Imperial Hotel
The morning breeze swayed the curtains, and not long after that, I just knew that my androids went on a rampage last night without my permission.
"Okay? The entire city was in upheaval, and yet no one ever tried to connect with me while I was at home reprimanding that stupid lizard." (Liam)
By "stupid lizard," I mean Noel, an ancient dragon who is currently under my care, stayed for a week without going out of her room and playing nonstop. Her addiction level is getting to a dangerous level in the ordinary sense.
"I concluded that it's not worth the time of the Young Master. We are also adhering to your directives of having privacy unless an emergency happens, which this incident cannot be considered as one as we successfully defended your properties and swiftly dispatched the enemies, ending all of the problems within a night. That's why we didn't dare contact you while we taking care of the gnats that attacked your properties. (Serene)
Heh, taking care? Pretty much the usual level of danger seeping out from Serene.
"What about the others? most especially with the need for maternal care and medical checkup. " (Liam)
I just remembered Millese and others. Damn, it might stressing them out with these shits who they are picking a fight with me, is stress or anxiety could possibly going to affect the kids in their wombs?
"All of them are safe, none of the Intruder succeeded in fully infiltrating neither harm Young Master's properties." (Serene)
"Good, who is the those pest? Who leads them?." (Liam)
"According to our probing, the initiator of the attacks came from the Fullercam syndicate, a pretty famous assassin organization in this country. However, we have yet to identify their clients. Nonetheless, whether innocent or not, we annihilated all of the connected factions to them as a warning to them to never ever mess with the Iserlohn family again." (Serene)
".... So some of the locations that have been assualted are more or less have nothing to do with the assassination group that attacked us and became collateral damage?." (Liam)
"Yes." (Serene)
Okay, you literally shoot the shit of anyone who connected with the edgy assassins and piled grudges on me! Great! Come on.... More idiots will likely come to attack me in the future. Also, today is our engagement party with Sistiene, I didn't even contributed on anything about the party.
Sighed
"Also today is the party right? Is my clothes are ready?." (Liam)
"Of course, if we measure the fanciness of your suit, Young Master, it will cost around 67 million US dollars. That's more than enough to make anyone head over heels for you and won't stain the name of the Iserlohn family." (Serene)
Whoa, 67 million? That's fucking a lot. If I was on earth with that amount of money, I could easily play around for my entire life without working.
"Did Sistiene send off some messenger? It would be problematic of something happened or needed to do before entering the venue." (Liam)
"Yes, earlier this morning, they saying that we need prepare some gifts or samples of our products?." (Serene)
"And what we will bring?." (Liam)
"A 128 carat diamond, a 15 pound pearl, swords, silk, several types of spices, and a couple of gunpowder weapons." (Serene)
"I see... But is guns alright? Is that really necessary to be included?." (Liam)
"Young Master, Due to the peculiar taste of your fiance, I decided to incorporate gunpowder weaponry, therefore it would be best to offer and to curry some favor on the Roseblade family." (Serene)
"It's not some automatic weapon right?." (Liam)
You'll likely accelerate their technological development and make their wars deadlier if they manage to produce crude automatic rifles after all.
"Yes." (Serene)
"Good, I'll go strolling around." (Liam)
"Yes." (Serene)
I left the room and went towards the elevator, where on the way, I was greeted by Singco, the coachman in my hotel. We got out and the carriage was there with the other maid and butler of mine.
<<Coliseu... No, adventurers guild>>
<<Yes Administrator>>
I'm thinking of going to the coliseum to see Amelia and ask about where Charlotte is currently staying, but I forgot about Claire and the other adventurers that I met in the caravan, so let's go see them this time.
Along the way, many faces and places that are unfamiliar to me spread in my vision. It's an entirely different part of the city that I haven't visited yet, so it looks like fun strolling and adventuring around.
The road is relatively wide as if prepared for motorization, to the point where it's unbelievable that this country is at least 400 or 500 years behind on 21st century earth. Though they are advanced in some ways, I estimate that they only account for about 1% of the entirety, which is insignificant to me.
