Chapter 71: Alliance(4)

"Einn, it's been forever! So glad to see you're alive!" The orange haired guy greeted him, as he walked towards our group. 

He had wrapped his tail around his waist like a belt, it looked kinda weird since it was a hairless tail. 

We were about eight hours away from reaching the Rustlands, it was around 5 PM right now. We had left the Rustlands around 7 AM, and it had been about eight and a half hours before we ran into the Silvland group. We would likely set up camp for the night after a further three or four hours, and then continue to the Rustlands the next morning. 

With the carts and carriages in the middle, most of us Rustlands Adventurers were in front, with some on either side along with the Silvland Adventurers, and the remaining Silvland Adventurers bringing up the rear. Well, except for that Aguil guy...after all the monsters were taken care of, his sister the princess angrily dragged him into her carriage with her. 

Probably a good call, that guy has some serious issues...a common occurrence with narrow minded people. 

The threat of danger felt relatively low now, so the Silvland Adventurer with the orange hair and sansetsukon as his weapon broke the formation to walk to the front and greet Einn. 

"Hey, master...yeah, it's been a while, it's good to see you," Einn responded with a grin.

"Ugh, I told you not to call me master, remember?" 

"Oh, um...Sen, un...Sensu- what was it again?" 

Hm? This might be a good opportunity to see if this orange haired dude had retained his memories upon reincarnation. 

"I think the word you're looking for is 'Sensei'," I chimed in, taking a gamble. 

The orange haired guy stared at me in surprise.

Bingo.

"Oh, that's right! Wait...how do you know that?" Einn asked curiously. 

"O-oh, uh...my apprentice calls me that, too."

"Hey, your name is Kuro Black, right? Are you really still a Student Adventurer, you're crazy strong! And you already have an apprentice too?" The orange haired guy asked me with interest. 

The fact that he knew the term Sensei probably meant that he knew that Kuro meant black...my full name is still as embarrassing as ever. 

"Y-yeah, that's right, er...," I trailed off. 

"Oh, sorry! I'm Naro Soment, twenty-seven years young, you can just call me Naro! I'm the seventh ranked S-Rank of Silvland, with Wind Magic and a possum Anima. Say...do you know what my weapon is called?"

Hm, looks like he was trying to confirm that I had memories of my previous world too. 

"Yeah, a three-section staff...aka sansetsukon." 

"Correct! I want to talk to you in private later!" He grinned and nodded. 

"Sure," I responded with a shrug. 

Eh, I had already met a few others who had retained their old memories at this point, so the novelty of running into one had worn out. 

He then turned his attention back to Einn. 

"So, how have you been, Einn...I was shocked when I learnt of what happened to Goldway, I'm glad you managed to survive."

"Yes, mast- er, I mean, Sensei. Actually, it was partly in thanks to Kuro that any of us were able to escape, he was suspicious that something was going on and alerted the king. Unfortunately, it was already too late to avoid that disaster by then, but thanks to all of us being on alert, some of us were able to just barely escape. I also dueled him a couple of times...at the time, he was about on par with me," Replied Einn, slapping my back with a grin. 

"H-hey now, you're giving me way too much credit," I responded awkwardly. 

"Interesting...by the way, just between us...watching you slam that brat Aguil away was pretty satisfying. Also, pretend I never said that...it might be considered treason considering he's a prince and all," He whispered with a chuckle. 

"Sure, I didn't hear a thing." 

He then noticed Zira and greeted her. 

"Hey, I remember you, you're another of Goldway's S-Ranks, right...uh...Zura, was it?" 

Heh...'Zura janai, Katsur-', too bad almost no one here would get that reference...*sigh* that was my favorite anime, wish I could watch some of the episodes again, I miss Gintam-. 

"It's Zira. It's nice to see you again, Mr Soment," She replied politely. 

... 

The monsters we ran into over the next couple of hours were of little consequence, we did encounter a few Abominable Snowmen and Ice Wyverns, but they were easily dealt with. 

Naro was impressively strong, he wielded the sansetsukon expertly, and used his Wind Magic in a pretty unique way. 

