Chương 282: Delivery

Once I was done with my 'business' involving Leou, I turned into my knightly form and proceeded to let Xlown and Mari out of the Gravescape. I had made Leou promise not to say anything about what happened until I was done with Mari. … With Leou now fully complicit in my machinations, a room was prepared for Rose, and I let her out of the Gravescape as well. Unleashing a made-up story that I had prepared in advance.

It was a story that took a lot of real elements, but the only difference was that Rose had instead been abducted by System Fundamentalists, and that I had just rescued her, whilst the other two had been 'unreachable'. Regardless, I informed her that it had been decided that she needed to hide in a secure location, and that since I had been given the mission of protecting her, I had brought her over to an ally of mine.

Rose, who didn't have any idea how she had gone from being in her room in the royal palace to a dark, sealed-off room, had no information to even begin to poke holes into the story I served her, and since I was her beloved instructor, she didn't really have any incentive to question me anyway, so she just bought it without resistance. This was the advantage of all my preparations. She couldn't even begin to suspect that I was lying to her.

Once I got her settled, I unloaded a whole bunch of things that I had gotten as payment for my work as an instructor, and it was then time to demonstrate the success of my mission. I found it quite surprising how the members of the organisation could all gather together on such short notice, but I suppose they didn't have much to do with their days most of the time. The warp made Leou dizzy as per usual, but the meeting quickly began.

Salamandia was staring back and forth at the snow leopard and me with suspicion in her eyes. It was like she could instantly sense that our relationship had seen a rather drastic evolution. The short woman didn't say a thing about it yet, though. Ergonip rubbed his bony hands together, somehow producing more dust in the process than the top of a piece of furniture left untouched for decades.

I could sometimes swear that his skeletal visage had actual facial expressions with how oddly whimsical he could appear, despite having very certainly killed way more people than I had, even when counting the outbreak of the Nightmare Plague. I suppose that past a certain point, people just swing right back around. So being a lunatic mass murderer and undead enthusiast ended up turning him into a weird goober. Godgrod was just…

He was just flexing his arms and admiring his muscles–They were indeed magnificently glorious, so I couldn't fault him for this. If my arms were thicker than tree trunks, I would be admiring them often as well. Meanwhile, Millikilli was just hovering in place while reading a comically small book that looked huge in her hands. I have no idea how she could read when her head was just a rose, but she definitely was managing to do so. The dusty skeleton slammed his hands together, producing the bony variant of a clap.

"I hear that you've successfully completed your mission, Miss Maya. May we see the result?"

"Don't be in such a rush, Ergonip. Would bringing someone out right now really be a good idea? They might freak out, and that would make for an awful first impression. Remember that we need to win an otherworlder to our side, not terrify them" The little fairy shut the book in her hands as she spoke.

"Why bother with all of this? Just cast your charm spell and let's call it a day. I even have a contract that binds the soul, mind, spirit, heart, left lung, right lung, liver, the eyes, the-""Aherm, I feel like such means are provably prone to fail with Unwanted Presences. They are known to degrade things that bind them over time in a way unlike people born in our world…

It would be best to naturally convince them to join us, or to offer good benefits" Surprisingly, the one who spoke up with reason and facts was Godgrod. The giant golden minotaur then immediately flexed his muscles again, as though the only point of his smart remark was to make everyone look at him and see how nice his muscles were.

"He's right. Tell me, Maya, how's the otherworlder that you brought back?" Leou cleared her throat.

"Actually… She brought back two of them…" She went over their specificities and personality as I had told her about, and Ergonip began sifting through a stack of paper that he had seemingly been keeping on the ground next to his feet this entire time.

"Mmh… These old texts state that male otherworlders are highly likely to be attracted to catfolk females who just have the ears and tail. Does anyone know where to hire some?"

"On my end, I heard that they enjoy bringing pieces of their culture to life in our world""Hell no! Don't you know, Salamandia? One of them, bringing a piece of their culture, is what led to Aesther turning into a republic. I refuse to allow otherworlders to do any of that crap. That single act was a worse historical evil than everything Beelmart ever did, times eleven!"

"... You slaughter people for spells, Ergonip" Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"What? Are mages not allowed to cast spells? They would be honoured to know that I fused their corpses with that of beasts just to see if I could make it work. Honoured, I say! I bet they are in the afterlife, bragging about getting killed by me""Definitely not, don't you eat people's souls and all? How are they in the afterlife?"

"I mean, surely their soul goes somewhere after I eat it, right? They are certainly in an afterlife, somewhere…"

"Should I brin–bring them out?" The people around the table looked at one another for a few moments, seemingly coming to a decision in silence.

