Through a mix of wandering and following the general flow of adventurers we had finally come before the two story building that apparently functioned as the Guild's headquarters.
It was beautiful, a perfect example of the common Orario architecture, that is to say it looked like the city hall of a Spanish renaissance era town. Or at least I imagined them to look like this, I didn't know what they really looked like.
We entered through the front door.
It was also crowded, adventurers by the dozen were milling about talking to each other and picking out pieces of paper from a pin board. Some were talking to one of the people behind counters.
Those must've been the Guild staff Fels had told me about.
I glanced at my companion only to see her visibly cringing. It took me a moment to get why. The entire room had gone quiet. I would've noticed it from the start had I still had my bugs, but now that I was basically blind and deaf I had to deal with readjusting.
It didn't surprise me that the room was shocked into silence. I was walking around without a limb with my costume torn to hell and Lyra's upper face was burned violently with her almost blind eyes cloudily staring out.
We didn't look our best. I tapped Lyra on the shoulder for her to carry on. She grimaced but nodded and we started moving towards a pair of booths. Every step attracted more and more attention to us, the eyes of adventurers and Guild staff alike tracing our battered forms.
"Isn't that Cunning Rat? From Astrea Familia!?"
"Her eyes…" They muttered.
I wonder what horrors did they imagine had come to pass? Lyra's familia were supposedly strong, stronger than most. And they had been brought low. The optics didn't look good, and that was bound to draw out whatever worms had been hiding from them into the streets.
Lyra needed to look strong.
"Where… where are the others!?" Another spoke in horror.
"Keep your head high, Lyra." I whispered to her as we passed another pair of pitying and fearful looks.
"That lady next to her doesn't look too good either…"
"Even that monstrous Familia of nothing but upper second class adventurers…"
More words came. We were almost to the booths.
"Oi, who the hell is going to beat down those Evilus freaks now?"
"Forget about that if even they can end up like that what the hell is going on in the Dungeon!"
There had been a queue to the booths, but the adventurers had all parted as we neared. Letting us skip it. I was immensely thankful.
"No way in hell am I going in today."
"Idiot, you wanna starve?!"
Lyra spoke first.
"As per the Quest issued by the Guild… Rudra Familia has been wiped out." She reported to the shocked pale haired elf girl in the vest and pants uniform the guild seemed to favour.
"L-L-Lyra…?" The elf muttered; her eyes were focused solely onto Lyra's own. I saw the shorter girl' brows draw into a scowl. But she kept going.
"I would like to request a private room to make the rest of my report." She spoke in the annoyed but professional voice I had used for a long, long while during my career as Weaver.
"A-ah! Yes, I'll be right back after arranging a room!" The elf girl spoke as she rushed off.
I watched her go.
"So you going to talk or should I call for the next person." The red-haired woman with wolf ears I stood before spoke with a forced dispassionate voice bringing me back into reality.
I raised an eyebrow at her but picked out the crest Fels had given me from a pouch in my belt. I placed it onto the counter for the wolfwoman to pick up.
Her eyes widened a fraction, she picked up the crest with careful hands and raised it high. Then with a shaky sigh she set it down and retrieved what looked like a small ball point pen from a drawer underneath.
She tapped the brass crest with the pen the crest shone with a prismatic light, followed shortly by the pen shining green at the tip.
"Heavens, it's genuine. I haven't seen one in a decade." She muttered. A few of the other staff had started to peak over to us and I felt Lyra's inquisitive gaze shift over to me.
The wolfwoman gathered herself quickly and spoke to me. "Apologies, I wasn't aware that we would be welcoming a guest of Lord Ouranos." She bowed her head.
"It's fine, however I was supposed to meet with him. Will that be alright?"
The woman looked worried for a second before answering. "I must ask the Guild Head, please wait for a second." She bowed again, deeper this time.
Oh no, this was going to become a theme in here wasn't it.
The wolfwoman left with hurried steps, leaving me to the gossiping mouths of the masses.
"Hey… wasn't that a Brass Sky?"
"They still have those things? I thought they were discontinued after the Zeus and Hera Familia's were kicked out."
"She clearly had one."
The murmurs began.
"Then she has to be a first-class adventurer, right?"
Thankfully I was saved from listening to their drivel by Lyra.
"A Brass Sky, given to friends of the Guild… How did you get one?" Lyra asked me as we waited.
"I did a favour for someone important." I assumed that Fels was important at least.
Not important people don't freely hand out crests that mark you as an ally of their faction.
Lyra hummed in a dissatisfied manner. She was curious, really curious. But I didn't exactly have anything to give her. Nothing I wouldn't mind her knowing really.
The elf girl came back first, and Lyra was promptly taken away. I massaged my forehead as I tuned out the gossip of the adventurers and staff all around. After a minute I noticed that the staff had gone quiet.
I looked around and saw the reason. The wolfwoman was coming back with a portly and short elf man, who was continuously dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief. This must've been the Guild Head then.
The old(?) and portly elf man began sweating even more when he saw me. I saw the distaste in his eyes. "First Astrea Familia and now this… What a terrible day. I can already feel a stomachache coming…" He muttered under his breath with such a low voice that even the wolfwoman walking slightly behind him couldn't hear.
I was sure I wouldn't have heard it either if I hadn't been paying attention. I examined the man closely, he wore a full three piece suit of a much higher quality than the rest of the staff and though he had arrogant eyes they were professionally alert. Searching me for something, the man saw himself as above me but was also cautious about it.
The white hair he had on his head could only come from age, who knows how old he was if he looked like that as an elf. Hundreds of years? Possibly. He had probably come to see everyone other than himself as inferior.
That is to say his distaste for me wasn't personal, he was just an ass.
"So you are the most recent hand Lord Ouranos has found. Peh, his standards seem to drop every year." He began without even letting me introduce myself.
I rolled my eyes.
"Will I be able to meet with Lord Ouranos?" I replied professionally to his jab ignoring his complaints.
"Yes, well… I cannot deny that the crest you carry gives you the right to meet him. However the Founding Deity of Orario is incredibly busy. Though nowhere near as stricken by duty as he is, I am also similarly indisposed. I will have to ask you to come back once we contact you." He replied haughtily.
Is he serious? I felt my eyebrows twitching and my hands rapidly clenching and unclenching. It took a moment to sooth my desire to pummel the bureaucrat in front of me.
Arrogance? Possible racism? Being a cranky old bastard? I could easily take.
A useless bureaucrat trying to shove me off like I had the same amount of time he did? I had no patience for. Because it was very much personal.
Was the anger irrational? Absolutely.
Did I care that it was? Absolutely not.
I had been held back by these sorts of people over and over again. The PRT's leadership was either just like this guy or worse in other ways.
I had had to essentially politic with other heroes to get whatever scraps I could.
Seems it was going to come to that here as well.
I needed to find Fels.
I saw the old elf man gulp. The sweat on his brow had intensified.
I saw a few of the other adventurers and most of the guild staff step away from me.
Shit… I was bad at hiding my emotions, I had gotten too used to just offloading the reactions into my swarm. I knew my issues, I was a torrent of extreme emotions at the best of times and had probably only gotten worse as time went on.
Even momentary and irrational anger like I had just felt for a second were blown massively out of proportion with me.
I breathed in…
And breathed out.
I should leave, Fels could guide me on their own. Or I could find some other way to meet with Ouranos.
"Very well then. I will find my own way." I spoke as I stepped away from the counter.
Just as I was beginning to turn around the Elf man called out.
