CHAPTER 12

The atmosphere was gloomy after the announcement. War had that way of changing even a celebratory mood like the one in the Freelancer building to depressed. The demonkin among the gathered looked particularly upset, but I figured it was due to the fact they would likely be sent to the frontlines. There was little we personally could do about it. The best thing we could do was just not get dragged into it. Given my knowledge and abilities, and Imperia’s magic power if she fully recovered. It would be almost a cheat level for the country that acquired our aid.

We sold all the cores from the Kesh then returned to our room for a small breather, I turned to Imperia wanting to discuss the situation. “We’ll hang out here for now, but if the war seems to want to threaten us then we’ll have to leave.” Or rather tell her my take on the matter.

From the announcement, they planned to send the army to the border of the Empire, but I felt that would be stupid of them to announce it like that. If even one commoner was able to get this information to the Kingdoms involved, then they could easily turn the war against the Empire. I just had to hope that the protection of information was better than that.

“I don’t really have an objective. Unless I get to rule, I don’t plan on taking orders from another king.”

“So, we stick to just having a fun journey.” Though, if a border town like this has the ability to received messages from the capital, it might be worth the trip to see what else this magic could accomplish. With the data stored in Echo, we might be able to recreate the portal and get back to the Federation, though that was a decade or longer goal to work towards.

“Sounds good to me. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t actually care about slaughtering and pillaging. Some of the Demon lords under me were into that and as I was the one at the top, all the blame fell onto me.”

“Thanks for the history lesson, I think,” I said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell anyone who you were.” I glanced through the window and saw it was still early in the evening. “How about we hit the market like we talked about?”

“I would like a new dress,” Imperia remarked lifting her dress a bit, like she was disgusted with it. I knew there was something off about the dress as it hadn’t gotten dirty the entire time she’d worn it. She’d joined me at the tower several days ago showcasing the incredible magic that had to have gone into the outfit.

“Isn’t that one magic?” I asked more to sate my own curiosity.

“Yes, but a girl can like cloths. Speaking of, shouldn’t you get something else to wear while that coat of yours is getting washed?”

I glanced down at myself. While the nanites were eating the blood, guts, and dirt from it, it was still a process that took some time unless I ordered the nanites to focus on the task. That was hard to do when they were making me ammo for my rifle. After which they would go into a hibernation state to recharge.

“You have a point. Alright. Let’s use some of the money we got to go shopping!”

Imperia didn’t need any more convincing and we soon found ourselves out of the street heading to the market. With Echo’s help, I was doing my best to pick up the language from the people shouting on the street. Since they usually repeated whatever they were shouting it helped for me to understand the words.

The more we checked out the town, the more it reminded me of Earth’s medieval period with a touch of advancement in the mix. The reason for that were the magical devices in place at the stores and other locations. Most of the stores had a register that could be used to ring up purchases, and all of the stores had lights that could be activated with a stone on the wall. It was quite a display of innovation in my opinion.

We eventually found ourselves in a clothing store. Imperia became quite enthusiastic looking through the wares available. It made me worried that she might be a shopper at heart and that I would have to be the one to manage our finances. Even in the Federation, materialistic drive was very much alive and more often than not caused bankruptcy for those involved.

“Don’t get too carried away. We have to make this money last a while,” I called after her as she took the pile of clothes in her hands to the back to try them on.

She gave me a glare. “Don’t be such a spoilsport!”

“Just remember that if you want to eat something other than the protein bars, than we’ll need money to be able to buy it.” That caused her to hesitate before she nodded and put two of the outfits back. I just shook my head as she still had over a dozen different ones in her arms.

The next hour went by as Imperia played dress up. She had a good eye at least and all the outfits looked good on her. As expected of a border town, most of the clothes were designed with functionality in mind and were made to fit close to the body. They were also duller in color, likely to reduce the chance of attracting attention from beasts and monsters.

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“Are you sure you don’t want to try anything on, Ma’am?”

I almost couldn’t stop the eye twitch as the shopkeeper addressed me. I knew that I was in a woman’s body, but I still thought of myself as a man. Taking a deep breath, I just shook my head. These clothes wouldn’t last longer than a swipe or two from a weapon, so I was holding off until we went to an armorer to get something to compliment my current attire.

“Lex! What do you think?” Imperia asked coming out of the changing room. She wore a black dress that I was sure had been made for a noble or someone of rank to wear. The skirt went just past her knees and allowed for movement which would likely be suitable for the dance floor.

