Author: Thank you for reading.
Don't worry about me flooding the story with pov’s. Just want everyone to have a good grasp on the thought process of the three companions in that type of situation.
As for flooding the mc with quests, not everything is possible to do at once. I also have plans to deal with it all too.
The fairy will be more of a mascot for now, you’ll see. Dryads and such will be showing up in the next Arc...unless you guys want me to fit them into this arc, I have a way to make it work...if you want to make this a poll, I have no problem with it.
They are researching Puerials home location, I haven't mentioned it yet for a reason...I will soon though. =)
Oh and a class is what type of job a person has. He says class because it is something he can equip when he unlocks the class function. That is a bit later…
This chapter is to situate everything before the dungeon and stuff. Next chapter may or may not have a poll based on the comments. Enjoy.
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It is now past noon, our venture into the slum happened in the morning to avoid as many people as possible. The information I extracted from the two wastrels was as I expected and a bit more.
The old man was a reject researcher. He has long since been excommunicated from his organization for his radical obsession toward the taboo art of [Blood Brewing]. This guy has been evading capture for years, the amount of victims under him I’d rather not count.
Him having the [Fairy] was due to some small fortune in his travels. All of her wings have already been processed into his concoctions, like the rest they were failures. She was actually about to be disposed of before we showed up, how fortunate for her I guess.
I don't understand the obsession or the attraction toward [Blood Brewing], and didn’t pity the guy after I killed him. It was simply binding him while breaking his limbs, and leaving him in a nest of rats. Such things are everywhere in the slums.
The fatty was a real piece of work. Like I suspected he was the owner of that kid, by sheer dumb luck.
Abra is actually a very famous tailor but her hand got injured during the time her infant child was abducted for ransom. Since she could no longer work up to the standards of her customers, who were some high standing people, they ignored her plight and probably didn't care in the first place.
She tried to save the kid herself, but the infant was sold off to a slave grooming shop since she was worthless to the kidnappers now.
She spent years trying to track down her kid from slave shop to slave shop. All the way till she tracked him down here. Already sold to the fat man who didn’t care about her situation at all. Instead he made a proposal where she worked to earn her child's freedom. The deal itself was highly in favor of the fat man, designed to make her work for a long time.
Even if her hands weren’t the same she could still pass off as a decent tailor and was allowed to work for half the usual income. I’ll be sure to educate that shop about treating workers fairly.
My heart ached for Abra, she was so strong willed. However, her situation got worse when the fat man pulled out of the deal and tricked her when he met the old man.
I didn’t regret mutilating him over and over again before leaving him with his chest open like in an autopsy, he was still alive too. The flies will have a wonderful time laying eggs in his body.
Now that this place is going to be put behind me forever, let's get Abra and the rest out of here while the sun is still out. I wanted to do some recon on my father's sect but I have other priorities right now.
Abra and the kid were strapped to some makeshift stretcher that supports them both. I rechecked their conditions, they are both stable but…
Abra is likely in a coma, the deterioration of her body is quite high. Her body lacked oxygen with all that blood she lost, so there are problems all over.
The kid is just so severely weak and malnourished it will be dangerous to feed him anything but thin soup.
*Sigh* I won't give up on them though.
As we were heading for the gate we were jumped by a group of slavers, probably the guards doing. I was wondering when something would happen.
After setting down the stretcher we followed Hank and Lock’s teachings and finished them off quickly. At the very least we left them half alive, but their career is most likely over.
When we approached the gate two kids appeared from an alley, they appeared to be around 7 years old. One male the other female, they refused to give their names, didn't matter though.
We told them we are leaving this place and they are welcome to join. I also told them my intentions, they looked skeptical which was a good thing in my opinion. As we started to walk off I left them with some small copper coins. If they don't want to follow, I will not force them.
As we were about to pass the gate, the guards are shocked to see us, the two kids run after us and join our group.
Since my team is now escorting some people, the trip will take a bit longer. Our provisions are enough for now after buying a few things on the way to the gate, we could also hunt something if the need arises.
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The trip was quiet and night quickly approached, the kids immediately sprawled onto the ground. We will have to take more frequent breaks.
In a practiced manner we set up the tents and built a fire to cook up some soup. Meat sticks with herbs were made on the side as well.
I carefully fed Abra’s kid while everyone ate heartily, he seemed apprehensive. Most likely thinks it's that vile substance we were fed there. He calmed down after a bit entered his mouth, a few tears fell but he still didn’t utter a sound. Abra...was still in a coma, it's difficult but I fed her while she slept. So far so good.
As I took a seat to eat, I pondered my next objectives. After settling these guys at home I will learn a few things from Rust before heading to the dungeon. Smithing takes years of practice, but knowing about metals and improving my maintenance skills will really help me out in the long run.
When my food was done and everyone was resting, I proceeded to take the first watch. To pass the time I did basic stuff like maintenance and checking the perimeter. After a while I just started tossing around a fruit that resembles a peach.
When I held it close I noticed a little hand reaching for it, the little fairy finally woke up. As I watched it try to get the fruit my gaze was noticed and she immediately hid back inside of my pocket.
She was still pretty dirty, but I could provide her with a warm bath pretty easily. After getting the makeshift tub ready, I poked the pocket lightly and she shakily revealed her head.
