Chapter 9: Information is Key
Beep. Beep. Be-Click.
I shut my alarm off. My eyes squint at the clock on my scroll. It was late into the evening, almost 7:00 P.M. If my calculations were correct, we should arrive in Vale in about an hour. I lean my head back into my pillow. The soft sound of breathing reaches my ears. My eyes wander towards my lover. Neo is currently sleeping naked under my covers. Her head rests against my chest.
I gently move a stray hair out of her face. She nuzzles against me. I smile softly, watching her sleep. The smell of sweat and sex invades my senses. Ugh. I need to take a shower.
I leave the bed, careful not to wake her up in the meantime. I make my way to the bathroom that came with my room in the aircraft. Since I was already in my birthday suit, I simply stepped into the shower. As the hot water begins to cleanse my body, I pull up my status screen.
Weiss Schnee (Lvl 18)
The Generous Princess/The Untouchable Beauty
Health: 460/460
Aura: 435/544
Class: Battle Mage
Semblance: Glyph
Age: 17
Money: 27,583 (302,347) Lien
[+] Inventory
[+] Stats
[+] Perks
[+] Equipment
[+] Skills
[-] Stats
STR: 40 + 12 = 52
DEX: 38.5 +12.2 = 50.7
VIT: 34.2 +11.8 = 46
INT: 41.4 +13 = 54.4
WILL: 65.1 + 18.2 = 83.3
LUCK: 20
BLESSINGS: [Solomon's Wisdom] (Epic)
I smile contently.
My relationship with Neo has made large progress since my confession. We've been best friends our entire life, so there were hardly any arguments. The only problems were when I insisted on her treating us as equals, and Neo wanted to kiss the ground I walked on. Her attitude led to some… interesting sex, but I liked us treating one another as equals outside the bedroom. Other than that, we got along splendidly.
I step out of the shower after patting myself down with a towel, and I make my way back into the bedroom where Neo sat rubbing her eyelids. She had obviously just woken up and had yet to fully be aware of her surroundings. That is soon rectified as her eyes lock onto my figure. Her breath hitches.
I chuckle.
"Like what you see?" I ask while twirling in place.
My body developed quite nicely. I am pretty sure I'm taller than my other counterpart, and I'm definitely fuller in my bosom. My boobs fill a B-cup bra quite nicely, almost reaching a C. My body is toned from exercise, but it miraculously isn't hard like a rock despite my efforts to become a female bodybuilder. I swear there's a supernatural law that dictates all women to be beauties.
Neo, on the other hand, grew up to be around my height. She is nowhere near as short as the Neo from the series - which I assume is because she never suffered from malnourishment. Her breasts are still large compared to her body size, reaching the borderline between C and D cup.
I watch as Neo salivate as I purposefully sway my butt side-to-side. I sit on her lap, fluttering my eyelids.
"Do you want to go for round 2?" I tempt her, my voice sweet like a succubus' whisper.
She gulps.
I giggle.
"You're insatiable. As much as I would love to make you moan for me again, you need to go take a shower, Neo. We'll be arriving soon."
She makes a beeline for the bathroom. I can't help but lick my lips.
Truly, I think ice cream might just become my favorite dessert.
I walk towards the full-body mirror and begin dressing myself for the occasion. Instead of my normal white and blue outfit, I dress in a skirt and short-sleeved shirt. As I slip on my boots, I check to make sure my knife is secure in the holster inside. My hands tug my wig into place before replacing my earrings with light purple ones instead. When my aesthetic contacts and make-up is all in place, I lean back to stare at my alter-ego in the mirror.
Lilac Luminary has dark purple hair tied back in a ponytail with a simple magenta bow. Her clothing is predominantly different shades of purple and gray. To complete the illusion, I place the necklace I received from Qrow on the inside of my shirt. With my status now changed and my stats lowered, I look at Neo who just got out of the shower.
Her skin shines from the light reflecting off the water. My eyes roamed shamelessly. I wolf-whistled.
"My, my, Neo. Are you just trying to tempt me now?"
Neo sighs, seemingly unabashed this time.
"Weiss, please. Can you not think with your libido for two seconds? I swear you are always teasing me."
I move a stray hair back in line with my left bang.
"On the contrary, I distinctly remember a certain maid of mine wrapping her naked body with a bow for my 16th birthday. I think she is the one who should be called a teaser, no?"
Neo blushes this time. She walks to the side, grumbling as she puts on her outfit.
"Maybe next time, I won't do that anymore."
I chuckle as I move behind her. My hand softly grips her shoulders as my voice whispers into her ear.
"If that's the case, I suppose I'll just have to force myself on you."
Neo bites her lips sensually as her eyes dart to me. I suddenly back off as her sexual tension spikes.
"But you're right. We have more pressing concerns for tonight."
Neo grumbles, all too aware of what I was doing. She turns away and begins to do her own makeup. As she does her finishing touches she questions me with a serious look on her face.
"We're going after Cinder tonight, right?"
I double check the mirror, making sure there are no flaws that give my scar away. Ever since we past that turning point in our relationship, I decided to trust her with my secrets. Since Neo will be following me to Beacon, I wanted to make sure we are on the same page just in case Neo misunderstands something.
I wryly smile at myself.
