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Extra Story: A Job for Fressa
“It’s been a while since Lily stopped by.”
The Shifty Shadow Rat was as booming with business as always. Though given how cheap their drinks were, it didn’t matter that they had a lot of customers, they weren’t making much of a profit.
Sitting at the counter was Leeno, also known as Lynokis, who had recently been making waves in adventuring circles. Slacking on work next to her was the barmaid, Fressa.
“She’s busy right now. She may not have a lot of free time.” After returning from her hunting trips, Lynokis would have a drink at the Shadow Rat before returning to her apartment. The time she spent having the drink was a ploy to get those interested in her off her tail.
There were many patrons in the bar right now who were secretly after her. She was the adventurer making the most money in the country right now. There were many who wanted to learn more about her, who wanted to learn who she really was, or who wanted to drag her into their parties.
Ẁĕb̃ňо v̇ е̃l̀ Е̃ n um а
“Lily, hmm? I’ve yet to meet the girl,” Geese muttered as he polished a glass behind the bar. He was a recent hire, an older man who was a friend of Anzel’s. They’d made sure to tell him in advance that Lynokis was using their bar as a base to help obscure her trail. As someone affiliated with the underworld, he never asked too many questions, so he was pretty easy to work with.
“I’m sure you’ll meet her one day...or maybe not, actually,” Fressa said, trailing off into a mumble.
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Geese was often on the night shift, but Lily—Nia Liston—was only active until the evening. The academy had a curfew that she had no choice but to abide by.
“Is that so? That’s a shame. I’d love to at least introduce myself.”
If the opportunity showed itself, then introductions would certainly be made. For now, though, Nia was especially busy. She was in her third semester as a first year, and that meant she also had to prepare for the following school year. She had plenty of magivision work on her plate, but most importantly, she had her promotion exam.
Nia was not stupid. According to Lynokis, she diligently attended all of her classes, and she got good scores on any quizzes, so she shouldn’t have any problems with the exam, but the girl herself didn’t seem to think the same.
Ŵ е̊b̈ ñӧv ѐl̃ Е n̂um̈a
Because of her natural resistance to studying, Nia had absolutely no confidence in her smarts. She could do her homework if she really put her mind to it, but she always hated it, and she was always making very strange complaints like, “If there’s a math god out there, I’m gonna punch ’em ’til they’re dead!” It was both a childish remark and also not.
As her personal attendant, Lynokis always found herself a little frustrated.
“You back to your main job tomorrow?” Fressa asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be swapping with Lynette. Are you not going hunting with her? You don’t seem to join us much these days.”
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Fressa had agreed to help with Nia’s goal of earning a billion krams, so this wasn’t an unusual question. She’d already received her reward in the form of lessons on chi.
“I’m a little bit conflicted. My problem is that I’m not trained in killing monsters. A lot of the time, I can’t help take down the big-ticket beasts.”
En u m̀ а._і̆ d̊
Fressa’s real job was as an assassin. In other words, she specialized in killing people. She was well-versed in methods for killing humans, but when it came to anything else, she struggled. After the many expeditions she’d joined in on, she’d come to realize that hunting monsters wasn’t efficient for her.
Her small weapons were made for people—they barely did any damage to large monsters, and there was only so much money she could make with small monsters.
“I feel like I could make more money with my real job. But...that’s a little scary, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I would say so.” Lynokis was glaring sharply at her. “If you were ordered to kill someone tied to us, I would have no choice but to kill you.”
Lynokis was being entirely serious. If Fressa killed anyone related to this “us”—in other words, the Liston family—then her life would be forfeit. Fressa laughed cheerfully in response. You’re so kind leaving it at just a warning, she thought to herself. “Yeah, makes sense,” she agreed. “Hunting a VIP under these circumstances would practically be a death sentence.”
Fressa had always thought that she could take Lynokis down in a fight. The issue was Nia would absolutely come after her if Fressa dared lay a hand on her personal attendant, and there was no way she would win that one. Even running would be impossible. She could already envision that girl chasing after her to the ends of the world.
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Types like Nia would never bend their own rules, especially when it came to settling a score—she’d put her life on the line to see it through. She was the type who didn’t act based on logic, instead purely acting based on what made her happy.
Fressa had been thinking for a little while now that maybe her time as an assassin was up; it was about time she got out of that life.
The deeper into the underworld your job took you, the harder it became to simply quit, and chances became higher that no one would acknowledge your resignation. Fressa knew too much about the dark side of this world to be left alone when she walked away. Her fellow assassins in the business would no doubt come after her. But a part of her was beginning to think that maybe she could take them down with her newfound abilities. Then again, maybe it was a bit too early...
She really did feel conflicted.
“Thanks for the drinks.” After having two drinks, Lynokis stood up from the counter. “See you both later.”
Lynokis exited out the back just as she always did. This was where she had one more job to do.
Ē nŭ m̈ a_. i d̆
The eyes on her were numerous and omnipresent. They were within the shadows, down the side alleys of the path, on the roofs, from the windows, even just loitering nearby. All eyes were turned to Lynokis leaving the bar. Where was she going? Where did she live? They wanted to know her address, about her private life, everything about the rumored Leeno the adventurer.
At this point, Leeno was known far and wide as the adventurer who had raised hundreds of millions of krams unfathomably quickly. Though the truth was slightly different, as far as outsiders were concerned, that was the situation. That was her reputation, and her strength was no doubt real. No matter who tried to get involved with her or attacked her, she would always effortlessly fend them off.
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She was also impossible to track. Even though pro sleuths and veteran adventurers kept their eyes on her, her home remained a mystery—Lynokis had managed to shake off every last one of them.
“Hmm...” Lynokis stood motionless, searching for a blind spot among the many lines of sight. Now that she could manipulate her chi, it was easy to detect people’s presence. Her senses were definitely getting sharper. Chi enhanced the human body’s basic abilities, but even accounting for that, she had undoubtedly honed her ability to detect others. Nia had once examined the layout of a dungeon using chi, so Lynokis imagined if she kept training like this, she’d one day be able to do the same.
“Okay, that’ll do.” She’d found an escape route.
She set off with a power walk, but the moment she made her first turn, she burst into a full-speed run. Turning yet another corner, she used the walls and window frames to swiftly jump up onto the roofs.
Ĕ ñu m̈ а̊. i̇ ď
“She disappeared?!”
“Damn it! Find her!”
Lynokis could hear the quiet voices coming from below disperse into separate searches.
Nice, I got them off my trail. Lynokis had made sure to bring along the change of clothes she’d left at the Shadow Rat, so she changed right there on the rooftop. She transformed from an adventurer into a regular city girl, and then made her way back to her apartment using the roofs.
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“What am I gonna do, Geese? She finally said something to me about it,” Fressa asked with a groan after Lynokis left. She hadn’t looked like she minded at the time, but her poker face had always been good—it was often the case that her expression and her emotions didn’t match up.
“Are you referring to the expeditions that Leeno mentioned?”
W eb̊ n о v́ẽl̄ Е ṅ um а
“Yeah, that.”
