Vulpine Spanner in the Works
Chapter 3: Some Adventuring May Be Required.
Day 3:
I yawned as my eyes opened to the dark ceiling above me. The window next to my bed allowed the sun to shine into my room and thankfully wasn't high enough in the sky yet to shine into my face. It was almost tempting enough to go back to sleep and wake up later, but I sadly had to get down to business immediately.
Pulling the covers off my body I stepped out of bed and stretched my arms and tails before sauntering over to the table in the middle of my room. The wooden floors felt cold on my bare feet, and my underwear did little to block the cold from my body. The only other thing I was wearing was a black choker with a glowing red jewel in it.
It was one of my prized possessions; a World Item. I had gotten that from my own hard work, as well as from being extremely lucky when the item had finally dropped. It wasn't the flashiest item, but it had an extremely useful ability that synchronized with my class.
My World Item was called the Seed of Yggdrasil. A slightly pretentious name for an item that stores mana and refunds that mana as extra non-resistant damage for a player's next attack. What made the item one of the broken parts of YGGDRASIL was that it had no storage limit for how much mana it could hold. And since I had a continuous regeneration of mana, I'd been storing part of the percentage of mana I regenerated into the Seed.
The only downside to the item was that when it was used, all the stored mana inside it was used at once. And, considering the staggering amount of mana I had stored into the item, it was a guaranteed one-hit kill.
I used that World Item the most of the three I had. The second item was one that I kept in my inventory as a last resort. The final World Item was stored away in a very difficult to reach location. It did make me wonder if I could still access that area from this new world.
Another thing to add to my to do list.
Of those three World Items, I'd only ever gotten the Seed of Yggdrasil through honorable means. The other two items had been pilfered from a player and a guild respectively. Normally, a player in possession of three World Items was a once in a blue moon event. The only reason why I'd been able to get the other two was due to gaining my first World Item and then getting my [Daughter of Inari] racial class.
The reactions of the players when they lost their World Items was one of my best experiences in YGGDRASIL.
I quickly shook myself out of my reminiscing and made it over to the table where I pulled out a chair and sat down on it. The wood of the chair was surprisingly not that cold on my ass which was a pleasant surprise. I then looked down at the three bags of coins I had in this kingdom's currency. I took the time to separate all the coins in each bag into separate piles that I counted up.
What my total came down to was 122 copper coins combined from both the jobs I did as well as from the money pile of the goblins and trading the gold coin in. 268 silver from trading in the gold coin and the goblin hoard.
From what I've seen about food and lodging, I could probably buy much of the supplies I needed for the goblins today and still have much left over for the next day. Preferably, I would start the goblins off with simpler tools and weapons before giving them enchanted items. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about them accidentally killing each other or burning the forest down.
I'd work up from there. After shopping for the goblin supplies, I would probably investigate some of the other stores to see if there were any that I could use my skills to profit from. My [Alchemist] class allowed me to create amazing potions which I mainly used to heal myself or buff my attacks or defense.
Besides alchemy, I also had healing spells and the ability to create and enchant items. Sadly, that was most of my simple crafting abilities that weren't too ridiculous. The only other abilities I had that I could make a profit from involved massive terrain augmentation and other large-scale spells. It was at a time like this that I was a little annoyed that I didn't know more recreational spells.
What I did wonder, now that I was in this new world, is if I no longer had a cap on learning new spells? If that was the case, then I could definitely learn the spells of this world which I would guess were more utilitarian in nature due to the realism here compared to a game world.
I would need to research this more thoroughly later, probably at the Magician's Guild as well as from Ninya. Which reminds me that I need to meet with the adventuring group soon.
This is when I got up from my chair and walked over to the dresser where I had set my clothes from yesterday and began the process of putting my divine items on. That was strange to me at first when I didn't have any trouble putting my clothes on or taking them off last night, but I just wrote it off as a convenient quirk of this body.
Where I might once have felt a modicum of embarrassment at seeing my new naked body, I didn't anymore. Most of that had been in part because of how I had taken some time last night to investigate this new body of mine. I'll admit with some pride that I've got a great pair of tits and an ass that won't quit.
It took less than a minute to put the rest of my clothes on, pull the collar of my dress over the choker I was wearing, and slid my boots onto my feet. I figured out why women love to wear high heels so much, I gain so much height from putting them on. Normally, my character is 5'9", but these boots make me almost 5'11". Still didn't compare to my height in the other world where I was over 6 feet tall.
Taking some time to look in the mirror in my room, I started to comb the hair on my head with my nails, which still could be felt through the gloves I wore, until my hair didn't have the bedhead that I'd woken up with. The long hair wasn't acting as much like a hindrance as I thought it would, but it needed to get held back to avoid getting into my eyes during a fight. Maybe I'd learn to braid it? Until then, I'd just tie it back into a ponytail.
After my thorough grooming of the hair on my head as well as that of my tails, and putting my hair up into a ponytail, I put my pair of glasses on, activated my [Kitsune Illusion], and walked over to the table with my money on it. I dumped 30 silver and 50 copper coins into a pouch and walked out of my room before locking the door behind me. After that, I walked downstairs to the bar where I saw the innkeeper, whose name I found out last night is Morgan, was busy cleaning some dishes.
Taking a seat at the bar counter, Morgan's eyes flicked up to me before going back down to the mug he was cleaning. "What can I do for you today, Miss Blanc?" Morgan asked as he set the cleaned mug with a row of other cleaned mugs.