Although, if I am telling people based on trust, shouldn't I be telling Mother? Winter is a stretch, since she probably will be involved, and I don't necessarily want to give it away just yet. Maybe I let my hormones get the better of me… Oh well, I think I'm okay with things this way. Mother has already sacrificed a lot of time and effort into nurturing me. I don't want to repay that by causing her to needlessly worry.
I shake my head at Neo's question.
"No, we're only gathering information tonight. We have one more month until our time at Beacon starts. Hopefully, we can set up an ambush on her before then."
Neo looks at me worriedly.
"Must you reveal your identity to her, though? If she gets away…"
A glyph manifests in my hand.
[Glyph of Silence]
"If Cinder has already captured the Maiden powers, I have no choice but to reveal my identity in hopes of obtaining the power itself. The Maiden powers must return to Ozpin's side or transfer to us. If they send it to another personnel on their side or it goes to some random person in the world, we would be at step zero of finding the maidens. If she doesn't have the Maiden powers yet, this would be our prime opportunity at nipping trouble in the bud. Besides, I won't just recklessly charge in. I will only decide to approach after we verify as much as we can. And if I deem it too dangerous, I'll call this off immediately."
With my Observe skill at max rank, I can now observe all hidden levels, blessings, and semblances regardless of whatever artifact they try to use to hide their status screens. That means I can judge where I stand with them semi-accurately. If there's too much disparity between us, I'll bide my time. Otherwise, free kills are easy kills.
Neos sighs. She is fully dressed now in a brown and black outfit. Her corset hugs her chest and showcases her slim figure rather nicely.
[Mirage]
Her body shimmers before her hair and eyes turn a reddish-brown color. Sepia Colleen grasps my hand, and she stares into my eyes full of genuine fear.
"I just don't want anything to happen to you, Weiss. I know you have to do this, but I can't even help you… It's frustrating."
I lean my forehead against hers. We close our eyes and bask in each other's warmth.
"I know, Sepia. I know."
I drop the silence glyph as I realize the aircraft is lurching to a crawl. Its speed is significantly slower than before. It seems we are landing. We drag our empty luggage bag in hand in order to give an impression of averageness. Despite coming out of a luxurious room, this will at least disguise us as being one of the masses. A traveler without any sort of luggage sticks out like a sore thumb, after all. After leaving the airport, we catch a cab to the nearest abandoned warehouse. I tip the driver before we make our way onto the premises.
"Why are we here?" Neo asks after I shut the door behind her.
"It's so I can do this."
I drop a smoke grenade onto the ground, blinding any potential cameras that are still running. In the cover, I withdraw a certain object from my inventory and place in on the ground with Litter. As the smoke clears, Neo raises an eyebrow.
"You brought your car out? Wait a second, that's not your car. Your car is blue, this is black."
I nod at her.
"Correct. This isn't my car. In fact, I stole this car from some White Fang members who attacked us."
Neo tilts her head in confusion as we enter the vehicle. She turned the keys that were already in the ignition.
"I forgot about this. You never used it, so I never remembered until now."
I clicked my seatbelt while nodding in understanding.
"Let's check into our hotel first before heading to the club."
"As you wish, Lilac."
When we finally dropped off our 'luggage', Neo transports me towards Vale's commercial district. She stops the vehicle in the parking area outside a building with a neon sign that said 'The Club' on it. We exchange quirked eyebrows.
"What an original name." Neo comments.
I shrug.
"It's certainly something nobody would ever think of using. Come, Sepia. Let us head inside."
We join the line that was already formed outside their entrance. When it is our turn, the bouncers held out their hands. They were both dressed nicely in decent black suits, but they wore red glasses despite the late hour.
"I.D." one drawled.
We hold out our respective identification cards, masked by Neo's semblance. The men glance at them then at us before nodding. We step inside. Our vision adjusts to the rather dark surroundings. Small red lights illuminate the path towards the end of the hallway. As we approach the door, it automatically parts.
We both reflexively squint at the sudden bright lights. Once more, my vision readjusts to the glare. I scan the large room. We were currently at the top of a staircase. Below us, we can see a large dance floor filled with numerous bodies dancing to the beat of the music that the DJ on an elevated platform was playing. To the left was an enormous bar that followed along the entire left wall. To the right was a lounge area as well as more stairs that led up to what I assumed were the VIP rooms.
As we walk down the steps, I can't help but compliment the design of the building. The architectural design gave a sense of spaciousness, and the various decorations gave a rather high-class feel. Despite this, the atmosphere didn't feel uptight at all. It feels like something you could lose yourself in thanks to the energetic music and lively chatter.
As we approach the bar, we past by the various support pillars that seem to hold up the establishment. We discovered not an insignificant number of individuals displaying rather intimate interactions in the shadows of the pillars. I glance at Neo who clearly looked uncomfortable. Her shoulders are tense, and her eyes are darting everywhere. I rub her arm.
"Loosen up, Sepia. You look more like a guard than a girl who is looking to have a good time."
Neo relaxes at my touch.
"Sorry, Lilac. I'm just not used to this environment."
I smile reassuringly at her.
"Don't worry. I'm not either."
She looks me up and down.
"You certainly seem calm though."
I tilt my head side-to-side. That's only because we haven't stepped on the dance floor yet. I suppose I'm still just treating it like a walk around the forge. Curious but not willing to touch anything. Neo seems to have unwound herself more now though.
"Thank you, Lilac. I'm fine now."