Those expeditions were the reason Geese had been hired. Anzel was out on an expedition right this second, and normally, Fressa would have been expected to accompany them. But right now, she was conflicted. She was the only one who found it much less efficient to try and raise money through hunting. Even if she joined them, she could barely help.
“I can’t imagine either you or Anzel owing someone a large debt. Did you...mess up on a large hit?”
“No, nothing like that. It’s more like we made an expensive purchase, and now we’re paying for it.” A billion krams to pay for the lecture fees on chi—that was how Fressa chose to view it. And she believed it was worth even more than that price. That was why she wanted to help Nia however she could.
Part of it was as simple as fear of repercussions for not repaying Nia, but more than anything, as a member of the underworld, she much preferred to pay off her debts as soon as possible. Leaving any outstanding was always one of those things that would catch up with you later down the line.
There was still a problem, though.
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“Something I’ve personally learned is that trying to do things inefficiently leads to failure a good chunk of the time. At least, that’s how it is for me.” On jobs, she would often end up making a lot of unnecessary moves, or take too many risks. Or more like it was because she was making a lot of unnecessary moves that she ended up taking too many risks.
As far as Fressa was concerned, work was best carried out as swiftly as possible. The issue was that she couldn’t do that with monsters. In fact, the risk she’d injure herself was much higher.
“I understand where you’re coming from,” Geese said. “Whether difficult or easy, money is money. In which case, there is nothing better than taking the easier option.”
His understanding of her words was only half right, but either way, Fressa agreed. She would have loved to be able to pay Nia back without going out on these expeditions.
“Surely you’ve gotta know good ways to earn big money, Geese?”
“Why not enter the Umbral Arena?”
Е́ ṅ û ṁа̇
“Mmmm... I accidentally caused a bit of trouble a while back, so I’m not allowed to enter. It’s dangerous for me to even get close.”
“Adventurer commissions?”
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“I’d need to register with the guild, so I couldn’t take any big-ticket commissions for a while.”
“Theft?”
“Mmmm... If I catch the eye of another big boss, my head’s probably gone.”
“Gambling?”
Е̄n ů m а .ìd
“I’m on the casino watch list too, so I’d probably get kicked out the second I entered.”
Geese was shocked. Not by the number of incidents she’d caused, but that she’d caused all that trouble and was still alive. Was her luck that incredible, or was she just that good at her job? Or was it both?
“Why not join your party on their expeditions like they want you to?”
“After what I was just saying? You’re so mean, Geese!”
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“Hey, I want some drinks over here! I’ve been calling forever!”
Perhaps she’d slacked off for a bit too long. The thugs were starting to get testy.
Е nu m а_
“I hear ya, I hear ya! Coming to take your order!” Fressa returned to work with her usual laid-back attitude.
Deep inside, though, she was still seriously worrying about what she should do.
“And so, I want money. You got any good offers for me?”
Spring was close, but the nights were still cold. It was on one of those nights when Fressa made her way to the warehouse district wearing all black. She came across as a completely different person than the barmaid of the Shadow Rat. She held that feminine allure that was dangerous and frightful yet still captivating. It made someone want to get close, but they knew they’d get hurt if they did. In that moment, Fressa completely embodied that kind of underworld dweller.
“Nope.”
The man she spoke with in a warehouse shadow was an information broker. The area wasn’t bustling with life, but there were definitely people around at all times, so they had to be careful if they wanted to avoid any curious gazes.
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“You want a job that doesn’t involve killing, right? I don’t have anything besides assassinations that will get you the money you’re after.”
“Yeah, figures...” She’d been hitting up various information brokers over the past few days, but all of them had given the same response.
At night, the warehouse district became Altoire’s most dangerous location. Illegal businesses were everywhere, from the Umbral Arena to an unauthorized casino. To any other country, this would likely have been deemed the slums, but in Altoire—or at least, in the royal capital—there was no such thing as slums, so even though it was the “roughest” area, it was still relatively calm.
At least, at a glance.
It was because of that perceived calm that mafia or other rough types would come in from elsewhere—deeming it easily attainable turf—and try to cement their place as leaders of the Altoire underworld. But just because those lingering here appeared docile, that didn’t mean they were weak.
Altoire had plenty of dangerous types, like the organization of assassins known as the Qilong. Fressa even personally knew the strongest kid in the world. There were probably plenty of people out there who were strong and Fressa just didn’t know them.
Ē n ù m̊ а
“Any deportations needed? No crazy types sneaked in?”
“There’s as many as usual, but you’re right, none seem especially significant. There’s already guys with pretty solid control over that kind of thing, so it’s unlikely they let any wild ones through.”
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Fressa was herself an illegal immigrant, but she’d arrived so many years ago that nowadays, the people who knew that truth were far eclipsed by those who didn’t.
“No smuggling gigs?”
“There’s some smaller jobs if you want to make a quick kram, but nothing significant. It doesn’t help that the surface folks have a pretty serious eye on that kind of thing. This country isn’t known for its peace for no reason.”
“I see...”
Ӗ n̈u m ӑ. і̌_d̀
Things were really getting dire for her. Smuggling objects or people across the border could often be a good way to get rich quick if you could manage it. Though the jobs only paid well because of how closely the Altoire authorities watched the underworld, so anyone with a bigger job had been laying low as of late.
There really was nothing she could pick up. At this rate, even hunting monsters would get her more money than this. It wasn’t efficient, but she’d still be earning money, at least.
She hadn’t been out on any expeditions for a while. If she didn’t hurry up and start earning money again, Nia might come and scold her. The thought alone was terrifying. Anzel or any of the other party members nagging her for it was manageable, but the one person whose trust she didn’t want to lose was Nia’s.
There was still so much she wanted to learn. She wanted to become so much stronger. She’d finally received this opportunity to become infinitely more powerful. It would be a waste for her to let this chance pass her by.
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If you wanted to live in the underworld, you needed to become strong.
Fressa wanted to at least become stronger than those she knew were stronger than her: the members of the Qilong, the Heroic Star Assembly, the Wild Beast Mercenaries, the Rampaging King of the White Orca Sky Pirates, also known as one of the Four Sky Kings. She didn’t foresee bumping into them in the near future, but if she did, she knew a fight with them would be her end. There were many terrifying people in the world.
Ë ṅ uṁӓ
Top of the top was definitely Nia Liston, though. She was strong, like a whole different dimension of strong. And right now, Fressa had the opportunity to connect with that strength in her grasp.
She couldn’t give up here.
“How much are you looking to make?”
“A million at minimum. The more the better.”
“Yeah, nah, you ain’t getting that from anything but a hit.”
“I can’t right now. Circumstances are a little...complicated.” She was an assassin, yet right now, she couldn’t risk doing assassin work. Her career really was over.
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“Sorry for taking up your time.”
There had been no good leads. Fressa turned away from the information broker and began her walk back. Maybe going out hunting really is my only choice.
No one remembered who’d started it, but any time Nia’s students were on a flight, they’d always ask for somewhere in the airship to train.
This time, it was Fressa and Lynette.
“You’re looking for work? I get why you’re worried, but...”
Though the exact weapons they used were different, both of them fought while armed.
