Chapter 89: Fate For The Farce

Top of the afternoon, everyone. This is Narcissus.

Right now, all of the bandits in my sight were currently flinching at the venom in my voice. One of them had his hands twisting in the binds that held him, not out of defiance, but out of overwhelming dread.

He stammered, desperate to form a coherent response, something seemed to be choking him.

And I don't know why.

I'm sure that at most, my face, demeanor, and stern voice would only be enough to make someone nervous and threatened, but not outright terrified to the point of being consumed by the world as if the apocalypse was coming.

Not to mention, my Highlighted Traits didn't mention anything about me being able to subdue a whole group of bandits like this. Kuzunoha shouldn't be the cause of this either, since those bandits were brave enough to spat right in front of her despite the obvious upper hand.

Though, I won't lie that I'm not in the best mood to entertain them as much as I planned when I met more people in Carcosa. That one dream I got when I slept had a great effect on my psyche to the point of damaging my Gloamkeeper's Beacon and also lowering my Sanity by 40%.

It was a massive loss, right after my effort to keep it high since yesterday, especially since I barely had more than 5 hours before the start of the next Ordeal.

All of that, because of a single dream.

Like, when did I become this soft? Never in my past life had I've been affected to this extent by something that I haven't even experienced in real life. Sёarch* The nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Yeah, that was what annoys me the most. It was also probably the source of why all of these bandits were so terrified right now.

"Kuzunoha," I called, my voice still carrying the same menacing weight as before. "Paper and pen."

"As you wish, darling~"

My gothic-fashioned assistant snapped her gloved fingers and manifested her arcane writing set into existence. Never in my office life had I been so grateful to have a mobile stationary in the form of a cute and sassy contractor.

With the 28 bandits still praying for their fate, I wrote down each of their names. I marked some of them that caught my eyes before I glanced at Verina, prompting her approach closer.

I also put them all in three categories: Interrogatable, Recruitable, Disposable.

The interrogatable bandits were chosen because of their intriguing Log in their detail section, gullible personality and circumstances in their Highlighted Traits, alongside their overall attitude that was displayed in this rounding session.

The recruitable bandits were straightforward. Their overall biography and stats intrigue me, and some of them had something that their peers didn't possess. They also had some body modification and even hints of Theotechs in their Health tab.

I also planned to form a hierarchy within this nomadic bastion of mine. If possible, I want at least 5 capable manpowers to start creating a foundation for the group's autonomy.

As for the disposable bandits, only three fates await them.

Forced eternal servitude, basically they were recruited but with a slight uncomfortable term.

Their second fate was death. I didn't need more useless mouths to feed, especially if I couldn't even use them in many scenarios. Afterall, it was too early for me to maintain a large size nomadic bastion when the amount of variables within the time of Ordeal were limitless.

"Confirm all of their names, then feel free to use your own judgment. Don't ask where I got them." I gave the paper to Verina. "Kuzunoha, aid Verina to the best of your own capability…

"If there are any unruly mutts trying to claw their way back from the pit where they belong. Feel free to turn them into a living couch."

Their third fate was Bloodiefication.

Your journey continues at m v|l-e-NovelFire

Almost every economy of every society in Carcosa was run by two forms of trading: Barter, and Bloodies.

The action or system of exchanging goods or services without using money or currency was very prevalent almost everywhere, even within the civilization that was rich in bloodies.

This was possible because there were a lot of lost antiques and mysterious relics of great value dispersed around the world, especially in the form of Theotechs.

It was the reason why Bastioneers were a thing. They travel far from citadels not only to claim lands and resources, but also to hunt all sorts of loot that were still scattered in nature's plain sight.

Then there was Bloodiefication.

To refresh everything about the current of this world: Bloodies, or bloodie coins, was the universal currency most people used for the world's economy. Depending on the quality tier, ranked from F for the lowest and A for the highest, a single bloodie could be used as a resource and a catalyst for an ohrtender like Verina to perform some psionic spells, or magic.

To put it simply, they were the blood of living beings that was preserved and minted into coin-shaped form.

And the act of making one was known as Bloodiefication—courtesy of Kuzunoha who enlightened me with this information.

However, to perform Bloodefication, the presence of Sanguine Saint was needed.

Without prolonging this bit of information, the Sanguine Saints were pacifist entities that made a deal with the early group of Ohrtenders that had ever roamed this world.

I planned to keep some of the disposable bandits to convert them into bloodies, but I don't know when we would even encounter a Sanguine Saint in the future. After all, not even Torie Citadel housed a single Sanguine Saint in their backyard.

As for the reason why I even consider this, it was due to one reason.

We were utterly broke in terms of bloodies.

Verina didn't have a single bloodie in her pocket since she was scammed, and Kuzunoha didn't even consider keeping one because her arcane vault was already full of all sorts of relics and Theotech-related items.

She was also unwilling to barter her possession in the first place, so we basically started our journey with zero money.