Chương 10: Chapter 10 - No Place Like Home
Locki gave an exhausted breath as he slumped over his desk. He had finally opened up the small room that his father had previously used as the guild master's room.
The room itself was fairly small with little to no furnishings that hadn't been sold or stolen. There was only a single, boarded up window that lay behind him as he sat in his desk, which was one of the only things still in the room because it had been bonded to the floor. To his right were a series of empty shelves that sat above two large cabinets that were made from a depression in the wall.
[E-rank Mission completed]
Rewards: Tier 1 Blue Prism.
The teen's tired eyes roved over the third completion paper in his hands, uncaring as a glowing, Blue Prism clatter on the wooden desk. He moved clumsily as he checked over the completion of the mission, noting how the requester had given Kagura extra for a job well done. It was good for the girl, but annoying as he had to send a copy of the updated rewards to the Magic Council.
He carefully took the paper and laid it over a head-sized, white Lacrima that sat at one corner of his desk. It was a catch-all type of communication Lacrima that Lon had given him a while back, and honestly, it was the only thing that kept his sanity in check. If he didn't have it, he'd have to personally write out and send every updated mission to the Magic Council building. Or worse, he'd have to personally deliver each update because Lon wanted him to sweat.
After he was done with that, he carefully tapped the Lacrima five times rhythmically. The surface rippled a little as he felt his magic drain a bit before the ripples stopped, and he felt that his magic snapped back to his hand like a pulled rubber band.
He knew his magic mutability was abysmal, and he had thought that communication wasn't that far from his affinity, but no matter how many times he tried to force it, his magic wasn't compatible with the communication Lacrima. Instead, he had to use a larger and more expensive Lacrima to serve his purposes. How he dreaded the future where he needed to get a larger one to contact Fiore's branch of the Magic Council.
And as narcissistic as it sounded, Locki knew he would eventually get noticed by them. Whether it was the odd [Dimensional Guild System], or Kagura's potential as a mage, Locki knew his guild's rise was inevitable.
The main problems came from elsewhere. More specifically, himself. He was only just getting a hang of the guild matters, and he knew that at one point, he'd need to step onto the stage that all other guild masters needed to fight for. Higher ranked Missions.
He'd need to start to get missions above A-rank. A rank of missions that nearby guilds monopolized just with their presence. For him, that meant he needed to pay attention to Fairy Tail.
While he was planning out things, he just wasn't quite ready to start sniping missions from such a giant. Fairy Tail had been around for so long that Locki didn't doubt they had some skeletons in their closet, and he shuddered at the thought of what they did to keep their position as one of the top guilds in Fiore.
However, he put such ambitions for later. Whether it was in talent or manpower, he was currently too outclassed to plan against them. He focused back on the Lacrima on his desk, tapping it again without his magic to interrupt the process. On the surface of the orb, he could see lines of missions available to him. They were all the new ones of the specified ranks he had requested.
Like clockwork, the teen placed a blank piece of paper on the orb and watched as the words wrote themselves over the paper. He changed the mission and repeated his actions until no more showed up. Carefully organizing the missions by rank, he held them up as an abnormally tall, shadowy silhouette grabbed the papers in its long-fingered hands.
"Go place them on the mission board." Locki said offhandedly. The shadow mook he got from a Tier 1 Gold Prism was nearly useless outside his guild, but inside, he felt that he had an entire group of loyal subordinates whose sole purpose was to help him. It would have been better if they did paper work as well.
Locki let out another sigh of exhaustion as he watched the shadow mook leave the room from the door directly across from him. He finally had time to open another drawer in his desk to reveal a plethora of Tier 1 and a couple Tier 2 Blue Prisms. He scooped the newly formed Tier 1 Blue Prism into the drawer, watching for a moment as the rest of the Tier 1s vibrated and trembled as they inched closer to one another.
Knowing that another Tier 2 Blue Prism was going to form, Locki smiled a bit to himself. He shut the drawer and leaned back in his chair as he immersed himself in his thoughts.