I put on a friendly smile before answering, "Mind serving me some breakfast this morning?" Morgan nodded and walked to the door behind the bar. A few moments later, he came back with a plate of sliced ham and potatoes which he set down in front of me.
"One copper, Miss Blanc." He said while holding out an open hand. I quickly fished out a copper coin and set it into his hand. Morgan set the plate down onto the counter afterwards and gave me a fork to go along with it.
"You don't need to be so formal, just call me Kashia," I told him as I took a bite of the ham. It wasn't bad ham, but the way food preparation here is compared to back home left a bit to be desired. Maybe I could try my hand at cooking here if my other business ideas didn't work out?
Morgan smirked as he pocketed the coin into his apron. "At least you aren't like other adventurers that I've served here. Most of the newbies think they're hot shit until they either get a thrashing or work in the guild long enough."
"Really? And how many times was it that you dealt the thrashings?" I said before taking another bite of the ham. Morgan chuckled at my response as he went back to cleaning his mugs.
"Surprisingly I don't do the thrashings that often. Usually it's the other patrons who beat on the new guys." When Morgan mentioned the other patrons, I didn't even have to turn my head to know that there was no one here at the bar. My ears and sense of smell told me loud and clear.
"Good thing I'm not like other adventurers then." I smirked and gave Morgan a wink when I said this. Then I returned to eating my breakfast once more. Morgan's eyebrow rose up slightly as he looked at me.
"Yeah, good thing, else I would've made you pay more for the room you have." Morgan responded. At least I know I'm on his good side. A few moments later, and I felt my ears twitch as the inn's door opened. I quickly noticed that the shuffling of boots on the floor meant that there were three people, and a quick sniff in the air told me that all three were males, and they all smelled awful.
Did they never take a bath or something?
Unfortunately, the smell didn't leave and instead grew as the three men took a seat at a table behind me. One of the males spoke up, "Old man, mind getting us some ale and food?" I felt baffled at the tone this newcomer had, and I quickly glanced at Morgan who had a stony expression.
"One moment." Morgan answered as he picked up three of the dirty mugs and gave me a wink before turning around to one of the tapped barrels. When he filled the mugs, I could easily smell how disgusting the drinks were, but I said nothing. As Morgan was filling up the mugs, I listened in on the conversation of the group behind me.
"-guild later today. I need to make some quick cash for some new pieces of armor." One of the men said.
"With the rusted shit that you're wearing now, you need an entirely new set of armor in general." The first man from before stated.
"You shouldn't be saying shit, Luthor. That stinking leather armor of yours smells to high heaven." The other man answered which made all the men at the table laugh. I just rolled my eyes and finished with eating the rest of my breakfast. I didn't want to be in this building any longer with the stench these men were emitting.
When Morgan came back to the bar after delivering the drinks, I left a silver coin on the counter. He glanced down at the silver coin and looked back up at me with a questioning glance. "Use that as payment for my room tonight and keep the change." I told the innkeeper before getting up from my chair and exiting the building.
When I made it onto the bustling streets, I took a deep breath of air that wasn't tainted by the stink of those men. After that, I walked down the street for a while to my first destination; the guildhall.
It only took me a short amount of time, but when I arrived in front of the guild hall, I saw that it was bustling with activity as people were coming and going, much more than yesterday. I assumed that it was due to the way regular adventurers might only be able to complete a job a day compared to my rate of completion.
I wouldn't lie about my interest in what job I'd be doing with my new adventuring team today. Hopefully it would be something less dull than the two jobs I did yesterday. But, thinking about the goblin job yesterday, I realized that I needed to get them their supplies today, which did make me wonder about something…
I looked around and quickly spotted an alleyway that I could duck into. When I believed that I was out of sight of the general public, I cast my spell [Replicant] and watched with eager anticipation as a flame split off of my body and quickly formed a complete copy of me.
What I didn't expect was for that copy to gain a large toothy grin as she gave me a once over. "My, my, now that I get a good look at myself, I can admit that we look damn fine." My copy said in a breathy tone as she started stretching her body.
"This is certainly a surprise." I said in interest.
"But not an unwanted one. After all, the [Replicant] clone usually has a shitty program that runs it." My clone added. I couldn't say I disagreed with her, after all, I did make a good point.
"I guess this new world adjusts more of my spell effects than what we originally thought." I reasoned aloud. If a spell like this could be given its own sapience, then what did that mean about other spells of mine that summoned other beings? I definitely needed to do more testing of some of my more serious spells first in an isolated environment before I used them in full combat.
"I'm not exactly against this change. All it means is that we'll have an amazing time using the [Replicant] spell in battle and daily use." My clone explained before a smirk came across her face as she put a finger under her chin in thought. "Though, I'm a little interested in things that you haven't tested out in this new body."
My eyebrow raised at her statement. "As long as whatever it is that you're planning to test out doesn't involve bad publicity, harming innocents or the like, I'm all for it. I can't exactly test everything about this new body today since I'll be with the adventuring group today." My clone nodded in agreement.
"I got it. I am you after all. I'll take care of the goblins as well while you deal with the adventuring party." She answered in agreement. At least she knew the task that I summoned her here for to begin with. I wanted to pull out the money she'd need to purchase the goblin equipment, but I stopped myself when I had an idea.
