If you want more to read, consider joining my Patreon! Or check out my other original works:
Stray Cat Strut (A cyberpunk system apocalypse!) - Ongoing
Fluff (A superheroic LitRPG about cute girls doing cute things!) - Ongoing
Love Crafted (Interactive story about an eldritch abomination tentacle-ing things!) - Completed!
Drear's Ten-Tea-Cle Café (An insane Crossover about cute people and tentacles) - Hiatus
Cinnamon Bun (A wholeso LitRPG!) - Ongoing
The Agartha Loop (A Magical-Girl drama!) - Volu Two Complete!
Lever Action (A fantasy western with cha!) - Volu One Complete!
Heart of Dorkness (A wholeso progression fantasy) - Completed!
Dead Tired (A cody about a Lich in a Wuxia world doing Science!) - Ongoing
Sporemageddon (A fantasy story about a mushroom lover exploding the industrial revolution!) - Ongoing
Past the Redline (A girl goes too fast, then she does it again) - Completed!
Magical Girl Crystal Genocide (Magical Girls accidentally the planet, and then try to fix it) - Completed!
Magical Girl Rending Nightmare (A sequel to Crystal Genocide! Cute girls in a soviet dystopia having a picnic on the roadside) - Volu Two Completed!
Noblebright (A shipcore AI works to avenge humanity) - Completed!
The Complicated Love Life of Ivil Antagonist (The Empress of Mars finds love) - Completed!
Pokebun (Broccoli Bunch in the world of Pokemon) - Hiatus
Queen Violence (An Assassin Reborn as a Kitten) - Completed!
No Strings Attached (An Elden Ring/Bloodborne inspired progression fantasy) - Ongoing
Save Scumming (A ti-looping system apocalypse) - Ongoing
Chapter Five Hundred and Eighty-Nine - Seek And Ye Shall Find Out
I sat up straight, but before I could say anything, Amaryllis jumped on the opportunity. "What, exactly, did Rainnewt tell you?" she asked.
I nodded along. I wanted to know too!
Tristan paused for a mont, then glanced up and over to the side. "One mont, before I answer that, perhaps you'd like to et another mber of the Avatars?"
I I followed his gaze, then smiled as soone slipped into the room, only to freeze a mont later as I took her in. She was a foxkin!
"Guinevere, you finally found so free ti to join us?" Tristan asked.
"I sniffed so tea out of the air, and it was made better than you could ever manage, you old rat," the woman said as she moved closer. She walked with a strange gait, like a model on a catwalk, almost. Not to appear prettier, I don't think, but rather to accommodate the tails swaying behind her.
The four tails.
Desiree had explained it to already. On hitting level ten and rising to the second tier, she had gained a second tail. If that sa pattern held, then Guinevere here was between levels 30 and 40 in her main class, which also ant that she had at least three other classes. That was a very, very high total level, and it ca with a lot of potential skills. Fourth tier! The sa as Abraham.
The others felt about as strong, but her tails were the first clear and probably indisputable evidence that the Black Avatars were in their third and fourth tiers and maybe beyond that. I guess it was remotely possible that she was wearing so prosthetic tails to psych us out? But no, they looked very real and very floofy.
"Hi!" I said with a wave. "A kitsu? So's one of my best friends, are you from the islands to the south of Deepmarsh?"
Guinevere blinked languidly, then smiled. "I am! And you do have the scent of soone of my sort on you. How interesting! Pour a cup? What were we talking about with our fine guests?"
"We were talking about Rainnewt," Tristan said.
"I told you he'd be trouble," Viviane said.
"No, you did not," Percy replied.
Guinevere chuckled, then nodded to in thanks as I handed her a cup of tea. "I don't recall you saying anything of the sort," she said. "Percival is right. So, what of Rainnewt, and what of our guests? You are brave souls, to have pierced through my storm."
"Your storm?" I asked, latching onto the last part.
She grinned, and her teeth were the sharp blades of a predator. "Yes, mine, little bun."
Tristan cleared his throat. "This is Captain Bunch, Ladies Amaryllis and Sylph, and Paladin Bastion. Despite their unannounced arrival, I think it may be best to treat them as guests, and give them the hospitality afforded as such."
"Hm, fine. But only because this tea is good, and I'm dying to hear any sort of gossip, even poor, unfounded tales, as long as they're titillating enough," she replied as she sat and crossed one leg over the other so that she was angled to let her tails flow freely.
Amaryllis looked at her, then back to Tristan. "So, you were about to say, on the topic of Rainnewt?"
"Ah, yes," he said. "The young man. So of our mbers encountered him near the Snowland capital, Stormtower, a few months ago."
That ant that they had t Rainnewt around the ti I was in Sylphfree? Or a little before that, maybe.
