“Haaaa, Tasianna I know you want to take the lead on this but you’re wasting time by threatening him all the time. Here, let me show you. This is a good lesson for you and Saori anyways.”
Gael tapped my shoulders, gesturing with his hand for me to move back to Miss Saori, Asaka, and Elrick. I glared at him, feeling frustrated he would ask me to leave this to him. However, my goal was so close. This man not only had mana batteries filled with the mana of spirits but also there was the pelt of a garm in his office — the pelt of Song’s host body.
I have to find the ones responsible for Princess Schuri’s death! I must! They are here in this city!
“Tasianna.” I turned my head around as Miss Saori’s voice rang in my ears. She pointed at the man strapped on a chair using her tendrils before attempting to persuade me to back down. “That’s the leader of the Layavete cartel. The cartel Gael mentioned was the reigning criminal syndicate of the city. You won’t get through to him if he doesn’t want to talk. Look into his eyes. I don’t see any fear in them.”
Despite surrounding the man with ice daggers, ready to attack if he tried to escape, he wasn’t acting erratic nor was his breathing out of order. He seemed calm as if he was used to all of this.
“I’ve only just begun, Miss Saori. I can still—” I tried to argue, but Miss Saori simply wagged her finger.
“No. You are letting your emotions get to you, Tasianna. Also, I think we have the same situation again, similar to when you had Kiiro around.” Miss Saori eyed the three onnikai we met on our investigation. “Leave it to Gael. He knows what he is doing. The sooner we have our information, the faster we will find the true perpetrator.”
“… Understood,” I reluctantly agreed to her demand and dispelled the ice blades surrounding our captive. I moved to the back with Miss Saori, who attempted to calm me down, telling me we will find whoever killed Princess Schuri eventually.
I hoped so. That human will pay for what they did.
“Alright…” Gael scratched his head and pulled up a chair for him to sit in front of the captive. “Treyenor Layavete, leader of the Layavete cartel and son of its founder, Westrix Layavete. Working behind the scene with two senators belonging to the eight Olden Money, meaning your syndicate not only possessed their financial support but also practically free reign when it came to expanding your area of influence. You were the ruler of the underworld of Gleisvale. Wow, those were the glory days, no?”
“…” The dark blue-haired man blinked, staying silent to Gael’s words. He sighed after a while, shaking his head before finally talking. “Gael. Some orphaned urchin born in the slums of Shaturein. Somehow, you managed to climb your way up in the graces of the Blackreach guild and met your future companions in the ‘White Winged Dragoon’ and the ‘Wing Ripper.’ Through their efforts, which you leeched from, all three of you managed to reach B rank with the former two even reaching A rank later on after you left them. How has your life been since you lost your lover? How has her brother been? It’s been a while since you stole Lilene and Bo away from us.”
“…” Gael didn’t react. His back was turned to me.
“Bastard!” I wanted to intervene, having heard enough from this arrogant human’s mouth. How dared he speak like this to Gael when we had him captured?!
But I couldn’t do anything. Miss Saori grabbed my shoulder and held me back, telling me to just watch. That was also the moment when I saw that criminal look at me. Looking into his eyes, I saw he understood exactly what he was doing and it enraged me even further.
But, before I could materialize an ice spear, Gael began to laugh.
“Hahahahaha! Yeah, those were the days. I really brought a lot of trouble to Lilene back then. She was one of your flames back then, right? Beautiful woman. Probably the reason why she stole my heart and convinced me to get her out of your gang…” Gael reminisced, looking down at the floor as he became silent. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. As you said, she was a flame. Just another pretty girl I could have gotten at any time. I have a wife and kids now, so I don’t really care if she were to be alive or dead now.”
I remembered Yorshka explained that Gael’s lover had been kidnapped by the Yanderu Eluseuss after he defected from them. When the trio of Farron, Yorshka, and Gael went to save her, she unfortunately was killed. Afterward, Gael’s life twirled into a disaster, falling into depression and becoming a heavy drunk.
He seemingly changed, but I did wonder what exactly caused it. Was his meeting with Miss Saori and me that impactful? Well, it was good he wasn’t drinking all the time now.
“I see…” Gael nodded. “I guess you want to return to your family in one piece today? Once again, like any other day?”
The human simply stared at Gael, returning to his silence. Probably out of spite.
This isn’t working!
Gael managed to get him to talk, but it seemed his plan wasn’t working. I could hear the three onnikais next to me telling me to “handle it yourself” and that “the longer we leave him alive, the more problems he will cause us faefolk!”