"I'm wondering, would you be able to access my inventory space?" My clone shrugged before concentrating for a moment. She then stuck her hand into space and pulled out a large sack of coins with a massive grin on her face. "Guess that problem is solved. Before I go, could you do something to disguise your appearance. I don't feel like dealing with questions about why I've been spotted in two places at the same time."
My clone snapped her fingers and was covered in a swirl of light. When it died down, she was now covered in purple hooded cloak and dress. Quickly pulling up the hood, her face was now obscured with only a few golden locks of hair being visible besides everything below her nose.
"Better?" She asked. I nodded in reply.
"Good luck with getting the items." I said as I left the alleyway and headed to the guildhall. I saw out of the corner of my eye that my clone had left the alley and was now heading down the opposite direction of the street.
When I finally entered the guildhall, it only took me a few seconds until I heard Lukrut call me from across the room. He and the rest of the adventuring group were all sitting together and most likely waiting for me to show up. I appreciated that from the group, after all, we hadn't even known each other for an hour and they seemed to very considerate.
It was weird to have possible friends, but I'd have to see how this would turn out before I could truly label them anything. So, to not delay the group any longer, I quickly made my way over to them with a smile on my face. "Morning. What's the plan for today?" I asked while taking a seat between Lukrut and Ninya.
Peter was the first to speak up, "Greetings, Kashia, we managed to snag a simple extermination job involving a pack of ogres as well as some goblins. Apparently, they've been building up around a few farms by E-Rantel and it's become quite a problem." Peter answered excitedly.
I could understand why a job like that would be important, and most likely pay quite well. Cities thrived on their ability to be defendable and to be able to feed those that lived within it's territory. If a city ran out of food from outside farms, then the stored food supplies for winter, droughts, and sieges would be quickly used up.
There were similar occurrences like that in YGGDRASIL. I remember a top-tier guild whose claim to fame was their pure monopoly on a mine that had extremely rare ore. When an enemy guild managed to take over that mine, the other guild quickly fell apart without any income.
I had been working with the enemy guild at the time since they promised me help against one of the bosses I needed to fight. I also got to keep some spoils from that raid, so it was a win-win situation for me. Though, I did feel a little sorry for that guild. Heard their guild leader quit after that, but then again, it may have been a lie.
Regardless, this city depended on the food that it could receive, though why the guards weren't coming out to help these farms was a complete mystery to me. I can only assume that it's because they're lazy, I mean, why else would they have hired me to clear out that graveyard for them when they were perfectly capable to do it themselves?
Damn cowards…
Honestly, I could easily wipe this city off the map if I wanted to. From what I've seen of this place as of now, it didn't seem like their magic defenses were that powerful.
"Sounds like it'll be an interesting job. Any specifics about these ogres and goblins that have been attacking farms?" I asked Peter. He gave me a slightly angry look.
"They've been eating the farmers as well as the crops. Right now, there has been a pattern to these attacks." He quickly pulled out a map and unfolded it onto the table so that I could get a clearer view. Then, he pointed to an eastern farm near E-Rantel.
"It started from here. Since then, the ogres and goblins have been moving from the eastern farms to the southern farms." He then pointed to a southern farm near the woods that I'd encountered the goblins yesterday.
Oh, shit. The goblins were talking about the ogres being extremely voracious recently, but now I had proof. Hopefully the goblin group would be safe in their hidden glade until my clone arrived. I seriously doubted that they could handle fighting ogres and other goblins that were so blatant to be raiding farms near a city.
I nodded in understanding to Peter. "Any description on the number of ogres and goblins in this raiding band?"
"Six ogres and eight goblins from the last count. It may have changed since then." This would be child's play for me. I could easily clear out the entire group with one spell, but I did wish to see how my new team would do in a fight, so I may hold back a little bit.
"Sounds like fun. We ready to go?" I responded with a grin. This was going to be a simple task for me to accomplish.
"Certainly, beautiful. We were just waiting for you." Lukrut answered. I wondered if that man would ever run out of compliments…Maybe I should do something for him? Dinner, definitely dinner!
"At least I know I'm wanted." I teased back.
Lukrut laughed at my response, "You'll always be wanted in my heart, Kashia." The blond said with that exaggerated over the top tone that I was beginning to get used to. He'll land a girlfriend one day with that confidence of his, I'm sure of that.
"Of course, I will." I said before turning my attention to Peter, "How much will this job be paying us?"
"A hundred silver. Twenty for each of us when we split it. Is there an issue?" Peter asked with some concern. I wasn't sure if it was because he thought I wouldn't be up for a job that would only give me twenty silver. I better alleviate his fear now, so he won't have to worry.
"Not at all. Twenty silver is a hell of a lot more than what I got paid doing my last two jobs." I said with a disarming smile. This seemed to calm Peter's fears a bit as he gained a smile as well.
"Good thing you decided to join up with us then." Dyne added in a friendly tone. "Copper-plates barely make enough money to go through a day of food, supplies, and an inn. They usually resort to taking multiple jobs because of it."
The large man then pointed to Ninya, who seemed to shrink from my attention on her, "Ninya was almost homeless because he could barely afford the rent for his room."
"What changed?" I asked completely curious.
"I saw Ninya at the guild one day and decided to talk to him. He was shy at first, but I eventually found out that he was a mage. Since our group needed a magic user, I invited Ninya to join us." Dyne explained. Though, that didn't exactly explain how splitting up the measly pay of a copper-plate job could allow any of them to survive.