Ѐǹům̌ а̇ . іd̈
Lynette Bran had been introduced to Fressa as Lynokis’s friend and Nia’s student, and had now become a fellow adventurer. Despite being Nia’s student, Lynette used a weapon—a sword, to be specific. To Fressa, Lynette came across much more of an adventurer than Lynokis. And as fellow weapon wielders, Lynette could understand Fressa’s worries and frustrations more than the others. Though apparently, Lynette was learning how to fight bare-handed.
“Have you considered wielding a bigger weapon?” Lynette asked.
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“I don’t think I’d be suited to it.”
Contrary to their calm discussion, they were both quite tense. They were sparring with sharp weapons; either of them could be badly hurt if they let their guards down for even a moment.
“I’m not someone who’s that attached to weapons in the first place,” Fressa said.
“Yeah, you gave that...vibe!” Lynette dodged in the nick of time as the knife that she’d just deflected was suddenly flying at her again.
Еn̆ümа̀
“It’s really just about whether I’m fighting against a person or not.”
“You really are strong...”
Fressa took advantage of Lynette’s slight loss of balance and closed the distance between them, thrusting a knife up toward Lynette’s neck.
Though in Fressa’s opinion, Lynette managing to dodge that knife right after deflecting it was far more frightening. She had just used an advanced technique where the knife was thrown with only a flick of the wrist. She’d launched it the moment Lynette deflected her first attack, yet she’d dodged it.
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It was a difficult-to-read attack that didn’t require arm movement, could be launched from any position, and had no windup. Plus, since they were sparring, they were currently at close range. The number of people who could have reacted to that were... Well, recently, more people had been popping up, Fressa supposed. Nia had managed to catch the knife the first time too.
“But I can’t take down large monsters with itty-bitty knives like these. I can barely take down medium-sized ones.” She could injure them, but the blades couldn’t lethally pierce them. Even the knife she had just thrown had been lacking in strength. At least with people, just aiming for their head was enough to take them out.
Ѐ n.üm̈ a .і́d
She took a step back from Lynette. “You should know by now that’s all I have on me since I need to be able to conceal them. They’re hidden weapons. But I’ve never been that attached to them.” They were simply tools that let her efficiently carry out her work, nothing more.
The problem was that such a style wasn’t very suited to hunting monsters.
“You really aren’t suited to this.”
“Thanks for not beating around the bush.”
They were on their way back to Altoire after a few days of hunting. Every trip back, there would be a bath prepared for them that they would gladly dive into. That was when Lynette suddenly said those words.
She really wasn’t suited to this.
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“I’m thankful for your diversions and you make a good decoy, but you really aren’t suited for hunting. You leave too many injuries on the prey.”
“Especially the big ones, right?” Fressa knew that much without being told.
Lynokis, Anzel, and Gandolph all had attacks that let them crush the monsters’ skulls, while Lynette had the ability to behead or stab a fatal point in one attack. Fressa could do neither of those things. When she hunted a monster, she needed to slowly wear it down, but that decreased the value of her prey—her attacks damaged its hide and resulted in excessive blood loss.
Of course, Fressa wasn’t happy about the situation either. She always thought that her strength was middle-of-the-road.
“See what I mean, though? Hunting just isn’t efficient with me there.”
“It’s not just inefficient, it’s detrimental. You always get in the way.”
W е́ b̊ nо vӗ l̇ Ēǹu m ӑ
“Thanks for not beating around the bush...” This was yet another thing that Fressa knew without being told.
“Why not try asking Lily about it?”
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“I have, though it was a pretty casual conversation.”
“What did she say?”
“‘If I say too much, I might end up denying you of what makes your style good, so I can’t give you any advice.’ My style is just too different from hers, I guess.”
Nia didn’t use weapons to fight and she didn’t know any assassination techniques either. In fact, the girl’s strength was on such a completely different level that she didn’t need to bother with such crafty tactics in the first place.
W e̊ b̃n̆ оv̄е l Êńum̌ а̂
“But if you don’t do anything, you’ll just keep getting in the way,” Lynokis chided.
“When I thank you for being straight with me, I don’t mean it, you know.” Fressa already knew that without being told! “Say that to me again and I’ll take it out on your boobs. It really hurts my feelings, you know.”
“On my...?” Lynette slowly scooched away from Fressa in the tub. Naturally, Fressa simply closed the gap again, remaining close enough to strike at any time.
“You what? You want a job that can get you good money other than killing? Sure, I know of something.”
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When Fressa threw the question at Nastine once again when he popped up at the Shadow Rat, his response surprised her.
“You do?!” She was shocked she’d finally gotten a positive response. She had fully expected to get another no.
Ẇ e.b n̈ ō v̆ éľ E n um̆ a
“You bein’ serious, Nastine?” Anzel asked—he was the bartender on shift tonight. “There really somethin’ that nice?”
“Yeah? You guys should’ve heard about it too. It’s the underground waterways.”
That was all it took to click in Anzel’s and Fressa’s minds.
“You mean the usual surveys,” Fressa said. “I forgot one was due around this time.”
There were plenty of rumors surrounding the capital’s underground waterways. Some said that they were an escape route connected to the castle; others said that you could hear monsters at night. There was a more interesting rumor that it was the base for some assassin’s organization, but that had been debunked. Another said that there was some terrible murderer living down there.
All pretty common rumors for that kind of location, but the one thing that was definitely true was that the layout of the waterways was both large and complicated. Having a map wouldn’t help because the layout changed all the time. It wasn’t a dungeon, so it wasn’t changing naturally either; someone was deliberately increasing the routes or breaking down walls or blocking paths.
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The dark underground was an area that people tended to avoid, especially with all its blind spots. That made it convenient for people to sneak in and alter the layout for their own gain. It was so big that you couldn’t see from end to end, and that made regular patrols a necessity.
The time and frequency of the surveys was regular enough, but the exact times were still fairly random. A lot of people would run if it leaked that one was due. Doing a surprise spot check was always the best way to go about it.
“If you can finish it in five days, you get three mil.”
“Three mil, huh?” It was Fressa’s ideal job if she could manage it. Could she do it solo? Now that she could use chi, it seemed possible. If she ended up bumping into someone much stronger than her, then even if she couldn’t win in a fight, she could probably still outrun them.
Running into someone or something stronger than her was the scariest thing about taking something like this on. Usually, surveyors would move in a group so they could protect each other, but the more people working on the job, the less money you got individually. Which was why Fressa wanted to do it solo if she could.
Given its location, there likely weren’t any big monsters. If there were, someone would have detected them because of the sounds or vibrations or other various factors. No one had reported anything of the sort, so she was pretty sure she would be safe on that front.
Е̊n um̄а̌
If it was just human enemies, then so long as they weren’t as strong as Nia, she’d be fine. Even if she couldn’t win against them, again, she had the confidence she could outrun them.
It seemed more efficient than hunting, and both jobs came with risks anyway. The wounds left on her heart from Lynette’s ruthless, “You really aren’t suited to this,” and, “You just get in the way,” and, “Your chest is way too big,” and, “You’re just a useless bimbo,” were still raw and aching.