We sit down on two empty seats. A bartender comes up to us promptly.
"What'll it be?" he asks.
I look behind him at the wall of text scribbled on a chalkboard.
"Hm… I'm feeling up for some white wine actually, but I hear the Bärenfang is pretty good here. What do you say?"
The bartender continues cleaning a glass. His eyes are no doubt measuring me and Neo behind his sunglasses.
"…We're out of it at the moment, but if you wait a bit we might get some ready for you soon."
"I see… and how soon is will this be?"
"Depends. Do you have the cash to pay for it?"
I smile at him.
"Cash isn't the issue. I merely hope you have what it is I came for."
He grunts.
"I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, I get you some wine. What about you?"
He asks Neo. She shakes her head.
"Just a glass of water, if you don't mind."
I could feel him roll his eyes as he leaves. I hear the sound of heels approaching us. I turn back to see a pretty face near my own.
Melanie Malachite (Lvl 13) [Martial Artist]
The Cold yet Hot One/The Enforcer
I look to the other girl who stood next to her.
Miltiades Malachite (Lvl 13) [Martial Artist]
The Quiet yet Passionate One/The Enforcer
I tap the counter to signal Neo to keep an eye on our drinks while I entertain our new acquaintances.
"Hello, Gorgeous. I'm called Lilac, and my companion here is Sepia. What about you two?"
The act is redundant, but common courtesy dictates I ask anyway.
"Melanie-" The one in white says.
"Miltia-" The other follows.
""Malachite.""
They definitely practiced that. I smile at them.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you two." Neo's mirage nods at them while the real her follows the bartender's movements.
"Care to have a seat?"
I gesture towards the empty space next to me. They move closer to either of my sides instead. Neo briefly glares at them, but she returns to her task quickly.
"Actually…" Melanie starts.
"We were wondering…" the other continues.
"You seem new around here…"
"We are." I admit. There is no point in hiding it.
"Do you want to accompany us on the dance floor? We could show you the ropes." Miltia offers.
"And if you impress us, we might take you upstairs." Melanie throws out, her expression obviously hints she believes otherwise.
I hold a poker face at her proposal. Underneath my mask, my suspicion towards these two grows. Why would the two supposedly second-in-command approach me out of nowhere the moment I stepped in this establishment?
We are interrupted by the man of the hour arriving with our drinks in hand.
"Actually, girls. I need to speak with our guests for a bit."
Hei Xiong (Lvl 15) [Rocketeer]
Junior/Bob-bomb Man
The twins rolled their eyes before leaving with simultaneous scoffs. I look at Neo who nods to me, telling me our drinks weren't spiked while I was distracted. Hei looks at me.
"Aren't you a bit young to be drinking?"
I swirl the wine in the glass before sniffing. I don't drink yet though.
"Aren't you a bit old to be called Junior?" I shamelessly rip-off the retort.
"So, you know my name. Means you came here looking for something other than alcohol, sex, or having a good time. What will it be then?"
Sex? I make a mental note of that.
"Information. Word around the street is you're an information broker. You hear things. Things that others might not normally hear. Is it true?"
The man shrugs and rubs his fingers together. I pass a couple of Lien cards over the countertop. He nods his chin at me to continue.
"What can you tell me about a certain lady in red?"
He frowns.
"You gonna have to be more specific than that."
"She has long, black hair. Amber-colored eyes. Prefers Dust sewed onto her clothing. One of her possible aliases is 'Cinder Fall'. Ring any bells?"
He snorts.
"Yeah, I know her. Shows up here a couple of times. Prefers bourbon and doesn't talk much. She's a Level 38 Pyromancer and 22 years old. Titles are Power-Hungry and Undying Flames."
Well that doesn't sound ominous at all.
"What about her stats, semblance, and blessing?"
He rubs his fingers. I pass more payment over. He goes into the back to retrieve something. He soon returns with an envelope. I open it to find a document with an image of Cinder as well as text describing her assets. I read the fine print.
Cinder Fall (Lvl 38) [Pyromancer]
Titles: Power-Hungry/Undying Flames
Age: 22 years old
Semblance: N/A
Blessing(s): None
STR: 70
DEX: 93.2
VIT: 68
INT: 105.2
WILL: 86.7
LUCK: 10
Are you kidding me? You expect me to believe Cinder Fall has no blessing whatsoever? And what's with these numbers? Some of them impress me like her high INT stat, but then there are others that don't make any sense. LUCK of only 10? Really? Her STR stat is less than 20 above my own, and you gain 1 point for each level. If we were to go off of this report, I would technically have a higher STR value than her at the same level. What a load of nonsense.
"I asked for information, not horse manure, Junior." I complain.
"Well, that's all the info we could gleam off her status."
"And just how accurate are the numbers you even have?" I inquire with obvious doubt.
The man shrugs uncaringly.
Great. So that means these numbers could be worthless for all I know. I pass over some more money.
"What about her companions? Anyone she tends to hang out with often?"
He pulls out two other documents he preemptively brought with him. I open them.
Emerald Sustrai (Lvl 23) [Thief]
Titles: N/A
Age: N/A
Semblance: N/A
Blessing(s): N/A
STR: N/A
DEX: N/A
VIT: N/A
INT: N/A
WILL: N/A
LUCK: N/A
Mercury Black (Lvl 28) [Martial Artist]
Titles: Attention-Seeker/Black Legacy
Age: 17 years old
Semblance: N/A
Blessing(s): Hermes' Footwork (Epic)
STR: 50.7
DEX: 71.8
VIT: 45.3
INT: 41.9
WILL: 42.2
LUCK: 13.5
I frown at him.
