"A nice piece of work, if I have to say so myself." - Garami
"Humility, your name is Master. But I have to agree, it looks great!" - Bloom
"Great, cute, and cuddly! The clothes are nice too." - Mira
Hey...
Us girls looked at the newly dressed witch girl as she moved around awkwardly as if she was not used to walking on two legs. To no one's surprise, that witch is Revi.
After evolving, she turned from a rotting dragon corpse to an adorable dragon girl. Quite the dramatic before/after sequence there. Both her hair and eyes are jade-green, a green that fits a gloomy netherworld more than a lush forest. A single dragon horn and a dragon tail are all that prove she's not a regular human.
She is pretty small, around the size of a teenager, but she still has this mature look in her eyes. Rather, they look like the type of eyes that you can find in a princess who has fallen into darkness due to her kingdom crumbling to the ground. Is it wrong of me to be turned on by that?
The witch dress is something I made using the few remaining costumes of the theater group that used to live here. It is cute in a Gothic Lolita style, but I chose a dark green look instead of the classic black-and-white. I even managed to salvage a classic witch hat, but it is looking a little miserable. I should try to ask a proper hatmaker about that one later.
"Is everything fine? Nothing too tight?" - Garami
"...No..." - Revi
Either she is still not used to speaking or that blush is more than just getting praised for her new looks.
"I never expected evolution could bring such miracles~. Maybe I should try to reach the unobtainable dream after all." - Mira
"The what-dream?" - Garami
"Evolution. Barely any sane people can ever gain enough EXP to reach that state, so evolving is said to be an unobtainable dream. Honestly, I was more than a little shocked when you first mentioned that you had evolved more than once." - Mira
"You wouldn't believe how I looked back at the beginning." - Garami
"Then I was right. Miracles~. Also, do you mind calling off your attack dragon? She is scaring me." - Mira
"Huh? Whoa!? Calm down, girl!" - Garami
I grabbed Revi from behind as she was growling and glaring at Mira. I almost forgot that the Seven Sin skills mess with your head if you don't "master them". Revi has exactly that, the unmastered [Envy] skill instead of the real thing: [Invidia Demon God - Leviathan].
Let's try to prioritize having Revi reach the level of this demon god. If not, she will die from blood loss. When I grabbed her, she got the back of her head stuck to my chest, causing her nose to bleed. And I doubt it's because of the impact. The World System back in the days sure knew what it did when they classified her Karma as "
"Revi, Mira is your senior and my right-hand-woman. Be nice to her, okay?" - Garami
"...Fine..." - Revi
"Great! So, how is the big bad faring?" - Garami
"Filyn was chopping up buildings out of boredom when we went out to her to tell her we couldn't find the stupid barrier's switch, so I asked Iron to keep her company until we finished retrieving the big treasure from this building." - Mira
"......Buildings?" - Revi
Oh boy. From one mess to another. But we gotta get out of here. Revi ate all my rations to sustain the massive SP loss from evolving, so I'm empty for snacks. Let's hope having a new cute girl around is enough to sate Filyn's boredom...
---
"SO CUUUUTE!!" - Filyn
Luckily, it was.
"So this girl is called Revi? I love her! I wanna take her home with me." - Filyn
"No. Way." - Garami
"For real?"- Filyn
"No. ****ing. Way." - Garami
"Wow. This girl is serious..." - Filyn
Phew. Operation "Stonewall the Pervert" is a big success. Filyn released Revi from her glomping grip, allowing the dragon girl to run for cover behind Mira. Why Mira? Because she is further away from Filyn than I am. *Sniff*, she is opening up to more people..., and why am I getting sentimental over that!? What am I, her mom? At least make it her older sister!!
"Fine. I never said you couldn't recruit people, just that the treasures in the castle are to be mine." - Filyn
"Yes, yes~. Besides, Revi was in the theater, not the castle." - Garami
"Good point. Guess I didn't have a say in the matter from the beginning!" - Filyn
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Sweet~. I got her confirmation about the subject. Surprisingly, the theater had lots of stuff too dangerous to be called "props" in its storehouse. I collected all the stuff that was surprisingly in good shape even after all these years, and the broken stuff I repaired using Alchemy.
I was only able to finish repairing around 30% of the stuff I found before Revi's evolution was done, but even so, I suspect we might have gotten our biggest haul since the Guild's creation~.
"Speaking of the castle, Revi? Do you know how one can enter it?" - Garami
"...The castle?" - Revi
"Yes. That big castle in the north. Filyn wants to crush it with the hammer of justice." - Garami
"JUSTICE!?" - Filyn
Hearing that, Filyn started to cough up blood and fell to her knees. Did I uncover an unexpected fatal weakness in the otherwise impossible-looking queen of evil, or is she just messing around? I'm thinking it's the latter, even if I wish it was the former.
"What Garami is trying to say is, she wants to beat up the jerk who made a mess of this island. Can you help us with that? Preferably by telling us about how to enter the castle district." - Mira
Mira talked to Revi while keeping eye contact with her, causing the dragon girl who's lived like the world's greatest shut-in for the last few centuries to avoid her gaze before speaking.
"...Secret door." - Revi
"What was that?" - Mira
"...There is a secret door... I fled using it..." - Revi
"Perfect! Where is it!" - Garami
"...Train station...?" - Revi
It took her a while to squeeze the words out, but she managed to awkwardly describe the location of the hidden door.
But come on! That underground station? That's the last place we would be looking for it!