In the end, Locki was only given three more months by the Magic Council before he had to turn in another non-city mission. A deadline he didn't really have the time to care about. Instead, he was swamped with all the paperwork that he had neglected to care about, and there was only so much help Lon could offer.
The older woman had stuck to her words and helped him through the worst of it. However, Locki finally realized just how out of depth he was. He needed to file completed missions, request new ones from the Magic Council and give an overall report about magical activity around his city. The teen knew that the Magic Council liked to keep track of mages, but he underestimated just what else they liked to keep track of.
It brought repressed memories back to the front of his head. Where his father had once been requisitioned for the exploration of a magical ruin by the Magic Council. All they came back with were the lifeless bodies of more than half the guild members that went. The actual magical artifacts were taken by the Magic Council.
Locki was tremendously worried that Kagura and he would have to face such a situation, but he reasoned that his guild was so far in the red that he doubted they would even consider him first.
However, over the course of the three months, Locki had found out exactly what a Tier 3 Blue Prism did. He knew that Blue Prisms tended towards physical stuff, so he assumed that there would be something above magical items like his broken Rune Woven armor. In a way, he was both right and wrong.
Locki stretched as he got up and looked over his desk, shooting a glance to the darkest corner of the room where he knew another shadow mook lay in wait. "Protect the desk. Stop anyone from opening or stealing it."
Without waiting for a response, the teen opened the door to the main guild hall. It was the same open floor plan like before, but instead of a run-down and decaying interior, it was furnished with solid, darkwood flooring. The circular tables were arranged around the sides of the room, opening up a large walkway from the front doors to the bar counter.
Another open area was directly from his room to the quest board, which had gotten a similar makeover in that it now was held within a hardwood frame. On the frame, Locki could see small runic inscriptions that were carved into the wood.
A large grin splayed over the teen's face as he looked around the once decrepit room. All of this had been the result of the Tier 3 Blue Prism, and while it was a nice makeover, the looks of the place weren't the only thing that changed.
"[Guild Stats]." Locki said as a screen popped in front of his vision.
[Scarlet Hand]
A very small guild with an emphasis on loyalty
Guild Leader: Locki Wyn
Fame: Minor Guild
Mooks: 3
Members: 3
[Levels]
Ground :: LVL 1
Effects – Can see the status of any being that steps through the main doors
Locki could help but laugh at the new ability that formed. He knew Blue Prisms formed something physical, and with a Tier 3 Prism, one of his status screens changed. If he applied this logic to Red Prisms, he felt that there was a good chance that a Tier 3 Red Prism could change his Magic affinity or mutability. After all, the Tier 2 Prisms already dealt with magic items and actual lost magic for both Red and Blue Prisms.
With that thought, he had started to save every single Prism he gained. Kagura had obviously followed him after their little moment, and the girl had decided to take every single mission that appeared on the board. And whenever the girl wasn't on a mission, Locki knew he could find her training somewhere near the Magic Council building or downstairs in the guild's basement. Something that Lon disapproved of but couldn't stop as the girl would just sneak over to the guild whenever the older woman wasn't looking.
Locki was both impressed and intimidated by how much effort Kagura always put in.
He knew she had been an ex-slave, and was training for the purpose that Locki assumed was most likely to save someone or wipe out a specific group of slavers. Kagura never really said just who or what she was training for, and Locki couldn't blame her. She had seen what dire straits the Magic Guild she joined was in and had promptly kept her problems to herself.
It was a childish notion, really. Locki could immediately tell that Kagura didn't want to add more problems to him, and that was exactly why he didn't tell her that he was secretly researching the Tower of Heaven himself. Kagura thought she was protecting him, but the truth of the matter was that her problems indirectly became his own.
Slavers never really relented on escaped slaves unless they joined well-known Magic Guilds. For guilds like Scarlet Hand, Locki felt that they would break down his doors at any moment to kidnap Kagura back into their services.