I could also hear Uno and Song growling in displeasure, only holding their bloodlust back by virtue of their loyalty to Miss Saori. I knew for a fact, if Miss Saori hadn’t been around, I probably would have launched my spears into this despicable human’s body by now. Being ripped to shreds was an appropriate punishment for a fae hunter like him, just like what I did to that Yanderu fire mage back at the slave auction house.
Why are some humans such scum? Why? Just why?
I grabbed tightly onto the mana battery in my hand. Just like the spark which ignited the War for the Faefolk, this little object could herald in a second one. Humans, in their greed, do not learn.
Unlike the long-living races, they forget the mistakes of their forefathers because none of them lived long enough to pass it on properly to the next generation. Educating them in their history would be a wise choice, but how many would have access to it? Even then, some were just blind to goodness.
As the tapping of my left leg was echoing in the office of the Layavete cartel’s headquarters, the criminal finally chose to speak.
“First, answer this. How did you manage to pinpoint this headquarters and also capture all my lieutenants? Most are known publicly, but not my bookkeeper.”
The nerve!
Gael shrugged and answered, “Well, not like you can learn anything from this really, since the conditions and combinations are pretty rare.” He then pointed at Asaka and me. “Those two ladies were our main scouts and information gatherers. You can defend yourself from leaks and rats, but you can’t hide information when faefolk are involved.”
Asaka then released the four fenrir onnikais from her catalyst, showing them off to the human. “Sneaking in and out was pretty easy with these four. Eavesdropping and reading documents. The difficult part was pinpointing where you people were, but we have her for that.”
I guessed Asaka was talking about me, as I was the one responsible for talking to the spirits around the area. Since they were invisible without needing the proper skills, they made excellent scouts. For anybody who wasn’t one of the faefolk, this room might look empty, but I could see numerous of them gathering around, warning me to be careful.
Lesser faefolk were tricky to speak with, since they weren’t reasonable. You couldn’t talk or negotiate with them if they didn't want to work with you, even if they knew I was a fairy. I could request aid, but they would only help if they were willing to. And, right now all of them were, due to their friends’ deaths.
Gael continued, now directing the man’s attention to Saori. “And then, the actual capture was done by our hard-hitter here. Our wolfkin is a tamer and arcane trickster. You should know, since your bruises and burns came from her.”
“I will be honest, for a level 38, you put up quite the fight,” Miss Saori commented. “But, I guess you had your equipment and runic tattoos to thank for that.”
Two spell rings, a staff, and multiple daggers laid broken on the ground around us, all destroyed by Miss Saori when she went to capture this man. Looking at the damage outside this office, you would guess the fight was quite intensive.
“Heh! Gloating on me, eh? Manatech is there to make up for our lacking profiles, but even my detection enchantment on my rings wasn't able to find you before it was too late. Lost my auracoil barrier and then my scepter’s spell couldn’t even hit you before you knocked me out with some lightning.”
Hearing it from him, instead of Miss Saori’s modest retelling of the story, it really sounded like it was a crushing defeat. In general, the raid and ambush went really well since we had all this information we gathered from the spirits and onnikai.
Miss Saori’s familiars, except for Uno and Song, captured all the cartel’s leaders and were now holding them prisoner outside this room. Even storming the building was too simple since Elrick and I were too strong compared to the foes we met.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
The cartel boss then turned his eyes to me. Exhaustion could be seen on his face, but I presumed it was more due to sleep deprivation.
“I guess you would be the faemancer here, elf? I guess you really can’t defend yourself from somebody who can talk to tiny faefolk for information. Only thing you can do is get rid of the— Kuek?!”
The man flinched and immediately flinched his head to the side as I shot an ice spear at him. However, before it actually penetrated his throat, I held it back, only slightly touching him with its tip.
“You really have a death wish, human. These onnikais and this mana battery are proof that there are fae hunters in this city. How and where did you get it?!” I held the mana battery back up, drawing his attention to it. “These onnikais want your death, for some,” I couldn’t keep the sneer from my voice as I taunted our captive, “reason, but I can tell you have no idea what spirits actually look like. You cannot see them. If you can’t see them, you can’t sacrifice them for your greed like fairies. Tell me, who was the abomination who did it?!”
The reason why fairies were mercilessly hunted more often than spirits before the War for the Faefolk was due to the fact there were less people with the ability to perceive mana in the air. If you couldn’t, you couldn’t see the lesser faefolk like spirits or spriggans. On the other hand, elementals and fairies were visible to the naked eye for even the most novice fae hunter.
“Tasianna, redraw your spear, please. Let me handle this,” Gael pleaded to me, looking at me with a worried look.
Turning around, I could also see Miss Saori on her guard. Her eyes wanted to tell me to calm down, again. But, at this point, what is there to gain from this man? He was wasting our time! He knew what to say but he didn’t because he was deeply involved with all of this! Just like the onnikais said.
