Capítulo 41: The Quest for Held Items
{Author's Note}
Hey everyone! This is Gambler with yet another chapter, just a few days after the last!
I think I finally found the trick to keeping my inspiration going: Try not to fall down the rabbit hole of obsession I keep having with other stories and games I've been playing! It's not simple in the slightest, considering my obsessive personality and how easy it is for me to become addicted to a piece of media, but I'll do my best so you guys don't have to wait so long!
Here's another Discord Server Link: htt ps://dis cord.gg/h5JKH KCBDA
Come around, ask questions, avoid the Cat, and generally talk to people! Or become a lurker like the other 90% of the people on my server. As long as you have fun!
Now...What do we want!?
STORY!
When do we want it?!
ON!
...What?
STORY ON! STORY ON! STORY ON!
***
{Three Days Later}
One would expect for time to fly by quickly for the Eevee and Spirit duo as they relaxed within the room they rented. However, that wasn't the case. In fact, the days an nights stretched out longer than they'd ever felt before, most likely due to the slowly-dwindling stress that the boy was subjected to from the beginning.
From mid-day to sunset, they would partake in a variety of activities: eating, cuddling, playing tag or hide and seek, or just laying on the room's bed and talking about nothing of importance. Sylph put her childish imagination to use in those times by imagining weird scenarios and asking Kevin what he would do about them, while he would question her about things that were happening in the city around them, since her connection to the wind made leaving the building at all unnecessary.
When they finally hit the hay and slipped into the land of dreams, Ilias would meet them in the Dream Room. The self-proclaimed goddess was, unsurprisingly, one hundred percent supportive of the current plan. Considering how stressed out she also was when outside of the Dream Room these days, the source of which was her sanity slowly being returned, having multiple nights in a row where she could leave all of her cares behind was a dream come true.
The nights were spent pretty much the same way as the days, including Kevin remaining in his full-pokemon form. Ilias was more than happy with this, making it a point to get his permission before curling up around him on the dream bed and petting his ears. Sylph also joined into the cuddle puddle, positioning herself so that Kevin was curled around her. Half of the first night passed like this, with all three agreeing to do this more often in the future, even after the small vacation was over.
It was on the third day that the inn they were staying in was approached by a squad of guards from the palace. Alongside them were two large carts, each one stacked high with more chocolate than any of the residents of Sabasa had seen in their collective lives. It was to be expected, considering the King hadn't allowed his chefs to rest until the carts was piled high with a ton of the sweet delight each.
Another oddity to the citizens was the fact that neither the King nor the princess accompanied the extravagant gift. Only the Captain of the Royal Guards and his most trusted subordinates were chosen to make the delivery. Neither monarch wanted to take the risk of someone pissing off the obviously-unstable teenager any more than he already was, so they both stayed out of it and spared as few men as possible to complete the task.
Everyone on the street was surprised when, instead of a human coming out of the inn to greet the soldiers, a small fairy in a green dress riding on the back of a small brown foxlike creature with a white mane of fur around its neck. The odd duo also dragged behind them a bag that appeared to have multiple small and large pockets for storage.
Before anyone could question their presence, or the presence of the backpack, the two small creatures separated from each other. The foxlike creature used its mouth to open the largest compartment of the backpack, while the fairy flew up and started to use wind magic to lift the small mountains of chocolate. Upon gaining full control of every individual square, she created a rapidly flowing stream of chocolate that proceeded to funnel directly into the bag's opening.
Eyes opened in unrestrained shock as the chocolate flowed ceaselessly, with the bag showing no sign of becoming full. In fact, there was no external evidence of the chocolate being in the bag at all. It maintained the same dimensions throughout the entire process, even when all two tons of the sweet treats were finally finished being stored within.
Closing the the bag with his teeth once again, the small foxlike creature turned around to re-enter the inn, with the fairy following close behind. Both the guards and the regular citizens had a hard time convincing themselves that what they'd just seen had actually happened. Even in a world filled with monsters and magic, some things were too ridiculous to believe in without seeing for yourself, and even then this one was truly weird.
Neither Kevin nor Sylph really cared about what the masses thought of their little display of power. Instead, they were more focused on getting back to the room and enjoying their reward for 'rescuing' the princess. The tiny Spirit was especially excited, as her only experience with her host's favorite food was through his own memories. She really wanted to try the coveted chocolate from Kevin's old world with her own taste buds.
Fortunately for her, she was currently the only being in the entire world that the Eevee boy would willingly share it with...and she absolutely wasn't disappointed. In her long life, she'd never tasted something so delicious! It wasn't hard to see why her husband would try to kill Granberia over this. Sylph herself would've ripped the dragonkin's limbs off and tossed her into an endless hurricane for the crime of ruining such a delicacy.
