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88.88% From Fake Hero To Demon Lord / Chapter 24: CHAPTER 24 - Stealing?

Chapter 24: CHAPTER 24 - Stealing?

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"Please, teach me how to become stronger!"

"And by that you mean … magic?" A confused Elena asked Rei back, which she confirmed by nodding.

Rei had already seen the Malthan Royal Archives, which had explicitly said 'Forsaken can't become magicians', but Rei didn't really hold it that true to heart partly because of her own hopes but also because of logical assumptions.

After all, it had been hundreds of years since then, and the knowledge behind magic had been much more widely rendered accessible thanks to Traveller contributions especially from the Dungeon and Murim Worlds.

Settings where magic and society hasn't changed even after hundreds of years of it being prevalent in the world were nothing short of poorly-thought abysmal dogshit after all.

The Dungeon World Travellers brought with them the idea of magic that had successfully mixed with modern science, while the Murim World Travellers brought with them new cultivation systems using formulas of potions, elixirs, and pills that riled up one's internal alchemy with newfound strength.

Rei thought that it would be convenient if she could just drink elixirs one after another, basically filling her up with mana seeing as she had none.

'It's a shame really, even before those shitty gods screwed me over I heard them mention I had no mana …'

Rei was especially attached to her image of Elemental-Type Gifted back in her own world, which she had seen personally.

Some Gifted could use magic-like powers without the need for mana, and so Rei thought that maybe she could cash in on some of those stocks seeing as she wasn't just any Gifted, but some of the most prestigious ones back in her world as well.

'So maybe … just maybe!!'

Maybe it could have been uncovered potential, a special Gift from her bloodline, maybe God just screwed up adding some extra numbers on her status sheet.

'Fuck, anything will work!' Rei couldn't see reason here, coping with the fact that the knowledge written down on the Malthan Royal Archives was hundreds of years old, before the Travellers came en masse and with them their innovations.

After all, who hasn't fantasised about the idea of being able to shoot fire and lightning out of their hands, to control the forces of nature itself!?

"Pffft–pfhahahahaha!!" Elena suddenly started laughing uncontrollably as she heard Rei speak.

"A Forsaken rat like you … wants to learn magic? Holy Mother, you really haven't been here long haven't you!" Elena couldn't help but squeeze each word out, looking like she was genuinely struggling not to laugh between each one.

"In the first place, did you think that magic was going to be something that you could pick up after you feel the presence of mana?"

"..." Rei couldn't answer at all, that was exactly what she was thinking.

"You actually did! Look at this fool! Hey, did you not know that it takes years minimum to be a licensed magician!?" Elena's sides at this point started to hurt.

"But … not even a fireball?" This statement only made Elena laugh further as Rei was at this point basically at the bargaining stage of grief, her head hanging low in hopelessness.

"You thought you could have bypassed your lack of physical stats by throwing fireballs at your enemies, I thought you were smart but I didn't know you could be this predictable!"

In the first place, fireballs were a magically impossible spell since it would fade while travelling since the shape it was in, with no physical projectile to attach to even, made it simply unfeasible as a thing that could travel through their air.

It would have been more different if the caster put a rock in the fireball for the flames to have something to actually attach to during flight, but that was besides the point.

"If anything, pyromancy would have set you back at least a year from graduation because of the special permit needed for a magician to freely use it!"

Fire magic was simply too dangerous, both to the user and the environment especially during the times before solidified fire departments and mediaeval fire control doctrines in a time where building regulations weren't as rigid as on Earth.

There had been several cities that have burnt down due to the magician screwing up and burning themselves through the programming process throughout the centuries, and it had thus been unanimously agreed that special classes and tests at the Colleges had to be provided for aspiring pyromancers.

Fires brought about by magicians who screwed up while casting costs the continent millions in Yuleas every year even with the special restrictions brought up in place.

This at all wasn't mentioned in the Malthan Royal Archives, since as per most lost knowledge …

It was simply too common sense among the people that nobody thought of writing it down.