He also expected them to intrude on missions outside the city, which only made the approaching deadline all the more dangerous. Locki was expected to take another out-of-city mission soon, but he also needed to watch out for movements of slavers who might want to recapture Kagura.
There were also the problems with Evermont he needed to pay attention to again…
Locki just got behind his counter before said problem sauntered through the wooden doors of his main room. The doors were different from the flimsy doors that had previously been held on screeching, rusty hinges. Now they were rather thick doors inscribed with the guild's insignia, and Locki could confirm they were heavy enough that a normal person would need to strain himself a bit to open them.
The person who easily shoved the doors aside, walked through like they owned the place. A cocky smirk lay on the older man's unshaven face. His clothing was unkempt and disheveled as stains littered the front of his white, button-down shirt. Locki tried not to gag as the man's large bushel of black hairs spilled out of his unbuttoned shirt.
"Wassup, young master!" He said, raising his hand sloppily before he brought said hand down to scratch his exposed chest. "I heard ya started putting more missions up on the hall. Wondered if ya needed some actual muscle in yer guild."
Locki pursed his lips as a screen popped up in front of his face, telling him all he needed to know about this ex-member.
[Borts Thril]
An ex C-rank mage of Scarlet Hand. His vices include, but are not limited to: alcohol, women and fighting. He is an unknowing spy for the Jade Serpents Magic Guild.
Best Abilities: [Drinking], [Earthland Magic – Elemental Defense]
Mood: [Happy], [Drunk]
Bond: 2%
Holding himself from scoffing, Locki noted the name of the Jade Serpents. They were one of the four Magic Guilds who settled within Evermont, and as he remembered, they had the largest ties to several gangs that delt in human trafficking. Locki wondered if they were inquiring about Kagura or if they were just like the other four guilds who sent ex-mages of his guild to scout him out.
The teen knew he had to worry about the Magic Guilds in Evermont. They had been colluding with various gangs that ran the city's underground since the inception of Magic Guilds, and Locki cursed his father's previous actions of cutting off all contact with gangs that Scarlet Hand had supported in the past. Due to his father's desire for adventure and friendship, Locki was basically pitted against the Magic Guilds and gangs that had infested the city long ago.
He sighed as he thought about Kagura's own problems that also tore at his attention. He couldn't leave the girl alone here, nor could he let her go on the out-of-city mission alone. And any mage he recruited in Evermont would not be trustworthy enough no matter if he could see their status.
However, he couldn't worry about that now. He had to put on an act for the snakes that waited in the shadows. There was no doubt in his mind that, should he show some ambition, they would not hesitate to strike him down before he became a problem. After all, Scarlet Hand had once been the head honcho in his grandfather's time, and had reigned over all of them with an iron fist. They didn't want a second uprising again.
As such, Locki offered Borts an affronted glare. He scoffed at the man's words with as much apite as he could muster, which wasn't that hard. "So, now you come crawling back because you need more money to spend on the brothels and bars? Do I look like some fucking push over to you?"
"Hahaha! You're always the same, young master!" Borts laughed, eyeing the mission board. Oddly, he didn't see the abnormally tall shadow that stood right next to the board, but Locki had already known that only guild members could see the mooks. The man's sloppy appearance disappeared as Locki felt Bort's full attention on him. "I had heard ya started employing children, so jus' wanted to know if ya actually dipped into buying slaves."
Locki stared at the man. Borts' magic was something he already knew about. It let him wear different elements as a sort of armor, and coupled with his strong physique, Borts could brush off a couple B-rank magic spells while also dishing out his own attacks. Without his Enchanted Rapier that was lost under a collapsed building, Locki knew he couldn't break the man's defense. The man had a magic he envied deeply.
However, even knowing that, he refused to back down from the stare down they were having.
"Do you know who you're accusing now, Borts?"
"Oh ho, looks like the young master did gain a spine. Is it perhaps because ya have those bitches backing ya up?" Borts' crass words echoed in Locki's ears for a moment before it clicked.