Unlike Alice, the duo's stomachs weren't bottomless - especially in their smaller forms - so they only ate a small amount each before closing the bag back up. As this was the third, and final day of their break from traveling around, they decided to nap for the rest of the day as they waited for Alice to come back. They didn't fall deep enough into sleep that to enter the dream room, but the light snoozing was incredibly comfortable for both of them inside the Bag of Bedding.
Alice actually didn't show up until after sundown, and even then she didn't say a word to either of them. Instead, she piled her coils onto the room's only bed and drifted into unconsciousness within moments. In their own states of drowsiness, neither Kevin nor Sylph noticed that while the lamia's upper half didn't change at all, her lower half seemed to be a few inches thicker than when she left.
***
{The Next Morning}
The day started off with Alice directly emptying the mountain of chocolate her chefs prepared into Kevin's backpack. Surprisingly, it was almost triple the amount he received the previous day. By the time it was all in, he officially had eight tons of chocolate stored in his backpack. Enough to last him more than a few years, at the very least.
"Why so much, though?" Sylph piped up, asking the question on both her and her host's minds.
"Insurance," the Monster Lord shrugged. "I've come to acknowledge at this point that none of my cute subordinates, no matter trustworthy or responsible they seem to be, can be trusted to not piss Kevin off. So, I had my chefs create a total of six tons, each ton being equal to one future favor where you spare one a Queen Class monster."
Kevin had to admit, it was a good idea. Out of all the Queen Class monsters he'd encountered so far, only one of them hadn't managed to piss him off to the point of him trying to brutally murder them, and that was the one leading the Book Monsters in the library. With such a losing streak, it was inevitable that the lamia would need to bail out the others he would meet in the future.
"Good call," the teenager nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, Sylph's eyes lit up. "I have an idea!" she shouted, before flying over up to whisper in Kevin's ear. It only took a second for the boy to start smiling and nodding in agreement, though Alice couldn't help but feel something was wrong.
"Great idea, Sylph," he commended her, patting her on the head before turning his attention back to Alice. "I have a proposition for you."
The lamia was silent for a moment, before raising an eyebrow. "What kind of proposition?"
"I simply want you to reduce the value of the chocolate you brought me down to five favors instead of six," he replied. "And in return...you don't have to go on a diet."
Hearing those words, the Monster Lord froze like a statue. With a single sentence, the boy had sent her mind reeling into an internal war on whether or not to actually take him up on this offer. On the one hand, those favors were specifically reserved for making sure the strongest monsters remained alive after failing to get along with Kevin. Besides, she'd spent the last three days preparing herself for the diet, so it should be okay to turn this offer down.
On the other hand, though...she could always get more chocolate later. What was a single Queen Class monster when compared to the Monster Lord's own happiness? She was sure that they would forgive her, considering they would be the ones getting themselves on the teenager's shit list in the first place. What right do they have to complain about her not saving them?
The internal war of Duty vs. Hunger was hard fought on both sides, but in the end...the latter won. "Fine. But if you even try to weasel your little fox tail out of this and give me less food at breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I will douse you in pheromones that will attract every monster within ten miles to you for a whole month."
As much as Kevin wanted to snap back at her for even hinting at doing that to him, he knew he'd do the same in her place. Food was sacred, and anybody getting between either the Monster Lord or the Eevee and their food deserved everything that happened to them, no matter how sick and twisted the outcome was.
With that bit of moral torment out of the way, the lamia moved on to next most important topic of the day as they finished preparing and left the inn. "So, where are we going next?"
Having discussed this at length the previous night with Sylph and Ilias, the Eevee answered without a second thought. "The Witch Hunt Village. Gnome isn't likely to go anywhere anytime soon, and I really want to see what kind of Held Items the Village Lord has been collecting."
"Are these 'Held Items' really that important?" Alice questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Considering the fact that some of them can grant outright immunity to certain Types, or increase the base power and/or defenses of an individual by just being their possession? Yes. Yes they are."
Alice stopped moving to stare at him. "When you say 'immunity,' does that include-"
"The powers of actual gods? Yes, yes it does."
Now she completely understood why the teenager chose the Witch Hunt Village over finding Gnome. They could pick up the Spirit of the Earth at any time, but if the Held Items fell into the hands of the wrong humans? The ramifications could be disastrous.
***
{One Day Later}
The traveling trio had taken most of the previous day to get as close to the village as possible before stopping to make camp. Surprisingly enough, Alice hadn't asked for any extra servings at lunch, dinner, or breakfast the next morning. Kevin would've asked why, but ended up attributing it to whatever caused her tail to be thicker, now that he noticed it.
Another point of concern was how troubled the lamia appeared to be upon waking up.
"Had a bad dream?" the Eevee questioned as he and Sylph packed the leftover food into his backpack.
