Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, any organization has things such as unspoken agreements and customs. After a long time, there are some cases where they are forgotten--but usually they never disappear without massive changes forcing it.”

 

“Then, you won’t hand it over, no matter what?”

 

“Sorry. I won’t comply even if you were an upper-ranked noble--or the King himself. It’s impossible even if you wanted to exchange it with the lost Gjallarhorn, the World Tree’s branch, or Orichalcum armour” Geryl, the Crimson Noble said this while looking apologetic.

 

That, well, those items were rather specific…All of which I could happily trade for the orb, since I had had several hundred branches, could make an unlimited number of fully-functioning copies of Gjallarhorn, and Orichalcum, while not quite as numerous, is very easy…now.

 

The Guildmistress got up from her chair and walked over behind me, she had been silent during the whole conversation. With a roll of her eyes, she crouched beside a chair and draped a shapely arm over my shoulders, “Give it up--it’s an absolute custom that the Ancient King Yamato established.”

 

When I met her eyes, she give an impish grin--before raising, making sure to slap the back of my head in the process, “Now, prepare to understand some of the history of the wise, Ancient King Yamato. I guess it was about 600 years ago, during the height of the reign of the Ancient King--there was a big uproar among the Kingdom’s Retainers, which could have divided the entire Kingdom; this was due to the Legendary Artifact that the Floor-master dropped.”

 

The Guildmistress paused, picking up her almost ever-present cup of alcohol and took a swig, “Yamato, who couldn’t stand it any longer, made one rule--”

 

She spoke for quite a while, so I will summarize the information: first, the people who defeat the floor-master have to present all the items that they’ve acquired to the King. And then, except for one item which their representatives can select, all of the items are exhibited in an auction sponsored by the King.

 

Any citizens of the Kingdom can participate in the auction, as long as they can afford the registration fee. However, since the fee is 10 gold per person, only the wealthy and merchants usually participate.

 

90% of the money collected in the auction will be granted as a reward to the Adventurers, and they will get the item that they chose in front of the King.

 

“If you were a normal Adventurer, I would have turned this talk down before it even made it this far--but you’re interesting…” She leaned forwards, her cheeks slightly red from her drink, narrowing her eyes as she stared at me.

 

Geryl cleared his throat.

 

The Guildmistress leaned back with a laugh, “So, I especially asked Geryl-boy to have a talk with you.”

 

“Guildmaster, please stop calling me, Geryl-boy…” He asked with a roll of his eyes, though he blushed a bit and scratched at the back of his head--he didn’t seem to mind it that much.

 

This Guildmistress is quite wily, I know why she has the position--she is good at getting the male Adventurers attracted--I have the feeling that if I didn’t have the girls, I would have fallen for her tricks as well.

 

“So, Gerly, what did you choose as a reward?” I asked him.

 

He paused, clearly not wanting to reveal it, but glanced at the Guildmistress--who winked at him, then with a grin gestured for him to tell me.

 

“One of the Gift Orbs, of course.” He answered with a sigh and roll of his eyes.

 

“Which one?”

 

“The Poison Resistance.” He looked at me with a strange look in his eyes, probably because I relaxed slightly when I heard his words.

 

“I see, so you’re aiming for the Light Magic Orb, aren’t you?” He asked, looking a lot more open and friendly.

 

“The competition for Light Magic is expensive. Around 200 years ago, one of the Light Gift Orbs came up at an auction--it was won at the extraordinary price of 3,000 Gold Coins.”

 

“That’s amazing.”

 

I was being honest with my words, since 5 gold coins could allow a normal family live for half a year; and a noble rarely spent more than 200 gold coins in a year, even with overly-extravagant Young Masters.

 

I thanked Geryl for agreeing to meet me, and presented a liquor called Wicked Firewater to the Guildmistress, who had arranged the meeting. This is a liquor that I acquired from Ga Hou the Orc, and it’s strong enough to make a Dwarf drunk after only a mug--I had a drinking party with Mara, to test it…She is much more confident when drunk, I don’t think any of the girls had sleep that night, and it was the little Dwarf’s idea--with Arisa’s help coming up with the plan.

 

The Guildmistress swayed after taking a deep sniff of the liquor.

 

She invited me to drink with her this afternoon, I said that I would think about it; she agreed not to drink the liquor until then--when I asked her, she winked and laughed boisterously. Sometimes her gestures don’t add up.

 

***

Next, I went to the Viceroy’s Mansion.

 

“Hmm, unfortunately, even as nobles--no, precisely because we’re nobles--you can’t violate the unwritten rule.” Marquis Ashinen warned me seriously.

 

Well, his tone is serious, but his expression…well, his eyes are glassy, and his breathing rapid--luckily, his lust-filled gaze isn’t directed towards me, but towards the nude statue of a handsome young man which I found, and brought with me.

 

I will suppress the memories of the Marquis running his fingers over the statue…

 

I had gotten advice from Toruma in the Duchy Capital as well, and I saw Sera--who looked very happy. I didn’t call out to her, since I was in disguise. She has been frequently sending letters; and she has been getting more open when talking. She has sent three letters this week, it’s quite cute.

 

I learned from pillow-talk with Arisa, as well as some coercion, which was her idea, that Sera had been sending letters to the girls asking about me. She also asked Arisa things which make it obvious she wants to join us--Arisa showed me a letter which was signed by all the girls saying that if Sera could ‘catch’ me, they would let her join their ‘Tek’s Girls’ Army’.

