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Chapter 284: The Mysteries Continue. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2022-02-20 22:34:07 +0000 UTCEdit: I added the part about the garms about at the end of the discussion.
Edit 2: Also Elrick the vamp.
Edit 3: Close up a plot hole I accidentally left open.
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“Neville… So you were the traitor all along, huh? Should’ve guessed with how you suddenly became competent out of nowhere, only to start acting like an idiot again later. Who the hell bought you out, huh? The Resurrection? The Riverside Syndicate? Or… did our old friends order you to kill us all?”
After the “disaster” that was the attack on the Layavete cartel’s headquarters and its subsequent destruction by some assassins, we managed to rescue any remaining survivors with Asaka’s and my healing spells. Sadly, the number of people we managed to save could be counted on two hands.
Speaking of the injured, the Layavete cartel’s leader, Treyenor, had been saved by Asaka after she stopped him from bleeding out, although his right leg was lost forever from the initial explosion. Gael only sustained some minor burn damage, thanks to his Vitality and [Fire Resistance]. Lastly, we had Elrick… I heard blood rejuvenated vampires. The poison in his body was expunged after he drank.
Regardless, the situation wasn’t ideal to talk about Elrick right now. We had to interrogate our prisoner instead. For that, we took the injured cartel members and their leader to one of their hideouts. Needless to say, the members guarding that place were devastated to hear what just occurred to their faction.
Now, we were inside one of their rooms. Although crippled, Treyenor decided he would lead this interrogation on the fat scum who betrayed his organization.
“Tell me, Neville… TELL ME!” The former stuck a knife into the latter’s leg out of rage.
“Kuraaarrrrrgh!”
“… Gael, take him away. Hanazawa-san, could you do it once again?” Miss Saori asked exasperated.
While drinking some of Lady Hestia’s dragorade to restore her mana and reduce her arcane corruption, Asaka showed a thumbs up. With her thirst quenched, she moved up after Gael took out the knife and Miss Saori brought the enraged Treyenor away. With [Major Heal], the wound our prisoner had disappeared.
Once she was done, Gael used the handle of the knife to tap the fat scum’s head. “Well, three times the charm, they say. Three times this knife was stuck in your leg. A bit problematic coming from a cripple, Treyenor.”
“Don’t patronize me, Gael!” Treyenor scoffed. “This leg is the least of my problems. My problem is that the Layavete cartel is practically gone now with all my leaders dead. All due to me being blinded with how to rebuild my father’s legacy, unaware of the worm devouring it from the inside. This leg means nothing. I was crippled even before!”
Self-guilt. I can sympathize.
“Mhmm.” Gael gave an understanding nod to Treyenor, leaving him to process what happened to turn back to the interrogation. “Well, you heard the man. Speak, Neville. You’ll be dying in any case, but if you at least give us the information, we’ll let you die easily.”
“Fuck you!” He shouted. His jaw was healed up but I guess Miss Saori gave him a concussion from her kick.
“Haaaa… Hierk!” Gael turned around for a moment, sighing in the process, only to stab the knife precisely into the gap between his middle finger’s nails. It was too fast for the scum to react in time, only for Gael to peel it off the moment he screamed.
“KriiiieeeaaAAAAARCKKKK!!!”
“Oh jeez…” Asaka turned around and made her way out. “Call me when you need me. I’ll get some fresh air.”
“Excuse us.” With nobody stopping him, Elrick followed behind Asaka. I guessed Miss Saori could trust he wouldn’t run away.
Back to the interrogation, the screams haven’t stopped. In fact, they became even more intense as Gael used a plier to peel off fingernails as if he was used to it. Still, even after all of this, the fat scum was unwilling to speak. He kept his mouth shut for everything but his shouts.
With his attempt not working out, Gael sighed again before grabbing onto his bleeding fingertips with the tool. With one quick motion, the finger was forced back unnaturally and broke.
“Kriiiiahiehkehkehiek!” Tears and snot ran down his face. Gurgling could be heard.
