[Arc 4] Chapter 21: The Elder and Preparations

"Zaria!" - Mira

"Mira!" - Zaria

*Sniff*, it's always so beautiful when two lost friends find each other at last...what? I watch TV. I used to, at least...gotta reinvent TV...and video games...and the internet...and I'm gonna be going on all day if I continue, so let's stop for now.

Mira and Zaria, the batgirl, got into an emotional hug upon seeing each other the moment Mira entered the bar, accompanied by Iron. He looks at the spectacle with the same confused look as the three weasel-brothers, but you gotta be like me and have heard the story from Mira herself if you wanna understand what's going here. And Mira said I'm the only one she's shared this secret with, so it's understandable for them not to know.

Back in the days, when Mira lived in the Solomar slums, she had a certain mentor that taught her everything she needed to know about surviving those lawless lands. The mentor was a child just like herself, and a special breed of Therianthrope.

That's right, I'm talking about batgirl here, the one and only: Zaria Wagarah.

Their relationship was more about helping each other than that of a mentor and their student. Zaria got the knack of being too cocky, so she provided the knowledge and knows-hows on how to survive the slums, and Mira brought along the needed common sense to use that knowledge properly.

They had a blast for a while, but one day, Zaria tried to snag some high-valuable stuff that was gonna be shipped out of the city, but, as witnessed by Mira who looked through the window to the storage facility, the batgirl slipped right after getting the crate open. 

The rat, the same one that tried to get me into some accidents earlier was an old friend of Mira and Zaria, jumped into the crate to rescue her, but alas, both the bat and the rat were sent away from the city, and the continent.

Poor Mira never had a chance to help her mentor and friend or even find out about her whereabouts until today-

*BZZZZZ!!*

"Gyaaaa!!" - Zaria

...Yeah. Sentimental or not, anyone would be angry if she did something as stupid as getting caught like that.

I let the two catch up and left the room. Got something to take care of.

"You weasels, get us loose this instant!" - Mafia grunt

The mafia-doofuses are still bound up. The rest of them have fallen asleep thanks to my [Sleep Attack] through the threads, but this last loudmouth is too dedicated to his duty of being a common thug to fall asleep!

"What a pain...mind taking these guys off our hands, mister big bad boss?" I spoke to a corner of the bar.

"...kukuku. The years are really getting to me."

As I expected (or hoped, as I had no solid proof), a man emerged from the darkness. He was dressed in a shabby kimono with faded colors. The man himself must be of some youkai race, but my first impression was that he was a human. He must be disguising himself somehow.

The only reason why I can determine that is because I can only see him as a "human". That's it. I got no clue about his appearance except for his clothes and that he's of age. His hair color, skin color, nose, eyes. Everything is a blur except for the one idea that he's "human". 

In any case, I don't think I can replicate this myself. Not with skills only, at least. I'm watching years of experience in the art of fooling others right now, even if he's become a little senile if I'm to believe his words.

"E-elder! You didn't need to soil your hands-" - Mafia grunt

"Yes, I do. If not, then the Family will gain a massive wound to their honor." - Elder(?)

"Wha-!? What for?! These are the outsider that-" - Mafia grunt

*CRASH!!*

And the grunt gets dunked into the floor! Saying that it "looks like it's gonna hurt" is an understatement! And I knew that geezer was bad news! The floor's cracked!!

"Excuse this idiot for misunderstanding soooo many things. First, the piece of walking armor over there." - Elder(?)

Iron tilted his helmet while pointing at himself.

"Yes, you. My thanks for weeding the unhealthy parts of the Family for us during your stay with the city guards." - Elder(?)

Hmm? What gives? 

The elder must have guessed my confusion, so he continued with his explanation.

"Fifteen years ago, Zaria over there did the continent quite the favor. A syndicate of the more lawless members in our line of work had gathered in a mansion to plan attacks on the rest of us. This woman had been hiding in a container that had arrived from across the ocean without being found and fled the house. On her way out, she managed to weaken the central pillar which resulted in the whole building collapsing on top of those pests." - Elder(?)

