After healing Kanbe, Rei brought the hero back to the mansion in which Haseya and the other heroes lived in. As she arrived with the young hero exhausted, and clearly annoyed by his lack of strength, Haseya looked at both and smiled at Rei.
“Hey, Rei. Good that you are back. I have a bit of info to give to you. But I suppose that the hero got wrecked already. No worries, won’t be the first time. We all have been through the same situation.” Haseya said, while keeping her smile.
“Yeah, but this time it was against the Doryoh clan. Joryujoh himself.” Rei said, as she frowned, while Kanbe looked at Haseya.
“Huh? Already picking a fight with a godslayer? Are you two that ambitious? Good lords, that you still breathe must be mercy from that guy. It’s not like he is nice to girls like Rei, nor me, and he has good connections. The elven knights desired to catch him, but the guy makes it all enough ambiguous to avoid being prosecuted. Well, this fight should be enough to get him in prison… If you didn’t start it.” Haseya said, clearly interested in Kanbe.
“Yeah, Kanbe escalated it in the end. But I started it by bumping into him, without wanting.” Rei said, as she pouted, while Haseya took a deep breath.
“Okay, nothing. We don’t have anything to catch him, then.” Haseya calmly said.
“Shit. Either way, we still have to locate the killer of Rayne. But I have information from Falco. Seems like Donny killed him. And he died for it. We just need to confirm that, and find the motive behind it.” Rei said, as she looked at Haseya, while nodding to her. ‘Hopefully she'll notice that I am keeping quiet about all the info.’ Rei thought to herself.
“Best we leave Kanbe with the healers. He got so wrecked that he’ll have a few hours to recover from the attacks.” Haseya said as she looked at the hero. ‘She is trying to not get Kanbe involved in a mess. How cute.’ Haseya thought to herself.
Rei smiled widely as she carried Kanbe to the floor in which Hiro was located, and then left Kanbe in the infirmary room that was located on said floor. The infirmary room itself was quite minimalistic, as it only had a mirror, a metallic bed with white sheets and mattress, a wooden wardrobe, a sink made of porcelain with a cabinet attached below it, and a massive drawer with all sorts of healing items from potions to bandages and salves.
Once she got in that room, Rei called a few elves who were wearing white robes to help her to get Kanbe changed into a white pijama to put him in the bed. All of the elves were girls, and they all (alongside Rei) were delighted to see Kanbe's body and even touching it, as Rei had considered it a good idea.
But Rei’s good idea wasn't good in her mind, as she got flustered the more she looked at Kanbe's body and remembered how nice he always was. In fact, she was slightly jealous of the elves that were more into making sure the hero didn't have internal wounds due to them touching the hero’s body a lot.
‘These elves are getting me on the nerves! There’s no need to touch so much! But why I am just getting annoyed for it!? It’s just some other girls touching the guy that helped me out so many times back on Earth… But he sure looks cool when he wants, like when he defended me, but also cute… Oh shit, no! Rei, don’t! You are totally falling for that dense idiot, who is too nice to be a normal guy! But he’s too adorable!’ Rei thought to herself, while her heart was beating incredibly fast, as she blushed brightly.
As Rei was panicking due to her crush on Kanbe, Haseya walked near Rei and pulled her away from the room, and went to the basement hallways to talk with the Arcane Hero. She seemed serious and Rei simply took the chance to calm down, as this was going to be important for all the heroes.
“Okay, Rei. Before you start, the usual keeping quiet about issues that could be troubling if they are disclosed is not required with me. We need to talk about the killer of Donny.” Haseya said with a serious face. ‘This always happens, Rei falls for Kanbe because they know each other in Earth and Kanbe is such a dense, but lovable, idiot that girls end up falling for his nice attitude. But now, I need this girl to focus!’ Haseya thought to herself.
“Yeah, well, it’s Moriarty. Falco told me, and told me to just find a scapegoat to pile this case onto. So probably someone paid him to deal with that. But few people could pay Moriarty, and even less could convince him of doing an annoying task like this one.” Rei said, trying to not think about Kanbe and failing, while Haseya took a deep breath.
“Then we need to investigate those that were close to Donny. If we find the motive, there’s a high chance we find the one who paid Moriarty. But seeing Rayne dead, I consider it could easily be Katas doing. That said: Can you ensure that Joryujoh doesn’t stand in the way?” Haseya said, with a worried face, as she tried to think in a way to solve this incident without fighting any godslayer. ‘Falco’s idea is genius, if you don’t want to mess with Evan nor Moriarty. But with Leshelle getting Jackie riled up, and the Sunken Guardians acting weirdly, we must be ready to deal with them… Possibly attempting to convince Joryujoh and Moriarty rather than fighting them.’ Haseya thought to herself.
“Well, I can do something like that… Yes. But probably I’ll need your help on that, as a girl.” Rei said, as she laughed nervously. ‘You want me to do a deal with that gyaru hater!? There’s only one sort of deal I could get with him, and that one is essentially having to truly be a gyaru! Maybe you can help me out with that one!’ Rei thought to herself, panicking due to the request given by Haseya.
“As a girl? Explain.” Haseya said, surprised by what Rei said.
“Weeeeell… We could do a deal, to work for a while for the Doryoh clan. In one of their establishments. Joryujoh is a man who prefers to have his businesses attended by those that can maximize the profit. And he has an underground Japanese bar, for a Japanese style of escort pub. We go near the clients, pour them drinks, laugh when it suits the client, and get them to spend more money. Many girls that lack money work there, a few days only, to pay the debts they may have. We could get paid, get Joryujoh off our backs, and investigate Moriarty using his underground bar. That could get Joryujoh and Moriarty to fight each other, once the assassin finds out that one of his clients or one of his associates talked too much about the job in Joryujoh’s place. And that Joryujoh could have prevented it, and didn’t. It would seem like a betrayal.” Rei proposed calmly, while having a nervous smile.
As Rei suggested the idea to Haseya, the blue-haired hero glared at Rei while trying to ponder why she had proposed that idea, until she noticed once more that she was a girl too. And then all made sense for Haseya, but that didn’t make it sound any better for her, while Rei kept her nervous smile.