“You know, the moment you speak, the moment I stop. I really don’t like going so far with the torture. It’s bad for the ears. However, I can continue and I will break you, Neville. I’ve known hardier people break after I’m done with them!” His eyes told me he was telling the truth.
“… I can’t take this any longer. Tasianna, let’s leave with Treyenor. We need information.”
Miss Saori grabbed Treyenor around his shoulder and helped him on his feet. She then used [Shadow Armament] on him and created an onyx leg for him. Once hardened, it could act like a replacement.
Thanking Saori, Treyenor then left the room with us. We then went to the office room of the building, where Saori gave him the mana battery from before back. The onnikais around me quivered in rage when they saw that, prompting me to shut them down. A bit risky, since they could revolt against me, but I relied on the spirits following us to calm them down.
[“We will find who was responsible for this! Please, trust me,”] I told the faefolk.
“…” Treyenor inspected the battery before sitting down and asking Saori for the broken emblem. “If you ask me, the people who attacked me today were from the Resurrection.”
“How are you sure?” Miss Saori asked.
“Clean up the mess and erase potential enemies. It’s what any cartel would do. The Layavete cartel used to be supported by two of the eight Olden Money houses. Should probably not tell you who they are, but our connections were severed already, so whatever. The Plymeirs and Urlandors, those were our patrons,” Treyenor exposed them for us, but this information didn’t tell us much.
It seemed Miss Saori shared my thoughts. “So? I have done some research into the senators, but we don’t have anything to do with them… yet.”
“Take it as a snack for now. You might need it,” he answered. “In any case, the fact we were supported by two Olden Money heads gave the Layavete cartel the power to control a large portion of Gleisvale. The other Olden Money families controlled other aspects, so we were in a sorta stalemate until we were dethroned by a pretty insidious plan.”
“How so?” I asked. “Considering how much you are elevating your former position, how did you fall? And what does this have to do with our problem?”
Noticing my impatience, Treyenor nodded compliantly. “The Resurrection is a newly formed syndicate we haven’t heard much about. They were like any other newcomers. The problem came from the events that happened right after they began making a name for themselves. My organization’s two supporters were assassinated and fake evidence was planted to implicate us.”
With the death of two senators, especially ones who belonged to influential houses, there had to be consequences and someone needed to take the blame. Treyenor explained how the relationship between crime syndicates and senators was practically a norm in Estralia, but it was an open secret at best. The houses the Layavete cartel supported knew they were working with them, but none of them wanted to acknowledge it publicly.
And these houses’ rivals jumped on the opportunity. Labeling them as a public enemy, they hunted and destroyed the Layavete cartel with the goal to cripple the Plymeirs and Urlandors. In a desperate attempt, Treyenor exposed the relationship between his cartel with the two houses, proving to everybody they couldn’t have done anything to their former supporters.
This action meant his cartel would survive, but it also played right into the plans of the other houses. The Plymeirs and Urlandors lost plenty of influence from this. Although still part of the senate, as is custom, their honor and status was put into question for “being shameless enough to work with criminals.” This also burned all bridges the Layavete cartel had with their old employers.
“After that, the Resurrection began to rise up. Quite a lot, in fact. The power vacuum left behind our defeat? They filled it all. And now they were ready to finish us off.” Treyenor threw the emblem back to Saori. “In addition, their armor. Elf, you know what that was, right? It might look different, but it’s the exact same thing.”
“Yes.” I nodded. “They might have been made with metal, but I knew after seeing them work that they were Haireti armor.”
“Haireti armor?” Miss Saori questioned. “Wait, do you mean the same one Muraina and the elven rangers at the outpost were wearing? But they look nothing alike. Their armors were made with leather and bark.”
I agreed with Miss Saori, but that was why they looked foreign to me at first. “Normal ranger armor made by the Saelari comprises leather and mana-infused tree bark, weaved together using mana threads. The pieces of bark the Saelari gave Lady Hestia, for example, were examples of this. Unlike the dwarves’ mountain, the forest of Saelariel have few mining locations for metal. Our tree groves, on the other hand, give us the material for our armor.”