“You look beautiful, just like the last couple outfits,” I replied honestly. She really did. Almost like magic was being used to make the dresses suit her more. If she didn’t collapse if too much of her magic was used, I might have thought that was truly the case.

“Really? Thank you!” Imperia did a spin to make the dress flutter around her. I smiled at the Demon Queen that had apparently almost ended the world the last time she walked the planet acting like a young girl.

“When you settle on a few, let me know. We’ll buy them.”

“Yay!”

Another hour later, Imperia was finally able to settle on six outfits. I’m not sure if it was on purpose, but they were twice or three times more expensive than most of the other items in the store. It was my fault for not setting a price limit, so I went ahead and bought them. I would just have to be more careful next time.

Outside, I found there was still a bit more time before the sun set. Moving down the market street, we found the blacksmith. It really made the fact that we were on a underdeveloped world hit home. Just one of the factories of the Federation could output enough weapons and armor to outfit this entire country.

Walking inside, an old man that almost resemble a human looked up from the counter. “Welcome!” I had to change my statement, when he hopped down from the stool he was sitting on and saw that his head was barely level with the top of the counter. Asking Imperia, she said it was this world’s equivalent of a dwarf.

“Hello! I was hoping to do a little window shopping and ask about something,” I said honestly as I walked over to the dwarf.

Disappoint filled his face, but a business smile quickly replaced it. Always hope for the sale that you might get next time. “Sure! What can I help you with?”

I pulled a small bar of the green metal from the door on the tower. It was barely longer than at thumb, the rest having gone into making daggers for personal defense. “I was wondering if you could tell me what this was and how much it was worth.” The old dwarf took the small piece of metal and eyed it for a long time. I was worried he wouldn’t know what it was when he suddenly dropped it.

“Where… Where did you find this!?” he asked carefully picking it back up. Only this time there was almost reverence in his voice.

Not sure what to say, I decided to lie. “It was a family heirloom.”

“They were right to make this a family heirloom!” he carefully handed the piece of metal back. “That is Corazite! The only thing better than it is God metal.” I felt he was too excited to lie and was letting everything out.

“Corazite, you say?” I asked pocketing the metal. “I’m from a small village cut off from the world. Would you mind telling me about it?”

“Corazite is one of the five Titan elements. With only God metal being more powerful than them. Of the five, Corazite in particular was the rarest and strongest due to one fact. It was supposably able to absorb mana. Imagine having a shield made from a material that could absorb spells. You’d be able to walk right into a Magian battalion and turn them into target practice.”

“Wow. That really does sound powerful.” I nonchalantly moved my cloak a bit to hide my sword. It had a leather sheath thanks Echo making me one during one of our breaks, but there were still places that the green metal peeked out along the hilt.

“Even that piece is worth a fortune. I couldn’t even hope to afford it even in my dreams.” He looked around, I guess making sure there wasn’t anyone else in the store. “I would be more careful about showing that off. I’m old and have had my lot in life, but others might try for your life.”

“Even for just this little piece?” I asked surprised I was carrying around what I was guessing was a country or two’s worth of the stuff.

“Yes!” He exclaimed grabbing my hands. “Listen girly. Think about a needle the size of a hair. Prick into a Magian and they are completely immobilized due to the backlash of their mana. If you have good enough control, you could make a ring that easily breaks any barriers your enemy tries to use. Just that piece is enough to make you a country’s target.”

“Yikes,” I exclaimed smacking my head. I would have to have echo make a few adjustments to the equipment I have. It would be important to my continued living apparently. It also made me change my mind about getting a new set of armor. If I can basically reject any magic thrown at me, then it was better to keep this on. “Thanks for the warning. You probably saved me a very large headache.”

“No problem missy. Some people might say the demonkin are better off destroyed, but I’ve seen families among your kind just like mine. If you can love your children, then some day the wars and fighting will come to an end.”

“I hope for the same,” I replied with a nod. No war was a good thing for a planet’s development after all.

“Speaking of wars. What are your plans?”

“What do you mean?” I asked confused why he would care about my plans. “If possible I plan to avoid it all together.”

He looked at me with a curious expression than a light seemed go off in his head. “You did say you came from a remote village. All demon-kin are required to fight in any wars of the country they call home. It was part of the Demon-Magian pact from over six thousand years ago. While it helped the Demons integrate into our societies and make strides for equality, I can’t even imagine the number of people that have died by demon hands due to a king or emperor.”

“That explains the mood in the Freelancer tavern,” I mumbled biting my claw. Turning back to the old dwarf, I gave him a smile. “Well. What happens, happens.”