"Hahahahaha! This is too much … you're killing me Rei!" Elena's sides were actually significantly hurting, making her grab at her stomach due to how much she found it all so funny.

Rei at this point was just plain embarrassed, and perhaps sensing that the relationship between them seems like it would be permanently damaged if she continued, Elena took a few seconds to stop herself from laughing, and faced Rei with her usual expression.

"I'm only saying this for your wellbeing, because I see you as someone important to me already …"

"Give it up, Forsaken have a better chance of becoming a god than a magician."

"..."

"..."

A creeping silence ensued as Rei only ate her 'human food' in front of Elena.

"Ah I see, well thank you for giving me your input as a well-seasoned mage." Rei managed to muster up possibly what was the fakest smile she could manifest after listening to Elena tear into her dreams and fantasies for the past few minutes.

"Ah I see, I'm glad I could help! After all, as a Magistrate Degree holder I am nothing but obligated to help aspiring magicians!" Elena seemed to be feeding on Rei's obvious insincerity as she said those words, thinking it amusing.

"..."

"..."

Once again, another silence ensued until Rei broke it with an unrivalled annoyance.

"Fucker. Do you think I'm that desperate for magic? Watch, I'll just become a Sword Master instead!" Rei said as she stormed out of the kitchen after wolfing down her food and hiding her valuable ingredients once more.

"Please don't hurt yourself on the way out!"

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Rei was currently in the training yard of the Red Hilt's complex, donned in training clothes that she could sweat herself in as she immersed herself in training without worries, and a long stick in her hand, shaped to mimic a common sword with it being disposable in mind.

'These things are a lot heavier than I thought they would be …' Back in Rei's world, the weight of something as simple as a sword was of virtual non-importance to her, who only saw it as something she could swing around so easily and inflict death on whomever was unlucky enough to be in its trajectory.

Here was different though, there were many more things to be attentive of especially with the general assumption that she would rarely be physically stronger than her opponent.

She couldn't become a magician because of her unfortunately cursed body, which would have alleviated her worries of future employment.

Rei couldn't only just rely on Elena's weird fondness towards her as an administrator, eventually the chance that Rei would either have to leave Red Hilt or be kicked out of it was far from still quite visible to her.

She especially needed to be able to fend for herself in the case of abandonment, after all Red Hilt was essentially a corporation, and corporations only pursued one thing …

"Value!" Rei said as she struck a blow to the dummy in front of her with all of her strength.

It made a small thud, but in the relative scheme of things it did not really come up to something that Rei could be impressed with.

'... is this a bad dream …? No wait, it's too late for that now isn't it?' Rei held up her hand to her face, and she really didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

Really, she was finding it hard to adapt to the fact that she quite literally lost everything she had built up in her previous life and was thrust into a shitty situation weaker than when she was first made back on Earth.

It was something quite easily glossed over for many lazy isekai writers of the over bloated genre in ancient times, seeing as how nearly all of them were the same copy-paste average joe with nothing really going on in their lives and are then suddenly given the powers of a god for no apparent reason.

"Fuck, the Gods didn't only not give me any powers, but took away my existing ones!" Rei held it in her heart. It was nothing short of daylight robbery as she remembered that shithead god Yuitherceus tying her fate with Reina the asshole demon lord who wanted to take over what little she was left with.

There was no real justice or fair God in this world, nor in any.

She could only simply just make use of what she had on hand.

'Sword techniques and martial arts …' Rei was once again trying to gaslight herself into feeling even the slightest bit of hope for her situation.

If one needed to get out of poverty, they would first need to fool themselves into thinking that they could in the first place.

'To work hard in an obviously unfair environment does not guarantee any reward, but to those who don't work at all, the only thing it guarantees is that they would have no reward!' Rei adapted herself to the mindset of the weak, the hopeless, the bottom of the world.

