It was night time and I was observing Hablena from far. She had a foul mouth and was cursing at the humans and other species but she got along with most of them quite well. Those she didn’t get along with were afraid of her. I don’t blame them.
Do I really need to take her with me? She will be fine right? Maybe she is waiting for when I leave. At least all the fairies that were causing trouble faced oblivion when Hablena got to them.
The fairies seemed less numerous. There had been reports of several dragons going crazy and on a fairy killing spree. It was still dangerous to travel alone or in small groups but at least most cities and villages were relatively safe.
It was survivor bias because many villages and towns had fallen after getting overrun by fairies. It had bolstered the defenses of every village town and city that had survived. It might be a silver lining but everyone, who survived, got way stronger because of this.
There was a greater interest in water magic users than before the Great Tear. Who would’ve known that water is quite precious in times like this. The value of Golden Angels had also skyrocketed. Apparently, the value of Silver Torrent’s also.
Anavel had managed to keep it secret that I’m a 9t, the whole city knows though, but it seems that word is out that I’m a beast kin and that I had flooded the capital with silver lightning and had flushed out over 5 million fairies.
Nothing about me being a 9t or me also fighting a god. Some low-quality videos went around of silver lightning acting as water and my fans seem to now know why I’m named Silver Torrent. It didn’t help that team Moch, had also successfully driven out a large horde of fairies out of Fuuran, the city close to the university.
I had told Anavel I would visit the Yttroz Industries, almost a week ago. I tried to find out if I could leave Hablena behind but I would have to take her with me. There was hardly any progress on how to seal a god. Hablena was showing her vocabulary in curses and showing no mercy to a giraffe beast kin when I teleported next to her and stuffed some fried fish in her mouth.
We’re leaving for a bit. We will take normal transportation if you behave but it will be a dimensional teleport if you misbehave.
She quietly ate the fish and gave a thumbs up.
It would’ve been better if you misbehaved, would save time…
“Living as a mortal is quite interesting. I wonder why most gods don’t do this. I can do what I want and not many can kick my ass!”
Arrogance, looking down on mortals, many other reasons. Most shouldn’t do this though. You would decay the whole city if I hadn't put that seal on you
“Ah, I forgot about that. Let’s go kill things!”
We are not going out to kill things but you can deal with all the fairies we encounter.
I picked her up with my tail and started running toward Gittrian. Hablena used curses and dark magic to get rid of all the fairies coming at us. “So why are you keeping your race hidden?”
Because there are a lot of idiots like you and your siblings that want to wipe us out.
“Hahaha bunch of idiots!”
I’m also talking about you…
“I have accepted my idiocy! Don’t worry! I will kill them if they try something. I like this world!”
Yes, that’s what I'm worried about…
It was extremely easy for me to pass the border, even with a suspicious passenger. I guess being well-known isn’t so bad after all. Gittrian came into sight 3 days after we departed from Alledra.
Don’t forget to behave when we’re there.
“Just point at anyone I have to delete!” I rolled my eyes and we entered Gittrian. I had Hablena walk for this though. Getting into the headquarters was a pain as usual. Hablena had no sense of stealth so we got caught easily.
A guard pointed at me while looking at my adventurers profile. “Whoa! It’s you! I heard that you always try to sneak in even though you’re always welcome!”
Yes, it’s to avoid situations like these. Please stay away from her she bites.
The guards took a step back from Hablena who showed her teeth and we got led into Barusu’s office. There was more paperwork than desk.
“Agnis my friend It has been a while! And who is this? Your girlfriend? Why do you look so disgusted? I guess not. What brings you here?!”
I am here for a big request. I will pay for everything. Get your best men. We need to rebuild Alledra.
Barusu froze on the spot. “Wait, the empress allows us to touch her city?”
Uhhm go take a look at the long list of requests, hers should be somewhere there but yes! I got her permission and I’m here to expedite the process. She even has set up so that you guys can take the teleport gates. You can deduct it all from whatever gold you guys are holding on for me.
Barusu’s hands started to shake. “One of my dreams… is coming true!”
Hold on there! The empress is in charge of the aesthetics, don’t forget.
“That is perfectly fine! Screw these papers! I’m in!”
Good! I will hop by Jerry’s office and I will be waiting in the VIP lobby until you’re ready.
