I made a quick jaunt to the City Hall's armory to get myself some gear for the upcoming raid. Unfortunately, the enchanted axe and armor I took with me earlier became unusable after taking on that massive explosion. Camille's people managed to retrieve them in the aftermath, but they were nothing but scrap metal at this point. I honestly found it ridiculous that I managed to survive that explosion where heavily enchanted metal didn't. Then again, my armor took the brunt of the initial damage while I mostly only had to deal with the heat.
Is it just me, or do all the equipment I use end up getting destroyed within a day?
I blame the craftsmanship on that one.
The armory's Quartermaster had a disgruntled look on his face when he saw me arrive. With a grunt, the corpulent man pushed his spectacles up his nose as he looked at me from behind the counter's metal bars. “If it isn't our dear Constable. Once again, the equipment you borrowed from us has been returned beyond repair. This time, you even managed to destroy our most precious set of armor!”
“Hey, it's not my fault some douchebag in the city loves blowing stuff up. The armor actually saved my life, so it did its purpose. You could build another armor, but you cannot replace a human life,” I said like a smartass.
“If you think your pathetic life is worth a whole set of Juggernaut armor, think again, moron. We're already overpopulated with idiots like you while we only had that single set. Do you even know how hard it is to get one?”
I shrugged. “Can't do anything about it now, can we? So get over it, chum. I'm here to get myself a new set of gear for the raid.”
The Quartermaster looked like he still had a lot of nasty words to say to me, but he didn't push it. “I've heard of the raid. The Governor has given me explicit instructions to give you all that you need.”
“All that I need, eh?” Now that was just asking for me to abuse the shit out of it. So I would. “Show me everything you've got.”
As reluctant as the Quartermaster was, he let me into the vault itself where racks upon racks of weapons and armor were organized meticulously. Weapons were on the left side of the room and armor on the right. At the far end of the vault, a section for odd little trinkets was set apart.
“You are free to peruse everything, but do not touch anything unless I have given you explicit permission to do so,” the Quartermaster said. “Now, tell me what you need.”
“A bunch of weapons and a suit of armor. I prefer axes, but I'll take anything.”
The Quartermaster looked at me like I was an idiot. “What do you mean a bunch of weapons? You only need two weapons at most, unless you have hidden hands I'm not seeing.”
“I have an extradimensional space in my stomach where I can store a lot of shit,” I said. “I want a lot of spare weapons in case I lose 'em mid-battle.”
“Fine, then. But I will let you take only ten weapons and not one more. I still have a lot of men to arm,” he said as he led me to one of the weapon racks containing all sorts of axes. “These are all the axes we have. Take note that none of them are enchanted, and given your penchant for breaking your equipment, do not expect them to last long.”
I picked up one of the smaller axes, which looked more like a cute toy in my large hand, and tried out my new ridiculous-sounding Skill, ‘Suck It Up, Buttercup.’ The activation was instinctual, and as soon as I felt my mana pool dip almost negligibly, the axe sank into my flesh.
A menu popped up.
[Stomach Content]
Partially digested food
Iron Battleaxe x1
I grinned. Now that was fucking awesome. The food I ate earlier was even displayed, and I could feel that I had the choice to digest or expel the contents of my stomach at will.
From what I understand, everything I put into my stomach is always put in stasis as soon as it enters, so if I wanted to keep myself fed, I have to manually choose to digest the food I eat or else it would remain as chewed food in my stomach. The reason why I have partially digested food in my stomach right now is due to the food I ate before I gained my Class Perk. As soon as I mentally chose to digest it, the partially digested food disappeared from the list instantly.
It seems like I was also capable of instant digestion. I just hoped that it didn't turn into instant shit in my colon.
I tried regurgitating the axe, and I realized too late that the axe was too big for my esophagus to fit. If it was gonna come from my stomach, it would rip its way through—
The axe popped out of my open mouth smoothly. I didn't even know how that was possible, the axe head was literally wider than my entire head. When I tried it several more times, I realized that the axe appeared out of thin air in the space just in front of my mouth. The axe didn't emerge from my stomach as I thought it would, though funnily enough, I had to keep my mouth open anyway to regurgitate something.
With my spirits high, I eagerly Sucked four more axes, and for variety's sake, I also Sucked three spears and two swords into my stomach. The mana costs to Suck the weapons were very minimal and were quickly replaced by my mana regeneration. Based on how fast I got my mana back, I highly suspected that my mana regeneration fell under the ‘recovery’ that my Divine Body Trait boosted.
[Traits]
Divine Body - Your body has been constructed by a god. Your body recovers faster and is resistant to ailments.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
My mana recovery was not as fast as my body's healing, but it was still fucking fast. With how deep my mana pool was, I reckoned I could regenerate my full pool of mana in slightly less than an hour.
The Quartermaster and I continued to the armor section where most of the pieces couldn't fit my frame. Thus, we settled with outfitting me with armor pieces from mismatching sets until I looked like a goddamn bandit lord.
Lastly, the Quartermaster brought me to the trinkets section. Before we approached the section, the fat man gave me a stern gaze. “Under no circumstances will you use any sort of magic in this area. Do you understand?”
“Crystal clear, boss.”
I soon learned why the Quartermaster made that earlier warning. These weren't simple trinkets at all.
They were fucking magical bombs.
“These are what we call mana-based explosive devices, or more colloquially known as MEDs,” the Quartermaster said as he gestured at the rack filled to the brim with black cylindrical objects with a button at the top. “Invented by the famous Scientist, MEDs are the latest in warfare technology and are capable of completely turning the tides of battle.”
“Scientist?” I asked. And here I thought this world didn't bother studying science.