'[Spring Thrust], [Animate Flesh], and [Angel-Slaying Divine Halo] …' Rei thought back to all of the techniques she had witnessed upon fighting first-hand with a taste of it's skilled individuals.

'No, can't do, I only have these three.' Rei tried to think if she could discern any more from memory, like when her body moved on its own to kill several knights before Lionel came to avenge his squire.

Frankly, it was not much to work with.

All three techniques are obviously of the advanced level, with prerequisite techniques needed to achieve the final result needed.

If anything, what Rei did shouldn't have been considered replicating the technique.

Rei only saw the final result, and with the help of her special eyes, responded with movements that could replicate it in full or at least partially.

A prime example was Spring Thrust, which involved Lionel using a magic of metallic nature to unnaturally bend his rapier into a spring before letting it go, extending massively past its normal length at an almost-bullet speed.

She managed to replicate it, but with the special power that formed as a byproduct of being shoved in with Reina, or at least that was the running most likely hypothesis that Rei had conducted.

'... can't I just use that again then?' Rei thought to herself, before deciding that for now that would be too rash to do so, at least in front of others whom she had no plan of killing.

Rei was still quite wary of the religious institutions that govern Yuropa, and had the quite valid fear that they weren't going to be reacting all too kindly when they see a power coming off an individual with no mana, which Gifted Travellers usually used to explain their Gifts to a wary church.

Until she did enough research, practising Aether would have to be reserved for the night and on the hunt … if she ever got around to actually working out how to bring it out and control it in the first place that is.

"Argh!"

'!?' Rei's line of thought was broken when on the far side of the training yard, the loud snap of wood was accompanied with some voices all too familiar to Rei.

"Fuck! Again!" Rei stared at Johan on the opposite side of the field as he tightly clutched a long stick broken in half, meant to symbolise a spear used for training purposes.

With him lying on the ground, spear broken and in his usual bitter state, Rei safely assumed that Johan had once again lost to Alair.

"Are you sure? I think I want a break first … you're improving quite a bit." Alair responded, resting his training sword which itself was quite battered up on his shoulder as he wiped his brow after his usual victory, accepting it with the usual humility and care anyone would expect from a typical nice guy.

"..." An idea had suddenly flashed past Rei's mind as she saw this interaction.

Rei had initially been at a loss at whether to laugh or to cry, but now she was sure.

'Of course, I'm so damn silly aren't I?' Rei thought to herself as she was now trying to hold back her creeping laughter.

What was she doing, really? Banging her head against the wall trying to think of a way to improve herself to be able to fend against the harsh world, it was an admirable effort but pointless nonetheless.

Why did she need to think of what to do by herself, when she was surrounded by such helpful people willing to help her in her current predicament?

"Ah, truly friendship is the strongest power as they say." Rei misinterpreted the meaning of the saying that it became a completely different thing in her head than what it was actually supposed to teach.

Why did she need to think of a way to get stronger herself? After all, Rei wasn't really that good at making new things.

But when it comes to copying someone's homework …? you could say that she was near-uncontested in that field.

If one didn't have anything that worked, then one should just steal something that does!

Honestly, Rei felt like a fool for gaslighting herself into almost working hard without a guaranteed reward in sight.

'It's much easier to steal the idea from someone else isn't it? Ah, truly the heavens have blessed me with such an opportunity!' Rei thought this, but really made sure she was thanking an entirely different set of entities than the shitheads who brought her to the current situation.

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CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Chapter a day early!

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Chapter 25: CHAPTER 25 - Action

CHAPTER 25 - Action

"Don't you ever get tired of actually losing?"

Rei came into the conversation after hearing Johan's situation, her feet feeling heavier than usual since she still held a miniscule amount of hesitation in things relating to even getting close to him.

"Well he insists that we do it regularly, I just say yes because Elena says I need to put in work every now and then to not get rusty." Alair said, being quite receptive of Rei as usual.

