Chapter 10
I came to awareness in a familiar sea of symbols, letters, and numbers when my trance was broken by a loud ping.
I spent the first second confused, by the second I remembered myself and what it meant to find myself here with a pinging sound ringing in my mind. So, with some effort, I opened my eyes just to see an arrowhead four feet away from my face.
With a flex of will, lightning jumped from my forehead to the arrow and curved it by a few degrees making it go wide.
With a calm that spoke of having experienced this a few times already, I called out. "Frey, wake up Lady Astraea, please."
I felt the little blue light orb move from my pendant but I didn't pay too much attention to it.
More precisely, I couldn't, another arrow was on the way.
But the arrow wasn't the danger, same as the first one, an electromagnetic field sparked before me and caused it to go astray.
The danger was in the trio of hooded figures with daggers dashing in my direction. With a sensing formula, I also determined the total number of enemies.
I felt lucky that there were only 4 of them. Three Level Two rogues were charging toward me and a Level One archer was half a mile away in the direction of Orario.
Much more doable than last time.
Rising from my meditative position, I ran some very specific earth, and air formulas through my mind.
When the assassins were ten feet away, I actualized the formulas and sent a few icicles high, making them lower their bodies to avoid them.
The loose, sandy ground I had prepared around the camp the night before started bubbling with air from beneath.
The closest assassin charged directly at me. When he reached the sandy ground, he suddenly dropped from view, having been buried in the earth. The sandy ground behaved as if it were water rather than sand due to the injected air.
Expecting this, I already had an air slash actualizing, which shaved the loose ground, decapitating the trapped assassin.
I ignored the bile that threatened to come out of my stomach and focused on the remaining threats.
Seeing the first assassin die in less than a second, made the following assassins reconsider their approach.
One decided to jump before reaching the sand to attack me while the other, who had a large leather bag on the side, decided to go around the trap.
I heard a distant cry of 'kya' from the sleeping goddess being woken up by my frost spirit.
Deciding to take care of the assassin in the air coming towards me first, iron sand burst forth from an enchanted pouch from my hip.
Lightning coursing through it, it rapidly shaped itself like a whip that lashed out a couple of times at the descending attacker.
But with lightning-fast reactions he managed to parry both attacks with his dagger, with not enough time for an additional strike I let the iron sand retreat to my side and form a rapidly rotating drill around my arm.
A deafening high-pitched noise emerged from my recreated tectonic drill as we clashed.
His attempt to cut through my drill failed, as the rapidly rotating iron sand dislodged the dagger from his hand and soon enough I was hands deep in his stomach, his blood rapidly soaking the iron sand as I drilled into him.
A cry of alarm from my spirit resonated to my senses.
Letting the now impaled and very dead adventurer fall to the ground, I turned to face my remaining enemy, just to see as he jumped back to dodge a frost blast from Frey who was orbiting the now awake goddess defensively.
I saw the assassin reaching for the goddess again. So, thinking quickly, I reformed the still blood-infused iron sand into a blade and slashed it at them.
An arc of blood was flicked off from the swing which, with a frost and fire formula, I froze and then turned the heat into kinetic energy launching it at an incredible speed toward the assassin.
Sadly, I couldn't see the result of my attack because, with a last-minute alarm from my senses, I ducked to the ground, cursing the archer as an arrow glanced off my cloak, scoring a deep cut in its surface.
Blasting the sand with a gust of wind in the archer's direction to create a little smokescreen, I turned once again towards the last assassin who surprisingly had escaped more or less unscathed from my attack.
How?! That should have at least injured him. No, it didn't matter.
Dashing forward, I slashed with my iron sand and put my everything into the sharpness of the construct. The enemy saw me and tried to block with his dagger which proved to be his undoing as my weapon went right through his and cut him in two.
Ignoring the reaction of the goddess, I formed a big ice spear and focused on the position where I had last sensed the archer, just to find that he was gone. I tried a couple of more complex sensing formulas, but I didn't find him.
This was going to be a problem, wasn't it?
When I stopped panting due to the exertion of the fast-paced battle, I sighed and looked around the disorganized camp from the battle.
At least it seemed that the only true damage was my cloak. I could still use it but I should buy a new one.
A pity, I liked this cloak. The seamstress and I made it together…
"Are you alright, Regis?" I heard the goddess say. "Your face is a little pale."
Yeah, thank you for reminding me of that fact my lady, I was trying to ignore that I had to kill today. Again.
After another sigh, I mastered my expression and turned to face her. "Yes, I'm not injured. What about you Lady Astraea?" Despite asking, I already knew she was fine since Frey wasn't looking worried.
"Yes, I'm fine thanks to you, Regis. Thank you" She said with a grateful but worried expression.
I nodded at her and started to inspect the bodies, I wasn't willing to touch them. These were assassins, who knew where they hid their poison. So I created a stick with my iron sand and started poking at them.
"Lady Astraea, do you know how this one survived my ice spell?" I asked since it was the question that was burning me the most apart from who they were and why they attacked us.
"Yes, do you see that blue cloth that's under his cloak?" I nodded at her. "That's undine cloth. It's highly resistant to water magic. He covered himself with it before your spell reached him" She said with worry still in her voice. "Regis, are you okay? Look at me. Your hand is trembling." She said making me face her with one hand and holding my hand holding the stick with the other.
Forced to look at the eyes of the goddess, a part of me wanted to snap at her. I barely managed to keep it inside. Pushing the goddess away, I said "I just don't like killing, alright. I understand the necessity, but I don't like it."
It was something the hunter had drilled into my head time and time again. If I couldn't disable someone with zero risk, I should always aim for the quickest kill possible. Since I was a glass cannon, doing anything less would be akin to committing suicide.
"If it's any consolation, their souls are being tended kindly in heaven, so they'll be alright".
I understood that she was trying to lighten my burden, but this just pissed me off.
"That's not the point! Every man and woman is an entire world! Just because they'll reincarnate eventually, it doesn't absolve the fact that I've wiped their worlds away! Not to mention all the suffering of the people that were connected to them," I shouted at her. This blasé attitude towards the lives of this world was so predominant and it just pissed me off.
Then I saw her gentle expression break into a grieving one and I just felt like an asshole. I realized that I'd just ranted at the deity who just lost her entire Familia about death. I tried to apologize but she didn't let me, stopping me using her hand.
"I'm sorry, Regis. I just saw that you were bottling your feelings, and since you had to kill today because of my presence… I just… didn't want this to put more pressure on your conscience. You're right, every life is precious. Being a deity, sometimes we need a reminder of that." She said with a bittersweet smile.
"I still shouldn't have shouted at you," I said feeling like a child still in the orphanage.
"It's alright, you're forgiven. The fact that you're this affected just makes you a kind person. Still, you should try to not burden yourself with the lives of others, much less these kinds of people. See this emblem, this is the symbol of the Sekhmet familia. They are a criminal familia full of assassins. Their modus operandi in case of capture is immediate suicide." She said while pointing at the emblem that was attached to the corpse.
A life was a life, but if they were going to die anyway then I shouldn't worry. That was what she was trying to tell me. Oddly enough, it helped a little.
She really was a kind goddess. I couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of my outburst.
Shaking my head from useless thoughts I asked, "Do we need the corpses for anything?"
"No, we already learned everything we could from them. Since they are from the Sekhmet familia it's fairly obvious that they have been hired by Evilus to try to capture me." She said as she pointed at the bag next to the assassin that was big enough to carry a person inside.
"So just bury them, please."
Agreeing with her and wanting to leave this morning behind, I began to run a few formulas to bury the bodies.
With dawn upon us, we decided that there wasn't a point in trying to go back to sleep, so we started to pack everything and in a few minutes, we were ready to leave.
"Well, Regis, I wish you the best." The now ready to leave goddess said.