"Wait up! I will personally lead you to Lord Ouranos to see if he is available." The old man called out.
I stopped my steps. Not so busy now, are you? Asshole.
"Come, if you must meet Lord Ouranos so direly, I shall lead you to him post haste." He spoke with worry tinging his words, so palpable… I could almost taste it.
Hmm?
I discarded that thought and stepped around the counter through a waist high door. He matched his somewhat shorter stride to mine and muttered something to himself at a low voice.
"Otherwise I just might get more stomach ulcers."
He must've complained like this way too often, a bad habit.
If you're going to complain about people or think weird thoughts keep it in your head.
With that last thought I let him lead me deeper into the building. However as we passed by what looked like some sort of archive, I noticed something.
I couldn't read the script.
…
That wasn't what the Alphabet looked like before right? These people just use a different alphabet.
…
Right?
Did I seriously forget how to read? I couldn't remember what the Alphabet looked like…
If I forgot something as basic as that then… what else did I forget?
What did I like to eat?
Mostly pasta dishes with tomato sauces.
What high school did I go to?
…
I had a daily routine I did every morning…
What was it?
My hands were shaking.
What was the name of the boy who I had trained after I became Weaver?
Golem?
No… that's not an actual name.
Where did I learn to fight with a knife?
Some PRT tropers had trained me and I had improvised.
How did I like my tea?
Black with milk and a drop of honey.
Spots…
There were spots in my memory. Ones I hadn't noticed.
Entire sections just missing.
I wasn't just missing details, entire sections were gone.
I would get them back, right? Once I was whole again?
My eyes slid to my missing arm.
One tenth of my body was missing. How many of my memories were missing?
My breathing was uneven.
Just forget it all…
What use do you have for those memories?
You shut up.
Those memories… those bits and pieces of my whole were Me.
A person was more than the sum of their parts, if they lost bits and pieces could the whole ever be the same? Or would they merely be Another?
It had gotten dark around us. We were in a corridor, leading to the rumoured Ouranos.
I couldn't meet with him like this.
I needed to centre myself.
I needed to be me. Not who I was. Not who I will be.
Just the Taylor Hebert that existed in this moment.
Somehow… that helped.
I wasn't the Taylor Hebert that had existed before. I was the one that existed right now. I could never be that person again. And that was fine… My mistakes, my regrets. They were still painfully visible.
I just had to avoid them. Be the better person the past me had dreamed of.
Yes.
That was who I was. The Taylor that aimed to be the one that was dreamed of.
Not quite the ideal one yet. But one that was striving, incomplete and blind as she was.
I let my thoughts fade away and found myself just before an entrance into a massive, stone room. There was light inside, but I couldn't see the place clearly.
"This is where I will be leaving you, as I have work to do. Do not be disrespectful!" The old elf spoke as he turned and began leaving.
I paid him no mind and stepped into the room.
A wide stone chamber with a raised platform made of green stone inscribed with some form of scriptures along the upper edges stood in the middle of the room with stairs leading up to it. And on top were four torches with the tops like braziers.
They were the only source of light in the room and served to frame the main piece of the room. A throne of gold large enough to dwarf most people when standing upright. Three, maybe four metres in total length and either plated in or entirely made of solid gold.
It served to frame the incredibly tall man sitting on it with all the grace of an emperor gazing at his subjects. The man was massive, maybe a bit taller than two metres with the visage of an old man. Long white hair pooled out of his hooded head and along with a similarly white beard framed his angular and stern visage.
I would've thought him odd if I had seen him from afar. But up close I could feel it.
This man wasn't a human. Not in the elf sort of way either. He was something entirely different bearing the shape of a man. A being of ethereal origin inside a shell to contain its power.
I see why the people of this world called them gods. The very feel of them felt oppressive, crushing. This being was beyond me. Perhaps beyond even my Passenger in its full power.
And I knew for a fact that he was suppressing the feeling. This wasn't a master power… I felt no compulsion to obey him or to fear him. This was something that felt built into the human psyche, like some forgotten ancient instinct that was long ago carved into our species minds.
The ability to recognise something otherworldly.
I see…
I realised I hadn't spoken in a minute and the man had been observing me for the entirety of it, dissecting me and my intentions without a single world.
His eyes had a pitying look.
I hated it.
"Lord Ouranos. I have been directed here by Fels." I spoke trying to put fake respect into my voice as I bowed my head slightly.
"No reason for feigned respect, I am not so vain as to chastise you over something so trivial." He spoke for the first time with a voice like the shifting of the earth. Or I suppose it would be the sky considering his name.
He noticed my involuntary flinch as reason to keep going.
"It is not wise to try to hide behind words against a god, child. Better to remain silent if you intend to keep something hidden." He kindly admonished like some sort of grandfather scolding a kid.
So he -and possibly other gods- can detect lies, even ones where it is nothing more than feelings hidden by honeyed words.
"Has Fels informed you of the reason I am here?" I spoke instead of letting him realise how off kilter I was.
By his looks it didn't work.
"I have received the message. Fels isn't one to be impressed easily. Yet you've managed it."
I bowed my head slightly accepting the praise.
"But child… You are wounded, not just physically but spiritually too. I can't in good conscience accept you knowing you will break before you recover." His kind words threw me even more off.
I couldn't even manage to respond for a few seconds. Wasn't I supposed to be the one being convinced?
"If I… If I don't keep moving forward, I'll stall and fall. I can't stand still knowing I could do better." I countered.
He looked approving, but also terribly sad. To see such a face on a being like him… it was unsettling. These gods they were… They didn't fit. The grandfatherly love this man held for me was foreign, I called it grandfatherly but that didn't even describe it.
He truly was looking at something so much more fragile, so much more temporary than he himself and deciding he had to protect that thing.
"The work you will do for me will be nearly thankless and difficult. Though I have no limits to the material wealth I could grant you that isn't what you require or desire. I have nothing to offer you but back breaking work and purpose." His words only hardened my resolve.
"Will I help people?" I asked with every ounce of determination I could muster.
"Many." He replied.
I gulped down painfully.
"Evilus… They will hurt others, innocents. Will I be able to put a stop to them?"
He nodded his head.
"You will."
"Even if my desires are selfish? Even if I do it for no reason other than wanting to right my own wrongs… Is it alright?" I found myself desperate, searching.
His stern but caring face morphed into a soft yet painful smile.
"It is."
Hey, past me.
I will do it…
I think I will become the person you wanted to be.
"You won't ask me to make terrible choices? To pick what is always the least bad of horrifying choices?"
"Child, I will ask you to do naught but save, I will ask of you naught but to protect this city. On this I swear as the Founding God of The City of Adventurers."
I felt a ripple in his aura as he spoke those words. Those words had power in them.
The grandfatherly smile on his face was washed in pity but I could feel the distant warmth in it.
"I will provide all that I can." The being spoke.
It felt like swallowing glass shards, but I had to accept. This was my way of moving forward.
"Then I… I will work with you and your organization."
He nodded deeply.
"It is not so permanent a thing child. You can work for me as long as it takes for you to find your own legs." He admitted.
I nodded mutely. I didn't know how long that would take. But I would, I had to.
"Then I have your first assignment." The words sent shiver up my spine. Already? What was it? People like that Rudra familia? Monsters in the Dungeon? Reconnaissance?
"Receive the reward that was promised to you. In a gnome bank to the west of here named "Where the Ends Meet" ask to access the safes numbered 137 and 438 and tell the banker the phrase "The Cat has promised Gold from Lead.". Use the funds to equip yourself properly, I will arrange for a residence for you to stay at."