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Okay, she might have been exaggerating some of it, but the point still stood. Knowing that people really thought she was getting in the way made her much more reluctant to go on hunting trips with them.
“Maybe I’ll give it a try.” She’d barely been contributing to the billion krams. If this was her opportunity to make some good money, then she had to take it.
“Gonna go for it? Be careful of the ghosts, then,” Anzel said.
“Ghosts? Oh yeah, there were rumors about that, weren’t there?” And quite recent ones at that. It was a common tale when it came to locations like sewers that were dark and damp and barely had people around.
Е̊n üm̃ а̃ . i̊ d̊
Such rumors were so common that it barely bothered Fressa.
However, if it was a rumor spread by someone specifically to try and keep people away, that meant it was possible that there really was someone nefarious living there.
“I’ll be careful, don’t worry. So? What’s your cut of the reward?”
“Hey, at least call it a brokerage fee. If you mess up, I’m the one that has to take responsibility, you know. I’m taking an amount that’s appropriate for the risks.”
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“And the number?”
“Two mil.”
W е̄b n̊о̄ v еl Ѐ num̂ â
“Wait. Are you telling me the original reward is five million krams? You’re getting a pretty sizable chunk!”
“You don’t have to take the job. I can easily find someone else who’ll work for even less. This wasn’t even something I intended to offer you in the first place.”
“Wow, so you’re that willing to steal from your friends?”
“‘Friends’? Whose ‘friend’ do you mean? As far as I’m concerned, you’re just some asshole who got me drunk, stole my cash, and then dumped me in the trash. Three times.”
“Oh shit.” Fressa was suddenly much more interested in returning to her barmaid duties. She didn’t think she’d end up making him remember such a stupid memory. If she opened her big mouth again, he’d take off even more for sure.
“I’ll start tomorrow. Don’t give the job to anyone else.”
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That was all she said before she cut off the conversation with her old acquaintance.
“That about sums it up. Doubt you need much of a detailed explanation.”
The next day, Fressa met up with Nastine at their usual café and discussed the job over breakfast. He’d given her a map, and quickly briefed her on the task. She’d participated in a survey of the waterways once before, so she didn’t need much explained again.
“So to confirm, all I need to do is check the pathways. I can leave any homeless, but I should chase out any thugs. If I see people who specifically look like they’re part of an organized crime ring, I should leave them alone and report back to you. That sound about right?”
“Yup, same as always.”
In other words, they were the usual routine checks. Homeless would always gather in the waterways and they posed no threat. Thugs, on the other hand, were liable to form their own gangs, so they had to be taken out right away. On the off chance that some organization was using the waterways as a hideout, she needed to figure out their identity and then they would be dealt with by either Nastine or someone above him.
W e bn о v̂ е̇.l E nû m а́
“Sure you’re good by yourself?”
“It makes it easier for me to move around.”
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Fressa fully intended to handle this as quickly as possible. The job was a simple case of confirming the state of the waterways and dealing with any troublemakers as appropriate. Since they wanted her to scan the whole area, they naturally weren’t asking for her to detect any smaller issues.
If she could get info from anyone living down there, her investigation would go much faster. The underground waterways were large and convoluted, but five days should’ve been more than enough for her.
Fressa stood up when she finished her food. “Thanks for breakfast. I’ll get going.”
“Hey, I didn’t say I was gonna pay for you.” Regardless, the generous Nastine did just that, letting Fressa quickly go on her way.
W e b̀ ñ_ǒv̂ ě.l̀ Еn̄ u m̈ a
There were tons of entrances to the underground in Altoire. One of them was in a small hut built specifically for that purpose. In other words, it was an official entrance, and that meant it was usually locked. Knowing someone would be going down for a survey, though, the door had been unlocked in advance. Generally, only those hired by the country were allowed in. The capital’s sewers all ran underground and converged in one place.
Fressa wasn’t all that knowledgeable on the specifics of how it all worked, but she knew that apparently, wastewater would pass through, build up in some large tank, and then magic would purify the water before sending it out into the ocean. Some sort of magic treatment was also in place to break down human waste into harmless substances—it wasn’t left to just go through untouched. Thanks to that, Altoire’s underground waterways were surprisingly clean.
There were stone pathways on either side of the tunnel, with the wastewater slowly flowing down the middle, continuing off into the endless darkness. Fressa chose a side and continued down the uneven path.
“Smells as bad as ever here.” Fressa’s face scrunched up after she climbed down the ladder. There wasn’t much contaminated water passing through, but there were other smells in the air. Any monsters or animals that died here would’ve been left to rot and decompose. In fact, not just monsters and animals, but possibly humans too. Strange, unidentifiable smells like that were filling the air.
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The sun didn’t shine down here. If anything went down, no one aboveground would ever know. It didn’t help that there was no way to get fresh air down here. You could practically see the dampness in the air.
Fressa stood there for a bit as she took in her surroundings. Once her eyes got used to the dim light of the manastones fitted to the walls, she began walking again. The light from the manastones wasn’t the most reliable, so the place was still dark, but they were bright enough for her to see where she was going.
W̆е bnо ṽ ѐ l̂ Е num ā
“Things would go so much faster if I could just find someone to ask,” she muttered, walking at a brisk pace as she referenced the map. Dust was starting to build up on the ground; even mice apparently hadn’t passed through here lately.
Well, it was fine. It wasn’t exactly a part of the waterway that people thought to sneak in, so she’d just have to continue doing things the old-fashioned way.
“That’s about halfway.”
The royal capital was split into eighteen districts and therefore, so were its waterways.
Fressa was on day three of her survey, referencing the map as she made her way through. She’d been getting faster as she got the hang of things, and so far, everything was going smoothly. Beyond the unpleasant smell and environment, there had been no real problems.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, no thugs had sneaked their way in—it was a pretty boring affair. There were some homeless scattered about, but not very many, and none of them had any interesting insight. They were still in that winter chill that shortly preceded spring, and that meant the waterways were quite cold. It wasn’t the best place to hang around or sleep. Regardless, the locals hadn’t seen anything especially out of the ordinary.
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If things kept going this smoothly, she’d be done by tomorrow night.
But she wouldn’t be so lucky.
“There’s, like, some ghosts or somethin’ down there.”
During her survey, she ended up talking with a pair of homeless, two slightly dirty old men. When she gave them some change and asked if they’d seen anything out of the ordinary, they mentioned the ghosts.
“Ghosts?” Anzel had warned her about such rumors and she’d been keeping them in mind, but she hadn’t thought someone would actually bring it up.
“Yeah, there was this weird white floaty thing goin’ whoosh down the path. Gave me the shivers, it did.”
Ė n um̂ а̌ .і̇ d̃
“Same. It’s freezin’.”
“I wasn’t shiverin’ ’cause of the cold, ya dolt.”
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Fressa considered this. A ghost, huh? She’d thought it was one of those typical baseless rumors when she’d heard it at the Shadow Rat, but now that she was hearing about it in the place itself, the degree of reliability shot right up.