"You as well, are you sure you'll be alright?" I asked
"Yes, I'm used to this and I know how to hide my tracks. So I'll be fine. If anything, the reason they found us was probably because of your great bonfire of yesterday." She said with a smile that said 'Oops'. And I became aware that I was wearing a similar one when I realized that she was probably right.
"You're probably right. Well, say goodbye, Frey. We're not going to see her again in a long time." I told the tiny spirit who had been glued to me all morning.
"No pfft nononono, haha not again! Stop it, little Frey. Stahp it. Goodbye!" Said the laughing goddess as she started jumping away trying to get away from the mischievous spirit tickling her.
With a smile at the silliness of my spirit, I started to walk away towards Orario.
"Ah and make sure to look out for my child!" I heard her yell in the distance and then mutter to herself 'Ryuu owes me so much for this. I'm sending such a cutie after her.'
Lady Astraea clearly didn't know how sharp my senses were because I didn't think I was supposed to hear that.
'Shut up Frey, I'm not blushing.'
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Orario was a completely different beast of a city compared to any other I had ever been to.
Admittedly, I wasn't that well-traveled. Apart from the port city of Melen, which was fairly big, I had only visited small villages on my way here. In Lanova, aside from the central park and a few shops, I had been in what amounted to house arrest. And in my original world, I guess you could say I lived in Rome for a while. If you could really consider the state I was in as living anyway.
Depressing thoughts aside, Orario was a marvel. I've been walking for twenty minutes in one of the main streets that divide the different districts and I've seen more people and different shops in these twenty minutes than in my entire life.
From what little I had seen, the city was an unholy mix of different architectures and cultures similar to what there was in my original world.
I guessed I could say that it was as expected from the city called the center of the world.
The main street I was walking on was filled with restaurants, shops, bars, and food stands which gave the place a lively atmosphere even if a tad too loud for my preference. I could also tell people were a bit sad in general.
Astraea Familia was truly a beloved familia by the public, wasn't it?
It was also interesting to see all the different races coexisting. I've met a few demi-humans, elves, dwarfs, and amazons on my journey but they usually kept to themselves. Here, instead, I could see them interacting with each other which was interesting.
The amount of racism I had seen in just twenty minutes was also unexpected, amusing, and disgusting in equal measure. Really, I didn't know there were so many ways to insult one's race. Thank you for expanding my vocabulary random drunk on the side of the street.
As I neared Babel, the gigantic tower in the center of the city and the lid to the Dungeon, I made sure to lower my formulas to a minimum. I was aware that when I used my ability assertively enough, the aura I emanated could be confused by the presence of an adventurer.
I considered it was probably safer to remain as inconspicuous as possible at the moment. Frey was resting inside my necklace as well for the same reason.
As I got nearer I also limited the range of my sensing. There were so many contradictory fields interacting with each other from the different high-level adventurers that it was giving me a headache. I still tried to classify and document as many of them into Tome as I could though.
Finally, getting past Babel, I reached the location of the guild.
According to what the villagers had taught me, the guild was the governing body of Orario. They took care of the city and taxation.
In broad strokes, they basically managed the adventurers and the familias with their enormous economic power.
They were, in a way, the most important and powerful institution in the world, or so I was told.
In reality, they only possessed this power because the top familias allowed them to.
The guild's main building that I was entering was called Pantheon. Inside, there was a wide space with a few tables and chairs for people to wait in and a line of counters. I also spied a second floor with a sign that said 'Library'.
I was definitely going there later.
The place was filled by the noise of various people conversing and the rustling of papers. Avoiding a few gruff-looking adventurers who were literally twice my body mass, I finally reached a free counter.
A cute half-elf with shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes seemingly a year older than me greeted me with a practiced smile.
"Welcome to the guild! My name's Eina Tulle, what can I do for you?" She said with surprisingly genuine cheer.
Huh, that was unexpected.
I thought that no matter the place, all receptionists were supposed to be burnt out as hell…
For some reason I expected her to be half zombie. For her to be this chipper…, either she was new at this and the evilness of bureaucracy had not fully seeped into her or she was totally evil and just liked seeing people suffer.
I could feel Frey giving me a cold poke on my chest telling me to stop being an idiot and making me realize that I'd spent half a second too long staring at her. So, I hurried to answer. "Ah, yes. I'm Regis. I have a letter for the guild and I was asked to deliver this box as well." I said, handing her the box with the letter on top.
"I wasn't told exactly who to give it to, so I thought that someone from the guild would know."
The half-elf picked up the sealed envelope and looked it over but didn't see anything that indicated who to bring it to.
Yeah, that was kind of the dilemma I was referring to. The envelope was completely blank on both sides. I guessed with the dragon minutes away, it was understandable that the hunter forgot to write anything on it.
"Wait, this symbol... I think I saw it in our manual," I heard Miss Eina mutter to herself while touching the seal of the envelope. "Regis, was it? Please wait a moment," she said as she took out a brick of a book from under her desk and started to leaf through it.
After a few seconds of looking at a page, she started to pale. "Regis, could you please come with me to one of the private meeting rooms?"
I guessed from her reaction, the information about the dragon was sensitive. Not seeing any issue with it, I agreed.
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The private meeting room wasn't anything special, a simple room with no windows, a table, a few chairs, and a bookshelf with some books in it.
Miss Eina had left to talk with her superiors about the letter and left me alone in this room. With nothing better to do, I started looking through the books on the bookshelf.
I took a book at random and started speed-reading through it.
It was about the architecture and monsters on the first floors of the dungeon.
I felt my pendant starting to vibrate.
Oh shit, I still hadn't told Frey about the dungeon.
'Yes, yes, we're going to be going down there eventually, calm down.'
If anything, my assurances just excited him more. With a sigh, I continued leafing through the book when I saw a few loose pages at the end.
'New Monsters' was the title of the pages.
I was going to look through it when the door opened.
A little out of breath Eina entered the room with. "Oh, thank the divines you're still here. I'm sorry for the wait, but the guild master was really busy and couldn't see me until now. He said he will come when he finishes his current appointment."
"Oh, is that one of the books from the shelf? Are you thinking about being an adventurer? If so, I can register you and teach you all about the dungeon." She said looking for anything she could do to be helpful.
The vibrations of my necklace intensified.
I was going to wait a little before registering with the guild. But if I said no now, Frey would probably rebel.
"Yes, if we're going to have to wait, then if you don't mind." I ended up saying.
"Great, then please wait a moment." She said while taking out a registration and a pen from the drawer attached to the table.
The registration process was fairly straightforward, I just had to write my name, gender, famila's name, age, and what job I identified as. Like, warrior, scout, mage, healer, supporter, etc.
"I can register just fine even if I am not part of a familia, right?" I asked since I still didn't have one.
"Yes, it's fine. In fact, it's pretty normal. Most new adventures start diving unblessed in the first couple of floors of the dungeon acting as a supporter. Familias usually want to see if their prospective members have what it takes before they are granted the falna of their god." She said with a teaching voice.
It made sense that not every Joe was accepted as a member of a familia without some screening first. If the dungeon was anything like the Trials, then some people were just not built for it.
As I handed the form back, it seemed that Frey had enough of waiting and jumped out of my pendant to Miss Eina's face and started demanding she teach us, not that she could understand him.
"A spirit?! Wait, you're going too fast, slow down, what do you want me to teach you?" She said seemingly talking with the spirit.
Or not? She seemed to understand him just fine, I noted with surprise. Maybe because she's a half-elf?
"Frey! Calm down, don't you see you're overwhelming her? And what have I told you from jumping into people's faces." I chastised the overexcited spirit. Who returned to my side feeling a little embarrassed.
Frey noted my glare and said to me ' She's trustworthy' to my unasked question.
I sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Miss Eina. Frey here loves labyrinths and puzzles. When you said that you were willing to teach us about the dungeon… He just couldn't help himself."