He couldn't use Flight, and his mastery of Propulsion wasn't very high, but the scale of his Wind Magic was still pretty impressive. His fighting style was pretty unique. He used the sansetsukon with his hands, and sometimes with his tail as well, which had some pretty good dexterity and he had good control over it. 

He didn't combine his Wind Magic with his sansetsukon like Einn did with his nunchucks, instead using his Wind Magic exclusively with his legs and feet. He used Propulsion in short, quick bursts, instead of a steady, continuous blast like Persia does. He mainly used it for evasion and to speed up his kicks. 

He drilled a hole through an Abominable Snowman with a wind-boosted flying kick...he formed and rotated rapid spirals of wind at the end of his foot as he launched himself towards the monster like a bullet, with his foot aimed at its chest, essentially turning his flying kick into a large, windy drill-like arrow. 

The other Silvland Adventurers were fairly strong too, they were all definitely A-Ranks at the very least.

... 

A few hours later, about fifteen minutes to 10 PM, we set up camp for the night. We weren't that far from the Rustlands, probably just another three hours at most. But the horses pulling the carriages and carts were at their physical limit, and needed to rest. 

We set up a few tents and lit a fire, one of the Silvland Adventurers using Earth Magic to keep the cold wind from extinguishing the flames. 

After everything was set up, Instructor Tabbs volunteered the Rustlands escort group to keep watch for the night while the Silvland group get some rest. 

I suppose that made sense, they had been traveling for nearly a week, and were bound to be weary. I volunteered to go first as usual, watching over the campsite from atop a tall boulder. 

Half an hour passed by, a few Snow Imps showed up, but I was able to take them out with my poison needles without even needing to get up. I had first thought of zapping them dead with Lightning Reign, but lightning attacks tended to be a bit loud, particular the crackle and sizzle when I electrocute something with a significant amount of voltage. 

Hm, I should probably go pick up the poison needles I flung...someone would die if they stepped on them. 

Once that was done, I returned to my post atop the boulder. A few minutes later, Naro stepped out of one of the carts and stretched, before spotting me and walking over. He used Propulsion to boost his jump, reaching the top of the boulder with a single leap.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" 

"By all means."

"Hey, so...you remember reincarnating, right?" He inquired curiously, getting straight to the point. 

"Yeah, that's right...been here for a little over a year now."

A puzzled look appeared on his face. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Oh, right...as in, I didn't start over as a baby, I asked to be reincarnated at the age I had been at my peak at in my old life. I even asked for the same physical state...when I resurrected here, my actual appearance was different, but my body felt the same as it had in my old world."

"Ho...that might have actually been better, I started over as a baby, but since I had my memories, I was fully aware of everything that was going on around me even at that age...being a baby felt so weird and uncomfortable," He laughed. 

We then compared notes of our previous worlds, and as it turned out...it sounded like he was from a similar world to mine but not the exact same one, just like Rai. From what he told me, the date he died on was about a full decade after the time period I had died in...looks like time really isn't a linear factor when it comes to parallel worlds and reincarnation. 

"What was your old life like?" I asked. 

"Average, I'd say...I had pretty normal school and college lives, a regular old desk job at some company, and ended up dying in a car crash," He summed up, "What about you?"

Hm...I suppose there's no harm in telling him. 

"I was an assassin, officially for about six years. Died when a mission went wrong," I replied, sparing him the details. 

"Woah, really? Well...that would certainly explain why you're so skilled despite being a Student Adventurer...you must already have plenty of experience, maybe even more than some Adventurers, six years is a long time!" 

Actually, at this point, I think I can safely say that I am definitely more experienced than most Adventurers, especially when it comes to killing people. Most Adventurers almost exclusively take on monsters, they might have dueled other Adventurers, but as far as serious life-or-death fights against other humans go, I doubted many people in this world have much experience with that. 

Okay, technically the majority of my assassinations couldn't really be called fights, but...they were definitely life-or-death. Fighting or killing a human feels very, very different to taking on monsters. For one thing, blood...monsters disappear into dust when they're killed, and do not bleed...but humans are mostly blood, and their corpses don't simply disappear...