His words shook me out of my stupor.
Huh? It's just… that?
He continued, nonetheless.
"I will ask that you recuperate for at least the next few days gathering what you need and preparing yourself for the tasks ahead of you."
I nodded dumbfoundedly.
"Fels will meet with you in three days' time."
I nodded again and began leaving in a stupor.
What…what the hell?
Fels the Cat of Altena
I watched the monster human hybrid walk away in silence. Only once I was absolutely sure she wouldn't hear did I speak.
"Ouranos… You were kinder to her than I expected." I admitted and questioned.
Ouranos let out a sigh.
"That child was without a god. They must've been sent back up while she was down there. Almost undoubtedly also without familia. Lost and broken, so easy to see for the eyes of a god."
He spoke but I knew for a fact that was not all.
"There is something more, is there not?" I inquired further.
Ouranos sighed wistfully.
"Fels… you've known that I have been a fan of tragic Heroes. It is without a doubt my greatest vice. But there has always been one constant that I have come to hate about them… When their journey is over, if they still have the slightest bit of capability left… they will throw themselves into another. Tell me, what happens then?"
The deity I served questioned.
"They die, alone and filled with sorrow and regret." I spoke honestly, it was a tale I had seen many times.
Ouranos smiled. Such pity was rare to see in my Lord.
"Exactly… Just this once, I think I want a different ending." He admitted with a minor upwards quirk to his lips.
I shook my head.
Gods… They will always be the same. Even the most restrained and cautious of them all, Ouranos, was not beyond their wild flights of fancy, their Divine Will.
Very well then, Taylor Hebert. Show me, what will become of a Tragic Hero, as named by my Lord.
Alise Lovell the Scarlet Harnel
The trek back to the Stardust Garden was agonizing. Not because of the distance from Babel, we had long ago grown used to its substantial distance from the dungeon. That was comforting, a brief respite from the reality around us.
No what really hurt was the stares. The horrified glances at the scar on my abdomen, or at Kaguya's missing arm. The worried whispers and the terrified predictions of the future.
I kept my head high and gaze steady, as Miss Taylor had told me to. I had to, even if it was only so that my friends could also keep their spines straight. I was the captain of the Astrea Familia, the bright flames of the bonfire Orario could always look for warmth and safety.
If I couldn't hold my spine upright who could? It would drive the city to despair, fragile as it currently was. I had to be strong; I had to be friendly and boisterous, and I had to be the Light.
I had to remind everyone that there was Justice, whether it be mine or theirs.
"We're almost home Kaguya, Leon. Just keep going a bit longer." I whispered to my companions, whose steely gazes and purposeful stride had begun to waver.
They looked so tired…
So hurt.
I hurried my steps. I couldn't deal with this alone. I- no, we needed Lady Astrea.
A glance to my right got me a clear look of Leon's face. She looked like a kicked puppy. She always had the most heart out of all of us. The one with the strongest sense of Justice, the one with the strongest ideals.
But those ideals hurt her, they hurt her over and over again. Even then she clung on, stubborn as she was. Our foolish and bull-headed elf clung to her ideals. It was why I had believed that Astrea Familia could go on even with her alone.
She had enough Justice within her for us all.
My gaze drifted to Kaguya, Leon's opposite and rival. A woman who desperately wanted to rid herself of her Justice but couldn't manage to, who clung onto it as a safety net. She was the person who was willing to go the furthest for Justice. The one who could bear sacrifices, who could see friends die and remain calm so that others could cling onto her.
She was here to centre me, to not let me be carried into fantasies and to drag me screaming back to reality. She was our ever-reliable anchor.
And somehow, they were both on the verge of collapse, holding on by the skin of their teeth.
Stardust Garden finally appeared before us. It took all my willpower to not sigh in relief.
I practically stumbled through the outer walls into the garden and against the doors of the mansion made in the image of Lady Astrea's temple in the realm of the gods.
Ryuu tried to pull out the keys for the door from her pocket, but I loudly knocked instead.
I shouldn't have bothered. The doors opened and I fell through straight into the arms and the loving embrace of Lady Astrea.
"Welcome… home?" Lady Astrea's voice had begun cheery and welcoming but pattered off into a shocked mutter as she beheld our state. Leon closed the door behind us.
Kaguya muttered a muted. "We're back, Lady Astrea." And left towards her room. I didn't stop her; she needed the time alone.
"Alise… where are the others?" Fear was loud and clear in Lady Astrea's voice. It was horrifying.
I felt tears come to my eyes but blinked them away.
"Everyone… everyone but us and Lyra are gone. She's with the Guild giving our report." I mumbled with my head in the crook of her neck.
I heard Lady Astrea gasp silently. Her arms tightened around me for a moment before pulling Leon in who let herself be dragged towards our Goddess.
She held us so tight it almost felt like she was trying to make sure we were real.
I don't quite know how long the hug lasted but I didn't really care either, I just let our goddess embrace us as long as she could. Eventually she let me go but Leon remained stuck to her side to her faint embarrassment.
Lady Astrea silently walked to a nearby lounge, the one where we used to have Familia card games, and sat onto a couch without letting Leon go. She was still being hugged like a massive plushie. If it wasn't for the desperation on Lady Astrea's face, I would've found it funny.
Right now it just looked heart breaking.
The elegance and grace of Lady Astrea with her flawless skin, flowing brown hair and gentle divinity wasn't disturbed even though she was busy trying to choke out Leon by crushing her into her neck like she was a child.
And with all that elegance and grace she spoke. "Alise… tell me from the start what happened." She ordered.
Steely eyes and divinity flowing in waves. Lady Astrea was shaken but the Goddess of Justice was not one to let that stop her Divine Will.
As her first child I had to answer.
So began the tale.
Ryuu Lyon the Heart
I somehow managed to not squirm around too much as Lady Astrea tried with all the strength her mortal shell afforded her to crush my bones as she listened to Alise tell her all that had happened to us.
I hadn't been able to listen much, mostly lost in my own thoughts and trying to maintain a respectable distance to my Goddess even as she seemed intent on trying to place me in her lap like a toddler.
As Alise finished her retelling Lady Astrea finally let me go. I breathed out a relieved sigh.
Only for her soft and caring hands to find my head and force me to lie onto her thighs.
Whhhhyyyyy?
As she began petting my hair I accepted my fate as a stress toy.
If it brought her the least bit of comfort… Then it's alright.
"That monster… I haven't heard of anything like it before. Not from the records we took from the Guild nor from rumours." Lady Astrea spoke softly.
"Is that notable? Undiscovered monsters aren't that unusual that deep down."
Alise looked questioning.
"If it had been a normal monster, then no… But what you were speaking about sounds like some sort of mechanism of the Dungeon. A monster that only appears when Adventurers cause more than superficial damage."
I couldn't see her face from… all that was between my face and hers, but I imagined Lady Astrea looked sceptical.
"Think the Guild is hiding information about it?" Alise asked.
Lady Astrea began patting more furiously. But remained silent. I decided to speak.
"Miss Hebert… she might've been with the Guild. Especially since she and that Fels person appeared so soon after the Monster spawned." I commented.
Alise furrowed her brows.
"The Guild's private army huh… if so, that's definitely against the rules of Orario." Alise murmured to herself.
"They came specifically to save you girls, as if they knew of the monster before it spawned."