"What happened?." (Liam)
The carriage promptly stopped. I don't think there's a congestion of traffic here. There might be a traffic accident.
"There's a check point Young Master." (Singco)
"I see..." (Liam)
Possibly due to the rampage of my androids last night, but I'm still confused why Amelia and Charlotte or other abnormal people like Claire didn't intervene, despite considering that, with their abilities, they could immediately respond to anything that was causing some fuss in the city.
Then our carriage was next to be inspected. The knights are scrutinizing me and my properties.
"Good morning gentlemen, what I could help with you?." (Liam)
"We would like to ask for you identification Sir."
"Here." (Liam)
I gave my documents and some other identification cards, including my unupdated mercenary dog tag duplicate, to the knight, and then he grabbed some silverish shiny stones and focused for a sec, followed by a smile, not a genuine but a professional one.
"That would be all. Sorry for the inconvenience, Lord Iserlohn."
What?? Lord? I'm conflicted for a sec, however, I smiled in return to the Guard Knight.
"There's nothing to worry about. I'm grateful for the honest work of the guards here in securing the city from evil people." (Liam)
We've been given the way and resumed going to our destination, the adventurer's guild. However, before we could reach my destination, a few blocks away.
"Stop." (Liam)
"Yes Young Master." (Singco)
I removed my coat, tie, and some accessories. Leaving me with a plain white shirt, only then do I grab a tactical holster belt strapped to my body, with two compact Mk.39A personal defense weapons (M-PDW) and a Kondret P.71 plasma pistol.
"Wait here." (Liam)
"Yes." (Singco)
Then I walked outside armed with two submachine gun and a plasma gun. Some people looked at me curiously when I exited my carriage, but I didn't paid any attention and walked towards the adventurers guild.
Adventurers Guild
I entered the guild. The first thing I noticed was that it was bustling with life and no one was directing their gaze at me with curiosity or suspicion. This made it a more interesting place as they didn't give a shit about me like what happened in Burduex and Palt.
However, there's no one here that I know from the caravan. Did they take a day off, aren't around, or are they just taking some quest? Too bad. Well then let's see what kind of quests or swag they offered here.
While checking on the lower and medium-level quests, I saw some of them look like a joke. What the heck with this dog's searching quest for a grand one gold coin?! And what's with this sewer cleaning job for a measly ten silver coins!? Even the theater is asking for a stunt man and even freaking 10 female undergarments needed ASAP?!. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. I'm glad I chose the Mercenary guild over this shitty place.
Then let's see the high, legendary, exclusive levels... I moved on the other side, Hmm? It's befittingly more of a quest for the guild than those shitty jobs earlier that had nothing to do with adventuring.
"Dragon slaying quest... Orc horde thinning operation, dungeon raids... With quite decent pay." (Liam)
Each of them has a minimum quest reward of 100 gold coins and the highest is 700 platinum coins. The sum is pretty large in common sense, but the question is whether it is hard or achievable enough.
Orc horde thinning is pretty easy. The orcs are not that tough in the first place. The dragon might be a little difficult but manageable, and dungeon raids? I was not sure about this because they needed at least 20 members to be authorized for a raid, probably one of the toughest missions here together with the dragon slaying quest.
While thinking about that stuff, someone approached me from the back, making me turn to that person. A familiar one to me.
"Mercenary Liam Right?."
"Hmm? You're the guy in the coliseum." (Liam)
The guy who talked to Luka, the reverse trap staff of the mercenary guild Olandia branch, Wigur, is his name right? The coliseum dude and facilitator of adventurers in that place, as well as the referee when me and Claire spar in the coliseum.
"Wigur right?." (Liam)
"I'm glad you remembered me." (Wigur)
He smiled at me. Well, I don't think androids like me will forget your face and name after a day or two. As long as my archives are not destroyed or something like that.
"So what's the matter?." (Liam)
"Nothing that could be called as urgent, however, it is important." (Wigur)
Not urgent but important? What's with that?
