror roared, his hands grabbing the front of Riku’s battle-mage robes. His face, which had been pale with shock, was now flushed a deep red. His eyes were wide with a manic, obsessive fire.

Hestra smacked her husband’s arm with the back of her hand. "Gror! Get a hold of yourself! What has gotten into you? You’re scaring the girl! Let go of the young man!"

"But Hestra, this eye... this eye!" Gror stammered, his grip not loosening. He stared at the orb in Riku’s palm, a look of pure, unadulterated awe on his face. "The Unblinking Eye! The Heart of the Wilds! It’s not supposed to exist!"

Riku remained calm. He gently peeled the old man’s fingers from his robes. "Elder Gror," he said, his voice steady. "It seems you recognize this artifact."

"Recognize it?" Gror let out a short, hysterical laugh. "Young man, every serious collector of relics in this kingdom knows the legend! The Eye of Cauli! The Beast God of the Primordial Wilds! An artifact of creation itself, lost to the ages!"

He gestured wildly at the orb. "They say it can perceive the truth of all things! That it can see through any illusion, any lie! It is a myth! A fairy tale told to frighten children! And you are holding it in your hand!"

He finally tore his gaze from the orb and looked at Riku, shaking his head vehemently. "No," he said, pushing himself back. "Absolutely not. I cannot accept this. It is too much."

"Grandpa, why not?" Zella asked, confused. "It looks so valuable!"

"Valuable?" Gror repeated, his voice cracking. "Child, this is beyond value! This is a divine relic! To trade this for two simple scrolls... it is not a bargain; it is blasphemy! We cannot take it!"

Riku slowly closed his hand over the Eye, the golden pupil seeming to wink out of existence.

"Elder Gror," he said, his voice calm and steady. "I understand your reverence. But to me, this is simply an object. A fascinating ingredient for my research, nothing more. Its power signature is unique, yes. A fascinating variable. But its legend... that is for storytellers and historians."

He met the old man’s terrified gaze. "You are a collector. A keeper of stories. You appreciate an object for its history, for the legend it carries. In my hands, its story is wasted. It is just a tool."

He stepped forward, gently taking Gror’s trembling hand and placing the Eye of Cauli into it. The orb was cool to the touch, its weight solid and real.

"In your hands," Riku continued softly, "it is safeguarded. Its legend is preserved. Its true value is not in its power, but in its existence. And only a true collector can understand that. Consider this not a payment, but a transfer of guardianship."

Gror stared down at the Eye in his palm, then back at Riku. He was speechless. The young man’s logic was strange, almost alien, but it resonated with the deepest part of his collector’s soul.

He finally let out a long, shuddering breath and gave a slow, solemn nod. "I... I will guard it with my life, Master Riku."

Riku smiled. "I know you will."

The air in the shop was thick with a heavy, reverent silence. Hestra stared at her husband, who was now cradling the orb like a newborn babe. "You’ve taken it? Gror, are you mad? What will we do with a god’s eye?"

Gror, however, was lost in his own world as he looked at the lifelike eye, deeply entranced. Hestera sighed. It seemed like she was unable to go against her husband’s wishes.

Zella broke the silence.

"That’s great, Grandpa," she chirped, tugging on Riku’s sleeve. "But you’re not going to forget about the chocolates, are you, Mister Researcher? You promised!"

The sudden, cheerful demand for sweets shattered the tension like glass.

He turned to Zella, reaching into his satchel one last time. He pulled out a small, heavy bag filled with chocolate bars. "For you and your grandparents," he said, handing it to her. "Be a good girl, ok? And listen to your grandparents."

Zella beamed, hugging the chocolates to her chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"We should take our leave now," Riku said, turning to Sherry. He gave a final, respectful nod to Gror and Hestra. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"You are welcome, researchers. But please, do not bring more trinkets for my husband. Soon, we will be out on the streets at this rate."

Riku and Sherry waved goodbye and walked down the shadowy street, the purple glow of the city’s runes illuminating their path.

"That was... something" Sherry said, breaking the silence. "How did you even have something like this?"

"Errr.. you see.. I obtained it.."

"You know what? Forget it, I don’t want to know. Tell me what we should do next."

"Well, we have the scrolls," RIku said as he pulled them out. "And we have a new lead."

Sherry followed his gaze. "The auction house? ’The Shadowed Gavel’?"

"Exactly," Riku confirmed, a determined glint in his eye. "Gror said they were pretty powerful, so we might find some clues there."

He stopped, turning to her. "It won’t be like buying trinkets at a market stall. Places like that have their own rules and dangers. What do you say? Up for a challenge?"

Sherry’s own lips curled into a smile. "Good," she said. "I was getting bored."

---------------

Far away, in a realm of fractured light and impossible geometry, a figure sat upon a platform that floated in an endless, starless void.

His eyes were closed. His form was still. He seemed less a man and more a statue.

Suddenly, his head tilted, just slightly. A flicker of awareness disturbed his stillness. A subtle tremor had passed through the cosmos, a ripple caused by a divine artifact changing hands, its dormant power acknowledged for the first time in an age.

He felt it.

Slowly, his eyes opened.

The left was a hollow socket. A dead, empty space that held nothing but darkness.

But the right eye... it blazed. It was a perfect, living replica of the Eye of Cauli, its pupil a slit of molten gold, burning with a fire that seemed to be born to end the world.

A slow, chilling smile spread across his unseen face, a crack in the mask of eternal stillness.

"So," a voice that was the sound of grinding galaxies whispered into the void. "It has finally surfaced."

A low, demonic chuckle echoed in the nothingness, a sound of pure, predatory joy.

Then, the figure, the platform, and the laughter vanished, leaving only the silent, empty void behind.

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