Alise nodded at lady Astrea's comment.
"They knew of the monster, but the information was hidden from most adventurers even a B grade dungeon exploration familia like ours wasn't informed of it. Without a doubt they were either from the Guild or from a familia of an even higher rank at least A or maybe even S."
Alise's theory was sound. Guild often hid information from adventurers either to keep them diving into the Dungeon or to prevent them from causing trouble by messing with it.
"You said you two didn't recognise them from anywhere? That should be almost impossible. The hooded one is one thing, they might just be a level three that a god managed to conceal.
But a person fighting like a level 5? And one that seems midway through it at that? The guild wouldn't let them conceal someone like that anymore. Maybe if Zeus and Hera were still around and War Games were still as common as poppies on a field…"
She trailed off.
"It means someone hid her with approval from the Guild. From what we could tell she had been in the Dungeon for a long while too. Her gear was in tatters, and she only had a single weapon with her." Alise continued for her.
I had an inkling of why she had been hidden and as a child of Lady Astrea it was my duty to say it. But if I was wrong… It could bring all sorts of trouble onto Miss Hebert.
"You want to say something Leon?" Alise noticed my conflict.
I squirmed around a bit under their attention before getting out of Lady Astrea's grip and righting myself on the couch.
Kaguya was most likely in her room, silently organising her thoughts and crying in equal measure as she did after we lost people. She was far enough away and occupied enough to not hear, and Alise had to know, she was the captain.
"I think… I think Miss Hebert might be a remnant of Hera familia." I admitted.
A moment of silence descended. Alise looked worried but Astrea looked more conflicted about what to think. Our last encounter with a Hera familia remnant wasn't pleasant, to call it terrifying would be more correct. Alfia the Silence… If she hadn't been so grievously hindered by her disease, she could've destroyed the entirety of Orario herself.
That's just how monstrous Hera and Zeus familia's were.
"What lead you to that?" Lady Astrea asked me.
It felt terribly disingenuous to admit that I had managed to eavesdrop on someone and was sharing their secrets, but this was important. Vital even.
"Just before she went off to buy time against that monster… she muttered under her breath about Leviathan. Along with her… unusual Skills and strength it made sense."
Alise nodded her head.
"I can see it. A level five they hid for some reason or the other taken to fight Leviathan. Where she lost her arm but wasn't announced to keep the legend of them doing it without losses…
Then naturally they didn't take her to fight the One Eyed Black Dragon. So she was in the city when her goddess was banished but didn't leave and instead was hidden by the Guild as an agent."
Alise theorised. It was similar to what I had thought as well.
Lady Astrea looked thoughtful.
"Girls don't talk about that to anyone even Lyra and Kaguya. If the girl truly was a part of Hera familia that'll bring about a thousand and one enemies to her."
Both Alise and I agreed, it just made sense. Miss Hebert had saved us, keeping such a secret as major as that wasn't even beginning to pay her back.
As the atmosphere winded down and Alise and Lady Astrea began speaking about making a shrine for our fallen friends I let my thoughts drift towards Miss Hebert.
I wonder what she's doing right now?
"What the hell do you mean you won't make it!" I shouted at the stubborn dwarf.
"I'M A HIGH-SMITH WOMAN I DON'T MAKE STICKS I MAKE WEAPONS!" He roared back.
"It's a fucking baton! Just make it and let me pay!" I shouted back.
This shouting match had been going on for a while already. I hadn't come here for this.
I just wanted someone to make me a proper T-handle baton, the Guild had recommended the smiths of the Hephaestus familia.
So there I went off back to the massive white tower apparently called "Babel", and isn't that one hell of a name for a tower that reaches into heaven. After that I found a Hephaestus smith's shop to commission a weapon from the smith. Or rather two weapons.
An arming sword or maybe something meant for thrusting and a T-handle baton like the ones police commonly used. I figured it was a better pick than a straight one for the techniques I half remembered learning during my carrier as Weaver.
Of course once I had gotten to speak with the actual smith it had turned into a shouting match. Something stupid about smith's pride.
I didn't know how, but the man could thoroughly piss me off.
"It's a weapon! I am going to hit people with it! I am going to slam the piece of metal into a bastards nerves and leave them a crying bundle of pain in the ground!" I tried reasoning.
"GO AN PICK UP A LEAD PIPE FROM SOME STREET THEN!" The well built and well bearded man shouted.
He as I had come to learn from his ravings about ancestors and what not was a dwarf. I probably could've told from his sheer width as well. He was built almost as wide as he was tall.
Suddenly a knock came from the door of the room we were in.
And then a shout "OI TOREN HEPHAESTOS WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!" A feminine voice shouted from outside.
The newly named blacksmith shouted back. "I'LL BE RIGHT THERE ONCE I'M DONE WITH THIS IDIOT!"
"Just accept the damned job!" I shouted again. The cacophony was seriously starting to grow, and my patience was also nearing its limit. I was seriously tired from all the shopping I had already had to do to get passable clothes.
Especially since this place didn't exactly have hoodies and jeans despite their weirdly sophisticated tech. Seriously elevators, freezers and what looked like light bulbs with magic stones in them but no Jeans or Hoodies. So some cloth pants and a simple shirt along with a brown fur coat had to be picked out.
Understandably I was beyond tired, but I needed a weapon.
"I'M COMING IN TO MEDIATE!" The woman outside announced before kicking in the door breaking its hinges.
"IT WASN'T LOCKED YOU HAG!" The dwarf roared in anger. I had to agree with him, it was just plain wasteful to break a perfectly good door.
Though what came through wasn't exactly what I'd call a "Hag".
The woman that came through had somewhat lightly tanned skin with black hair in a ponytail. Her left eye was covered by an eyepatch. Taking everything into consideration I wouldn't call her old by any means. She looked to be in her mid-twenties.
"I'M ONLY 33 YOU BASTARD." She shouted back. Were all smiths like this?
I began rubbing my forehead in annoyance. Wait did she say 33?
"Oh ho? Who is this?" She spoke as she got way too far into my personal space.
I gently gripped her shoulder and pushed her away.
She seemed shocked by that for a second.
"Huh, you're strong too." She commented.
Shit now she had an even more curious glint in her eyes. Though that might be to my advantage.
"Can you make me a weapon?" I asked her instead of the dwarf.
She smirked. "Can I? Woman I'm the best mortal smith Orario has!" She announced boisterously.
Apparently, she has an ego too.
"Right, and I'm the king of all Elves." The dwarf muttered sarcastically from behind me.
"You know what a tonfa is?" I asked her.
She looked at me oddly before nodding. "Those martial arts weapons from the far east, the ones like clubs with side handles, right?"
I was relieved she knew of them. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Exactly, I need a weapon like those but about 10 centimetres longer."
"You mean centimeders?" She corrected me.
I stopped and stared at her.
"What?"
She looked at me like I was an idiot.
"It's meders not meters. Koine not your first language or something?" She repeated.
Of all the minute differences…
Whatever.
"Something like that, more importantly will you make it?" I discarded that and continued.
The woman looked neutral about it unlike the dwarf I had been in a shouting match with until a minute ago.
"Hmm… I like the look in your eyes. You look alive, driven… Sure. I'll make your tonfa. Though…" She trailed off before smirking at the dwarf.
"Oh the idiot over there got angry because you hurt his pride didn't he." She grinned widely in an almost teasing manner.
"Smithing is serious business! I am not making no club! Tell me when you need a proper weapon, fool!" He shouted back.