“Ah… Jeremiah… Agnis… he died when the calamity happened…”
Wait what? Noo!
“I… we couldn’t do anything… some of those obnoxious creatures got to him. We lost a lot of staff because we instantly got into action and went to repair whatever had been damaged by the Great Quake.”
Poor Jeremiah… he didn’t deserve that… he was a good man.
“He would have loved to work on this project. I’m sorry for ruining the mood. I just thought that you should know.”
I sighed. Thank you. Let's make this city great, also for Jeremiah’s sake.
We left his office. Barusu would round up the best of the best and Hablena and I relaxed in the VIP section.“You seem to have a lot of connections.”
Not by choice but I’m going to abuse them now.
“Are you the king of this world? Everyone seems to know you.”
I’m not. I’m just a guy that got extremely lucky. It’s probably to balance out my otherwise terrible luck.
Hablena messed with some strange candelabrum and broke it. She pretended as if nothing happened and pushed it aside.“So how long are we going to wait?”
Dunno.
A door flew open 10 minutes later. “Aand the team has been assembled!” Barusu said as he walked in. He was wearing an attire that suggested that he would soon be part of a large heavy labor project, which wasn’t wrong. He was followed by 3 dwarves in the same outfits. “The rest are waiting near the teleport gates. We have our material expert with us and we will be relaying information to the headquarters here. We first need to assess the damage and determine what we need. Let’s go! I can’t wait!”
Fast is an understatement… it’s as if you expected this to happen.
“I didn’t but motivation will get you far in life! Let’s go!” We followed the dwarves to the basement. It seems that’s where their teleport gate terminals were. “We don’t have a connection with the palace but we have one to the AA in Alledra.”
Uhh, the empress said she would fix that. I was also supposed to give you this.
Anavel had given me a strange stone. It was supposed to help them teleport to the palace.
“Oh, that’s a lot of help!” Barusu took the stone and fiddled with the gate. The gate made a strange humming sound. I could feel something spatial going on which shortly disappeared. “It’s connected.” He returned the stone and walked into the portal. The 256 workers in this hall also entered the portal, and so did Hablena and I.
I was the first one to get out of the portal. I decided to warn Anavel about the arrival. I navigated the halls and corridors of the palace and ended up in the throne room. The walls and floor were relatively devoid of fish. I entered and was met with the same sound and sight as before.
The workers of the Yttroz Industries will arrive here in about 15 minutes. I came here to give you a heads-up.
“Very well, I will meet them at the teleport gate.”
3 strong-looking guys, Anavel and I returned to the room with the teleport gate. We waited for a bit and the lightest travelers exited first.
“Oh it’s the big pretty fly.” Everyone ignored Hablena.
Barusu and Anavel started to talk about construction stuff shortly after they met so I decided that my work was done and I escaped from the palace and went to sit on an elegant water tower. Finally, some alone time.
It didn’t take long for the workers of Yttroz Industries to pour out of the palace. They spread out and started to assess the damage.
I wasn’t afraid of the bill. I was extremely rich and I could finally put it to use. I will also allow them to use any leftover gold that they’re holding on for me to work on Gittrian. I know how hard these guys can work. I felt a bit tired and took a nap on a water tower.
----------------------------------------
The first thing I saw when I woke up was a strange sight. Was the destruction of the city a dream? I checked the date. I had only been asleep for 3 days. Why does it look like the city never had been destroyed? I spotted some extras. Is that a stadium?
All in all, the city was even more breathtaking than before. They did it, they actually did it. Crazy bastards!
I hopped down and walked around and took in the beautiful water themed city. I wonder how they did it but the answer is probably hard work.
An idea that it was probably some lost dwarven magic came to my mind but not all workers were dwarves. I walked through the reason why Yttroz Industries was the wealthiest organization on the continent. Fixing a capital in just 3 days is insane. I would think it should be impossible but reality disagreed. There was no deception this was all real.
Yttroz workers were still on and about. They were still at it but I couldn’t see what they were repairing. I shifted my gaze south. Several new city blocks were under construction. 2 seemed to be nearing completion. This is madness. I wonder how many digits my bill will have. I could always sell more rubies if I somehow don’t have enough.
I even spotted Hablena hard at work. I must be dreaming right? I rubbed my eyes and walked over to her.
