Chapter 5: The Shadow upon Uro
"Okay, we're here!" Fran said excitedly.
In front of the three of them was a hotel decorated in the same vein as those adventurer's tavern commonly seen in Japanese light novels, but its exterior had the same sense of dilapidated tone as the whole town of Uro. However, the sound of drinking and chatter inside was in contrast to the depressed atmosphere outside.
"Wild Boar Tavern?" Marika and Ladybug read aloud the sign hanging outside the store. Marika notices that she and Ladybug can both understand the language of this world when they read the sign, then she also remembers that she seems to communicate with the residents of this world all day long without issues, it seems that this is another handiwork of the system.
'Looks like this system is quite considerate', Marika thought happily.
"Come on, let's get inside! You two must be starving, right? I know the owner here well, her cooking is the best in town!" Fran introduced the tavern excitedly.
"Very well, lead the way." Marika agreed, and the three of them entered the Wild Boar Hotel.
The Tavern has many sets of tables, most of which are full of round tables. The busy waitresses shuttle back and forth like bees among the customers. Some tables sat adventurers wildly drinking mead to celebrate the success of their recent mission, some tables sat residents enjoying dinner after a hard day's work, and some tables sat drunkards drinking away their sorrows. What all the guests have in common is that their tables are filled with simple yet delicious looking dishes.
At this moment, a stout middle-aged woman with a black ponytail and an apron came over to Fran and said:
"Yo~! Fran chan, why are you here later than usual today? You made me worried there for a second."
"Hey... I'm sorry, Aunt Lof, I came late today because I brought two new friends over." Fran smiled a little embarrassedly, and stood aside to reveal Marika and Ladybug who were standing behind her.
"Hi, I'm Marika, nice to meet you."
"I'm Ladybug, Lady Marika's bodyguard."
The two introduced themselves.
"Oh~! You are the tall blonde beauty that everyone is talking about today? Wow~! I was a little skeptical at first, but now that I see you in person, you really live up to its reputation!" Lof praised, looking at Marika with impressed eyes.
"Thank you," Malika returned politely with a smile.
"Okay, let me take you to your seats! I have specially reserved a table for Fran today!"
On the way to the seat, many admiring eyes of men looked at Marika once again.
The three sat down, and Lof brought them each a menu made from a thin wood board.
The three of them studied the menu, and then ordered the food they wanted and three glasses of mead to the waitress who came. Fran ordered her favorite chicken lettuce salad, and Marika ordered the smoked wild boar set meal. After struggling with the menu for a while, Ladybug decided to order the same dish as Malika.
After watching the waitress leave, Fran said:
"Auntie Lof often takes in homeless girls to work in her tavern, and everyone respects her, whether it's the girls here or the residents of the city."
At the next table over, a down-and-out male customer gulped down a glass of liquor, and set the wine glass heavily on the table, disturbing Marika and his party. The friend of the male guest turned his head and gave Marika and her party an apologetic look before turning to comfort his friend.
"Bass! That shameless bastard! After he defiled my Liya, he threw her into the street like some used up rag! How did such a scumbag become the mayor of the city! If it weren't for him, Liya wouldn't... Uuuuuuuuuuu~" The man started to cry in pain in a low voice while he was halfway through speaking, and his friend could only pat him on the back sympathetically to comfort him.
Back to Marika and her group, both Marika and Ladybug were surprised by the evil deeds of Lord Bas, and looked at Fran inquisitively. Fran sighed and said:
"This is not the first time Lord Bass has done this kind of thing. He was already the mayor of the city before I came to Uro. And he had already been oppressing the people all these years, forcing on them high taxes, and sending his soldiers to abduct commoners girls to be his plaything. And his soldiers are just as vile as he is. They collect protection fees from everyone and if someone fails to pay them, the soldiers will drag them out and kill them in the streets. The only ones who were safe from his clutches are us adventurers, because we are protected by the Adventurer's Guild of the Kingdom of Inrud. However, he has become more and more daring in the past few months. There were several disappearances of female adventurers that seem to be related to him. But because of his status as a nobleman, he has legal protection preventing us from getting rid of him. To be honest, everyone wishes for a new mayor, doesn't matter who, as long as it's not a bastard like Bass."
"My God..." Ladybug stroked her forehead, taken aback by Fran's story.
"So Miss Marika, I advise you to leave the city as soon as possible. With your looks, Bass will surely get wind of you sooner or later, and send his soldiers to catch you. Although his soldiers are nothing to write home about, there are too many of them. Even if you have weapons, it will be difficult to defeat them all. So you should leave here as soon as possible!" Fran pleaded worriedly, her eyes full of sincerity.
"I agree with her, boss. This Bass guy sounds like trouble, we'd better get out of here as soon as possible. Why don't we buy some necessities for the road tomorrow and then dip!"Ladybug said, also looked worried.
"I guess we will just do as you say." Marika agreed. But there was something that was gnawing at her as she continued to drink with her party.
After a few minutes, the waiter finally brought the food they ordered to the table, and Lof's exquisite cooking slightly dispelled the heavy hearts of the three of them.
After dinner, Fran bid farewell to Marika and Ladybug and returned to her rented house. The remaining two booked two rooms at the tavern counter. Luckily there was no cliche trope where the inn had only one room left and the two were forced to share the same room. After saying goodnight to each other, the two entered their rooms on the second floor to rest.