"Man you're almost as bad as Welf." She commented.
Fine then.
"Alright! Then I'll commission the both of you. The baton I want from her and the sword I wanted from you." I addressed both.
This way I'd get my weapons faster too.
The two shared a competitive look.
"Fine then!" They both shouted at the same time.
The dwarf opened a drawer and drew out two forms.
"Write down all you want from that damned sword!" The dwarf shouted.
"Oi! Don't try to get a head start!" The woman wearing an eyepatch shouted.
Somehow, they started arguing instead. I couldn't even tell them I didn't know how to write.
This too is a special brand of suffering.
My eyes parted slowly bringing me gently out of the clutches of sleep. It was a peaceful slumber. Way too peaceful, I felt like I dreamt something, but it all slipped away just as I woke up.
I stared at the unfamiliar wooden ceiling and forced myself to get up from the bed of the apartment I was given towards the southeastern edge of the city. It was comfortable, better than what I had gotten used to in the Wards.
With a groan I got up and walked toward the annoyingly modern looking sink. Seriously what was up with the tech level of this world?
A splash of water to my face and some brushed teeth later I felt much better. So began my first proper morning on the surface of this world. Earth… whatever name it is.
I struggled a bit putting on my clothes but managed to get them on after a few minutes of struggling. Tightening my belt was so annoyingly difficult that I had to press myself against a wall to keep it in place as I buckled it.
I shrugged on my coat, took the small stamp I had gotten from the Guild after making a bank account there, stuffed a bunch of the coins called Valis this place used as money and got out to look somewhere for breakfast. There was nothing in the fridge inside the apartment and certainly nothing in the pantry. Hell I didn't even have pots and pans.
So a breakfast in a teashop would have to do.
Right as I made it outside those plans of mine were ruined.
"YOU!" Two different voices chorused.
I turned and was met by the excited looking blacksmiths with eyes red from a clearly sleepless night.
They ran at me at full speed. "Told you she lived here!" The dwarf said as they came near.
How the hell did they find my address?
"Shut up! That doesn't matter!" The woman answered him.
They skid to a stop in front of me and extended two bundles towards me.
A solid silver T-handle baton encased in a holster made of black leather and a sword maybe seventy centimeders -meters- long. I blinked at them for a second before tentatively receiving the weapons.
I clipped the sheath onto the right side of my belt with its clip-on buckle and tried to attach the harness to my pant around my leg. Sadly that was a hell of a lot harder with a single hand. After a few seconds of fumbling Tsubaki kneeled.
"Here, let me show you it's a bit complicated, I had to find a design that worked with your single arm."
She carefully showed me each step at certain points telling me to tense my legs to keep the belt sections in place while she buckled the front with a single hand. I tried it myself and managed it.
Seeing their expectant looks I decided to indulge their wishes and first drew the sword.
It had a hilt covered in some sort of darkish leather, that looked like it belonged to those dinosaur things I had killed in the 30th floors. The hilt was connected to the solid black blade with a thin handguard shaped like a slight crescent facing towards the blade.
The blade itself was straight, like a triangle with two very long sides and shorter base. It would've been thick had the blade not been angled into itself forming a sharp thrusting edge just as I had demanded.
It was not all that flat with structural supports going down the middle of it and curving just like the sides into the peak of the blade turning it almost into some sort of massive but thin needle rather than a sword. Without a doubt it had sharp edges to the sides as well, but before anything else this was a stabbing sword.
On the hilt of the blade a name was etched in. I still hadn't told them I couldn't read. On the other side a symbol of a forge was imprinted and under it was another name I couldn't read. I assumed it was the dwarf's name.
I brought it close to my eyes examining the blade closely. As far as I knew steel didn't come in black like this.
I silently sheathed it back in and caught the dwarf's smug stare.
"It's good isn't it, lass?" He asked.
I didn't know much about blades, but I said what I thought.
"It's beautiful and looks sturdy. You designed something with the exact specifications I gave you despite my messy descriptions." I praised honestly. I knew how to handle obsessive craftsmen, tinkers and blacksmiths seemingly had much in common.
The dwarf had a smile that seemed to stretch from ear to ear. A proud one.
"See that's a proper weapon, not some stick." He commented before beginning his speech.
"I had to reach into my reserves a bit but scrounged up a piece of Udaeus's ribs for the blade and the hilt is Bloodsaurus hide around some wood from the safe zone on the 28th floor. I spared no expense even going so far as to etch a proper enchantment for it to keep its edge no matter how much bone and armour you stab through." The dwarf regaled.
I nodded along only half listening. I didn't know the names he mentioned but the Bloodsaurus must be those lizards I had killed. Though I had no idea what an Udaeus was. What intrigued me more was the "enchantment". It seemed common enough to be generalised but also expensive and rare.
So this guy being a high-level smith probably had something to do with it. So smiths had powers too? Granted by their god the so-called Hephaestus. I imagined it was like the spells the girls used but connected to the sword.
"Enough about that! Take a look at my weapon!" The woman pushed him away and waved towards the baton hanging strapped to my left thigh.
Smiths really were a lot to handle. Against all parental advice booklets ever to be made I indulged the petulant child.
With a flick of the clasp my hand freed the baton from the holster, and I pulled it out by the handle.
Spinning it around to secure it under my forearm I raised it up. The first thing I noticed was that it was heavy, much heavier than the usual PR-24. That was somewhat expected if a bit beyond it, I had wanted a baton a bit longer than standard issue ones after all. Around 30 inches and made of solid silvery metal it was naturally around four times as heavy as the usual baton.
What I noticed afterwards was the script written on it. It was clearly a different alphabet from the commonly used one. I sent her a questioning look.
"Oh the hieroglyphics? They are just some blessings our goddess used to write on blades back in the day. Felt like placing it on there since there was so much empty space." She explained.
Hephaestus was a goddess? I could've sworn they were a god in myths. Though my memories weren't exactly reliable.
"What's written on it?" I questioned.
She looked embarrassed for a moment. "Ah… It's apparently an excerpt from Wishe's writings." Seems she didn't know the exact quote either, or she was hiding it.
I didn't know who Wishe was, but they seemed like a famous writer if she mentioned them like that, expecting me to know. Maybe someone like Homeros? Some ancient poet?
Regardless I turned the baton over spotting the same sigil of the forge on the pommel of its handle. I spun it around by flicking the handle. It spun easily, the balance was ideal. Perfect.
"It's made of deep floors mined adamantite you know? With a Durandal enchantment, unbreakable no matter what. And since it's a blunt weapon it doesn't need to be sharpened either! That's a weapon that will never yield no matter what!" The smith boasted of her work.
An unbreakable weapon sounded impossible. I wouldn't take her words for granted but even if it was just very durable weapon, I had no doubt this thing would be my main workhorse against people.
The techniques it was made for were made to debilitate and disrupt movement, to make arrests easier and to deescalate situations with defensive movements. It would allow me to break away from my instincts, let me take down opponents without going overboard.
"Impressive." I commented simply.
"So?" Tsubaki asked.
I turned my gaze from my new baton to the smiths.
They both had anxious looks. I didn't get why; their weapons were obviously well made. Masterpieces in their own rights.
"So what?" I asked back.
The dwarf made a face.
"Which is better lass?!" He demanded. I had a moment of dumbfounded clarity.
They really were just tinkers but with more divine blessing bullshit rather than tinker bullshit.
Did they seriously expect me to judge which weapon was "better" without even using them?