“Okay, sounds like a terrible idea. Who knows if the client goes there? If it was Moriarty, and we both know this, he wouldn’t let his client go to an underground bar so happily while we are investigating. Also, you don’t know how he works. I do. He uses letters, sent by his henchmen, and never does direct contact with people. At least, as far as we know.” Haseya pointed out calmly.
“Yeah, yeah. And his no ‘loose ends’ policy is quite cutting. As he kills anyone who gets too close to the truth.” Rei said as she frowned.
“But it could lead us to something, at least is a start. I know I’ll regret this idea, but let’s try it out. It’s not like Leshelle is anywhere to be found, Hiro is hanging in there… Literally. And Kanbe is still wrecked. And it would be a good time for me to get used to this life, hopefully.” Haseya said as she made a wry smile. ‘At least, it’ll help me get used to the female body. And if we are lucky, we may have a foolish client.’ Haseya thought to herself.
“Well, yeah. That’s what I was thinking. But probably, finding the Doryoh clan area will take a few hours. So we must get ready, and that means getting some clothes going on!” Rei said, excited about the prospect of getting Haseya wearing all sorts of clothes.
Haseya simply let out a defeated sigh, as she started to understand Evan’s hatred of bureaucracy and of shopping sprees, while Rei grabbed her hand and carried her away to the streets to go find clothing stores that sold clothes fitting for Haseya’s beauty.
***
As Haseya and Rei were going on a shopping spree, Moriarty and Joryujoh were rather drunk after celebrating meeting each other by coincidence and talking about all sorts of deals between Moriarty’s smugglers and the Doryoh clan.
The sort of conversations that were popular amongst godslayers, as they increased the godslayers influence across the land, and that two godslayers of different factions could cooperate was a very rare occasion.
Godslayer factions were groups of godslayers that were managed as big alliances or guilds, in which everyone was in for either a shared belief or something vastly different like wanting to be successful, and most factions were either neutral to each other or had a few grudges with some other factions.
As for where the two godslayers were located, they were in a room with tatami mat flooring, a wooden table made of a plum blossom tree, a pair of couches made of red leather and filling made of a very rare material coming from a sheep-like monster known as Dream Sheep, a sliding door made of steel, and walls made of mahogany.
The location itself was the headquarters of the Doryoh clan in Andving, located in the middle of the city and near the castle of Andving, as Moriarty and Joryujoh considered it the best place to settle down and talk about business.
As the two godslayers were drunk enough to not be able to move, they were on the ground while the sliding door opened and Jackie entered inside the room.
“Ah, shit. This happened. I forgot this was a usual situation when two of different factions made a deal. Unless it was with Evan, because the bastard was always saying: ‘It’s gonna be the best you can get, if you don’t like it: Prometheus may attend you.’. Aaaah, good days those were. Less bureaucratic bullshit, more things being done. Well, unless you dealt with other factions like Doryoh clan or the other members of the Free Alliance. Which begs the question: How is it that the only functioning individual who didn’t do this shit was Evan? The others either got drunk after a successful negotiation with another faction, or they were creepy… Like the Magic Corp.” Jackie said, before taking a deep breath, and kicking Moriarty in the gut.
As all hits towards the gut of a drunken man like Moriarty caused, what was inside Moriarty’s stomach came out quite violently, while Jackie quickly used a skill to avoid being tarnished by Moriarty’s gut contents.
“Shit, you two are wrecked in the worst moment possible. What the hell? Did you eat calamari? Agh, I hate that. Either way, you two will have to use some recovery items soon. Once you get the effects of the hangover. I’ll talk to you when you are more in a normal state. Now, I have to find out when the fucker that dared to get Leshelle into the idea of baiting me will come here. I am sure he’s a regular to this place. Also, I suppose I should make a few calls, get some chai with Paytell, and maybe even considering contacting Azmosdei. Ugh, that geezer is going to give me a headache if I do that without a business plan.” Jackie said, as she tried to manage her thoughts, while sitting on a couch.
As Jackie was reorganizing everything, a tall man with short white hair, wrinkles on his face that showed clearly he was at least 50 years old, black eyes, a thick white extended goatee, and a scar on his right cheek coming out of the small staircase that was located just besides the counter. This man was wearing a white shirt buttoned up to his neck, which was tight enough to showcase the muscular body the man had, tight black trousers with a white belt that had a golden buckle, and black shoes.
“I didn’t think that you would work with Joryujoh. With Moriarty, that was possible. After all, you two are from the Free Alliance. But I recall that the old Doryoh clan got bombed six kilometers above ground by you, after you placed enough bombs made with the bomber skills you have, and that Joryujoh still hates you for that.” The man said as he smirked at Jackie.
“Azmosdei! Now I was thinking about calling you, you damnable geezer! I was thinking about rounding the peeps of the Free Alliance. You know, Gio, you, Moriarty, Robin, Pik, and Paytell! I have a fun job now, but it’s a merc one. That said, I was considering opening a mercenary or adventuring company. If we train the trainees properly, and not slack off on the equipment, we can get lots of dough. You know, getting filthy rich is your thing after all.” Jackie said as she smirked at the man.
“Call me a geezer again, and I’ll show you why I am the best earth mage around!” Azmosdei retorted as he scoffed at Jackie.
“But it’s the truth, you have a granddaughter. You are a geezer. Nonetheless, about the business stuff: What do you say about that?” Jackie said, while looking at Azmosdei.
“Count me out of that one. It’s not going to work as good as you may think it will.” Azmosdei said as he frowned.
“Why wouldn’t it work? It’s not that hard to find good prospects and raise them. You know that our definition of good prospects is entirely different from what the rest of mercs have. We can get them at a low cost, and have them do jobs.” Jackie said, clearly surprised by Azmosdei reply to her question.
“Because the prospects we get are hard to get nowadays. Good supports end up in different adventuring parties, good mages are in courts, and the good tanks are doing bodyguard jobs. Also, we relied on the system that allowed us to choose the skill affinities. We can’t always find the exact desired build. So we would have to take the ones that are closer to what we seek, which we would have issues getting, and find some production fellas to be trained by Gio… The costs would be heavy. And that is if they become useful to us. Each failure means a lot of money gone, and most of our tech is either banned for public use by the gods or almost impossible to recreate.” Azmosdei explained calmly.
