"Bartender, I told yer to bring the strongest liquor yer have!" a woman's frustrated voice echoed in the tavern that was bustling and filled with people even this early in the day. Said woman was a tall beauty wearing a very risqué dress that could barely contain her cleavage.
"I-I'm sorry for disappointing you, Milady but the Fragrant Virgin wine is the strongest we have at the mont... And you drank four bottles of it already... If it would please you, I can arrange a carriage to take you to one of the establishnts in the upper city that sell a stronger—"
"Tch, ai'm s'posed to travel all a way to da upper city just to get drunk!? Ye're useless!"
"Eek, I'm sorry..."
There were several mugs and empty bottles sitting next to her but no one else at the front table so it definitely looked as if she drank all that alcohol by herself. Instead of sitting next to her to appreciate her beauty upfront, the people in the inn decided to sit nearby where they could get a good look at her backside. She had an hourglass figure many won would envy. The chair she was sitting on could barely contain her behind.
On top of her gifted body, the dress she wore exuded sex appeal, showing off areas most won would feel uncomfortable exposing to so many eyes. Her back was bare all the way to her tailbone but there was a glimpse of her "crack" if she was sitting in the right position. This woman truly did not care for onlookers. There were a few wardrobe malfunctions when she ca to drink here in the past and it seems she hasn't learned her lesson.
The door to the tavern opened at that mont.
"W-Wha—Is that..." the bartender suddenly froze when he was about to greet the custor.
The tavern beca unusually silent. The only thing Mian could here was the sound of heavy boots. It was heading straight for her.
Sothing hit the table, right next to her. She glanced at it, noticing that it was a jug of so kind. A strong sll radiated from it.
"—I was able to get one of the strongest liquor this city ahs to offer just at the last mont."
"You...?" hearing that voice, she turned to look at the source.
Nova, who was dressed in all black.
"...Hic, should yer not be at the palace?"
"I told the nobles I needed so rest and will be there tonight. It's not evening yet so I figured why not co to the tavern and get drunk?"
"Pssh... Hic..." she shrugged off that excuse before looking at the jug of liquor, "Who'se is this four?"
"I brought it for you. I heard you're quite the drinker and demand only the best liquor."
"Hmph, yer not trying to drug and rape , are yer?"
"What kind of blunt accusation is that... Surely you expected ?" he slid the bottle of wine over to her before opening it. Its suffocating scent instantly spread even stronger than before, making Mian's nose wiggle.
"Tch!" the beauty swiped the bottle and stood up, "Lesh talk in private because-cause I stick out too much in this pathetic tavern that don't even sell the best wine!" Mian shouted over her shoulder.
Another "I'm sorry..." echoed from sowhere, sounding disheartened but happy at the money made from the sales regardless.
**
"Fushaaaaaah!" Mian sighed in ecstasy like an old man who just got back from a long shift and drank so ale for the first ti today.
'What kind of sound is that...'
Her legs were spread so wide that Arnold could see her lace panties.
"Ugh, the wine I drank at the tavern is starting to wear off. This liquor is perfect!"
"Where did that elegance you so falsely display to the people go? You're drinking straight from the bottle and getting your lipstick all over it."
"Humph, why do I need to care about what yer think of , huma—hck! Geh, my stomach ish burning!" she groaned while trying to reach out to him.
"How is the wine not falling through your body..."
"Really, that's your question!? Not how you... you were able to touch during the tournant!? cough, cough What the hell did yer bring ...!"
"There's that too."
"Hmph, if you massage big sis' feet then I might give yer a hint." Saying so, she turned her body to face Arnold and took off her heels before putting her feet in his lap. Despite being one of the strongest NPCs in this city, she still had the delicate feet of a sheltered maiden.
'Her body is solid again. I need to know what this ability is.' Since his curiosity got the best of him, he decided to do as she says.
"Fufufufu." Mian Xi chuckled when Arnold grabbed her feet and began to gently, and amateurishly, massage them.