She raised her hands in front of her laughing nervously and said. "It's fine, I was just surprised. It's not every day you see a spirit intelligent enough to communicate if you exclude the gnomes. My studies taught me that most of them aren't really that sociable."
"I was also surprised that you could understand him," I said with some wonder in my voice. "Maybe it's because you're a half-elf?"
"Could be, anyway. What do you want to know about the dungeon?" She asked us, reading the room as Frey was starting to vibrate in restlessness again.
"Ah yes, I was looking through this book about the first few floors and I saw these pages about new monsters. Could you tell me about them?" I asked her, having a bad feeling about it.
"New monsters? Ah, I know what you're talking about. Approximately a couple of years ago, some new monsters started to appear on some of the upper floors of the dungeon. The consensus is that the dungeon is self-aware and that it is learning every day. So it isn't unusual for it to develop new monsters over time. What's unusual about this new batch is the speed of the new monsters appearing. In the past two years, three new monsters have been sighted on the upper floors." She said factually while cutely holding up a finger with which she pointed at the different papers. "The first monster appeared on the 6th floor, at first it was confused as a war shadow by its appearance, but it seemed significantly blunter in its approach and its attack wasn't as strong. In exchange, these 'ghouls' as they have been named by the gods, appear to be significantly bulkier. The standard tactic is to first disable a leg and then go for the killing blow. The next new monster is called a Blob Barrager and it appears in the…" Miss Eina, continued explaining how monsters from the trials had started appearing in the dungeon.
While the guild receptionist was explaining the different monsters, a feeling of guilt started to eat me a little from the inside.
These monsters were appearing because of me. Adventurers were dying to these monsters because I was incarnated in this world. I knew it wasn't rational, but human beings weren't rational.
The only silver lining was that, for the moment, the dungeon had only mastered spawning the weakest monsters of the Trials. I shudder to think what was going to happen when the stronger ones came out.
"Isn't it worrying that so many new monsters are being created?" I asked Miss Eina when she finished telling me everything the guild had on Ghouls, Blobs, and Blob Barragers.
"A little, but it also is an opportunity. New monsters also mean new drop items. And new drop items also mean new equipment, so it kind of balances out." She said with an optimism that was a little contagious.
Her eyes, smile and tone of voice conveyed that she was doing her best to reassure me.
I already knew it, but Frey's judgment was always really spot on. He never showed himself in front of bad people. Despite being a person who dealt with bureaucracy, I could only conclude that Miss Eina was a good person.
"Alright, then now that your curiosity regarding the new monsters is satiated, let's start with floor one. The first floor-" She was going to continue her lesson when Frey, who was hovering around the half-elf, shot back at my necklace. Just in time, for us to hear the knob of the door twisting.
An expensively dressed fat elf with a folder full of papers entered the room.
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Eina Tulle Pov.
As I was preparing the tea kettle the guild master had asked of me, I couldn't help but wonder about my first ongoing job as a full member of the guild.
I had spent the past year working as a trainee until yesterday when I was finally hired full-time.
I was really happy since I had worked really hard for the position.
So, with enthusiasm I was waiting for the first adventurer or civilian to come to my counter, expecting the typical requests like creating a quest for the civilians or making a report for a request completed by a party of adventurers.
Instead, someone strange with a nonstandard request came.
At first, I thought he was just a normal civilian, but a quick look at his traveling gear made clear that he wasn't from Orario or normal at all.
Travelers that come to the guild are usually weary from their travels and they come as soon as they get to Orario. That means that they are always dirty and smelly.
The person in front of me was neither. His clothes were worn out from his travels. But they were clean, cleaner than mine. Which should be impossible because I just received them the day before.
Not to mention that despite his cloak sporting an angry cut made extremely recently judging by the minimal damage in the threading of the cut, he wasn't smelly at all.
Which again, it should be an impossibility because the smells one's clothing gains while traveling weren't that easily wiped out.
Then there were his eyes.
Dark green eyes that seemed to possess an inner light along an androgynous face that even half covered by his cloak I could tell was beautiful…
All this would be understandable if he was a high-level adventurer. High-level adventurers were known to be, barring certain exceptions, highly charismatic. But along that high level always came an unmistakable presence that was stronger the farther along the adventurer was on his journey.
But the individual who introduced himself as Regis lacked such presence. Instead, there was an aura around him. It was extremely faint and totally unlike the one adventurers emanated. It just made him seem bigger than he really was as if his body was containing something.
It was really weird.
'And no! Misha, I was not imagining it because he was so handsome and mysterious and he seemed taken out straight from a fairy tale! Stop wiggling your eyebrows, Misha! It's not like I think it's fate that such a unique individual was my first customer ever. Shut up, Misha! Stop teasing me!'
Maybe I shouldn't have talked to her on the way here… She's always teasing me...
Stupid Misha!
Anyway, there truly was something strange about him.
Then came his request. Which stumped me because... What was I supposed to do with the blank envelope and a stupidly over-ornamented box?
Thankfully, yesterday night because I couldn't sleep, I went through the manual of protocols of the guild and the symbol on the seal of the envelope seemed familiar.
It turned out that the symbol meant that the letter inside was extremely important and should be brought to the highest authority of the guild immediately.
Which only added more mystique to the situation. I mean, the heroine's first day at work, and his first client is someone straight out of a fairy tale and has a letter with a seal that is so important it's written in the frigging manual.
I may have been reading too many trashy romance novels lately…
Anyway, so I guided him to one of the private rooms as the protocol said I should and went to the guild master's office.
And then proceeded to be stalled for 40 minutes because the guild master for some reason doesn't like me and made me wait for his current reunion to finish. Then when he finally allowed me to speak I gave him the letter and the box and told him that according to the manual they were supposed to be extremely important.
His response was that he would look at it when he finished his next appointment while rudely dismissing me with a wave of his arm.
If this wasn't a great job with generous pay and my coworkers weren't great I would have said something rude.
Anyway, I was relieved when I returned to the meeting room and he was there, reading through some guides about the dungeon. We talked a bit and he was courteous and normal enough to let me relax and then a frigging baby spirit jumped to my face babbling something about teaching him everything.
What was even my day?
Anyway, after a brief introduction, I managed to do my job, registered him as an adventurer, and taught him about what he was curious about.
I even managed to reassure him when he seemed unnerved by the adaptability capabilities of the dungeon.
I felt like a real advisor. It was great.
I not only taught what I could only conclude was a spirit contractor like the ones of the legends of old, but I even taught the spirit himself. It would be a story that any elf would be jealous of.
Finally, after a while, the guildmaster came and requested I bring them some tea.
So here I was.
As the tea finished brewing, I put it on a tray and returned to the room where Guildmaster Royman and Regis were.
"This is ridiculous. I told you that I can't sign this contract, I'll break it simply by existing the moment I sign it." I heard the voice of Regis come from the room.
"What would a kid like you know about magical contracts? These were redacted and given to me by the gods themselves. Sign and get out!" The guildmaster replied heatedly.
The meeting seemed like it wasn't going well. Not willing to eavesdrop, I simply pushed the door open and entered the room.
Both occupants were in the same position as when I left to make the tea. They both turned in my direction.
I served the tea and was thanked by Regis while the guildmaster just ignored me.
"What seems to be the problem?" I asked, seeing that they weren't getting anywhere.
"Does she know about the Drait villages?" Regis asked the old elf. "She doesn't, but unlike you, she signed a contract that makes sure she doesn't reveal guild secrets. So go ahead, it will save us time if you explain this to her." The guild master said as he reviewed the contract Regis was refusing to sign.
Regis nodded and turned to me. "Miss Eina, I'm sure you've heard about the three great quests right?"
"The Behemoth, the Leviathan, and the one-eyed black dragon right? The Behemoth and the Leviathan were killed by Zeus and Hera Familia while they lost the battle against the black dragon whose location is currently unknown."