"Stop your dilly dallying." (Liam)
In my response, he cracked a serious face and put his hands on his chin, pondering for a sec.
"Hmm... Would you like to transfer from mercenary guild to adventurers guild?." (Wigur)
Oh? Stealing members, huh? I think this would cause rather a complicated controversy. I am currently in the process of being promoted to S-rank of mercenary guild. I think somehow, they probably knew my abilities through that sparring session. However, trying to entice me would likely mess things up as the mercenary guild would likely not like it. Nevertheless, I've already made up my mind that, whether with an offer or not, I'll never leave the guild.
"I have to humbly refuse." (Liam)
Also, I have a bit of sentimental value to being a Mercenary, with the likes of meeting Sistiene, the folks in the caravan, and the hero party of Amelia and Char. Not only that, but I had already seen how sucks and bad the quest of adventurers' guild beginners was, which made me very disappointed in them.
"Sir Liam, why didn't you accept my offer? Is there something that made you dissatisfied with me or the guild? We could talk to it and resolve the problem and also, we could offer some compromise. (Wigur)
"I don't plan to become an adventurer. Being a mercenary is already sufficient enough for me. After all, I'm neither heroic nor compassionate for the people because I hailed from a Mercantilist family. Thus, I prioritize connection, fame, convenience and profit over a nice name with a shackle called 'moral, virtue and justice'." (Liam)
"Hoh. I heard you helped the people of Palt and even risked your life fighting a large army of bandits that were trying to attack the town, right? Not to mention some of your generosity in paying the damages, repairing the house or structures there, and even giving payment for free feeding of the townfolks. Also, you're the one with the sponsorship of Hero and Great Sage, which organized and facilitated the return of slaves and illegally captured civilians by the bandits. Is that all about prioritizing connection, fame, convenience, and profit? You'll let yourself get killed in the process?." (Wigur)
"That's what you call 'gamble' with heck tons of risk. Because I'm such a risk-taker, there will always be a risk like that for all the things that will most likely come to fruition, even to the point of causing myself harm or getting into danger. This is what you called 'no pain, no gain'." (Liam)
Wigur is silenced for a second by my words. He is scrutinizing whether it is a lie or not.
"So you saved them for fame and a publicity stunt?" (Wigur)
"Yes." (Liam)
"A typical mercenary mindset, however, in the adventurers guild, you could also have profits and fame... With a little bit of inconvenience... Just forget it, it's unfortunate." (Wigur)
He looked disappointed. Well, it's not like that I care if he is disappointed or not.
"On the otherhand, why did you visit the guild Sir Liam?."(Wigur)
"I want to greet some folks I knew in the adventurers... Like Claire?." (Liam)
Hearing my words, Wigur is a little bit perplexed, probably due to strange phenomena that happened to the people around Claire, who was occasionally killed during or after their mission. With kind of, cursed to be lonely.
"Bloodborne huh? You're getting yourself killed if you accompanied her." (Wigur)
"It's alright, I'm strong. I don't think someone can kill me anyway." (Liam)
Yup, you need to go to my main processor in the Iserlohn in order to kill me by destroying it, but it has crap tons of defensive structures and an abnormal resident called 'Noel'. Anyone ain't gon' killing me unless they succeed in going through those natural disasters, in the sense of this world, invincible beings, that currently defending my base. Wigur looked me with a complicated face before answering.
"Hmm... She is on a dragon slaying quest, with several more to follow up. She will likely gonna return after a month." (Wigur)
"Oh? Too bad." (Liam)
A bad time... I might only last for two more weeks here before departing for Speiza. I won't be able to fulfill my promise to her.
I sighed in disappointment and began to walk outside, not paying attention to the adventurers' guild guy.
However, at the entrance, there's a bunch of rowdy dudes entering the guild, and all of them are covered in full armor sets. They aren't looking like knights, so they are probably adventurers. All of them were talking cockily and without minding their surroundings. They are the type of troublesome people that I hate the most. I adjusted myself while moving on the side to not accidentally bump into these shitheads.