Yikes. Talk about mass destruction.

It does explain some things though. Like how she trained herself to be stealthy enough to rob my wallet,

"Some of those rats survived the collapse, but our Family was ready to greet the survivors. We absorbed most of the remnants, but it seems like we've been too lenient with some of them. Worst of all, it was the crooks that had no sense of chivalry." - Elder(?)

"Something you have?" - Garami

"I would like me to be seen like that, yes. Without chivalry, yakuza like me are no better than common thugs, like this idiot who can't see the difference between a pest exterminator and pests." - Elder(?)

"..You got someone after you?" asked Mira after helping Zaria onto a chair.

"Yes, a group of demons from the west have started to make trouble for us and the people living on the bright side. I heard you young ones had an incident with them as well." - Elder(?)

"...That ox..." - Mira

"In any case, everyone in Zaria Delivery Firm, there is no need to hasten the payment of the debt. If the amount had been less, we would have gladly given you the money as proof of our gratitude for the events fifteen years ago. Alas, that amount of Sol cannot be handed over with a smile, can it?" - Elder(?)

"N-not a-a-at all," replied Zaria who's struggling to keep her voice steady after the shock from before.

"Good. But by all means, give me a call whenever idiots like this one appear. Your firm is the perfect mousetrap," finished the elder while lifting the ball of webbed mafia grunts with a single hand, taking pieces of the floor with him as he did so...

Huh? Did that just happen? I rubbed my eyes to check if I had something funny in them, but by the time I was done, the elder had left with his sticky goons.

"...how many Reginas would you rate that guy?" - Mira

"Five. At least." - Garami

The scariest part is that I couldn't catch on to his real strength. Whether he's gotten senile with age or not, let's try to not make an enemy of these "mafia with chivalry".

"And what are we supposed to do with them?" I whispered to Mira while looking at Zaria and her weasel friends.

"Just invite them into the Guild~." - Mira

"...you wanna zap her daily?" - Garami

"Hey, she got moves even back when we lived in the slums. And they're supposed to be a delivery firm, right? Integrating the company into the Guild's going to earn us some coins in the long run." - Mira

You aren't refuting the zapping part. Oh well. She's not wrong on the part about adding these guys into the Guild helping us financially...I hope. 

"Hey, Zaria~. Need some help with that bothersome debt of yours?" - Mira

"NO MORE BZZS!!" - Zaria

"Ah, no, that's not it..." - Mira

I'll leave the recruitment to Mira. Friends gotta stick together after all.

In the meantime, I should think about how to get enough dough for that debt. If they need to borrow cash from the mafia, then I'm scared of knowing the full price-

"HOW MUCH DID YOU SAY?!!" - Mira

"Th-that's how much you would need to pay for breaking an ancient relic..." - Zaria

...maybe I should start betting?

---

The third day, evening;

And I'm betting. More like manipulating the bets.

"Okay, don't panic, and don't stress out. That bastard got a mean palm strike, but everything else is average...except for his raw stats. Those are dope, to say the least. Just relax, and whatever you do, don't panic!!" - Zaria

"You should stop panicking," I told my self-proclaimed manager as we sat in the waiting room in arena D.

Zaria and the rest of her delivery firm had agreed to join the Guild if we helped them with their debt problem. And honestly, they've been a great help already.

As one would expect from a delivery firm, they were fast and efficient when we asked them to transport ingredients from Damavand-Mansion, and Furu, the...biggest of the three Kamaitachi brothers, was an excellent help for Revi in the kitchen.

Thanks to that, the rush of customers who had grown bigger than the one on the first day, all went home with happy faces. We even had to work a deal with our neighbors and other locals to borrow their manpower so we could satisfy them all. Our cooperators were happy with the deal since part of the likability would go to them. 

Alf's been busy in the arena, and Lily's been commentating every match, so in all, I think we've cleared the first event with style. All that remains is the debt, but I got a plan here to gain loads of cash and Prize Points.