It was tis like these that he had to throw his pride aside and just do what was requested of him.
"Oh, you're quite skilled~ I can feel the tension being released from my feet~" she purred, "Do you give your wives massages as well?"
"I'm not married to anyone."
Yet, that is.
"Lovers?"
"Why do you care?"
Mian leaned forward, her breasts squishing on her knees. He could sll the stink of alcohol on her breath, "I'd feel guilty about wanting a young stud to fool around with, not knowing if his lovers see him as faithful. I haven't been with anyone in quite a while, you know?" her long fingernails trailed over her leg, pulling up her skirt.
"No thanks."
'Rejected that quickly!? Is this boy a eunuch!?' a devilish thought then manifested in her mind, 'Let check then.'
"...What are you doing?" Arnold asked when he felt her right foot rubbing his crotch.
"So, it's still there, hm? But why won't it get hard—eek!" when she looked at his face, she noticed his icy-cold gaze that sent a chill down her spine. It seems he wasn't the kind who likes being teased.
She cleared her throat and looked away, "On second thought, I will look for nightly pleasures at the appropriate establishnts."
"...Why did you participate in the tournants?" still massaging her feet, he changed the subject.
"Curious, are you? Is loving money not enough of an answer?"
"If you don't want to tell , it's fine. I'm just making light conversation because this silence bores ."
"How do you intend to gain my trust then, stud? Rubbing my aching feet aren't enough, you know? I only promised a hint to my abilities, not my entire origin."
'Origin huh? Anyone else would wonder what's so special about her origin when she's a human just like them.'
Arnold took a glance at her status again, noticing the "demihuman" term next to Race. He didn't pay attention to this during his earlier observations since her core stats, class and level were what he wanted to see.
What kind of demihuman is she exactly? He didn't notice a tail or ears on top of her head.
"If you just tell what you want, I can promise to get it done depending on what it is."
"Saying sothing so bold—you almost made fall for you." She chuckled softly, "Can you revive the souls that roam the Spirit Realm?"
"...Yokais?"
She blinked blankly.
"Ah... I didn't expect you to know what I ant... No one in this nation, no, the whole continent has ever heard of Yokais. They know about the wandering dead souls in the Spirit Realm, of course, but they don't know what souls they are since all souls are ant to go to the River of Souls and not the land of the Spirit King."
"Are you a yokai then?"
"I am. Fine, here's the hint: my abilities are tied to my species as a Yokai."
"Were you going to be this specific if I didn't figure out what you ant before?"
"Nope~"
"Haaa..." Arnold pushed her legs off his lap and stood up.
"Hey, why did you stop rubbing my feet! I was enjoying that!"
Several illusions suddenly appeared around him, all of them resembling him.
"E-Eh? I didn't know you could do this... D-Does this an you want to tag team in be—"
"Stop your ridiculous thoughts."
In any case, there was no doubt his lifeforce was sucked out of him every ti she spawned a clone. But there weren't any visual indicators to tell him this like say a magic circle or string of energy that connects her to his body.
Even Warrior Sense couldn't pick it up.
"Since I can already use clones of my own, I should be able to use your martial skill that allows you multiply your strength."
"Hmmm~" Mian Xi put on her heels before standing up, "Do you know that using another person's lifeforce is like poison? It's like drinking their blood, urine and other bodily fluids. I make it part of my body to then replace the energy I spent on my afterimages. This isn't an ability I learnt back at ho, rather it's sothing I had to learn on my own since I would lose my humanoid form if I use too much lifeforce."
"What do you look like without this..." he looked her body up and down, "...human body?"
rely standing there, she exuded sex appeal through her expression and seductive body. Her dress just enhanced that sex appeal.
"Why would I show a stranger that? Aren't you happy with what I told you so far?" she folded her arms, pushing her chest up intentionally. It seems this woman likes showing off her body. Any man would shudder at the thought that this goddess of a woman's true body was that of a hunched back, long nose, green-skinned hag flying on a ball. Such Yokais exist.