"It's an easy slaughter! Goblins are fucking running away from me!."
"I skewered three goblins in a single thrust... That wolf riding goblins is a ..."
Blah, blah, blah. They are damn annoyingly talkative. What's so special about the goblins anyway? I really hate these types of people who can't zip their mouths properly and can't be mindful of their surroundings, whether they're creating an inconvenient atmosphere or an awkward sense. Not only that, by the looks of the people here, some of them have some sort of grudge with the shitheads there.
They passed me. I want to leave this place immediately, however, I sat on one of the tables and eavesdropped on them to find out how tough this shitheads.
"Receptionist! We have 70 goblins, 8 hobgoblins, 2 goblin shamans, 13 wolfs, 18 orcs, and 24 recovered slaves or captured women from our mission. Of those, 14 are slaves, so we're taking them as ours, and the captured will be sent to a monastery."
"Let me have your dog tag."
"Here"
"Wait for a minute." The receptionist immediately used those magic balls that they used to detect any lies or fraudulent documents. I'm not sure how they used to know how many monsters were being killed or captured though. Still, despite their shitty attitude, they racked up a decent kill streak, killing at least 100 monsters.
The receptionist returned and responded with a light nod. "I confirmed, indeed the mission was completed. However, for documentation only. What do you plan for the slaves you recovered?"
"Sold them for another bucks in the slave house."
"I see. Wait a moment. I'll calculate the additional rewards for this accomplishment.
"Have it diverted to pay our tabs."
"I see. Thank you very much." The receptionist bowed politely and this bunch of shitheads moved to the second floor, where they caused some ruckus while drinking.
After hearing what was going to happen to the slaves that had been captured and recovered, I felt I wanted to go punch their faces, but I retrained myself and thought that if I stayed for another minute I might go rampage here, so I decided to return to my hotel to rest, cleanse and get my ears and eyes out of the disgusting things currently being spouted and illustrated here as common sense in this world.
I stand and turn my heel, but "Leaving already?" Someone called me out, as if he teleported to my side. I can't detect him from my scanners, nor can I find any heat signature in my 5 meter all-round detection range. This guy must be dangerous. I really hate being involved with dangerous guys.
"Do you know that it's illegal to eavesdrop here? It's punishable with 6 months' imprisonment or worse, death if you're proven guilty of some heavy accusations, such as being a foreign spy. " The tone changed from blurry old man to a female one.
"What the hell are you? I'm not doing anything illegal here, in fact you're the one who looks suspicious of not showing yourself." (Liam)
I defended myself as I increased the volume of my voice, garnering some glances from the resting adventurers around me. "You're such a short-tempered man. No woman will ever like you if you're such a serious guy." With a playful voice, she replied to me, then a mist manifested in front of me and formed into a human.
"So? Who're you?." (Liam)
"Heh... I am Nexis, SSS-Rank adventurer, nice to meet you!." (Nexis?)
Then an adult? No, she still has the face of a late teenager, so she looks to be around 19 or 20 years old. Nevertheless, SSS-Rank? She reeks with trouble. I need to get away from this place as fast as I could.
"Nexis? I'm Youcan, my last name is leave." (Liam)
"So you have family name? I shall put 'Sir' In our conversation, Sir you can leave...eh?." (Nexis)
It looks like she finally caught up with me, but you're too slow, so I used this opportunity to get away from here.
"Thank you very much, then excuse me." (Liam)
Then she panicked in surprise at my impish impulse and tried to call me out once again.
"Ah?! Wait no you can't!." (Nexis)
I headed immediately to the entrance where she teleported in front of me. No, she kinda permeates through objects by turning herself into mist rather than teleporting.
"Stop!." (Nexis)
"You're in the way." (Liam)
"Gruuu!." (Nexis)
"Don't act like a dog, that's not cute." (Liam)
This girl has gray-colored hair, stands at 1.72 meters tall, is petite, and a bit mysterious to me. Also, despite being in front of me, I can't detect any solid objects in her location. What the hell is going on here? She's completely undetectable by my scanners and detectors.