`'What's someone like you doing here? Don't you have papers to sort or whatever it is you were actually hired for? Or maybe stuffing yourself full in the kitchen again?" Johan on the other hand with his hostility, dismissed Rei's comment and was instead actually confused why she was in the training fields, considering her unfit for anything close to combat.

'This damn …' Rei on the other hand also dismissed most of what Johan said, but the last part actually affected her.

'If you knew the severity of my situation you wouldn't be saying that!' Or so she was going to say, but then realised that Johan definitely wouldn't be saying that, instead he'd probably take action to put a new hole on her head.

"Why, I'm here for the same reason you are. I wonder if it wasn't that obvious?" Rei said, waving the heavy stick on her hand around, brushing off what Johan said.

"Hm …" Alair, even as nice as he was, recognised Rei's mana problem and thus was struggling with something positive to actually say.

"Don't screw about, rat. Do you think the world is your playground? Don't waste your time on something so obviously fruitless, does the Section Chief even know you're here?" 

"I can do whatever I want in my free time and besides, you underestimate me. I know my way around a sword quite well." Rei asserted herself as a strong and independent woman.

Of which, it was quite obvious to both men that she wasn't.

Strong? She almost lost to a normal bloke in a life or death fight, threatening to cut the story right then and there. Independent? She was in a slave contract, undercompensated, and was nothing short of vulnerable to workplace abuse.

It mattered not however, as Rei proves once more her proficiency in gaslighting even to herself.

"Pfffft! Hahaha!" Johan actually laughed for the first time in quite a long while, before being interrupted by a head chop by Alair.

"Hey! Laughing at other peoples' aspirations is very rude."

"Yeah yeah." Johan said as he stopped to continue.

"So, I'm assuming you're here to ask for a bout? Otherwise you wouldn't bother playing pretend as a warrior so deeply. I can help you with that." Johan saw through Rei's plan and offered himself up as her willing partner, much to her dismay.

"Do you think I'm blind? You might as well ask me to walk naked in the deep slums with a gold chain around my neck, if anything that would be safer." Rei could see that Johan didn't at all even pretend like he was going to play nice, malice was present throughout the few days she had been in the godforsaken mercenary group.

"You're afraid of losing to a loser?" Johan asked Rei.

"Provocations like yours are about as shallow as your temper. I wouldn't–" Rei was about to brush it off as she wasn't about to get to tussling with a deviant that almost killed her without anything as much as an assurance that she wouldn't at least die on 'accident'.

"Alair can gurantee your safety, I don't bite." Johan interrupted Rei, who then looked towards Alair who thought about what he had said.

"Sure, why not?" Alair said, thinking it was a good idea.

'The Captain told me that people have an easier time bonding together and becoming friendly once they've crossed swords!' Alair's thought process went as such.

"You can't be serious …" Rei was left with a scowl on her face as she saw the two men agree to the proposal.

"Oh come on Rei. What's the worse that could happen? If it goes well then you two could even become friends after!"

"Not a chance.'' Both Rei and Johan thought in unison.

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'It's the same as what my family taught me.' Johan thought to himself as he viewed Rei from a distance whenever she was working alongside Elena.

Eyes always looking about for potential things to grab, always keeping herself away from windows, keeping balance with always readying herself for the nearest exit, and always avoided being the first to enter doorways.

Even just the way Rei naturally walked while wearing boots by putting her heels first, slowly and smoothly putting down the rest of her foot up to her toes.

And while being barefoot she always kept her toes first before smoothly guiding the rest of her feet up to the heel when walking, always paying attention to what she was stepping on.

Through this she made the least sound possible whenever she walked and combined with the fact that Rei was Forsaken, she was virtually almost undetectable when someone's eyes were off her unless one happened to be the most astute of observers.

"Is that how you're playing at?"

Much to the young warrior's annoyance Rei picked the same weapon on the rack as Johan, a pseudo-spear mimicking its true self, its end tipped with padding for safety concerns continent-wide.