"That's mostly true and it's what it has been told to the public. But the location of the black dragon isn't unknown. In fact, it has been constantly monitored and mostly controlled for the last millennia since the gods descended."
What? How! The black dragon was supposed to be the strongest being in the world bar the gods. If it could be controlled, surely it would have been slayed already. My incredulity must have shown in my face because Regis continued.
"As you must know, the black dragon is the strongest monster. But a millennia ago the gods discovered something, they learned how to attract the dragon to certain locations and made him sleep there for a while in that place. To minimize the damage the dragon did, they started creating villages called Drait. In truth, it's a blended word from Dragon Bait. Through these villages, they've mostly succeeded in guiding the dragon through paths without large civilizations. The problem was that these tiny villages were only supposed to be known by the guild, trusted gods, and the old adventurers who lived in them. A little more than two years ago, two adventurers of the Astraea Familia, rescued me from a monster attack and brought my unconscious body to Drait 87 where they decided to let me stay for a while. Here's where the problem is, I know about these villages and the truth behind them. But I'm not under a magical contract keeping me silent. The guildmaster is trying to force me to sign a magical contract that will practically brand me as a criminal the moment I sign it." He explained while sighing at the end.
"And I keep telling you that there's nothing in it that will do that if you keep your mouth shut." The guildmaster snapped at him.
"And I keep trying to explain why that's not the case but you're not even trying to listen," Regis replied back.
While they were arguing, my head was spinning a little. The dragon, the villages, these plans, the secrecy… It was a little much to take in.
Something cold poking my arm snapped me out of it, turning my head. I saw the spirit there, out of sight of the old elf worriedly asking me if I was fine.
When I smiled at him, he cheered up and rested on my shoulder while looking amused at the arguing parties.
He was a total cutie, but I also got the feeling that he was going to give Regis gray hair. Although looking at the little hair poking out of Regis's hood, I saw that it was silvery blond so maybe it was already too late.
Seeing that it was getting nowhere, I decided to ask.
"Regis, what part of the contract is the one bothering you?"
He turned to me and smiled happily that someone was finally asking the right question. I couldn't help but smile back.
"It's the clause where it prohibits me from researching anything related to the dragon.
Everything else, it's more or less fine.
I think we could all agree that giving the location of the dragon to anyone is a terrible idea. I wasn't going to do that in the first place.
But that day, when the dragon came, I saw him.
I felt him and I learned things about him.
These things I learned would make me break the contract the moment I signed it." He explained with a certain weight on his voice when he mentioned his experience with the dragon.
His eyes when he said it… it sent shivers down my back.
"Enough with your lies! If you truly saw the dragon, a powerless unblessed child like you would be dead. If not by the dragon itself, then by the horde of monsters that always follow it. So sign the contract or I'll blacklist you from the guild and brand you as a criminal!" The guild master, losing all his patience, yelled.
There was a moment of silence.
A horde of monsters? What was he talking about? Monsters only came from the dungeon, didn't they?
"Isn't my mere presence here proof enough that I'm strong enough?" Regis said quietly. "On my journey to Orario, I had to battle and fend off monsters, bandits, slavers, amazons, and gods making their darnests to capture and or kill me." The atmosphere of the room changed with every word he said. Suddenly the heat emanating from my skin felt more intense than before, and the beads of sweat falling through my back felt colder. The air was more coarse as it traveled through my lungs and caressed my skin. I felt static in the air as the hair on my body stood on end. Even the walls and floor of the room seemed more solid and oppressive than before.
The faint aura emanating from him that I had sensed before surged in force. Still different from adventurers but not lesser than high-class in intensity. It reminded me of the time when I was still at school in the education district.
When I was just about to leave, it was announced that Lefiya Viridis, a monstrous prodigy who could cast any elven magic she knew the chant off, had reached Level Two. To celebrate it, a demonstration was shown where she cast her magic. A twelve-verse magic that according to the professors could annihilate a group of level 4 monsters.
When she cast that magic, in the center of her magic circle. I could feel the build-up of the sheer potential of her spell.
I could feel that same potential right now not only coming from Regis but every part of the room.
He could cast spells on par with the greatest elven magical prodigy since Nine Hells herself, chantless and without the falna of a god…
What the hell was he?!
Only the reassuring presence of the spirit telling me that everything was alright kept me calm.
The guild master didn't possess such support and it showed as he stood up in fright, his chair falling backward on the floor.
"What are you?" The headmaster uttered.
"I'm just a man in search of a home. Until that dragon is defeated, it will eventually destroy everything I could ever build so I've come to Orario to challenge the dungeon, find allies, and get strong enough to never have to see my home be destroyed again." He said with a final intensity that convinced me nothing would ever stop him, as he stood up from his chair went around the table, and approached me.
"Miss Eina, thank you for your lesson today, it was very informative. I hope to count on your expertise in the future as well. It's been a pleasure to meet you."
Caught on the spot, my mind went blank for a second until Frey poked my neck making me jump and react. "Ah, the pleasure was mine," I said a little nervously.
Regis looked meaningfully at the tiny spirit still out of sight from the old elf and I felt the spirit say goodbye as he returned to his master.
When Regis reached the door, he said. "Guild master, I respect the job the guild does. I truly do. I'll return in a couple of days, have a contract without the clause I mentioned and I'll happily sign it." He said honestly.
"Exercise your threat at your own peril." He also said honestly, narrowing his eyes at the fat elf which made him jump.
Finally, he exited the room and I found myself with the guildmaster who fell on the floor.
"Guildmaster, what was that?" I asked my voice, feeling foreign despite being mine.
"That… That was a natural ability user, an… an absurdly strong one at that" He said, his words shaky.
"Like the heroes of old? The ones that founded the noble clans of the Far East? The ones who were majorly responsible for pushing the monster back to the dungeon before the gods descended?" I asked incredulously at the absurdity that had just happened before my eyes.
"The very same, and I antagonized him," He said while clutching his head with his hands.
Huh, the guild master who was known to look down on anyone but the gods. Even with that demonstration of power, he shouldn't be that defeated.
"When the gods find him, there's going to be war. They will break over backward to have him in their familia." He whispered to himself.
Oh, that made more sense… Still, I didn't think such an extreme reaction was warranted. Maybe he knew something I didn't.
I mean I was new at this.
"Well, cheer up, he didn't seem that mad about it." I tried to be optimistic.
"Oh right, he seemed to like you. So you deal with him. I'll have the modified contract ready. You hear me right. He's your responsibility from now on." He said while getting up and quickly getting out of the room.
Did he…?
He did, didn't he?
Sighing at having been put in charge of being the point of contact with someone who'll be for sure problematic.
Well, let's try to be optimistic.
I'll get to play more with Frey, and I'll have to teach them lots if they are going to challenge the dungeon.
Maybe this won't be so bad after all.
'Wait a minute, I have been feeling he was straight out of a fairy tale all this time because he literally was, most fairy tales are about the heroes of old and he was just like them.'
No one was ever going to believe me If I told them, will they?
Misha was going to be so unbearable.
//////////////////////////////////
Regis POV.
That… was really unpleasant and I felt like I'd wasted way too much time arguing in there. It wasn't even noon and between the assassins this morning and all this pointless drama I was already exhausted.
But I at least managed to get out of that room.
I would have preferred to lay low and not be forced to show my power, I didn't know who the guild master reported back to. But when he backed me into a corner, I felt I didn't have a choice.
'Are you alright?' I felt Frey poking my neck.
"Yeah, I'm alright and I think we're going to be alright. I don't think the guild master will put a bounty on me at least. Not with my peace offering on the table." I said back.
Before Miss Eina came back with the tea, and I was reading through the contract, I had managed to get a crucial piece of information from the guildmaster.