"What the hell....? You, you're not." (Liam)
Fortunately, I maintained my poker face in front of this person... I used my scanner once again, and this time I finally saw this guy's body. In my system, it might be a breach of privacy, but this person is dangerous, so I immediately ran a full scan on it's body and discovered below...
"It's a sword?." (Liam)
I unintentionally muttered.
This guy is goddamn female appearance with a freaking D! it's a trap! Why?! Heck what's wrong with this isekai!
"A sword?." (Nexis)
Nexis directs a suspicious gaze on me.
"No nothing, just forget it." (Liam)
"Hmm... You're Looking at below? Are you perhaps.... Know it?." (Nexis)
This guy is directing scrutinizing gaze on me, which forced me to divert my gaze, but still, Nexis persisted and closed the distance between us. Our bodies are only a few inches away from each other. It's a bit awkward.
"I don't know what you're talking about." (Liam)
"It's a sword right?." (Nexis)
"You're ri... Right, hahaha I do have swords." (Liam)
Holy cow, I tried to divert the topic. However, this person intensifies his judgemental look at me. Please stop that.
He promptly withdraw and jumped back for about 2 meters away, looks at his back outside as if confirming something.
"Great, no people there." (Nexis)
"....?." (Liam)
I don't know what he was plotting, but I tried to excuse myself once again, but he vanished and reappeared at my back, and released an angled down kick, which sent me stumbling straight to the ground. As if it was an instinct for me, I quickly got up and took a combat stance while dual wielding my submachine guns on hands towards Nexis.
"What the hell are you doing?!." (Liam)
"The guild doesn't allow conflict inside the branch. Also, you learned my secret, so you'll be half-killed today to shut your mouth. " (Nexis)
"Bullshit! I don't give a damn about your secret! So leave me alone!." (Liam)
While I was protesting, he grabbed a stone, playing on it a couple of times before throwing it in the air, where it was temporarily suspended for a sec before he kicked it at supersonic speed towards my face.
"Shit!." (Liam)
I awkwardly avoided it, but that stone overpenetrates through buildings at my back. Shit, didn't this idiot think about collateral damage at all?!
"Hey! Are you stupid?! Someone might got hit by your attack just now?!." (Liam)
"Oh? You're still minding the surroundings? What a noble person you are." (Nexis)
The people surrounding us finally began to cause a ruckus, the civilians and adventurers alike. The guards should be reaching here to stop this nonsense. But this person didn't mind it at all. He looked at me intently. I braced myself to combat him. If he moves an inch here, there's no going back nor stopping either of us. I know the difference in strength, but this dude is apparently as abnormal as Claire, so I need to be careful. I'm just doing self-defense here, so it's justifiable as he is the aggressor.
"Don't force me to fight." (Liam)
"What will you do? Isn't the difference between our strength is evident?." (Nexis)
I bluffed but this guy isn't taking it seriously. He might guess that I'm just bluffing or not have considered me a threat from the start.
"Then It can be help." (Liam)
I didn't hesistate and fired my submachine guns. Two with a combined rate of fire of over 1,800 bullets per minute, chambered in 9x19mm parabellum. Within 10 seconds, I peppered this guy with over 300 bullets, but he was just standing there with his magic shield up, protecting him from the storm of bullets I unleashed. My submachine guns don't have enough firepower to pack a punch on the shields. All it could do is doing a lot of unnecessary ricocheting that might hurt someone.
"Is that it? So boring." (Nexis)
I.... Really hate this trap, I charged up my plasma pistol and aim at him, i set the output to 30% which equals to the fire power of a plasma rifle but lack the range and accuracy.
"Then goodbye." (Liam)
I unleashed a single shot, slamming on his barriers, causing a powerful explosion that shook the surroundings. Everything trembled, and the aftereffect caused some cracks in the structures nearby. But the most noticeable is a large area, 10 meters in diameter, where he was formerly standing and is currently nothing but smoldering molten lava. He should be vaporized to nothing by my attack just now.