They thought he was allied with Mermaid Heel. It was probably why they hadn't acted overtly yet.
Locki grinned both inwardly and outwardly for the man to see. "Whatever do you mean? You seem rather interested in my affairs for an ex-member."
Borts shrugged as Locki knew that man had "uncovered" something important. "Jus' wanted to know the guild I wanna join, is all."
"So you want to join again?"
Borts nodded, crossing his arms. "Are ya going to refuse? Everyone knows ya got some deal with the Magic Council, but ya need to go on missions outside sometime. Or are ya gonna send that little girlie you bought out?"
Locki tried hard not to scowl at the man. After he had accepted Kagura, he realized that he was more conscious about her in relation to his normal activities. He tended to plan for her problems and around whatever complications might occur for her. And now, he really disliked the idea of her getting enslaved again.
"[Three missions]." Locki said, holding himself back from cursing the man out. He already knew that the recent spree of mages interested in "joining" his guild were spies, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to get some use out of them. "Finish any three and we can discuss your status."
Borts' smile was full of missing and yellowed teeth. Locki could almost smell the stench that came from the man's open mouth, but chose to ignore that as the unkempt man wandered over to the board. He picked three missions at random; specifically ones that didn't have a time limit.
Locki sighed at the man's actions. He knew he wasn't going to get the monetary rewards for those missions as the man was going to wait for those missions to be completed by someone else before he turned them back into Scarlet Hand. Luckily, the [Dimensional Guild System] didn't really care how the mission was finished so long as he got the completion papers, so in the end, he'd still get something from the spy's work.
After the spy left, Locki slumped over the counter for a second. He was thoroughly exhausted with all the stuff he had to worry about. Money had to be put into Kagura's clothes, both their food and the fact that he learned Gastly and Val needed to eat. On top of that, he had to worry about problems outside and inside his city while the Magic Council literally breathed down his neck.
Honestly, if it wasn't because he wanted to shove it in the faces of everyone who said he'd fail, he'd want nothing more than to give up right now. Even then, he still felt like it was too much. The only thing that kept him going was oddly Kagura.
The girl wanted to help him, and conversely, he didn't want to let her down.
"Fuck… should we just move?" Locki whispered. It was a viable option. The only problem came in where he should settle down. He knew Evermont, and even if it had extremely dangerous elements, he knew what to watch out for. Locki knew more than anyone how powerful information could be. If they moved, Locki would need to find new contacts and learn who not to mess with.
As such, Locki decided to wait a bit. His [Dimensional Guild System] needed his guild building to work properly as he couldn't get missions without it, and leaving would just put a stale taste in his mouth. If they could weather through this harsh introduction, he was sure he could get a stable grip in Evermont. Worst case, he decided to just pack up everything and take Kagura to another city.
With those thoughts, Locki carefully navigated downstairs to the basement. He found Kagura swinging Val repeatedly in one corner of the large hemispherical room, and he offered a wave as the girl saw him walk in. She happily bounded over covered in sweat. A blinding smile covered her face as he tossed a towel over to her.
"We need to do a mission outside the city soon." Locki said as he looked over at her. It wasn't a lie to say that he doted on her heavily; Locki knew just how much he avoided letting her know more about their situation when all she knew was that they were poor.
So, to let her only worry about food, growing stronger and missions, Locki resolved himself. He took out the glowing Tier 2 Gold Prism from the last mission. It had gone unused as Lon had been going in and out of the guild to teach Locki the basics about running a guild, and the teen knew that he couldn't explain another magical animal like Pokemon without the old woman figuring something out.
Kagura looked at the Prism seriously. He knew she had found out about his Prisms early on. It was a given after she saw them pop out of midair, and had even sneakily watched him summon Val with one. "Are you going to… summon another Pokemon?"
