Chapter 56: Chapter 49: An Errand
Kal'tsit was still trying to translate the text because she might recognize it. But she didn't want to give away certain information by doing it quickly.
Ash is an observant bastard, she noticed in their few interactions. He would definitely know that she knows a dead language at the top of her head if Kal'tsit sends the translation in a couple of hours.
So she sent a message that it was going to take a lot of time due to the need of crossmatching with old texts that were unearthed along with Rhodes island.
Meanwhile, Ash deemed it was too long to be away from Paradiso and sent the equipment from Rhine labs to home.
After Kirsten apologized to Saria and Ifrit, the initial reaction was of course unfavorable. But when she showed her the reforms for an ethical board. Saria got happy and it definitely helped in mending their strained friendship.
Silence was rightfully taken by Ash to work for Paradiso as payment for her mistake and Ifrit's treatments are to continue further in Paradiso.
Rhine labs' ethical board was announced to the public and Ahrens Parvis was publicly denounced as an evil man that experiments on children and touches them like a priest.
He was turned into public enemy number one and got thrown into jail for a lifetime. And any chance of escape is nil as Ash's ghosts now roam Columbia for information and recon.
"Ahhh, home sweet home. Ifrit, how do you fancy your new home?" Ash patted her head and the blonde was looking at the place with awe.
"F-fan what? It's awesome!" Ifrit's eyes twinkled in excitement.
"We really need to teach her, she's as dumb as an orirock." Ash ruffled her hair and she hissed.
"Who's dumb? Those who call people dumb are dumb!" Ifrit tried to hit him but he put his hand on her head and she couldn't reach him.
"Ash... I'm sure that Ifrit just needs to catch up with her studies. It's not because she's lacking or something." Silence chided him.
"That's right, and I'll be your tutor." Saria smiled sweetly at Ifrit and the blonde gulped a mouthful of saliva.
"I... I'm fine with normal teachers Saria. You have a lot to do and Ash needs your help right?" Ifrit tried to wiggle her way out of it.
"What are you taking about squirt? Saria's my assistant with research here. She will have a lot of free time. Especially with Joyce and Silence as out subordinates." Ash smirked and Ifrit's shoulders dropped down.
She looked like she was going to be sold away and Saria patted her lightly on the back. "We'll have a lot of fun for sure. I agree with Ash, you're quite lacking for your age."
"Kuu! The books will kill me!" Ifrit whined and they just laughed, dragging her towards his home.
"Welcome home master, it's a pleasure to see that you are fine." Schwarz greeted him and Platinum was right by her side.
"Yo, you look dandy. That's... Good." Platinum nodded at him and she looked at Saria and Silence with squinted eyes.
"Schwarz, how's Ceylon? And I hope you're not slacking like Nian, Platinum." Ash greeted them. The duo were expecting him and they used their training as assassins to estimate his time of arrival.
"I have never seen Ceylon-sama that happy. Paradiso in her words is truly a paradise." Schwarz cracked a small smile and he nodded.
"Hngh, as long as you pay me I'll work." Platinum replied lackadaisically and waved her hand over her head. Satisfied with seeing him being fine.
"Okay, let's introduce you to the others." Ash smiled at them and was already getting amused, imagining their reactions to his more unique friends.
"Ash~" Narcissa walked up to him slowly with arms raised sideways and she slowly flopped on him. Rubbing her face on his thigh as she was too short.
"Narcissa, doing fine I reckon? Here's a new friend for you and the twins." He pointed at Ifrit and the blonde was a bit shy, holding on to Ash and Saria's clothes.
"Hmm? She looks dumb." Narcissa tilted her head. "What!? Dumb people call others dumb! Chaaa!" Ifrit tried to give her a piece of her mind and Saria just lifted her from her collar.
"Don't fight her Ifrit... I mean it." Saria can feel something wrong with Narcissa, as a person that could fight well. She could sense it, Narcissa wasn't a kid. She's a cold blooded killing machine.
"Did I say something wrong? Is this about that discretion thing? Muuu, it's hard." Narcissa looked at Ash while thinking hard.
"No, don't worry. She's also as dumb as an orirock." Ash laughed and Ifrit screeched at him. "She's like Sonus and her clan when they use their arts." Astaroth commented and Alastor nodded.
"Now, now, everyone. This is Saria, Ifrit, Joyce, and Silence. They'll be Rhine labs' delegates and helpers." Ash introduced them.
"Hey, kid. Why are Yanese people like a box of chocolates?" Lappland asked Ifrit and Ash pondered if he should stop it or not.
"Hmmm? Why? Who are those anyways?" Ifrit didn't even know Yan exists.
"Because they would kill your dog!" Lappland laughed like a maniac and Ifrit got scared of the crazy Lupo.
