Glenn and Sahro exited the Cleaner's Office in a daze, walking to a nearby coffee shop. Its presence probably would have appeared questionable in Glenn's eyes, had he not been awe-struck by Veil's words and the content of the INK-DEF mission. A pretty waitress brought them each a cup of coffee in cute white porcelain.
It took at least ten minutes of long, shocked silence until Glenn finally uttered a word.
"...So we're going to war," He stated plainly.
'Seems like so, yes,' Diamanes sneered, his initial surprise passed.
"We are soooo fucked. Infiltrating some Celestial Sickos' territory and stealing their shit? We're going to die. Hey, can't we just go back on our words and not do this contract?" Nelg blurted out, anxious.
Sahro's elbows leaned on the table as he hid his face in his hand.
"Going to war..." The Black Heir muttered, "...In the country I was forced to abandon..." His tone grew aggressive and angry, "...For the bastards who kept us in the Sewers?"
Glenn's eyes widened and he hurriedly lifted the two cups of coffee and the small porcelain plates that came with them with Gravity Manipulation, saving them from Sahro slamming his fist on the table.
"Fuck! What the fuck is this sick joke? Shit!" Sahro leaned back in his chair, fuming. Glenn glanced at the other customers of the coffee shop, mostly female students who were staring at them like animals in the zoo, and secretly sighed. He sipped on his cup while slowly making Sahro's float in his friend's direction.
"I swear, I'm going to—" The Black Heir paused and grabbed the cup of hot coffee,"—thank you. Sigh..."
Glenn sipped on his cup and paused, before slowly putting the cup back on the table.
'...Exan, if you brought chocolate milk but not coffee to this world, I swear I'm going to kill you.'
Sahro drank his coffee—no, his hot chocolate, and frowned.
"Why—why is this so sweet? Urgh, don't they have something a little bitter, so I can drink something that tastes like my life?" He complained all while drinking down the entire cup of hot chocolate. Glenn raised an eyebrow and glanced at the cup.
"You say that, and yet..."
Sahro smirked, "Even if I don't like it, I'd rather not waste it."
Glenn chuckled, amused, "Sure, tell yourself that. I'm sure you love sweet things in secret and simply do not admit it."
The Black Heir shook his head, "Think what you will. Beer is much better than whatever that is."
"...so what do we do now?" Sahro asked with a serious expression. Glenn's finger rhythmically tapped against the table, his expression impossible to decipher.
"What do you mean, what do we do? We don't have a choice." He finally said the corner of his lips curved upward. Sahro sighed and rubbed his stump.
"I know. But still, this is..."
Glenn smacked his lips, "Think of it this way. Sure, we're indirectly assisting Munirp and the nobles you despise, but, on the other, our efforts will mainly help the Cleaner's Workshop, who will cover our back when killing these same nobles. And..." He grinned wickedly while crossing his arms, "...Nothing stops us from taking a few artifacts here and there for ourselves, right?"
Sahro paused, and as he thought about it, a smile started to appear on his face. The two grinned at each other, before laughing widely.
"Why do I even worry, anyway," Glenn jeered, "...We already fought evil gods and cults, what's a war in between?"
The Black Heir rolled his eyes, "So we're forced to go on vacation, is that it? Damn it..."
The two laughed a little longer, before getting up and heading for the counter to pay the bill. The hot chocolates were worth five credits each, which was absolutely crazy in Glenn's eyes. That was five percent of Janica's income on a good day. Wasn't that insane? Did they stop at some high-class establishment accidentally? Glenn glanced at the well-dressed, makeup-wearing ladies enjoying their hot chocolates and grimaced.
Of course, they did.
Well. At least the hot chocolate tasted okay.
"Excuse me...?" A lady suddenly stopped Glenn before he left the coffee shop, grabbing his sleeve. He turned to her with a wide smile.
'Ahah, my charm is finally drawing in the ladies!' he thought victoriously. The lady pointed at Sahro with an innocent smile with a white-gloved hand.
"Could I buy him from you?"
Glenn's smile froze over, while Sahro similarly stopped in his steps. A short, awkward silence passed until Glenn cleared his throat, unsure of what he heard. Maybe he heard wrong, or it was a mispronunciation, or...
"...Excuse me? Buy him?"
The lady nodded with a bright smile.
"Yes, buy him. What would be your price? I think it'd be fair to settle for fifty thousand credits."