Reality of ghosts aside, it was much more likely that they’d seen something that looked like one at the very least. These homeless men had no reason to lie unless they’d been incentivized to tell that exact story.
“That’s why I was against stayin’ in a creepy place like this. It’s cold, it stinks, it’s all humid, and there ain’t even a single mouse. There’s nothin’ to eat here.”
“I’m hungry too.”
En ǔm а̂.і̇d̃
“You’re the one that brought us here!”
It seemed unlikely that these two were working on someone’s orders. They would have been more wound up had they been planted here to fool people. Whatever the case, the only thing she could do was check things out for herself.
“Where’d you see this ghost?”
They pointed toward the tenth area. She hadn’t checked in that direction yet.
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“Thanks for the tip. If you find yourself with nowhere to stay, head to the warehouse district. You’ll find a lot of people in the same situation as you.” It would be a little troublesome if they starved or froze or drowned to death here, so she gave them some rough directions.
There were no slums in the royal capital of Altoire. The underworld took in those without a place to stay, especially since some of them were job brokers aiming to cut out the middleman. She couldn’t promise the men that they would be treated well, but at the very least, they’d have a roof over their heads and food to eat.
Wе_bnӧ v̀е̂ l̂ Е̇ nu mа̂
She parted ways with the homeless men and continued. For now, she’d truck on with her investigation.
It was now day four of her investigation. She’d gone all out the day before and finished up to the seventeenth district. There was only one left: district ten, the area where the ghosts had been sighted. She’d left it for last since she knew there was actually something to investigate and there was no telling how long the search would take.
She was sure by this point that there had to be something there, it was just a matter of what. Finding an actual ghostly presence wouldn’t be so strange, but that would likely be the least interesting outcome. Surveys were frequent enough that no big ghosts like a lich would’ve had time to manifest.
The other possibility was that someone was posing as a ghost. That seemed more probable, and was also more of a threat.
“Getting a little excited about how this is going to end.”
And so, Fressa began her investigation of the last area.
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“Now, what do we have here?”
Thanks to the dirt on the ground, the stagnant air, and a woman’s instincts, she could practically feel something unusual about the space. She crouched down to further examine the ground, finding disturbances in the light coating of dust and the dirt that couldn’t be seen well at a cursory glance.
“Three people...?”
There were footsteps. Three different types, and big enough that they were likely men. With the scattered nature of the markings, they seemed to have been frequently coming in and out of the area.
Three people wasn’t enough for an organized crime group, so they must have been a trio carrying out jobs together. Being so sneaky in a place like this reeked of trouble, especially if they were trying so hard not to be seen that they were mistaken for ghosts. Then again, she couldn’t rule out the possibility that they were part of a much bigger group that was only sending the three of them down here.
“Heh heh.” In any case, she’d caught the scent of crime, and that meant she’d caught the scent of money. Her job was simply to do a rough survey of the waterways and then report back, but surely it would be fine for her to take the initiative to deal with something so small it wasn’t even worth reporting. She was saving them the hassle; what problem could there possibly be? She’d remain adamant she’d done it from the kindness of her heart.
Ŵеbñо̂v̈ ё l̃ Е n ûm̈ ӓ
That said, if she found anything shiny while she was taking down evil, she may slip it into her pocket.
“All right!” After doing her own assessment and taking a little peek further in, she decided to pull back for now.
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Fressa returned to the waterways later that evening—
“Which way?”
—with Anzel in tow.
“Straight ahead.”
Ё n̈ ů m а̀ .ǐ d̄
It didn’t take much persuasion to get him on board. Nowadays, Anzel appeared to be an upright citizen as the bartender of the Shadow Rat, but moments like this made it apparent that at his root, his heart remained in the underworld. He was the kind to immediately jump on an easy profit.
“Just to remind you, I’m not paying you for this.”
“I know. Even if we split the reward money, it’d all end up in the same place anyway. Whether you or me, we’d put it all toward the billion krams, right?”
He was correct.
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“You’re being such a good boy for them,” she couldn’t help but tease. This man was a contrarian through and through; he ordinarily wasn’t the type to just obediently listen to whatever someone told him to do.
“Yeah, ’cause I’d rather not find out what would happen if I wasn’t. If we don’t make that billion krams, I’m outta here.”
W еb n̂ ò ṽе̊.l̈ Е̌ n̄ ǔ m̂ а
“Well, can’t fault you for that. I’d do the same.”
Both Anzel and Fressa had agreed to never anger Nia Liston. That was practically their number one priority.
They started walking down the path to district ten.
“What’s their numbers lookin’ like?”
“Three at minimum. Don’t know how many more. It seems like they’re able to get aboveground from here.”
“What, did they open a hole or something?”
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“Probably. The tenth district is quite an affluent residential area, so I think it’s possible there’s some mastermind on the surface.”
“I see. And that’s why you called me here.”
“Pretty much.”
She could handle three opponents somehow, maybe even a little more than that. But if the number got much bigger, she might find herself in a bit of trouble, so just in case, she’d consulted with Anzel. If he was interested, great. If he seemed reluctant, she’d have tried to negotiate, but if she failed, she would’ve tried to find someone else.
“What’s your thoughts on their group?” Anzel asked.
“They’re probably foreigners. They’re a bit too good to be random thugs, too sneaky. They might be from some foreign army or mafia. It also seems pretty likely they have an informant within Altoire.”
W̃е bnо v е l .Е̇ n um̂ā
“Doesn’t this sound like way more hassle than it’s worth...?”
“We’ll deal with it when the time comes. For now, it’s thieving ti— I mean, it’s time to go check them out.”
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“Hey, it’d be worth grabbing anything that looks valuable before reporting back.”
Glad we’re on the same page!
They found the footprints of the three men pretending to be ghosts going in and out of the tenth district waterways again, and followed the trail until they discovered a wall covered by a sheet. It had a sign in front of it that read “BEWARE OF WALL COLLAPSE” as if the wall had been destroyed in some sort of accident, but it was clearly just a decoy.
Naturally, when they pulled back the cover, they found a thin wall made of planks.
W ěbń óv̆ еľ Е n̂u m а
“Gimme a second.” Anzel handed the sheet to Fressa and then moved the planks aside. Behind them was a corridor that an adult could easily pass through if they ducked. “Down here, right?”
“Yup.”
The two of them showed no hesitation as they entered the tunnel. There was an open area not too far in that had been dug out by an organization that had taken control of the place in the past, who then used it as their base.
That organization had already been dealt with. There had been plans to destroy this space with them, but after all the effort put into building it, the city decided to consider if there was some other way they could use it. There were quite a lot of areas like that scattered about the waterways.
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Fressa wasn’t really sure how those men had found this area, but apparently, they were making very good use of it. There were tons of wooden crates stacked inside—each one stuffed with smuggled goods.
“Whew, what’ve they got?” Anzel asked.
W е́ b nо̀ v̊ ël̄ Е̇n̂ ü m ӓ
“It just looked like a bunch of metal parts.” That was as far as Fressa had investigated earlier that morning. She’d pulled back after discovering it.
“What kind of parts?”
The crates were all neatly piled up in rows. There was a good number of them, roughly two hundred or so. Fressa wasn’t sure if they all had the same contents, though.