I let my question be known, and Lukrut was quite eager to answer it, "Originally, all four of us would each individually take a job. Afterwards, we'd meet up at the guildhall with our pay and put it into a pot. We'd split it based on who had the greatest need. When we all became silver-plates, that changed since the pay got a lot better."
"Sounds like all of you are very close-knit." I remarked.
"Very." Peter replied, "We've been together long enough that I couldn't imagine doing a job without these three watching my back." I nodded in understanding before standing up from my chair. The other quickly followed my lead when I did this.
"If that's the case, I hope that I'll be able to earn your trust, and you, mine. Shall we get going?"
"Ready when you are." Dyne answered happily. I couldn't put my finger on why, but that big, bearded man seemed like a giant teddy bear. He was the opposite of Lukrut's high energy and youthful spirit, with how he was calm and at peace with everything around himself. It made me want to become good friends with him.
Lukrut was quite easy to read. He was an excitable man who had an avid interest in the opposite sex as well as a lust for adventure. Even with the playful nature of his, I could see an intelligence in his eyes. And there couldn't be a doubt that he had an intelligence about him, if not based on academic subjects, then it was invested more in prediction of movement on the battlefield.
After all, modern day snipers armed with rifles still had to work on predicting where a person was going to move as well as judge the distance, wind speed, trajectory, and many other facets to hit their target. And that was with modern day technology. I was intrigued to see how skilled Lukrut was with that bow of his in an actual battlefield.
Ninya and Peter were still the ones that I hadn't really figured out yet. It was obvious that Peter was a charismatic leader that had managed to keep a diverse group like this together, and yet, he also seemed older than he looked with a sense of justice to match. I would have to see more on his leadership ability before I could fully judge it.
Ninya was the odd one out with how shy and reserved she was. Hiding her gender showed that she had an awareness of the harshness of the world, but if my guess was correct then none of this group knew of her actual gender, then it meant that she was probably worried about how the group might react. Like Peter, I would need to see more before I could make a full assessment of her.
And, maybe I could coax her out of that shell of hers. She'd probably look nice if she cleaned up a bit and dressed in a more feminine style. Also, I really wanted to see the looks of shock when this group figured out her actual gender. That would be an event for later, until then, I would just try and build up her confidence a little bit.
I also needed to see if I could teach any of the spells I know to people of this world and vice versa. Ninya would be a good test subject for my curiosity.
It had been half an hour since we had gotten on the road to the next farm that was to be raided by the ogres and goblins. During this time, I found myself chatting with the group about random subjects. These topics would range from good shops in E-Rantel to politics. I would sit out of the political discussion to listen and gain more knowledge about the country I was in.
From what I'd found out by listening, this kingdom of Re-Estize is ruled by Ramposa III. While the man is a good ruler, he's old and is losing more of his strength every day. His eldest son, Barbro, is apparently an aggressive man who is more headstrong than wise. That made me a little worried since from what I knew of all the fantasy books I've read, a prince like that was more likely to be a warmonger instead of a peacekeeper.
His other son, Zanac, while much smarter than Barbro, is more out of shape and weaker than Barbro. And, from what I know about politics, the stronger a potential candidate seems, the more likely the people are to support them. I had no doubt that if Zanac is as smart as he seems, then he was probably planning to remove his brother from succession of the throne in order to take it for himself.
Besides those two, Ramposa has three daughters, with two already having been married off. The one daughter that still lived in the palace, Renner, is known as the Golden Princess for her kindness to the people and her beauty. I'm still sexier. If she is as kind and air-headed as Lukrut made her seem, then it would be a miracle if she wasn't assassinated by her twentieth birthday.
From that, I also learned that Re-Estize also has a continual war with the Baharuth Empire. I didn't know if I should jump in joy at being proven right about the Baharuth being a conquering nation or if I should groan at how obvious it was.
Apparently, the Baharuth have had skirmishes with Re-Estize on the Katze plains every year during the harvest season. When I heard this, I could already see what was happening. Dyne was kind enough to explain the drafting this country has for its military, with most recruits being farmers or other peasants who would temporarily bulk up the military before being sent off to the Katze plains.
If my guess is correct, Baharuth is attacking this kingdom at its most pivotal point, the harvest season, in an effort to grind Re-Estize's supplies down. Since this kingdom would recruit many farmers and other peasants for their army, then those peasants would be unable to farm when the harvest was ripe. This would mean that the kingdom would be continually feeding their army and populace while not recovering food for that harvest.
Since this continual war has been happening for years now, I'm frankly surprised that this kingdom hasn't collapsed from being unable to feed its populace. The Baharuth are just playing a waiting game at this point until Re-Estize can no longer put up a fight. Then they'll just steamroll over this kingdom.
I would need to look more closely at this political minefield before I would make a decision to trip it. Until then, I would just remain a neutral party. Personally, I wanted to avoid creating too many large ripples in this world until I knew what sharks swam in its waters.
And, from talking to Ninya about some aspects of magic, I learned that 6th Tier magic is the highest anyone in this world can perform, and of all the magic users that currently were known, barely any could use magic at that level. Anything higher was considered the realm of the gods. Put me into that equation and it was like comparing a bow and arrow to a nuclear warhead. The moment I truly started letting loose my spells, I would immediately be labeled a divine being…
They wouldn't be entirely wrong. Technically, I am a demigoddess, and in the legends of the kitsune, they could eventually turn into gods after enough time had passed or something similar. I like the sound of that. But it also brings up potential issues with myself and this world. For one thing, I have the classes [Chosen of Freya] and [Chosen of Loki] which already means that I was chosen by both deities to be their earthly representative.