"You're seriously ready for him? Seriously!?" - Zaria

"Yes, so go and get something to calm yourself down. Like a sleeping medicine." - Garami

"...I'll stick to green tea..." - Zaria

The Therianthrope noticed that her presence was off no help so she left the waiting room. Maybe I was too hard on her...

Let's go over the preparations again. Better to be safe than sorry. 

First, my equipment. It's not the Assassin-based clothing that I've had Anasia, the Nightmare Arachne who's acting as the Dungeon Boss for Damanvand-Nest, prepare. After all, if I showed off all my moves as an Assassin, people would start making countermeasures against me.

Instead, I'm planning on fighting solely as a "magician", or rather, a Necromancer. Even if I can't fool some people to think I'm not an Assassin, those people won't discover how much I've progressed in that direction...

Honestly, my Necromancer/Alchemist skills have grown so much lately that I'm starting to doubt whether I should have the right to call myself an Assassin. I mean...

Skill List:

Title List:

Achievement Titles:

Hunting Titles:

Status Titles:

This! Shutting myself in the mansion has led to a sharp growth of my "homely" classes and skills while Assassin and Slasher and their likes have been neglected. They've still grown a lot...

Guess Zaria didn't have anything to fear then.

I mean, I've got 35 "slots" to use for my undead thanks to [Undead Servant]'s recent increase, so I can even spam high-quality undead if I want to. Like these guys:

These are my best blueprints at the moment, each with a designated task to fulfill. In addition to my Leadership skills improving them all, I can give them [Swarm] to further improve all our abilities by the number of undead in play. And there's the [Living Creator] title to boot!

Materials? I've stored up so much lately that even making the best undead won't empty my stocks. I can bring out 3 Dracoliches to smash the opponent and still have enough for a Warlord! Not that I can expect to leave all the work to the undead though, so I've improved my own abilities as a magician lately. 

The new [Curse Magic] skill shares many spells with [Weakness Magic], and since owning multiple Magic Skills that can use the same magic spell will improve the quality of the spell in question, I didn't waste any time buying this one. The fact that you need a Sorcery skill of a related attribute, an Advance tier Magician-line class, AND the [High-Class Magic Ability] skill to buy elemental Magic Skills is rough, but I have the Points to do so.

I also want [Medicine Magic] to improve some of my healing spells, or [Holy Magic] even if that's possible, as some Necromancy-related spells are of that attribute, like Turn Undead. Alas, gotta wait until I turn Light and Poison into Sorcery skills...

Am I starting to switch completely from a "physical assassin" into a "magical" one? "Magical killer girl, Garami-chan~!" Nah, just kidding. Seriously...SERIOUSLY!!

Moving on, I've also obtained the Demon's Heart skill, which stacks HP like [Overeating] did with my SP, and Demon's Horns that does the same with my MP. They both also got some special effects, which are mostly affected by the attributes attached to the skill. [Demon's Horns (Light)] improve my Light magic even further while [Demon's Heart (Poison)]...well, let's say that people that managed to draw my blood's gonna regret it from now on.

It irks me that I can't get "Demon's" skills for body parts I don't have while Revi could with her Dragon skills. If I could, I could get something awesome like wings of poison, light, or even darkness, for damn sake! It's bad enough that I couldn't recreate Living Items, but this too!

I used the whole day yesterday hoping I could make some awesome equipment like Revi's hat but to no luck. I did manage to make three items though, but only one of them got an "Epic" in rarity.

A dress created by the Nightmare Arachnid, Anasia Damavand, and cursed by Champion of Alvatria.

Its torn, black fabric makes one think of a ruined kingdom from its appearance. However, the princess's beauty has not been tarnished, and with their grudge and arrogance, the princess vows to once again stand on top of the mongrels while reaping the sweet fruits of their labor and blood.

Seriously, what is this? Are the curses planning on making me the queen of the undead in the end?

