Wait, hold on, we shouldnt? I raised a brow.
This isnt Shaturein, Vangrim answered. In our undercity there are plenty of relatively innocent people; even those who steal to survive would be innocent in my book. However, the Hirsana Marketcircle isnt the sa. This is a black market, where the only innocents are all slaves. Urchins? Dead, escaped, or enslaved; if theyre lucky, they are working for one of the gangs here and can survive as a free person, however their hands must spill so blood first. There is order in Shaturein, but here? You will find it even worse than Gleisvales slums, for the only law here is only that those who survive can do business.
And you dont want to get involved when the best thing you can do is join up with sobody, Vifi comnted. There are protection gangs running these kinds of places, and those people earn money by extorting others for protection or having them join their gang forcefully. You do not encroach in sobodys territory without expecting a fight. They dont need so vigilante tipping the balance against their favortheyll just see you as a potential rival to be put down.
Gael turned his head around, raising his head as he tried to take a peek at Vifis face. You know your stuff, lass. Who are you and when did you join up with the young lady? Pretty sure Ive been kept updated on Auroras mbers and allies, but youre a newbie?
Dont bother. Saori tapped his shoulder.
He shrugged, before turning around to the loud noises. Well, shes right, you know. Its like what Mr. Vangrim said, we dont need any attention on us. People mind their business here, do what they need to do, and then leave. This market doesnt want to lose outside custors, so dont worry about them annoying you, so long as we dont annoy them first. In fact, they will protect you to make sure you co back with more money.
He dropped that quickly. Once again shows hes a professional despite being a drunkard.
Question then, what happens when we find so enslaved kids? Grimnir brought up, causing everybody but Vifi to turn their eyes at .
What? I shrugged. Last ti one of Hamils scumbags kidnapped Abi and the other kidspeople I know and have bonded with. Do you really think I would go out of my way to save everybody as if I was so ultra altruistic person?
Yes, Saori replied, looking horrified at sothing. You nearly went berserk on so lizardn for kidnapping Rajahs siblings, you nearly killed Hamil and were planning on burning a whole section of Shaturein down, and I heard from my Haruka-chan how you sent Grimnirs birthplace into chaos for falsely imprisoning them. Just saying, I have nothing against you, but we do not need to repeat this discussion again.
[Rajah rembers!] Rajah slipped his head out, followed by his two siblings. [Master was amazing!]
[Yes, yes! Thank you for saving us!] his siblings said. Cute.
I shrugged again, although I couldnt hide my smile from seeing them. Rhetorical question, sheesh. No need to be that worried, Saori But, yes, I dislike criminals. I dont like black rcenaries. I dont like how any of this crap is even allowed, even if I know from a realistic standpoint it is inevitable and most is done for necessity. This is impossible to change.
Right you are. Vangrim nodded. Just if you have to burn sothing down, warn us? I do have so friends here.
Gale raised his hand. Sa.
They lived in a different world from and mine, even if I had to visit it here and there. Trying to judge them would just be narrow-minded, especially after I tried to recruit Vifi to help stop the war between the humans and the demonkin. As they say, sotis you have to get your hands dirty to reach your goal. This was why allying with Shaturein and Reajaen were necessities.
[Humanize (Major)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
As such, I accepted their requests and ignored the monster attack, simply having one of my parallel minds keep an ear out for anything. Once Neill and I transford into humans to hide our draconic features, we snuck out of the water tunnel and entered the main street. To my surprise, it felt calr here than I expected. It felt almost like Shaturein with its wild screams and roars happening in the distance while people were talking, hacking at on the streets, or just eating, unhindered and unbothered.
Similar to Shaturein, most of the buildings were made from earth or rock, probably since it would be easier for earth mages to mass produce buildings from the surroundings than to import wood for a proper house. It also slt worse down here, as I saw so farm animals walking around and even getting butchered right in front of a crowd. Blood splattered, hitting a few people as they raised their coin pouches, bidding to get the best parts of the animal before the others.