"Alright, my justification for what happened is just self-defense because I was attacked first, yep I'm innocent." (Liam)
I muttered in a low voice, then a bunch of guards, adventurers, and other public authorities finally stepped into the place where a large bowl of lava was eye-catching to anyone, together with holes of bullets and my empty magazine, discarded catridges or ricocheted leads, a bunch of cracks on the road and buildings, and many messy things that I don't want to mention.
"Put your weapons away!."
At the command, I threw my weapons and raised my hand to convey that I didn't have the will to resist.
Umm... Come to think of it, I have an engagement party tonight. It would be troublesome if I got arrested here. Should I run?
"Turn around! Turn around!."
Yes, yes. Don't yell. I could hear you, loud and clear. I turned around and saw someone standing in the molten lava... Something is forming. From the smoldering fire and turning into a feminine shape... He survived that?! What sort of plot armor do you have?!
"Hey, you nearly got me there, no that's understatement." (Nexis)
Then Nexis finally completed his formed but with obvious burns in the face, limbs and body.
"If I was too late for even a split second before turning into a mist, oh, actually I'm a little late as it is evident on my burns, but if it lasted for another sec, I'd be totally burned to a crisp if not, vaporized from this world due to the extreme heat that attack of yours released." (Nexis)
Even if you say that, I'm confused by your reasoning, I don't think anyone will be able to survive the attack of plasma projectiles, let alone avoid it. While it might be slow, it packs a punch that is even hotter than the surface of the sun. Anything that is touched by it, will be vaporized to an atomic level.
"Both of you! Stop doing anything suspicious!."
"Declared yourself! Say your name and affiliation."
The public authorities are shouting at us to say our name and affiliation. The Knights, meanwhile, are doing what a law enforcement agency must do. However, the adventurers' guild is a little bit shaky.
"I am Nexis, an SSS-Rank Adventurer." (Nexis)
Everyone, civilians, guards, and public authorities alike, who was causing a ruckus was silenced due to his announcement. Even the public authorities and the guard knights widened their eyes. Then everyone turned to look at me, as if they were expecting something out of the ordinary.
"Well... I am Liam Iserlohn, S-Rank Mercenary." (Liam)
...!? Everyone terrified by it? What's the deal? It's not that I'm strong as this guy nor doing something illegal.
"Ah eh... Ahem. Can we ask the reason why there's a ruckus here?." The lead public officials cautiously asked us.
"He attacked me first, I'm just defending myself." (Liam)
"Eh? It's just a kick, it's not you're going to die anyways." (Nexis)
"A kick that literally slammed my face on the ground, with enough force that was able to kill any normal person. So just see the force. Look at it. It gouged the ground due to the impact, so now you're telling me it's not enough to kill? You gotta be kidding me." (Liam)
While both of us are bantering, the people around us are having a complicated day. I'm not sure about it though. Why so scared anyways?
"Umm, okay. It appears that no one has died... However, we'll asking for compensation for the destruction you... Inavertedly cause... I'm politely asking for payment..." Like a tamed dog, the official slowly and carefully talked to us. Man, stop that. I felt like doing something criminal here.
"Y-yeah. Here, it should be around a hundred gold coins." (Liam)
I handed over four pouches of gold to them, followed by Nexis. Who conjured a bag of gold too? Sometimes magic can be useful, huh?
"T-this is too much."
"Payment for our small inconvenience brought to the people here." (Liam)
"In short, hush money to shut the people's mouths here." (Nexis)
You damn trap! Don't say hush money nor aggravate the people here! I looked at him with a scowl, to which he responded with a smile.
The crowd promptly scattered from the place, and the authorities let us off the hook. But there's no next time, they warned.
I sighed in relief and began walking away. I'm thinking of staying at my hotel until the party, so I won't get involved with dangerous strangers.
"Young Master?" (Singco)
"Let's go back." (Liam)
"Yes." (Singco)
Then we returned back home, and prepare for the party tonight.
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