Glenn restrained a laugh and glanced back at Sahro, whose face was slowly but surely darkening with anger.
"Hmm...He's well-known in the Fringe, you know? The Black Swordsman? A rank 3 Aura user, and he recently unlocked his Mana too. Fifty thousand is..." He passed his tongue over his teeth before grimacing, "...dirt cheap."
The lady gasped and hid her face behind a small fan. Sahro threw a deadly stare at Glenn, his hand clenched on the hilt of his sword tightly.
"I—I see. C...Could I get your contact so I may come back to you with a reasonable offer, then?"
Glenn smiled and gently took her hand, "Of course, my lady. I'm Glenn, but I'm more commonly known as the Devil's Hand..." He grinned wickedly as she slowly looked at his left, purple arm in horror. She hurriedly stepped back and knocked over someone's hot chocolate on her white dress. Sahro's anger died down, replaced by a satisfied grin.
"I'm sure you'll be able to find us if you search hard enough, my lady. Have an excellent day," Glenn bowed politely before patting Sahro's back and leaving the coffee shop. The Black Heir exploded in laughter the second they stepped out of the establishment, loud enough for the lady to hear.
"Hahaha, I never thought I would laugh at this kind of situation in my life!" Sahro wiped a tear from his eyes. Glenn chuckled and glanced back at the coffee shop.
'So slavery is a common thing in the Bourgeoisie, then? Nice. Maybe we should buy ourselves a few slaves to use as meat shields,' Diamanes proposed. Nelg grunted in disgust while Glenn shook his head.
'First, no. I won't buy a fucking slave. Two...where would I even get the money for that? Did you hear her? An okay-looking Black Heir is already worth 50k. I can't imagine the price of what they propose here...'
"Should we head to our..." Sahro grimaced as if struggling to say the word, "...our new house, then?"
Glenn dismissed his previous thoughts and nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, let's do that. You do know we'll have to use the Transit again, don't you?"
The Black Heir signed and looked down dejectedly, "...I know, yes. I know..."
An hour and a terrified Sahro later, the two arrived at District XVIII, Silverhomes. The name probably came from the white stone the houses were made of in this district. There were some cozy houses, for families of four or five, and some larger ones for larger families. Aside from that, there were richer installations decorated with the Cleaner's Workshop's banners, black with a red flame. Those were probably the Cleaners' houses, as Kevin explained earlier in the day. Glenn pulled out his Exan-Egg and quickly checked the time. 5.50 P.M. They had a bit of time to explore until the girls came.
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"Longhorn Street...Longhorn Street..." Sahro looked at the street corners, trying to find the direction to Longhorn Street. Glenn moistened his lips, before stopping a stranger.
"Excuse me, Sir, would you happen to know where Longhorn Street is?"
The stranger looked up and down at Glenn, his eyes momentarily stopping on his purple arm, and shrugged, "Longhorn Street? Go this way, then right, left, straight, and right at the last jointure. Got it?"
Glenn blinked and smiled awkwardly, "Uhm, yes—" The stranger smiled back and tilted his top hat.
"Great. Have a good day, Sir."
The stranger hurriedly ran away while throwing worried glances over his shoulder, to see if Glenn was following him or not. The latter was only scratching the top of his head in confusion.
"Okay, I guess I am that scary. Uh, well, what did he say? This way, right, left, straight and..." He grimaced and shook his head.
"Urgh, whatever. Sahro, over there!" He called out to the Black Heir and headed in the direction the stranger gave him. After making a right turn, a left, a right, and retracing his steps back, almost losing their ways, and finally turning right, Glenn and Sahro arrived in front of their new home.
"Home...?" Sahro muttered in awe, "That's not a home, that's..."
"...A fucking mansion, yeah, I know..." Glenn muttered back, completing his friend's sentence. They stood in front of two massive steel gates separating them from a manor as big as Baron Howard's in the Fringe. The number thirty-three was carved in a bronze plate stuck on the brick wall that surrounded the mansion's massive garden, gleaming gently in the sun.
The two men stood there in a daze until someone came laughing at them.
"Who are you, peasants? Trying to find a house to steal?" A man wearing an over-the-top white suit with golden filigree walked toward them haughtily, his blond hair brushed back and his sharp nose raised high. A sword was hanging off his waist, the hilt heavily decorated and plated with gold.
Sahro looked up and down at him, before blurting out, "Who's this clown?" Glenn smirked, before shrugging with a lost expression, "I don't know, maybe he came asking for etiquette lessons?"