[“He used our mana! Our life force! He must die! Die! Just like we did!”]
[“No mercy! No kindness! We were used and discarded! We were left to rot! No more! Kill him! Kill them all!”]
[“Stalling for time for reinforcements! Eliminate him! Free us, fairy! Free us from this pain!”]
Why do we faefolk always have to suffer from these humans…?
“I agree.” As if the words of these onnikais became reality, Elrick suddenly drew his sword and pointed it at the human scum. “Criminals must be judged. Our peace with the elves is a fragile construct, and it is being threatened by this human waste. His actions will have repercussions for the entire human race. This is a diplomatic disaster.”
Just like what Davison did.
“Hold up, Elrick!” However, our group was still conflicted on the actions we had to perform. “I will bonk you with my mace if you continue speaking like a damn zealot. Stop it! We need more information from this guy! Our clue from that alchemist store gave us nothing to work with outside of those onnikais!”
“Lady Asaka, this man is a—”
“Bla bla bla! Come on, can you think reasonably for a moment?! Put that sword down and think with your damn brain!”
“She’s right,” Miss Saori agreed.
[““Alpha!””] Uno and Song argued against Saori’s wish.
[“You two, do not even dare touch a hair on him — for now. You will leave this to us. We need more information. Is that clear?”]
The garms reluctantly stood down, even stopping their growls. Once Miss Saori made sure the garms were calmed down, she then turned her attention to Elrick and me.
“You too, Tasianna. If both of you keep letting your emotions and convictions control you, we will continue scrapping up bits of information. This is vital. Hestia should still be busy with the promotion event, but if you cannot calm down, I will have to drag her here to order you to both stop!”
Urgh… I can’t inconvenience my Mistress.
Lady Hestia had given me too much for me to act like a burden to her now. Her idol activity was her heart’s desire, and, as her maid, my responsibility was to keep her dream intact. Miss Saori was right, I couldn’t let myself be consumed by this. She told me to stay myself.
I took in a deep breath, using the breathing technique Lady Hestia taught me during our idol practice. Let the air stream through my lungs and into my brain, then let the emotions holding me down out through my mouth. I then told the onnikais around me to stop, and then gave Miss Saori a nod.
“… Well, that almost escalated. Haaaa,” Gael sighed deeply. “Tell me, you are smart enough. Why are you trying to invite Goddess Death to your office today?”
“Heh…” The man chuckled, smirking as if he had nothing to worry about. “Cuz the Layavete name is almost gone anyways. You probably seen some of our new lieutenants, Gael? Neville, for example.”
“Yeah, I know. Apparently, the guy didn’t give you our memo that we wanted to talk. Considering how you fortified your base, he probably acted like a fearmonger instead of a messenger,” Gael explained, causing the human to click his tongue, realizing a misunderstanding was around. “Huh? Guess so? Really? Huh.”
“Damn that Neville… But I guess that’s how it goes.” He straightened up his back, losing his smirk and looked up at Gael with the eyes of a businessman. “This is about Shaturein, right? I thought Blackreach ordered you to kill me.”
“No, but we want to work with you. However, this, on the other hand, has nothing to do with Shatu.” Gael then pulled out the broken emblem we had, the one with the snake curling around a potion bottle. “The main reason why we are here is ‘cause of the onnikai behind us. They told us you had something to do with the fae hunting, and I guess they were right since you have that mana battery in your office.”
The man blinked his eyes as he looked at me. I felt my anger rising up again, but I kept breathing in and out to suppress it. Noticing my chest moving, he closed his eyes before explaining the reason for why they were there.
“You want to know where I got them, right? Consider it my price for not killing me,” he stated. “The Resurrection. That’s the name of the syndicate behind the crippling of the Layavete cartel and also where one of my contacts got that mana battery. I had presumed they were crafting new batteries, despite only dwarves lawfully being able to make them. I was planning on using it as blackmail.”
He then chuckled.
“But, if a spirit’s mana is inside that, that thing just became useless to me. It’s worthless now as blackmail.”
I turned to Saori, looking at her with confusion. She explained that exposing the battery would have even worse effects than what he wanted to use it for. It could cause a war and it would drag the Layavete cartel into it since Gleisvale was his home. A piece of blackmail that was a double-edged blade was not usable, in this case.
“Who are these ‘Resurrection’ guys?” gael asked?
“From what I could tell, they owned that small alchemist store you probably noticed around here. You wouldn’t expect it. That store does a lot of Samaritan work. Handing out potions to the poor and even freeing beastmen slaves, particuarly female ones. At the same time, they aren’t strapped for coins.”