Only 4 Drait villages remained. For some reason, the gods decided to not create more.
According to my calculations, the dragon needed between a year and a half to two years to restore the damage done by the artifact to the area around the villages.
Meaning, I had a deadline. In approximately 8 years, the dragon will come to Orario.
And the guildmaster knew it too. With such a threat in the future, the chances of letting someone with my potential turn to the dark side… It just wouldn't be wise of him. And while he was unpleasant and arrogant, I didn't think he was an idiot.
The contents of the contract, while utterly infuriating for my actual situation, were also really interesting and informative.
How much did the gods know about this mysterious world? It had been a question that had been burning in the back of my mind for a while.
The contract allowed me to take an indirect look at what they thought and knew related to arguably one of the biggest challenges in the world.
It didn't disappoint.
They were over all else, trying to limit the information about the dragon that got to the public. The contract was written in a way that made it clear that the less the general population thought about it the better.
That's when I had a realization. I had been over-focused on personal realities due to my status as a gemstone. But everyone in this world possessed the capability through the falna to develop esper-like abilities.
Esper's abilities, above all else, were powered by will and faith in oneself.
I could do it simply by thinking thanks to my special biology, but I also sensed varying amounts of AIM and normal mana from non-adventurers. This mana has to come from their soul and when it leaves their body it has to go somewhere.
This mana still had to have passed through their bodies and minds, meaning that in some way, it has to have been tainted by their beliefs.
What if, the dragon could tap into that mana.
An enormous reservoir of mana that has been tainted by the belief of the entirety of humanity believing that he was an invincible monster…
If reservoirs of power were being created by these beliefs…
It would explain way too much.
All the inexplicable magics that I didn't have an idea how they worked suddenly had an explanation.
Like the phenomenon of 'Leveling up' in the Falna.
The gap of power between levels always puzzled me. You could take two level ones at their peak with the same stats one day, level up one of them to level two and suddenly the level two would win 100 percent of their duels.
Then there was also the so-called disconnect of body and mind that occurred.
But if it was common knowledge that a level two would always win against a level one and if the level two was supported by these beliefs that were tangible forces…
It all made sense.
If this theory was true, then it also made sense that the gods were trying to limit the amount of power going to the dragon produced by his infamy.
I was finally approaching the batwing doors of the guild ready to leave. The sun was hitting strongly on the guild's floor through the gaps of the door.
So engrossed I was, thinking of all the ramifications such a precious piece of knowledge was doing to my understanding of the world. That, even with my senses I didn't notice as I collided with another person going through the door at the same time as me.
We both fell on our butts.
Wha-? It shouldn't be possible. The sun was hitting so strongly that I couldn't see the outside with my eyes, but my ability, even with me distracted, should have warned me.
Unless…
"Lord Apollo!""Lord Apollo!""Lord Apollo!""Lord Apollo!" I heard the adventurers following a few steps behind their god.
Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, had somehow sneaked past my perception by camouflaging himself in the strong sunlight.
The god in question, a tall blond man whose hair was the color of concentrated sunlight, was staring at me with his mouth open and an enamored expression on his face.
He whispered to himself.
"A Saberface…"
On reflex, my hand went to my head, and instead of the fabric of the cloak, I felt the soft texture of my hair as it caressed my fingers.
The horror of knowing that my hood had come off in the collision slowly turned into full-on terror as I saw the god's face go from enamored to an utterly degenerated one that sent chills down my spine.
It hadn't been even a full morning, and I'd already had fucked up.
And, what the hell was a Saberface!?
"How dare you?! Knocking Lord Apollo off his feet! Apologize immediately, you insolent–."
"It's alright my dear Hyakinthos." The god reassured the tall and well-groomed adventurer marching towards me with an enraged face.
Meanwhile, I was still processing how I ended up in this position. Shaking my head of useless thoughts, I swiftly put the hood back even if looking at the god I could tell that it was far too late.
Apollo, having put a hand on, what I assumed, was his familia member's shoulder said. "Don't touch her, my treasure. You just became Level 3, we wouldn't want to accidentally spill blood in front of the gates of the guild. Besides, it was a simple accident, right miss?" The smile he directed in my direction was kind, the perfect image of a gentle deity trying to de-escalate an out-of-control situation.
I wasn't fooled, the utter degenerated expression on the god's face was firmly burned in my mind.
Also, did he say miss?
"Ah yes, I didn't mean to crash into you. I'm sorry I didn't see you, My lord. The sunlight was so bright that my eyes just couldn't see the outside." I said.
"Ah, such a flatterer you are." The god moaned to himself, a faint blush on his cheeks.
Flatterer? What was he?
'Oh, Stupid Regis!'
He was a sun god, saying that the sun was so bright it blinded me could be taken as me trying to flirt with him.
'Don't gag, don't gag, don't gag, don't gag…'
"Well, you seemed to be in a hurry so… I'll be going…" I ended up saying said trying to get the hell out of here.
"Wait a moment!" Of course, it wasn't going to be so easy…
Seeing the painting on the wall even without my precognition, I discreetly put a hand inside one of the bags attached to my hip and started running a couple of formulas with barely any will in them.
'Gently, be careful'. I thought loudly to myself as I didn't want to seem even more exotic than whatever a Saberface was.
The god exchanged what I believed he thought was a subtle glance with the three Level 1s in his group and said. "I'm Apollo, god of the sun. Would you do us the honor of telling us your name, mademoiselle?"
Mademoi- Wha? French!? Why french!? In this world, the common tongue was Koine, which was practically an unholy combination of Greek and English. He's a frigging Greek god, why the hell is he speaking French?
During my little freak out I noted that the three level 1s shifted slowly to encircle me. While the Level 3 stayed by the degenerate side.
Mentally sighing at the nonsense that was happening, I decided to give it a last try to see if I could diffuse this…
"I'm Regis. And you seem to have confused my gender, I'm a boy." I said with a higher pitch than usual. Trying to make myself sound younger than I was.
Surely, even a god wouldn't be so depraved as to…
"A Saberface trap? That's even better…" I heard him murmur under his breath.
This time, I couldn't suppress the full-body shiver.
"Shy, too? He's perfect…*Ahem* I see, my bad. Well, Regis. I can tell by your gear that you have just arrived in Orario and I don't sense any of my peers' essence upon your body. If so, I would like to formally invite you to join my Familia."
I tensed my body, focused my mind seeing that the god wasn't going to take my refusal kindly and said.
"I appreciate your offer, my Lord." I didn't, and he clearly noticed my lie if his twitching eyebrow was any proof. "But, I was already pointed to a deity that will be able to satisfy my needs. So if that's all, I will be getting out of your way." I said as I tried to get the hell out of there, but one of the adventurers got in the way.
"Oh! So you want to be an adventurer? That's great! That means that you'll only need a little… encouragement. My dear children? Please, guide him to the manor."
I took a step back and took a quick look around to see if there would be any help from outsiders. A few adventurers and civilians were watching the spectacle, their expressions ranging from pitying looks to straight-up amusement.
None moved to stop this kidnapping.
Well, screw you guys. I was going to feel bad about this, but not anymore.
"Now, if you come with us, things don't have to get rough. Well, you were pretty rude to our god, so perhaps just a little. Nothing a potion won't fix, I swear," said the closest adventurer with a fake smile who was about to grab me.
Yeah, no.
I flicked the hand I had in my pouch outward and a white bead shot towards the feet of the god. The Level 1 adventurers could see my throw, but didn't have the speed to react. That wasn't the same for the Level 3 who put himself in front of the white bead just before it touched the ground.
Not that it did much. The bead exploded, quickly saturating the air with tiny water droplets and forming a cloud. As they shouted in alarm, I used the moment to actualize the second formula and three bolas made of vines ensnaring the legs of the three levels one.
