(A/N) First bit is as to be anniversary to going two years at this point of this story. The rest of the chapter, if you do not remember from last chapter's A/N, is the beginning of minor arcs. This is to build the story, actually end some story lines, and give some needed character growth.
(Would've uploaded this chapter a week ago, but due to life I never had much time to finish my 2nd proofreading and publish this till now. Sorry about that)
PAINTED WORLD OF ASH II
The old storage room within the demon lord's castle was filled with dust in the air, ancient relics draped over with old white cloths that hid they could be while cobwebs clung to them. No one had found it yet, no one of its existence save for the first few generations of demon lords. If one looked hard enough, they could see clear enough outlines through the white drapes to have an idea of what they were.
Weapons, armors, scrolls, and other artifacts belonging to a world of the past, long gone and unknown. But there was one artifact that wasn't quite like the others. In the far darkest corner, where the most cobwebs resided, something caused the white drape to fall; revealing a beautiful painting with shades of dark, depicting a strange peaceful land where no natural light shined, and with a woman staring from afar, waiting for something... or someone.
THE ADVENTURER: PART 1
A merry song of out of tune lutes and drunken slurring played throughout the early morning. The song echoed from the bandit camp, which was up against a small hill and shrouded by a heavy foliage. Its walls were wooden but built well and constantly under watch. At the center of the camp, one could see a multitude of bandits of mostly humans dancing around the bonfires, laughing and drunk off of their recent spoils. Others counted their new treasures and coins they looted from the dead. And few bandits stood at the side, refusing to partake in the party, enjoying it in a different way within their tents alongside a lover, or just minding their own business.
At the farthest end of the camp away from the gate was the tent belonging to the Bandit Captain, the one who led this army of renegades. Inside, the captain walked back and forth with a wide grin on his face. Beside the captain, gagged and bound in a wooden chair, sat a young boy in purple garment with smooth skin with blonde hair. The captain turned and looked at the boy, getting uncomfortably close to young child's face, his voice venomous like poisoned honey, "Say, how much do you think your parents would be willing to pay to have you back? Excluding the fees of my dead compatriots, of course."
The boy gave nothing but a pitiful stare, his eyes red and dry. The man got closer. The boy could basically taste the captain's rotten breathe through the gag, "Though, I do know some people who would love to have their hands on such a fine specimen, and they might pay better than whatever your parents might pay, and in more ways than o-."
The Capitan's talking stopped as his eyes widened. He instinctively grabbed his own throat as he tried to mouth out words, but only gurgling came out. Blood trickled from his mouth and seeped through his neck and hands. Then, slowly, the head slid clean off as the captain's corpse fell with a quite thud, revealing the one responsible.
Standing in front of the boy stood a person clad in full studded leather armor from head to toe with a hood hiding most of the face, save for a small bit of the helmet and a slightly tanned feminine face. In her hands she held two daggers, and dangling from her belt were pouches and a strange ornate dagger that looked like a relic you'd find in a museum. The boy didn't know who she was, until his eyes spotted around her neck a piece of platinum. She was an adventurer, and of the highest rank too.
The woman walked over to the boy, her uncaring eyes staring into his like a predator as she whispered, "If you do what I say and stick with me, we will get out of here without any problems. Understand?"
The boy nodded and at that the woman took off his gag and cut off his bindings, freeing him. The boy opened their mouth to ask questions, but the woman silently put her finger to her mouth and then gestured to follow her as she collected the head of the captain and placed it into one of her pouches.
Sneaking out of the tent, they silently went through the camp. For the woman it was slow, annoyingly so as she had to stop every once in a while to make sure the boy was keeping up or to save him from being found by a bandit or two who were about to see the boy. She wished she could have just rushed out of here to get the job done, but she had no choice with how inexperienced at stealth the boy was.
Then, right before they made it to the gates, the boy spoke as he grabbed her arm. She froze and sharply turned, her dagger almost touching the boys eye. The woman stopped at the last second and drew her weapon back, "What?" Asked the Adventurer sharply.
"You're an adventurer right? I know you killed the leader, but... Aren't you going to put a stop to these bandits?" Whispered the boy.
The woman pondered this and looked towards the center of the camp, staring at the scene of the drunken bandits. No doubt they would eventually find out, possibly turning on each other after failing to find the murderer. Though, now that she looked about, there were still plenty of bandits around who were already in some position of power and leadership. No doubt they would restore order, though whether they would fight over who would take over or not is an uncertainty.