"This is the best you can give me? You might as well as only told me they were a boy or a girl."
"Listen, girlie. You asked for what I knew, and I gave it to you every Lien's worth of it. Now unless you got anything else to ask, I'm busy."
"Just a few more. Do you know where they live?"
He nods his chin at the document in my hands.
"They used to reside at the address on that page, but you won't find them there anymore. They left on a plane to Mistral a few days ago."
Darn, they left a few days ago, which means I missed it by that much. I squint at the address. It was located in the far-off corner of the residential district near abandoned factories.
"This location… is bought under their name?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"So, there wouldn't be anyone else that would possibly access this place without their permission?"
Hei snorts.
"Not unless you can rip off all the security locks without them noticing. Anything else you need?"
"No. That'll be all."
Since I was finished questioning him, he left to do whatever it was that he said he was 'busy' with. I place the documents in my inventory before I finally sip my wine. My mind wanders as I sink deep into thought.
I don't know what to make of these numbers. Mercury's seem plausible, but Cinder's and Emerald's are a totally different story. I imagine Emerald's are unknown because she has high WILL or something similar that prevents prying.
Cinder's information, on the other hand, only partially make sense. The numbers are large, but they don't match up to the level of strength I imagined them being for a woman with half of a Maiden's powers in her grasp. If she has already left for Mistal, then she must have already assaulted Amber right? So, that means one of two things. One: Her information is incorrect because she altered it somehow and avoided Hei's prying eyes. This is likely because there's no way she has less LUCK than Mercury as well as no blessing. Or Two: She failed in capturing the Maiden's powers.
However, there are flaws with both of these conclusions. If Cinder's information is incorrect because of alteration, why aren't Mercury's altered? The only reason I can think of would be that my assertion about his information being accurate is wrong. That's… a concerning thought.
And if she failed in capturing the Maiden's powers, why would she opt to leave for Mistral so soon? Why wouldn't she instead stay and continue trying to assault Amber to finish the job? Perhaps it is too difficult because Amber is now protected in Beacon? There's still a month left before the school year starts though.
…Am I giving her too much credit? Could she actually be less of a threat than I think she is?
I swirl the liquid in my wine glass absentmindedly.
Regardless of them being accurate or not, her stats are far too superior to my own either way. I can't win in a straight fight which means I'll have to resort to an ambush like I previously planned. However, they're not in town. That means our confrontation will have to wait until Beacon. I don't know if I should be relieved or disappointed.
I hold my chin as I contemplate.
Luckily, that doesn't mean I can't do anything until then. Nobody's home right now. The only one who I guess would enter their local residence is Roman if he's still working with them. But even if he is, I don't think he would be granted access to her living quarters – especially if he's reluctant to work with her. If she is anywhere as cautious of a person as I am, she'll definitely try to prevent the likelihood of Roman possibly booby-trapping her place in order to get out of their working relationship. Too bad for her. He's not the only one she'll need to look out for. I need to get access to the blueprints of their building. We'll have to scout it out thoroughly before making a move, but if all goes well, I'll have set a nasty surprise for Cinder for when she comes back. Hopefully, it will solve all our problems before we get them.
I down the rest of my wine.
Or at least I hope so. Murphy's Law can be quite obnoxious sometimes.
Neo looks at me, waiting for my instructions.
"We got more than I expected. Either she's sloppy in covering her tracks, or this information is all worthless." I admit.
We stand and make our way to the lounge area to sit down in a more comfortable seat. Neo looks at me.
"Does that mean we got everything we came for?"
I shake my head, my body leaning back into the couch. I type my message into my scroll for her to read.
"No, we still need the blueprints to their place of residence. They're currently out of town which means this is a ripe opportunity to set up a trap in their home. But I want to make sure even doing so will go without a hitch, so we'll need the blueprints."
Neo types back to me.
"But why didn't you ask Hei for the blueprints just now then?"
"I can't. If we rig their home and they somehow survive or someone else triggers the trap, then Cinder's going to go hunting for whoever attacked her. Her first suspect is going to be Roman – if he's working with her. If he somehow convinces her with an alibi of some sort, she's going to go fishing for information on who possibly did it. So far, we've only asked Hei about who she is. That's suspicious, but I imagine anyone remotely involved in the criminal business will have asked the same. The moment we ask for blueprints though will give a giant sign that says, "I DID IT!" over our heads."
"How do you reckon we get the blueprints then?"
"Simple. We come back here another day but with different disguises. We'll ask for blueprints then, but not only for her building. We'll ask for as many blueprints around that area as possible. I already have our backstory thought out. We're two Huntresses who are searching for a surviving member of our team. However, our motivation is that we're looking for someone we have a grudge against. He abandoned us, and we suspect he's camping out somewhere in the area. In preparation for our revenge for causing the death of our fourth teammate, we're going to gather blueprints of the buildings just in case he tries to escape through some hidden passageways."
Neo reels back, astounded by my made-up story.
"What?"
"It's nothing… I'm just reminded once more about how smart you are, Lilac."
"You flatter me, Sepia. I told you already. I'm not smart. I just have the memories."