"Go ahead" The skeleton spoke up, and I thus went ahead and pulled Kevin Baker and Daniel Williams out of the Gravescape. They were confused and disoriented for a few moments, but quickly panicked, as from their perspective, the room was filled with monsters. Salamandia stood up on her elevated chair and spread her short arms wide.

"Welcome to the organisation, boys! First rule: If you feel like sharing a new method of governance, do not""What the…"

"Where the hell are we, and why is there a little girl?!" Sahhi's expression dropped instantly. Even her bodyguards took a step back from her as if afraid for their safety.

"I propose that we only keep one of them""Don't be silly, Salamandia. It was just a fork of the tongue. He didn't mean it as in you look like a little girl. He was just surprised by how short you are and certainly blinded by your good looks, leading him to say something he didn't mean aloud, right? Right?!"

"Ah uh… Yes! Yes, of course! Actually, now that I actually take the time to look more closely, it is obvious that she is a young, but grown woman""Mmh… I guess he has good survival instincts…" She sat back down as Williams wiped the sweat off his forehead. I should have seen it coming that he would blurt something like this out. He has a certain talent for running his mouth at the worst possible time, but he was also quite good at landing back on his feet after committing a blunder.

"Where… Where are we, and who are you people?" Baker had his halberd in hand as he asked this question.

"There's no need to worry. You were rescued successfully by your instructor. You are here to be protected from the System Fundamentalists who originally abducted you. Unfortunately, she ran into trouble trying to save the last one of your group, and she is currently busy dealing with it… Do not fret, though. You can trust me and everyone else here" Leou spoke up and then proceeded to smile brightly.

"I am your instructor's girlfriend, by the way" There was an array of reactions across the room. Most didn't seem to care, but others…

"I fucking knew it. I could smell it…" Salamandia muttered to herself, Ergonip nodded in approval as though he had been part of the same school of thought as Nara and Xlown, Baker was just a little bit confused and surprised, while Williams stepped back as though dazed by the revelation.

"Miss Maya's girlfriend is a snow leopard woman covered in fur from head to toe? Man… It was obvious that she liked girls, but…" Alright, so it was obvious to everyone but me? Even the blind could figure it out with just a glance Let's not exaggerate… Millikilli flapped her wings and flew closer to the two otherworlders.

"Follow me, I'll show you the way to your new homes" They were quite obviously creeped out by the rose-headed fairy, but did follow her without question. The ambience inside the room was certainly quite unusual, especially when coupled with the atypical individuals inside. Not just the people sitting around the table, but their followers as well. Sahhi's two bodyguards were definitely intimidating presences, and since they didn't realise that I was their instructor since I was in my 'Base Form'.

They were quite frightened by me as a result. Regardless, I had successfully accomplished my mission. I had even done more than had been asked of me. Only one otherworlder had been expected, but I brought two.

"You are definitely the best agent we've had in a very long time, Maya–If that's even your real name… All of the missions you took on were completed splendidly. I already expected you to succeed on this one as well, so I went ahead and prepared this for you" The skeleton reached into a bag fastened around his waist, and brought out a large sphere that only barely fit in his bony hand. I immediately felt compelled to devour it, but I restrained myself for now.

"You are a fairly mysterious being, I can tell that you have quite a lot of quote-on-quote 'affinities'. Curses, ghosts, steel, machines, nightmares… I wasn't quite certain which of those affinities I should focus on when trying to figure out a good reward for you, but considering that your body is that of a machine. I figured that it should be the thing I pay attention to" He held the orb up.

"This is something I created using a special kind of steel that is known to be highly beneficial to creatures with an affinity for steel, but in the creation process, I built a mechanism inside and then proceeded to enchant and infuse it. In the end, I used rule magic to somewhat modify the…

Let's say 'parameters' of the item, so that it would lose its steel attribute, and move toward the concept of machines""It is rather difficult to explain, but in short, this should stimulate your machine side to a great extent" He gave me the orb and then crossed his arms.

"So, you and Leou are a thing, heh? Can I be invited to the marriage? Can I be the best man?"

"Aren't you supposed not to appear in public?"

"Come on, I just need to replace someone's bones, and I'll have a nice disguise. I do it all the time, and no one has ever noticed a thing""Huh… We'll think about you""Nice" The meeting came to an end rather quickly. These people weren't the sort to drag things out. After we warped back to the tower, I helped the dizzy and nauseous Leou get to her room before I headed down into the basement area of the tower, inspecting the sphere Ergonip gave me.

This is quite the treasure, but whatever effect it might have is something I can not predict in the least. It will definitely be beneficial, though Mmh… I looked at the sphere and placed it in my maw, crushing it between my teeth as a rush coursed through my body. Ah… What sweet suffering…