"I haven't used them yet, how should I know?" I deadpanned.
That apparently was the wrong answer.
"HUH!?" They intoned.
"Can't you recognise the master craftsmanship of this weapon from a glance? It's clearly better than that Cyclops's weapon!" The dwarf complained.
"Don't listen to that idiot my Silver-Punished-Alder is a masterpiece!" She talked over him.
The weird name of the weapon seemed to make the dwarf even madder.
"Don't go taking after that bull-headed brat and his stupid naming scheme!" He scolded her.
"You just call everything something breaker!" She accused.
"Spine Severer is a perfectly fine name! Fitting among the many great weapons forged by dwarf kind. You'd know if you respected the Honoured Elder!"
"Dad's an ass! I don't wanna hear it!" Their argument was starting to attract an uncomfortable amount of attention this early in the morning.
"Can I just pay so you guys go away?" I tried to interrupt.
"TELL US WHICH WEAPON IS BETTER THAN YOU CAN PAY!" They shouted in unison.
I restrained myself from knocking them out to shut their mouths.
Just as I was thinking of a more… palatable way of silencing them a red headed woman with an eye patch appeared behind the two. She was another one of those gods, the aura she had was clearly palpable. Somehow the two smiths hadn't realised.
That is until the woman's hands gripped their ears and began pulling.
"What the hell do you two think you're doing embarrassing me this early in the morning!" She hissed with a smile that promised pain.
"Hephaestus!" They uttered in fear.
So this was Hephaestus? For some reason I expected some golden maids with her.
I was somewhat disappointed. I expected a mountain of a woman, but she was actually just somewhat well built. Even kind of feminine, if in a more princely sort of way. The crimson hair and menacing aura did nothing to hide that she was more than ten centimetres shorter than me and had less muscle on her than the other black smiths I had seen thus far.
I dismissed those thoughts. I was hungry and just wanted to get away from this odd crowd.
"Excuse me… Can I just pay and go?" I asked the goddess who immediately turned her gaze at me, before sighing.
"Show me the weapons I'll give you a price tag, these two probably didn't even think of it before making 'em." She spoke as if she was used to doing this.
I did as she commanded. When she saw the baton, she took a second to inspect them each.
"51 million Valis. It's well made with attention to detail and high-quality materials along with an unusual custom shape. A real first-class weapon." She commented when she saw the sword called Spine Severer.
"48 million Valis, the techniques are on par if not superior to the other despite the fact it's such a simple weapon. The tempering and Durandal enchantment are especially good, but the material is inferior limiting its potential. If I were to make a baton like this mithril or Holy Tree branches would've been preferable so that it could also serve as a staff for channelling magic. First-class as well, as expected. Also the engraving…" She had a bit more to say about this one but had given me a lower price for it. Though I noticed her trail off at the end with a shy look.
I sure as hell hope the engraving isn't something embarrassing. I didn't want to swing around a baton with a love poem engraved on it. That would just seem desperate.
I retrieved the weapons and began taking out the stamp connected to my bank account to pay. I had no idea if that was a lot of money or not. It sounded like a lot… but I had been paid over a hundred million just for that one job so it couldn't have been that much. Right?
The goddess had let go of her followers and taken out what looked like one of those old-fashioned notepads with blank cheques on them. She rapidly wrote something on two of them and then wrote the specified price on top.
Thankfully I was able to read the numbers, so I knew I wasn't getting scammed.
"Can I get your full name?" She asked.
"Taylor Anne Hebert." I replied.
With a nod of her head she wrote my name down onto the cheques as well and presented them to me for me to stamp.
I dabbed the stamp into the box it came with to ink it and then pressed it firmly onto the papers.
With that done the goddess addressed me again.
"I apologize for the actions of my children. It would love to promise it wouldn't happen again, but I know it will." What an honest goddess, she even knew she was harbouring a bunch of troublesome craftsmen.
…Well she was the goddess of smiths, so she could probably end up like that too if someone pushed just right.
"It's fine, no harm done." I waved her off.
With the pleasantries done a few more words were exchanged and then the goddess left, dragging two grown ass adults by the ears as she did so.
Now then… breakfast time.
…I should avoid blacksmiths as much as possible in the future.
This world was kind of wacky.
It's a bit weird to think that now after more than three days since I had arrived in the surface, but it really just hit me right now.
They had beings of immense power going by the names of ancient gods walking around giving people blessings for entertainment, people with these blessings swinging around swords and sometimes actual damn spells, a weird tech level which apparently used those stones I ate as fuel and if all that wasn't enough it also had a massive, supposedly sentient cavern that spawned monsters constantly.
So I'd say it was a bit weirder than even Earth Bet had been. It wasn't a compliment.
Anyways, I thought that because of a simple reason. I had recently been faced with a situation that just felt normal to me. A stakeout or in my case as a single woman team… stalking someone.
The three days I had spent doing nothing other than shopping and trying to fit in hadn't exactly been… comfortable. Really the only thing I did for relaxation was picking up a children's Alphabet book to try and learn to write by myself.
It was beyond embarrassing when the shopkeeper asked me if it was for my child. I didn't look that old, did I?
I hoped not I was still only eighteen. In any case I doubted I could have a child as I was. With the whole Monster hybrid thing.
For some reason I felt the other presence in my mind deeply amused by that. It had gone silent once I was at the surface.
The sun The beautiful sky I want to reach it…
Guess I got baited into that one. Anyways, once the three day long, mandatory R was up, I got a letter from Fels telling me where to meet up.
Rip apart that lid for me?
Unsurprisingly I had been fairly eager to get to it, doing nothing but struggling to learn how to read was frustrating. I always felt like I had to do more.
So when Fels told me of a known member of Evilus connected to one of their illegal Monster Drop smuggling links I was internally jumping for joy. How could I not? It was finally a normal situation to be in!
I was so glad I even forgot to ask them what a Monster Drop was. I mean it wasn't hard to figure out. Rarely monsters didn't turn entirely to ash when they were killed, and left behind some bits of themselves. I had noticed it before in the Dungeon but figured it wasn't all that important.
Apparently, I had been wrong, that dwarf blacksmith had mentioned bits of monsters before. So I could assume those bits were materials that could be turned into weapons and such.
So they were being smuggled out of Orario, where these particular types of Monster Drops were illegal for one reason or the other, and then being processed into items then smuggled back in to be redistributed.
Standard smuggling operation. I had dealt with a lot of them when I was Weaver, after all I was by far the best person for a stakeout, though it took a lot to convince the PTR of that.
But since I was without my power now, I had to do it the more… normal way.
That is by looking like I fit the place we were in by hiding my good-looking weapons under a beat-up coat I had picked up from a second-hand shop and being miserable. After that just following him around for a while.
Of course that didn't just lead me into a hideout or something like that, these guys were at least semi-professional. The cat "beast person" I was following around was calm and used to moving through alleyways I couldn't follow him through, so I had to constantly move around and take long paths through the less than clean streets to find him.
I didn't fit in as well as expected, but the only thing the people of these streets saw in me was a washed-up adventurer wandering the dangerous parts of town looking for trouble. I would've preferred to remain more anonymous, but this was fine too.
It still let me go where I needed to. The cat-person visited a number of establishments throughout the day, most of them being small warehouses and taverns. Seems he was some sort of inspector for the smugglers.
A lucky find. If I was careful enough to remain hidden for a few more days, I would be able to find a large number of their scattered cells and if I was also lucky enough I could maybe find the main route they used to smuggle things in and out.