I noticed Vifi turn her head to the side for a mont, before noticing two n speaking in an alleyway. As I was about to turn my head forwards again, I caught sight of one of them stabbing the other in the stomach multiple tis before punching them in the face. As the latter was growling in pain, dropping down on the ground and saring the wall and ground red, I couldnt help but want to help him.
Yet, I stopped myself when I focused my hearing, listening to the stabbed man cursing his attacker and telling him how his gang would rip apart yer son and sell yer wife and daughter off. I wrinkled my brows at this fact, only to see the stabber kick the other in the head, killing him before stealing a pouch of coin and so green powder? He sniffed it, looking high before running into the darkness.
I took a deep breath. I took another. I looked forward and kept following Gael and Vangrim, sighing.
After making our way through the crowd, we finally ended up at a shady-looking bar. Gael went up to the bartender, intending to order sothing out of respect while he sent us up to et our contact. There, we t a woman, whom Vangrim introduced as one of the girls from the Heartful Dance, one of Shatureins three pillars and the one responsible for information.
Vangrim then asked to cast an [Air Shield]. Noticing other tables had people doing the sa, I assud this was par for the course.
The Madam greets you, my lady. Once nobody could hear us, she bowed her head slightly in my direction before noticing Neill and doing the sa. The two injured spies were disposed of here and thrown out to be eaten by beasts. Two of the assailants departed back to Aureolis, using the upper routes to make it faster. Three others decided to move south, either continuing their work in the Lecartiglio duchy or going to Atadoro. One stayed here, forced to deal with the Hirsana gang itself. I presu it is the continued support of their spy network in the south.
Quick and to the point. She didnt distract us with anything else.
Vangrim then had her go into detail, asking us about the information that got leaked, to which she affird it was mostly about the dealings between Duke Olivus and Cardinal Theodore. Quite so secrets were exposed about how the priests of Artorias were handling themselves after the previous cardinal was executed. The underground also knew everything around the pastry recipe, my dealings with House Helvas and Greenveil, and that Artorias and Shaturein were both my subordinates. That I had everything in my grasp.
It isnt completely true, but it practically is, Vangrim said.
The Hirsanas leader is worried Kargyx is finally expanding, choosing to send their youngest daughter out to conquer everything from the shadows. The rumor is that Kargryx is trying to take revenge on the Empire for Saelariel for the War for the Faefolk. They are calling you the Shadow-Light Tyrant in the Atadoro kingdoms underworld, I heard, the informant continued.
What bullshit! Neill clawed on the table. In the shadows? If we want to take over Altrust, well do it front-and-center! What do we Kargryxmors have to hide, huh? We would rain down dragon breath and we wouldnt blink an eye! Fathers horns, where is that bastard! Im not letting him blemish our clans na!
Calm down, Saori stated, grabbing Neill to push her back into her seat, but was unable to. This is not a reason to go out there with this sort of mood.
Neill pulled her hand off her shoulder before sitting back down. Saori, my sister gave you her blood to evolve. That ans that, thanks to your Belzac blood integrating it, you are now part of the Kargryxmor clan too. Would you feel good if sobody insults your family like this? Why exactly are we waiting around like this? Heres the thing, I dont understand why we are doing this whole under the cloaks thing, anyways. We have the information, lets go get our man. If those little rats try to defend him, then well show them what dragons will actually do if they want sothing crushed!
Sis just wasnt the sneaky type. Everything she did was pretty bombastic, for example, how she just destroyed a gigantic dwarven statue cause she couldnt control her [Battle Frenzy (Major)].
I agree, Grimnir stated. The monster is still destroying this whole place from the sound of it. Lets take advantage of it. Nobody can outspeed us with these four ladies around.
Neill, Vifi, Saori, and I all had ways for superspeed or to outmaneuver sobody, even without our agility. Grimnir did make a good point.
[I suggest not to waste anymore ti in this pithole,] Belzac chid in, only sending his thoughts to Neill and us Aurora mbers.
Vifi nodded. Horn princess and Grimnir are correct. Im not much for sneaking around, either. We got the information, now we let the hounds hunt our target down.
