Chapter 196: In order to have some fun

Chapter 196: In order to have some fun

Wow, Tess seems really down, seeing how she keeps avoiding my eyes. What now, you silly tall blonde? You keep bullying me by reading me like a book and then saying how you will take care of everything. So, will you do now?

"Tess, just let me. I'll take care of everything," the moment I say that, I can see she realizes what I'm poking at and how much fun I'm having.

Right now, Tess really seems like an angry kitten.

“Feral one, you truly are ruthless,” Myrra, the first lynthari I met even before I entered the city, notices as well. She's a level 188 Elemental Warden, the highest level I've seen so far in the city.

“Nat, you know it's not our fault. They kept trying to force us into their dumb guild,” Lilly says in their defense.

“Ha! Blackrock was just a pawn, a small guild. It's one of the five big ones that wanted you guys and operates behind the scenes,” Myrra tells Lily and I listen to them in the back of my mind.

So, things went like this: Tess and Lily were imprisoned. We learned about it a bit later from the association of guilds, and then things went downhill. Normally, they would just get out, as I'm sure they were innocent, but one of the five largest guilds in the city kept meddling behind the scenes to the point where they could spend a really long time in there.

I'm sure during that time they would try everything to get Lily, because, of course, it's always the healers these guys are after.

This is what Hadwin and Sophie found out, and then I got the idea to use Myrra here, who left me her address in case I was looking for a job.

Exactly as I expected from her level and wealth, she seems important, and it took only a few hours to get to this point, with Myrra being really helpful.

“Well, it's the lynthari that rule the city. I didn't expect you to be so corrupt.” I tell her.

“Feral one, obviously they are corrupt. Only our young ones help with the leadership of the city, and they like to mess around,” Myrra giggles and her tail continues to swing from side to side as she shows me her sharp canines.

She seems to be enjoying herself, “Usually this wouldn't have happened, but you guys seem to have caught the interest of someone high up there,” she narrows her eyes, looking at Lily, "Is it because of her?”

“Nope,” I say.

At that, Myrra becomes even more amused, and even her ears perk up a bit. The entire time, I feel her mana in the surrounding area, touching each of us carefully, observing us. There is especially a lot of it around me, and even her eyes seem to glow slightly in the dimly lit prison cells.

When we start walking outside of the prison, a few human guards and a single lynthari that's present even bow to her, letting us pass without any problem. There, we meet Hadwin, who is here with Aaron, and Tess and Lily rejoin them.

“I'll be back a bit later,” I wave at them and then continue to walk by Myrra's side.

“Your friends are also interesting, aren't they?” she licks her lips.

“Why don't you tell me, why are you so interested in us, Myrra? In exchange, you can also ask me something,” I offer.

Walking through groups of people that are still out on the streets, she gives me a long, examining look before answering, “All of you are young, yet I can smell powerful skills from you. That much isn't that surprising, but I can even recognize that you are someone who only started dealing with mana not a long time ago. A few months, a year at most. Yet...” she doesn't finish.

A few lynthari recognize her and gesture a greeting towards her. Myrra returns that greeting with a smile.

“It's something new to me and let me tell you, I rarely get to deal with something new and interesting,” her eyes full of mana seem to pierce through me. She also probably has some skills or maybe a trait that allows her to know that much.

Oh boy, let's quickly forget about that. I'm still nervous thinking about it. Leveling shouldn't be that easy, and the system surely won't let it go.

But that also makes me curious. I did deal with a few hundred ants, bus-sized ones. So, how could a much smaller guild compare to them?

The ants were extremely flammable, probably their weakness, and even though they were big, their physical stats weren't that amazing. What was amazing about them was their communication and the way they could fuel each other's skills, and I think that's where plenty of levels and skills went. Otherwise, the ants didn't feel as strong as their level might hint.

A single level 100 ant felt more like a level 50-70 monster. Just a bit big. As always, there are advantages and disadvantages to everything, and something tells me that the guild might be a bit more dangerous than a few hundred ants and that makes it sound fun.

“I think they're not only after Lily; they probably know that we did mess around to get more mana stones, for the bracelet and all the other stuff,” Tess says, and as I catch that, I focus back on the conversation.

“Tess, there's no need to plan that much. Just point me in the right direction, and I will fuck them up,” I tell her.

“No, Nat, I have a better idea,” Tess's eyes glow dangerously, “We will fuck them up.” She stands up, and a smile slowly appears on her face.

Oh boy, she is angry.

“We will beat the leader and his underlings and replace or have Sophie to manipulate them. But before we do that, we need to collect more information: their numbers, strength, allies, and locations. We know that the lynthari won't step in, so we just have to deal with humans.”

“I like that,” I say to her.

The way these guys mess around with us feels annoying. It's not like I'm BFFs with everyone here, but how dare some lowlife gangster think they can mess with something that I consider mine?

Obviously, taking over a big guild won't be easy. Beating them? Simple. Taking over and making it run as before just with some changes will be a challenge.

A few days have passed and out plan is still very simple. We'll beat up the leadership and see if Sophie can make them... more friendly towards us.

Unfortunately, even this isn't that reliable. I removed her construct from my mind before, didn't I? Well, It's something we'll work around after dealing with them.

So now, everyone is collecting information. We've spent nearly all of our remaining mana stones. Tess keeps watching their headquarters from a distance. Izzy and Sophie as well. Sophie also manipulates a few of the weaker members into telling us everything they know. About mind manipulation, healing skills, their guild — and oh boy, there's a lot.

They were worried that they might know about Sophie, but mind manipulation is something they don't even know is possible, at least not the guild members we asked. As for healing, they really are after Lily... again. Poor girl, always the target of kidnappings and the unfortunate people who try. Only a dumbass would run into her terrifying skill.

Oh, and one of the big five guilds, Serpent's Eye?

Yeah, they're assholes, total assholes. Even lower-ranked members know about some of the shady things the guild does. A little bit of blackmailing, the kind where they ask for money so nothing will happen to your shop. Some stealing of other people's prey. And a few much much worse things.

At first, I thought it was almost childishly villainous, like bad guys from cartoons, and that makes me wonder if it's also something the system changed. You know, creating an environment we are somehow accustomed to.

But the more I listen, the more I realize that all these acts are targeted to gain money, power, or both at once. It seems cartoonish but very human-like.

I also keep forgetting that this is a world where there are people capable of destroying an entire city on their own so the rules are a bit different. Plus, there are the lynthari, all-powerful and always watching with amusement, allowing humans to do nearly whatever within these unsaid basic rules, all in order to have some fun.

In the end, it doesn't matter. Everyone here is just a shadow, a copy of a person who is most likely already dead or maybe even never existed.

And they shouldn't have messed with what is mine.