Polymath Redux – To the lady and gentlemen, a Hellgana style greetings to you!
Chapter VIII
“Master, was there a need to steal the purse?”
Irina didn’t exactly try to question her master’s motivations, she was only slightly curious as to why he did. In the end she didn’t even care if her master wanted to bring ruin to the country she would still follow him.
“Hmm? Well, I just wanted to compare some coins. Whether it was possible to use [Hellgana] currency in this world.”
Indeed, though Mordred was rich that was all in [Hellgana] currency, while it wasn’t meaningless to have them because they were ‘gold’, and ‘gold’ could always be useful, it was a little less irritating if he could just use them outright. While that was indeed the primary reason why he stole the girl’s wallet there was a second reason, and that was because he was rather irked that someone even dared to try steal something of his.
It would’ve been impossible regardless because he kept everything in his [inventory] which only he could access, but he still wasn’t happy. Mordred convinced himself that this was only the right decision because it would be a valuable lesson for the busy bee who had very slipper hands.
“I see, as expected of master to have such foresight. Forgive my ignorance.”
Mordred smiled wryly at her.
“I’m not mad or anything so you don’t have to apologize.”
“You are most kind, my master.”
In the end she wouldn’t budge with that attitude towards him, though Mordred wasn’t particularly displeased with that way of treatment either. Even back in [Hellgana] there were many who treated him like a god and idolized him for his power, so he was used to such treatment. To have someone who would do anything for you was a little exhilarating on its own as well, most likely if he asked she would also… in any case Mordred took out a small golden coin from his [inventory].
In the end he was able to confirm that all of the gold he had looked exactly the same as the gold of this country, or rather to him it was that this country’s gold looked exactly the same as [Hellgana’s] gold. If that was the case he was considerably rich, to the point where he could probably buy up this entire continent with gold if he wanted to but he couldn’t do that because that would break the economy.
But with this confirmed he thought of something good.
…
[Vardis Inn]
Mordred had finally found a suitable place to lodge for the night, it wasn’t anything too fancy or shabby, in fact it was completely empty. There were no other customers other then themselves. After one look at the woman at the counter he could understand why that may have been the case.
From simply looks alone she would be considered a ‘beauty’ but that wasn’t the point, she had two horns to the side of her face, one of them were broken off. It looked painful just from a mere glance. Her hair was a deep purple and though it was impossible to see for normal people, Mordred could tell that underneath she was hiding some awfully hideous scars and bruises.
She was no human, she was most likely a ‘demon’. Discrimination, perhaps? After all they were at war with the demons at the center continent, ‘Great Void’. Though Mordred couldn’t really care less about any of that, he merely found the inn to be suitable because of its remote location and how hidden away it was at the back of the city.
The woman at the counter stared at him nervously as he and Irina approached the counter. To her Mordred’s presence was a first time that someone had approached her without malignant intents though whether that was true or not was yet to be seen, thus she continued to observe him for now, forgetting that he was a customer.
“H… hello. W… why have you come?”
That was the first thing she asked him, which was a fairly confusing greeting or so Mordred thought.
“This… is an inn right?”
“Oh, y… yes that’s right! This is an inn…”
As though she herself had forgotten what kind of place she was running, she shouted out. There was clear nervousness in her voice that Mordred had picked up but proceeded to continue on with the exchange.
“Right, then I suppose a few nights would do.”
He told the woman that they would stay here for a few nights but she merely stared back at him blankly.
“…”
Considering the lack of patrons at the beginning, Mordred wasn’t really surprised that this was the matron’s reply but he still felt a little crept out by her unblinking stare.
“…”
“You want to stay?”
“Yes?”
“Here?!”
“Yes?”
“Why?”
Why? That… Mordred didn’t really know how to answer that. Perhaps to this particular inn it was.
“Because I have money? And you’re operating an inn?”
“…”
“…”
“You’re not scared?”