I dont think we can stop you, then, Vangrim interjected. Good. Ill agree to that, but dont announce your na. Keep to your human forms, Princesses. Just act as if you were gang mbers as well. Dont give people any further fuel for the rumors. It might not seem serious to you, but it isnt trivial for Shaturein. Unless you want to help us cover for every single smuggling route in the vast underworld, I suggest you follow my suggestion.
Do you rember how we spread Shatureins influence over to Gleisvale and Estralia as a whole? Gael brought up, to which I nodded. That was one of our reasons for going there. People quickly learned about it, and now they got the evidence with the leak. Underworld bases like this will feel threatened and they will make sure we will have a hard ti in the future. They dont even have to do it by attacking us, simply denying us trade because they dont think we are trustworthy is good enough of a threat, and then we will have an even larger poverty problem. You get it?
I nodded before reaching my hand into my cloak, pretending as if I was pulling sothing from it, but instead pulled out so nuts from my storage. These ocran powder nuts could color your hair once applied and it was perfect for this subterfuge mission. I handed so to Neill, Saori, and Grimnir, plus kept several for myself, as I believed we were the most conspicuous, since people have seen us hanging around. Vifi rarely went out, so she was good as long as she hid her face.
As such, I created so masks out of my corrosive obsidian and handed them to my five mbers. Once we put them on, it was ti to begin this extraction mission.
[Master, what about our disguise?] Rajah eagerly asked, representing the shadow pack. It seed they felt left out.
All of you rarely appear in public. Nobody will notice you, Saori shot the idea down completely and I could imagine the sad ows and whimpers resounding inside the shadow world.
Vangrim and Gael would warn their contacts while helping our informant leave this black market to escape from being found out as a snitch. They would wait at the river tunnel entrance for us. With Saori around, we had the nose and eyes to wander around and find the information we needed to track this spy down. After the informant told us where the Hirsana gangs headquarters were, she left.
With the shadow pack eavesdropping on everybody they could, we quickly pinpointed the location of the spy at a tavern; sadly, when we got there we also found out it was inside the attack area of the monster attack. The whole place was just demolished as monsters were rampaging around, fighting against a couple of people. Were they rcs or hunters? Well, it didnt matter.
Avoid the monsters, lets just find that guy! I ordered before Saori, Neill, and Grimnir went their own ways, while I stuck with Vifi.
You think you can keep up with as a human? she asked , to which I shrugged.
Oh, shut it. If you had wanted to escape, you would have done it the mont I went [Humanize (Major)]. Ill give you your donut later, or do you want a pizza?
Haha, cant even tease ya, huh? Fragassa cake, thats the price for today.
And we were off. Vifi adjusted her speed to mine as we dashed around the streets, parkouring upon the broken down buildings as we avoided the adventurers and the monsters. A couple of the forr called out to us, telling us to leave, but we disappeared before they could finish their sentence and it didnt seem like they cared enough to bother chasing.
Others were literally demanding us to leave, as any corpse was property of the Hirsana Marketcircle. They actually responded to our presence by having hedge mages shoot spells at us, but Vifi and I simply dodge them. They were unbearably slow. They took so long with the chants it was childsplay to outrun their spells.
[Master!] Rajah suddenly spoke to . [Saori found a group of people. Bunch of sleazy people and sobody in a black cloak. It matches the one you described.]
Good job!
We dashed towards the location with Rajah where we found the group he was speaking about was getting attacked by a monster. To my surprise, there was a small fire slowly starting to grow, but due to the stone houses, it barely was able to spread itself. That was when I noticed a couple of mages shouting out loud as they confronted a Oh gods. I-it was an amphibian
Shit!
A massive creature large enough to climb on a one story tall building and crush it with its grip, this monster had slimy, shimring skin that looked like it had absorbed water like a sponge. However, instead of looking bloated, it looked sleek as its long body stretched onto the floor as I saw an alleyway-long slender tail wiggle around. Its skin was colored brown and green, giving this icky, venomous look most salamanders used to scare predators or camouflage themselves.