She could take those few bandits of leadership out, but it would be risky for multiple reasons. First, a few of the bandits were mamono, and she had already seen a few incubi due to glowing eyes or minor changes in their body compared to normal humans. Also a few seemed to be magically more inclined than other bandits due to instead of wielding weapons, they held arcane focuses from what she could tell. All in all, these targets, if she slipped up in her movements or concealing her mana perfectly, would detect her.
Secondly, if she was too slow, then someone who wasn't drunk would notice and realize their missing. Sure their captain was dead, but for all they knew he was having fun with their new prisoner, but the others? No, that would surely cause suspicion.
Though if she did pull it off, well, the group would struggle to stay afloat and if she gave the info to her employer, no doubt this gang of bandits would become nothing but a distant memory. And of course, there was the matter she would probably be paid extra for this. With a reluctant sigh the woman turned to boy and whispered, "Stay here, don't go anywhere,"
Without the boy holding her back, the woman was fast and silent as a shadow forming from a bonfire. It only took a few seconds before she reached her first target, a man standing near a makeshift stable, clad in full plated armor that was obviously not fitted for him and most likely stolen; being noticeably too large in some areas with gaps way too big. It was easy, she went behind the stables and slipped behind him. Then when the time was right she snapped his neck before dragging him behind the stable to both hide the body and collect his head.
Killing still felt a little strange to her. It went against her natural nature as a mamono. Not to mention her entire life she trained to serve others through stealth while one day claiming a mate for herself like shadow to a doused flame. Though that last part thankfully never came as, at the cost of her sister's life and many trials, she wizened up. Now, ever since she became an adventurer for hire, many times she had no choice but to kill.
The next target was a mage sitting in her tent, quietly reading a book as she sat on her bed alone. It would be foolish to just walk into the tent, as with the Adventurer's experience with mages, they were usually too cautious of everything; putting wards to prevent things from sneaking up on them whether its something just a simple rune of detection or something of outright harm. But even if the mage was that wary, they made two, a tent is not very durable. And two, upon quickly checking the other nearby tents, there was no one nearby. The Adventurer snuck up behind the mage, the only thing separating them being the tent's cloth-thin wall.
But then, the mage sensed the Adventurer and slowly turned towards her direction. They had closed their book and were reaching for their staff. Without waiting any further, the Adventurer burst her arms through the tent and slit the mage's through in less than a second with her daggers, preventing them from casting most spells before their demise. However the kill was a little messy as some of the blood got onto the Adventurer's hands. No matter, she quickly wiped it off as best as she could on a nearby tent. The woman then entered the tent and collected another head.
That was close, that mage had better senses than she thought. She still had two more targets left.
The third was the incubus working hard at a small forge whose eyes glowed while a heart symbol could be seen on their pupils. They wore nothing but pants and terribly worn shirt and their muscles were clearly not natural with how bulky his form was. For a second the Adventurer wondered if their daggers could pierce such mass, but there was not time to guess.
This forge was in the open, and from what the Adventurer could see as she hid behind a few boxes nearby, a few of the archers stationed at the wall were beginning to notice a few of the missing leaders and one had their eye on the Incubus. If she was her old self, and had no need to worry about how much mana she expended, she would have used a spell to at least become invisible to land the kill.
However, she would only use her magic for emergencies. So she would have to come back later, it wasn't worth the risk as killing him would be far too noticeable.
The fourth target was a minotaur patrolling the camp's far-ends, her body built like a mountain of muscle and her stature taller than a man standing atop a steed. She seemed to be looking for something, or someone. This wasn't good, she probably noticed at least one of her two previous kills missing. Or at the very least the mamono was just doing her job. but that still was not good, she would possibly discover one of the bodies before it was time.
Her normal daggers, though high quality, would most likely not do enough damage to make a swift clean blow. She didn't know everything there was to a minotaur, and had never fought one. It was best to assume that, like her husband, a simple dagger of high quality wouldn't be enough.
So she put away one of her daggers and took out the ornate one she found in Lescete. She didn't like using it, even if it could cut the flesh of any foe she had ever met, as it made her feel uncomfortable in her hands. She swore she could feel a heartbeat when she held it sometimes, other times she was certain it was staring at her, even if it had no face or eyes. But what was she to do with it? She didn't want to sell it, it was her best weapon. And so far she has had no true reason to get rid of it other than the slight sense of discomfort.