Oh my various possible gods! I needed to test my [Loki's Call] ability as soon as possible! It allowed me to summon Loki as well as some of his children and Ratatoskr. If the surprising sapience my clone displayed earlier was any indication, I could potentially be summoning the actual God of Mischief.
After this job, I'm going to the woods somewhere to test that ability.
"Hey, Kashia, would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?" Peter asked me which disrupted me from my train of thought.
I looked at him before saying, "What?"
"I was just asking if you would like to tell us a bit about yourself. The trip to the farm is going to take a while, and we were a little interested in knowing more about you." Peter elaborated. I was slightly expecting and dreading this conversation, but it had to happen sometime or later.
"Well, what would you like to know?" I asked openly. This was going to be a good test of my improv skills, but they say the best lies have a mixture of truth in them.
Peter was the first to respond, "Where do you come from? You aren't a local, that's for sure. But, your style of dress is unique to this kingdom as well as seems like something a noble would wear."
"You are right about me being a foreigner. I come from a land far to the east past the Draconic Kingdom and Baharuth Empire." I answered before smiling at the thought of my next answer. "And as for you wondering about my style of dress, it's not because of any type of nobility, but because of hard work that I underwent to make it myself."
"Wow, a beautiful mage and seamstress! You are perfect!" Lukrut complimented, which I took in stride as I'd blow his mind with my next statement.
"Though, you are right about nobility, I'm actually of royal nobility." I finished, leaving all my comrades bug-eyed and open-mouthed at my statement. Technically, I'm telling the truth since I'm the daughter of Inari, a Goddess of Foxes. And, if a bunch of rulers can claim that a divine being told them that they had the right to rule, then being the child of a divine being meant that I could skip the process of being told so by a deity.
"W-Wait, what?" Lukrut sputtered out in confusion, "B-But, if you are a royal, then what are you doing as an adventurer? You could be living the dream in a palace somewhere."
"My mother is the type that doesn't care about royalty. Any of my other siblings I've had didn't receive any special treatment and had to work for everything they got. I'm no different." And it was true. There had only been two other kitsune who had received the [Daughter of Inari] class.
Frankly speaking, all three of us kept quiet about the class because we knew that if people figured out the details of that class, we'd be hunted and PK'ed over and over until our characters stayed dead. Our class is a gamebreaker in itself because it allows for a full revive from death with no penalties for one thing. Another is that the [Daughter of Inari] class was the only way in the entirety of YGGDRASIL to be able to regenerate mana without the need to wait multiple hours for it to replenish naturally.
Where most races using magic would burn through their mana after a couple high level spells, a full fledged kitsune would still have a titanic amount of mana left. And then, with the passive [Ichor of the Divine] that kitsune would regain .05% of their maximum mana back every second they weren't casting spells or affected by their own spells. Essentially, kitsune could bomb an entire group of players to hell, and then keep going.
I abused this passive so much whenever I dueled another high leveled player. After a while of casting a bunch of large spells, I would lure them into a false sense of security before nuking them when they thought I was helpless and out of mana. The trick works best when wearing clothing or accessories that hide your mana. That way, other players would never know at what level your mana is at, and you will be able to continue fucking with them in PvP.
"You're quite unique compared to most nobility in Re-Estize if that's the case. You wouldn't find a noble here caught dead doing menial labor like adventuring." Dyne stated with a smile, "It's nice to see that not everyone born to a privileged lifestyle will avoid interacting with commoners like us."
"Why would I? Frankly, the only reason that nobles think they're better than everyone else is because of their family name. We're all the same. We all bleed, eat, and shit. Not even a name can change that." I replied which made Dyne, Lukrut, and Peter smile in return. I noticed that Ninya seemed slightly more relaxed after I said this, which made me think that the girl may have had bad experiences with nobles in the past.
"Words to live by." Dyne said sagely. "If you don't mind, would you care to tell us what brought you from your lands to this kingdom?"
"I'm a traveler. I enjoy exploring new places and learning new things." That was the truth. When I was in YGGDRASIL, I took the time to explore more of the hidden nooks and crannies that players would miss. I also found traveling to the nine different realms to be an absolute delight. The developers really went all out on making each realm completely unique to one another.
"Hopefully, you'll choose to stay for a long time in Re-Estize, and E-Rantel especially." Lukrut said, finally finding his voice after the revelation I dropped on the entire group. I put my hand under my chin in a thinking pose.
"I just might. There hasn't been much that I've disliked about this kingdom from what I've seen. And there's still quite a bit more to explore." I mused. A large grin grew on Lukrut's face when I said this. At least he seemed happy with my answer. "Since we're trading our stories, mind telling me why you four joined the adventuring business?"
Peter was the first to speak, "I was born in E-Rantel. When I was a kid, I'd spend a lot of my time in the Adventurer's Guild hearing all these stories about heroic adventurers who would save people. One adventurer at the guild decided to take me under his wing and taught me how to read, write, and fight."
So, Peter was definitely the charismatic hero type. "What happened to the adventurer that taught you?" I asked curious.
"He decided to retire a couple of years ago. By now, the old man is probably sipping on wine at his small vineyard. I visit him every few weeks and trade stories with him. He usually gives me a bottle of wine during our talks." Peter finished. At least Peter didn't suffer the usual hero trope of his mentor dying.