I also explained how they could hide runes and enchantments easily, as they combined aspects of the earth and mana. Miss Saori questioned why I hadn’t told Grimnir yet, mentioning this would improve our armor. However, considering how a master blacksmith like Grimnir hadn’t mentioned it once, I understood he didn’t know how to combine mana weaving with armor.
After I was done explaining it to Miss Saori, I turned back to Treyenor, only to see him look at me with squinted eyes. I asked him what was wrong, only for him to say he was trying to make out the spirits around us. I dismissed his idea as absurd, as humans weren’t naturally able to perceive raw mana without a skill or manatech.
With a sigh, he dropped the matter and continued with his explanation. “I’ve done some information gathering on the Resurrection once I realized they might have been involved in my downfall. You know, looking into who exactly supported them. What I learned was the part with Davison and that they somehow learned how to make that sorta armor.”
Miss Saori frowned. “And they are able to make it en masse, considering they were willing to sacrifice 20 of them to try and kill you and your underbosses. I guess our next goal is the Resurrection. Do you have any information on them?”
“Location of their bases? Sure. Most of their members are normal alchemists, so they aren’t very good at keeping themselves inconspicuous. If you want to, you can also look into the alchemist guild and their current leader. I bet the guild and the Resurrection have a connection.”
“And the mana battery?” I brought his attention back to the important part to me.
“Like I said, I wasn’t the one who hunted those fae. Fae hunters are pretty rare, since the job is pretty suicidal and could cause more problems than you can handle. You have to be extremely greedy or dumb to attempt it,” he made his stance on the job clear to me. “However, if you want to know where I got that battery specifically, it was through one of my spies. He found it inside one of the storage warehouses on the pier. I’ll get him to speak with you.”
That’s our next goal then. Gleisvale’s pier.
We thanked him for the information. Courtesy was expected.
Miss Saori then asked him for the mana battery, saying she wanted to keep it for the future, which Treyenor agreed with. At the same time, she remembered we also wanted to talk to him about the ambush we experienced when we entered the borders of Estralia. We also explained how we got the broken emblem from one of the slaves, which we learned was probably a member of the potion shop we visited a week ago.
“Slaves? Then it has to be one of the syndicates personally owned by one of the Olden Money; they’re used like a private army. Slaves are expensive, even the most useless ones,” he answered. “If you want to ask me for my opinion, it has to be from the O’Blooms.”
“Don’t they own a pastry shop?” I commented, remembering how they were our prime competitors to the Sarlenzia company’s Olive’s Garden.
“Yeah, and they are the Olden Money who deal mostly with luxury and exotic products. Elven yeast is a luxury. Do you guys know Hamil from Shaturein? The O’Blooms’ head was one of his main customers, since Hamil had Empire connections, I heard.”
But the most important part came right after.
“Also, you mentioned those slaves turning and morphing around like some messed up monster, right? Well, Davison was the one who experimented with that kinda stuff for some reason, and after he was kicked out from the Resurrection, he went to the O’Blooms.”
“You are not suggesting that—?”
“Yes, I am, Saori. Get the recipe or plans, and then poach or somehow get an alchemist for yourself. O’Bloom wants the Resurrection to fall, so, if I had to guess, one of the latter’s supporters has to be an Olden Money.”
And Hamil and Davison had some relation with each other, aside from both working with demonkins. This cannot just be a coincidence, right? I mean, is our next target O’Bloom or should we continue tracking the Resurrection down?
“Oh yeah, there’s more,” Treyenor stated after fishing out a mug and filling it up with some rice wine. “While we’re still on the Davison topic, the pelts your giant wolves were so focused on, I got mine from ambushing one of the caravans Davison was sending here. No idea as to whom, as we killed everybody transporting it before they could answer.”
Davison and the alchemist’s guild in Firwood commissioned a subjugation Quest to kill off the fenrirs and garms inside the Belzac forest about ten years ago. Speculating, I assume Miss Saori’s garm mother was involved and a large part of her family were massacred during that event.