"Maybe we can help each other. You asked —rather sarcastically—if I can revive the souls that roam the Spirit Realm. And now that you've revealed you're a Yokai, how about I give you an honest answer?"
"...What?"
"You know what? Forget it." His clones vanished and he turned around, "What I want from you isn't equal to what I know."
"W-Wait! What do you know!?" she turned into a cloud of smoke and appeared in front of him instantly, "Us Yokais can tell when humans lie because of the spiritual connection between our species. Your words were by no ans a way to deceive through empty rhetoric!"
Her teasing and disinterested deanor vanished as if she was rely putting up an act earlier.
"Since when does a Yokai care for its family?"
Mian's shoulders jerked up.
Yokais are unfeeling. They do not despise or love.
They do not hate humans who rape or murder their kind. They are even incapable of exacting revenge.
Everything they do is calculated or influenced by what they learned from other creatures. Like she said, their most powerful connection is to humans so they are capable of feeling love if they observe humans that are in love.
The relationship between Yokais and mortals is like canvas and paint.
"...If you know about my people then you already know the answer to that." She lowered her head, "I've been living among humans for 80 years. A few years after losing my family to the plague spread by the Dark Forces, I did not once reminisce or miss them. I went on my life as if I was unaffected by what happened to them. Since I was the last purebreed of my kind after my parents, and not the product of human to Yokai reproduction, I could withstand the plague."
Plague? No, she must've ant the Dark Forces itself is like poison to them. Arnold knows that spirits can't survive inside the Dark Forces' toxic fus.
"But later down the line as I continued living among humans and helping them, I started feeling. I beca like you, a mortal being capable of emotions like love, desire, and hate."
"You should be aware that indulging in your spiritual connection to humans is—"
"Dangerous. I know. It's precisely because of my indulging that led to my defeat in our battle." She pulled her dress down from her shoulders, exposing her bare chest to him. From it, a grotesque mass of flesh erged, pulsating and writhing like a living tumor. "...You wanted to see the current . Well, here she is. This is what I've beco after years of... integration."
He studied her, his expression unreadable. "You're becoming like us."
"Yes." She closed her eyes, the mass retracting into her body. Adjusting her dress, she continued, "I fear what will happen if I enter the Spirit Realm like this. It's uncharted territory for soone like —soone who isn't fully Yokai anymore. But staying here... this world is suffocating. It's a prison for my kind."
Her voice wavered, but she quickly steadied herself. "I thought of passing down our martial arts to humans, creating a sect to preserve what's left of my people's legacy. But our techniques require discipline—true discipline."
They will require the humans to be conditioned killers who don't bat an eye at suffering and trauma. They should not love, hate, desire or have ambitions. This is what martial arts was supposed to be but certain Yokais took these martial arts and changed it entirely, becoming divine beings the humans of this world worship. Mian was uncertain if this was a good or bad thing for both humans or Yokais. Humans can prosper despite the power existing but the recent conflict started by Ko Johun reminded her of what such power is capable of.
"The tournant was both to advertise my abilities and to make the money required to open my own training facilities and start my own sect. But the emperor won't allow new sects in his empire if they don't bow down to him, essentially controlling all martial arts that are studied."
Banning independent sects from ever forming is usually a bad thing since protests from the populace are bound to happen. But the one who bans these sects is soone who fought and won against armies in a war. No one would risk taking him on.
"It also doesn't help that Ko is one of the few who knows what I am and is using it to his advantage."
"How?"
"There was a condition in the contract he presented to a few days ago. He wants to know if I could go to the River of Souls and retrieve sothing precious, as he described it, for him."
"Hmm... It's possible for you to do that since Yokai can naturally jump realms through ancient magic. But..."
"The Death God doesn't like visitors." She finished what he was going to say.
"Not just that, you'd need to go into a river that's a million lightyears long."