Yes, this was thankfully not a monstrous frog but the fact an overgrown salamander existed was enough to make my heart skip a beat. That slimy skin nearly caused my phobia to resurface!
Grove-Bubble Salamandra: A mutated salamander with skin able to absorb and store vast amounts of water inside their pink pignted skin, allowing them to discharge it as a defensive water shield. Able to absorb toxins from its surrounding to discolor its skin and shoot out a beam of water using a water sac. Rank B
However, this salamander wasnt hiding. It reared its head down at the group of humans and beastn, eying them like a snake. A couple of them were fire mages, praising Shiterno and slinging fire at the massive beast, only for water bubbles to be ejected from its body, fizzling the spells out. With this empty look as if it had nothing in its mind, it gave the creeps.
Praise, Danterno! For he has handed us a being of imasurable value for us to burn! This creature of Plesia wields her disastrous power! Burn them, in honor of our blasphed god! Burn down anything Plesia for suppressing his power! For the Pantheon of Fire! For our Saint!
Saint?
For the God of Trailblazing! For God Askaino! For Saint Sierras! the group of eight fire mage shouted as they channeled their spells, shooting out multiple [Fire Magic Lv. 7] [Fla Spear] at the beast.
As its water bubbles shielded its body, it roared out as it jumped off the building, crawling on the ground as it gathered a bubble of green water on its mouth. At the sa ti, one of its green spots turned pink, its description finally making sense.
Two earth mages conjured up a wall to block the salamander as it slamd the green bubble on the ground, causing it to burst and release the water. It swamped everything but behind the [Terra Wall], protecting the earth mages and the man in the middle of it all.
I eyed him, imdiately noticing the cloak. He was one of the people who shot their spells at us after I took the envy demonkin down. I pointed at him and Vifi nodded and we both snuck behind a ruined building, aiming to kidnap the man the mont the mages got too invested into the fight. I still wanted to fulfill Vangrims request and not bring too much attention to us.
Where is Saori? I wondered. This would be far easier if she was around. She could just [Shadow Dash] towards the man and get him for us, as she was the only one who could bring others into the shadow world with [Shadow Armant]. Rajah could shadow dash over, but he couldnt do what Saori did and would then be forced to run from the mages while carrying the cloaked man.
As the fighting continued with the group unable to escape with the salamander perfectly countering the fire mages, two of them died, having been caught by the toxic water wave. The salamander consud them whole, frightening the rest as it continued staring at them with those eyelid-less eyes.
We need to do sothing, Vifi suggested, sounding a bit alard. Those people are rank C, at best; you cant beat a rank B with only rank Cs! If we cant hurry up, that guy will die and well lose a chance to get so information! Choose.
Where are the others, though? I replied, before directing my attention to Rajah.
[I dont know, Master. I havent left your side once Miss Saori found them. She should be here! She was here with Mom and the others before I left. What about your party bracelet?]
Good idea!
I pulled my bracelet up and activated it, causing a blue screen to appear from the blue crystal embedded into it. I clicked on the Party finder option and had it tell us how far Saori and the others were.
Na: Saori Segawa Distance: 54 m
Na: Grimnir Luedbrumdar Distance: 54 m
Na: Fargryneill Qilinus Kargryxmor Distance: 60m
Theyre in the sa area? Why is that wolf so far away when we need her here! Why hasnt she just grabbed that bastard yet? Vifi complained, but her brows suddenly wrinkled when she saw the distance of all three suddenly moving up and down. Wait, theyre fighting so
Boom!
And just when Vifi finally realized the truth, a massive explosion appeared to our right, looking far enough to count as 50 ters. There, I also saw sobody flying through the air with flas flaring behind him like a rocket booster. As they ca closer, I noticed they were a beastman with a staff on their left hand and a giant greatsword in his right and that they were flying right at us!
Terra Wall!
Vifi ran and jumped away as I cast an earthen spell to send myself flying away, just before that person crash landed right before us, sending flas flying around like a volcano. As the dust settled, magic surged through my hands as I fully buffed myself, ready for the battle as the man growled in laughter.
