”Alright. Two… thousand… dollars! Will that be all today?”
I watched as Averyl Galerose, the woman who sat behind the stone desk, counted the money I’d earned for the Jikininki bounty. The brown-skinned woman wore the signature black and gold soldier’s outfit of the Galerose Family and smiled at me like an old lady despite being a few years older than me. She was the first person I’d gotten close with in Azuma Saikyo, and she treated me the same way the Perrows did: like a child out of his depth. It was grating at first, but it’d been grating when I’d first met the Perrows as well.
“Yeah, that’ll be all,” I finally answered, bowing slightly because that’s what people did in the Azuma Saikyou region. “Thank you.”
Averyl smiled as I pocketed the money and left. Two thousand dollars was enough to cover rent and buy food, but it wasn’t exactly life-changing. Even if I’d made a life-changing amount of money, I wouldn’t spend it on myself. Not only was vanity a trait I’d left in the Fallen Star Cult, but I would’ve preferred that money go to the Perrows. They lived on the dangerous outskirts of the Bukimiburgh region where strong Rogue Curses lived. Money gave me the ability to make life better for them, so I’d continue to use my money to help them leave that area. Still, I tried to imagine what I’d spend my money on if I were to give in to vanity.
Probably a house in the Saikou prefecture or something. Away from everybody.
“SUCH SMALL MINDED GOALS,” Fallen Star interjected. “THE WHOLE WORLD COULD BE YOURS, YET YOU SET YOUR SIGHTS ON A SMALL CORNER OF IT.”
“Can you just shut–”
I paused. The corridor I’d been walking down stretched and bent all around me. What was once a stony, gothic interior littered with eerie statues and creepy paintings was now a standard beige-and-wood judicial building. This was the real Galerose Tower, the one that most people saw when they walked in. I found myself standing at the very entrance of Galerose Tower, surrounded by a litany of tourists and Galerose officers. Unique to me was the addition of a comically large neon arrow that stood between the statues of the Galerose Matriarch and Patriarch. The arrow pointed to the left, in the direction of Averyl’s office and away from the Bounty Room I’d just walked away from.
As I approached her office, the architecture once again turned back into the stone, gothic architecture I was used to. This whole act was all part of Averyl’s Myth Skills. She was Contracted to this Oni that’d specialized in illusions. She had a habit of using it on me and other members of the Galerose Family to mess with us whenever she got bored, which was often. I opened the door to Averyl’s office and wasn’t at all surprised to find it forested, themed to fit some sort of mystical jungle setting.
“You could’ve just asked me to come back,” I noted.
“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”
She now had a glowing crimson horn sprouting from her right temple – immediately denoting her as a Shifter. As the horn retreated, I found myself wondering how strong she truly was. She had to be up there, considering she’s part of the Galerose Family. It’d been a while since I scanned her, so I decided to do it again. Unlike my physical Level Scrolls, the Analysis window that popped up was an incorporeal scroll that unfurled beside her head. It was both distant and close, and I read its contents as she began to make conversation.
NAME: Averyl Galerose
APPROXIMATE LEVEL: 277
CLASS: A
SHIFTER: YES
Level 277… No wonder she can turn the Galerose Tower into a circus…
“PARLOR TRICKS SUCH AS HERS WOULD BE JUST THAT IF ONLY ACCEPTED THE POWER I COULD PROVIDE YOU.”
I ignored Fallen Star, doing my best to stifle a groan as I finally took my seat across from Averyl at her wooden desk. She leaned forward as I did, consideration turning to keen interest. Where once was an easy expression was now narrowed eyes and a part wholesome, part creepy smile.
“Y’know, I’ve always wondered. You’ve been here for the past few months, killing bounty targets and making good money. No offense, but you aren’t exactly dressed like someone who makes $10k a month. Plus, I’ve been in your apartment and it’s quite… humble. You clearly aren’t in this for the money, so what are you fighting for?”
I looked down at myself. I wore a black T-shirt, black cargo pants, and black boots. What purpose was there in buying fancy clothes if they were gonna be bloodied every day? More importantly…
“You’ve been in my apartment?! When?”
Averyl laughed. “When a Curse User enters Minashire’s largest prefecture looking for work from the second largest family in Minashire, eyebrows are raised. Don’t take it personally, Rui.”
“So you knew about my Curse…”
“The Galerose Family has one of those high-quality Mamoru Systems. It tells us a lot about a person. A bit too much, really.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Well, that was unsettling. I knew that anyone could buy a System and that they all ranged in quality, but I didn’t know it could tell that I had a Curse. The one Fallen Star naturally came with didn’t tell me whether someone had a Rogue Contract or not.
“Hear that, Fallen Star? You’re obsolete.”
“DON’T INSULT ME. WHAT USE IS THERE FOR SUCH INFORMATION? WHEN YOUR OPPONENT IS A HUNDRED LEVELS ABOVE YOU, YOU WILL DIE. IT MATTERS NOT WHETHER YOUR SUPERIOR IS A MYTH-USER OR A CURSE-USER, DOES IT?”
“Yes, it does. There’ll come a day when you understand how obsolete you are. You’ll understand that I don’t need you, and I’ve never needed you. I’m strong on my own, and I’ll kill the Horsemen without your or their ‘help’. Averyl asked what my goal was. I want you to know that my goal is to get rid of you all.”