"Do you even know how to use these? There is no shame admitting you were only all talk and no bite. We have a lot of pencil pushers as such where I come from." Johan felt a scowl crawling up his face as Rei stepped forward only just a few paces away from him.

"You could say that such rudimentary tools are below me, even. After all, how hard is it really to swing and thrust a stick around?" Rei said, which Johan interpreted as an attempt to further aggravate him.

Even though Rei, through the special properties of her red eyes was being genuine as she said this, Johan brushed it aside as he seemed to misunderstand what was at ploy.

"I won't be swayed by such obvious provocations." Johan replied, mimicking Rei from earlier.

"Yeah yeah." Rei said as she walked forward in an elegant stride, until they were both already within striking distance from each other.

"Well then, since both of you are ready then we can start–" Alair said so as he clapped his hands, but was interrupted by Rei crouching down all of a sudden.

"Ah, hold on. Need to tie my shoelace." Rei abruptly said.

"..." Johan's eyes became stricken with awe, as was just baffled by the lack of preparedness and etiquette.

Someone picking a fight doesn't even take note of the condition of her own feet? Johan thought it was naught but foolishness and near incompetency that someone like Rei, who he had already acknowledged as someone vigilant past the normal person could–

"...!?" Johan suddenly remembered from how he had stared at Rei's feet so often.

Rei's boots didn't have shoelaces.

'Idiot.' Rei sprang up and threw sand into Johan's eyes.

"Ugh, you rat!" Unfortunately the effect wasn't large as it would have been, as Johan had realised what Rei was up to and closed his eyes before the particles had reached his bare eyes.

However still Johan stood there blinded for a moment.

'Your opponent uses a spear, focus!' Knowing he could counter any spear movement from someone like Rei for at least a single instant, Johan readied himself for the incoming thrust, but found none even as his eyes opened.

'!?'

Instead Rei's form had shifted to a different motion far from the normal doctrines of the weapon she was supposed to be wielding.

A swing.

'Who says that these things can only be used as spears!?' Rei thought, taking enough time that Johan had actually managed to recover due to how she swung her holding from the bottom.

"Tsk!"

Johan was many things however, and a jobber didn't seem to be one of them. Just barely he managed to block Rei's hit from an awkward position as he recovered from the surprise of Rei's attack.

He thrusts forward, Rei brings her weapon back to deflect against Johan's hit.

So heavy was it that it rattled her legs, her feet trembling under the impact of just having Johan's weapon drag against her own. It felt like for a moment that Rei could keep up …

But then, the incoming blows became faster.

And faster.

Unti …

Rei eventually made a single mistake, so small and fleeting. But it had been enough for Johan to see a line.

'Nordend Family Technique: Needle's Eye!' In front of Rei's eyes, the point of Johan's staff condensed into a single point. So much so that even Rei's eyes initially had trouble judging how far it actually was from her.

'Block it!' Unlike the previous hit the speed of Johan's technique was slower, its power diminished as it pushed ever forward towards Rei, which made Rei judge that the time to block for a counterattack was nigh.

But she couldn't, and it went through her defence.

"Urrhk!?" Straight to her liver.

'It … hurts differently?' Rei grit in her teeth as she felt the wood crash into her side, however the feeling of her insides being rattled seemed to be strangely dampened, some would say absent even.

Strong the impact undoubtedly was to knock Rei off her feet a distance away from Johan as she rolled against the training field's floor, however …

'That … felt different?' Johan questioned himself as he looked upon his staff, thinking something had gone wrong with it but was baffled when its disrepair was in no noteworthy condition.

'This is … weird.' Johan came to that conclusion.

He swore that he had accurately, with the accuracy of the Needle's Eye technique, went through Rei's defence to deliver a straight blow to her liver … but it didn't feel that way when Johan had driven his staff forward.

Johan couldn't at all feel the organ beneath Rei's flesh move, instead it felt more like normal muscle similar to the ones on biceps or pecs.