The four garms we had now were slain during that event. I heard Miss Saori had asked them before if they were related in any ways, but they couldn’t give a precise answer for it, since Miss Saori knew too little about her mother. There were many garm packs, and not all of them saw eye-to-eye.
The leviathan we met in the Belzac forest did mention he had met her mother once, but that was about it. I knew Miss Saori wasn’t really invested in all this drama, but her garms were. If I could guess, she was doing this for them. On the other hand, I could sympathize with their need for vengeance… and an attempt for closure.
“We found a garm pelt in the apartment above the potion shop belonging to the Resurrection. Do you have any idea what that could mean?” Miss Saori asked, looking like she was curious how all of this was connected.
“They do? Did it belong to one of your garms like mine did?” Treyenor questioned and she nodded. “Hmm. Well, they could have simply sold it to them, but since Davison used to belong to the Resurrection, maybe the pelt was a peace offering? Bring him back into the leader’s good graces?”
“… Maybe.”
This was starting to become complicated. So many strings were around us now, all leading us down different paths. Would all of them bring us to the same destination or were they all distinct? It was hard for me to decide, honestly. Demonkins or the one responsible for the fae hunter who killed Princess Schuri. And there was also this mystery behind the garm pelts…
Actually, no it wasn’t.
“Let’s go back for the day, Miss Saori. We have enough to inform Lady Hestia and I think we need her consent for our next action.”
“Agreed. Treyenor, I thank you for your patience and time today. Since Gael isn’t done yet, I’ll leave the rest to him, but…”
“Yeah, I don’t think I had much choice in the beginning anyways. Now, with everything going down, I only have one option to keep my father’s legacy alive. Not like it’s any different from before. Shaturein will have the Layavete cartel’s support, even if what I can give is meager than what they probably wanted.”
But that isn’t our problem anymore. We kept our end of the bargain with Shaturein. Now, they had to keep theirs and get our connection to the Empire. Lady Hestia will be happy about this~
“Also, can I keep this leg?” Treyenor pointed at the replacement leg created with Miss Saori’s [Shadow Armamnet].
“… No, of course not. I have to be around for it to manifest. Sorry.”
… Well, that happened.
On our way out, Treyenor asked us what we were doing with the vampire, but we told him to mind his own business and to keep quiet about it. We then asked one of the cartel’s members where Asaka and Elrick were and they told us that a strange woman had suddenly shown up and asked to see them.. The cartel members wanted to chase her away, but it seemed Asaka told them to stand down.
Thanking them, we made our way to the foyer, where multiple of the organization’s members stood next to the entrance like a row of servants and attendants. Bowing deeply, they all spoke unanimously.
“““Thank you for saving our boss’s life!”””
Seeing such a strong resolve of loyalty for your boss despite your organization breaking down from the outside, did make me respect them a tiny bit. Perhaps because it reminded me of my own loyalty. Even if the world were to die tomorrow, I would stand with Lady Hestia until the very end.
After we left the building, Saori and I looked around in the front. Asaka and Elrick were nowhere to be found, so we had to rely on our [Detection Sensor] to find them behind a crowd of people a bit further away from here.
Once there, we saw Asaka holding an amulet in her hand with a glistening, onyx, opal-shaped crystal. The moment we got closer, the three onnikai around me suddenly flew over to the object and began floating around it like fireflies attracted to a fire. Miss Saori also suddenly commented on how her garms could smell the scent of death around it.
“Oh? Are you guys done?” Asaka asked us after noticing us.
We nodded and told her we would talk about it while we moved back to the RV. Miss Saori told me to maintain an [Air Shield] around us to prevent information from leaking, especially since this was confidential.
“Gael will come back later. We were not interested in staying there for the torture, so we went and talked with Treyenor. Details can wait for later when we report it to the others, but to summarize, our next goal is to find the Resurrection’s base, or perhaps where it's storing things at the pier. In addition, we have some leads on which senators are not to be trusted,” Miss Saori explained.