“True. But couldn’t Gio just make equipment for the newbies?” Jackie asked, with a worried look.
“Yeah, scrap weapons made by him are still better than most of the army weapons. But we can’t depend so hard on Gio. Well, we could… But we shouldn’t. Otherwise, we will be reliant on Gio and that would be a problem for him.” Azmosdei replied.
“Crap. The idea was solid, but it had a lot of issues. Agh!” Jackie said as she frowned.
“Nonetheless, if we had one more piece of support… Someone who could make builds out of anything… Like Evan… And it’s just a maybe: We might be able to pull off that idea. In fact, Evan on his own could pull it off, as he can just manufacture perfect troops. But we would need someone like that. And the issue is the starting capital. I might be rich, but preparing a new company without having secured profit is dangerous even for me. If we also had a supporter with more capital than I do, or several, we could work on it. It would take time, but it could work. Thing is: Do we have the time?” Azmosdei said, as he was pondering different options.
“Yeah, we don’t have that much time with how the prophets and oracles have been going. By what Moriarty told me a few months ago. But well, we ought to work together if things are getting chaotic.” Jackie said with a worried look.
“I’ll consider it, sooner or later. But now, I should be healing these two from the massive hangover they’ll have.” Azmosdei said as he looked at Joryujoh and Moriarty.
“Yeah, before they puke calamari once more. I don’t want to get a bad reaction due to my allergy to calamari.” Jackie said as she looked at Azmosdei.
Azmosdei simply chuckled as he started helping both Moriarty and Joryujoh, while Jackie looked at them with a disappointed face. Trouble was coming towards them, and they were getting drunk, and that wasn’t a good thing for anyone in the room right now. But Jackie knew that she would have to work with them, one way or another, whether she liked it or not.
***
As all of this was happening, just outside the mansion that Rei had in Andving, there was an average height woman with slightly tanned skin, long golden hair, braided and styled to look regal, and golden eyes who was wearing a black robe with reddish stripes, black stockings, and a pair of black high heels. In her hands she had a sword and a staff respectively, and had a sheath for the sword on her left hip.
The mansion itself was located five minutes away from the city, in a thick area filled with trees, as a way to prevent the ever annoying journalists from discovering the place itself. At least not directly, but it was just a temporary measure, as a method to prevent any issue with the journalists and the different noble factions in the elven society.
From outside, the mansion was very camouflaged. As it didn’t have any garden nor adjacent buildings, it was merely a massive mansion of several floors made of maple wood and with windows made of oak wood and tempered glass. It didn’t look fitting for a forest, but neither attracted anyone’s attention with the dark color it gave. There wasn’t even a wall, as the idea was to not be seen, but there was a massive amount of steel-armored elves patrolling the entire area to ensure that no one could get out without being caught.
The intentions of that woman were unknown, but she covered her face with a black cloak and started probing around the area to see how to sneak inside. It would be easy for her to enter inside the mansion if she just used her identity, but she knew that if she did so… Moriarty would track her actions and quickly know what was going on in that mansion.
And so, the lady had to be precise like clockwork and used a spell that created a bolt of ice to distract the guards with the loud noise of the freezing air and a small trail of ice that would get them investigating the area 10 meters away from the entrance.
‘That ought to give me a couple of minutes to rush inside, and investigate the heroes. Maybe I can convince the heroes living here to help me with catching Donny’s killer, instead of just staying here. It is for the sake of the people of Rivialt.’ The woman thought to herself, while running inside the mansion.
Luckily for the woman, the door was open as a maid had gone outside the mansion to buy groceries for the heroes. The heroes were strictly forbidden from doing any chore like buying the groceries, or cleaning the mansion, as the main interest of the world was that the heroes themselves could use the time for either improving or helping the country they were in.
‘Perfect! I am just this close to finding a hero! Lucky me, the door was open! Now to find a hero!’ The woman thought to herself, while moving inside the mansion to the basement.
Once the woman was in the basement, without a proper light, she circulated mana from her body to the staff as it illuminated and granted the woman a fair share of light to see in the dark, yet dry, basement area.
Traversing inside the basement without knowledge of the mansion was almost impossible, as all the walls looked exactly the same, and the doors were almost exactly the same. Finding anything to use as a reference was a hard task, so the best this woman could do was to just blindly go around and check carefully each area.
‘Crap. I should have expected this sort of strategy from him. If you can’t find a reference point, even if you have a map, you can’t navigate this place easily. Probably the maids and the like know exactly the inner state of the mansion as they study it before starting to work for the heroes. But I don’t, so I am absolutely lost.’ The woman thought to herself, while investigating the area, feeling a sense of dread due to how silent the entire area was.
And then the realization struck her. It was impossible that no maid nor butler would notice her light, and yet no one was going to stop her nor even look at her, as there were easily a few squads of maids and butlers sent to help the heroes with the chores. No less than fifty maids, and fifty butlers, for the entire house.
This made the woman shiver in fear, considering different options of what was going on, until she saw a purple light shining to the north. It was a tantalizing guide, as if it was trying to guide the woman towards some place or person, but the curiosity of the woman suppressed her caution.
‘It’s not like I will be killed here. At most, I’ll be apprehended and scolded for my actions. But that light, that’s weird. Haven’t seen any light until now, and that’s weird in a place where all sorts of individuals go around at least twice a day, and now I see a purple guide that is baiting me to go somewhere… I should investigate. Maybe it’s an invitation.’ The woman thought to herself, as her grip on her sword became stronger while she moved towards the purple light.
As the woman followed the purple light, she found the room in which Hiro was kept. Her curiosity was bigger than her caution, so she went inside the room. But she found Nigredo, smirking at a terrified Hiro, who was tapping on Hiro’s forehead.
