Y/N POV
As soon as we entered the vicinity of Kararagi, I told Valgren to reduce his size, and he flew into the capsule through a window. Meanwhile, the capsule entered auto-flight, which is literally just gliding with the giant flap above our heads while Palmyra and Omega helped push it with Wind Magic from behind.
A fast and efficient type of travel. Although Meili's mabeasts are awesome for land travel, this is better for long distances where we didn't need the protection of thousands of monsters.
After a few minutes, we landed in a field near a mansion, and my Battalion exited the capsule before I shoved it into my Dimensional Storage. Taking a leisure stroll down the hill, I encountered a servant of the mansion in question, who seemed to be quite confused.
"Is this the residence of the Fierce Merchant, Riften Magoji?" I asked, and the servant's eyes widened. "I wish to speak to your master. Tell him that the Liberator has arrived."
"Y-Yes! I will go fetch him right away!"
Riften Magoji. Also known as the Fierce Merchant, he's one of the top dogs of Kararagi. Although not famous enough to stand beside the Fang of Iron and the Scratch of Silver, his group was still renowned throughout the country. Imagine my surprise when I heard his name, the employer of Subaru is Sloth IF, when I saved one of his majorly important trading carts from getting robbed.
That was around 6 months ago, and we exchanged letters since. I gave him just a few ideas on what to sell on the market, such as simple lighters for cigarettes. Of course, I don't intend on selling out all the technological advancements to him, those are reserved for Anastasia when she comes to negotiate with me. Hehe.
We entered a giant hall, and all twelve of us sat down on the long couch that Riften kindly prepared for us. After the servant set up his seat, Riften entered the hall, and I stood up to greet him.
"Welcome, Liberator. I'm sorry to be unprepared for your arrival, as you have arrived quite urgently, it seems."
"Fret not, dear friend. It's the first time we're meeting in person, after all. Come, let us both take a seat, and discuss what happened for both of us in the past month, shall we?"
Riften smiled and took my offer before we sat across each other, and we began telling the story that we both yearned to hear from each other over the past 6 months.
Riften seemed to succeed in his tradings with the lighter blueprint I sent him, and since I knew that the merchant world is cruel, and somebody would definitely copy my design before long, I told Riften to get innovative on the modifications of the lighter, so that he does not get outclassed too soon.
On the other hand, Riften was extremely interested in my stories, which involved the recent battle in Priestella. He seemed completely amazed that I defeated and reformed an archbishop, which, to him, was an impossible task. Of course, during this, I could sense Capella causing some mischief behind my back, because Riften would look behind me and occasionally have a pale face whenever her name was mentioned.
"Anyways, Y/N-san..." Riften said after we finished our little talk, and handed a card of sorts to me. "I had told the best hotel nearby that I had a guest that might arrive sometime, and he knows that what this card means. So enjoy your stay here in Karargi, even if it is only a short one!"
"Hah... thank you so much, Riften, you're really too considerate."
"Don't worry, we're business partners, after all! We shouldn't be in debt to each other, so this is my way of paying it off!"
"I see. I shall accept your gracious hospitality, then."
After arriving at the hotel, we unloaded all our packs. Maximillian and Bryan had a separate room per their request, while the rest of members decided to forcefully drag me into their room. I would've preferred a private room for myself by this point, but the vacancy of the hotel did not allow it.
Sadge moment.
And so, while the girls decided to have a slumber party, I stepped out into the streets, trying to look for a late-night bar that has some good food ready for me to eat.
I entered a bar on the right of our hotel, which seemed pretty convincing to be good, since it was in the most popular tourist district, after all. Taking a seat at the counter, I ordered a signature drink from the menu, and the bartender gladly served it up before I paid him some Kararagi currency that I exchanged at a nearby currency exchange shop.
"You have nice taste, sir." The bartender said to me as he handed me the white-coloured drink. "It's been a while since someone was willing to try... this."
"What, did someone get poisoned from it?" I asked, confused.
"No... it's more because the colour of the drink looks like... never mind. Please enjoy your beverage." He then scurried off before I could get his name, and I sighed.
What a weird man.
"Milk, ice, soda, lime, sugar, and a bunch of other acids and minuscule amounts of proteins. Hmmm... nothing wrong with it?"
I analyzed the contents of the drink, and upon finding no fault nor error with the chemical components, chugged the entire glass. A familiar flavour flowed through my mouth, and my eyes lit up in delight.
"Is this... Calpico?"
I looked at the remaining drops of the drink again, which reminded me of the milky flavoured drink that was a favourite of children back in Japan. "No way... someone just invented this...?"
Before I could proceed further in my thoughts, a lithe man with a black cloak entered the bar, and took a seat next to me. I found him a little shady, but something was off.
This man was dangerous.
Not dangerous in a bad sense, but I mean that he's powerful. He seems someone who's well trained in the realm of martial arts, and probably some other secret techniques-
"YOU! Get out, get out! You did not pay me back on that booze you snatched yet, so don't make me call the local police to get you outta my establishment!" The bartender yelled as he came back, shouting at the person next to me. Astounded by his actions, I turned towards him about to ask him what's going on, but the man simply gave a laugh and waved his hand.