Ahaha! Finally, weve found you, traitor! Traitor and thief! Pitiful blessed led astray by the blinding light, instead of accepting the soothing flas to warm your body! You stole our lords power, causing his downfall by Plesias hands! You are responsible for his punishnt!
The beastn stepped out of the crater as flas gathered around him like moths fluttering around a light. He cracked his neck, smiling wildly as his full figure was revealed.
A pantheon beastman with the fur and stripes of a tiger, only that black stripes were flaring red, looking a bit like flas. Burn scars covered his two forearms, having turned his fur charcoal black. He was wearing a robe but had armor on as well, looking like a proper battlemage as he directed his greatsword at .
I can sll your blessing, mhmm, that searing hot fla! That grandiose power behind your figure! A blessing directly from the Inferno God and you dare turn your back on him, you dare let the White Scourge bring him down, you dare let the Abyssal Witch punish the most glorious and important Origin God? The tiger roared, baring his fangs at . I am Saint Sierras, Saint of the God of Trailblazing, Askaino! The Fire Pantheon has revealed your sins, your cris! I feel you behind that mask, Saintess Hestia! You dare fight in the na of the White Scourge when your inferno powers ca from Danterno? Today you will
SHUT UP! I shouted. I knew it. I knew it when I heard Askainos na! A Saint, huh? So my intuition was right. There really was another pyromaniac around, and I had a feeling this day would co. Shiterno Shiternos little posse of fading embers. Those gods finally sent sobody to attack , huh?
It was just as Crustacia and Bleidla said. His Church really was just a bunch of misguided fools, especially those subordinate gods of his. Did they feel threatened by ? Did they actually bla for usurping Shiternos blessing unwillingly? Or, were they using this chance to off for so plan of theirs?
It didnt matter. What mattered was this couldnt have been a coincidence. What was the chance of so fire Saint being exactly here to ambush ? Yet, it didnt make sense in a way, as only the gods and my party knew about usurpring Shiternos blessing. From the sound of it, this Saint knew about this truth, probably from his god.
As such, could he have possibly told sobody the information? It wouldnt do him or the Church of Dantereno any good if he were to reveal his god got demoted by Plesia. It would only cause more religious issues when the religion was already the worst.
HERETIC! Do not wield the Infernos na in such a distasteful light! White Scourge whelp! You and the rest of the Church of Aurena deserve destruction, for oppression of our race and the glorious Carmaniate! I shall drink blood wine as you die in ashes as the Church of Aurena burns into the ground!
The Prince of Envy. Of course.
Then there is little left to speak of! I announced, pulling my glaive out from my storage.
Oi! Vifi snapped her head around. Are you sure about this, weHey, look!
Grrwwr!
My eyes glanced to the side, only to see the salamander crash into the ground, nearly crushing our target, barely saved by the two earth mages. The man flew into the sky and landed roughly on the ground, crying out loud as it looked like he broke sothing.
You gotta beWoah!
I dodged to the side as [Foresight] warned of a fire attack, seeing a fla slash flying right past . I snapped my head around, seeing the tiger roaring at .
Fire consus fire! You will nourish us!
You!
Valeria! I called out Vifis human pseudonym. You take care of that salamander and the guy! This guy is toast!
Either one doesnt matter to , but you sure? Dont you need to turn back? This is a Saint, not your ordinary mage or sobody from Aurena. Danternos religion promotes strong Saints and Champions.
Yeah, dont worry An idol should hide herself when off stage, but this was one right now. The Fire Pantheon has front-row seats as I show them what I can really do. Theyre too late! I called out as mana surged around my body as [Aerokinesis] began to play. Fire consus fire? Ill show what a real inferno is! Ive had enough of assa
My [Foresight] and [Danger Perception] both activated, causing my head to snap to the side as I saw an arrow fly right at my head. A chill ran down my spine.
I couldnt dodge it.
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A note from AbyssRaven
Those damn Shiterno followers!
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