As he spoke, Glenn moved his body so that his left arm was hidden from view. Sahro was already quite recognizable, but he was even more. Not many people were going around King's Rise with a purple arm, after all.
"Clown? Etiquette lessons?" The haughty blond spat in disbelief, his face flushed red with anger. Glenn and Sahro exchanged a glance and readied their stances, one with his hand on the hilt of his sword and the other clenching his hand-axe. The blond unsheathed his sword while five guards suddenly jumped out from behind a wall with panicked expressions.
"Sir! Your father told us to stop you from—"
The blond slapped the guard away haughtily as he pointed his blade at Glenn and Sahro.
"Shut up, guard. If I wish to fight someone, then no one shall oppose me."
Glenn rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, "Oh, such a shame. And here I was, forgetting I hadn't received the clearance to use Mana yet. What a pity, don't you think, Sahro?"
The Black Heir caught on the play and he sighed heavily, almost crying out a tear, "Truly a pity, yes. Imagine, if only we could have taught this haughty clown a lesson in an honorable duel. Ahhh, so is our fate, I suppose..."
The clown blinked at them and lowered his sword, confused. "What do you mean, you peasants don't have clearance? What would you need clearance for? You can't possibly be better than I! A prodigy who mastered the Second Circle at seventeen!"
Glenn smacked his lips, 'He did look a little young, didn't he.'
"A sheltered kid?" Nelg pondered, not too worried.
"Oh, my apologies, Sir Blond Prodigy, we small Third Circle and Rank Three Aura users will step back to let you pass, then..." Glenn continued to mock, the kid's blood draining out of his face. His guards similarly paled, before reacting with record-breaking speed. The five guards bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle, sweating heavily.
"We're very, very sorry for our Young Master's behavior. Please pardon us and let us go peacefully."
Glenn chuckled while Sahro sheathed his sword with disappointment.
"Yeah, let us go. We're busy contemplating our new house, so give us some space, please."
The blond kid's eyes widened and he gasped, "What? But this is 33rd Longhorn! Only Senior Cleaners live in Longhorn! You can't possibly be..." Glenn whistled and stretched, showcasing the purple color of his left arm. He even made Diamanes appear for a spare second, startling the blond kid who was staring at it.
"Oh, yeah, I did get that status. Anyway, it wasn't nice meeting you. Bye~!" Glenn waved at them with a fake smile. The guards hurriedly picked their young master up and ran away, simultaneously terrified and relieved that nothing ended up happening. Glenn and Sahro laughed at the sight, before turning back to the mansion.
"Phew, I'm a little anxious, strangely..." Sahro muttered while Glenn summoned his Identification Dagger. Without further ado, he stabbed it into the keyhole and took a step back when steam hissed out. The gate opened with a mechanical sound as a few pipes hidden in the grass released more vapor. Glenn and Sahro entered the garden while leaving the gate closed, stepping on the freshly cut grass silently. There was a small pond with white flamingos hanging around it, and a few fruit trees ready to be harvested. The mansion itself towered over them, the exterior made of the signature white stone of Silverhomes, polished to a gleaming sheen. There were a few panels of bronze, brass, and steam which were connected to a network of pipes running down the walls. The two walked to the mansion's entry, a large oak door with the Cleaner's Workshop emblem carved on it. It took a while just to reach it, due to the width of the garden.
Creak...
There was a slit next to the door, the same as the keyhole on the gate. Glenn used his Identification Dagger once more, and the door swung open. The two young men exchanged a glance before stepping in, gasping as they took in the incredible sight. The entrance hall was vast and illuminated by chandeliers holding magical lights. The floor was a complex mosaic of stone and metal, depicting a map of Munirp. There was a sweeping, double staircase of dark wood with brass railings leading to the upper floor. Above, an enormous stained glass window filters multicolored light into the space, casting a soft kaleidoscope of hues into the hall. There were hallways left, right, and behind the staircase leading to the rest of the mansion.
"...Fuck me..." Glenn blurted out, suddenly realizing he might not want to go back to Earth anymore. This...this was the dream life. Wait, no, this is only the entrance hall.
"Holy shit...is the rest of the mansion the same?" Sahro asked in disbelief. Glenn chuckled in awe, his jaw practically hanging on the floor. The Black Heir turned left and right, before looking at the grand staircase, unsure of where to start. Glenn shook his head and pointed at the East Wing of the house.