Marika sat on the bed in her room and looked at the layout of the room. The room is not big, with a simple and neat configuration, a wooden table and two matching wooden chairs, a wardrobe, a glass mirror that Marika is surprised would exist in a medieval world such as this one, and the single bed under her.
Marika reflects on her day and feels a little depressed because of what she learned about the situation in Uro today. 'Should I do something about it?'she thought. Marika shook her head, saving these complicated thoughts for tomorrow to think about, and then decided to get a gacha pull to make herself feel better. Marika opens the system interface, and then uses the multiverse lottery pull she earned today to shart the gacha pull.
Ornstein's dragonslayer spear (B), Arjuna's divine bow Gandiva (A), Superman's Bio-telekinesis (S), these are the prizes Marika got.
Marika was overjoyed with her luck. Superman's bio-telekinesis is a very powerful skill whether used for fighting or making a getaway, and its potential for evolution is also very high. Ornstein's dragonslayer spear and Arjuna's divine bow Gandiva are both magical weapons that Marika knew well in her previous life. Marika decided to try bio-telekinesis first. Marika simply moved her thoughts, and her body successfully floated in mid-air according to her will. Marika could clearly feel the energy inside her and control the operation of this ability. After flying in mid-air for a while, she returned to the ground to inspect her new weapons. Marika took out Ornstein's dragonslayer spear first, and the spear appeared in her hands in a burst of golden light. Marika wielded the spear with ease and skill, her empyrean allowed her to control it easily. She could also faintly feel her memory is absorbing the martial arts and powers of Ornstein contained in the spear. After another burst of golden light, the spear was put back into the system inventory by her. Marika then took out Arjuna's Gandiva, Marika gently drew the bowstring and injected her own rune power into it, and when the runes touched the bow, it was transformed into mana. These mana form a magical arrow composed of destructive energy. After dispelling the magical arrow, Marika quietly felt Arjuna's martial arts and power contained in his divine bow, and absorbed them into her memory. After putting it away, Marika looked at her character interface:
Host Name: Marika
Gender: Female
Race: Empryean
Skills: Golden order incantation (A), God-Man Body (S), Mind Control Immunity (C), Melee Weapon Use (B), Unarmed Combat (B), Bow Use (A), Mounting (B) ), Divinity (A), Golden Rule (A), Dragon Faith Prayer (C), Special Attack on Dragons (B), Clairvoyance (C), Mana Release Flame (A), Superman's Bio-Force Field (S)
Inventory: Marika Stone Hammer (S), Elden Ring [Incomplete 1/9] (A), Tool Belt (E), Ornstein's dragonslayer spear(B), Arjuna's divine bow Gandiva(A)
Noble Phantasm: Agni Gandiva (A)
Seeing that she had become much stronger than before, Marika was very satisfied. With such power, she should be able to protect herself easily. After all, a blue demon once said:
"Might control everything. And without power, you can't protect anything. Let alone yourself."
Marika thenfinally checks the NPCs she can summon: winged Misbegotten, demihuman, elite demihuman, Godrick's soldier and Godrick's knight. And I got 1000 rune after completing the task of defeating the gangster. Godrick's soldiers and knights should be a good choice to summon as her first batch of warriors. As for demihumans, because they have a savage temperament and lack of discipline, they may hurt innocent people, so Marika does not intend to summon them. As for winged Misbegotten, they shouldn't be as dangerous as demihumans, provided that they are respected for their basic human rights. In the end, after thinking about it, Marika decided to save more runes first and find time for NPC summoning at a later date.
At this time, in the mayor's mansion in the middle of the night, Buzz was sitting by the fire in the bedroom, drinking red wine depressedly. He had a well-groomed pot hairstyle and curly beard, his fat body dawning an expensive nightgown as he sat on an expensive sofa. On the other side, the wine maid tremblingly prayed that the ugly mayor would not take a fancy to her tonight.
The reason why Bass is depressed is that he has had his fun with all the girls he is interested in in his territory. His "mistresses" and maids who have been kidnapped and imprisoned no longer interest him. He has found that his sex life is completely boring as of now. Just as he was sulking, his bodyguard Joels, a bald knight with a scar on his left eye, came in, wearing knightly armor embroidered with the city flag of Uro.
"My lord, I have some news that will be of great interest to you." After saluting Bass, Joels leaned into Bass's ear and whispered.
"Tell me, Joels," Bass asked curiously. There are only two kinds of news that interest him: beautiful women or gold.
"My lord, the soldiers reported to me that they found a mysterious woman named Marika in the city today. And she has all your favorite features on a woman, my lord: pure golden long locks, and a pair of voluptuous breasts and buttocks; and her face is said to be astoundingly beautiful. What's more strange is that she is eight feet tall, has golden eyes, and wears a golden crown and a gold embroidered dress."
"Is the news true?" Bass asked with excitement in his tone. Gold and beauty, his favorite things gathered on a woman, what is it not to like? Greed and lust has already taken hold of his brain.
"Every sentence is true, my lord," Joels replied with a humble smile.
"Then where is she now?" Bass asked excitedly.
"The soldiers said that she should be staying at the Wild Boar tavern in the Eastern District tonight. If my lord desires her, I will call a team of soldiers to bring her to you in this instance."
"No need, I'm a little tired now. Go catch her tomorrow morning, I have to rest myself well tonight, so i'll have the energy to 'enjoy' her well tomorrow, hehehe~"