Val hovered behind Kagura like always, and Locki felt that the Pokemon had gotten even more dangerous in the three months they trained. The sword seemed to ring softly as it stared at the Prism. Kagura reached up to grab Val's hilt before the girl nodded.
"Validator says there are many dangerous Pokemon. We should be careful, guild master. You could get hurt."
Locki tapped the girl's forehead, causing her serious look to disappear. He chuckled awkwardly at how she pouted in his direction. "I may not be as talented as you, but I don't need to be protected. Besides, I am thinking that we should see what else the Prisms can do."
"What do you mean, guild master?"
"I'm just thinking that there could be more creatures this Prism can summon." Locki said, knowing that this would hopefully allow him to keep Kagura away from the darker parts of the city's activities. Lon had done a great job at sheltering the girl, and the teen knew she had been through a great deal, so they had both gotten together to let Kagura simply be a kid.
A kid with overpowered magic, but a kid nonetheless.
It was a suggestion that wasn't like him. Locki felt that the second he summoned Gastly, everything began to change. When Val had been summoned, he was given the courage to take on his enemies. Now, he wondered just what this third one would change.
[Do you want to use "Tier 2 Gold Prism" to summon a random Guild Member?]
[Warning! Guildmaster must get the summon's approval before their presence is cemented into the world]
"Yes, go through with it."
[Targeting system locating nearby nodes]
[One dimensional node found]
[Would you like to use "Member – Validator" as a node?]
Locki pursed his lips as he stared at the Pokemon in question. Another Pokemon would certainly be helpful, but he wasn't sure of the limits of this mysterious magic. After the first two, he felt that the [Dimensional Guild System] wasn't just about the odd magical creatures, or else it would be called a "Pokemon Guild System." Instead, it used the word "Dimensional" which meant that there had to be more than just Pokemon.
"No, don't use Gastly or Honedge. Use neither" Locki said, watching as the screens updated.
[Dimensional node "Neither" is being locked onto]
[Error! Node "Neither" is incapable of being used]
[Randomly generating a proxy node]
"Guild master," Kagura said harshly as she pulled his hand. Locki's eyes flickered over to her, and found her pouting still. "Call Validator by her actual name. It's rude."
Locki sighed at her insistence. Where was the loyalty to her guild master? "Look Kagura, I don't want–"
He shut himself off as a sweltering wave of heat radiated over the two of them. The air inside the underground room shimmered as Locki felt a layer of sweat begin to build on his brow. It felt like they were suddenly thrown inside an oven as the air where the Tier 2 Gold Prism disappeared rippled violently.
Locki backed up several steps, moving over to where he could grab one of the magical weapons he had summoned before. They weren't quite on par as the Enchanted Rapier, but he felt that something was better than nothing. His armor screeched and groaned as it stretched over his skin, and he ignored the large dents that pressed against his skin. Shards where the helmet had attached scratched his neck, letting him know that he wasn't going to get another helmet again.
The Rune Woven Armor had been thoroughly broken from that Vulcan's magic, but it still was a superior armor than most. He had no idea what might step through this summon. However, his experience with Honedge told him that his guests might not be that willing to listen.
Gastly rose out of his shadow while Kagura had already unsheathed Val. Locki could see some kind of white light that traced on the edge of the Pokemon's sword. Kagura had explained that it was the mix of whatever magic Pokemon used and hers to form something superior, validating Locki's worries while also raising the same question on what the hell Pokemon were.
Strained, wet coughs echoed through the air, breaking up the tense silence. Then, they stepped through the ripple in the air. Small gouts of flame trailed after them, sticking to their skin like some kind of curse. Half of his mind was focused on the fair that stuck to them before Locki realized that there were two people that walked through the summon. One person stumbled into the room as he carried another on his back.
The heat began dying down to more manageable levels while the two lay on the floor. Kagura wanted to rush towards the two as the fire burned them, but Locki held her back, narrowing his eyes as he saw how their skin regenerated almost the second it burnt. Carefully, the teen looked over the two from a distance.