By the time they fell to the ground, the under-powered and hastily made earth spell was already dissipating. But it had done its job. I was already sprinting out of there.
"Follow him! I want him in the manor by the time we return. Not you Hyakinthos! You're still uncoordinated and we need to register your level up with the guild. In the end, he's unblessed, there's no need for you to chase after him."
"Yes, sir." He replied while clenching his teeth in frustration.
I had never been as glad that arrogance was one of the most stereotypical traits of the gods.
The cloud because of how dense I made it, allowed very little visibility. The adventurers behind me could probably see a little better than me, but I decided on this plan accounting for it. It was due to the current dark situation in Orario, a sudden smokescreen was more than enough to incite a certain level of panic.
Panicked shouts from civilians and adventurers alike echoed around me as I ran. With my sensing formulas running at full strength, I quickly determined the optimal path to go through the running civilians around me.
Limited to non-supernatural physical specs, even with my better sensing and pathfinding, the Level 1 adventurers were slowly gaining on me. Seeing that if I continued I would get to the Babel and thus open space without cover, I took a path to the right and entered a side street.
A big path with some food stands and carts stretched before me. Running down the residential street, I could feel that now that we were out of the main path and with fewer people in the way, they were gaining on me even faster than before.
But, thanks to the hunter's training, I was nimble and agile. So I started to jump and weave around the different carts, always leaving a cart between my pursuers and me. Shouts of panic and surprise came from the various merchants and cart drivers as I passed by.
Which let me stay ahead but I noticed it wouldn't let me escape from them.
I knew that since they possessed falna they would beat me in terms of stamina.
Therefore, I decided to cheat. Subtly, of course, I made it seem like I used a smoke bomb at the beginning for a reason.
So, I slowed down a bit and when the three adventurers were about to grab me, I slid feet first beneath a cart. Thanks to having iced the ground, my momentum got me to the other side and got me a few precious feet of distance.
Seeing one of the adventurers trying to follow my exact path sliding feet first beneath a cart, I smiled in glee while dispelling the ice, and flicked vertically one of the stone bricks that formed the pavement with a quick formula.
The scream of a dying cat that escaped his throat as the stone brick crushed his family jewels was music to my ears and confirmed that I had one less pursuer.
Seeing that the other two were still hot on my heels and that the street ahead was far too empty for my liking, I turned right again towards a narrow alley between houses that was full of trash bins every few meters.
Here my experience in the forest paid off as I parkoured from trash bin to trash bin while the adventurers had to avoid them. The poor sod of adventurer that tried to imitate me found himself falling inside one of them when the lid he was about to land in just happened to open.
Totally by accident, I swear, it wasn't like l was constantly icing their footing or subtly displacing the objects making them crash into them to slow them down.
Unfortunately, It didn't deter them for long. Quickly scanning for anything to use to get away from these nuisances, I found something interesting.
I detected someone using magic in an alley parallel to the one I was escaping from. It was subtle, but it was water magic so it kind of pinged loudly to my senses.
Coincidentally, what I detected now to be a small chienthrope was also running from two other pursuers.
Seeing an intersection that connected the two alleys, and with the two behind me getting dangerously close again. I decided to gamble on a risky plan.
I started charging a cloud bomb and with a wind formula, I connected my voice to a point near the dogeared child.
'If you want to escape, turn left. Don't be afraid of the white smoke and don't resist. I'll take you away from the people chasing you.' I murmured into the spell.
Thankfully, my fellow mage perked up signaling that he heard me, and decided to go with it so I threw the spell just as I turned right and entered the cloud.
I sprinted towards the middle of the smoke and timed a wind-fueled jump just in time to catch the cloaked child in a hug and jump to the roof of the high buildings above.
The adventurers chasing us did not see our escape as I timed the jump just as they entered the cloud.
The shouts beneath us, as the four adventurers crashed into one another and started to shout and fight each other made me giggle a little.
Trolling people and creating chaotic situations whenever I could, have always been one of my guilty pleasures.
Anyway, not wanting to tempt fate, I got out of there. Dashing through the roofs with timely elemental assisted jumps I put distance between us quickly.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked the tiny passenger I had in my arms.
"Tired… Hungry… Zzzz" He murmured sleepily.
"Hey!" I tried to shake him, but the chienthrope was already asleep.
Only, I discovered that he wasn't a chienthrope as I saw his ears starting to dissolve and reveal that the demihuman was in fact a pallum girl.
That… was interesting.
A magic that lets you turn into another person…
I wanted it so badly.
/////////////////////////
A few minutes later I found myself resting in the bell tower of an abandoned church, my back and cheek resting against the cold stone.
The stone walls and floor had been full of dust and cobwebs before I entered so I felt safe enough to rest for a while and see what was going on with my unexpected companion.
I could only say that she was completely outrageous.
When I had finished cleaning the room with a couple of water formulas and rested the tiny girl with chestnut-colored hair on the floor I checked my equipment and bags to see if I had anything missing and found that my coin purse was missing.
A quick sensing formula later I sensed it in the grasp of the slip of a girl in front of me.
She literally robbed me while asleep.
To tell the truth, I didn't know if I should be impressed or feel betrayed.
The fact that I didn't even notice it was baffling, and made me examine her more carefully.
A quick examination of her person and AIM field left me disappointed with the world in general.
I mean, who the hell curses a girl who couldn't be older than 11 and drugs her to the point she was suffering from withdrawals? What the hell was wrong with this place!!!
'Alright… Breath, Regis. Breath. Think happy thoughts.'
Oh right, her AIM field was really interesting. She was a close-range hydrokinetic with a hint of biokinesis.
What was interesting was that her field was really malleable. It reminded me of water bottles with really thin plastic back in my original world. It behaved like a container that was constantly twisting itself to accommodate the girl. Another interesting characteristic it had, was that it liked to mimic the behavior of the mana around it. Which I guessed explained how she obtained her transformation magic and how she robbed me without me noticing.
Since her field kind of imitated mine, my instincts and senses didn't register her movements while she robbed me. The fact that she did it subconsciously and while knocked out probably also helped.
What truly enraged me were the contents of her aura. She was a fairly pure hydrokinetic, but there were impurities in her field. A couple of more specialized formulas showed me that her impurities registered as alcohol.
At first, I thought that it was due to her falna that also radiated that kind of mana. But I could tell that while it certainly didn't make things better, it didn't contaminate her AIM either. At most, it gave those impurities a tiny boost.
That combined with her awful eye bags, emancipated appearance, and tremors as she slept…
It painted an overall awful picture.
I didn't particularly want to involve myself with her. I should probably also be looking for an inn.
But, I couldn't just leave a girl alone while she slept…
It wasn't like I particularly wanted to be a hero. As a general norm, I didn't like them, they often didn't solve any problems. If anything I knew from experience that they often made things worse.
But leaving her like this would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
"What do you think, Frey?"
A conflicted feeling of confusion came back from him.
Since she was asleep and probably mentally compromised. I guessed even Frey didn't know what to do with her either…
Well, her magic was interesting and it occurred to me that her malleable field had some serious potential. So I guessed I could at least wait until she woke up and tried talking with her.
////////////////////////////////////////
Liliruca Arde Pov.
The hard floor uncomfortably pressing against Lili's bony body was the first thing Lili felt when she woke up. Rapidly followed by the pangs of hunger from her stomach, soreness from the bruises from her weekly beating, and the usual headache.
(If only Lili could take some Soma, all the problems would go away…)
No, they wouldn't!!! Stop thinking about Soma, idiot Lili!!
Opening her eyes and taking stock of her surroundings, she found herself inside a bell tower. As she looked at the big bronze bell hanging in the middle of the room and the open windows, she suddenly froze.
Because Lili wasn't alone.