“Docks?” Asaka and Elrick suddenly looked at each other, flabbergasted, to say the least. They then turned back to us, where Asaka held up the amulet and spoke, “Hear me out, even if this is crazy to hear, but the person who gave me this amulet just told me the exact same thing.”
Excuse me?
Noticing us shocked by what she said, Asaka gestured for us to calm down. “Yeah, like I said, crazy, right? She didn’t exactly tell me who was behind it, simply ‘Your target is located at the city’s pier inside a storage building with the mark of the tempting serpent. Slothfulness will not get your far, so make haste.’”
“Who was that person?” I asked, so full of suspicion that I was beginning to look behind my shoulders if that person was following us.
“An elf,” Asaka stated. “I dunno which one since she wore a hood, but I saw her long ears sticking out. She was also incredibly pale, like a ghost, and had dark hair deeper than ours before we changed our hair color. It felt like looking inside a room without any light in it.”
“Lady Asaka also mentioned her onnikais were squirming around inside the catalyst for some reason. They were clearly agitated and only calmed down after she left,” Elrick further added. “She also spoke in a terrible accent. I couldn’t understand a single word, while Lady Asaka only managed to identify some words. We had to rely on the onnikais to translate most of it.”
And the mystery became even harder to understand once Asaka asked us to appraise the amulet. So, we did exactly as she wanted.
<Amulet of the Blessed Spirits: An amulet created using the bones of dark-aligned monsters, fused together with metal to become a catalyst to appease the dead. If worn by its owner, dark elemental spells will be cast at a lower mana cost and they will be able to commune with the undead and the spirits of the dead. Allows using onnikais as conduits of mana.
Owner: [Asaka Hanazawa]
Skill: [Dark Magic Efficiency Lv. 5] [Dark Elementalist: Onnikai] [Chant Revocation: Dark Lv. 10] [Magic Power Enhancement Lv. 7] [Death Aura Lv. 5]>
[Death Aura]?! I looked at my own catalyst and appraised it to compare.
<Catalyst of the Blessed Gale Storm: An alchemical orb blessed by Zephira, Goddess of Winds, and drenched in the mana of a rage-filled onnikai. If mana is registered to this catalyst, it will levitate and float around the owner using stored mana. If this catalyst is used as a support for the owner’s spells, the mana used in the process will be thicker, increasing the durability and damage of spells. Due to this process, casting speed and mana cost will increase.
Zephira’s Blessing: Casting speed and spell strength will increase for wind elemental related spells, improved [Air Shield] can be cast, [Aerokinesis] for all wind elemental spells cast through this catalyst, [Storm Resistance Lv. 5]
Owner: [Tasianna Marina Silverpond]
Skill: [Mana Cost Increase Lv. 3] [Liquid Mana] [Zephira’s Blessing] [Magic Power Enhancement Lv. 8] [Chant Revocation Lv. 8] [Death Aura Lv. 1]>
<Death Aura: The death aura associated with the Goddess of Death and Necromancy, Ilsaphone. It is a weakened version but it will still affect the undead and those close to death. Undead will be more willing to listen to you. Those close to death will fear you more, making inflicting [Terror] and [Fear] more likely>
“Could that person have been a necromancer?!” I blurted out, suddenly reminded of the death mage we met in Griffonpeak. Remembering what she did, a chill ran down my spine.
Unnerved by this, Miss Saori frowned deeply. “Hanazawa-san, why did you accept that necklace?”
“I didn’t want to. She pushed it onto me, saying ‘Hold onto it.’ While I was surprised at what happened, Elrick wanted to stop her from going away, but she slid into the crowd and disappeared.”
Elrick nodded. “I lost her presence completely despite how close we were. I don’t know who she was, but she had to have high stealth skills.”
“Even with your ‘special’ abilities?” Miss Saori questioned, causing Elrick to stutter.
