6 days before the release of the Invidia Overlord.
Zaria’s PoV:
It’s the second day after Mira beat up the old man in that mano-on-womano fight of theirs. They’ve both recovered after the fight, and right now:
"I win." - Mira
"NOOOOOO!!" - Ling
Mira is beating him again. This ti in arm wrestling.
"Old man, your stocks are falling big-ti." - Zaria
"Ah, Zaria! Wait, you know I do not understand your modern words!" - Ling
"She ans you’re out of your pri." - Mira
The old man slumped to the floor, but she was right. You got to take more care of yourself, old man.
The place we’re in is the forr last floor of the old man’s Dungeon. The "mountain cave"-type Dungeon of the old man Ling used to be only three floors deep with an entrance close to the top of Loong Mountain, which is a specific mountain part of the Mystic Mountains mountain range. And I’m saying "mountain" too much here.
As for why it’s the "forr" last floor after the old man handed over the Dungeon, we got several new floors added to it. But since the furniture and traps and stuff stayed the sa as before this place changed owners, there was no need to relocate further into the mountain.
"No matter. Zaria, how did your search go?" - Mira
"Lots of goons." - Zaria
"...huh?" - Mira
"Zaria, you did look for the source of that black lake, did you not?" - Ling
Mira gave a puzzled look while the old man tried to reaffirm that I was doing my job right. Both of them are rude, but it cos as no surprise. I would react rudely myself if I wasn’t the one who investigated the mountains.
"*Cough*, well, as ordered, I looked for the source of the strange lake that’s surrounding that treasure tower we’re supposed to be raiding. And there’s no doubt that it’s the sa substance that’s in the Demonic Sea. I can’t forget that stuff even if I wanted to." - Zaria
I shivered a little just at the mory of that place. I can’t stand it. Just as much as I can’t understand why Garami’s been so fixated on it. She even built that..., what did she call it? A "radio tower"? Why did she build sothing like that down there anyway?
Ah, I have to continue with my report.
"According to Dejidem, who I got into contact with as part of the investigation, the Luxuria Demonic Sea does not have a "leakage" of any kind, aning that the lake has a different "source". Following so rivers connected to the lake, we discovered a strange "facility" of so kind. I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels...out of place with the rest of the mountain. Like soone suddenly teleported it there." - Zaria
"It’s that strange?" - Mira
"Yeah. It looks like it was suddenly forced into the mountainside one day. It’s a big block of a tallic building with lots of pipes, but the rocks and plants look like they were pushed aside to make space for this new construct." - Zaria
"Hmm, that does not sound like sothing I know. And I know most about these mountains by now," said the old man while stroking his beard.
"That’s what I thought. Because this building is the source of the Demonic Water. You know, if we have to give that stuff a na. And the clincher is this: the Karasuna clan has occupied the building and is guarding it against strangers." - Zaria
"Karasuna?" - Mira
"...the Karasuna clan. Those wretched yakuza...!" - Ling
Old man..., they’re better than most yakuza. I know, because I think I’ve been through the whole catalog. Unfortunately.
"Oh, the rumored debt collectors from the festival. Why’re they here?" - Mira
"That’s what I wanted to know, so I returned to report it." - Zaria
Or, Akai was the one who suggested that we would return. He’s always the smart (cowardly) one. He, Takai, and Furu went down to the towns to gather info before we split up, but they were fast on their feet. They should return in a day or two.
"Good call. Can’t believe that Zaria thought of that." - Mira
"It must have been Akai. He is the most brilliant kamaitachi that I have ever known." - Ling
These two...
"I would love to et this "Akai" then. Miss Mira, mind if you arrange a eting for ?"
And then soone ca from behind ! He’s got black hair, wears glasses, and is dressed in a butler-like outfit that uses equal parts of black and white instead of just black. He’s...
"Vice-chief Blunt?" - Zaria
"It is Blot. But you are not far off regarding the title," replied Blunt, Blot while pushing up his glasses. Ugh, I can’t stand this type of serious character...
"Didn’t you say you were busy striking a contract with the local governnt?" asked Mira. There was talk about that, yes. To use Wakoku as a place to escape to in case things went south.
"The negotiations are going swimmingly. Losing his powers due to the Yamatai festival did not seem to affect his decision-making abilities." - Blot
Oh yeah. I sorta forgot in the rush, but most of the elites in Wakoku’s governnt had obtained skills from that fake festival. Now with the festival a thing of the past, the winners should be weakened from suddenly losing their skills.
From the corner of my eyes, I could see the old man breathe out relief. I’m with him on that. It’s good to know that this country’s not ending because the shogun died.
"We are soon to complete the contract, but they ca with a strange condition before signing it." - Blot
"And that’s what? Nullifying that stupid promise Noire said she forced onto that oni-princess?" - Mira
"That one is already included in the contract, nor is it sothing weird to ask about." - Blot
Did Noire do sothing with the princess?