Anyway! The rest of my shift went by smoothly, and I switched with Ekai as it ended, who had volunteered for the second shift. 

My sleep went largely uninterrupted for the rest of the night, I did hear some movement outside every now and then, but the lack of commotion probably meant that whoever was on watch were able to take care of the monsters that showed up. 

It was a surprisingly peaceful sleep, considering where we were... 

... 

... 

We left early the next morning, around 5 AM. 

We hardly ran into any monsters at all, and the ones that we did run into were mainly Snow Imps and Devilpenguins. With no major interruptions, it wasn't long before the walls and north gate came into view. 

The gates slowly swung open as we neared them, the guards had already been informed of this. 

"Hey, instructor...is it cool if I go home now? I mean, our job is pretty much done-," I began. 

"I'm afraid not. The Quest will not be complete until we have safely escorted our guests to the royal castle, you may do as you please after that."

Well...it was worth a shot, I guess. 

Once we were inside, we used the teleportation booths to teleport our way to near the royal castle. We then led the Silvland group onto the palace grounds, where Erhtaph Ragiu and some other royal advisors were waiting to greet them. 

After the Silvland representatives and Adventurers were guided inside the castle by the advisors and guards, the escort Quest was finally complete. The payment was pretty substantial, so I decided to go to the bank first. 

Yeah, so the currency in this world is all coins, there aren't any paper notes, so it was kind of a pain to carry a ton of coins around. So, you could deposit your earnings in a bank, using your Identification Card to open an account.

On the bright side, this world has one universal currency so there's no need to worry about exchange rates or whatever, but on the other hand...carrying around a ton of coins was annoying as hell. 

The currency had two elements, silver coins and gold coins. A gold coin is equivalent to a hundred silver coins. To give you an idea of how much stuff costs here...common fruits like apples and oranges were around one to two silvers apiece, my room at the inn had cost eight silvers per day, while my current apartment had a rent rate of five gold coins per month. My old part-time jobs paid around ten to twenty-five silver coins per shift. 

S-Rank Quests paid a minimum of twenty gold coins, A-Ranked ones paid a minimum of twelve, and B-Ranked ones paid a minimum of five. C and D-Ranked ones tended to have rewards measurable in silver coins. Oh, and Quests like the one to Goldway, as well as my missions from Erhtaph, pay a lot, lot more. 

Anyway, after I deposited the twenty-five gold coins worth of earnings from this Quest, which was an S-Rank Quest by the way, thanks to the importance of its success, I headed back home. 

... 

I arrived and unlocked my door, entering with a yawn, before shutting it behind me. 

Pero greeted me with a meow, rubbing herself against my legs. I had placed several bowls of water in the room, and bought a mechanical cat feeder, you pour some food into the barrel, and every five hours, it opened a small latch for a couple of seconds to let some of the food out, like clockwork...well, actually, since it's mechanical...literally exactly like clockwork.

I changed out of my battle outfit and put on some loose, comfortable clothes after a quick shower, before activating the Cooling Crystals in my room and flopping onto the bed with a sigh. 

Quite a bit had happened on this Quest, but...I'll think about all of that after I wake up...

...

I woke up to a pleasant scent and the afternoon sunlight streaming in through the curtains. That had been a nice nap. 

As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw that Persia was sitting next to me...that explains the pleasant scent. She was seated by my shoulder, leaning forward and staring at my torso with a puzzled expression. 

I slowly moved my hands to her sides and began tickling her. 

"Wha-! H-hey, s-s-stop, K-Kuro! Y-you know I'm t-t-ticklish!" She squealed, trying to grab my arms as she giggled and laughed uncontrollably. 

"Well, yeah...I wouldn't be tickling you if you weren't," I replied with a smirk, as I sat up. 

I relented after a couple of minutes, she pouted and glared at me red-faced while catching her breath. 

"Jerk."

Sorry, couldn't resist," I grinned sheepishly, stroking her head. 

"I'll get you for that...but that aside, welcome back," She grumbled, hugging me, before adding suspiciously, "I knew it...your body is definitely a bit bigger!" 