“I-I mean—”
“That’s not the issue now, Segawa-san. We can talk about it in a bit, but what am I supposed to do with this thing? She even called herself an ‘ally’ for some reason. She was a complete stranger. I’ve never met her before, and I don’t think Yorshka had any necromancer friends.”
“But she was an elf, you said,” I argued. “A Saelari or Anduri, elves from their original home Anduriol, shouldn’t be wishing any harm on us. I believe we can trust them a bit.”
“Tasianna, this is a stranger we are talking about. We should not act on faith alone, even if they were an elf or not. It is naive,” Miss Saori rebuked me.
Asaka nodded. “I agree. I don’t feel too good having this amulet around. I’ll keep it in my [Storage Magic] for now and we can argue about what to do with it later on. I really have no idea if destroying it would be the correct choice here.”
I felt conflicted about their opinion. Elves could be trusted since they were more united than humans and had the wisdom of age on their side to understand the faults of the past. I believed that. Could there be an elf who had their heart tainted? If the elf who gave Asaka this amulet was a follower of the Death Goddess, Ilsaphone, then could they also be a threat?
In elven society, the children of Marsven and Edna weren’t considered evil. Ilsaphone, Vivachel, and Kronnaz were important figures for the dark elves. Even if the human’s church of Aurena considered them enemies of their religion, the elves didn’t. Not even the elven followers of Aurena did.
But until I receive further information, I believe it might be better to understand where Miss Saori and Asaka were coming from. Maybe I was being a bit too naive here.
Nevertheless, whatever the correct choice was, we could delay it for later. We first returned to the Sarlenzia company’s branch in the town to see how the grand opening of the pastry shop and our bistro went. From the sight of the crowd, a stone was removed from my heart. It was relieving to see the success after all the preparation and work we put into it.
“You guys!” As we entered the shop, Lady Hestia was there waiting for us. Did she notice us with her [Detection Sensor]? “Good to see you guys, okay. And… Sir Elrick.”
Lady Hestia pondered while holding her hand on her chin. “We can talk about everything in the evening after the restaurant closes. Yorshka told me everything…”
Yorshka did what?
But, Elrick seemed to have understood what was going on and nodded. “Yes, I thank you very much for your consideration, Lady Hestia. I shall be staying in my room for the time being. It should be better for everyone if I don’t move around too much.. Lady Asaka, please, excuse me.”
With a bow, Elrick exited the shop.
“… So, Yorshka knew about everything, huh? I guess that’s what she meant with blackmail,” Asaka spoke with Lady Hestia.
“You knew?”
“We just learned about it. We’ll brief you about it later on, but… while I do feel a bit betrayed, don’t be too harsh on him, alright, Hestia-san? We should hear his side of the story first.”
“Agreed.”
And with that, this night was destined to be eventful. Not only because the nobles of Artorias were about to meet the senators of Estralia in the restaurant tonight through the use of Lady Hestia’s space-time magic, but also because of the revelation that we had a vampire in our midst.
But, I guess what stole my attention the most was the fact two mysterious elves had approached Lady Hestia and Asaka today, respectively.
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“Elsa, did you really have to approach them like this today?” An elven woman with red eyes as deep as blood complained to her sister inside a small inn’s room.
The paler older sister waved her younger sibling’s concerns away, looking confident in her decision. “I didn’t break any rules, Vivi. I went about it as discreetly as possible while planting some sort of influence for me to communicate with them in the near future. After all, from the looks of it, I believe I can foretell what will happen.”
“Do you really believe they will be able to help you?”
“I know it, dearest sister. After all, Saori’s garms will not overlook this nor will Tasianna. I also don’t believe our sister’s champion would abandon people in need. The question is, how will they deal with the problem?”
“Hmm, the outcome is something you cannot expect. There are two major roadblocks for the optimal results, and one of them is moving towards the destination.”
“Yes… that sly seducer. Let us see if we have to eliminate it or not…”
“Mhmm. Let us see how Kroza will react to all of this.”
And the shadows lurking behind the bright Aurora began to move.
Comments
Diego Rossi
Saelariel haf fewer mining -> has