Are you dying?
“What? Oh! You’re awake! Look my house is almost done!” She said as she pointed at a house tht was about 80% complete.
So, the reason you were so hard at work was because they’re building a house for you?
“Yes!”
Now I've seen it all… a deity, manually building a house. But it seems that it’s unlikely that you will become a threat.
“I should have done this sooner! Walking under the mortals is fun!” She continued filling the walls of her house with water and directing some workers about whatever plan she had for her house. She was holding a hose that was pumping water from the lake.
I guess that’s one domesticated deity.
It took a while but I located Barusu. “Oh Agnis, your house is about to be completed!”
Oh that was fast. I have to commend you guys; this is extremely fast.
“Haha! We didn’t become the wealthiest organization on the continent by being slow!”
That’s true.
I got led to a house that was near the lake. They also had built a restaurant selling seafood nearby. The house looked a little bit different than the rest. It was blue and water-themed but it also had plenty of silver.
I’m sorry I have no words; all I can say is that it's amazing. Wait are there fish swimming in my wall?! Thank you!
“Ha! We know more or less what you like. This is not the first house we built for you remember?”
Ah right… it’s probably going to have 20 basements or something.
“Only 3 basement floors this time. The 3rd basement floor has a hatch from where you can enter the lake.”
Again, I have no words, just that you guys are the best builders ever, but you already know that.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“I’m glad that you like it, now excuse me, I still have 6 more new city blocks to build so I’m quite busy.”
Oh go ahead, thank you for your time.
I was a bit proud of myself. All the things I had done had led up to this. Being so well known was a nuisance at first but in cases like this, it’s a boon. I entered my house and let Nilah out. It looked like an aquarium or [Hsien] turned into a home. The silver also gave it a mystical feel. The layout was similar to the house they had built in Girai, just without a workshop. It had made most rooms on the main floor bigger in return. I also had a balcony looking over the lake.
It made me instantly feel at home and Nilah agreed. She blended in with the house. She could hide here in plain sight. I moved my [Dimensional Anchor] to the basement. The first basement floor was an indoor jungle. The second basement floor was an area where I could chill and it had some terminals connected to the AA as usual. And the 3rd basement floor was a training room. It indeed had a hatch to enter the lake.
Maybe Yttroz Industries will save the continent.
The construction finished 4 days later. Barusu made a commemorative photograph again in which I tried putting up my best fake smile.
There was a great banquet in the new city hall. I had warned Hablena that everyone in the city would personally kick her ass if she made it decay. I had gone back to the Feeding Frenzy area to catch various types of fish and others had gone into the forests and jungle.
----------------------------------------
Ok, guys! Before we dig in how about a challenge?
I showed off 2 jars of blue liquid.
Do any of you know what this is? This is Blue Scoville Nightmare extract! How about we do a challenge who can take the most spice!
Not everyone was enthusiastic but enough people were.
Anything on these blue tables has some of this extract. The bluer the table the spicier it is! And don’t worry I don’t have any lethal amount of spiciness… I think… But just in case we have Healerguy!
I presented Healerguy. “You do know that my name is Rubert right?”
Nobody can remember that! Anyway! The winner of the Scoville Nightmare challenge will not get one!
I played with a gold coin.
Not 2!
I used sleight of hand to make another appear and played with 2 coins.
But 3 gold coins!
I wedged each coin between my fingers showing off the 3 gold. That’s where the excitement started to pick up.
Good luck Healerguy, you will have a lot of work in front of you at the end of the night hehe.
I also took part in the challenge but only because I like spicy food. Hablena got knocked out by the least spicy table. What a weak god. Wait is that Wild Fang? He was tearing through the competition.
Yoo buddy! Nice to see you here!
“Yoo! This competition is wild! Excuse me.” He made sure everything went down correctly and continued shoveling spicy food into his mouth. “But to think you were a beast kin, that’s extremely wild!”
He moved over to the next blue table. It seemed he used this one to familiarize himself with the level of spiciness. He started eating but then disappeared the moment I stopped paying attention and looked at Healerguy who approached me.
Some greedy contesters went to the second last table and got familiar symptoms after eating some of its food.
Enjoy your fiery exit, hehe.