A messy mop of curly green hair sat over one of their heads like a bowl of seaweed. It covered most of their face, but Locki didn't need to see their expression to know just how bad of a state they were in. His body was emaciated; a thin, wiry frame with a waist that amazingly was only a couple hands in width. Locki felt that he could wrap a single hand around that man's waist with how thin it was.
Paradoxically, they were also muscular. Locki could make out every definition of corded muscle that lay behind their thin, pallid skin. Their shoulders were broad as two, long muscular arms kept the person on their back in place. Bare feet trembled as the flames dug into their body, and Locki carefully took a step forwards.
The other figure was clearly female. They were not as malnourished as their male counterpart, but their skin was an unhealthy shade of white. However, ugly, purple veins stuck out all over their arms and exposed parts of their back. She was mainly covered by some kind of silk-like dress, and Locki could tell it was something expensive if her well-manicured nails were something to go by.
From his position, Locki could see the girl's face. She was certainly beautiful with a small, button nose that sat above thin, red lips. Her long, silvery white hair covered most of her features, but Locki could see some pink tattoo of a flower on her left cheek. Still, her beautiful features were twisted in pain as red hot flames ate at her back, letting the teen see her ribs and spine for brief moments before she healed slowly.
Finally, Locki got close enough to see their faces and a screen popped up in his vision.
[Daki Shabana (Gyutaro Shabana)]
A demon associated with the Twelve Kizuki. She is a prideful, sadistic demon who loves her brother deeply. Her real name is Ume, but she barely has any recollection of it. (A demon associated with the Twelve Kizuki. He is a cruel, petty and envious demon who loves his sister deeply.)
Best Abilities: [Blood Demon Art —Obi Sash Manipulation] ([Blood Demon Art — Blood Manipulation], [Kama Technique])
Mood: [Pained], [Scared] ([Resigned], [Scared])
Bond: 0% (0%)
"I– never thought there'd be other people in hell…" A rough, gravely voice spoke up, causing Locki to flinch. The ground master found the green haired demon, Gyutaro, looking at him with sickly, yellow eyes.
Oddly, Locki couldn't see any pain in his gaze. As if the flames didn't register to the demon.
"Do you not feel the fire?" Locki asked reflexively. He almost winced at how callous he sounded, but he didn't really know how to feel about apparently summoning demons from hell. He was even less enthused as he read their descriptions.
"I don't know…" Gyutaro rasped, adjusting Daki on his back. He paused as the demon girl whimpered in pain. "Ume? I thought I was taking the most…"
"If you're worried about your sister, she currently has her entire back on fire." Locki offered.
Gyutaro tried to get up, but his feet failed him. "She… she can't. I have to…"
Locki sighed. Demon or not, the man was exhausted, injured and probably delirious. He hadn't really expected anything after reading through the two demon's description, but he could tell that Gyutaro really did care for his sister.
The guild master knew he was running out of options, but utilizing demons might be something he could do. Besides, this was a two-for-one deal. He'd be remiss if he gave up such a chance. They obviously weren't good people, so that meant he didn't need to care too much about what he did.
"I can help her." Locki said, armor screeching as he crouched down to get closer to Gyutaro.
"I… we don't need help…" he rasped.
Gyutaro flinched when he felt Daki's tears drip down his back. Locki could see that the girl's injuries got worse, and he saw the demon's face change through a myriad of different emotions.
"You might not need help. But… [What about your sister]?"
Gyutaro eyed him for several seconds. Locki felt his heart pick up pace as he met the demon's gaze, and slowly the demon relaxed. A painful wheeze left Gyutaro's lungs as he said, "... you speak like… that man."
"So, what is your answer?" Locki pressed. "Just nod and [you will join]."
Gyutaro closed his eyes, silently nodding his head to save his sister. Locki idly patted them with his hand, and miraculously, the fires disappeared from the two of them. Now, all the teen had to do was figure out how to treat demons who had burned by the fires of hell.
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