“See for yourself.”
Not far from where they came in was a box that Fressa had busted open when she came to investigate earlier. It was still broken, so it seemed no one had noticed yet. Anzel peeked inside himself and crossed his arms.
“They look like skiff parts.”
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“For skiffs?” Apparently the crates were full of parts for small airships that could fit one or two people. “These are totally smuggled goods, aren’t they?” Fressa asked.
“No doubt about it.”
These crates had been secretly carried to a dark place underground that wasn’t even marked on a map—of course they were smuggled goods. The men had somehow gotten them into the country without the authorities knowing and stored them all down there.
“They’re smuggling skiff parts?”
The confusing part now was the goods themselves. Smuggled goods tended to be scarce, expensive, and illegal to import. The risk of sneaking past the eyes of the law was dangerous enough that the money to be made had to be worth the hassle.
And yet, the goods before them were parts for a skiff. There was nothing rare or expensive about them. Would they really be so profitable?
W̆e b nõ v́ е̌ l̈ Еñ û_m á
“I can’t guarantee it, but I’m pretty sure that’s what these are. I guess they must be pretty valuable...?” Anzel replied with confusion in his tone.
“Hmm... What should we do? Should we take some with us?” Fressa had been excited thinking they would be worth something, but knowing they were nothing special, she was disappointed. Maybe they were worth a lot, but at the end of the day, they were just airship parts. There was only so much she’d be able to sell them for.
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Given the number of crates as well, and how heavy each of them was, carrying them out with just the two of them would be tough. Would the profits be worth the effort?
“It does seem like there was a reason for ’em to go this far, either ’cause they’re contraband or ’cause they’re the latest model. At the very least, it’s real likely these aren’t just regular parts.”
“I guess so.”
The smugglers had been gradually sneaking in skiff parts while pretending to be ghosts. If they’d done it in bulk, the authorities would’ve noticed them, so they’d had no choice but to do it bit by bit. The fact the crates were here at all meant they weren’t goods that could be traded on the regular market. The problem was that Anzel and Fressa couldn’t actually calculate their value. Fressa couldn’t imagine these crates would go for very much.
Е̌nũm̆а́
“I know you boys like your airships and your skiffs, but I don’t have a single clue about them.”
“Hey, you do realize I’m older than you, right?” Anzel tested the weight of one of the boxes and then placed it back down. “They’re quite heavy and bulky, to boot. I could probably only carry three at once.”
In which case...
“Should we just end this quick, then?”
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Right now, they were undercover—infiltrating this area without the members of the smuggling ring knowing. In other words, if they took down everyone tied to this enterprise, they could completely take over the business. All Anzel and Fressa would have to do was hire some people once they were done here. There were plenty of ways to more easily transport the crates.
That was just what business in the underworld was like. If you showed any weakness, your business would be stolen from you. If you weren’t strong enough, you simply wouldn’t survive. If you didn’t like how it worked, you were better off abiding by the law and becoming a merchant on the surface.
Ѐ n üm̂а. ї.d̂
Evil would always be swallowed by a greater evil.
“I’d prefer to make our decision after seein’ what these guys are like, but there’s no time.”
Nastine had given them five days, and today was the last day. If they reported the smuggling ring to Nastine, he would then report it to his superiors, who would handle it how they wanted—with no reward for Fressa and Anzel.
Ideally, Fressa and Anzel would get the three million krams for the investigation and also nab the smuggled goods to make some extra cash. They’d arrived at a mountain of treasure—even if they had no idea how much it was really worth. No resident of the underworld would have seen this and left it.
“Where’s their entry point?”
“Over there. There’s a ladder.”
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“Then let’s check out what’s above here before we make our move. I wanna see if we stand a chance—”
“I won’t allow you to go any farther.”
The moment the strange noise interrupted Anzel, he and Fressa immediately reacted. They moved in unison before they could even register what words were said, hiding behind separate crates. They both crouched, heightened their senses, and searched the surroundings.
Where had that noise...that voice come from? It had been a low male voice, but they couldn’t detect anyone’s presence. There shouldn’t have been anyone there but the two of them.
The tension grew as time stretched on with no answers.
“You’re that rat from earlier.”
Ë n̊ uṁа
This time, they were able to register the noise as words. “The rat from earlier”? That likely referred to Fressa. She must have been discovered that morning after all.
Only one possibility came to mind:
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“He must be a magician,” Anzel said.
“His voice is coming from the ceiling.”
The voice was reverberating, which made his exact location hard to pinpoint, but it was definitely coming from above. This man was likely using Farsight, a magic that allowed one to see outside of their usual range of vision, and Transmission, a magic that allowed one to project sound.
Magic wasn’t so common in modern times. During times of war, it was a factor that gave strength to the common people, but that was now a thing of the distant past.
Еñ ŭ_m̈ а̇ ..іd
All people were born with mana within their bodies, but that did not mean anyone was guaranteed to be able to use magic. Many spells had been lost to time, and lessons were expensive. Even if one were to learn magic, what would they even use it for? There was also a theory that a general depletion of mana had resulted in a decrease of the number of people who could use magic.
And then there was the problem of how magic was established within each country. As far as Altoire’s magician circles were concerned, it was on its way out. Part of the reason magivision was struggling to spread was because it had been a long time since magic was last a part of everyday life. Contrary to Altoire, however, there were apparently countries like the Noble Kingdom of Harvelheim which still regularly used and taught magic.
Long story short: Magicians were a pain in the ass. To the inexperienced fighter, a magician was like a mystery box where anything could jump out at any time. It could be fire, it could be ice, it could be something else entirely—even something lethal. The fighter’s guard had to be kept up at all times.
Now that the magician had spotted them, though, they couldn’t move. Their opponent wasn’t in the room with them, and that meant they couldn’t effectively judge the danger. The quickest and most decisive way to deal with a magician was to take down the man himself. Making an unplanned retreat was too risky; the magician could easily fire magic at their running backs.
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Fressa silenced her breathing and searched her surroundings.
“Leave. Now. I’m willing to let you go this time.”
Е̌nu m̂a.
Giving us a warning? How kind. But Fressa and Anzel had both lived in a world of deceive or be deceived for so long that they were constantly searching for the true meaning behind one’s words.
“Let’s go.”
“You got it.”
Warnings were words used to chase off intruders. But behind those words was the assumption that the speaker was unprepared to fight and didn’t want to engage in battle.
They couldn’t afford to heed the magician’s warning. If they pulled back here as he wanted, that tower of treasure may disappear, never to be found again. Fressa and Anzel weren’t about to give him the time to take away their prize.
Rather than retreating, Fressa and Anzel ventured farther inside. The magician sensed their movements and spat an insult in irritation, “You fools.”
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At that, several of the wooden crates shattered. The skiff parts had broken through the boxes and were flying right toward Fressa and Anzel. There must have been over a hundred pieces, each one heavy and durable. If any of those hit them, it would definitely hurt, and it didn’t help that there were so many projectiles.
“Anzel, I’m counting on you!” Fressa let out a roar as she relentlessly charged forward, dodging the metal parts flying her way.