When she spotted the tub, joy surfaced on her face as she leaped into it and played in the warm water. I cleaned the dirt out of my pocket in the meantime since she would no doubt re-enter it. As expected, I preferred her look of joy over her previous expression of fear. Her reaction when put in some soap was pretty amusing, how she carefully molded the suds was pretty interesting. It took some effort to get the soap to produce lots of suds too, it seems it was received well by another person.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
As the suds were washed away I saw she was clean enough and I sliced up the fruit for her to eat. I observed her features as her cheeks bulged out like a hamster's as she ate. Her figure was slim and dainty looking at about four inches in height. She had smooth cyan hair and bright sapphire colored eyes. A child like face that emphasize a more innocent demeanor. Overall she was very cute, and may be very young too since her race grows to at least eight inches.
When she finally remembered her situation, after she broke her trance from the bath and fruit, she pulled out what looks like a toothpick and tried to...defend herself maybe? Her stance was pretty bad, where did she even get that?
She made some desperately performed charge and clumsily dived back into my shirt pocket. The difference in height made it a bit awkward for her and I had to help her a bit. When I tried to get a look inside the pocket, she tried to...defend her territory from the looks of it.
She looked serious, but her actions were so clumsy and frantic as she waved the toothpick. It was so funny looking to me I had to forcefully suppress my laughter. When was the last time I laughed? I had to stop myself since it looked like she was about to cry from embarrassment.
I already got a good look at her figure and decided to make a dress for her with the spare cloth I keep for any rips in our clothing. It may not be a perfect fit because I don't have the exact measurements, but I worked extra hard to make the property of the fabric really soft, with some success too.
Tapping the pocket again she emerged with reluctance, still appearing a bit embarrassed. She instantly grabbed the cloth dress and disappeared into my relatively deep pocket. I made it to fit letters so she has no problem fitting in there. To be honest I don't know If fairies wear clothes in this world, but I didn't want her to be cold or anything. Can they get cold like we do? It is a pretty unique race created from mana after all, I’ll just have to find out later.
If I had a reference I could try restoring her wings too. Unless I find another member of her race with her wings intact, it's impossible. Too many unknown factors to properly replicate them.
For now I’ll just keep her safe, maybe build a home for her or something during my free time. That is if she decides to leave my pocket. Are you trying to become a [Pocket Fairy]?
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We all set out in the morning, my group defended against more monsters in a circular formation during the journey, nothing special. After resting in Labrindel for a night we continued on without wasting time.
It took two extra days on the return trip, but everyone was fine.
As we headed toward the store it looked to be in a type of rush hour. After having everyone rest in the back, I went to help out in the kitchen to push the orders out.
It was a simple reunion due to how busy it was, some guys looked annoyed at some cloaked person interacting so closely with the staff. Up until I was call boss, I didn't request it, but it helped quell their stupidity. My appearance was starting to attract to many people (females), so now I often cloak myself as well.
The fairy never seemed to show herself when other people were around no matter who it was. Except at night when the others were sleeping. She herself wasn’t sleeping or anything, so she is definitely afraid of people. I guess I just overcame that hurdle simply because it was my pocket she ended up in, plus our odd interactions became a type of way to pass the time for me.
I didn’t take her toothpick, it was like a form of support. I’ll try and make something more sturdy for her later.
When everything calmed down I took the kids to the orphanage after I situated Abra and her kid in a spare room above the restaurant. Shiro and Puerial decided to watch them in the meantime.
I was planning some things with the thieves guild here, they are oddly like a type of Robbin hood oriented group. Funny how what is generally an evil organization is doing more good than the others I’ve seen.
The adventurers guild itself is more like a mercenary company that does anything for money now, compared to before the slavemancer incident. They are also the reason Bolier knew that Tammy, Khan, and Beth were leaving Labrindel and the direction they were heading.
I did a little ‘disciplinary’ treatment while I was there during the night. Some of them may be able to walk or have kids in the future. Not very likely though, especially with their new makeovers.
The plan was simply to make a business selling the things the orphans would make as a type of cover for how the thieves in the establishment got their wealth. I already confirmed that they secretly distribute the money they make to the unfortunate in subtle quantities to avoid exposure.
It is pretty much stuff I commonly make, soap along with toothpaste and brush included. Pretty much it will be a general goods store with all sorts of useful things I’ve made. It’s easy to get what we need right now, and everyone gets a cut from the operation. Teaching them is no problem either.
Everyone has a task of either collecting the materials (like herbs), making the products, and selling it to potential buyers (Performed by older members). This can be a new start for them, and really improve the hygiene of the people here. A few of them would also help out in the restaurant if they have the proper people skills and prove to be trustworthy. Beth and the others are still trying to get used to Tony after all.
With this already being put together before I left, the new additions were quickly added in. They seemed a bit shocked at the new development, but quickly started putting their all to make it work. It seems they know what something like this can do for their futures.
After helping the thieves organize everything I got a message their leader asked me to meet on a later day, interesting.
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I returned to Rust to improve my knowledge of metals and such the next day and was slightly annoyed with his non-verbal methods of teaching.
Proper ways to sharpen, clean, and polish weapons were still learned though.
Varies metals were introduced to me. When I asked about alloys he only said “Not ready.”, pretty blunt way to say it.
At the very least, now I can properly fashion metals onto leather using some of his methods to keep it from easily being dislodged from it's position. I don't have any proper adhesives, and the things I tried before would withstand more than two blows before falling off. This really helps.
Smithing itself was also prohibited till I had adequate knowledge of the craft itself. I get it, and I only need to pass a test when I finish his current lessons. If I fail than I have to self study till I pass.
With what I know now though, I was able to make some better variations of my group's current gear. I even found an obscurely placed shop that sells dyes and actual white cloth rather than the poorly manufactured brown linen. Goodbye to always wearing brown slightly chafing cloths.
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A/N: Anything to say? comments welcome.
MC has no info on Abra's husband.
Poor Abra