The next person to speak was Dyne, "I lived as a traveling druid for a couple of years. I'd travel to different villages and heal the sick and wounded when I arrived. Then, I encountered Peter on the road one day. He was traveling to the same village that I was heading to on a monster slaying job, so we decided to arrive together." Lukrut patted Dyne on the shoulder and chuckled.
"Dyne's always been the type to help those in need. We sometimes even end up staying at a place longer since the big guy tries to help everyone before we leave." Lukrut complimented which made my respect for the man grow. It made me wish that there had been more altruistic people like Dyne in my world, maybe then it wouldn't have turned to a corporate cesspool like it had.
"At the village, we found a few ogres attacking the village which made us work together to fight them off. He would fight, and I'd heal him when necessary. After that," Dyne then patted the head of Peter, "he convinced me to join up with him as an adventurer."
"Sadly," Lukrut said with and embarrassed laugh, "my reasons for becoming an adventurer aren't as noble as the others. I thought that becoming an adventurer would get me a better chance at attracting women."
"Don't be embarrassed, Lukrut." Dyne said with a reassuring pat on the blond's shoulder, "Even if your intentions were selfish at the start, you've proven time and again that you've a good heart with all the people that you've helped."
My ears quickly heard Lukrut whisper, "You are the best hook-up partner, ever." Dyne chuckled before nodding.
"But now I know that my goal of becoming an adventurer was not in vain, for I might've never met the most beautiful woman in the world!" Lukrut added with as much bravado as he could muster. I might never date him, but his personality was certainly growing on me.
"I fear that all the woman in the world might grow jealous at your claims. And many might come crying to E-Rantel because I have stolen your attention from them." I said with a giggle. Wait, did I just giggle? That was strange, but it wasn't completely terrible. This body was messing with my head, that was something I was completely positive of. And what of it? You aren't that worried about it.
You know, I made a good point. It had barely been two days in this new world, and the initial shock of being in this new body had completely disappeared since then. Now, I was noticing how much my mental state was changing with this body.
For instance, I was beginning to see other males as attractive mates, and it felt weird seeing them as mates. Another involved how I was beginning to view other species. The goblins and hobgoblins that I was in charge of could now be categorized as weak, helpless, underlings, mine. Normal humans were weak, potential mates, playthings, interesting.
That goblin band were under my leadership, I'll admit that. But I wanted to make them stronger than what they are now. They are like children in that regard. I just had to nurture them to their full potential while also creating a base of operations in that hidden grove. And, maybe that base could grow into a city that I'd be queen of.
I was once human myself, so how could I view my former race with any form of disdain. Even if the humans that I've encountered could barely hold a candle to the massive sun that was my strength, that didn't mean they weren't without their own value. Every race was pitifully weak compared to me, so humans weren't unique in that regard.
There was potential in every race, humans included. Like the goblins, I feel that I only needed to nurture their strength until they reached their potential. I felt strangely responsible for my former race. While goblins were like children, the humans are my children. If needed, I would intervene to ensure the survival of the human race here. Up to, and including, using force to end their petty squabbling.
I'll also admit that humans would always hold a special place in my heart. They were the closest type of humanoid in this world that I felt that I could relate to. I doubted that there were others of my race in this new world, and if there were, they'd be few and far between. If there had only been fifty-two kitsune players in all of YGGDRASIL, then I doubted that this new world would be so accommodating.
The species must continue. You might be the last of your kind in this world.
This was way too soon for me to think like that, but at the same time I couldn't help but notice that part of me agreed with that thought. Even more terrifying, I think that I'm starting to lose myself to this body. I had to get to the bottom of this quickly, before more of my mentality changed in much more drastic ways.
I finally ripped myself from my internal debate and looked over to Ninya who had remained silent during this chat. I decided to speak, if only to coax the girl out of her shell, "Ninya, if you don't wish to share your past with me, that's fine. I'm always here if you wish to talk." I said to the shy girl.
She glanced at me with her blue eyes, and I saw a smile appear on her face after a few moments. Then, she spoke, "Thank you for the offer, Kashia. I don't like to talk about my past that often. I might tell you one day."
I nodded in understanding of her decision. With the type of hesitation that Ninya was showing about talking about her past, she probably suffered in one way or another that she found to be traumatizing. "If you don't want to talk about your past, would it be too personal to tell me about why you wanted to become a mage?" I was a little curious about why she became a mage of all things.
Ninya showed much less reluctance at this question, "I was born with an innate talent that lets me learn magic faster than usual." Innate talent? Was that like a passive skill in YGGDRASIL?
"Are talents something everyone can get?" I asked.
"Not really, Kashia." Peter answered, "Talents are slightly rare for people to be born with, and not all of them are useful like Ninya's. I heard tale of one person whose talent let him predict what the weather might be like, though he wasn't always accurate. But you also have people like our local alchemist apprentice, Nfirea, who has the talent to use any and all magic items."
That was very interesting. I think I might pay this Nfirea a visit to measure him up. And, I also wondered how my alchemy skills would compare to someone in this world. Two birds with one stone.
"Very interesting." I then looked back to Ninya, "Ignore my rambling, please continue."
"Since my talent gave me an edge in learning magic, I wanted to improve myself which is how I ended up coming to E-Rantel." Ninya looked away from me with hesitation before she decided to continue, "My…" Ninya paused before continuing, "sister is the one who originally pushed me to learning magic." From the way that Ninya was hesitant about mentioning her sister, I assumed that she may have been part of why Ninya was hesitant to talk about her past.