Neo shakes her head.
"No, you don't give yourself enough credit. You thought this up instantly. I would never have been able to do that."
I sigh.
"Enough. I don't want to continue this conversation."
"Then how about you join us instead?"
Neo deletes the conversation off the scroll. I direct my eyes to the Malachite twins who have approached us once more.
"Hello again, beauties." I compliment. "You want me to join you and do what exactly?"
"Dancing." Miltia answers. "We are in a club after all."
I glance towards the center of the rather spacious room. Join that giant mess of limbs and have strangers grind their hips onto my body? A place where the music is loud enough to mask the cover of anyone approaching, and an assassin could quickly stab me from behind before melding into the crowd? Yeah, no thanks.
"Sorry, I'm going to have to take a rain check on that. I'm afraid I don't know how to dance."
At least in a club, anyway.
"That's okay. We don't mind teaching." Melanie replies.
Neo stares at them suspiciously. I don't blame her. They're being oddly fixated on me.
"I have a better idea. See, I'm a bit shy of dancing in public."
I nod my head towards the stairs.
"Why don't the four of us head up to one of the VIP rooms? That way, we can do a bit of dancing in private. I'm sure we'll be able to find something to talk about as well."
The twins happily nod. Odd. We walk up the stairs. Melanie hooks her arm around mine while Miltia did the same with Neo's. I can smell her scent from this close. I can confirm they have a high standard for perfume at the very least. As we pass by some grunts that guarded the top, I notice they raise their eyebrows when they see who is with us. They clamp their mouths shut when the twins give them a look.
Fascinating. So, twins are normally hard to get. Why the sudden interest in me then?
We pass many VIP rooms as we make our journey to the very back. Some rooms were empty. Others not so empty. This fact is obvious enough to the four of us as quite a few had muffled noises leaking out. Neo stares at them in disgust while I raise an eyebrow at the girl next to me.
"The rooms here are of lower quality then those in the back. The one we'll be using won't leak any noise, so you don't need to worry." Melanie explains.
"I see… I remember Hei mentioning something about sexual intercourse earlier. Does this have anything to do with that?"
As if to emphasize my inquiry, a low moan is heard through a door. Melanie shakes her head in denial.
"No, we wanted to discuss something else with you… But if you wanted to do something like that, I don't mind."
Her eyes slowly roam up and down my figure.
"You certainly are easy on the eyes."
I hum in agreement.
"I can say the same about you and your sister."
"Thanks."
We finally arrive at our destination. Like Melanie promised, there was next to no noise except for the sound of our heels tapping against the carpet floor. Melanie slides what appears to be her club I.D. card in, and the door unlocks itself. Our group enters and are greeted with the sight of a spacious lounge area with much higher quality seats than downstairs. From the ceiling, we can see a net hanging there for some reason. A reason that dawns on me the moment I notice the little vending machine with dildos, condoms, and other sex-related items. In the middle of the table the couches surrounded is a dancing pole that runs from the floor to the ceiling. On the far wall is a very large television as well as a refrigerator containing drinks. We each settle into the couches. Melanie and Miltia are seated on one side while Neo and I are on the other. Miltia gives each of us a glass of water. I nod my head in thanks.
"So, what is this about?" I ask.
Melanie holds up a finger as she reaches underneath her couch seat. A soft click is heard as she flips some kind of switch.
"There. Now, the visual and audio recordings in this room are off. We can talk freely now."
"First of all, we want to make something clear before we go any further." Miltia begins. "We don't mean any harm to you. We just want to talk."
Neo and I nod. Miltia and Melanie exchange glances. Miltia takes a deep breath before speaking again.
"We know you're Weiss Schnee."
Neo's hand twitches for the knife hidden in her sleeve. I tap her hand to calm her down. The twins look at Neo nervously. A glyph forms on my fingers.
[Glyph of Silence]
I am aware of what they said earlier, but I shall take extra precaution just in case.
"You don't seem surprised." Melanie states.
"I figured as much given how much attention you two were giving to me. How did you find out?"
One of the twins takes out an small marble, one that I immediately recognize. I widen my eyes in surprise.
"An artifact that can discern the details of other people's status screens. One that is commonly used by law enforcement. Going by the luster it has, it definitely must be an epic grade item. Something of this quality is on par with the ones used in a highly-secured military facility. How did you two get your hands on that?"
"We have our methods." Miltia dodges.
"Hm. Fair enough… Hei knows my identity, I assume?"
"No." Melanie denies. "We haven't told anyone yet, and we don't intend to either."
"Oh?"
Miltia nods.
"We overheard your conversation with Hei. You want to know about Cinder, right? We're the ones in charge of gathering info about every person that enters the club due to us possessing this artifact. We can tell you more about her."
"Why would anything you say be different than what Hei provided to me?" I question.
"Because we coincidentally saw her a few days before she left. Her data changed." Miltia says.
I lean forward in interest.
"How so?"
"She has gotten stronger."
"Much stronger." Melanie emphasizes. "We couldn't see much because her WILL stat also increased, but we can show you what we saw different."
"Why would you help us?" Neo asks.
"As you probably noticed, the club also deals with prostitution. It's not a main attraction of this place. Anyone who wants that specifically can just head over to a brothel, but the option exists here."