‘Demons’ were usually feared or hated by the people in such stories, their fiendish appearance aside, they were far stronger than the average person, at least that’s what Mordred had assumed. It was the old saying, ‘people fear what they don’t understand’, and just like how normal people didn’t fear ants, Mordred didn’t fear the Matron at all.
In fact Mordred had the aesthetic sensibilities of a 12 year old and was in the process of thought that demons were ‘cool’ and evil was ‘awesome’. Of course he didn’t take it seriously but things like those pleased his eye more.
“You won’t start attacking me right?”
Mordred asked, though he knew very well that even if she did there wasn’t any problem.
“No!”
“Then there’s no reason to be scared.”
“Ah… ahahaha… I see, you’re a weird one.”
The matron was a little teary eyed but she had a clear smile on her face.
“Well, I won’t deny that I’m a little different from normal people.”
“Sorry… we’d be more than happy to have you stay a few nights. My name is Rena Vardis. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Mordred, so how much for a few nights?”
“About 7 silver coins should do.”
“Silver…”
Mordred rummaged through his [inventory] and took out silver coins, for the most part [Hellgana] and this world used similar systems as in currency exchange rates.
“Thanks for the business, you can use any room on the upper floors.”
Rena told them with a refreshing smile.
“Thanks.”
Without much to add to the conversation Mordred left for upstairs to the dismay of Rena. She had wanted to talk with them a little more as they were the first friendly face that she had seen in a while. However since they were going to stay a few days she decided it was a good occasion and went to the kitchen to prepare the food.
…
“Irina, you’ve been keeping track of our little thief right?”
“Yes, currently she has been apprehended by two criminals. She is unlikely to last long from the looks of it.”
[Dragon Eye], it was a skill that allowed Irina to mark a person and constantly have an eye on her as long as it was within a 1km radius. In the endgame dungeon the Crimson Dragon Lord would use this skill to mark a player to signify that she was going to use an ‘instant-death’ skill to prepare the raid party. Needless to say this skill worked through any stealth skills the player used.
The tone of response Irina gave was cold, as though she didn’t really care about what happened to the girl. That was understandable however, because her internal settings within [Hellgana] was that she despised humans in general. Which was also why when she came out as an event prize, most people interpreted her actions as a ‘tsundere’.
“Splendid, go save her. She’ll be quite useful with her… ‘slippery’ hands.”
Mordred said as he tossed her the purse he took. She was meant to return it, of course all of the money inside the purse was already removed, this was more of ‘mark’ than ‘returning to the owner’. An empty purse for Yda meant that she would have to ‘work’.
“I hear and obey.”
With those words the Crimson Dragon Lord disappeared as quickly as the wind. It was similar in effect to Mordred’s [blink] ability, only in her case it was more akin to pure speed instead of instant teleportation.
…
“Mother…”
Yda called out weakly. She was to lose her purity in such a place.
She wasn’t exactly experienced in such matters, but this definitely wasn’t how she wanted to ‘experience’ it. However even more so than that, the scariest thing was the maddened look on their faces, distorted with lust and insanity, they were going green just trying to think of how they were going to defile her.
“Don’t worry darling, we’ll go slowly. We need to draw this out for the entire night after all. Before we sell ya to the slave house that is. Hehehe.”
“Nooo!!”
As the man was about to lay upon her something suddenly pierced through his abdomen. A hand… a hand?! As the man finally realized what was going on he started to panic and scream out loudly but due to the isolated position of the alley no one could hear him. The other man could only stare in abject horror as his companion was dying.
It was Irina.
“Wha!!”
The hand was retracted and the man fell to the floor. He didn’t even attempt to confirm what it was that pierced him, he just slowly started to crawl away. However Irina didn’t feel like letting the man go, she drew her sword and decapitated him, killing him instantly.
“Urghhh!”
The man’s head rolled on the floor like a disgusting soccer ball. Its unblinking eyes staring down onto the dirt; dying as he had lived, groveling on the floor till his last breath.