'Were my senses dulled? I've been lacking in practice in the family techniques lately … but I didn't expect to be this washed up.' Johan thought, but decided that wasn't at all the case.

"No! I can still keep going …" Rei willed herself up after writhing on the ground, clutching the spot where her liver was supposed to be, signalling against Alair who mistakenly thought that Rei was no longer in any condition to fight.

'She managed to get up from that …' Confusion clouded Johan's mind. 

There had been no problem with his sense of impact perception, nor with his technique which was clear even to Alair.

Johan definitely felt it connect, but it didn't feel like how it was supposed to.

'You … just what are you …?' The girl who resembled naught more than a rat in Johan's eyes now shifted to something closer to an enigma.

'!?' Johan found himself quickly surprised when Rei not only recovered from the hit but already unleashed an attack much quicker than he had expected as he was caught up in his own thoughts.

'No.' It wasn't only that.

It wasn't that Rei recovered much quicker than he expected, but rather that she rose at him faster than the speed Johan has observed Rei to be capable of ever since their first chase incident.

Johan undoubtedly thought that what was happening in front of him shouldn't have been possible, yet the symptoms of the phenomena presented before him match up the concept he'd built his entire basis of martial prowess around.

The basics of mana focused into physical efforts, enhancing and improving.

Aura.

Quite similar was the feat that Rei performed as she rushed at Johan who only had just readied himself to receive an attack.

But not quite the same.

'I can do it?' Rei thought to herself as she felt the blood run within her veins, fast was it that she felt her hesitations disappear. Her hands bringing her staff forward to focus on a single point.

Rei was in a daze, the scent and taste of iron gripping her senses as her head became jumbled.

'Ah …' Rei realised, the dark crimson blood flowing from her nose and the spurts that came out of her mouth.

Her legs felt weak, her chest tired as her she continued to bring herself forward, but it didn't matter.

'I can do it.' Rei's movements matched Johan's.

'Nordend Family Technique …' Rei moved the same as Johan had.

"Needle's Eye!" Johan also said aloud in response to Rei's own as the wooden spear in its great length suddenly appeared to Rei's eye condensing as a single point, giving the deception of the point of a needle.

'...' With undoubtable haste was the response that Johan gathered to counter her attack, but Rei immediately went on to counter his counter …

'Nope, can't counter that.' Rei thought to herself as her eyes keenly observed the technique closing in, the tip of Johan's mock spear nearing the spot between her eyes.

After feeling what seems to be slight internal rupturing as she copied Aura without the proper bodily foundations her body finally caught up to her head her body now more feeble than it had been moments ago.

'He even said the attack name aloud …' Such an act grants the simple technique an ample boost to its effects as per the Heavenly Decrees that defy the realities of the world.

'How sweaty.' Rei thought as she smiled to herself, satisfied at having rattled such a response from the cautious Johan.

"I yield." Her soft voice said aloud, and immediately a great rupturing wooden noise met Rei's ears as the sight of a wooden point was blown away by another, as a larger body comes in to keep Rei from falling down to the ground, holding with great care.

"Tsk!" Johan remarked to himself as he saw the tip of his pretend-spear blown away by none other than the guarantor of Rei's well being for the match, Alair.

"Rei! Are you alright? Did your lungs explode!?" Alair carefully inspected Rei at that moment.

"You idiot, I wouldn't be alive if they did, just take me to the infirmary already." Rei said as she looked up at Alair, clutching her chest as she found it just a bit harder to breathe.

It was truly nothing short of regrettable that her dumb luck didn't extend to it being enough to finish the only opponent still alive that she functionally 'lost' to, but it was fine all the same as long as she was alive.

Rei at that moment didn't really know the details, so vague were the changes in her body that transpired but this would set the foundation for her future growth as a force that can hold her own.

The basic structure of copying the effects of Aura, an offensive technique that wasn't physically taxing beyond her body's output, and a rough outline on what to expect from Red Hilt's combatants in a 'fight'.