"Garami! Why didn't you find that door when we were there the first time!?" - Filyn
"Tch, she recovered. And how should I know there was anything remotely close to a secret entrance at the starting area of this place?" - Garami
"Ehm..." - Revi
"WHAT!?" - Filyn
*Bonk*
"Ouch!" - Filyn
Punishment is served. That's what you get for yelling at (cute) people. What surprised me is that Iron came for the bonk-ing at the same time as me. He's a good suit of armor.
On an unrelated note, the punished evil boss is holding her head while crying crocodile tears as she "secretly" glances toward me. Stop that, I'm not buying it. And don't ever think about having me "comfort you" tonight! I've learned my lesson.
"Anyway, Revi? Something's up?" - Garami
"The door...it only opens when...the moon is gone." - Revi
"The moon?" - Garami
I looked up at the sky, and indeed, the dark dome is displaying a moon. Despite Terra Sol having several moons, the dome is only showing one of them.
"The dome reflects the largest moon in the night sky of the outside world." - Iron
"Just what I wanted to hear. Bloom, when is the next new moon?" - Garami
"I would say..., in about a week..., no, six days counting today. Today is almost over though, so saying 5 days starting tomorrow is more correct. " - Bloom
Wow, is it that late already? Time sure flies when exploring undead citadels. And this all-night dome doesn't help to keep track of time.
"Six days!? Aw, come on!! Now those guys are sure..." - Filyn
Our "respected" boss started to gripe again, but she paused in the middle of her sentence. What's wrong?
"Garami~? How do you feel about earning some extra favor points with your favorite future demon queen~?" - Filyn
So said my UN-favorite future demon queen as she put her arm around me and led me away from the others so they wouldn't listen to us. I have a bad feeling about this...
---
The next day:
"This is the place...I think." - Revi
We spent last night at the Village District before going through the Halloween District the next day. Now we have finally returned to the Horror Hill District and its underground train station. Revi had taken us to one of the dead ends a little away from the route from the platforms to the exit.
This place isn't completely hidden, but it's enough to prevent people that are visiting the station as part of the trip to Tree Sea Isle from noticing it. Especially for someone like Iron, who is regularly commuting between islands. Looking around the same old station to see if anything's been changed in forgotten old dead ends isn't something most people would do.
"In that case, we will return here in 5 days..." - Garami
"BOSS! There you are!" - ???
Hmm? Is something going on back at the platform? We left Filyn and the others there, but this situation...
Revi and I returned to the others and saw that the group had grown noticeably. Several people dressed like goons for an evil organization, the type you can find in Japanese tokusatsu hero shows, along with a fiery woman with red hair have arrived. And despite them being overshadowed by the strangeness of the people I first mentioned, I can also see Alf, Noire, and even Blot there.
"Garami! Did you find the entrance?" - Mira
"We think so, but it's so concealed that we won't know for sure until the new moon arrives. And what is going on here?" - Garami
"Can't you see? It's the reinforcements...I think." - Mira
"You think?" - Garami
"Sorry. But in my defense, I have never seen reinforcements that appear to be preparing for a giant party in my whole life." - Mira
Right. All those faceless goons are carrying large supplies for a carnival or a festival or whatever. That sure doesn't look like equipment for warfare, nor undead extermination.
"Garami, good timing! How's the entrance faring?" asked Filyn after she turned her attention away from the flamboyant woman she was talking to.
"Mira already asked about that, and I got no idea. You just have to wait." - Garami
"Eeeeehh~? That's too boriiiiing~!!" - Filyn
"In that case, let's party, boss!" - ???
"Yeah, who is this one? Mind filling me in?" - Garami
I looked at the woman who could easily be justified in being referred to as a "flaming beauty". Long, fluffy red hair, tall body, nice proportions, or rather, dynamite-like ones. For some reason, she's got red flame tattoos all over her body, a pair of blood-red horns, and a blue gem located on her forehead. But for some reason...she looks like a drunkard.
"Garami, this is Regina Meragni, one of my company's main assets~." - Filyn
"Please treat me well~." - Regina
The fiery woman, Regina, made a light bow to me, but it feels like she was just messing around. While her head was looking down, I gave Filyn a quick glance that said "Is it this one?". Filyn gave me a look in return that said "She's harmless enough". Phew. No need to act on that ridiculous request just yet then...
"Anyway, what is all this stuff for?" I asked, trying to move the conversation on without letting Regina notice the quick council I had with Filyn.
"What, you ask? It's booze, of course!" - Regina
"...Why?" - Garami
"Whenever Regina is around, it is always a party~. That's why I can stomach keeping her around without trying to gut her~." - Filyn
"Please, boss~! You know my gut doesn't have any value at all~. You jokester~." - Regina
I feel like she isn't completely joking...
While I was lost in such thoughts, Regina grabbed me by my shoulder and squeezed me close to her. Hey, stop it! Revi is watching! Or worse, Mira and Filyn are both watching! Things are gonna end up like "that night"! We're in the middle of enemy territory here! Do that when we return to the city!
"For now, let's party! For the future conquest of...the Whatchamacallit Island!" - Regina
The goons gave a loud cheer to Regina's words, but is this really alright? Drinking in the middle of an undead-infested city? Then again, some of them are good people like Iron or the mayor of the Village District..., and now that I think about it, I've never tried booze before, haven't I? Though, with me using the Poison attribute and having the [Poison Resistance] skill, it may not even work on me...