"Now you see why I'm unsure of where to go from here. Simply leaving this world might be the answer but I grew up here and... there are humans I care about here as well." Noticing his narrowed eyes, she continued, "I know what you're thinking but living among humans—"
"You don't need to explain yourself to . I don't care about anything other than your martial arts."
She pouted, her lips jutting out in a theatrical display before her expression softened into a coy smile, her eyes half-lidded. "If only there was a reliable, strong stud to guide down the path I need to take. I guess n aren't cut out to lead, after all~" She sighed with exaggerated lancholy, her voice a deeper, more mature tone.
"Pathetic that a hag like you can't make decisions without a man holding your hand."
A vein throbbed on her temple as her pout turned into a glare. "I am only 336 years old! That's young for my people!"
"That's not young. That's ancient. You're basically prehistoric." He waved a dismissive hand, deliberately goading her.
"Don't you feel sad for !? I was expecting consolation!"
"Why would I? I barely know you."
"Forget what I said! You're not handso or a stud!" she harrumphed.
"This is a waste of my ti," he continued. "I have other matters to attend to. But the next ti we et, don't expect to co on so gently."
"Guh! This isn't how it's supposed to go!" she snapped, stomping her foot. "Human novels say a handso young man is supposed to save the damsel in distress!"
"The damsel in distress should also give the handso young man a reward for his efforts," he countered with a smirk.
Her cheeks flushed as she pointed an accusing finger at him. "Y-You're evil! You expect helpless won to—gulp—give their bodies as thanks?! Where is your virtuous heart, you brute? You don't deserve the strength you have!!"
He pinched the bridge of his nose, resisting the urge to throw his shoe at her. "I was talking about money. Or maybe food. But thanks for letting know where your mind is. Succubus."
"Ugh!" she groaned, face burning red.
"If you're really not wasting my ti, then teach your martial art," he said, taking a seat on the edge of the roof, "and in return, I'll tell you how you can save your family."
Her breath hitched. "Eh?"
"You seem to have lost that fire from before. What's wrong? Oh, right—Ko and Funiji are going to be killed in a few days. No need to worry about your sect then. You can start as many sects and train as many young killers as you like after that."
Her eyes widened in shock. "They're going to be killed... By whom...?"
He remained silent.
She gritted her teeth when he didn't answer, a storm of emotions flashing across her face. "You're infuriating. How can one human be so annoying?"
"You're very expressive," he noted flatly. "Frankly, it's hard to tell which one's the real you."
Ronia, Ruria and Mian Xi—all three of them have two different identities that they don't want the world to know about.
Mian folded her arms and puffed out her chest. "Humph. Can't a girl express herself boldly without being accused of misleading others?"
"It's just an observation," he said with a shrug. "So, what's your answer?"
Her mind raced. He's actually willing to make a deal with her? Most mortals weren't like this.
'I expected him to be an arrogant fool who'd resort to brute force or threats. But he's just... determined, I suppose. He's powerful—probably stronger than even Father—but he hasn't shown any malice. Just curiosity. And that's... unsettling.'
But still, the fact that her beauty wasn't alone for him to help her irritated her. Many n would feel lucky just to touch her feet and co back lusting for more. She had used this to her benefit many tis in the past. This is a telltale sign that she was becoming more human than she would've liked. It will surely be her downfall, just like every other Yokai who thought they could live among humans and have a long life. But before that day cos, she wanted to at least be surrounded by the family she grew to love even in their absence.
She once thought it was in the best interest of all the realms to avoid letting her martial arts fall into his hands.
Yokais can judge humans simply by looking at the spiritual connection on the other side of the stick.
Her judgnt was simply—there's sothing sinister about him.
But at this very mont, she's prioritizing bringing her people back over what kind of monster she'll create if she hands this power over to soone of his strength.
"...I will do anything you command of ." Her playful deanor vanished as she bowed her head, replaced by a stoic, resolute expression.
"Wonderful." A smirk curled his lips. "In exchange for teaching your martial arts, I'll give you sothing even the gods covet—the na of the Spirit King."
"!"
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