Chương 24: Chapter 24 - Barbecue
Lips pursed and brows furrowed, Ivan looked down at the Iwakura Ronin. Even though the man was an enemy, defeating him did not bring Ivan any joy. Rather, he almost felt a bit sad. He didn't even know the man's name. If they had met under different circumstances, then perhaps the man could have taught him more about the Iwakura Sword Art since he did not know when he might obtain more books from wishes.
'Rest in peace, I guess,' Ivan thought while pulling a glowing sword hilt into his inventory.
For some reason, the man's body did not wither away like some of the monsters or automatons. The same could be said of the few killed by Itto's strikes, though most of them seemed to have survived, considering Itto and Shinobu were busy tying them all to trees. Now that this world was a real place for him, he wondered about the reason monsters dissolved even outside the constraints of a game.
'Probably has something to do with how the world functions or even the abyss. Maybe I'll figure it out later if I get the chance.'
Sighing, Ivan lowered his sword. Since the others had also finished fighting, he unsummoned it. Then, he stumbled over to the nearest rock and sat down. He looked down at his chest that was covered in blood. The wound had stopped bleeding thanks to cauterization from the Overload reactions, but it still looked pretty bad and hurt even worse. It felt like somebody was pressing a piping hot slab of metal against his chest.
Just when he thought that, Kuki Shinobu appeared at his side. Her Electro whip manifested again and circled both of them. With each pulse, the gash rapidly healed. Soreness left his body. He even felt the churning in his stomach subside.
'I think I'll avoid using my burst in the future if I don't have any methods to heal myself afterward,' He thought. As powerful as it made him, it also put a lot of strain on his body that still held numerous ailments. 'Some physical training might be a good idea, too.'
"Thanks, both for the timely healing and assistance," He said, raising his head to meet Kuki Shinobu's eyes.
"You're welcome."
"I'm Ivan, by the way. Nice to meet you."
Shinobu nodded, handed over a contact card which had a mailing address written on it, and replied, "My name is Kuki Shinobu. Nice to meet you as well. As I said before, if that guy causes you any problems, you can contact me."
"Heh. Gotcha."
Thoma jogged over and frowned at the puddle of vomit before asking, "Are you alright, Ivan?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I think my illnesses acted up a bit is all."
"Huh? That isn't fine! Not one bit! Do you need some medicine or something?"
Chuckling, Ivan pointed a thumb at Shinobu and said, "She's more than enough medicine for me."
"Hah?" Shinobu did a bit of a double-take. Then, a subtle redness colored her cheeks even above her mask. "...Gross."
"Gross? Your healing abilities are helping me feel a lot better, though," Ivan casually replied, acting as though he didn't just try to philander a bit while still hyped up on adrenaline.
Shinobu nodded before replying, "Mm, I see. You're welcome… again."
Thoma raised a brow and sighed.
"Yo, that was fun. You guys hungry? We have enough to share," Itto offered while walking over with his club resting on his shoulder.
"Hm. You interested, Thoma?" Ivan asked.
Turning to look at Ivan, Thoma shrugged and answered, "Since it is your mission you need to finish, it's up to you. I don't mind either way."
"I could use a break, honestly, if you don't mind."
Raising a thumbs-up, Thoma replied, "No problem."
Thus, the two of them joined the Arataki gang around the campfire. Ivan and Thoma met the other hooligans sitting there ready to partake in the barbecue. The boar ended up tasting like a more gamy version of beef, but it surprised Ivan how good it was when some of the local seasonings were added to it. Eating it also soothed more of the lingering aches and soreness leftover from the previous battle as well as his illnesses.
During the meal, most of the conversations revolved around the previous battle or irrelevant topics until one of the gang mentioned, "Did you guys hear about the Vision Hunt Decree?"
"Yep," Itto replied while still chewing on a chunk of leg meat. Then, he said, "Even if the Shogun herself came to take mine, I'd be perfectly okay!"
Ivan couldn't help snorting at that, but then he looked up at an approaching stormcloud. A single bolt of lightning shot down and struck Itto right on the head. Hair frizzy and skin slightly torched by the lightning strike, the Oni blinked a few times, then laughed.
'My bad luck must be wearing off on him already,' Ivan jokingly thought to himself.
"It seems a storm is rolling in," Shinobu commented, looking up at the encroaching clouds. "We should clean up and find some shelter."
Scratching his chin, Ivan faced the blondie sitting near him and asked, "In that case, do you want to head back to that cave right now, Thoma?"
"Sure. Walking off this full stomach sounds like a good idea."
"Aw. You're leaving already?" Itto asked.