 

Apparently it took them a while to decide on the name, it was better than Lulu’s : ‘Tek’s Happy Girls Gathering’.

 

But I didn’t mind Arisa’s : ‘Tek’s Happy Harem’.

 

Liza and Nana really liked it, so did Tama and Pochi, since they all liked fighting--and would love to be considered my army apparently. Liza apparently had thought I was training the orphans to make an army--Arisa disabused her of that notion; I agreed with her choice, since I wouldn’t make a child army.

 

Sera, however, was different from Karina--who seems to be a poor correspondent, since she has only sent two letters since the time we arrived in Labyrinth City. But, according to something Nina said, Karina has been working very hard to convince her father to allow her to train in Labyrinth City.

 

***

Arisa and the other girls are running around the Upper-Stratum and Middle-Stratum, mastering their new equipment; which Mara spent a lot of time making--after she made each of them the same ‘Promise Band’ Orichalcum Hammer earrings.

 

Before I set off to talk to my contacts for information, I made sure to kill any enemies with instant death attacks, curses, strong poisons, and armour-penetration attacks--so there won’t be much danger.

 

Arisa’s new equipment has a special Magic Circuit that will cast a group Heal spell, followed by a Teleport spell, with me set as the destination target, as soon as she or any of the girls lose consciousness.

 

It’s fairly late in the afternoon, so I decided to check in on the girls.

 

Everyone seems to be fighting a Chimera of Scorpion and Spider.

 

Pochi makes full use of Flickering Movement to attack, and destroys four legs on one side of the eight-legged Monster--her afterimages look like split-bodies, it’s quite impressive.

 

Tama, who has, at some time, climbed onto the back of the Monster, swings her swords and stabs its eyes. They let out a ‘Pop!’ and a spray of goo.

 

Lulu fires her new smooth-bore rifle’s bullet into the screaming mouth of the Chimera, which Mia had wrenched open by causing the fluids in its mouth and face to expand rapidly.

 

The gun that Lulu is using is a rifle with a two-and-a-half meter long barrel, using Magic to create, amplify, and direct explosion--which propel bullets made from different substances depending on the circumstances--she has a special bag to hold all of them.

 

I made a Magic Circuit that makes it also function like a Rail-Gun, or MAC…or would it be MAR? Magnetically-Accelerated Rifle.

 

It’s a supersonic 50 Caliber Bullet, with Magic Circuits that direct the force, so, the gun has surprisingly little kick-back--allowing for rapid-fire, and incredible accuracy.

 

This gun is one of my favourite pieces of equipment--Mara made the base, I made the Magic Circles, Arisa and I worked on developing the Magic--Aze in her Demi-God High-Elf form even agreed to help; we spent hours discussing it.

 

“Tek.” The sharp-sighted Mia finds me first, rushing over and embracing me.

 

“Master!”

 

“Wilcome!”

 

Everyone rushes over, and I embrace them in turns.

 

After that’s over, and I cast Clean on Tama and Pochi, who somehow ended up covered in goo--before teleporting all the girls, and myself, to the Villa in the Labyrinth.

 

“So, what do you all think about your new equipment?” I sat at the table with the girls, having a mid-afternoon dinner, since I had a scheduled drinking party with the Guildmistress in the evening.

 

Mara looked up from her food with glittering eyes. She had left the workshop and joined us for dinner--which she had started doing since that night at Bornean Forest, she didn’t seclude herself quite as much.

 

“The performance is magnificent.”

 

“Master, and Mara’s skills are incredible, so I declare.”

 

“Nice?”

“The strongest of the strongest!”

 

The vanguards all seem to like them.

 

“I’m sorry Master, I still cannot use the Accelerated Shot very well--I can hit with the first shot, but the second usually misses.” Lulu looked down.

 

“It’s alright, you shift position after firing, and if you forget to readjust your aim before firing for a second time--which is understandable during the stress of combat--you will miss. Do your best to master it.” I smile reassuringly at her.

 

“Yes, I’ll do my best!” She clenched her hands, nodding with determination--I gently stroke her hair.

 

“Overkill. The power is much higher than before. Unless fighting something like a Higher-Rank Demon or Boss Monster, it might be better to use the old wand for support.”

 

“Nn, excessive.”

 

“Like with Mia, she miscalculated the expansion range of Balloon--she made Pochi fly into the ceiling, twice.”

 

“Arisa! Secret!” I feel a warm feeling as I watch the two girls get into a tussle.

 

We all have a bath together, Nana got a recharge--then all the other girls wanted the same.

 

In 10 days, we will be fighting the floor-master.

 

I leave the Villa for a drinking party with the Guildmistress, while the girls decide to get in a few more hours of practice.

 

Author's Note:

I was thinking of having a "Getting To Know" Chapter for the Guildmistress, but it has been too soon since the last R18 chapter--This allows for it to be an end of volume SS though.

Please leave comments whether one of those chapters will be appreciated.

She won't be part of the harem--more of a 'mistress'? (not exactly, someone he sleeps with, but there isn't a major romance element, and she doesn't join them. I forgot what the term is (there is a fantasy term) -- Earth Equivalent = 'Friends with benefits'.