Visually, it looks like a black ball gown with a torn skirt that shows lots of legs that are covered in black stockings. There are also black evening gloves and high-heeled shoes that are also included in the "set", but they're fashioned with a "sharp" image, resembling claws. I don't wanna be the poor fellow getting stomped by these.

One can guess that this thing's cursed with a single glance. The dress got sex appeal that it tries to emphasize with its low neckline and how it reveals my legs, but it can be used as the costume of the villain of some fantasy tragedy or maybe even a horror flick...

Ugh...I gotta go out dressed like this...? In front of how many people...? Bleagh...almost...throwing up...

No! Keep yourself together, girl! It's this attitude of yours that got that stupid title to pop up! If I wanna have that thing disappear, I gotta either get a title that does the opposite or advance the one I already have to something that lacks that negative effect. No matter how many people cheering and...and...

...I didn't throw up. No, I didn't. I'm a good girl. Yes...

A-a-anyway, nothing is preventing me from winning this thing. The last two cursed equipment may use three Accessory slots each, but they're still damn useful. 

They are the "Rings of the Skull Spiders", a pair of white- and black rings with a line of the opposite color in the middle. The rings themselves have no power, but it allows me to command "Skull Spiders". They're skeletal spider statues that resemble human skulls and are of the same size as well. The spider-legs are traded for dragonfly wings, so they're floating around you while in use through the rings. Got 4 for each.

Both variants, the ones for the White Ring and the ones for the Black Ring, can spray a mist of whatever liquid is stored in the Skull. The ones commanded by the Black Ring can only be loaded with poisons, while the White Ring can only use potions.

The traits of the Skulls are that they both add poison to their content due to the curse and you can specify the target for spraying. The latter is a plus, but the White Ring's potion is contaminated with the poison effect. The Black Ring gladly accepts it, but I have no way of fixing that part for the White Ring.

I mean, it's due to the curse that made the creation of the ring possible in the first place. It's practically the cornerstone of the whole thing!

*BZZZT*

Gyaaa! Oh, the buzzer. Right, time to go! Off and off some idiot!! L-let's goooo! ...Move already, you stupid feet! Stop trembling in fear! It's just some...several hundred...maybe over a thousand...spectators...

Stop thinking! Just focus on one thing. Crush that undefeated harem-bastard! Crush him, saw him, melt him, bind him, grind him...

"Garami, didn't you hear-iiiik!!" - Zaria (runs for cover behind the corner)

"Mush, squash, burn, strangle, skin, peel, break, chew..." - Garami

Greydra

Kigal-Note/Artisan Classes: Grudge-Weaving Alchemist

Description:

The Grudge-Weaving Alchemist is a viler variant of the Weaving Alchemist class. They create threads soaked in blood and clothes filled with curses, all so they can obtain the most vicious of clothing with curses broken-in for its wearer.

The [Alchemic Arts] and [Item Creation (Weaving)] are simple upgrades of the [Alchemy] and [Weaving] skills, with the real usage of this class coming when it reaches Lv.10 and grants the cursed alchemist the [Cursed Creation] skill.

In addition to the aether-lines of the materials used for the alchemic process, [Cursed Creation] takes in the curses and grudges that are close by and uses even those as parts for the new item to be created.

The next skill that this class grants, [Cursed Garment], is a clothing-focused variant of the Creation skill again, while [Cursed Repair] uses curses to fix any item created through alchemy, and even "recharge" the curses that the cursed items use as power sources. 

[Soul-Severing Threads] is a special skill from this class. Curse-laced threads that can cut through anything of mystic or curse-based nature. They are dreaded in the hands of a skilled killer and it is said that the robes worn by Grim Reapers are made from threads of similar nature to what this skill can produce.

And finally, we have [Forbidden Alchemic Knowledge]. It is a Knowledge-type skill whose contents are strictly kept secret by the alchemists. As this is done by the alchemists themselves rather than by an organization, it is believed that the contents of this skill are so mind-shattering that every alchemist decides to be quiet about it for the good of themselves and the world.

Zaria's comment: Garami's broken...she's gone broken in too many ways...