As we continued our trek down the road, I rested my hand on Ninya's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. This made the girl look up to my smirking face, "If you want, after this job I'll try and teach you some spells."
"I would like that, Kashia." I held my grip on her shoulder a little longer before I let go. Soon after, the scent of manure and chicken shit filled my nostrils which made my face scrunch up in disgust. I held that expression for only a moment before my face went back into resting position. That stench told me that we were approaching a farm, and one with a bit of livestock.
"We're getting close to the farm." I announced to the group. They gave me a questioning look, with Peter being the one to talk.
"How do you know that?" He wondered. I playfully tapped on my nose.
"My body's senses are slightly more advanced than an average person. I can smell the manure from where we are." I answered. Yeah, my body's senses were advanced…a hell of a lot more than I was underselling right now.
"That is a very useful ability. That'll help us when we're looking for the ogres and goblins. Are there anymore amazing things about yourself that you haven't told us yet?" Lukrut asked.
"Maybe," I teased," you'll just have to find out."
Less than a minute later, our group could spot the red-painted building of a barn with a small house next to it. Around the farm were wooden fences which had a few cows meandering about. Aside from that, I could see a few chickens pecking at the ground for food.
I couldn't spot any crops, so this farm must primarily raise livestock as its main method of profit. The farmer probably relied upon the produce made by the other nearby farms in order to feed their animals.
As we continued our trek towards the barn, I took a glance around the area and already determined one problem. This farm was completely surrounded by trees. The ogres and goblins would've had an immensely easy time sneaking around the perimeter of the farm if I wasn't here.
"Where would you guess the farmer is?" Ninya wondered aloud.
"Barn or house. I'm thinking that he's in the barn since the early morning is when farmers start work." I answered. My answer being satisfactory enough for the group, we walked to the barn and peaked in to see a man sitting on a small stool milking one of the cows.
"Hello?" Peter greeted which made the man spare a glance over his shoulder to us before continuing to milk the cow.
"You the adventurers that were called for?" The farmer asked with a friendly tone.
"Yes, sir." Peter answered, "Supposedly, this is most likely the next area to be hit by the ogres and goblins. We're here to end the threat, but we'll need some of your assistance to do so." The farmer stopped milking his cow and gave it a pat on the side before he stood up and turned to us.
The man wore a plain shirt and a pair of black pants that were held up by leather suspenders. The shirt did nothing to hide the corded muscles in the man's torso from years of hard labor. And he didn't have a bad looking face either. Though, it was covered in a large amount of stubble which did little to detract from his looks.
He gave us a smile and spoke, "Any help that I can lend to you adventurers is all yours. You're trying to save my livelihood after all. So, what can I do to help?"
"You'll need to bring in your cattle to start off with. Else, you're likely to get them taken by the ogres and goblins. From what we know, these monsters like to raid quickly and run off with any stolen goods." Peter answered before looking at Ninya and I, "Kashia or Ninya, do either of you have any type of spell that can alert us if the goblins and ogres come by?"
Ninya shook her head disappointedly. I on the other hand had a few spells that could alert me of any intruders. My weakest, [Perimeter], just gave me a basic warning of whatever triggered the area that I put it. The higher-level version of that spell could even reveal enemies who were using high level sneak abilities or spells that hid their presence. Then, there were my traps. Those were very fun to use, especially since I could spam them onto a field and wait as my enemies were brutally subdued in it.
"Do you want a perimeter warning system or a bunch of traps?"
"Could you do both?"
"Yes, I can. It'll take me a few minutes to place everything, but I can get it done." My response made Peter and the rest of the group smile.
"Could you, please?" I nodded and walked a small distance from the group. It was time to show them a glimpse of my power, and this would be one of those ways. Holding my left hand up, my feet were covered in a red magic circle as I cast my basic version of the spell [Perimeter] since I doubted that these ogres and goblins were all that special as to evade my spell. The spell was a simple one to cast, with the only real requirement being the mana cost to give the size of the area for the spell to work. Since I had a ridiculous amount of mana, I was able to easily cover the perimeter of the farm, and a little bit more into the woods.
Beyond just detailed knowledge of beings that entered or left the spell's zone, [Perimeter] could give me detailed knowledge of the terrain contained inside of itself. Even more details could be revealed when cast at a higher Tier.
After that, I cast my next spell, [Foxfire Detonation], a Tier 3 spell that you placed in an area that could go off either due to enemies or from prematurely detonating the spell itself. The spell only costed however much mana you needed for the explosive size, and upon detonation, it would deal fire-based damage that would constantly burn its target for the next thirty seconds regardless of any attempts to extinguish it.
Turning the spell into a higher Tiered version of itself granted extended length to the burn as well as power. Rule of thumb in YGGDRASIL was that if I could detonate more than ten of the highest Tier onto a player, they'd die unless they had some way of healing the damage lost from the spell. The other fun part of the burning effect from the spell was that it could stack when cast at a higher Tier.
With my knowledge of the entire surrounding area, I spread my traps around the outer edge of the farm until I felt satisfied that it would clear out most if not all of the ogres and goblins that would arrive soon enough. Afterwards, I walked back to the group and spoke, "I will now know of any being that enters or leaves this area. I would also recommend that none of you try to go near the edges of the farm since the traps I set will go off if you stand on them." One of the downsides to [Foxfire Detonation] was that it had a friendly fire mechanic to it.