A hooded figure was resting against the wall, a damaged but well-worn cloak covered a large part of his body and face. He wasn't big but he was not as tiny as Lili either and Lili didn't feel the presence of a falna. So she lowered her guard a little, until his dark green eyes made contact with her own, and Lili remembered.
Memories of what happened earlier today returned to her.
Memories of having gone to the dungeon with a group of adventurers. For once, having gotten part of the money that was promised to Lili, and then having been found by the drunkards of her familia. And then they started chasing her trying to take her money as usual.
Lili could change her appearance but not her clothing since she was poor.
So she was still easily recognizable to those who were familiar with her.
Then when she had found herself near mind down, from having been using her magic all morning, she heard a voice telling her that they would help.
At the time Lili thought it was a hallucination and followed the instructions of the voice on a whim…
Then suddenly she found herself hugged and for once when they made contact, the constant excruciating pressure on her shoulders disappeared and she passed out from the exhaustion.
However, it appeared that he wasn't an illusion as the cloaked person noticed her awake and started talking.
"Oh good, you woke up. Are you feeling alright?"
Lili wasn't alright, she was hungry, thirsty, sore, and in an overall miserable state.
(A glass of Soma would help…)
No! It wouldn't. Shut up! Soma never helps!!
But Lili answered "Yes. I'm fine," anyway.
For all that this person helped her, Lili didn't know him therefore she wanted to get out of here and simply be satisfied with her luck for the day.
Even if she was curious at how a civilian managed to save her…
But Lily knew that curiosity killed the cat and thus restrained herself.
The figure twitched a little at her response but remained calm, so Lily felt safe enough to not bolt out of the room.
(With today's earnings she could buy a glass…)
Shut up! Lili doesn't want that stupid wine!
"You saved me, right? Then Lili thanks you but she should be going." Lily said while getting up.
"That's fine." He said while raising his hands in a harmless gesture. "But, could I ask you a couple of questions before you go?"
Suddenly on guard, Lili looked at him and nodded.
"Ah, if you really need the money, I don't mind you keeping the coins inside. I still have enough in my bag. But I'd rather not lose the purse." He said keeping his hands where I could see them.
Eh? Coin purse? But Lili didn't rob him. Lili may be a thief, but she promised herself to never steal from civilians as long as they didn't try to steal from her.
Lili may be useless in a fight, but she would never stoop so low as to steal from people weaker than her.
(Though they have money…, Lili could take it and drink some Soma…)
No!!! Lili wasn't like that!!!
Lili may be an adventurer by definition, but she wasn't one of **them**.
She hated adventurers. Stealing from people weaker than them would make Lili like **them** and Lili wasn't like that.
She would rather die.
So, confused, Lili answered, "But, Lili hadn't stolen anything from you–" while patting the pockets in her cloak and suddenly felt a lump that shouldn't be there.
Her eyes widened as panic filled her body. She put her hand into the pouch and a leather coin purse she didn't remember putting inside appeared in her hand.
What? No! How?
Lili didn't steal that!
But the purse stubbornly remained in her hand.
Suddenly tears started to pour from her eyes, her body was trembling. Her cloaked savior was saying something but Lili couldn't hear him.
Because…, If she had stolen from a civilian, one that somehow had saved her then… she… wouldn't it mean…
A memory of the kind elder couple who had sheltered Lili for a few months resurfaced in her mind as they suffered while telling her that she had to leave when her familia ruined their livelihood…
(He's a civilian, Lili could still keep the coin and drink her suffering away~)
Something inside Lili cracked.
The next moment she found herself with her head pressed against the ground, her hands extended, offering the coins back to the stranger.
"Lilli's sorry! Lili didn't mean it. She swears!!! Lili's sorry, Lilli is… Lilli…"
She suddenly felt a hand on her head. She tensed, expecting pain to come. But it didn't, instead, she heard.
"It's clear that you're not alright. So let's do away with this curse of yours alright?" He said gently.
Curse? Lili looked up from the ground and from this angle he saw his face.
A beautiful androgynous face with silky and clean silver blond hair, soft-looking lips, and brilliant eyes that looked at her like no one had seen her before. Her instincts told her that there was something more to it.
With a kind calm gaze and the soft hand he was patting her head, the panic, self-loathing and the ever present pressure on her shoulders diminished.
"Curse?" She asked, confused.
"Yes, I don't know for certain if it is one. But it certainly feels like one. Just follow my instructions, please." He said with a confident tone.
He could have asked her to throw herself off a cliff and she would have probably obeyed in that particular moment.
"Please, use your magic and transform into me. You can, right?" He said
Nodding at the easy request, She took a long look at him and when Lili felt that she had taken all the necessary details, she started chanting.
"Your wound is mine.
My wound is mine.
Echoing message of midnight.
Cinder Ella"
A flash of light enveloped her for a moment and when she could see again, the world was very different.
Symbols, numbers, and letters that she had never seen before but could somehow understand started going through her mind at an almost unreadable speed. So much so that she could feel her headache worsening, the incessant stream of information slowly starting to overwhelm her.
Opening her eyes and looking at her arms, she could see a faint blue aura covering them, inspecting herself better she discovered that the aura was covering her entire body.
"What was-?" She uttered looking at her savior just to stop in shock at his expression.
An ugly expression full of guilt that didn't fit his beautiful face.
When he saw that she was looking at him, he instantly snapped out of it and smiled at her.
But the face so full of self-loathing and guilt was so familiar… It was one Lili could never forget.
"You feel something in your head. Like a stream of numbers or letters that weren't there before?" He asked her.
"Yes, it's starting to hurt," Lili said, clutching her head.
"Alright, let's do this quickly then. I need you to close your eyes and simply visualize what is going on with those numbers. Don't focus on specific parts, just on the whole. They should form a picture. Nod when you have it."
Following instructions, Lili closed her eyes and simply observed the various symbols go by. By not trying to hold them, the headache lessened a bit.
A few seconds later, the stream of data started to loop and Lili started to memorize it. When she more or less could picture it all in her mind she nodded.
"Great, you're doing great." The mysterious civilian who somehow knew something about the falna she had never heard of said.
"Now, I need you to follow your guts. Your instincts. There's something in that data that doesn't belong. Purge it." He said seriously.
Guts? But Lili doesn't have those!
A hand softly patted her head and he said. "Focus, you can do it."
Lili focused on the stream of data and tried to understand it once more.
But she couldn't.
But then, she remembered the weird aura she could feel around her body. Even with her eyes closed, she could still see it.
Realizing that both had to be connected, she tried to piece the two pieces together.
(This is too hard…, Lili just wants to drink Soma and forget everything…)
'There!!!' The smooth aura covering her body rippled and she could see it. Certain particles destabilizing her aura were in a sinister red that reminded her of a certain wine. Searching through the symbols that were looping inside her head, she visualized them.
Certain symbols were in blue like her aura while others were in red like those wisps of light.
Focusing with everything she had, she willed the red numbers away.
A large part of her headache that she had carried as long as she could remember slowly lessened to nothing. Letting her feel like a huge weight inside of her soul vanished.
"You did it! Good Job!" The youthful boy cheered for her. "Now, dispel the transformation, please. It's important."
Dispelling her magic, the stream of data receded to a distant part of her mind and she stopped seeing her aura.
Lili could still feel the numbers and symbols there though. And felt that she could more or less bring them to the front of her mind with a little practice.
Opening her eyes, Lili saw the face of the stranger who seemed about to hug her from sheer excitement.
She couldn't remember a time when someone had been so excited by something she did.
Tears started to fall from her eyes for a very different reason.
Lili didn't know this person, but she did know he was good enough to stand a little of her selfishness at least.
So she jumped at him and hugged his chest while she cried.
He was warm and Lili appreciated that he just hugged her back and didn't say anything. While in his arms, Lili could feel some of the pressure always weighing her down lessening as well.
A few minutes later, Lili's tears ran out so she unwillingly separated herself from the boy with an apology.