"Yeah. Got stuff to do. Thanks again for the help and food today. I'll return the favor sometime if I get the chance," Ivan replied.
"Alright. Was nice meeting you then."
Shinobu nodded and added, "Take care."
After saying farewells to everyone there and promising Itto to hang out sometime in the future, or rather, to duel over snacks in the future, Ivan and Thoma left and retraced their steps. Pouring rain greeted them along the way and soaked their clothes. The two broke out into a run. At one point, Ivan raised a hand and observed the raindrops smacking his skin. Each droplet of water looked as blue as the sky and contained hints of elemental particles that he could recognize after unlocking Electro.
'Interesting. Is all the water in the world like this? I'm kinda curious if the water in Fontaine is any different. Might be a while before I can get there, though.'
Before long, he and Thoma arrived at the cave. Together, the two quickly dispatched the handful of Ronin who had remained there. Having the help of Thoma's Pyro shields made the fight much easier.
At the back of the cave, they found an intricately carved treasure chest. Red symbols floated around it, and two Ronin stood guard in front of it. To Ivan's surprise, the chest looked large enough to hide a few bodies.
"I guess they're hiding the fragment there," Ivan surmised.
Assuming that Ivan did not interact with the more magical or elemental sides of the world much in the past, Thoma nodded and explained, "If you didn't already know, those red letters you see are basically a sealing magic connected to the consciousness of those guys."
"Magic, huh? Think I could learn that?"
"Sure, as long as you know how to read and have a good head on your shoulders. I don't know much about it personally, though. You're better off asking Guuji Yae or somebody else familiar with spells and stuff."
"Good to know."
After that, they engaged the last remaining guards in battle by chaining their Elemental Skills together. A few Overload explosions quickly knocked out the guards. The moment they lost consciousness, the red seal locking the chest cracked and disappeared.
Grinning from ear to ear, Ivan approached the chest and happily lifted the heavy wooden lid. Inside, he found several items including the Vajrada Amethyst Fragment. Aside from the fragment, he also saw a spear, a couple of artifacts that he recognized to be part of the Adventurer set, a pile of Mora, and a handful of Primogems.
"Do you want any of this?" Ivan asked, looking back at Thoma.
"I don't need most of this, but do you mind if I take half of the Primogems and Mora?"
"Really? What do you use the Primogems for?" Ivan asked, raising a brow.
"They can make a Vision holder a tiny bit stronger. Unfortunately, it's only noticeable after absorbing a ton of them, so we often use it as a form of reward or currency instead."
"Gotcha. Go ahead, then."
'Ah, less gacha rolls for me, then. With my luck, maybe it's a good thing for my mental state to not roll as much.'
After Thoma pocketed a few of the gems, Ivan sucked the rest of the items into his inventory. In the end, he and Thoma both obtained ten Primogems and two thousand five hundred Mora.
Since he had completed half of Yae Miko's commission, he said, "Thanks for the help Thoma. I only need to collect some Amethyst Lumps if you're still up for coming along for the ride."
"Yep. No problem. If I don't go with you, I'm afraid a random Lawachurl might crawl out of a hole and eat you," Thoma replied in a jovial tone.
"Hah. Don't jinx us just yet. It might actually happen."
Thoma grinned in response.
From there, Thoma started leading him toward an area where Amethyst Lumps often grew, which made Ivan raise a brow. Rocks grow? That was news to him. Before leaving the cave, however, he opened his constellation icons and checked the new artifacts he had obtained. There were only two of them, but they were both three-star grade artifacts.
Strangely, the picture of him in the artifact screen did not adopt a praying position like every other character did in the game. While making a mental note of that, he selected the artifacts in their specific slots. Instantly, he felt a surge in strength, albeit not as much as when his curse was removed. His free hand clasped into a fist a few times. He then saw the two artifacts floating in small bubbles around him, though they looked semi-translucent. When he closed the screen, the bubbles also disappeared, but he could still feel the effect they had on his strength.
'I feel like I've skipped a few steps in the quality ladder… Is this good luck? Is something bad going to happen later?'
Lo and behold, they encountered a Lawachurl along the way, but they successfully fled from the beast thanks to Thoma's shield. Overall, it was an eventful first commission. Ivan could already see Yae Miko's amused smirk in his mind's eye.
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A/N:
One: I could not figure out the exact time Shinobu joined the gang, so I'mma just roll with this as is even though this is a bit before the game's storyline.
Two: Some pics I used as inspiration for Ivan's burst are in the comments here so long as you aren't earlier to the chapter than me. Some of you are just fast af.
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