"You must be a powerful sorceress if you can cast such spells so easily." The farmer complimented. I just grinned at the compliment.
"I try to believe that there is always someone better than me out there. Thankfully, I haven't met this person yet." I boasted which made the farmer nod in agreement.
"Always a smart idea to keep your head from swelling up with an ego. Seen adventurers get killed because of it. Either way, I'm going to rein my cattle in. I'll even give you all an extra reward if you assist me." I saw the eyes of Lukrut and Ninya light up at the mention of an extra reward.
"Sure. We'll help out!" Lukrut responded immediately. He then fixed his gaze to me with a grin, "With this extra reward, I'm wondering if you would want to have dinner with me tonight? I'm paying." Very tempting offer. I'm not against free food, and I might get to know more about this group which is an added bonus.
"I hope you know a decent place. I can muster up quite an appetite when the occasion calls for it." I'm going to eat through Lukrut's coin purse if it was the last thing I did. After all, I can enjoy when people want to lavish food and gifts upon me. And, Lukrut didn't seem unwilling to do so.
Lukrut seemed overjoyed before he quickly ran off to one of the gated areas that contained cattle inside. "That guy is completely hopeless." Peter said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, he probably is. Still, free food is something I'm always up for."
Ninya finally spoke up after all of this, "I'm going to go help Lukrut and make sure that he doesn't get into too much trouble." She then took off after the lovestruck archer and left the farmer, Peter, Dyne, and I alone.
"Do you think they even know where they need to bring the cattle?" Dyne pondered aloud.
"Possibly not." The farmer answered.
"We going to tell them where they need to go?"
"Not yet," I interrupted, "I want to see what happens and this might be funny." The others shrugged at my answer and we all walked up to the fence and leant on it while watching Lukrut and Ninya attempting to herd the cattle. It was a funny sight to see as one of the cows wouldn't move no matter how much the archer shouted at it to do so.
"Looks like Lukrut is getting frustrated." Peter remarked.
"Five copper says that one of the cows is going to knock him on his ass." Dyne said before pulling five copper coins out of his coin purse. Peter quickly did the same. I heard a jingling next to me and looked over to see the farmer pulling five coins for his pocket.
"Mind if I get in on this? Five says that none of the cows are going to do anything."
"Sure. Kashia, you in?" I reached into the small coin pouch at my belt and fiddled around until I pulled out some copper coins.
"I'm betting that Lukrut falls because of his own mistake." I answered. With the bets set in, the four of us watched the entertainment as Ninya was having better luck than Lukrut at getting the cows to follow her. Then again, she was also luring them with food which gave the cows a greater incentive to follow her than Lukrut.
With Lukrut, he started tugging on rope collar of the cow to get it to move. It was a feeble attempt as the cow seemed to completely ignore Lukrut's pulling. By now, the cow seemed firmly locked in place. But even though the cow was unyielding, the rope collar with its bell attached to it wasn't.
After a few tugs, the knot holding the collar undid itself and Lukrut quickly fell to the ground as his face grew red with embarrassment. "Lukrut fell due to himself." I spoke with a small giggle.
"And the cow did nothing. Miss Kashia and I appear to have won this bet." The farmer added. Peter and Dyne seemed to grumble before passing the coins over to the farmer and I which we quickly split and put away.
After that little bit of entertainment, the farmer ducked through his wooden fence and went off to help the two adventurers in the art of herding cows. "So, what's your home country like, Kashia?" Peter decided to ask me.
"It had its good parts, and it had its bad parts like any place. The country was large, so immense in fact, that much of it still hadn't been explored. I loved the place, but I doubt that I'll ever be able to go back." Peter and Dyne looked at me with a good amount of concern.
"That sound terrible. Is there any reason for why you can't you go back?"
I glanced at Peter and Dyne before I shook my head, "I thank you for the concern, but I don't feel completely comfortable talking about that. Maybe one day I'll let you know, but until then I'd rather avoid discussing it."
"If you don't feel comfortable with discussing about your past, then that's perfectly fine. Just know that we're always available if you want to talk." Dyne spoke up. I gave a soft smile to the two before fixing my gaze back to the cattle wranglers. With the farmer helping, Lukrut and Ninya were both having an easier time with getting the cows back into the pens.
"Since I'm part of your group now, is there anything that you guys like to call yourselves? Any famous adventuring group must have a suitable name."
"Our group's name is the Swords of Darkness which takes homage after the famous weapons that the Black Knight, one of the famous Thirteen Heroes that fought back and defeated the Evil Deities, freeing the world from their rule. Our goal is to one day own the swords that the Black Knight originally used. Until then…"
As Peter said this, both he and Dyne, almost as if practiced, pulled out matching black daggers with hilts ornamented in small dark jewels. "We use these blades as a way to symbolize our comradery." After that, both adventurers sheathed their blades.
"I hope that you can accomplish this goal one day. Until the-" I stopped moving as my [Perimeter] spell alerted me that multiple beings had tripped my detecting system. This was quickly followed by a few of my traps detonating. Dyne, Peter, and I quickly shared a look of understanding.
"Thirteen ogres and eighteen goblins have entered my spell's area. Two ogres and five goblins died from my initial traps." I alerted the two. A much higher count than what had been reported previously. Where did they get those number? It didn't matter, "We have work to do."