“Look, Hiro. I know you squealed about me, the Wisdom Lord, and Rubedo. Usually I’d kill you for it. But seeing your reaction… I guess I’ll just make a clear statement. Do not think you are safe from me, you can hole up in Inferno… And I’d still find you and rip you apart like tofu. So, this will be what you do: Stay out of my businesses, and I’ll stay out of yours. Deal? Or I have to bring Rubedo?” Nigredo said, as she smirked at the Archer Hero, while the woman looked at them both.
“O-Okay! Okay! Just don’t do anything to my family! They don’t deserve to suffer for my own consequences!” Hiro exclaimed, completely terrified of Nigredo, while Nigredo smiled at him. ‘Keep her focused on you, even if it terrifies you, if she sees the intruder… She’ll kill them! At least, avoid one death… You goddamned failure of a hero!’ Hiro thought to himself.
“Oh, good. I love when negotiations come along. Your family will be safe. If you give me info on the other heroes, and what they are going to do, as much as you can… They’ll be paid. Don’t worry, until we get orders to kill the heroes… We are not going to hurt them. And if we get those orders, you can stop giving us info. It’d be pretty stupid to ask an enemy for information, and expect them to give it if they are going to die nonetheless. I don’t want to be checking for certified information coming from an enemy, as that would be a rather annoying situation. So yeah, we don’t want to kill any hero… If possible.” Nigredo said, not noticing the lady behind her.
“O-Okay. Now… Just leave, teleport away! Before a maid finds you! If I am doubted, your information giver… Me… I will just be killed for being a traitor! Do you get that!?” Hiro exclaimed, clearly worried about the woman behind Nigredo. ‘Shit, just get the cue and leave… Intruder! She’s too dangerous for you! Even for me! This psychotic cat has quartered a few maids, and then made sure they survived their wounds!’ Hiro thought to himself.
As Nigredo pondered over the situation, she felt something going on. With all of her experience, she had learned how to discern the emotions of anyone by the expressions and where her target was looking. And now, she was getting the sensation that Hiro was feeling a mixture of worry and fear while looking behind her.
‘What could it have that idiot worried? Is he scared of being caught talking to me, because they’ll execute him for being a traitor? Or there’s someone behind me, and this hero is trying to save that one in order to sabotage my plans? Gutsy if it’s the latter, even if I wouldn’t kill him even if he did so. Better leave the execution to the betrayed people, less work for me, and even if he becomes a problem… I can always go for the nice act of burning his family for the insolence.’ Nigredo thought to herself, as she pondered the entire situation.
As Nigredo was considering the situation, deciding to turn around, she felt a water ball made by the woman pushed her to the ground by surprise. This made Nigredo quite angry, but she knew that people would be alerted if the attack was done by a spellcaster, and quickly got up to see the woman who was going to slash at her with a quick dash.
“You damnable interloper! Don’t interrupt when grownups are talking!” Nigredo said, before hissing at the woman and slashing the cloak with her claws.
As the cloak was ripped and broken by Nigredo’s claws, the woman look scared yet oddly excited about the prospect of a fight. But once Nigredo saw her face, she quickly stopped and glared at the girl.
“You are lucky, Hiro. The girl saved your skin. If it was anyone else, I would have killed you both for this trap. Well played, miss Von Aegilard. Your grandfather would be most proud of that attack. But next time? Use a more lethal one, to hide your intention of using the alarms as your emergency plan.” Nigredo said, right before teleporting away from the mansion, as she left Hiro and the woman alone.
Hiro looked surprised, but then was rather relieved. Somehow, he had managed to survive Nigredo’s wrath and the woman he was looking at was the reason of said survival. So he was ready for anything, in order to prevent any bad situation caused by Nigredo that could be an inconvenience for his savior.
“Okay, your spell probably woke up Leshelle or at least the new hero around. I heard the new guy is more sensitive than Rei to mana, somehow, and that means you’ll have an army of guards going after you. I dunno why you came here, nor who you are. If you are royalty or some shenanigan like that… Sorry, but I don’t get my information from stuff like that just yet. It hasn’t been that long since I was just a chaser, who was bait for monsters and didn’t win much money, so I don’t know anything about high standing people like you.” Hiro said, as he smiled at the woman. ‘Hey, I got to live. And without having all my bones broken, again. That’s great for me!’ Hiro thought to himself.
“Well, better for me. I need to ask the heroes to investigate someone’s death. And properly. I have suspicions, but I lack proper proof to confirm them. And I fear that my father may have a hand in his death, and that worries me.” The woman said calmly. ‘I am sure that my father did that. But I can’t just say it outloud, in case he has a spy keeping an eye on this guy.’ The woman thought to herself.
“I see. Unluckily, I can’t move much. The cat girl you saw before assaulted me and broke my bones. So you’ll need to talk to either the new guy, or Rei. Maybe Haseya can help, but she’s an absolute unknown for me. The other two are known to rush headlong into incidents like murder, or kidnapping.” Hiro said, as he kept his smile on his face. ‘Also, Haseya has a lot of info. Or so it seems. So, might as well have her with this one. Oh wait, Rei probably is going on a shopping spree to buy new clothes for Haseya. And if Haseya wasn’t formerly an escort, I would bet Rei would be teaching her some tricks.’ Hiro thought to himself.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Okay, then I suppose I should talk to the new guy.” The woman said as she heard the door of the room opening, and quickly turning around while looking ready to attack.
But just as the woman turned around, she saw Kanbe looking at her. The hero only wore a pair of black trousers and black boots, so the woman saw his trained body and blushed brightly. It was clear that she wasn’t used to seeing naked bodies, at least from males, and quickly closed her eyes.
“Hello? Who are you? Are you an intruder?” Kanbe asked, as he prepared a holy bullet, by circulating mana in his body. ‘Picking this moment to sneak inside this place? Facing vicious enemies seems to be the usual here. Never could have been worse, right? I can cast some spells, but she’s fully equipped, and I don’t have even a shirt.’ Kanbe thought to himself.
“No! She’s not! She saved me from the intruder, who has left the precinct! I suppose you are the new guy.” Hiro quickly replied, to avoid seeing his savior die due to a misunderstanding.
“Ah. You must be the Archer Hero. The maids told me. There was a fire in the mana computer room, which may have been partly my fault, as I wasn’t used to using mana computers, and then another incident with the alarms.” Kanbe said, as he dispelled the holy bullet, before chuckling awkwardly.