She ran her hands over my torso and arms with a frown. 

"Hey, not that I mind all the touching...but what are you doing?"

"Did something happen?" 

Huh, what was she- ohh, right...I had slightly bulked up thanks to that Vampire. It had kinda slipped my mind. Of course she of all people would notice a physical change right away. 

Well, I had planned on keeping this a secret till I figure out how to use my new abilities, but there's no reason to keep it from her. 

I explained what had happened on the Quest, and my interaction with the Vampire King inside my own body. 

"First Zombies and now Vampires, monsters sure do seem to have a knack of making you stronger, huh?" She teased, "So, do you feel a lot stronger now?" 

"Well, I'm pretty sure my natural brute strength has improved a fair bit, but my speed and agility are about the same. I can extend and retract my canines like Vampire teeth, but I don't want to use them before testing them out first...I doubt I'll get volunteers, so I'll have to try it out on bandits or spies, I guess. Then there's the Vampire Mode...I'll try activating it by myself in the Goblin area, there are too many unknown variables to not be cautious. Still a bit salty over losing three quarters of my total Karma though."

"I think it's fine...this way, I should still be able to keep up with you, though I'll have to work pretty hard," She replied, as she traced a finger over my torso. 

"...come to think of it, you're more or less on my level...so how come I'm the only one who has been standing out so much?" I mused, though I quickly realized the answer. 

"Well, that's obvious...your Healing Factor attracts a lot of attention, and I may be able to keep up with you in hand-to-hand combat, but your Elemental Magic is a lot more devastating than mine, especially when it comes to large scale attacks. And you're quick to react and adapt too, people take notice of things like that, you played a pretty big role in Goldway too. Also, um...you can be kinda rude sometimes, so people tend to remember you," She replied, grinning sheepishly at the last part. 

"Hey, who are you calling rude, Kitty Cat?" I inquired with a teasingly menacing grin as I moved my hands towards her sides.

"H-hey, now...," She backed away nervously, trying to grab my hands as they neared her. 

Before I could tickle her, someone knocked on the door. 

"Expecting anyone?" She said, with a sigh of relief as I moved my hands away. 

"No...at least, I don't think so," I replied, opening the door...and letting out a sigh, "Misen...what do you want?" 

"Oh, shove it...it's a new mis-," He began, before cutting off as he noticed Persia. 

"It's fine, I've already told her everything. You were saying...?"

"Er, right...a new mission, I don't know the specifics, but it seems that I will be involved too," He sighed in exasperation, "I'm going on ahead, don't be late."

I shut the door as he left, and groaned. 

"I was really hoping to take it easy today...this world needs to hurry up and invent telephones already," I grumbled, getting changed.

"A few months ago, you probably would have just ignored it if you didn't want to go," Remarked Persia, rolling around the bed. 

"Well, it's tempting...but Misen's dad is a valuable ally to have, given his position. And as far as clients go, he's really easy to work with, I would even go so far as to say he's pleasant to work with. Nothing like the condescending pricks I had to deal with in my old world. And besides...my lack of connections and relationships was probably a big factor in leading to my eventual demise in my old life. I may not be the most social person in the world, but I'm not going to stubbornly stick to an ideal that literally got me killed. Adapting to change also includes recognizing when to change certain things about yourself and how you do things...oh, uh...sorry, didn't mean to get all philosophical or whatever."

"It's okay...I think you're kinda cool when you talk all serious and stuff," She giggled, playing with the kitten. 

"Oh, uh- wait, you're making fun of me, aren't you?" I inquired, grabbing and pulling her nose gently, before kissing her forehead and adding, "Well, I'm off...be back soon."

"Alright...I'll be waiting."

...

I made it to the Ragiu mansion and knocked on the door. Misen let me in, and then took me up to the study, where his father was. 

"Ah, Kuro. Your Quest was successful I see, allow me to congratulate you. I have a new assignment...this is not quite a mission, there will be no investigation or assassination required..."

He then began explaining the task, my eyes widening in horror as he finished. 

No way, this is...this is too much, even for me. I can't do this... 

_____________________________

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