"Chill out, Hige. I'm just here for another drink, can't you accommodate this old man for just a while longer?"
"Shut up about the 'old man' crap! You're a geezer who still plays girls like you're in your thirties, so shush-"
"Excuse me, Mr. Hige, you might want to tune it down a little." I cut in, and only then did the bartender realize the other customers seemed to be staring.
"Kid, this has nothing to do with you. You should stay out of it for your own good."
"Actually..." The lithe man suddenly raised a hand, and I saw from his hand that he was a demi-human of sorts. "The young man is my patron."
"Heh...?" I looked at the cloaked guy, confused.
"Oh, he's the one you talked about? Well then, I'll get the bill right away if you want to drink so much!" Hige then walked off to the back, while I shot the cloaked man a glare.
"If you make me spend too much money here... I swear I'll throw you off the Great Waterfall."
"No need to get agitated, young man. I'm sure I can offer you something nice in exchange for the fee." He gave me a sly smile, and I sighed before accepting his bill of wine from the past two weeks. To be honest, it wasn't that much of a big deal, but to a drunkard like this dude was, it probably was one.
"Okay, it's all paid off. Do I get my end of the deal now?" I said to the man, who gave me a sly smile.
"Very well." The man grabbed my arm, and within a second, we disappeared and reappeared on the top of a nearby building.
"Woah, what?" I exclaimed as I looked around, and noticed the bar we were in seconds before. Shadow travel?
"What do you think, kiddo?" The demi-human said as I noticed a pipe from his mouth, and canine teeth showing as smoke came out of his pipe. A wolfish snout was shown as the moonlight illuminated the figure, and I realized who this was.
"Halibel?!" I unintentionally voice my thoughts aloud, and the demi-human gave me another hearty laugh.
"It seems my intuition was correct. You were looking for me, weren't you, twerp?" Halibel said as he took off his cloak, and his full face was revealed.
"Well... yes. Kind of. To be honest, I was thinking, for the favour that you mentioned back then... would you like to join my Battalion?"
"..."
"..."
"Hahahahaha! You're a bold one, you know that? I quite like you, but you have to help me out with something before I can take that offer. It's quite a lot to ask of me, you know what I mean?"
"I will gladly oblige with what you ask, Halibel-san." I didn't care what he was going to make me do at this point. With him even beginning to agree was a great sign. I didn't expect it to be this easy, you know what I mean? I don't know specifically how Subaru successfully got Halibel to his side in Wrath IF, but it had to do with Zarestia. Meaning that if I manage to get the great Spirit of Wind on my side and have her forge a good relationship with Halibel, maybe it'll solve the problem.
This is going quite well.
"However, I do have one request to ask of you." Halibel said as he transported us to a clearing, with just grass in sight. "May I have a spar with you to test your strength? I personally don't follow people based on their strength, but having a lot is beneficial and that means that you can take care of yourself."
"I understand." I said as I coated my hands in diamond, before activating the White Whale's flying seal as well as boosting my body with Ul Akra.
"Shall we begin?"
"Whenever you're ready."
I took a dashing stance, but Halibel was already on the move. From what I know, he is a master at shinobi fighting, shadow usage, and curse making. This will be somewhat of a problem, but it seems that I can counter it for now.
"Bayanga, come out." I summoned my Great Spirit of Yin, and she gave me a thumbs up as we activated our original spell.
"Original Darkness- Abyssal Expansion."
Within a second, the grounds are covered in shadows, and the entire field turned black in colour. The purpose of this spell is to gain control over all the shadows around me, so that when Halibel decides to shadow travel, I can immediately sense where he is.
What I didn't expect was his insane ninja skills.
A kunai came from my right, and before I could intercept it, it stabbed into my left leg. Removing it with one of my Imperceptible Extensions, I pinpointed Halibel's location and shot a Rage Pulse towards him, but he avoided it easily.
"Cahya!"
"Got it, Y/N! Get a load of this, you old playboy!" Cahya shouted as she activated her original spell, Lux Crepitus. Essentially, it's just lasers that explode light flash bangs upon any contact, which I am immune to due to the protection and immunity of the Great Spirit of Yang.
However, Halibel cloned himself into fours as the clones began to flood towards me with kunais and shurikens. I quickly activated my Prudence's Barrier, and blocked the weapons as they reflected off the atoms with stopped time, but Halibel's clone was already behind me, and struck towards my exposed back.
But the strike never came.
My clone stood there, blocking the would-be fatal blow. I smiled, and activated the 4th power of Deceit. "Infinite Multiplication."
"Alchemis, are you ready?"
"Yes, Y/N. Hellfire Armour!"
A large plume of blue flame covered my clones, but did not burn them. The fire fused with the bodies as they elevated into the sky using the White Whale's flying seal, and rushed towards Halibel and his three clones as I waved my hand.
"Night Parade of 100 Demons."
As the hellfire-clad clones dove towards Halibel, the night sky shone bright for a single moment.