“Eh. I don’t think it was you. I know the intruder, she’s good with computers. So probably she hacked it, and you probably stopped her plan without knowing. I can be sure of that if you explain what happened.” Hiro said, as he smiled at Kanbe.
“Oh well, I will most certainly do so.” Kanbe said, before starting to explain what happened before the woman’s intrusion.
***
Kanbe was terribly bored, after having so many clerics and doctors checking his body, and hadn’t noticed that he had already a huge amount of fans due to his toned body. So he started investigating the mansion, going through each room to make a mental map of it, and found a room in the first floor located in the northeast area of the mansion filled with screens and keyboards.
All the screens and keyboards were connected to several azure orbs placed inside cubes made of crystal, and it seemed to be some sort of computer. The crystal released a chilling wave of air each minute, as to refrigerate the orb itself, and the orb seemed to shine brightly. There were at least four of those supposed computers in the room, and Kanbe saw Nigredo as she wore a hoodie but considered her an IT expert sent from the castle in order to check on the computers.
The hero, curious as to what the catgirl was doing, started looking at Nigredo and trying to decipher what words she was typing. Kanbe didn’t pay much attention to the IT expert, but tried to recognize the letters of the keyboard… Only to see that they were strange, each letter being slightly different from what it should be, and Kanbe understood that it would be due to the lack of standardization.
But after a few minutes, Nigredo teleported away and Kanbe checked the computer to see what he could do with the computer. But then, right after he tried entering into the files, the screen froze up and the orb seemed to be so overheated that it melted the entire cube it was located in.
Kanbe looked at the situation unfolding in terror, as he just had sat down and tried to enter inside the files, but the orb seemed to be intent on exploding and take out all the other computers. So the hero, under the effects of panic, quickly grabbed the orb and tossed it away with all of his strength right before it exploded.
‘Friendly reminder: Ask Rei how to use computers in this world. Probably she’ll call me a nerd, but it’s more about utility than wanting to use a computer. Now I miss my smartphone. Does this world have smartphones? For some things, it is advanced… For others, it’s like the stories of the medieval times.’ Kanbe thought to himself.
Kanbe went to seek out maids and butlers to help out with the incident that was ocurring, and a general alarm happened all across the mansion that got everyone in the mansion to check each room and ensure that the computers were secured. Leading to the basement being left alone, and most of the people in the mansion moved to help out with this incident as the alarms were silenced.
***
As Kanbe finished telling what had transpired before the woman went inside, Hiro looked deep in thought for a moment, the woman looked surprised at Kanbe for his fast reflexes and quick understanding on what happened.
‘Not even I could react that quickly to that sort of situation. Especially to prevent such damage. But why that girl would want to damage the heroes? Is she some sort of assistant to the dark lord, or someone who knows that the heroes are going to be a problem for her? I can’t report it, but it seems I have no need to report it.’ The woman thought to herself.
“Don’t worry, Kanbe. That wasn’t you. Probably Nigredo did it to have everyone busy while she showed how easy it is for her to wreck us into pieces. She might be expecting us to be a problem, after she took the Wisdom Lord with her, and she’s just preventing the risk with a bit of force. Efficient, ballsy, and terrifying. Nonetheless, we should inform Rei and Haseya later on. They are the ones who have political knowledge, and Haseya seems to have some wonderful skills to charm people.” Hiro said, with a frown on his face.
“Well, allow me to introduce myself then. I am Saida. The princess of Rivialt. And I am going to ask you to investigate properly Donny’s death. I have my suspicions that Moriarty killed him, under the orders of the king, as he was my boyfriend and was a former indentured employee of Rayne.” Saida said, as she made sure to look at Kanbe. ‘Also, this guy is strong. Or, at least, built to be strong. And here Donny was more of a disappointment… He was cute, and really nice, but Kanbe is the same, and he is quite the sight for sore eyes.’ Saida thought to herself.
“Hmm. I did read a bit about Moriarty, but information regarding him is quite scarce. Also, oddly enough, that name reminds me of a few things on Earth. So he might come from Earth, and used the system in this world to carry a mastermind build. But we need proof to be sure of your accusation, as that is really a hefty accusation.” Kanbe said, as he scratched his chin, considering Saida’s words. ‘And we need to do it in a way that ensures the safety for all the heroes. A king’s grudge can be quite deadly, seeing that the elven king got Moriarty to do this.’ Kanbe thought to himself.
“I’ll go with you, and uncover the truth. I may not look like it, but I can defend myself… A bit.” Saida said as she smiled at Kanbe. ‘Just downplay your strength. The guys are into the useful, but usually defenseless, princess. It’ll be good to guide this hero properly. I am certainly not going to be used as a political marriage. No way.’ Saida thought to herself.
“Also, if it’s something done by the Sunken Guardians, bringing her with you will be a safety measure. I don’t know why, but they consider her a Von Aegilard. Trust me, having her at your side will be more beneficial than detrimental.” Hiro said with a smirk on his face.
“I’ll take your word for it…” Kanbe said, while trying to guess Hiro’s name. ‘What is this guy’s name again? I haven’t met him, but Rei did say that his name was something funny…’ Kanbe thought to himself.
“Hiro. That’s my name. Don’t start saying that it’s a bland name.” Hiro said as he frowned.
“What are the odds of being chosen due to your name? Either way, I’ll go get ready and then I’ll go with Saida. I would wait for Rei, but the maids said she’s going on a shopping spree. I know her, so if we wait for her… We may be a day waiting for her.” Kanbe said calmly.
“Okay, I’ll wait here. If I am caught, Dad will be informed of my visit… And if my suspicions are true…” Saida said, with a worried look.
“Moriarty may learn of it and start considering whether to kill you, or just ensure you don’t get a say for the rest of your life. I would go with you, but I am hanging here… Literally.” Hiro added. ‘And even if I wasn’t hanging, I wouldn’t go anywhere that killer. I know when to fold, and Moriarty is clearly a fold situation.’ Hiro thought to himself.