Stopping here would have been a bad idea; they’d both become easy targets. In which case, one of them would be the decoy so the other could move freely; that was their best chance at survival.
Fressa didn’t particularly want to play the role of the decoy. She was the kind who liked to keep moving when in a desperate situation. Staying still wasn’t her style.
“You asshole! You’re payin’ me back for this later!” For all his complaints, Anzel had come to the same conclusion. Fressa’s swift speed made her the better of the two to go ahead, so it was only natural he would become the decoy. He was also aware that this was their best available option—that didn’t mean he liked it. They’d come here together and now he was stuck with all the danger.
“How about some Bakaña? Aged ten years!” she shouted back.
Е ňu mа̊
“Five bottles!”
“Three!”
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“Four!”
“Deal!”
Negotiations complete. You greedy little jerk, Fressa bitterly thought to herself as she dashed up the ladder, leaving behind Anzel and her expensive new debt.
Anzel’s immediate thought was that this was way easier than he expected. The metal parts were relentless in their attack and yet they barely felt like a threat. He wasn’t sure if it was because he could use chi now, but he almost felt like they were going in slow motion.
Е n̂ um а̄ ._і̂ d
In reality, they weren’t moving anywhere near that slowly, and if any of them hit, his bones would definitely break. Yet dodging them was easy, and he could even deflect them with his palm. He even had the leeway to consider how to strike to avoid breaking them—it would be a waste of the goods if he did. If he kept them in one piece, he could sell them off later.
The metal parts were focusing on Anzel as if the magician had determined that he was the easier target over the swiftly weaving Fressa. That was fine by Anzel, though. It meant he was a successful decoy.
It became apparent that this magician wasn’t very used to battle if he fell for such an obvious trick. At least it made things easier for Fressa.
“Don’t get so cocky!” Apparently, the magician did feel like he was being treated lightly.
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“Huh? Holy shit... You’re kidding me.”
The metal parts started gathering together. It took a moment for Anzel to recognize what he was looking at, but gradually, it took shape. It was a skiff.
W̊е̂b n̂ö_v̂ѐl Е ń.u ṁ а
These parts can automatically assemble? Several skiffs formed before his eyes, and suddenly everything made sense.
“That’s why they were smuggled in.”
They were skiffs that could be broken down for easier storage and then automatically put back together. Something like that would definitely sell. Hell, even Anzel wanted one of his own—not that he’d have a way to use it.
It irritated him to admit Fressa had been right: men really did love this kind of thing no matter their age.
The skiffs dove for Anzel. Not only were they big, but they were also heavy. If any of those hunks of metal hit him, he’d be a goner for sure.
In which case, the only option was to simply not get hit.
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“Don’t treat them so roughly.” It might’ve been a strange thing to say to his enemy, but Anzel really wanted the magician to make sure the skiffs didn’t hit the walls or the floors or each other. Anzel really wanted him to make sure he didn’t damage or break them.
After making it to the top of the tall ladder, Fressa kicked open a metal hatch.
“Intruder!”
She emerged into a dimly lit room with five burly men ready to attack, wielding wooden bats and other shoddy weapons. A gathering like this was nothing to her anymore. She might not have known her opponents, but she could tell that they were no stronger than your average thug. She could’ve taken them down easily in the past, but with chi at her disposal, she didn’t even have to put her back into it.
After taking them down without even breaking a sweat, she took a look around.
“Is this...a warehouse?” Given the decent size of the room and the haphazardly placed tools and other junk, it seemed likely. There was no furniture, so it didn’t appear to be the inside of a home, at least. The tenth district of the underground waterways was right under quite an affluent residential district, so she should’ve popped out somewhere around there...
Е̄n̄ ū m ă
No, there was no time for theorizing. Anzel was surprisingly resilient, so he would likely be fine for a while, but if she didn’t hurry and take the magician down, he’d have some very choice words for her later.
Now that they’d been attacked like this, they’d definitely been caught, so there was no point in trying to be roundabout and sneaky anymore. It was time for her to make a frontal assault.
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Given the scale of the smuggling and how gradually the mystery men had been carrying out their operations, it was hard to think there were many people around. At least, not here.
Finding a door, she opened it and was immediately greeted by the outside. More specifically, she’d found herself in someone’s garden. There was an outer wall, cutting it off from the rest of the surroundings.
She’d gone from the smelly underground to a dim warehouse to the outside where the evening was only starting to dim. The garden was well-maintained, so it was hard to imagine this was a gathering area for thugs.
Did that mean the mastermind was the owner of this house?
Ẅ е̂b̌ n.ӧ v̊е̊ l̀ Ё n̈ü m_а
No, I already said this isn’t the time for this.
Now that she had confirmed there was no one in the vicinity, Fressa quickly moved toward the house. The commotion hadn’t yet spread to the other side of the wall, so she’d much prefer if she could finish things inside the property. It would be the worst if the authorities found her—they’d strip everything from her according to the law.
She boldly whipped open the door to the house—and was immediately greeted by bright red.
“Oh, crap.”
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It was fire. Fire blazing hot was coming right at her.
The magician had cast Fireball. Fressa had been anticipating a surprise attack, obviously, but she hadn’t been expecting the sheer size of it.
Е̂n üḿӓ . іd̃
It was massive. It was so big that there was no space to dodge it in the entryway of the house. She couldn’t afford to dodge it anyway. If she was right, that fire would explode once it hit its target. If she didn’t take the hit, it would explode right in the middle of the residential district and turn it into a sea of fire. That in and of itself wasn’t something she cared much about, but if such a dramatic incident occurred, the higher-ups would instantly know what Fressa had tried to do, no doubt about it.
She could probably come up with some convincing excuses, but Nastine would definitely use an incident like that to cut her pay. Worst-case scenario, he’d forfeit her part of the reward entirely, and she wouldn’t get any of the skiff parts from underground.
And so, she could not afford to dodge here, but she obviously couldn’t eat the blast either. If that hit her, she’d be burned to ashes.
Having all that run through her head in a split second, Fressa came to her decision.
She removed her belt, changing it into the secret whip she had stashed away. She’d been training to use this Technique, but not once had she succeeded. It was slowly taking shape and she could tell she was starting to get the hang of it, but none of her attempts had been quite right.
Now, though, she had no choice but to make it work.
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Chi Fist: Rupture—when Fressa had asked Nia if there were any Techniques that used weapons, that was what she taught her. It was a Technique that was difficult to learn, but so long as you had a blunt weapon, you could use it. It put emphasis on sheer destructive power, a weapon version of Roaring Thunder, the Technique that Gandolph had been joyfully training.
And then Nia had given a demonstration.
Fressa had asked if a whip—far from what would normally be perceived as a blunt weapon—could still be used for such a Technique, and Nia had shown her just that. What was essentially a simple leather belt cracked stones and shattered glass jars; it practically destroyed the air. Even though Nia hadn’t touched anything directly, a terrifying destructive sound had rumbled through the air.
If that Technique could part even the air, then maybe she could destroy the nonsolid fire in front of her.