“Yes, the Scientist invented these,” the Quartermaster said with a bit of reverence as he stared at the bombs. “A phenomenal figure, that one. He rose to prominence after advancing Arcadia's weaponry technology by decades, his first invention being the revolutionary device called a ‘firearm.’ They are still too weak to be practical, but research is already underway.”
Hold on a gosh darn minute. “Wait, I think something was lost in translation there. Are you referring to the Scientist with a capital ‘S?’”
The Quartermaster looked at me weirdly. “Of course I am, who else do you think I'm referring to when I said the Scientist? It's a recently coined term, actually. The Scientist insisted on being called by that moniker, and from thereon, people who work with him are called by the title ‘scientist.’”
That confirmed my suspicions. This Scientist dude came from Earth like me, and this crazy bastard was teaching this world how to create bombs. What a way to introduce terrorism in a fantasy world.
“So how many of these bad boys can I take with me?” I asked as I perused the racks that must've contained at least a hundred MEDs. Camille was packing some damn heat in here.
The Quartermaster hesitated. “The usage of MEDs require the direct approval of the Governor…”
“Which I already have,” I pointed out.
“Normally, Lady Camille specifies the amount that could be taken…”
“And she said you should give me all that I need, yes?”
“I'm sure a single raid only requires you a maximum of five MEDs.”
“I'm taking all of them.”
The Quartermaster looked at me like I just shot his mother. “What are you, daft?! What made you think that I'd give a lumbering idiot enough explosives to blast us all to the high heavens? Ten! You get ten and nothing more.”
Too bad, but I suppose ten was good enough as a last-ditch surprise. I've had enough explosions for one night, anyway.
•••••
The time for the briefing eventually came, and I found myself sitting in Camille's office while waiting for the others to arrive. It didn't take long before Camille entered the office with a lot of people in tow. There were dozens of them, and the only ones I could recognize were Lance, Morgan, and for some reason, Big Mama. I had no idea what the big cook was doing here, but I reckoned her gruel was shitty enough to become weaponized.
Camille gave me a nod as she took her place behind her desk, though she remained standing. The rest of the newcomers took their seats in the prepared chairs, with Lance and Morgan sitting to my left and right. Lance looked grief-stricken, which should mean Camille already told him of Warner's fate. I wasn't good at consoling words, so I just patted the young man's back.
While waiting for the briefing to start, I checked out the other people in the room. There were three distinct groups present: the first was composed of black-cloaked men and women who I assumed were Camille's ninjas or spies or whatever, the second was a group of rough-looking fighters equipped with a variety of weapons and armor who I suspected were slayers, and the last was a small group of robed people led by an old man with a flowing white beard and bushy eyebrows.
Before I could ask Morgan beside me who the last group of people was, Camille began the briefing. “Let us start. I'm sure most of you already know of tonight's situation, but I will be running through everything to make sure we are all on the same page. Earlier this evening, I ordered a raid on the Siren's Call owned by Carmen Grayshield after we received intelligence of child prostitution being conducted in the establishment. Constable Bob and Senior Guard Warner were deployed on the scene with the mission of apprehending or eliminating the perpetrators and saving the victims. However, the brothel turned out to be a trap for our operatives. Upon their entry, the building exploded through the suspected use of MEDs, leveling the entire compound of the Siren's Call as well as a portion of the red-light district. Seventy-eight people are confirmed dead as of this moment.”
Camille paused as her face turned even more impassive. “Senior Guard Warner was confirmed to be killed in action.”
Lance choked back a sob beside me, and the black-cloaked people stirred restlessly, their faces etched with anger and frustration.
Camille continued. “Fortunately, Constable Bob's set of Skills makes him extremely hard to kill, hence his survival and presence tonight in this briefing. After surviving the explosion, Bob was ambushed by five Dark Blades, all of whom are now eliminated.”
There was murmuring in the room as everybody looked at me. I could understand. Even I was surprised that I survived that blast.
“I and Slayer Guildmaster Morgan arrived at the scene to assess the situation,” Camille continued. “Unfortunately, the enemy took advantage of my absence and raided the prison underneath the City Hall. Several guards were killed and Camaro Grayshield, who was charged with attempted homicide and locked up in prison, was broken out by suspected assassins of the Shadow Guild.”
My eyebrows rose in surprise. This was the first time I had heard about it, and it suddenly made me realize how cunning this Carmen bastard was. The massive explosion in the red-light district was to lure Camille away and kill me at the same time, allowing his assassins to rescue his son. Two birds with one fucking stone.
“That brings us to the present,” Camille said. “We have compelling reason to believe that Carmen Grayshield is the perpetrator of these attacks. Hence, our mission tonight is to raid the Grayshield household and eliminate Carmen Grayshield. Before I proceed to the specifics of the mission, does anyone have questions?”
The whitebeard old man stood up. Camille nodded at him. “Guildmaster Helstrom.”
“I believe there is an error in your statement,” Helstrom said. “Do you mean to say we must ‘arrest’ Carmen instead of eliminate?”
Camille smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. “No. We are to eliminate Carmen Grayshield.”
Helstrom narrowed his eyes at Camille. “Do not be stupid, girl. You speak of killing a noble, which is a crime in Imperial law.”
“My intelligence agents have found connections between Carmen and the smuggling ring we raided a few days ago that dealt in human slaves. Under the Imperial law that you tout, Magus Helstrom, the punishment for engaging in slavery is death. As Governor, I have the authority to order his elimination,” Camille said, then she narrowed her eyes at Helstrom as well. “And please refrain from calling me names other than Governor, Magus Helstrom.”
“Carmen Grayshield is a noble, not some mundane peasant you can punish with impunity!” Helstrom exclaimed. “To order his elimination on a raid in his own manse is the height of barbarity! You cannot do this!”
Camille gave the coldest look I've ever seen on her face. “Watch me.”