'I can keep going.' Rei had seen all she needed to anyways.

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The sound of a wooden mug with liquor sloshing in its insides made itself clear to the dark room as it collided with the counter.

"So, what about it?" A dark figure, words coming out from a man that had seen better days beckons onto the other figure standing aside him.

Rosso had come to this place, offer in hand to his dear friend whom he had spent many days together to speak about his potential ending of retirement.

A man as equally worn, with a face that passively gives off the feeling that the world he lives in is nothing but short of a tragic experience sits across Rosso and then raises up his hand to rub his chin past the ruffled unkempt hairs of his untrimmed poorly-groomed beard.

Deep in thought he was, thinking about the propositions of the sender Rosso.

Then he spoke.

"That's quite difficult for me to agree to …" His mouth moved quite differently to what Rosso was hearing.

Etalian it was with no doubt, but the way it was delivered made it seem like a poor dub translation of a foreign television show.

Unsettling. Uncanny. Unnatural.

It was the universal recognisable mark of a Traveller, the Goddess' gift upon her new children that come into Gaiya regularly through the Beginner Dungeons from the beaches in Francoria to the cold plains of Polania-Liduria.

Translation magic.

"It's the offer of a lifetime, more than enough to be worth an inkling in your schedule!" Rosso convinced Huo Feng, raising his glass to really emphasize how great the chance was.

"I just think it's a bit sketchy. You're not revealing much information after all … I don't even know how much we're talking here!?" Huo Feng was hesitant to get into something so sketchy.

"Millions, my friend. Millions! We are talking millions of Yuleas into our pockets. Though I can't tell you how we're making the money off the venture as it's a security risk. I need your commitment before I can tell you."

"You definitely think its in the millions?" Huo Feng asked, just sounding exhausted at this point.

"Without a doubt."

"Well … if that's the case …"

Huo Feng couldn't say no.

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Eventually Huo Feng came back once more.

Dark corridors.

Eyes of the ones who had lost hope.

Malnourished bodies.

And rotting corpses dotted here and there against the tight worn-down corridors.

This was the darkness hidden within Ragosa, a city truly buried six feet deep within humanity's negligence and humanity, though still a far cry from the utter chaos that ruled Olm in Reikland.

But still, it was enough that it made Guella look like a joke in comparison.

"About as nice as I remember." Huo Feng pinched his nose, making sure to cling to his robes tightly as eyes filled with greed looked upon his stature.

"Oh, you think this is nice? Well you better get used to it since that's all abut to change, old friend." Rosso assured Huo Feng as they went down deeper into the darkness.

Eventually they came to single steel door, poorly illuminated by the inkling of sunlight that managed to pierce though such a forsaken place.

"Hold for a moment." Rosso said as he went on to step in front of the steel door, and then knocking thrice upon it.

Suddenly, the slit on the door moved to the side, revealing a pair of studious eyes who looked upon Rosso from head to toe before suddenly closing.

Next, the machinations behind the door shook, clampered and banged. Before long the door finally slid open, revealing a figure who bowed in courtesy.

"Welcome back, Padre." The anticipating figure said.

Huo Feng stared at astonishment.

Although it wasn't very obvious because of how he was covered up, Huo Feng could see the markings and the signatures of an warrior who was at least at the level of a Knight.

'What is such an individual doing all the way over here?' Huo Feng thought, before Rosso went on to welcome him.

It soon made itself clear that upon entering that it wasn't only the individual at the door was at the level of a Knight, but a few tens of them had congregated in the dark hideout that Rosso seemed to be the master of.

"Just … what are you hiding here?" Huo Feng asked Rosso as they continued walking.

"Be patient, we are almost there." Rosso told Huo Feng as they crossed numerous rooms, filled with more armed personnel at work as they moved heavy boxes and containers across the facility.

"We're here." Soon the pair arrived in front even bigger steel door.