I was reminded of how the alchemist shop we visited was well-known in this area of the city and only had female employees and guards inside it.
“That’s when we find out they were being supported by a bunch of alchemist radicals with the goals to improve humans through the help of alchemy. The ‘Resurrection.’ The resurrection of humankind to compete with the other races,” he explained.
“Hold on,” Miss Saori stopped him. “Radicals? Treyanor, do you presumably know any of their members? Someone called Davison?”
Of course, Davison!
I had almost forgotten that Davison came from Estralia. He was a demonkin conspirator who had shouted something about raising the human race’s potential to that of elves and demonkin using a potion he created. That potion turned out to be made through demonkin methods, similar to the troll shaman we faced in the Belzac forest.
“Davison? Yeah, of course, we heard about that alchemist around this area. He was a high-ranking member of the local alchemist’s guild and used to frequent this area, since he had to hide his less than ideal experimentations. Turns out, he was transforming beasts into grotesque monsters with catalysts.”
We were told once this information began to spread, the alchemist guild caught onto this and kicked him out from the guild. At this point, the human presumed Davison joined the Resurrection as he still kept himself busy within the city despite being fired from the guild. However, eventually, he left Gleisvale and wandered to Artorias, where he continued his work for the next ten years.
“At the same time, a new guild master was assigned at the alchemist’s guild. Sadly, I have no idea who that person is, as they never ever reveal themselves. Instead, they use a proxy to handle their official work for them. If you ask me, the leader of the guild and the Resurrection are most likely the same person.”
“Are you willing to help us?” Gael proposed, causing me to widen my eyes.
Why would we want to work with this person?!
“Shatu proposes a chance for cooperation, since we want to expand our influence here. I don’t know how the other cartels work, but Mister Blackreach and Lady Grengar know about the Layavete cartel.”
“Ha! You mean take over. We are too weak to not get consumed by Shaturein.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now, right? You did say you were crippeled.” Gael then proceeded to imitate walking like an old man. “Ooooh no… But you have no choice in this case, Treyenor. You are captured. So, how about you stop being stubborn and explain to me exactly how you lost your standing to those buncha alchemists and why exactly you have this garm pelt here before you turn into garm food.”
“…”
He hesitated, but only for a second.
“De—”
But it was one second too late.
“Hanazawa! Shield! Cover your heads!”
“Hu—?”
[Shadow Armament (Full Body)] inflicted on [Fairy, Tasianna Marina Silverpond]
Miss Saori’s shadow erupted into a tangible cloak, wrapping not only her in it but also the people around her. In the next second, a massive explosion erupted from the side of the building, scorching the rock walls of this building into fragments.
“Greiiiiaaaaaaaha!”
“Arck, Fuck! Grraaagk!”
Protected by her [Shadow Armament], the shadow armor absorbed most of the shockwave, but we were still sent flying to the other side of the wall. I managed to protect my head, as Miss Saori commanded, but I could still feel my head ringing. The blasting noise did not do my ears any favors.
“Tasianna!” I heard Miss Saori’s voice followed by the crackling of electricity. “Clear our vision! Hanazawa-san, heal Treyenor and Gael!”
““Grrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaark!””
Without questioning her, I let my mana flow into my catalyst before activating [Aerokinesis], commanding the wind to blow the ash and smoke in the air away. As my head cleared up from expending mana, I felt multiple enemy signals right in front of me through [Detection Sensor], pushing my brain into action as I finally understood what was going on!
An ambush!
Five men and women. All were beastmen of different varieties. Uniformly dressed in a black armor that looked like leather through the dust, but the sound of clanking metal suggested otherwise. They eyed us with eerie intention, only for my attention to be drawn towards the people to my right.
“Grraaaark! My leg!”
“Urk! Shit! Couldn’t protect him in time, urgh…”
It was the scum human and Gael. The former was missing a leg while the latter had rock splinters stuck inside his body with burns covering his left arm and leg. Miss Saori couldn’t protect them in time.
“Focus, Tasianna! Elrick! We have enemies!”
“This criminal is in our hands! You are obstructing the goals of a Knight of Aurena!”
But the five intruders didn’t respond to his shouts. They simply dashed towards Treyenor and Gael. I didn’t need [Danger Perception] to tell me what their unsheathed weapons were planning to do.
No! I will get my information!
[Frost Body] activated, cooling down my body and my surroundings. My catalyst began solidifying my mana into a slime-like substance before forming it into a rock-hard ice shield. I used [Cryokinesis] with the instruction I received from Empress Melloxtressa, freezing any water particles in the air into solid ice needles.
You have no right to harm them while I am alive!