"The reason we have it is mainly because of the nobles." Miltia elaborates. "Some Vale nobles come here from time to time. Some don't mind losing themselves in the crowd of the dance floor. Others like to see a pretty face in our VIP rooms."
"Let me guess. You don't want to be a part of those pretty faces?" I inquire.
The twins nod at me.
"Our deal with Hei is that we act as his enforcers as well as one of his key information gatherers. In return, we get paid while staying immune to any of those requests. It's worked out for us so far, but we want to aim higher." Miltia explains.
"We don't want to be stuck in a club all our lives." Melanie continues. "It's not the safest, especially considering the business Hei involves himself in. We saw you walking in and discovered who you are. We've heard of your acts of kindness, so we thought 'Why not?' If we get the protection of a kind noblewoman like you, we don't have to worry about being sold off to nobles."
I hold my chin in thought. My eyes have been keeping track of their facial expressions and body language this entire time. I sense no falsehood in their story; their desire for a better lifestyle is plausible. They wanted to get on my good side, so they purposefully didn't give out information about me. If this is true, I really dodged a bullet there. Despite all this, there is something that bothers me.
"Hei doesn't know you have that artifact, does he?"
The twins widen their eyes in shock. Neo looks at me.
"Why do you say that, Lilac?"
"For someone who is afraid of getting taken advantage of by nobles, they're rather forthcoming with what can be considered rather invaluable information about themselves with a stranger. It could be that they simply wish to believe in my kind disposition, but their actions convince me otherwise. You two don't strike me as the naïve types. You're both cautious enough that you would take me into a room to prevent eavesdroppers. No, your rash decision comes off to me as desperate rather than foolish. I imagine your insistence on getting me onto the dance floor was a ploy to ask about speaking in a more private setting. You two intended on using the noise to mask whatever information you were going to reveal in order to entice me, weren't you?"
It would also explain why they seemed glad about me requesting to go to a VIP room when it is obvious by the guards' reactions that this is not an everyday occurrence.
They numbly nod in confirmation.
"You figured it out from just that?" Miltia asks in disbelief.
"No, I also considered what I know about Hei from our brief interactions together. He obviously doesn't mind turning a blind eye to certain acts if he's given enough Lien. He's also apparently greedy if he never gave me accurate information despite me paying for Cinder's twice. You two have an artifact that people would kill for, but Hei doesn't even consider stealing it from you and pawning you off to the nobles? I would like to think Hei sympathizes with you two, but your actions prove otherwise."
Miltia looks down with a despondent look on her face.
"Well, you're right. We told Hei we can see status screens due to a skill book we picked up from a dungeon. We weren't too afraid of the nobles at first because Hei's kept his promise all these years. But recently, he's hesitated when we were requested now that we've grown up."
Melanie sits up straight and stares at me with defiant eyes.
"We aren't okay with just sitting there waiting to be pawned off like some trophy, so here we are. What will it be? Will you help us or not?"
Neo frowns at the disrespect I am shown. I pat her shoulder, placating her.
"Sure."
They blink.
"Wait. Really? Just like that?"
I roll my eyes.
"Naturally, we're helping each other out here. I see no reason why I shouldn't help you two; I certainly understand your fear of being treated like merchandise. Here."
I hand over the document I got from Hei. The twins take out a pen and set about correcting the numbers.
I sigh.
If Cinder got a large power boost, she must have succeeded in assaulting Amber then. The artifact also explains why I saw such discrepancies in his report too. How much it reveals depends on the grade of the artifacts involved. Cinder must have something that alters her stats, but she would never have imagined the twins possessed an epic grade artifact. The artifact the twins have must be of higher grade than the one Cinder has, but the reason they could only see some of her numbers correctly is because Cinder had a high WILL stat. That's why some of her stats made sense while others didn't. The ones that don't must be the altered ones. I would have to meet her in person to verify this theory, but I'm almost positive I'm right.
Luckily, this means Mercury's number are valid like I had assumed. Which means if I play my cards right, both he and Emerald won't be a problem to me. The twins hand the document back to me, and I look it over.
Cinder Fall (Lvl 54) [Pyromancer]
Titles: Power-Hungry/Undying Flames
Age: 22 years old
Semblance: N/A
Blessing(s): None
STR: 70
DEX: 93.2 (before); 80 (after) (fake)
VIT: 68
INT: 105.2 (before); 117.2 (after)
WILL: 86.7 (before); 75 (after) (fake)
LUCK: 10
I see now. So before, the only ones that are most likely correct was her DEX, INT, and (ironically) WILL stat. Now, the DEX and WILL stats are lower because they're reverting to the values she originally altered them to due to her new WILL stat being high enough to hide more stats. I take out a pen and put "(fake)" next to STR, VIT, and LUCK as well. The twins don't know that they're fake, but I can probably assume they are. At most, the INT stat, her age, and her level is correct… Darn. That's not much to go off of. At least I know the numbers they must be higher than.
I smile at them.
"Thank you. Now, let's discuss how I can repay you two. I own some stocks of the SDC, so it's not impossible for me to set you two up with a job there if you would like."
They shake their head.
"We'd rather not. We know the SDC has made some policy changes, but it's still predominantly run by nobles." Melanie comments.
"Like we said, we want to work with you." Miltia insists.
I scratch my head in thought.