"Hey! We don't eat dogs and cats! I already told you that!" Nian huffed at her. "I'll believe it when I see it." Lappland retorted.
"Okay, okay, shut up. Shining, how about you guide them to a free room. Then you guys rest? You've been in Columbia for a long time." Ash let them go and Shining led them.
"Hah, I knew that Lappland would tell another inappropriate joke, even to a kid." He knew it was her testing the vibes or something.
But people in Terra don't really have much dark humor. With the planet being a place of constant suffering and all.
"And Lappland, every nation would eat a dog and cat in the past decade. Not until I gave food a cheap price for everyone." Ash rolled his eyes.
"So they did eat cats and dogs?" Lappland didn't care about that and just gloated at Nian for being right.
"Ignore her Ash, Lappland's just hyper because you returned. She said that everybody's killing her vibe except you." Mudrock explained to him and Ash sighed.
He then checked if she really was in a good mood and put his hands together into a circular shape. Lappland quickly put her face inside of it and had a grin on her face.
"Glad you're back!" She gave him a thumbs up. "Sure, happy that you're the same. Just don't kill people without reason." He laughed.
"What did you do at Rhine labs Ash? Are there any engineers there? Did you find something interesting?" Maria bombarded him with questions.
"Yes there are engineers at Rhine labs Maria, here I got this from the director of environmental, Muelsyse. You'd definitely like this." Ash gave her some books and papers about engineering.
"Wow! Thanks Ash, you're the best!" Maria hugged him and ran away, eager to research about it.
"Hah, you're spoiling her rotten. Mlynar would definitely tell her off for being rude." Zofia sighed and he shrugged.
"Mlynar's an old man, he's too strict. Even Saria isn't that strict." Ash chuckled and remembered the pegasus that's a firm believer of Murphy. That guy has no optimism in his bones.
"Hello mate." Alexandrina greeted him and she looked like she was ran ragged.
"Why are you so dirty?" He raised a brow and her loyal friend replied.
"Our bloody trainer is a monster, I thought Vina was strong. Fookin ell." Hannah whined and her Aslan princess smiled wryly.
"Want a bo'oh of wa'ah?" Ash formed a pet bottle with some water right in front of her and Hannah glared at her.
"Let's av it you prick!" Hannah tried to hit him, but she was so exhausted and slow that her punch felt like a wet noodle to him.
"Ahhh, that was so British that I feel like a guy from London is asking for a fight in a bar." Ash was amused with Hannah's heavy accent.
"Just wait you bloody wanker. People here aren't batting on a full wicket, blimey." Hannah looked at Lappland who was looking at her swords and chuckling.
"Sorry bout her mate, she's just a bit... Tense, yeah, tense." Vina nodded and Hannah whined. "Everybody here is too bloody strong Vina."
"Don't worry, they won't look down on you if you're weak. They would if you aren't doing anything about it though." Ash assured her and Hannah was surprised.
"What?" He raised a brow. "Nothin, just didn't expect ya to be liftin us up. Thought you're a complete knob." Hannah said with an embarrassed expression.
"Stop being a twat Hannah, Ash is just being nice. See ya mate, gotta rest. Skadi told us so." Vina waved goodbye as she followed Hannah who ran away with a blush.
"Huh? That's... Unexpected." He shrugged. "Awww, the wittle tiger is being a tsundere!" Nian patted his back with half lidded eyes.
"A what?" He was confused and Nian rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I thought so. I forgot you're a nerd." Ash put her in a head lock and gave the dragon a noogie.
"Ow! Ow! I was wrong!" She pried him off of her and she pouted at him.
"It's an old saying Ash, don't let her bother you." Kjera backed her up and Nian gasped at her fellow dragon's betrayal.
"You guys are giving him too much trouble, he just came back and he needs a lot of work to do. As a lady, it's our job to help him!" Sonus chided them.
"Oh, calm down you old bat. Ash can take care of himself." Degenbrecher rolled her eyes.
"Kuu! Who are you calling old you brat!? Come here!" Sonus chased her around and the banshee was writing arts to try to chain her down.
"I'll help you with whatever I can Ash. Ioleta trained me to do paperwork and the like." Viviana offered and he nodded.
"Well, me and Margaret will need all the work. Sonus, stop chasing Degenbrecher. Come on, we have to keep this place up and running." Ash wasn't looking forward to all the news he'll be receiving.
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Ash kept at his work in trying to sequence the seaborne blood and he was slowly making progress.
Genetic engineering was a whole other beast and it didn't compare to his previous work. Especially because the DNA is so damn unstable.
He had to give it to the Aegirians, their bodies must be built different if they can tolerate seaborne blood.
Or the other plausible reason which is their tech is so good that they can splice their DNA that resulted in the abyssal hunters. Not that it held too much weight.
