Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Where We Come From

Deal With the Devil

"Well, I kept telling him, gotta check their backgrounds first, never bed a woman you don't know, their crotch is the last place you need to get to know..." the man shook his head unpleasantly and then the bunch of raiders behind him laughed out loud. They appeared to look at their friend losing an arm as if he passed out first in a drinking game and someone drew an inappropriate picture on his face while he was out.

"It's different in places where crotches aren't full of sand, you don't have to worry about that part so can't say I blame sensei for his call... Did you hear it, though? That man he was so afraid of is now close to Shukuba..." Shimo scratched the back of his head and then wiped the sweat off of his face. The Konoha ninja weren't used to such weather so they definitely were wondering if meeting in the middle of the day was even the best idea.

"No shit? That's good to know, whatever fucker made that guy stop talking about breasts scares the shit out of me, so, I assume you and your Konoha crew didn't come to Viper's Pit to chat?" the raider started walking up closer to Mana and looked at her, his brown eyes examined her skin closely.

"Where's this girl from? Ah, nevermind..." he reconsidered raising the subject once he saw Shimo's face turn sourer by the second when the topic turned at Mana. He was really still mad at her for pulling that irresponsible feat back in the mines and then surpassing that feat just half an hour later.

"Anyways, we wanted to sell you something, something we snatched from a bunch of losers in the Katabami mine, the whole Syndicate is down and out, also there's zero chance of them placing a fancy shoe wearing foot down on the Land of the Wind's sands so it's safe, no bullshit or anything..." Shimo walked up to Meiko and tried removing her pack filled with Audra ore to which the girl hissed and then opened the backpack herself.

The purplish-blue shine of the ores glowed even brighter when reflecting from the greedy raider's dark eyes.

"So what do you want for that? An army? This whole damned desert? I don't get it..." the raider looked confused, he approached Meiko and carefully touched the bag, like a housecat who was getting cosier with the new people around her Meiko let the man check inside the backpack but it was clear that she was ready to bash his head in if he tried anything funny.

"Nope, the thing is that we know you've no means to work it so we know it's of limited use to you, it's Audra ore for crying out loud and we're really desperate for supplies. This young woman's here got a killer appetite and this one that you were so curious about is a civilian who is currently hitting four days without a bite in her mouth. We've got a long trip ahead and we'll need water, food, maybe even a camel or a bulky raider to carry us on his damned shoulders. We have no time to... Realize this merchandise for an appropriate price so we're willing to give you a shard of Audra ore for one thousandth its market price as long as you're taking up the responsibility for doing whatever the fuck you want with it and leaving no strings on it attached to us. As usual, if we do this, we don't know your ass from a camel's upchuck."

The raider removed the veil covering his mouth and stroke his long black beard playfully. "Shit... As it happens... There're things you're not up to date with yet..." he spoke up turning away from the stones and approached Shimo.

"Dammit, you know we could murder your entire camp, I've kicked your ass before! You're turning away a stone of Audra alloy, something that shouldn't even exist, for a million ryo worth of supplies a piece?" Shimo growled angrily, yet quietly right up in the raider's face. It was somewhat entertaining seeing a half-developed fourteen-year-old hold more intimidation power over a fully grown man who owned a raider encampment and managed a whole band of raiders.

"No, that's the thing... The deal is so sweet I'm willing to cut my fingers off with a blunt rusty ax so that I could place my lips up your ass. The thing is that I'm not the man in charge anymore and if you knew the... Full picture... You may not want to sell me this" the raider's cheeks extended in the most despicable and twisted smile. He wasn't a very plump gentleman, looked more like a weasel and yet he managed to legitimately look like a guy who'd steal medicine from a baby.