The Adventurer got closer and closer to the minotaur, dashing behind things for cover when needed, her heart racing with every step she took. As she got closer, she was certain she could hear the minotaur mumbling under her breathe how she hated being told by both her husband and the captain to patrol the camp, and how she couldn't wait to mate with her husband again and then enjoy a nice nap afterwards.
The woman was only about ten feet away from the minotaur. Then as she readied herself to leap up in the air and take the mamono out, she realized she made a mistake, she didn't do a good job cleaning off the blood from the mage. The minotaur stopped when she smelled that blood and turned around, her eyes widening with shock then rage.
She couldn't let the minotaur call for aid! The Adventurer first threw her normal dagger, then the ornate dagger. The minotaur blocked the attack, but wasn't able to block the second dagger in time as it sunk into her thought, silencing her mid shout as her body fell to the ground with a loud thud. "Hey!" Shouted an archer above the wall. Quickly the Adventurer drew out her other normal dagger and threw it at the archer, going straight into the man's fore-head as he fell off the wall backwards.
It didn't take long before another guard noticed, especially since every archer was in sight of each other on those walls. Quickly as the shouting of archers and other bandits throughout the camp grew, she took the head of the minotaur, and collected both one of her normal daggers and the ornate dagger before fleeing. "We've got a killer on the lose!" Shouted one of the bandits as they found the Adventurer's handy-work.
More and more the camp flared to blood-lust as alarms were blown and even the either sleeping or drunk bandits got up to search. Without saying a word, the woman rushed back towards where she left the boy. On the way, she saw the incubus from before, now away from the forge and looking for the killer. His eyes widened when he saw the blood-covered Adventurer.
Well, she already lost one of her daggers, might as well use her other one. With a quick throw of her last normal dagger, the incubus died as a dagger flew straight into his eye and then into the brain. He didn't even have a chance to live, and neither did she sadly to collect his head.
The woman made it to the boy, who was looking around with worry. Before the boy knew what was happening, the Adventurer grabbed him by the arm and practically yanked him as they fled towards the now closing gate. She was going too slow, at her current rate she'd either ram face first into or get crushed by the gate. She wasn't going to make it unless she used some of her magic.
Reluctantly she stopped, wrapped her arms around the boy and used magic to not only leap over the wall and to the ground, but to turn invisible, preventing herself from becoming a porcupine of arrows as the archers or mages had no idea where to aim. Making it across the wall and quietly landing on her feet, the Adventurer kept running deep into the forest until she arrived where her horse was, tied to a nearby tree.
Letting go of the boy, the Adventurer ended the invisibility spell, a headache forming as she did so, and saw the boy gingerly take a step back. A slight blush on his face. The woman was tempted to give an annoyed glair but kept it to herself as she gestured to the boy to get on the horse. When the boy did as asked, she untied the horse and got on and rode home as fast as possible, to the city of Salutem.
Once they got far away enough and the sounds of bandits faded away, the woman scowled and had the horse walk the rest of the way. Neither person said anything even as they arrived at Salutem.
The city was of moderate size, though not as large as Lescete. A few humans and mamono entered in and out of the city, those entering showing paper work to the stationed guards. The Adventurer did the same as she pulled out her own identification as a member of the state and as a citizen of the Trade Federation. The guard barely even bothered to check as the guard knew exactly who she was.
The city, as usual, was bustling with trade and talk of the day; People living their simple lives with little mention of the world beyond the Federation's borders.
Work of smiths and carpentry could be heard, the smell of freshly baked goods whiffed through the air, and a few people here and there having heated arguments over a deal or just having a pleasant conversation could be seen. There even was a small chase between the guards and a thief of a small pouch of gold. A few people did glance toward the Adventurer, staring for a moment at the blood covered kunoichi and the noble child, but slowly turned back to their business.
Making her way towards the Adventurer Guild's Salutem branch headquarters, she rode pass a nearby mamono brothel, which to no surprise to the Adventurer, was busy as usual. And as usual, the Adventurer groaned quietly in annoyance as she saw in the corner of her eye a robust succubus open the window, looking directly towards her, "Oooh, I think Lottie is finally getting with someone! And so young too!"
The Adventurer's eyes twitched, not even bothering to look at the succubus. If it weren't for the fact that outright murder of a fellow law-abiding member of the city was a crime, she would've done something about that disgusting comment. "No, it's just a job!" Responded the Adventurer as she kept heading toward the guild.
"Oh sure, totally. Well if you at any time don't want to be an adventurer anymore, we'd be glad to have you! Our offer still stands!"