“I see. Well, I don’t mind catching a killer. But she could have found better ways to talk to us.” Kanbe said, clearly looking at Saida as the princess was blushing at the rugged countenance of the hero. ‘You lost your boyfriend, princess! So why are you already looking at me like that!? I am not that handsome!’ Kanbe thought to himself.
“Get used to it. That’s what happens when you are toned, and have abs that could grind meat. Don’t blame her for just looking at it.” Hiro said calmly. ‘Luckily, I am not that much of a gym rat. Otherwise, I’d suffer it just like Leshelle and this guy.’ Hiro thought to himself.
“Ha-Hah. So annoying. But well, love and peace are the two important things in the world. So I will not start a fight for this.” Kanbe said as he turned and left.
As Kanbe left the room, Saida could just look at the toned back of the hero in admiration. She disliked the attitude the hero had, but it was clear that he was capable enough to be of assistance for her quest.
***
As Nigredo had teleported away, she was now in an abandoned church. One in the midst of the forest, far away from Rivialt, as she was in Elstivia. She had managed to enhance the range limit of her teleporting skills with her mana operation, using one of the small cubes to do the extra error correction required for such long distance teleportation.
The church itself was devastated, the wooden floor was old and rotten, the benches were left alone as they were rotten, mice went around the place, the windows were broken, and there wasn’t any religious symbol left anymore.
In that church, Rubedo was calmly praying while a corpse of a headless man was on a bench. Both were wearing similar vestments, and it was clear that someone had decapitated the man with a sword, and Rubdeo had sooth and blood marks on his vestment as indicative of having fought against something that either was burning or burned to death while trying to grab Rubedo.
“Wasn’t a ghost this time?” Nigredo asked, curious as to what had transpired.
“No. A noble vampire of the Mistrilie clan. You know how the noble vampires call clan to each bloodline. My companion started doing an exorcism on the noble vampire, but wasn’t fast enough to dodge the sword attack. A shame. I hoped he wouldn’t die. He was a seasoned exorcist, after all, about to get promoted. After that, the vampire tried to escape by getting hold of me. Shame that his right hand became ashes, and left quite the mark on the vestments, but had to make it realistic, so I punched his head off and got blood marks too. Luckily, that also covers the reason I wanted to work with this exorcist.” Rubedo said, as he kept praying.
“Well, at least one opponent out for Lady Grandine. Also, that exorcist had it coming. How he dares to think he could mess with Lillian’s kids, once he got promoted to high ranking exorcist? Trying to get Rose that way… Ugh. After all, it took from me to guide her towards Lillian, just like that noble vampire asked me to do.” Nigredo said as she frowned.
“And it’s rare that you do follow anyone’s orders. Unless it’s orders from Lady Grandine, your policy is to not follow orders. Not even mine.” Rubedo said, as he stopped praying, and looked at Nigredo with a smirk.
“That was just because the vampire was about to die one way or another, and I felt bad for the little one. The girl did nothing wrong to deserve death. The other one, well… We all do our choices in that regard, right?” Nigredo said, before scoffing.
“We are nothing like a god. They do act as they see fit, but always for their benefit and continued existence, and never worry about the consequences. We do have limited power, but we risk our own lives to do what we believe is right. If we hesitate in any moment, that moment will be gone from life. So do as you believe, and be ready for the consequences of your actions.” Rubedo said calmly, as if he was preaching to a believer
“Preaching to the choir regarding that. I tried to get a mole in the group of heroes. You can imagine how that went. I made the warning, but got interrupted by another intruder, and that one triggered the alarms of the new hero.” Nigredo said, as she sat down beside the corpse.
“I told you that would fail. The plan was perfect. But as Lord Evan always said: Planning is one thing. Making the plan work is another. If you aren’t sure you can pull off your own plan, then you haven’t planned properly.” Rubedo said, as he kept his eyes on Nigredo.
“I know. But that guy, the new hero, is quite dense and hasn’t recognized me yet. He is still getting information. But he has good instincts, as he prevented the destruction of the logistic room. We should consider him more of a threat than we usually would. Being safe is better than kicking the bucket early.” Nigredo said as she smiled.
“Hm. Good information has been acquired. And maybe your plan works, even with the supposed interference. If the warning has been issued, then it’s up to him whether to believe us or work with the other heroes and see how serious we are. Maybe if we kill his older brother, who deserves it for smuggling drugs for the Avaritchie vampire clan, he may attend to reason. But we can always wait. Lord Evan’s return is imminent, and we must prepare for his comeback… Even if he won’t be using his usual body. After all, the soul carries the skill trees and special skills acquired. And, we should ensure that the children of the Cherubs Rest are okay. Especially Legias. He’s a Von Aegilard, after all.” Rubedo said with a serious face.
“I know, I know. I’ll get to it right after this. Don’t worry about it, Rubedo. I can handle some prep work.” Nigredo said, taking a moment of respite after all the work she had to do.
“Just don’t spare any effort for this. I have been busy with the orphanage and all. And make sure that Albedo doesn’t spoil all the kids. You know that if someone can be close to Lord Evan’s doting, that is Albedo. And last thing I would want is dealing with an army of spoiled kids.” Rubedo said, as he looked tired.
“He’s the one having less work, as he’s doing what he enjoys most! I want to get some gothic dresses for the little girls in the orphanage! Agh!” Nigredo exclaimed, before pouting. ‘I want to be lazy, sleep, maybe go with the orphanage kids. Or with the ones in the hidden base, the one we have a few kilometers away from Crelens! Jin is nice, but the boy has the worst sort of jabs at me and Grandine! He’s cute, but he’s better when he’s silent… He didn’t need to call me a wannabe mommy!’ Nigredo thought to herself, jealous of Albedo’s job.
Rubedo could only sigh, as he agreed with what Nigredo said… But for vast different reasons. After all, it was an annoyance having to deal with widows seeking for a new husband after theirs died. Especially while the kids were looking at him, with both admiration and slight disgust at their mothers trying to flirt with a younger man, as that led to awkward interactions. Particularly when said mothers brought casseroles, cannelloni, and more dishes that he would later have to give to the children that Grandine was keeping outside Crelens.