"The thing is… I don't really own a business where you two can work for me in. I mean, I organize charity events and food drives in Atlas, and I don't mind giving you two similar positions to kickstart ones in Vale. However, they predominantly run off of cash that I personally receive, so there isn't enough to pay for your living expenses. I would need something else to justify receiving more cash to pay you two."
"Couldn't you just hire them as additional maids?" Neo suggests.
I tilt my head.
"I mean… I could, but we'll be heading to Beacon soon… What are your opinions on becoming Huntresses?"
They exchange looks at one another before looking back at me while shrugging their shoulders.
"We're not against it."
"But how will we keep up with the rest of the students? We're good…"
"But we're not that good."
"That's not that big a deal. There's still a month left, and you two aren't that far behind. We can grind some levels together this month."
Neo taps my arm.
"But what about your team?" she asks.
"Hm? Well of course I'm going to stick with my original plan. They're just coming with us now."
Melanie frowns.
"Wait, I thought you had a way for us four to get together on a team. You mean you don't plan on us being together?"
I shake my head.
"No, I don't really care if you don't make it on my team. Even if you don't, we can still work together and join as a guild, right?"
They look at me skeptically. They must be thinking I'll ditch them using them failing the initiation as an excuse. I withdraw a stack of Lien from my inventory and push it towards them. Their eyes stare dumbfounded at the large digits they see on the cards.
"I can see you're skeptical about me fulfilling my promise. Consider this an early paycheck."
"This… has to be around 10,000 Lien. Maybe even more!" Miltia exclaims in shock.
I smile gently at them.
"Do you still doubt me now?"
Melanie grips her sister's hand.
"No…No, we believe you."
Good.
"I don't need you guys to be on my team." I reiterate. "Just socialize with us, and together our teams can form a guild. Then, we can take missions together."
They nod their heads at me, their eyes full of appreciation and acceptance.
"No problem. We can leave this job tonight if you want."
"No."
They lean back at my rather strange outburst. I coughed into my fist.
"My apologies. No, I'm going to need you two to play as Hei's enforcers just a little longer. See, I plan on coming back tomorrow night under another disguise asking for blueprints to some buildings. I need you two to back me up and tell Hei I am who I claim myself to be."
Miltia tilts her head in confusion.
"But, we can just get you that ourselves. You don't need to go through all that extra hard work."
"That's not good enough. I need to do this disguise in order to create an identity with a motive. Otherwise, when Cinder comes knocking down the doors, asking who could possibly have the blueprints, you two will be under suspicion. I won't do that to you two."
They look at me with newfound respect.
I take a sip of my water that I haven't touched till now.
"Is that all you need from us?" Melanie asks.
"For now."
"Do you have any other plans for tonight?"
I give them a quizzical expression.
"…? No, not at the moment."
The twins exchange profound looks. They both stand before sauntering over to me and Neo, their hips swaying all the while. Melanie straddles my lap while Miltia did the same on Neo's. I raise an eyebrow in question.
"I thought you didn't want to sell your body to nobles?"
"We don't, but we can tell you're different." Melanie replies.
"You didn't have to do anything, but you decided to help us anyway." Miltia alternates.
"You paid us a huge amount of Lien, yet all you requested from us is our word and the hope that we train and follow you to school."
I hum as Melanie runs her soft hands up my chest, my eyes follow her movement before looking into her own.
"Being a Huntress isn't a safe occupation either. You can die at any time. If you still worked here, you would at least be safe for the most part."
They shake their heads.
"We can be safe now, but for how long? It is only a matter of time before some noble picks us up. Hei has dirt on us. Dirt that we can't let officials know. At least this way, we can leave while we're still on good terms."
"Besides," Miltia continues, "you don't understand how much it means to us for you to do the things you do."
Melanie runs a finger under my chin and tilts my face up to hers.
"We just want to show you a bit of our appreciation." She whispers.
Her soft lips approach mine. I stop her with a finger on her mouth. I hold her hand with my own.
"You don't need to do this to guarantee my cooperation with you, you know."
"We're not." She denies.
"Well, even if you aren't, I've only just met you two today. We barely know each other, and I don't want us to casually fuck one another. If we do this, I want a serious relationship out of it. So, I'm sorry."
She nods in understanding. Melanie stares over at her sister. She wryly smiles.
"I don't think your friend would appreciate it either."
I giggle.
"No, I don't think she would."
Neo was currently glaring daggers at Melanie, but she was blushing at the same time from Miltia sucking on her neck. Neo looks at me with pleading eyes. She probably didn't reject her because she was waiting for me to reject mine first. Melanie looks back at me.
"If you're not okay with us fucking, then I hope you don't mind us giving you a show at the very least."
My eyes roam up and down her body shamelessly. Now that didn't sound too bad of an idea. We are in a club, after all. Might as well have some fun tonight.
"Go right ahead." I say, against my better judgement.
Melanie smiles before turning on some music. I release my glyph, so that it wouldn't interfere with it.
"Lilac!" Neo exclaims in shock.
Neo sighs in relief when Miltia stopped kissing her, but her breath hitches as the twins begin pole-dancing in front of us. I licked my lips as the two showed their skills at accentuating their beauty. The two succubi in human skin slowly, yet sensually stripped off each other's clothing. Some were undone with their hands. Others undone by their other body parts. I watch with rapt attention as Melanie pointed her supple butt as my face. Miltia grabbed her sister's white thong in between her teeth and slowly dragged it down. Miltia pauses at her crack, and the image resembled someone eating her out from behind.