Amusement colored Fallen Star’s words. “YOU ARE POINTING YOUR BLADE AT THE WRONG PERSON, SOLDIER.”
“No, I’m not. I haven’t forgotten what you’ve done to me. To my mother. To thousands of innocent people across Minashire. You aren’t bloodless, and you won’t get away with all you’ve done.”
“DO YOU THINK I ACTED OF MY OWN VOLITION BACK THEN? YOU AND I WERE BOTH VIOLATED BY ZELOS AND ARES. YOUR RAGE. YOUR PAIN. IT IS NOTHING COMPARED TO MINE. IF YOU WERE AS ANGRY AS YOU CLAIMED TO BE, YOU WOULD HAVE RIPPED THESE CHAINS FROM MY BODY AND CLAWED AT THIS FEEBLE CAGE BAR BY BAR. INSTEAD, YOU POINT YOUR BLADE INWARD WHILE THE HORSEMEN LAUGH AT YOUR STRUGGLE. BLOODLESS? YOU AREN’T BLOODY ENOUGH, BOY.”
”So? Any goals?” Averyl said, snapping me back to focus.
“I-I…” I stammered, still trying to process Fallen Star’s words. It was always scathing, but… what was this feeling? Why did I… understand him? It was nothing. Surely. Fallen Star was implanted into me the moment I entered the world. It made sense there’d be a measure of empathy there, minor as it was.
“I want to give this money back to the Perrow family,” I finally answered. “They’re like… my foster family I suppose. They live in a bad area, so I want them to be able to move somewhere safer.”
Averyl’s creepy, wholesome smile widened. She narrowed her eyes even more as she leaned further forward. “So, that’s it? You want to buy your foster family a nice house? That’s your life’s mission? And what after you’ve done that? Are you just gonna be… done?”
“Well, no… but–”
“You’re what… seventeen? Eighteen?”
“Eighteen.”
“Eighteen! You’re too young to not have any vain goals. My little sister is a weapon collector and my older brother is a wealthy investor who buys properties all over the world. You have goals with your money, Rui.” Her expression softened a bit, though it wasn’t any less mischievous. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“I… I’ve always wanted to get a house in Saikou. Away from everybody.”
“I knew it! It was gonna be houses, clothes, cars, or clubs!” She laughed. “There’s no way an eighteen-year-old is gonna make 10k a month and not spend it on something vain! You should see how some of these Bounty Hunters spend money in Burnchester. The Galerose Family may as well be funding every pub in the region! You know, every time a Rogue outbreak occurs the pubs in Burnchester and the Cabaret Clubs in Azuma Saikyou all go on sale?” She snorted. “It’s ridiculous!”
I did my best not to show any sort of embarrassment, but I failed. I blushed and looked away, and Averyl didn’t seem to notice or care either way. She kept talking all about how people spend their bounty money while going on about how she used to spend her money at my age. As she spoke, though, she wrote something indecipherable onto a small index card. When she finished writing, she handed it to me. It was addressed to “Dr. Morgan”, the family doctor of the Galerose Family. Apparently, he could regrow my missing arm in a few minutes.
“He’d normally charge an ar–... er,” She coughed, looking down at my stump. “...It’s an expensive procedure. I’ll cover it for you, though. If your history is anything to go off of, you’re gonna be back out there tomorrow morning, and we can’t have you fighting like that, can we?”
“I suppose not,” I said. I stood and bowed at the waist. “Thank you. This means a lot.”
She smiled, raising a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about it. We take care of family over here.” Averyl called out as I turned for the door. “Oh yeah, try to focus on Jikininki at a time, okay? I’ve been getting reports that they’re starting to team up since their numbers are thinning.”
“Got it!”
***
The northern part of Miyafokuu where Galerose Tower stood wasn’t nearly as quiet and creepy as the southern side of the city where the Jikininki had been. Neon lights colored the afternoon alleyway I walked down as cars passed and horns blared on the wide streets behind me. I walked by men and women of all ages and Classes as I looked over Averyl’s index card.
In truth, I didn’t need to visit this Dr. Morgan. My [SACRIFICE] was temporary, which meant that as soon as it wore off my arm would grow back on its own. In fact, getting an arm back now might circumvent my ability to manipulate fire. I decided I’d go to this doctor anyway, mainly out of appreciation for Averyl’s charity. I’d spent much of my life surrounded by those cultists and their fake love and the facsimile of family that being embraced by real love felt like a drug. The more I looked down at the note, the more I wondered what my life would’ve been like had I grown up with love instead of discovering it later in life. Would I be different? Would I be happier? Would I be as angry as I am now? I’d never know, and wasting my time wondering only serves to ruin my mood.
“Hey, you!” A voice called from behind me. “Turn that frown upside down!” I turned to find a man with black hair wearing black dress pants and shoes with a slightly unbuttoned white shirt and a black tie and suit jacket to match.
I instinctively scanned him. My breath caught the moment I did. The man seemed to know I was scanning him because he started grinning like the Cheshire Cat as my disbelief started to grow.
NAME: UNKNOWN
APPROXIMATE LEVEL: 500
CLASS: A
SHIFTER: UNLIKELY