‘The food is appreciated, buuuut… Could they stop trying to flirt with a man of the church!? I accepted this role because it was the one that supposedly would have me safe from this weird interaction! At this rate, I’ll be more unlucky than Lord Evan! And that’s an achievement, now that I think about it. One I don’t desire, because that would be more troublesome in the long run than anything else.’ Rubedo thought to himself, admiring the dedication of the women to flirt with a man of the church… But at the same time, desiring that they would use said dedication to something more profitable.
Nonetheless, the two knew that the heroes would become a problem sooner or later for their plans. And so, they had to prepare for the possibility of having to fight and kill the heroes as soon as they were ordered to.
Azmosdei Status
Race: Augmented Human.
Gender: Male
Age: 70 years old
Height: 1 meter and 70 centimeters.
Likes: Taking care of his business, good deals, spoiling his granddaughter, fishing, freedom, loyal people, godslayers, being with his comrades.
Dislikes: Evan’s wit, corruption, slavers, having to deal with Arusha, Zerax, Grandine’s gluttony.
Level: 60
STATS:
HP: 20000/20000
MP: 40000/40000
STR: 246
VIT: 100
INT: 600
DEX: 600
AGI: 400
Magic affinity: Earth, Thunder, Wind, Basic.
Skill affinity: Sage, Staff Wielder, Magician, Merchant, Wizard, Energy Weaver, Survivalist, Fisherman, Teleporter.
Titles: Grand godslayer, old hero, Woolman, greatest merchant alive,
Job: CEO of Silver Eagle, Duke of Edophis.
Special skills:
Vitality Augmentation: Due to the biological augmentation done on the user, they have 100 points in Vitality, and 200 points more in both intelligence and dexterity, with no cost.
Mana resupply: Active, 0 MP. The user recovers an 80% of the total mana the user has used in the last hour. Only works once every day.
Super Perception: The user’s perception abilities double in terms of effectivity, and enhances the processing speed of the user.
Royal Surge: The user recovers 50% of their remaining HP, and all of their mana when they lose 50% of their HP.
Skills:
Staff Wielder (Master):
Staff Proficiency: The user becomes accustomed to wielding staves.
Staff’s Impact: Due to learning how to use a staff to fight in close combat, the user becomes more capable with the staff and prevents unnecessary damage for the staff they are wielding.
Strengthened Force: The user’s strength increases depending on their dexterity and intelligence.
Downward Wave: Active, 10 MP. A physical attack coated in mana that deals both raw magic and physical damage to a target as the user waves their staff downwards.
Upward Wave: Active, 10 MP. A physical attack coated in mana that deals both raw magic and physical damage to a target as the user waves their staff upwards.
Horizontal Wave: Active, 10 MP. A physical attack coated in mana that deals both raw magic and physical damage to a target as the user waves their staff horizontally.
Diagonal Wave: Active, 10 MP. A physical attack coated in mana that deals both raw magic and physical damage to a target as the user waves their staff diagonally.
Circular Wave: Active, 20 MP. A physical attack coated in mana that deals both raw magic and physical damage to a target as the user does a spinning attack with their staff.
All-range Wave: Active, 50 MP. A physical attack coated in mana that deals both raw magic and physical damage to a target as the user waves their staff all around an area of 20 meters. Pinnacle skill.
Energy Weaver (Master):
Energy Absorb: Being hit by a spell makes the user absorb it and recover a 50% of the mana used for making such spell. It still damages the user.
Cycle of Energy: The user’s stamina and mana regenerates a 50% faster once they use any Energy Weaver skill.
Energizer: The user’s energy weaving skills are a 25% more effective.
Elemental Charge: Active, 15 MP. The user can grant an element to an item or a skill.
Energy Charge: Active, 20 MP. The user restores a 10% of the total of the target’s mana pool and stamina.
Element Dispersal: Active, 20 MP. The user can disperse an element they are relatively close to. For example, being 2 meters away from a thunder armor.
Energy Heal: Active, 5 MP/second. The user restores a 1% of the total HP and stamina of the target per each 10 seconds this skill is active.
Energy Barrier: Active, 40 MP. The user makes a barrier that withstands a 15% of their current HP. It only covers the user.
Energizing: Active, 100 MP. The user taps into the hidden reserves of energy in their body to recover an amount of health equal to half of their current stamina. Pinnacle skill.
Magician (Master):
Magic Knowledge: Passive. Allows the use of magic.
Magician's soul: Passive. All spells cast by the user are a 20% stronger.
Magic control: Passive. All spells are cast 10% faster. Some can even be used without chanting.
Magic modification: Passive. The spells can be modified to give them new effects and change the way they are used.
Chantless: Passive. The minor spells will be automatically cast without even saying the name of the spell and the user only has to think in the spell and the adept spells only will have to be chanted entirely when using magic modification.
Earth Magic (Master):
Earth Golem: Active, 5 MP. The user creates a golem that will follow orders. It can be customized and enhanced, but cannot be healed.
Earth Wall: Active, 5 MP. The user creates a wall of earth to protect himself/herself.
Earth Shot: Active, 8 MP. The user creates a stone shard that is shot to an enemy. The speed and magnitude of the stone shard depends on INT.
Break Earth: Active, 1 MP. The user can break rocks.
Rock Fall: Active, 10 MP. The user summons a giant rock just above the enemy.
Earth Dome: Active, 25 MP. The user creates a barrier made of rock to protect himself/herself and those who are close to the user.
Concentration of Stones: Active, 40 MP. The user can concentrate shards of stone and put them together. Can be used to repair golems, enhance their abilities with enchanted stones or shot them like a shotgun to the enemy.
Burial: Active, 5 MP. The user can bury anything under the ground.
Earth Binding: Active, 50 MP. The user can bind the enemy with stone hands.
Earth Eruption: Active, 70 MP. The user can make the ground that is below the feet of the target explode.
The Heart of Stone: Pinnacle spell, 100 MP. The user increases his defense and the defense of his golems a 300% but makes them all weaker to wind magic.
Power of Stones: Pinnacle spell, 0MP. The user can add the earth element to any other spell.