Though that was a pipe dream yet.
As the day went on the few amounts of people on the streets began getting smaller and smaller. Eventually I had to ditch the plan of fitting in and started prowling the roofs and alleyways instead. It didn't let me watch my target as closely as I wanted but that was fine too.
I could see from a lot further away. Though prowling in the dark and stalking a man walking by his lonesome had… some unforeseen consequences.
Rip him apart…
That. That was the consequence. The voice had gotten loud and frequent.
Just a little bite
I wasn't going to be cannibalising anyone.
You aren't a person anymore it's just the natural order of things
No I considered myself a person. So I was a person, therefore eating anyone would be cannibalism.
It would be so satisfying
It really wouldn't
If they knew they would tear at your flesh gladly
People do a lot of stupid things.
You are going to kill that one regardless aren't you? Why not act a little earlier?
You're going to have try harder than that if you want me to kill this idiot.
My other tendrils are so much easier than you
I'll take that as a compliment, I had no intention of just letting go and obeying this thing's commands no matter how much my instincts tried to push that way.
As caught up as I was, I hadn't noticed that my target had neared the gigantic wall around Orario. By gigantic I mean it dwarfed everything inside the city other than Babel Tower by orders of magnitude.
Thankfully darkness had fallen by that point so getting a bit closer to him was feasible. Just as he approached some other guy loitering by a door near a stone shack built against the wall he stopped.
"You alright?" The other one asked him. A human by the looks of it.
The cat man raised his head to look around for a moment.
"Thought I heard someone nearby." He commented.
The human looked at him oddly.
"You sure it isn't some bum skulking around?"
"Paranoia keeps us alive, idiot." The cat person admonished him.
I didn't even pay it that much mind, I was busy trying not to move from my place on the rooftop.
I'm an utter idiot, I underestimated his hearing and almost got caught.
"Haven't you seen the state of the Astrea familia? Relax no one's going to be after us for a good while. No one dangerous at least." The other man waved him off.
The cat person threw one last look around before shaking his head.
"Eh, you're probably right. Damn whores got what they deserved, shame those Rudra idiots got themselves killed for it. They were useful."
"Useful at getting every bit of Ganesha and Astrea familia's focused on them." The other joked.
Using their conversation to mask the sounds of my approach I began creeping forward.
"Shame what happened to them though, if they weren't so obsessed with justice or whatever those girls would've been one hell of a lay." The human commented.
"Don't get in bed with crazies, man. Those girls were more likely to castrate someone than have sex with 'em."
I had never thought I would've been glad to hear creepy conversations like that but well…
"Whatever. Missed opportunity anyways. The only ones left are the captain, that weird elf, the eastern creep and the rat. Not much to check out."
Each time they spoke the distance closed and finally I was right above them.
"Just let me through, the more you speak of them the more paranoid I'm starting to get."
The human laughed in response.
He opened the door to the shack and I got a brief look inside. It was filled with people and was much larger than it looked from the outside. I realised the reason why. It was built into the wall.
I could see a few crates filled with a wide variety of things being hauled deeper inside, there were lots and lots of magic stones as well. Quite literally crates full of them.
I felt my mouth salivating. I wasn't hungry, the instincts engrained into me just wanted them. For what purpose I didn't know, they served as food, but I knew for a fact that wasn't their only purpose for me.
Or else I wouldn't feel this compelled by them.
The door shut and the feeling faded, though it didn't go away entirely.
I tried to gather my thoughts.
Talk about getting lucky though…
Of all the things I had good luck usually wasn't one of them. But even a broken clock and all that.
This place was probably how they got stuff into and out the city, a tunnel that went under the walls? It would have to be fairly deep to avoid the foundations, but it made sense. No one would expect you to dig through that wall. It probably had foundations going so far down that it would be unfeasible with most tools.
I had enough time to hit this place and then hit all the other warehouses before word could get out… But I had no way of arresting so many of these people by my lonesome.
I was told to get help from the Ganesha familia if I needed it, but even if I could find one of them could I get them here fast enough?
Probably, though it might alert these people, and some might get away…
Regardless I couldn't do this alone. I could beat them all unconscious or bind them all tight enough to hold them, but I couldn't deliver them and hit the other locations at the same time. It would be amateurish to try.
So I went to find the person I was told would be my main contact with the largest familia in Orario.
Hashana Dorlia. A higher ranking member of the Ganesha familia and an experienced adventurer trusted by the Guild.
Hopping along rooftops silently I moved towards where I had been told the guy was likely to be this late at night.
The red-light district…
Apparently, he was quite fond of a few prostitutes at a specific brothel and went to visit them whenever he could.
I found him there or rather just outside busy being dragged inside by a darker olive-skinned woman.
I dropped down from above behind him and for my troubles I got a few screams from the women around us and a knife coming towards my throat.
I slapped his hand down with a soft backhand. He hissed in pain as the knife flew from his hand and stabbed into the ground.
"Sorry to interrupt your… fun, Mister Dorlia. But I am in need of your support." I spoke as I brought out my Brass Sky.
He looked bewildered for a second before getting an incredulous look on his face.
He looked at the sky above before murmuring a prayer.
"Heavens above woman, do you not know how to act like a normal person?" He asked me.
Not waiting for my answer he turned to the woman that had been leading him inside.
"Sorry hun, duty calls. I'll see you some other time." He told to her disappointed face before turning back to me and picking his knife out the ground.
"So you're the one I was told about. Miss Hebert was it?" He questioned as we began moving towards somewhere.
"Yes, I am in need of people to help me arrest and move a large number of Evilus members." I told him professionally; I couldn't judge someone for making use of prostitutes in his off time. It weirded me out a bit, but I knew how to be impartial enough to move past that.
He nodded his head. "I know of some folks nearby patrolling the edges of the red-light district, we'll take them. The Berbera can keep the peace while we are away." He replied and sped up his steps and dived into a side street.
It didn't take us long to find the people he was talking about, a bunch of people wearing red visor masks with a wide variety of weapons were moving as a column through a street. Their supposed leader called out once she saw us running.
"Oi, Hashana I thought you were off for the night! What you doin over here? You finally manage to escape that amazon of yours?" She joked for a second before seeing his serious face.
"Oh… more work." She muttered.
"Aira, we have work to do. Guild's orders." He said as if that explained everything.
The entire ten or so man group nodded at him. Before shouldering their weapons ready to follow.
"Keep up." I said simply and sprinted off towards the target location. I limited my speed so they could keep up but didn't dare slow down any further. It was only a matter of time until they realised something was up once word spread that the Ganesha familia was moving oddly.
"I'm going to go in alone, clean up after and then follow me to the next location." I instructed to the men and woman desperately following after me.
"Y-Yes!" One of them shouted in between breaths.
I didn't much care.
We were at the shack built into the wall. The human guard was still outside. I took out my baton and once I was near enough to reach him, I began swinging.
He had just noticed my presence when I begun to swing. His eyes widened but he couldn't even shout before the baton in my hand spun around gathering momentum with centrifugal force and slammed into the bundle of nerves on his right thigh.
He fell down with a shout which I silenced with a kick to the kidney. Good, I had managed to not kill him. Though I was fairly sure his femur was cracked.
I had no time to regret that, he would live so it wasn't important. His momentary scream was. It had definitely alerted the rest of them inside.
The Ganesha familia could take care of bundling him up.
Hunt
I had a bunch of smugglers to beat down before they could escape. I began my work.