The Adventurer gave a death glare at the boy behind her on the horse as spoke harshly, "We will not see each other again." She then looked back towards the road and kept going. She had enough of a headache as it was, and she wouldn't end up like the rest of her kind. Hopping onto the nearest phallus without a care. She would not allow that, she couldn't, she wouldn't! Her grip on the reins tightened.
Finally they arrived at the headquarters, no one being seen entering in our out of it. It wasn't unusual, it was early morning, most adventurers were either getting some rest or had just went off to do another mission. After getting off the steed with the boy, the Adventurer guided the horse to the guild stables, tossed the needed coin to the stable boy, and left the horse in the stable boy's care. Then, after rechecking the heads she had collected, the woman went inside with the noble boy.
The guild was rather bare in people as expected, the only people other than her and the boy being a clerk at the counter waiting with clear boredom on his face, staring at the clock on the other side of the room. There was also an annoying rag-tag group of adventurers in the corner laughing. Every few days she came, they were there enjoying themselves. All she really knew about them was that each one was the same rank as her, and that they were called the Salutem Five. For a moment she just stared and eye each of them.
One member was a seven foot tall man of a giant, his body completely hidden by a set of full plate with a red cape and wielding a bastard sword.
Another member was a frail, sickly-looking mage, who looked so young that they had to be fresh from a college straight down to the bowl haircut. His glasses , staff, and robes looked too big for him in every way.
The third member was an old human bard who was right now telling some sort of tale while giving an eager expression with his clean-shaven and wrinkled face. What hair he had was white as snow.
The fourth member was an elven archer dressed in similar attire to the Adventurer, studded leather albeit newer and dyed green with a short green cape.
And lastly the fifth, a short balding dwarf of gray hair who was hunched over the table in a black robe. All the while having an animated arm of a skeleton casually serve him a cup of tea.
"Ok ok, so let me guess this straight," Chuckled the armored giant, "You saw in your young days as an adventurer, a man with nothing but a loin cloth and a broken straight sword, kill a high ranked dragon AND a high ranked demon?"
"I told ya," Chuckled the old bard, "It was a very weird year of my life. He told me to step back and just watch as, according to him, he wanted to challenge himself! And I had never saw him lose once. Sometimes I wonder if his foes died of some sort of infection from those filthy blades before he did any real finishing blow!"
The Adventurer zoned out from the rest of that conversation as they burst into laughter shortly after mentioning something about a 'rolly polly' technique, whatever that was. Walking up to the counter, the Adventurer took out the paperwork for the job, put it on the table along with the bag of heads, and gestured towards the boy. Then lastly, the Adventurer took out a map, pointed to a spot, "This is where the camp is. Make sure the guy sees what's in that bag. Also I'll come back later for my coin tomorrow."
"I-," Stammered the clerk, surprised at the sudden rush of info. Then as the boy looked in confusion and with the woman already heading out the door with a slam, the clerk shouted, "Will do, Miss Lottie!"
Quickly walking through the streets, the Adventurer headed toward their next stop. Her head was killing her thanks to that use of mana. They needed something now! Going through a few alleyways as shortcuts, the Adventurer arrived at a building with barred windows and an old creaking door. Above the door was a sign stating, 'Helga's potions'.
Going in, the old door squealed like a dying mouse while a worn bell rang. The Adventurer was greeted with the sight of an old, dimly lit alchemy shop with potions propped everywhere and their price beside them. In front of her at a small counter was an old woman hunched over; her head barely above said counter.
"Ah, your back. The usual, right?" Croaked the old woman.
The Adventurer nodded and the old woman ducked under the counter, "Sadly I still haven't got my hands on those mana potions you love so much, but," the elderly woman got and put on the counter a giant pouch, which seemed to be filled with something like sand or grain. The Adventurer grimaced as she had a feeling as to what it was, "I do still have plenty of essence supplements in stock. Is that alright, dear?"
The Adventurer wanted to decline, insisting that they had mana potions, but there was no point and she cared too much for her needs to complain, "How much?"
"Hmmm I'd say for this much, one platinum. It'll last you a good while. Perhaps a few months to a year," Responded the elder who was already bringing out her open palm to take the money."
Two platinum was a lot for food, granted it was food for her kind. But the Adventurer needed as much as she could get, "Fifty gold. It has terrible taste, and I am your most consistent customer. I think should have some sort of discount."
