Chương 189: Candidate

(A.N. I apologize for the delay in chapters and the spotty releases this past week, but it's been a very stressful week at my work and I needed a couple days to relax. Sadly it seems as if things won't be getting any easier anytime soon, I will attempt to post like usual, but if I don't this is why.)

For the next several weeks Alex made a name for himself in Brooke through various means. First was how unreasonably strong he was and his clear rate for the jobs he requested, though the guild had rules to prevent someone from taking jobs too high of level, they had made an exception for Alex due to how unusual he was. What they never expected was that he managed to clear each and every one seemingly with ease, and since he didn't shy away from showing his capabilities when a few guys challenged him, they all knew he wasn't faking his prowess. The other thing he became known for was the unusual amount of extreme beauties that he would occasionally be with.

Alex would invite the girls to join him from the hideout in Brooke every few days to keep their day to day lives from being too monotonous, and so that they could spend time out of the hideout, Hajime just stayed behind to keep working though. By this point they had all activated their own status plates and was able to enter the town as well, which ultimately made more challengers appear who felt encouraged at showing off in front of the girls, Alex had no mercy towards them. The girls had less tolerance for the men approaching them than even Alex, as they all never seemed to learn from others failure, usually ending with Yue making good on her 'Crotch Smasher' title. Those particular people seemed to mysteriously disappear after Yue ruined their lives as men, but what no one knew was that they were getting a chance to start over alongside Abel. Alex decided he might need to tell Yue to tone it down on the smashing, or he'd need to find a bigger island in the future.

He was also going back and forth from Asora to keep an eye on things there, and to check on Gabriel. They still hadn't told the others about her condition yet, with Grayfia and Yasaka being the only other ones to know, but they planned to soon before the more obvious signs started showing up. At the moment however, he was watching Sairaorg and Bova spar at one of the more distant mountains.

"Let's see how you take this!" Sairaorg shouted as he threw a punch at Bova, that completely blew a hole through him. Bova didn't even flinch however, as the hole was filled with a glowing molten fluid before closing as if nothing happened. He then looked at Sairaorg and shouted,

"Don't blame me for this!" And opened his mouth wide as if to breathe flames. What came out however wasn't fire, but magma, as the entire area they were sparring was suddenly coated by a sea of molten rock. As Sairaorg was in the air from jumping this didn't mean much to him, but it did limit his places to land. In the face of this he simply made a fearless smile and thrusted his fist down, effectively clearing an area of magma with the air pressure alone. He then turned to face Bova once more, and the two continued their clash.

Alex was on a nearby mountain watching the exchange with Ravel, Serafall, and Akeno at his side, all three of which were watching the exchange with wide eyes, while Alex had a devilish smile. Not only did he now have a near invulnerable dragon serving him, but he could also use Bova to test certain abilities for any future devil fruit users. One such technique they already confirmed with Sairaorg was Touki, as it was an attack that targeted an opponents life force instead of inflicting physical damage. They watched the exchange for a while longer, before Alex said,

"All right that's enough!" Causing both Bova and Sairaorg to look away from their fight and at him. As they made their way over Serafall used her magic and supercooled to entire area, cooling all the still molten magma that Bova left. This had become routine for them as Bova was unable to forcibly cool his own magma. He was also woefully weaker than Akainu in the series, but then again he only had the fruits power for a month. Alex then had a vision of the two meeting and fighting if he ever went to one piece, and almost started laughing, earning himself a weird look from Serafall. As the two approached them Alex cleared his throat and moved onto what he needed to discuss with them to begin with.

"I came here to let you guys know that the Orcus labyrinth is ready for whoever wants to challenge it next. Either of you want to try?" Both of them seriously considered Alex's words, before Bova said,

"I'd like to stay here and focus on mastering the Magu Magu no mi for now, plus even though I could shrink myself I'm not sure about fighting underground in a tunnel system for so long." Alex nodded at his reasoning, before turning to Sairaorg who said,

"I'll go then. I'll bring about half my team and have Kuisha bring the rest later, so that we don't have it too easy with so many people." Alex nodded again, and said,

"Understandable, we also found the entrance to the next labyrinth the other day, so should I put you down for that one as well? For the record the age of gods magic in that one is gravity." Sairaorg smiled confidently, and replied,