"I'm Lili, I mean I'm Liliruca Arde, I'm a supporter from the Soma Familia. Could you please tell me who you are?" Lili asked. She had thousands of questions. But this one, this one was the most important.
The boy let out a cute little laugh as he took the hood from his cloak away from his face and said.
"You're right, we still didn't know each other's names. I'm sorry, when I see interesting magic I tunnel vision to it.
Anyway, I'm Regis and I'm a traveling wizard who has come to Orario to learn the truth about the dungeon and the world, and hopefully find a home as well.
It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Liliruca."
Seeing his gentle joyful eyes directed at her, with the sunlight reflecting off his now-uncovered hair and softly caressing his skin as he introduced himself...
Lili may have been far too young and jaded to understand and fall in love, but it still made Lili's heart skip a beat.
///////////////////////////
Regis Pov.
Walking through the darker parts of the street, I couldn't help but sigh as I noticed that the inn I was scanning with my ability was also a dud.
After Lili's little breakdown, we talked a little. To get to know each other and answer questions that we both had.
She wanted to know more about me and what I was. According to her knowledge, using magic without the falna if you weren't an elf was impossible. She was also really curious about what was the code that was running through her mind when she transformed into me and what I did know about it.
It was nice to have confirmed that one of the things the falna did was run the adventurer's ability for them.
I already suspected, but knowing for certain made the time I spent with Liliruca worth several times over. The fact that her magic could turn her into a gemstone temporarily, was a stroke of luck. I was fairly certain it would, but I couldn't be sure.
I was still thinking if I should take her as a disciple…
Anyway, answering all her questions would take multiple days, so I gave her some general answers and told her that since I had just gotten to Orario, I needed to leave and that I still didn't have a place to stay the night.
I told her that we could meet up another day and I would answer her questions then. She pouted a little at that but then brought up that if I was going to investigate the dungeon then she could show me all the tricks from the first few floors.
That was when Frey flew out of my pendant and started to pester her with questions she couldn't understand while flying circles around her.
Frey had a one-track mind sometimes, I swear.
But since he showed himself to her, it reassured me that she was honest and decided to accept her offer.
Her wide-eyed overwhelmed expression as she tried to follow along the spirit was really adorable.
Anyway, after agreeing to meet up the following day to go to the dungeon I asked for any Inns that had a good reputation to which she gave me a list and told me to not go to any of the others because of the danger of someone trying to steal from me was high.
I decided to take the word of the professional little thief seriously.
After that, we said our farewells and parted ways.
Which led me to spend the last few hours wandering Orario, going from inn to inn, trying to find one that could host me.
The problems weren't the Inns, the Inns she recommended seemed like really good places to stay.
The problem was the black-uniformed adventurers with a familiar emblem on their chest that stood guard watching every person that entered the different establishments.
Really Apollo? How much of a pest were you going to be? Take a hint...
I sighed, that was the last Inn on the list Lili gave me…
Seeing that the sun was already disappearing, I accepted my fate to have to sleep in the streets. Although looking at the tall walls that encircled Orario, maybe it would be better to camp up there. At least that way I would see people coming at me and I would have the high ground.
With the decision taken, I bought some food from the food stands that were closing for the day and asked them if they could tell me about a shop where I could buy a new cloak.
I had a couple of tricks that I could have used in the chase today, but my math was dependent on having an undamaged cloak so I couldn't use them.
"A place to buy a cloak, you say. This late it would be difficult. Although… There's that place." The gruff street vendor said while he packed his stand with a thoughtful expression.
"That place?" I asked for clarifications.
"Yeah, it's in Daedalus Street and it doesn't have a good reputation, but it should still be open. If you just want something cheap to replace that damaged cloak of yours then… I would still recommend waiting until tomorrow though." He said with a serious expression.
I had heard that the Apollo Familia had around one hundred adventurers. With that much manpower searching for me, confrontation was going to be inevitable in the near future. I would rather have the cloak as soon as possible.
"I see… Could you tell me the exact address, please?" Taking a little notebook and a pencil showing that I still wanted to go.
"It's your funeral, kid." He grunted, but still told me the address.
///////////////////
Entering Daedalus Street was a bit like entering into another dimension. Even if my sensing formulas were telling me the contrary, I could almost swear that there was something non-euclidean about this place.
It could also be my nerves since I've been feeling hostile and malicious gazes for a while. I could tell that the locals didn't like it when foreigners entered their territory. And looking at how poor they were in general, and my experience so far in this city, I could understand their distrust and hostility.
Hurrying up my steps, I finally arrived at Billy's Cloaking Service. A shop that according to the rumors I gathered on my way here was at least connected to the dark side of the city.
As I entered the shop, the bell attached to the door rang. The fat bald man who sat on the counter looked up and with a nervous smile said.
"Welcome, welcome. I assume that you want your order?" He said nervously and… was that a hint of fear coming from him.
I didn't know for sure, while I had learned to read lies, and malicious and hostile feelings through the aim fields. I still was fairly inexperienced with other emotions.
Besides, what order? I just got here today.
"I think there has been a misunderstanding. My cloak was damaged this morning and I just wanted a replacement." I said half turning to show him the part that was damaged.
"Oh, that's… great. Then, let's get you outfitted quickly." He said, while his nervousness calmed down slightly.
"What material do you want it made of? I have wool, silk, or linen. Or do you want something more exotic like salamander wool?" He said while guiding me to the shelves.
"I don't have that much money on me, so a standard wool one would suffice," I said.
"I see, I see." He said while searching through the different shelves.
While he was looking through the different cloaks, my senses picked something unusual.
Was that music? I couldn't hear anything through my ears, but the numbers in my air-sensing formulas were really familiar. The movement of the air-aspected mana was reminiscent of the numbers I used when I played music with my ability.
Curious, I swiftly rearranged the numbers in my head to reproduce the music at a point near my ear.
A sad ethereal melody full of pain, grief, and anger started playing in my ear.
The music slowly increased in intensity.
While keeping track of the music, my instincts started flaring up. My other senses weren't picking up anything, but I could feel it down in my gut, that I was in danger.
"Here it is. Tell me, what do you think of this one?" Said the shop owner, showing me a white cloak.
But I wasn't listening. Time seemed to slow down as the music reached its climax, I felt a sharp line of lowering air pressure slowly pass through the door and reach the shopkeeper's and my necks.
More on instinct than anything, I reached for the shopkeeper's shoulder and tugged him to the ground while yelling. "Get down!"
Not a moment later, the door of the shop exploded and a green missile was shot towards us almost faster than what my eyes could perceive, my iron sand exploding upwards as a tendril parried the blow from a wooden sword covered in lethal winds.
Still listening to the music, my instincts and precognition were telling me that another attack was coming, so I hastily executed a frost feint to the side tugging the shop owner with me. Just a split second later, the attacker smashed into the frost decoy and slid toward the other side of the shop due to the frost.
I quickly got my feet under me and pivoted to where the adventurer was.
She was at the entrance of the shop that had been destroyed in her ambush.
Moonlight shone down on her green, flower-shaped hood. Now illuminated by moonlight and stationary as she dealt with my ice, I could see her pale skin and blonde hair framing a face with stunning sky-blue eyes glaring at me. A true ethereal elven beauty, only marred by the visage of hatred on her face.
As she flexed her muscles, the ice clinging to her broke down. Covering the air around her in tiny icy particles that combined with the ethereal melody being emitted from her AIM field...
'A fairy.' I couldn't help but think.
A moment later, now that I had her in sight, I started feeling the faint but unmistakable presence of the goddess of justice coming from her back.
It seemed that I had found the rage elf on a warpath that Lady Astraea had asked me to look after.
And she had, for some reason, determined I was her enemy.
'Lady Astraea, what the hell was I supposed to do now?!'