I gulp. I can already feel myself getting wet below.
Melanie moans. Turns out she actually did lick her there. I stare as Miltia withdraws her face from her sister's butt. I notice the light shining off a line of saliva between her mouth and her sister's behind. Melanie steps out of the thong that had fallen to the ground. I can feel my heart racing in my chest. I certainly am not into incest, but I couldn't deny what I just saw turned me on immensely. Melanie clicks her heels against the table, drawing my attention again. I sit in silence as the girl straddles against me once more. She presses her naked breasts against my clothed body and grinds her hips on my lap. I bite my lower lip in want. She leans forward, and our lips connect.
I didn't stop her this time.
My tongue fights with hers for dominance as my hands grope her supple butt. I open my eyes to glance at my maid. Neo is lost in the world of pleasure as Miltia makes out with her. We have gone a bit too far past the boundaries of a 'show'. As reluctant as I am, I push Melanie back while ignoring my desire for her luscious lips. Melanie moans in displeasure as she opens her eyes.
"What a naughty girl you are. Seducing me like that after I told you I didn't want things to go that far." I reprimand her. My tone, however, is husky from my inner desire leaking out.
She bows her head.
"You're right. We went too far…"
She looks at me with upturned eyes.
"So will you punish this naughty maid of yours?"
I smack her ass. She yelps.
"That's enough out of you. I said no sex which means no sex."
Melanie pouts but relents. She turns to the side and giggles. I look to see what was so funny. My eyes find Neo sucking on Miltia's breasts. The other twin was directing her head toward the ceiling as she soundlessly moans out her pleasure with closed eyes. I clear my throat. She freezes, and her half-lidded eyes widen. She slowly looks my way with Miltia's tit still in her mouth. I raise a delicate eyebrow at her. She immediately releases Miltia who groans disappointed.
"I-I didn't-" she stutters out.
I shake my hand dismissively.
"Don't worry about it. I don't blame you. I lost myself for a moment there as well."
Truly, I shouldn't underestimate these girls. I look towards the twins who now stood gathering their clothing.
"We should be heading out. It's getting late. It was a pleasure meeting you two tonight."
They nod back at me.
"Same for us." Melanie replies.
They look at one another before giving us one last temptation.
"Although, if you stayed the night…"
"We wouldn't mind sharing even more pleasure with you two." The other finishes.
I blandly stare at them before reaching behind them and smacking them both on the butt. They squeal, half in pain and half in delight.
"We've only just met." I repeat for the second time.
"That wasn't a yes." Melanie comments.
"But that wasn't a no." Miltia peers at me in lust.
I roll my eyes.
"Maybe in the future, but definitely not tonight. Go get dressed."
""Yes, Mistress.""
Smack!
Two squeals escape them as they dash off to put the rest of their clothes on. Neo glares at them but looks down when she notices me observing.
"What's the matter? Feeling guilty?"
Neo nods ashamed. I rub her shoulder.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm not mad that you're attracted to someone that isn't me."
"But I feel like I betrayed your trust…"
"Sigh… Neo, if I were to tell you now that I might fall for multiple women, would you want to break up with me?"
"No! Of course not! It's only natural someone as beautiful as you were to get a harem!"
…Okay. Not exactly what I was going for, but alright.
"Then it should be obvious that it's possible for you to have an open relationship with multiple people as well. It's your choice if you think you should only be with one person, but I won't hold it against you just like how you won't against me."
Neo diverts her eyes before looking back at me with a small smile.
"…Okay. Thank you for cheering me up. Lilac."
"It's only natural."
""Aww.""
The twins come back up to both of us. Both of them were now fully dressed and are currently interlocking arms with us.
"That's so sweet." Miltia coos.
"Are you sure we can't get in on this deal?" Melanie pleads.
"Not yet." I deny.
"Aw." Melanies looks at me. "But can we get one last kiss for the road, at least?"
I smile at her.
"Of course."
We lean in for one final kiss. Neo hesitates slightly, but she eventually follows along. Our last make out session is interrupted by the twin's earpiece coming to life. They groan, irritated by the interruption.
"What?" Melanie vehemently spits out.
"…Fine. We'll be right there." Miltia responds.
"Something the matter?" I ask.
"Some blonde bimbo is causing trouble on the dance floor." Melanie complains. "We're needed because apparently the grunts can't take care of a single person."
"Hei should really at least pay to hire better men." Miltia comments. "I highly doubt it though."
I shrug.
"Good luck."
Melanie and Miltia gives me and Neo one last kiss on the cheek before switching and doing the same to the other person. Neo and I leave not to long after them as we do one last check to make sure that nothing was forgotten. As we are walking down the hallway at a leisurely pace, it dawns on me why Melanie's phrase sounded so familiar.
Wait a second. It couldn't be…
"Lilac?"
I dash forward. Neo follows suit. We finally exit the hallway to find a very familiar person facing off against the twins.
"Someone you know?" Neo questions.
"Yes. Even though I have never met her my entire life."
Neo squints at her figure.
"You mean she's…"
"Yes."
Yang Xiao Long (Lvl 24) [Berserker]
Blonde Bombshell/Burning Gold
I lean against the railing of the stairs. The two of us make ourselves comfortable as we watch the spectacle that is about to happen.
"This should be interesting, at the very least."