Alice, realizing that she'd unintentionally dropped her usual apathetic expression, quickly re-donned her mask of indifference and shrugged. "Somewhat. I dreamed about when I lost my mother, years ago."
"...Well...damn," Kevin mumbled, pausing for a brief second to look directly at her. "Are you okay?"
The woman smirked and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Is that concern I hear? Is little, sexually repressed Kevin finally coming around to the charms of the Monster Lord?"
"Okay. First of all: rude," the teen replied, oddly enough not taking any offense. "And second: excuse me for trying to be good friend for once. I promise not to do it again." To top it all off, Sylph blew a raspberry at the purple-skinned lamia for good measure from her perch on his shoulder.
Alice softly chuckled to herself. This was just how their relationship worked. All three of them knew that there was no heat behind their quips, and she was genuinely happy that Kevin was concerned for her.
After packing everything up, it was only a short walk to the village. As usual, Alice disguised herself as a human, but Sylph remained in her favorite spot on Kevin's shoulder. Even if this village was full of people who hated monster, fairies were one of the few monsters that had a relatively-okay reputation with humanity as a whole, so her presence shouldn't be ridiculed.
It was obvious that the village had some major problems from the moment they stepped up to the gate. An aura of oppression could be felt, even at this distance, and the people walking around kept their heads down. Nobody smiled, children didn't play, and decorations weren't displayed on any of the houses. It reminded Kevin of some of the horror movies he'd seen in his old life.
One of the women suddenly approached them. "Are you travelers? If so, you must not enter this village. Turn back right away," she whispered to them frantically. She looked like she was going to continue her expositional warning, but hurried away the moment she saw something behind them.
"Travelers!" a voice suddenly shouted from behind them. "Don't move! We need to inspect you!"
Both Alice and Kevin turned around slowly to stare blankly at the two soldiers who had approached them. They were dressed in the usual generic armor that every other soldier and guard in this world seemed to wear, but theirs was oddly worn out and in a state of disrepair. It was obvious that their boss only cared about generally making her subordinates look like soldiers, but not didn't bother to make them keep their uniforms in good condition.
"Strangers," the one on the left said, his expression one of contempt. "Why have you come to this village?"
Before they could answer, the one on the right pointed at Alice. "You! Woman! What's with the color of your hair!? You must be a witch!"
"And you!" the first one spoke again to Kevin. "With those ears and tail, and that tiny woman with you! You're obviously a witch too!"
The two-thirds of the traveling trio that were accused stared at the two men, their eyes lacking even a single iota of respect. The men didn't seem to notice as they pulled a knife out.
"It's said that a witch doesn't bleed, even when cut," the one approaching Alice stated as he raised the knife. "Therefore, you must let me make a cut on your hand so we can check. If you're not a witch, blood will come out. Do you understand?"
Upon hearing this, Alice started to smile. "Of course," she grinned as she held out her hand.
Taking her hand, the soldier ran the knife along the back of it. Anyone with eyes could see that the knife was fake, and dull enough that it couldn't cut butter, let alone skin. However, as it made contact with the woman's flesh, a long line of sliced flesh was created wherever it touched. Blood leaked out of the fresh wound as she released a monotone "ouch," just to rub it in their faces even further.
"That...that's impossible..." the one holding the knife stuttered as he took a step back. "This knife...isn't even..."
Alice grinned sadistically. "Oh, that knife? What about it? Was is not supposed to cut me?" She even went so far as to lift her hand up to her face and lick some of the blood off. "Look, I'm bleeding, just like you wanted. That proves I'm not a witch, right?"
To say that the soldiers were terrified would be an understatement. For as long as they had worked for the Village Lord, their job had been to falsely accuse travelers, and sometimes residents, of being witches so they could be delivered to the mansion. Now, after years of following the charade, they'd finally encountered...the real deal.
"No way..."
"You're...a real..."
The one holding the knife threw the fake knife to the side as he and the other soldier immediately started running away.
Unfortunately for them, Kevin wasn't going to let them off scot free. He had no doubt that after they 'exposed' Alice as a witch, they would've come to him next. Just the way they had looked at him had been enough.
If there was one thing he hated almost as much a r*pe, it was being accused of something he didn't do or was false in general. If you were to call him out on something he HAD done, he'd be more than willing to own up to it. There was no sense in continuing to lie and hide when all the evidence is out in the open, after all. But these men had crossed the line.
He tapped into the twenty-five percent of the control he had on his multiple Type affinities that were available to him in his Eevee form. The grass on the side of the path rapidly grew and entangled the men's feet, gradually dragging them back to the falsely accused trio. The Eevee also used his new Rock and Ground Type powers to make the path they were being dragged along as rough and sharp as possible, damaging both their armor and bodies in the process.