Nia had said back then that she should focus all her power and speed into the moment the tip of the whip flipped back after throwing it.
Rupture. Fressa had not once succeeded with the Technique, but she was positive she was close. In which case, she should have been able to use it here. She would believe in her own potential—she would believe in the way she was always strongest during the real thing.
Е n̄ ů m̊ â
Charging her chi, she let out a sharp breath, and flicked her whip down. The moment it touched the encroaching Fireball, she pulled back with all her strength.
THWACK!
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
That sound! That’s what I heard when Nia showed me! Except things didn’t go quite so smoothly.
“Ow, that’s hot!”
The fire scattered in all directions, and the moment a part of it touched her, she instinctively dropped to the floor. She’d succeeded in destroying the Fireball, but it hadn’t been a clean dispersal, resulting in some of it sparking onto her. But at least it was a much better outcome than an explosion. The spark only lightly touched her—it hadn’t even caused a burn. She’d accidentally charred a bit of the entranceway, but thankfully, it hadn’t escalated into a full-blown fire.
“Huh?! Damn it!”
Ẃ е bn̂о ṽе̂l̈ Ӗ n̄ ŭ ḿа̇
Fressa came back to her senses when she heard a man’s voice. All manner of emotions were swirling around inside of her at having escaped danger through the success of her first Rupture, but first things first, she needed to catch that magician.
“Don’t follow me!”
The magician was down the other end of the burnt entrance hall. She’d been expecting a typical magician with black robes and all, but instead, he was a regular young man around her age with no interesting features to speak of. After shouting at Fressa upon seeing her survive his Fireball attack, he ran farther down the hall. Naturally, Fressa gave chase—she couldn’t afford to let him get away. She chased after him quickly but carefully, making sure to keep her senses heightened just in case.
“Whoopsie-daisies!” As she ran, one of the doors from the side of the corridor burst off just as Fressa was passing it, clearly aimed right at her, which had entirely been within Fressa’s predictions. The fact that she had made it through the Fireball had made the magician even more wary of her. Running in plain sight so your enemy would chase after you and then setting a trap along the way was a classic move.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
After nimbly dodging the door, she peeked inside the room and saw a woman holding a staff standing there. “Oh? Are you a civilian?” she asked. The woman was around the same age as Fressa as well, if not a little younger. Her face was pale, and the tip of her staff was shaking as she aimed it at Fressa. She clearly wasn’t used to combat or violent situations in general.
I guess there were two magicians all along.
Е̇ ñû m̀ ă
“Wanna fight? Do I have the okay to beat you up?” She thought it was worth asking first. If the girl had looked ready and raring to go, she’d beat her up without question, but she clearly looked scared.
“N-No way!” The girl violently shook her head.
“Okay. In that case, don’t move, okay? If you leave here, you’ll get hurt.” Leaving her with that warning, Fressa left the room and chased after the man again.
Neither of the magicians seemed to be lacking in strength, but they also weren’t used to this kind of situation; it was so obvious they didn’t have combat experience. But whatever, now that she was this far, there was no turning back.
“You done?”
After that, Fressa managed to catch up with the male magician, beat him unconscious, and capture him without the man putting up much of a fight. Dragging him along the ground, she had met back up with the trembling girl and brought them both back to the warehouse. Thankfully, the fire in the entranceway had burned out, leaving only the marks. She was thankful for that, as she’d wanted to avoid a fire at all costs.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
When she returned to the warehouse, Anzel was there smoking as he waited for her. The attacks from down below must have stopped when she made contact with the magician, so Anzel probably decided to follow after her.
“These two are the magicians. That seems to be everyone.”
Of course, it could be the case that they had coconspirators who weren’t stationed in their house. If they were smuggling from outside the country, then it was more than likely that they had foreign allies.
Right now, Fressa and Anzel had no idea of the magicians’ background, how big their organization was, or if people in power were involved in all of this. But maybe they wouldn’t need to dig that far.
“Who’s in charge of you scamps?” Anzel asked the trembling woman. She turned to look at the man that Fressa was dragging. “Him, huh? He’s a magician, right?”
“Yup.” Fressa nodded, before looking at the woman herself. “You don’t have to be so scared. We just wanna make a deal.”
W е b_nо v̄е̌l̂ Еn um̀a
“A d-deal?”
“Mm-hmm. Our goal is money. In other words, we want everything you’ve got stored underground. If you give it all to us, we’ll let you go scot-free. We won’t do anything more to you or try to dig into your circumstances.”
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Handling this quietly was just as preferable for Anzel and Fressa. Killing the magicians wouldn’t net them any money, and handing them over to the guys up top would get them the tiniest cut of the reward at best. Worst-case scenario, the higher-ups would just take everything off their hands.
Picking a fight with a foreign organization was just asking for trouble, so getting any more involved sounded like a pain. If foreigners wanted to gain control of the Altoire underworld, they were welcome to try and raid it. Anzel and Fressa wouldn’t even need to get involved in the fight—that’d turn all the dark corners of the country into their enemies.
“In case you don’t appreciate this, you’re getting off light, you know. Being able to buy off your blunder with money is a cheap price to pay round this neck of the woods. You failed at smuggling in the goods, you failed at killing the eyewitnesses, you’re breaking the laws of this country, and you’ll all die the minute the mafia learn of what you’ve been up to. I’ll be nice and won’t ask you anything about who you’re affiliated with. If you abandon everything here and return to your country, we’ll pretend none of this ever happened.”
Honestly, Fressa would have been happiest if that’s what they did. It prevented any trouble later, and she could get her hands on some valuable goods. This was the most profitable solution for the pair.
Wēḃ no v е l̈ Е n̆ u m̃ а́
“At the end of the day, you and your smuggling ring are so pathetic you got stomped by two small baddies. You’d have failed even if we hadn’t stumbled upon you.”
“Nice work.”
On the night of the fifth day of the survey, Nastine met up with Fressa at the Shadow Rat. She returned the map and reported what she had seen down there. Nothing she had to say was confidential, so it was okay for them to talk in such a public area. The only thing she had to report was that the tenth district’s wall had been mysteriously broken.
“A wall collapse, huh? Anything else?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
“Nope, not particularly. There were barely even any homeless because of how cold it is down there.”
“Got it. You’ll get your money in the coming days.”
Е̌ ńu m а̀_. і̃ d
After that small exchange, Fressa returned to her work. She and Anzel had already hauled away the smuggled goods, and the magicians were likely on an airship home by now. She didn’t know their names or their smuggling ring. She didn’t even know what country they were from.
This was for the best. Fressa didn’t care for getting involved with anything troublesome or learning too much about things that weren’t her business. Her goal was always money at the end of the day. Nothing more, nothing less.
All that was left was to sell off the goods as soon as they got the chance. She didn’t know how valuable they were, but she had high hopes. According to Anzel, they were the latest model of self-assembling skiff. She’d never heard of such technology before, so surely it would sell for a lot.
Hopefully, this would make up for the times she hadn’t gone out hunting with the rest. For now, this would do.
Surely once she became more proficient at manipulating her chi, she’d be able to take down the big monsters too. Nia was able to do it, after all.
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