“Y-You bitch! What did you do that for?!”
The criminal’s partner shouted out as he drew his sword, it was crude and obviously no match for Irina’s blood soaked crimson blade. Though it was a great sword she had preferred to hold it and use it as a one handed blade. She drew closer, ‘tap, tap, tap’ the sound of her heeled greaves tapping against the floor accentuated the tense atmosphere and the man had finally realized, he was stunned. He couldn’t move due to fear.
He was going to die here, though he couldn’t move any other parts of his body he found that he could feel his tears running down the sides of his face. Death, his companion just died and now it was his turn.
Before the man knew it, he was already dead. Slashed down and his torso cut cleanly in half. Gurgling on his own blood in his final minutes.
Irina’s sword, stained in blood started to absorb the liquid, glowing ever so menacingly red as it did.
“Human… I hate, Humans.”
Irina whispered under her breath and Yda certainly heard those words. She didn’t exactly know what Irina was but she knew enough that she wasn’t a human. Was her turn coming? Was she going to die in this cold and desolate alley like those men? She didn’t want that, no one would.
Yda felt even more fear than she did when she was about to be tarnished. Irina slowly walked up to Yda and stared her down with a menacing glare, as though she was just trash compared to Irina. She regret even ever thinking about trying to steal from this woman, she regretted every bit of it.
“Human… my master summons you, you do not have any right to refuse. Even attempt to escape and I will cut you down on the spot.”
As said as she pointed the glowing red blade to her neck. She could feel an intense pressure coming off from the blade alone, she could not disobey if she wanted to live. She was to see this demon’s master, that would mean the armored knight she saw before. If he was able to tame such a ferocious monster, what kind of demon was the master?
Irina withdrew her blade and instead tossed her something… it was Yda’s wallet! But all of the contents were emptied out. ‘How horrible’ she thought, but in truth she was just getting back what she deserved.
With tears blurring her vision she nodded anxiously and did as she was told.
…
There was a knock on the door.
“Master, it’s Irina. I’ve brought the prisoner.”
Upon hearing the word ‘prisoner’ a chill went down Yda’s back. To her right now, the situation was worse than when she was about to be defiled; ‘out of frying pan and into the fire’ as they say. She was about to meet this monster’s master.
“The door’s open.”
With a slight creaking sound the wooden doors open and the two came in. Sitting on the bed was an arrogant expression was the man who Yda tried to steal from earlier. He had the same fishy smile plastered all over his face, she felt a deafening sickness crawl from within her.
Irina pushed her down to make Yda kneel on the floor, she felt that looking down on her master was unforgivable.
“Now Irina, you don’t have to treat her so rashly, she’ll be working with us from now on. So then, it’s nice to finally meet you again, little bird with slippery hands.”
Yda realized that the man had known about her attempted robbery, she gulped audibly as she didn’t know what kind of punishment would befall her.
“S… so you went through my purse. Don’t you have any shame to look through a lady’s purse?”
Mordred didn’t break his trademark false smile, but Irina’s glare was almost physically painful. She gave out a ‘how dare you talk to my master like that’ look.
“Forgive me if I don’t take what you say with any integrity.”
That was understandable, Yda was also a pickpocket.
“So… then what do you plan to do with me?”
She asked nervously.
“I was just in the midst of deciding about that but in the end I’ve decided to have you work for me a little. After all you’re fairly broke right now so you need a job right?”
He told her with a smile.
“You… never mind. I don’t have any right to refuse right?”
“You know very well.”
“Then… what exactly are you-“
Before she could finish, Mordred gestured her to stop.
“Come in.”
Mordred spoke and the wooden doors opened once more, this time entering the room was an exotic beauty with silky blonde hair and fair skin. It was Mordred’s [Alter: Appearance] [Doppelganger]. She smiled the same fishy and false smile towards Yda, from that point she knew something was going to go down, and she would be drawn to it without her consent.
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