The elder pondered this. At first the Adventurer thought she would say no, but the old lady gave a toothless smile, "Alright dear, its a deal." without hesitation the Adventurer handed her fifty gold and took the pouch. As she headed out the old lady waved to her goodbye, "Stay safe, dear!
The Adventurer had one last stop. She went to the local smith who gave her an annoyed look that basically asked, "The usual?" The woman merely nodded and the smith went over and exchanged to her two new high quality daggers for one platinum total. They were a bit expensive for daggers, but the Adventurer cared more for quality than quantity when it came to her tools. And most of the time she was able to collect her daggers.
With a brief goodbye, the Adventurer left and started heading home alone with her thoughts.
It all still felt so strange to the Adventurer. It had been over one year since Lescete, a little over one year since... Yuri died, since she saw him. She wondered what had became of him. If he was still the creature she remembered. Memories blinked in and out of her mind of when she was tortured, when she heard news of her sister's death, when she fought that bug thing beneath the palace, when she crawled out of the ruins and saw what was left of Lescete. She stopped in her tracks, lost in thought as she looked back in her memories.
The woman was snapped out of it as she heard the sound of children laughing with glee. Looking to her left towards the sound, she saw the orphanage she left those children a year ago. They didn't notice her, but she saw them there, playing behind a barred fence in the playground without a care in the world. It would have been a nice sight. But the woman knew those mamono children no doubt were already being affected by their curse. Their need for a mate. Even now they were unknowingly choosing their mate amongst the boys. The only thing she could take as good was that for now they were pure, though in time that would change. All because they had no choice in the grand scheme of things.
It wasn't like with humans, as with mamono they are straight down to their spirit forced to have mates. They really didn't have a say in the matter in the end, unlike humans. Though some mamono want to take that choice away from humans. But why? What was wrong with not being mating, or having romantic relationships? Was it a sin not to? If so, why? Why did life have to revolve around that so much?
Sure you could say that mamono, like her, do have a choice in the end. But in reality, it felt more like being in an ocean with no boat in sight. You can choose to swim, but sooner or later, you will drown in the endless waters. she snapped herself out of her thoughts, she probably looked suspicious just standing here, staring at an orphanage.
Pulling out a small bag and depositing a few coins, the Adventurer tossed the bag over the fence and went on her way to the city's slums.
The main part of the city was bright, colorful, and full of life. Meanwhile here, most things were faded, worn, and drained of life. It had its busy times, sure, but it was never as busy as the main part of the city, especially with the poor and a few run down buildings. There was also the fact that crime was also more common here, as fewer guards were stationed in this area and most of the guards hated being stationed here.
The woman then arrived at her home, a small wooden house and nothing more. When she first bought it off an old couple, the place had looked like it had been attacked by a mob with its broken windows, unhinged doors, shattered furniture, and much more. Though through hard work and a lot of money, the woman had made it look like a decent enough home. It was her home, a home that she chose out of her own free will, a home for her made by her own hands.
Entering, she gave a tired grunt as put the essence bag on a nearby counter. It had been a week since she last ate anything outside of human food. She needed something now, her vision was starting to get blurry at this point. Groggily the Adventurer, before doing anything else, got a bowl and filled it with the newly bought essence supplement.
She hated the taste of it, what mamono didn't? But they had no choice, outside of expensive mana potions or having a mate, so here she was.
She took a deep breath and little by little, holding in the urge to gag from the taste. The Adventurer consumed the bowl of essence before walking over to a nearby shelf and pulled out one of her bottles that she had filled with water and washed out the dry soap-like after taste.
With a clunk of glass hitting the counter, the Adventurer put the bottle down and slowly walked to her small room, with its simple wooden walls and a barely kept-up bed. It had been a long day for her, and she wanted nothing but to sleep right now. She'd worry about everything else tomorrow, for now she was just done with the day.
She opened a nearby dresser and stared inside for a moment at what was inside. It was her old demonic-steel daggers, the daggers she had with her since she first traveled to this land with Yuri from Zipangu all the way to Lescete. And now, ever since a month ago, they were probably all she had left of her past, of her homeland.
The Adventurer put her weapons away, save for the ornate dagger, into the same drawer before quickly closing the thing shut. She then walked slowly over to the bed, falling face first after she left the ornate dagger on her nightstand.
She was Yami, also known as Lottie now. And right now, she just wanted to rest.
...
...
...
Meanwhile, as Yami slept, on the hilt of the dagger, a human eye the size of small pore opened up.
It was staring straight at Yami, unblinking in its watch as all the while the dagger glowed a dim purple energy.