"The shogun asked to present miss Mira for him." - Blot
"Why ?" - Mira
"You are technically one of the winners of the final Yamatai festival, so he wanted to congratulate you." - Blot
Ohh! My best friend has beco a celebrity-!
"The real reason is probably to ask you to stop hunting for the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi though." - Blot
...eh? Kusanagi..., that lost national treasure? Eh?
"Hey, what is the aning of this?! What are you planning on doing with this country’s long-lost treasure!?" - Ling
"Calm down! It’s just one sword, strong or not. Is it worth getting all worked up over?" - Mira
"No. From the reports I have about your group, I would say that you are the last person to be allowed to say such a line," said Blot while pushing up his glasses again so that the light reflects in them and makes it impossible to see his eyes. He’s serious...
"Fine, FINE! I’ll go and agree with those geezers! The sole "clue" we found left us clueless anyway." - Mira
Phew. Score one for Wakoku.
"In that case, miss Mira will co with . Miss Zaria, may I ask that you scout ahead this mysterious building for us while we are gone? Having a clear understanding of the terrain and the enemies will help imnsely if we need to strike this "facility" you speak of." -Blot
"More sneaking? Fine with !" - Zaria
"That is good to hear. Now, just to confirm, but there were no other irregularities in your search?" - Blot
"Hmm..., there were so things. We spotted so gigantic footsteps here and there, plus so of the trees were pushed aside as if so gigantic snake had passed by. And not to forget about the vicious claw marks we found! And they seed to be from three different sources! Don’t ask who they ca from, because I’m clueless." - Zaria
Blot listened to my report with a serious expression before turning over to the old man who said: "I have no idea either". Huh? The old man doesn’t know?
"It seems that there are so immigrants to these mountains." - Blot
"Other than us. And they sound like bad news." - Mira
"Yes. Mister Ling? I am sorry to ask a newcor like you to work on such an important mission right after you joined, but could you-" - Blot
"Relax. I am just a retired old Loong. No need to act all formal with ." - Ling
"That is great to hear. Then, Ling? Mind looking into the sources of these disturbing tracks?" - Blot
"Wha-hahaha! No sweat! I don’t like the idea of strangers ssing around on my mountain anyway, so it’s a pleasure!" - Ling
The old man and the vice-chief are getting along...
"However, will this territory be fine if we all leave for our respective tasks?" - Blot
"No problems there. This place is filled with Smoke Snakes and Lesser Loongs, plus the other monsters that arrive from the other Damavand territories." - Mira
"Oh, you only summoned two types of monsters in your Dungeon?" - Blot
"Anything more would be too big of a ss to keep track of. I am a simple Loong." - Ling
"No, no. I do not find fault in you for doing so. Quite the contrary. Garami had to overcomplicate the spawnable monsters in her territory to the point of looking at the cost of the potential workforce we could take from the Dungeons gave an incredible headache, and-" - Blot
And now they’re talking about so big-league stuff that I can’t keep up with. Is Blot overworked? That ti when he ca to file a complaint to the boss, he looked like an incarnation of silent rage. *Brr*, that ti was scary.
The boss, however, fixed that by creating a list of monsters for each attribute Damavand had. Then she could just assign one or two attributes to a Dungeon and have the listed monsters spawn in that place.
Not sure about the detail, but I think the boss chose 5 monsters, one that acts as a leader and 4 subordinates. Plus 1 pre-evolved monster for each racial rank below the selected ones. Since most of the highest ranks that can be spawned in Damavand are D-ranks at the mont, one attribute provides..., 20 different monsters, I guess? Around that.
But why didn’t the boss use that idea from the start!? She even forced all of us to work on those monster groups even when it was declined just a few weeks after all that hard work!
"Hey, Blot? I’m ready," said Mira all of a sudden, having packed her stuff into an item bag and waiting for the vice-chief.
"Oh, excuse . It seems that I forgot about the ti. Ling, I hope we can speak again." - Blot
"Wha-hahaha! The pleasure’s on my side, youngling!" - Ling
"Very well. And I will see that the exceptional Loong you ntioned will be granted its na anew when Garami is available again. Ta-ta." - Blot
After saying farewell, Blot created a "door" of so kind and went in along with Mira. A teleport-door? That’s handy.
I said goodbye to the old man who went out to look for the creatures leaving those strange marks. Leaving with the task of stalking the Karasunas...
Hold on. If soone like the vice-chief goes on a rampage against the yakuza, would the latter group survive? I an, the vice chief doesn’t look like an easy target, so..., won’t they be destroyed? What about my debt!? How am I supposed to pay them back if they’re dead? The contract isn’t broken just because one of the parties goes five feet under!
Hey, I got it! I’ll just capture those bastards! Then they’ll be in debt to for once, and this show of rcy may even get my debt erased! Mhmm, let’s go with that! I have the strongest backup called "Damavand" with , so I can’t fail! Or so I think. It’s not like the "Wiggly" will appear here! A-hahahaha!!
...he won’t appear, right? That way-scarier-than-even-Filyn bastard...?
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