Healerguy shook his head. “Somehow, I feel like you did this because you want to see people eat themselves into a ‘Fiery Exit’”
Hmm? Why would I do that?
“Just a hunch. I brought my student and her friends here by the way.”
Student of Healerguy? She must be very scary and nosy.
“Who are you calling scary?” I couldn’t react and got ambushed and caught in a headlock that smelled like rain.
Wait! Giana is your student?
“She will be holding one of her concerts in the new stadium in this city. Have fun. I will surely enjoy watching your interactions from far, hehe.” Healerguy dragged some greedy fools away who had passed out. the fact that they were still alive meant that I hadn't fucked up the dosage of blue Scoville Nightmare extract.
Hey, you can let me go now!
I didn’t get let go, I got hugged. I tried to summon Zen Agnis, but he was nowhere to be found. This is going to get rough.
“Oh, you don’t sit still do you? Get him Giana!” Noelle and Yvonne appeared. Now something interesting happened.
“Hey I will kill you if you kill him!” Hablena targeted Noelle and pointed a spicy drumstick at her. Is this going to be a venomous tongue showdown. “Go harass some other mortals!”
“What are you talking about? Who is this person Agnis? How dare she talk to your big sis like this!”
Right, uhm this is Hablena, a deity whose ass I kicked and subdued. I couldn’t kill her though so here she is and Hablena this is Giana, of the same race as I am. The person you're pointing a drumstick at is Noelle, she claims to be my big sister and also a race you should stay away from and this here is Yvonne, same story.
“So why is she giving off divine energy?” Hablena said as she pointed a spicy shrimp at Noelle.
“How about you stop pointing food at me. that’s rude! Or do I need to pick up where Agnis left? He certainly didn’t seem to give you an adequate beating!”
Oh, trust me I did, she is a cockroach in a god suit.
I blasted her in foxfire, killing her to which she revived seconds later.
“I see… maybe a punch will do!” Noelle palmed her fist and punched Hablena, starting a fight.
“You have more curses on you…” A melodic voice said.
I pointed at Hablena.
Result of fighting her.
A woman with rabbit ears and blue silver hair made an awkward handshake gesture. “Uhm… I…I’m Yvonne. Nice to meet you!”
I gave Giana a puzzled look who locked her arms with mine.. “She hasn’t completely overcome her shyness. She either has to get used to you or switch to her ‘Idol Mode’ to communicate properly.”
I see, nice to meet you, Yvonne. Can you tell Giana that she can let go now? Noelle is locked in combat and this is quite embarrassing.
G...go get him Giana!”
So everyone is against me eh?
Giana ignored that and held up 2 tails toward me. “How about that Ourasyn thing? I want to know what you’ve been up to.”
Uhhm they think I’m just a beast kin, can I just tell you?
“Sure! Lets chat!” I have the feeling this was a trap. She knew I couldn’t use Ourasyn here.
Hablena and Noelle were holding verbal warfare which seemed to go nowhere. Hablena had made a good point though. Giana and I sat down at a blue table that was relatively uninhabited because people had gotten intimidated by its spice level.
Giana, I have a question. What’s up with the divine energy Noelle gives off? Is she a goddess or a demi god?
She shook her head. “I think it’s better if you ask her that yourself. We are first focusing on completing our tour but we have met some problems…”
I see and understandable. I will try to remember to ask her then. Besides that, I haven’t been doing much, just doing my thing.
“Oh really?” I backed off a bit.
Wait how much do you know?
“I just said ‘oh really’ but it seems there is more to it.”
Ok well I might have died but that was because I was fixing dimensional holes!
“I see, I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there to help out. I will do my best to get the roles our race have to perform under control.”
Wait how do you know about that?
“I have used [Empathic Bond] on you and you shared your pure mana with me.”
Uhh is that a big deal? Exchanging mana isn’t that strange right?
“It is… and the mana you gave me was pure, pure for you, you basically gave me a piece of yourself.”
Ah that’s awkward. I didn’t mean to.
Giana gave me a radiant smile. “That’s fine, I’m also sensitive to it. I can feel it, you have 1 life less than the last time.” She was holding my hand.
Oh! That reminds me.
I took the blue ghost truffles out of my dimensional pocket.
You need more lives.
“I will be fine you need them more.”
You only have 1…
“You are more likely to lose yours…” An awkward silence followed.