Finally, once the soldiers were lying at his feet, staring up at him with terror written all over their bloody faces, the teenager raised his left hand and summoned spheres of water, fire, ice, and lightning that rotated around it for dramatic effect. "Why did you run?" he questioned with a malicious smirk. "I mean, aren't you used to seeing witches? Surely you can handle us, just like you have with every other witch that's been to this village?"
At this point, the fear in the men's hearts reached a new level, causing on of them to pass out. The other started convulsing, probably having a seizure, heart attack, or stroke of some kind, but nobody would care enough to check him. So what if he died? It wasn't like he was a good person. Absolutely nothing of value would be lost.
"Sooooo," Kevin began, back to his usual neutral expression. "Wanna go raid the Village Lord's mansion in retaliation?"
Alice smirked in return. "Gladly."
"Yes!" Sylph shouted gleefully. "I've always wanted to participate in a mansion heist!"
As they made their way to the large manor at the other side of the village, the guards stayed out of their way. In such a small living space, news traveled, and it didn't take more than five minutes for everyone to know that two 'real' witches had come and already subdued two soldiers. The rest were mere paper tigers, having been given confidence that they could get away with anything due to their numbers, armor, and the backing of their boss. In the face of legitimate threats, there was nothing they could do but cower in fear.
On the other hand, the villagers actually approached them with hope in their eyes, going so far as to request their help.
"Please save my daughter, Mary. She was caught at age seventeen and hasn't returned in three years."
"Traveler...my daughter, too. Please save Erica."
"My wife, Cecelia, was taken as well."
They were mostly ignored, but a few people stood out. One of them was a priest standing outside a Church of Ilias, who was looking at them with a mixture of fear and greed. All items confiscated from the 'witches' were donated to the church, after all, so ACTUAL witches must have some good treasures for the Village Lord to donate. The other suspicious individual was a man who stared at them from the darkness between two buildings, trying to gather any information on them that he could provide to the guards.
A spear of stone shooting out of the wall next to his head put a stop to that really quickly. Fortunately for him, Kevin's Sealing power was still turned on, so he was only reduced to the size of a dwarf instead of being killed. Although, with the number of people this particular man had 'sold out' to the guards, his survival wasn't likely to last much longer once he was found in this helpless state.
The Village Lord's Mansion was as large and imposing as one would expect. Three floors, two large front doors guarded by a pair of armed men, and numerous windows that were shrouded on the inside by curtains could be easily seen from a distance. The two guards even had well-kept armor and weapons, unlike the idiots they'd met in the village.
Due to the distance of the mansion from the rest of the residences, and the fact that the soldiers stationed throughout the village were to scared to inform the Village Lord about the 'real' witches, the guards stationed at the front door knew nothing about what had happened in the village. As such, they merely gave the approaching trio of travelers the same disdainful glares as they gave everyone else.
"What do you want?" the one on the right sneered.
Raising an eyebrow, Kevin replied. "We're here to file a complaint with the Village Lord."
"Lily wouldn't want to meet some outsider!" the left guard shot back. "You're suspicious! Are you a witch!?"
"Since you're going to be like that, let me rephrase my statement," the Eevee said, taking a menacing step forward as an aura of dread settled over the two morons. "My companions and I are going in to see the Village Lord. If you get in our way, I am going to break half the bones in both of your bodies, and feed you to my friend here," he concluded, gesturing to Alice.
While she would never eat such disgusting humans as these, the disguised lamia decided to go along with the threat by licking her lips and opening her moth to reveal a row of impossibly sharp teeth. With such a display, the guards didn't even consider the possibility of the threat being empty. Instead, they revealed the cowards that they truly were and vacated the premises as fast as their legs would allow.
"How do you even come up with these threats?" Alice questioned as Kevin moved to open the front doors.
"I wanna know, too," Sylph nodded. "Your threats are always either intimidating, or weird. Like when you threated that woman to put bones in all of her food and drinks."
Kevin merely shrugged. "It's a gift."
***
{Author's Note}
That's a wrap for now! They are going into the manor of the Village Lord, Lily! What will they find? What will the Village Lord be like? Any of you who have place the original Monster Girl Quest should have a good idea, but as usual I'm planning to shake things up in an unexpected direction when you least expect it!
Also, I need help from anybody who would be willing: I want to know how much in-universe time has passed from the beginning of my story, to the current chapter. If any of you can count up the days and tell me here, I would be incredibly grateful! I would look through myself, but that would take me away from actually writing, which I'm sure none of you actually want.
Now, before I leave you with the usual ending words, I will give you one last piece of advice, straight from the mind of one of my alternate personalities:
"Everyone says you should always expect the unexpected. However, once you start expecting the unexpected, the unexpected BECOMES the expected, so you really shouldn't expect it."
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As always, comment on the paragraphs and the chapter itself. Try not to be a dick, memes are appreciated, and correct my grammar so I can fix it for future readers!
See you later!
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