"He was searching for people of a certain tier of power, and happened across so Avatars working in the region. When he proved that he did have a World-given quest, we arranged a few more etings. He soon left to take care of other business, presumably in line with his quest."
"Have you seen him since?" I asked.
He nodded. "Recently, in fact. You just missed him. He returned with so explanations about a new way to accomplish his quest," Tristan said.
Guinevere humd. "I assisted him. He spent about a week and a half here. We designed and built a few devices to alter the mana flow around a dungeon's core and to provide a protective aura around the core. Risky work, that, but there are few people who know dungeons and their cores better than I."
"You know a lot about dungeons?" I asked.
She grinned. "You could say that I'm the preeminant scholar on their subject. This floating castle is my life's work in that regard."
I blinked. What did that an? Was the castle a dungeon? It didn't feel like one.
"Was that the end of your contact with Rainnewt?" Amaryllis asked. "And did you know about his criminal behaviour and past?"
Tristan humd and swirled a small spoon through his cup. "Contact is ongoing. He is currently travelling not too far from here, with Black Avatar Nicholas. They are installing more devices in local dungeons to protect them from the threat his quest outlined."
"You didn't answer her second question," Caprica pointed out.
The small man nodded slowly. "We are aware of so of his... criminal behaviour. Though keep in mind that, while the Black Avatars as an institution have interfered with criminals in the past to subjugate and arrest them, we are not law enforcent. We generally act in an extra-legal manner."
"You're vigilantes," Caprica said. "At best. I believe many states would simply classify you as rogue actors."
"Yes, I suppose we are. There are so states where people of our power are not able to move about freely, where we would be monitored, reported upon, taxed... it's not worth the hassle. We have also acted against the law many tis and may well do so again."
"What?" Caprica asked as she sat straighter.
He shrugged. "When the law is written by the cruel, the moral thing to do is to disregard it."
I didn't want to bother Caprica because that seed like a touchy subject for her, but I kind of agreed. Doing the right thing was more important than doing the legal thing.
"Even so--and I'm not agreeing--you must know that Rainnewt is an objectively bad person. Supporting him can't lead to anything good," Caprica said.
"Ah, I don't like calling people bad," I said. "But I don't think he's a very nice person, and I don't know if he'd ever want to be a nice person either. Um. I think that you should be careful when working with him. We took apart your machine in one of the dungeons."
"You did what?" Guinevere asked. Her tails flicked out in a way that I knew from spending ti with Desiree ant that she was peeved.
I shrugged. "It was hurting the dungeon it was in. It was weaker, and acting strange. I think there are other ways you could teach a dungeon to resist Evil Roots."
"So, you have encountered these roots," Tristan said.
"Uh-huh," I replied. "I figured out a way to clean them away. Did you see any?"
"Not myself," he said. "But other Avatars have, and I have their reports. Rainnewt's experience with them corroborated with our own, and also with our experints."
"What kind of experints?" Amaryllis asked.
Guinevere pursed her lips, then stood up, tails swirling behind her. "Co to my lab. I will show you."
Percy coughed. "Maybe not now?" he suggested. "Is your laboratory safe for visitors?"
The fox-tailed woman paused. "Fine! Co tomorrow morning, at first light."
"You want us to stay that long?" I asked.
"The storm waxes and wanes during the day," she said. "You missed the best ti to exit safely. Your next window will be tomorrow afternoon. So, you might as well stay anchored here."
"I guess so," I said. "If you want, we probably have so supplies that we wouldn't mind selling! I bet you guys don't get so of the things we have! Oh, and I bet Desiree would love to et you, Miss Guinevere. She's a fox lady too."
"Ah, the one I sniffed out? Yes, I don't think I'd mind eting a kinswoman," she replied.
Amaryllis huffed and tried to get us back on topic. "Where is Rainnewt now, exactly?"
"Pyrowalk," Tristan said easily. "Near the Betrayer's Strait."
"That's an ominous na," I said.
"A coincidence, I'm sure," he replied. "He should be back within a day or two. His group left to test so of the newer iterations of the devices we built."
I sat up. "Wait, do you know the exact ti?"
"You're thinking it coincides with the tir?" Caprica asked, guessing what I was thinking.
"Exactly! I bet he didn't think we'd make it here before him, though!" I grinned. "So... if we're going to be spending the night on your island, what do you do for fun here?"
***
A note from RavensDagger
Hi!
Two of the three books I'm publishing this month are out!
Save Scumming Vol one is out on Amazon and audible! Honestly, check out the audible version, it's soooo good:
sroyalroad/amazon/B0H1S2XJJS
Annnnnd Magical Girl Rending Nightmare is out too!
sroyalroad/amazon/B0H2N6Y1JQ
Both are done by Soundbooth!
User Comments
0 comments from readers