Basic Magic (Master):
Minor Analysis: Active, 1 MP. Allows the user to see the stats of the target. It can be tricked with false status skill.
False status: Active, 3 MP. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status.
Medium analyze: Active, 5 MP. Shows to the user the status and the personal data of the target. It can be tricked.
False data: Active, 15 mp. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status window and the skill window when they use analyze skills like Greater analyze or medium analyze.
Fly: Active, 8 mp/second. Allows the user to soar through the sky.
Greater analyze: Active, 10 MP. Shows to the user everything of the target. It can be tricked with false self.
Telepathy: Active, 12 mp/second. Allows the user to speak to the mind of the target.
False self: Active, 20 mp. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status window, the skill window and even the name and gender that appears in the status window when they use analyze skills.
Teleport: Active, 15 mp. The user can make small teleports. Range of 1500 meters.
Full analyze: Active, 20 MP. Shows to the user everything of the target.
City Teleport: Active, 30 mp. The user can teleport to any city that the user has visited.
Sage (Master):
Sage’s Knowledge: The user is capable of recognizing mana signatures on their own far better than most, ensuring they are not caught off-guard.
Sage’s Heart: The user’s mana pool increases a 20%.
Sage’s Wisdom: The user holds the wisdom of a sage, making the sage skills be a 30% more effective.
Toxic Ray: Active, 10 MP. The user channels mana through their bodies, and shoots it as a ray of energy that poisons the body of those struck by it with a poisonous surge of mana that weakens the body.
Sage’s Diagnosis: Active, 5 MP. The user channels mana inside their eyes to see the status of a target, and it can’t be nullified.
Sage’s Biological Connection: Active, 30 MP. The user channels mana around themselves, allowing them to communicate with all living beings through mana in an area of 10 meters.
Prognosis: Active, 15 MP. The user channels mana inside their eyes to see the mana disturbances and predict quickly what will be the most possible actions done by everyone in an area of 50 meters during 30 meters.
Toxic Spheres: Active, 500 MP. The user channels mana to create small spheres of mana that release even smaller spheres that poisons with a poisonous surge of mana that weakens the body in an area of 30 meters.
Mana Detox: Active, 300 MP. The user can detoxify a target by sending their own mana inside a target, and heal most of the ailments (poisonous mana and curses included).
Mana Dosing: Active, 1000 MP. The user restores 500 MP per second of an ally for 60 seconds, but the user must be at 50 meters of range as a maximum. This can also poison the ally if they recover more mana than they should hold. Pinnacle skill.
Merchant (Master):
Knowledge of materials: Passive, allows the user to see the materials used in any item and be able to know the price of the item.
Discount: Passive, the user will pay less money for the items he/she wants to buy. Success rate depends on the intelligence and dexterity of the user and the target.
Overcharge: Passive, the user will sell the items for more money. Selling price increase depends on intelligence and dexterity.
Eye of the merchant: Passive. The user can see what the client is looking for and what they truly desire.
Saida Status:
Race: Elf
Gender: Female
Age(elven age/human age): 50 years old/ 18 years old.
Height: 1.40 meters tall.
Three sizes: 90-56-85. (Only shown when the analyzed one is 18 years old or older)
Cup Size: E. (Only shown when the analyzed one is 18 years old or older)
Likes: Elven ceremonies, parties, banquets and making new friends.
Dislikes: Cursed children (And hates Legias even more), traitors and monsters.
Ailments:
Stiff shoulders: Only causes a minor nuisance to the victim. Caused by carrying heavy weights.
Level: 10
STATS (Maximum of 1000):
HP: 12500/12500
MP: 15000/15000
STR: 25
VIT: 25
INT: 100
DEX: 25
AGI: 25
Magic affinity: Ice magic, Wind magic and Water magic.
Skill affinity: Magician, Elementalist, Warrior, Merchant, and Royalty.
Titles: Comrade of the Hero.
Job: Princess of the Elven kingdom.
Skills:
Magician (adept):
Magic Knowledge: Passive. Allows the use of magic.
Magician's soul: Passive. All spells cast by the user are a 20% stronger.
Magic control: Passive. All spells are cast 10% faster. Some can even be used without chanting.
Water Magic:
Water ball: Active, 2 MP. The user throws a ball made of water.
Water wave: Active, 4 MP. The water rises up and strikes the enemy. Can push an enemy far from the user.
Water Cannon: Active, 20 MP. The user shoots high pressure water from his/her hands.
Water Prison: Active, 25 MP. The user traps the enemy in a water ball that acts as a cage. If not used carefully it can drown the enemy.
Water Tidal wave: Active, 40 MP. The water surrounding the user will rise and spin around the user, cutting anyone who gets close.
Wind Magic:
Wind bullet: Active, 1 MP. The user shoots a bullet of concentrated wind that can pierce even iron.
Wind twister: Active, 5 MP. The user cast a tornado that sends everyone flying. It is shot from the user's hand.
Wind blade: Active, 10 MP. The user can either create a windblade to cut the enemy or implant the wind element temporarily in a blade.
Wind improvement: Active, 12 MP. The user temporarily has an extra 30% AGI.
Ice magic:
Ice Blade: Active, 5 MP. Allows the user to create an ice blade or to implant the ice element temporarily to the blade.
Ice burst: Active, 10 MP. The user throws a concentrated explosive ball of ice that will burst and freeze anyone close to it.
Icebolt: Active, 4 MP. The user shoots a bolt of ice that freezes upon touch.
Ice spear: Active, 12 MP. The user creates spears of ice to attack the enemy.
Ice Wall: Active, 20 MP. The user creates a defensive wall made of Ice.
Warrior (Minor):
Knowledge of Swords: Passive. Allows the user to use more efficiently the swords, greatswords and any other kind of weapon.
Flash strike: Active, 3 MP. The user does a swift strike that is hard to parry.
Impact strike: Active, 5 MP. The user does a strike with enough impact to disarm the opponent.
Merchant (Minor):
Knowledge of materials: Passive, allows the user to see the materials used in any item and be able to know the price of the item.
Royalty (Minor):
Trust of the people: Passive. The user is more trusted by the people.