"I bet Vali is going to lined up to immediately attempt it after you're done, I'll probably be done with Orcus by then so sure." Alex however shook his head and stated,

"It'll probably be another couple weeks until I challenge it, I'm waiting on a possible rook candidate for my team before doing so. Plus this isn't the type of labyrinth where you can charge through and smash every opponent in your way, it'll probably take Vali longer to finish it than you would." As the Raisen great labyrinth was a place that almost completely sealed ones magic power, Alex was sure that between the two, Vali who was famous for his magic power capacity and Sairaorg who was infamous for his lack of magic power, Sairaorg would have the easier time in it. What everyone present focused on however was the other thing Alex mentioned.

"You found a potential rook candidate?" Ravel asked with interest, while Akeno and Serafall also started paying attention to Alex's words. He nodded in confirmation, and explained,

"Yes, but nothing's been confirmed yet. Though she'd be a very capable rook in the near future, at the moment she's pretty much useless and hasn't spent a single day in combat. In other words, I'm going to be training her from scratch." Everyone present was confused when Alex said that his candidate would need training before they were dependable, since usually one was scouted as a possible peerage member because they were already capable, except Akeno who was lightly stroking her collar as she imagined Alex "training" her. Akeno had been thoroughly corrupted by Alex by this point.

He then returned to the hideout with Sairaorg and those that would attempt the labyrinth with him, before sending them on their way with a magic circle. One theory they managed to confirm was that the real labyrinth was only the second hundred levels, and the first half could be skipped entirely. This meant that everyone attempting the labyrinth was sent to the same level Hajime started on and moved down from there.

He then returned to Brooke from the hideout, along with both Grayfia and Yue. Soon Alex was sitting in the dining area of Masaka inn, a girl on each side of him and every jealous man's stare on him. Alex had long since grown used to such looks, and simply ignored them along with both the girls. Yue was already infamous as the 'Crotch Smasher', and Grayfia had also made a name for herself as she never accepted the nonsense anyone directed towards her. The only one seemingly unaffected by Alex and the two girls was the innkeepers wife, who made their way over to them to deliver their food.

"Ara ara, I wonder where you keep such beautiful girls all the time. When you first arrived in this town you only had Anne, now you seem to switch them out daily while whoever was with you the night before seemingly disappears." Alex smiled in response, and responded,

"I'd rather discuss how your daughter is able to do whatever it takes to peep at us at night, regardless of the measures I take to prevent it." Both Yue and Grayfia joined him in looking at the wife, also wondering the answer. No matter what measure they had taken, physically or magically, the innkeepers daughter Soona had somehow managed to peep on them at least briefly before Alex caught her. Personally since she was a girl he didn't mind the peeping, but it had turned more into game to see if he could keep her out.

She was about to answer, when suddenly the door to the inn was flung open and a group of guys walked in. They all had matching uniforms and seemed to be quite the unruly bunch as they walked in as if they owned the place. The one in front spotted the wife and said,

"We need something to drink, and make it quick since we have to report back to the main squad before sunset." The wife didn't say anything in return, and swiftly left to bring the men their order. They swiftly helped themselves to one of the tables, and started loudly talking to each other. Everyone tried to not catch their eye and mind their own business, except Alex who was trying to see if what he waited for was about to happen. Soon the wife returned with their drinks, and asked in an effort to be professional and welcoming,

"So what brings a squadron of the Empire's men this way?" Earning a snort from the men in return. The one who ordered drinks said,

"What do you think woman, slaves for the Empire, that's what. Why else would we come so close to the Sea of Trees?" As they continued their discussion Alex was trying to figure out how to get close enough to place tracking spells on them. Unlike Hajime and the others these were trained soldiers of the Empire, meaning he had to be a bit more discreet than before. The reason he wanted to track them was that if his guess was right, they would lead him right to the very person he was talking about with Ravel, Serafall, and Akeno earlier.

The Sea of Trees was home to the demihuman races, and so it wasn't unusual for the Empire to send soldiers to enslave those same demihumans for their various needs, from physical labor to working in brothels or personal attendants. As he thought of this Alex had to fight to keep from smiling at his apparent luck.