anwhile, at a high-class inn being occupied by a certain knock-off angel...
^Welco back, sirs. I hoped that the two of you had a lovely evening out?^
^Indeed.^
^It was...quite nice.^
After departing from Ren Jia and "i Yue," Alder and Alain made their way back to their inn in one of the more lavish neighborhoods of Rainbowden.
Artisanal hands t high-class materials, creating a building that would make even the most opulent of kings realize that their wealth ant nothing in the face of true beauty and craftsmanship.
Combined with a well-trained, attentive staff, this inn was one of the go-to tourist destinations in all of Dozing Salamander.
Alas, not everyone could appreciate such splendor.
Especially those with other businesses on their mind.
"Alder, I thank you for accompanying to this evening affair. You're a good friend," Alain said to the aforentioned Prince of the Bronze Bell Kingdom. "But I must now bid you good night. I have...things to mull over."
"Of course, my friend," Alder agreed. "Have a good evening."
...One walk to the room later...
"Alright...let's proceed to make contact and provide so updates," Alain told himself as he locked the door behind him and used his [Chaos] to reestablish the seal that he placed when he and his entourage first arrived in the city. "The others have reported seeing nothing so far, but the sa can't be said for yours truly..."
Alain had not co to Rainbowden by his loneso, and not just because he was looking to acquire so tailor-made aether treasures.
In reality, he had co to the city with an entourage of so freshly made Grafted warriors, courtesy of Buzza and his Fallen Clan allies, with three goals in mind.
The first was to establish friendly relations with so possible trading partners and find so like-minded allies.
Technically speaking, Alain and his entourage represented two distinct factions that were, more or less, reputationally fucked up.
The Galito Kingdom, which was going to be Alain's kingdom in the future, was one of the dozen or so warring kingdoms of the Radiant Feather continent. It was a common practice amongst such kingdoms to make deals with companies and factions that specialized in providing either weapons of war or bodies to send into the at grinder.
Whether or not these bodies were consensually acquired or recruited through illicit and deplorable ans was an...unnecessary detail that kingdoms like Galito cared little about. All they cared about was whether or not they had bodies to throw at each other.
As for the Fallen, their reputation in Pearl Scale was already quite bad, but it had actually gotten worse with the rest of the world given their actions during the Zhen Clan Tournant.
Of course, there were so people and factions who didn't see this ill repute as a bad thing.
Regardless, Rainbowden was a city that attracted people from many different walks of life and factions that would normally kill each other on sight. As such, it was the perfect place to find potential allies. Of course, this also ant it was the perfect place to run into a mortal enemy or three...which led to the second reason as to why Alain and his entourage ca to Rainbowden.
The newly minted Grafted warriors were much like Alain and his forr comrades before they had undergone the surgery; in other words, they were all losers.
They were warriors with no futures, warriors who had lost their futures, and warriors who had long since been forced to retire due to horrific circumstances beyond their control, the type of warriors that were perfect candidates to beco Grafted.
But alas, such newly acquired abilities required tempering, and there was no better ans of training oneself than to throw oneself directly into the fires of war.
Alain understood better than most that even the re act of exchanging greetings with one faction would instantly lead to hatred from another faction that was sworn enemies with the aforentioned hypothetical faction. As such, he was banking on these types of reactions to occur while he and his entourage were in Rainbowden making friends and business dealings.
After all, retribution was considered fair play by all.
As for the third and final reason they were in Rainbowden, it had to do with an unexpected blessing that ca in the form of a fallen treasure from the sky.
Despite being there to witness its arrival, Alain had no idea what to make of this unusual treasure from the sky, but Buzza seed absolutely thrilled about getting their grubby little claws on it. The rogue kaijin assured Alain that this treasure was a key component in their research and that whatever enlightennt could be attained from it was going to be absolutely paramount in helping him reach even greater heights of power.
However, such a breakthrough required very special materials.
The type of materials that could only be found in a city where a Kaijin Lord was buried.
Of course, that was a task much easier said than done.
Especially since there was a very high possibility of a certain Kaijin Lord taking interest in this particular location and claiming the loot before they even got a chance to get their feet in the doorway.
Regardless, understanding that ti was of the essence, Alain made sure to waste very little ti as he used his [Chaos] and grafted wings to establish a communication array that was keyed to contact Buzza.
[Open the door,] Alain muttered in [Chaos]-speech.
An ominous aura began to fill the room as a tunnel connecting his point in space-ti to one by Buzza began to open.
[Buzza, are you there?]
[Ah, Mazzter Alain. To what do I owe ze pleazzzure?]
If one were to walk into the room at this exact mont, they would see Alain talking to a strange humanoid wasp through an ominous-looking crack in reality. This aforentioned wasp was also looming over a poor fool strapped to an operating table while several strange-looking limbs and organs could be seen floating around him, suspended in invisible clouds of [Chaos].
[For starters, you'll be pleased to know that I have managed to secure part of the inheritance belonging to the Rainbow Smith,] Alain answered Buzza while producing a distinct-looking manual from his person. [This manual details the ways he used Chaos to help with his forging techniques. While I'm not entirely sure if it's applicable to your particular skillset, I imagine that it will provide so good insights.]
[Excellent,] Buzza humd in a pleased manner. [I've alwayzzz had trouble making uzzze of the harvezzzted bitzzz I acquired from inorganic kaijin, this manual zzzhould provide so good inzzzightzzz. Of courzze, this is also dependent on whether or not your new recruitzzz deliver. What is the latezzzt buzz from them, anywayzzz?]
[So far they haven't been able to find anything even remotely related to the Rainbowsmith,] Alain freely admitted with an annoyed snort. [So weirdo nad Lord Tezca had apparently appeared out of nowhere and had thrown the entire underground here into disarray with his warlord deanor. Sothing about the guy felt off to the Grafted, so they had been making sure to steer clear just in case.]
[Lord Tezzca?] Buzza repeated with a suspicious hum. [Zzzothing about that na feelzzz...familiar and off.]
[Hmmm, even more suspicious activity,] Alain muttered under their breath, just loud enough for Buzza to hear him.
[What wazzz that?]
[It's nothing much, my friend, it's just...earlier this evening I had participated in a rather strange rendezvous.]
[Oh? How zzo?]
[Well...the princess I had t was soone with dragon force in her veins. I figured soone like that by my...our side, would be useful in case any of the Grafted decided to turn traitor or if we ever ran into the current Lord of this era.]
[Underzztandable,] Buzza nodded with a strange air of confidence. [But I take it that it didn't go well?]
[Not exactly, no,] Alain agreed. [But it wasn't for a lack of trying, it was because of the lady-in-waiting she had brought along.]
[Wazzz this attendant prettier or zzzothing?] Buzza mused.
[No, they were equal in terms of physical qualities,] Alain quickly answered. [This lady-in-waiting though was...odd. In more ways than one.]
[Oh?]
[For starters, the way they carried themselves didn't seem to match that of a true noble lady. Rather, they felt like soone trying to mimic such behavior.]
[A peazzzant?] Buzza suggested while preparing a scalpel on his end.
[I thought that as well, but when I had Alder check her mind with his Bloodliner skill, he couldn't.]
[You an to zzzay he failed to live up to hizzz potential?] Buzza asked in a polite tone while preparing to get in the first incision of his latest surgical project.
[No, I an that this girl had sothing that seed to completely nullify his ability to read her mind specifically,] Alain retorted.
At this answer, Buzza stopped himself from moving. Because now, he heard sothing interesting.
[Oh?]
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