I kicked in the door only to be met with the drawn weapons of a dozen adventurers. I could see from the fear in their eyes and the slowness of their movement these folks were of the weaker sort. I didn't know why some adventurers were so much stronger and some so much weaker, but they all seemed to be beyond normal capacity.
Maybe it had something to do with these "blessings" of their gods? I jumped in, unless they started chanting a spell or whipped out some unknown item, I had nothing to fear from this folk.
Their gore covering your hands is the only place they deserve
I kicked the first man on the upper thigh sending him sprawling down. My baton slammed into a spear coming my way as it was pressed firmly against my forearm.
I bunched the wolfwoman that had attacked me with it in the solar plexus and let her fall down coughing. Another step had me deep inside the guard of a tall beast person with monkey ears and a tail.
My baton spun again slamming into his upper arm with a horrific crunch and he was thrown away into a wall. That was a bit more violent than I had intended.
There was blood on my face. My tongue darted out over my lips to clean it off. I almost recoiled from the unwitting action, but an incoming mace brought me back to reality.
I brought up a leg to kick it away and then followed it up by a spinning kick from my other leg to my assailant' ribs saw the human woman flung away and slammed into a crate full of something solid.
She slid down with a whimper. The flesh inside my body boiled with anticipation.
The last person in the room tried to get away but I caught up to the fleeing bunny person before slamming my heel down onto the back of his shin.
He tumbled down the slope into the tunnels. A bunch of surprised voices rang out from below. Damn it. I heard the Ganesha familia members entering the house, but I didn't wait for them. I put on my mask to keep more blood away from my face.
A drop was all it took for you to be afraid
I descended at full speed each one of my steps sent shockwaves echoing through the tiny shack and deep into the tunnel below. Surprisingly unlike the shack the tunnels were impressively large. I noticed a bunch of crates along with the dozen or so people down here.
It must've also served as a warehouse for the goods being moved out. I leapt at the person closest to the entrance and with a flick of my baton floored them. Perhaps I hit him too hard as the packed dirt beneath us cratered.
He was still breathing so it was fine.
"Dark and deep, alone and afraid…" Chanting. My eyes found an elf woman to the back that had begun chanting with a staff in her hands.
I threw my baton at her. It flew almost as fast as a bullet and slammed into her stomach. Blood splattered out of her mouth and seconds later an explosion bloomed from the tip of her staff blowing away those nearest to her along with her and the staff itself into pieces.
Regardless of its cause, the explosion sent my baton flying and bouncing off my way. I jumped forward and kicked a woman between the crotch before using her as a spring step to grab at my baton.
The moment I had it pressed against my forearm again I used it to deflect an incoming arrow. I spotted the archer but between me and her there was a large amount of spear wielding thugs.
Devour the backline and the front will crumble
I dashed forward and swung my baton with all my strength without hitting anyone. It made shockwaves so loud and wind so powerful most of the spearmen were thrown off their feet slamming into walls or fell clutching their animal ears.
Of the few remaining one of them was the cat person I had been shadowing from before. He looked a bit tougher than the others. Maybe second class?
I remembered some people describing adventurers as third, second or first class. Supposedly Astrea familia were all higher second class.
Was I first class? I wasn't sure, my strength worked differently than theirs.
Regardless I slowed down for a second and holstered my baton before picking up a nearby crate the size of my torso with my single hand and tossing it towards the second-class cat man.
He roared and met it head on splitting it apart and scattering monster parts and splinters like a smoke screen. Just as I'd hoped. Hidden by the impromptu smoke screen I avoided his spear and slammed my fist to the side of his jaw.
Just because I was now for once stronger in a direct confrontation than my opponents didn't mean I was going to take unnecessary risks.
The second class adventurer slammed into the ground creating a new crater with his head. Along with the blow to the jaw that should keep him down.
Drawing my baton again I casually batted away another arrow and caught an incoming poleaxe at the same time. Flinging the axe head away I lightly jabbed the guy in the throat with my baton taking care not to crush his windpipe. The rat man wielding it gagged and left herself open, so he received a knee to the stomach for his troubles.
These people seriously weren't all that resistant against pain. I suppose since most adventurers only fought monsters and even these guys probably always attacked other people with overwhelming advantages they hadn't been forced into situations where fighting through the pain was important.
They are weak… so much weaker than the ones before them
I let the rat man crumble to the ground and batted away another arrow.
The archer finally dropped her bow and drew out her sword with shaking hands. She was one of the stronger ones. Not that it mattered much, even though these people fought with melee weapons for much longer than I had. I was trained by professionals and had more general experience with fighting.
This is the only place you belong
Even if they weren't so overwhelmingly outclassed by me, they wouldn't have been able to beat me individually.
There were only a few spearmen around us still standing. I caught her eyes with my mask and then beat down another one of them. Her hands got even more shaky.
Isn't their fear so intoxicating?
My leg flashed by and another of the thugs was crumpled against a wall. I knew a grin was under my mask. I tried to ignore it. One brave soul tried to chuck a javelin at me. I was next to him before he could throw it. My baton caught his arm and broke it with sickening crunch.
I heard a sword hitting the ground.
I tilted my head over my shoulder. It was the archer, she had fallen down onto the ground on her ass. Shaking. The grin on my face was so wide I feared it would escape my mask.
I began walking towards her. She was the last one standing. Well… sitting.
"P-please! Please! I'll be better! I won't pick up a weapon ever again so please, don't hurt me!" She was babbling with tears on her face.
Rip her throat open and enjoy her dying gurgles
I breathed out and stretched a bit before speaking. The grin on my face was unsightly, I forced it away.
"Surrender peacefully to the Ganesha familia. Or I'll come back." I spoke gently.
It wasn't all that threatening, but I didn't need to be. The girl was already terrified, because I had just psychologically tortured her like I was some sort of animal.
I felt disgusted at myself. So I stopped. This wasn't even Skitter, this wasn't even me in worst moments. This was just a monster, a puppet.
It certainly wasn't Taylor Hebert. It wasn't the person I decided I was.
Slowly the boiling and shifting of my flesh calmed down, my insides settled into their normal form. The moment of bloodlust had passed.
I left the girl to the Ganesha familia and descended further into the tunnel. Surprisingly there was nothing there except for a dark and decently wide path. I followed the path and after a solid minute of running at full speed found a locked sliding door.
I couldn't hear anyone. If someone had been in the tunnels they were long gone.
I opened the door to the outside. It led to some mountain path.
The breath of fresh air granted a moment of tranquillity. I climbed up the hill to see where I was.
A tower pierced the sky off in distance with many lights lit around it like some sort of profane ritual. Orario, a beautiful circular city surrounded by massive castle walls filled to the brim with people just living their lives.
I took of my mask and wiped the blood off my face. I still felt like puking. That… that was dangerous, I had underestimated the master effect.
It had never gotten that insistent before except when Fels revealed what they knew.
I simply hadn't thought it would ever get that bad again… I had to be more cautious.
With a sigh I left the scenery behind and got back into the tunnel. There was a lot to do this night. So many more places to hit, so many more Evilus members to arrest.
The taste of blood on my tongue didn't fade. It felt like it never would.
My stomach churned.
An:
So there we go another chapter! This one with Taylor seeing first hand what a god is like! Also Everyone get's different theories as to where Taylor comes from.
Besides that Taylor gets to experience firsthand just how difficult craftsmen can be but gets a nifty little stick and an Estoc she can't properly describe because she knows shit all sword terminology.
Also funky little monster.