"You go this way while I explore the West Wing. We'll check behind the staircase and the upper floor together."
Sahro nodded and darted off to explore the mansion. Glenn went off with a wide grin on his face, discovering a room protected behind a thick reinforced iron door. He stabbed the keyhole with his Identification Dagger, wondering why there were so many safeties everywhere in the mansion. He understood as soon as he pushed the door open and discovered an entirely functional workshop, with scrapped mechanical contraptions, tables covered in blueprints, tools of all sorts hanging off the wall, and even a smeltery. There even were pre-made casts for gears of different sizes, ranging from tiny, finger-sized ones, and other human-sized ones.
"Maybe the house belonged to an engineer of some sort before?" Diamanes pondered aloud, ruining Glenn's moment of contemplation.
He winced and shrugged, "Honestly, I don't care. Maybe I'll be able to mess around in this room and create stuff, who knows?"
"I didn't know you were an engineer, Glenn," Nelg exclaimed, surprised.
"That's normal. I'm not. But! It's never too late to learn, and now that I know steam-powered armors can be made, I sure want to have one," said Glenn as he rubbed his hands together.
"What are you even going to do with that? That's not your style at all," Diamanes asked curiously. Glenn shook his head with disappointment.
"Diamanes, Diamanes...If I can have a power armor, I will have a power armor. Why?" He grinned and turned around, closing the door to the workshop, "Because it's fucking cool. Let's see what else is there."
Diamanes sighed while Nelg laughed at him. Glenn went to the next room with a cheerful step, similarly secured behind a reinforced iron door. Once repeating the security process, he discovered an incredible armory with a shooting range. On the other side, the wall was covered in weapons: swords, axes, spears, bows, hammers, you name it. There was also some stuff similar to the guns of Earth, but it was a very vague comparison. They might also have been weird staves for all he knew. Maybe he'd test those later on.
The shooting range was a functional one; with the use of a lever on the wall, moving steel targets appeared in movement, ready to be shot down. There were also Blumar targets, prepared to receive magical attacks such as spells or Aura blades. But all of that paled in front of a dusty armor stand with the skeleton of a steam-powered armor. Glenn could already see himself moving in the machine, walking down the streets with incredible might and style.
"Too bad it's only the skeleton of the armor, hehe!" Diamanes mocked, but Glenn couldn't care less about him.
"I just need to hire an engineer or something...Yeah, I'll do that, probably. This mansion looks big enough for more people to join the team..." He pondered seriously, already planning things out. He'd have to ask around to see where he could find good engineers who could build him guns and steam-powered armor, and more cool stuff...
"Wait, are you seriously considering that? We don't even have enough money to hire a maid to clean the whole place!" Nelg exclaimed in distress. Glenn looked at his hand-axe with a grave expression.
"Chose, Nelg. Cleanliness, or a steam-powered armor?"
Nelg remained silent, unable to answer.
"...That's what I thought. I think that was the entire West Wing. Let's go see what Sahro discovered."
Glenn walked back to the entrance hall, meeting up with Sahro.
"You start," The Black Heir ordered without an ounce of hesitation. Glenn crossed his arms and grinned widely.
"There's a workshop with a fully working smeltery, an armory, and a shooting range equipped with moving Blumar targets."
Sahro's smile grew wide and he glanced back the way he came from.
"The East Wing was a little more boring. There is a two-story library with shelves on every wall and rolling brass ladders to reach them. There also was a big-ass mechanical globe shifting from time to time, but I didn't understand what it was used for. I also found living quarters there, but it doesn't feel like the main rooms. Probably..." he chuckled in disbelief, "...the servant rooms? I don't know, this feels kind of crazy."
Glenn laughed in understanding, "Upper floor or North Wing first, then?"
Sahro grimaced in hesitation when the entrance's door suddenly swung open. Milena and Liara barged through it, disappointed.
"You didn't wait for us for the visit?" Milena asked with a sad expression. Glenn smacked his lips and shook his head.
"Why? Were we supposed to?"
Milena puffed her cheeks and punched him in the arm, "Of course you were! That's the whole exciting thing, to visit it together!"
Sahro rolled his eyes, "Well, we can still do it together if it's so important for you. Liara, you okay with that?"
Liara nodded frantically, her eyes shining with a thousand stars. She did seem quite excited at the prospect of visiting the mansion too. Not that Glenn couldn't understand her, heh.
"Let's continue the visit, then."