Because if they have tech that good, the seaborne would be an annoyance to them at best. With that kind of scientific progression. It's weird they can't fight against the seaborne.
That level of advancement would mean that other aspects would surely follow. Science can't advance that much without the others having a close balance with other branches.
So it was easy for him to conclude that Aegirians might be just compatible with it or they are quite tough bastards.
"Any progression Joyce?" Ash asked his number one assistant. She might be a narcoleptic, but the Liberi can store and pull out info like a boss.
"None, Ash. Gene sequence 30132 is still in the process of being sequenced fully." Joyce replied and Ash groaned.
"Okay, rest for now. Enter power saving mode." He ordered and she started to doze off. He finally got the pattern in which the woman starts to overheat like a computer.
He was still on the process of remaking her chip, but it is more for his power than academic advancement. So he was focusing on the gene sequences.
"Fuuu, this is going to take a long time." Ash sighed and drank a carton of strawberry milk with one sip.
"Hmm? Is Kal'tsit finally done?" Ash checked his phone and the feline messaged him.
"Huh? Has it been that long already?" Ash checked the calendar and time really did pass quickly. It was time to get the Dokutah from the black sarcophagus thingy.
"She wants help huh? I guess I can spare some operators... This is just an easy retrieval mission. And Rhodes island will be doing all the work." Ash thought of who he'll send away.
"Hey Ash, what cha doing?" Adele checked up on him and was quite worried that he's overworking himself with his project.
"Nothing, Kal'tsit's just asking for extra hands for the retrieval mission of the guy we put in Chernobog." Ash shrugged.
"Hmm, what does she need then?" Adele looked at the message curiously.
She wanted a caster that can possibly bust open some doors if the entrance to the place got barricaded.
And there's also a budding catastrophe nearby the area, so a specialist that can read the status of it is appreciated.
"Hey! That's all me!" Adele gave a cheeky grin and Ash chuckled. "Yeah, you do fit the descriptions."
"How about you send me? I'm a pretty strong caster too ya know?" Adele flexed her bicep and he saw that she wasn't neglecting her physical exercise.
He often saw her also training with the Moscow group. She can even keep up nicely with Vina and Hannah at their PT.
"Hmmm, don't go blow up your allies though." Ash chuckled and Adele puffed her cheeks.
"Yeah, yeah. Shut up, if I'm going to be like you. Then I have to go on missions too!" Adele smiled at him.
"You want to be like me?" He blinked and Adele nodded with a blush. "Yeah, I admire you. You're amazing. Look at what you've built, you're at the center of it all."
"Shucks, you're going to make me blush." Ash scratched his head and Adele laughed.
"Well, it's true. Right, brother. Geez it's like I'm the little sister. When I'm the older one, I'm going to turn 17 in a week!" Adele complained.
"Haha that's right, you are. When you return, I'll give you a nice present." He smiled at her and he did prepare a good one.
It's an arts unit that can act as a quarterstaff and a stave. It can also store energy inside of it so that Adele could release all of it In an instant for her signature ability, volcano.
"What? Really!? Then I have to work hard to earn my keep!" She bobbed her head left and right.
"That's right, but you might mess up. So I'm sending Glasgow with you. Vina is smart and she's tactically sound. Almost on par with Enciades. They might not use any arts, but they are strong." Ash thought it would be a good starting mission for their group too.
Ash then gave the list of people coming to Rhodes island.
"Go and tell Vina and the others the good news. They'll be testing their mettle at a real mission." He chuckled.
"Un! Don't worry, we'll definitely get the senior from Rhodes island. I have a lot to ask him, he's quite knowledgeable with catastrophes after all. He might know a lot more!" Adele was excited and she went to Glasgow to tell them to pack for a mission.
Ash watched his 'older sister' go with spring in her steps. All excited like a kid being invited to a candy store.
"Gnosis, I want you to accompany them too. Get Monch with you." Ash called Gnosis and the socially awkward man sighed.
"They'll demolish their enemies. Rhodes island's elite operators will also be coming." Gnosis reminded him and Ash scoffed.
"You'll act as an observer and tell me if they make mistakes. Besides, your girlfriend's an assassin. She should use her skills or it'll rust." He teased him and Gnosis didn't speak further.
"Platinum, you'll be the main protector. You'll be the bird's eye please." Ash requested of the pegasus and she nodded.
"How about me, I want a nice gift too for this sudden mission." Platinum whined, but she wasn't really bothered by it.
"Well tell me what you want?" He smiled wryly at the lazy little assassin. "I want... A nice little date. Yeah, that should be good." Platinum nodded and he shrugged.
"Sure, just ask Margaret for permission." He grinned at her and Platinum slowly nodded. "Huh? She agreed with that? I guess she wants to have a date."
Ash then continued with the gene sequencing. "Joyce, call Saria and Silence. We'll have to pick up the pace."
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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.
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