"Open it up!" Rosso said with a commanding voice, and so it was opened drifting towards both sides as it revealed itself before Huo Feng.

A revelation that could shake up the entire peninsula had thus been presented in front of Huo Feng, his disdain uncontrollably disappearing as his mouth went agape.

Huo Feng rubbed his eyes to make sure if what he really saw was real, but alas the more he did the more it only confirmed the sight of the thing in front of him.

"This … shouldn't be here …" Huo Feng circled around the ethereal phenomena in front of him, still unable to believe it.

Huo Feng he was sure, unless he had somehow been abducted and placed into a perfectly identical city, was perfectly sure that he was in County of Enna-Catenia in isle of Isilia.

Not Francoria.

Not Reikland.

Not Polania.

But Etalia.

And yet, it truly was undeniable.

A paradigm of lights and darknesses, compounded into a near-incomprehensible form as viewed with the naked eye, mana leaking out by the waves, so thick and raw that it can be felt through the skin even while Mana Detection wasn't active.

"A Dungeon …" Huo Feng finally acknowledged it as reality.

Yet, the awe was overtaken by the immediate urgency as the situation drilled itself into Huo Feng properly.

"A Dragon-ranked Dungeon no less!?" Huo Feng was basically frightened.

The second highest-disasted level for a Dungeom had revealed itself in the midst of a region wherein no Dungeon had ever shown itself before.

"So–" Huo Feng went on to ask, but was answered immediately.

"No, as far as we know, other Dungeons have not appeared throughout Southern Etalia. It can only be stated as nothing short of a theory, but as far as we know we are the only ones who hold … much less own a Dungeon here."

"Haha … good! Then a repeat of what happens in the North couldn't possibly happen again …" Huo Feng was overcome with relief, although was struck by something Rosso had said.

'Own …?' 

"… So when do the Dons plan to hire a Traveller Company to raid it then?" Huo Feng asked, sweating as he tried to confirm his suspicions.

"Raid? Ah … well, of course we're planning to save it for later. After all, we can't be killing the golden goose just as it's about to lay eggs, right?" But alas Rosso confirmed what Huo Feng was suspecting.

Huo Feng walked up to Rosso angrily, the vivid memories of monsters raging wildly within his head.

"And by later … you mean …" Huo Feng eyed Rosso, still hoping for a semblance of sense as his eyes trembled with worry, anxiety, and the taint of fear.

"Just before a Dungeon Break." And just as Rosso said this, the sound of metal clashing against its scabbard could be heard, as well as the echoes of a sword dropping to the floor and the severed hand holding it.

"Fuuaaaaghhhhh!!!" Huo Feng clutched the open stump where his sword hand used to be, dropping to the floor as his impulse to make the unreasonable revert back to its reasonable state had been foiled with the flick of a hand.

"Huo Feng, it's a shame that things have to be like this … but you're staying with us, a Dungeon is unmanageable without Traveller input. I would have preferred to have done this more cordially and keep a professional working relationship between us … but it seems that we're past that point now."

"Don't you know what you're doing!? It's not too late to stop this! You can–"

"Can what? Idly sit here and watch this city rot further under the management of devils?!" Rosso clapped back angrily, silencing Huo Feng.

"You wouldn't know because you came here a coward and ran away a coward, but in these past ten years these people have known nothing but suffering!" 

"You're mad. Insane even!"

"Maybe ..." Rosso said as he looked away from Huo Feng, symbolising how he has turned his back away from what was right or wrong.

"... But what kind of 'Father' would I be if I just let this oppurtunity slip by my fingers?" Rosso was already past the point of dialogue and debate.

The time for action had come.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
YlennnRequiem YlennnRequiem

Alr cuties I come with a chapter twice as long as the usual! I hope you all like it, and ive already written the next few chapters so don't worry!

Ylencord for more updates and information about the novel -> https://discord.com/invite/weeZ7GPeCv

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