Screw this open wide!
I pounced on Giana, mounted her and forced the truffles down her throat.
Noelle stopped her verbal warfare and started to cheer me on. “Yes, lil bro get her!”
Can’t they see that I’m trying to feed her? Giana was struggling at first but then complied. Some bystanders wanted to help Giana but Noelle stopped them.
“Hey! They’re having their moment! Don’t interrupt!”
There! You should have 21 lives now!
I got off Giana and helped her up.
“Just 1 should have been enough but I can’t say I completely disliked this.”
You’re a healer. You should be the last one to die.
We started to eat the spicy food and the bystanders looked wide eyed.
“Oh, this is good, where did you get those blue Scoville nightmares from? They are extremely hard to find.”
Oh, here I can give you some of my secret weapon. These 3 are for consumption, these 2 can be used as weapons. They can also be consumed but you could end up like those fools Healerguy dragged away.
Giana got handed some of my Secret Weapon #3 which she stored in her cleavage. “I see. Thanks! So, what other reckless things have you done?”
Nothing actually, besides kicking the ass of that failed goddess over there.
Hablena and Noelle had started a food fight. Nobody was stopping them as they were enjoying watching it.
“Ahh you bitch! You threw spicy food in my eyes!” Hablena’s eyes were tearing up and she continued rubbing them.
“Haha! That’s what you get for attacking our dimension! Here take some more!” Noelle said as she flung spicy spaghetti at Hablena. Hablena was losing, again.
Has Noelle ever lost a fight?
“I don’t think so.”
I can’t imagine her losing.
There was more food than Hablena now. I knew gods suck at evading but this is ridiculous. “Silver fox help me!”
What a pitiful goddess…
“Will you come to watch our concert?”
Sure. I could use some more relaxation.
“I will show you our best performance! Your heart is mine!” Giana winked and formed a heart with her hands and I got hit by a blast of charm magic. Why can nobody control their charm magic? My heart skipped a beat and I was slowly getting intoxicated.
I will come. But please, this charm magic is slowly turning me into a lovestruck zombie.
“No! fight it! I want to get you there without charm magic!”
So you have declared war on me?
“Yes! Prepare yourself I will be coming after you after my tour!”
It sounds aggressive but you're not aggressive at all
“You’ll see! I have my own way. If it fails, it will fail but at least I will have done my best. You don’t seem to be interested in someone else so I’m safe for now.”
Huh how do you know?
“A vixen’s intuition, now it's time to dance! Noelle, Yv! Let’s go!” Giana got up and the idols started holding an improvised performance to aid digestion.
Winning me over without charm magic, eh?
I leaned back and thought about those words. She had already won me over when she threw all caution in the wind and ended up dying for me. Most chicks that showed interest in me didn’t do anything that gripped my heart or anything of importance for me. Thalia came close but didn’t get there yet.
It was short but Giana had firmly cemented her presence in my life. This is the one fight I surely know I will lose. It is not a matter of ‘if’ she will win me over but more a ‘when’. I guess I can only avoid this for so long. Not sure if it’s being in love yet but I better make sure it doesn’t come that far. I inspected Giana while she was dancing. Her voice her smile, her curves, the jiggle. So much jiggle. I shook my head and used another weak [Blood and Thunder].
I had created this skill to stay active in situations where I’m fatigued but now, I’m using it for something else…
Raishin will be delighted. Noelle also was a good match for Raishin. I wasn't sure if Yvonne was for Greg. She has more success trying to get a rock to fall in love with her. She also has competition in Elliana. I downed a drink. Enough thinking about chicks. I needed to get ready to kill some more gods. The world was still in chaos but it didn’t seem the other deities were intervening with whatever Hablena’s siblings were doing.
Will Hablena cooperate in fighting her siblings or is this a trap? I wondered if she was smart enough to set a trap like this but underestimating gods would lead to my death. I got distracted away from my thoughts and listened to the singing.
Even Hablena was captivated. I wondered why it took the idols so long to took the number 1 spot. I didn’t know much about the idol world but I couldn’t see how anyone could compete against this. Maybe they wanted to stay low but eventually failed.
It reminded me of my own attempts. Always trying to keep it low and most of it failing. Judging by their personalities this was very plausible. I decided to enjoy the night and go to their concert the following day.