Chapter 6: Chapter 5 - Encounter
"Should you really be doing this at your body's current age? You're going to compromise your body's development, you know," Frowned Arkiela disapprovingly.
"Shut up, don't tell me what to do, bitch," I replied dryly, as I took a puff of a joint and slowly exhaled through my nostrils.
"I mean, since you're sixteen, you are technically a legal adult in this world as people are considered adults at fifteen here, plus the legal drinking and smoking age in this world is only thirteen, but you really shouldn't be smoking or drinking until you're older."
"Tch, stop nagging me, you little insect. I mean, what is this, are you trying to parent me or something? Why do you even care?" I responded irritably, as I took a gulp from a mug of beer.
Ugh...it's kinda watery.
"Have you already forgotten that I need you to die naturally of old age in this world? You're gonna mess up your lungs and liver, I'm screwed if you die of a disease or something, I need you to die a natural death of old age, shithead," She pointed out with a huff.
"Hm...you have the ability to heal not just injuries, but also illnesses, right? So, I'm guessing you can use that to nullify the negative effects I sustain from drinking, smoking and whatever the fuck else. Just do that to me after I'm done for the night, simple," I shrugged indifferently.
"Tch, I was hoping you wouldn't realize that. Yeah, that is something that's possible for me...but it'll be such a pain though! Healing injuries is easy enough, and if I'm being honest, keeping your liver healthy shouldn't be too difficult either...but removing the tar from your throat and lungs will be painstaking work, it'd take, like...three or four full minutes to finish!" She exclaimed indignantly.
"Fine by me. You're the one who has a problem with this, I don't mind dying in a manner that wouldn't be considered natural causes so long as I live a reasonably long life, maybe around seventy-...no, sixty-nine would be dope. The idea of living super long and getting all old and decrepit isn't particularly appealing to me, so I don't have a problem with dying before I'm that old. So yeah, I really couldn't care less about how much effort you'll need to exert to make sure I die naturally of old age, that's a you problem," I stated bluntly, taking another puff as I leaned on the railing of the rooftop I was on.
"Hmph, selfish fuckhead."
"You're one to talk, considering that you ruined my life for your own amusement, you stupid bitch," I pointed out icily.
About a week has passed since the incident at the orphanage, today's the 10th of November, 1029. After I secured all the funds I could find in the orphanage, I took a carriage to Astaroth and rented out a room at an inn for 2,000 Erons a night, or two silver coins.
With the amount of money I have, along with factoring in expenses for food and other necessities, plus the occasional partaking of alcohol and weed, because why not, I should have just enough money to last me till the day of the tournament, plus maybe another day or two if I'm careful.
The inn I'm staying at isn't exactly fancy, but it's reasonably clean and the beds aren't all sweat-stained, there's actual bedsheets and pillowcases, clean ones at that, at least by this world's standards, so it's about a million times more comfortable than the orphanage...which isn't saying much, but still.
This place, Astaroth City, it's definitely a significant step up from the crap heap that is Bael Town...but that said, it's still a dump compared to the modern era I lived in in my previous life. I suppose I should just get used to it, since it's something that's out of my control and there's nothing much I can do about it, but that's a lot easier said than done.
I haven't really done much in the city after moving here, it's probably best if I keep a low profile until the Guild entrance exam. I've just been working out frequently in my room at the inn, toning my muscles and continuing to develop the flexibility of my limbs to ensure that my speed and agility are as sharp as possible come the day of the tournament.
Other than that, I've mostly just been lazing in my room at the inn, only going out to buy food and water a couple of times a day. I was getting pretty bored and restless, so today, about a week into my stay here in Astaroth City, I decided to visit a bar and just kick back and relax for a night.
The alcohol here isn't exactly of the highest quality, but it's good enough to get me nice and drunk, plus it's pretty damn cheap too. The bar also sells pre-rolled joints of weed, I was quite the stoner in my previous life after I became a mercenary, so I bought a couple of joints, figured I shouldn't go overboard since I don't yet know the tolerance level that my new body possesses.
I then came up to the rooftop of the bar, which surprisingly, was deserted. Definitely not complaining about that, it's pretty sweet that I've got the spot to myself.
Hm? Ah, shit, I spoke too soon...the door to the rooftop just opened.
I glanced towards the door as I took another swig of beer, before finishing off the first joint and tossing the roach away as someone stepped out from behind the door, strolling onto the rooftop and shutting the door before pausing as they spotted me.
It was a girl, she looks about my age or maybe a year or two younger. She had short, straight, dark blonde hair, piercing dark red eyes, and a slight, light brown complexion. She was on the shorter side, with a slender, agile build. She was holding a medium-sized glass bottle of clear alcohol, a frown appearing on her face as she stared at me.
"Hey, you. Mind vacating this place? I'd like to have the area up here for myself for a bit, so get lost," She remarked bluntly.
I'm sorry, what?
"I beg your pardon? How about no? Why don't you fuck off instead?" I responded dryly, as I took another gulp from my mug of beer.
"Excuse me?"
"If you really want me to leave, why don't you go ahead and force me?" I taunted her, getting ready to take out a katana as I stood up.
"Hm...you're an interesting one, aren't you? Most people just get up and leave when they sense my Mystic Pressure, but you're not bothered by it-...hm? Wait, I don't sense any Mystic Pressure from you at all...are you suppressing it? I didn't know it was possible to suppress it to this extent.
And no, I'm not gonna force you out if you refuse to leave, I don't feel like getting into a fight right now. See, I'm one of the favorites to win the Guild's entrance exam tournament next month. Not bragging, just stating a fact. I'd just be bullying you if I used my Magic on you, it'd be wasted on some random guy at a bar," She shrugged wryly.
Tch...she's got a good head on her shoulders, too bad. Also, I can't perceive or sense Mystic Pressures, which is a sort of aura of energy that everyone in this world possesses, it serves as an indication of the scale and refinement of their Magic.
Also, since I have no Magic, I have no Mystic Pressure, that's why she isn't sensing anything from me.
"Oh, that so? Well, incidentally, I'm also an applicant, I registered for the entrance exam about a week ago," I informed her, before adding tauntingly, "Hm, if you're one of the favorites, then maybe taking you out here and now will make things easier for me in the tournament."
I'm kinda feeling that itch to kill someone, and if she attacks me, I'll be totally justified in killing her. Hm...it doesn't look like she's going to take the bait though...
"That's okay, like I said, I don't feel like getting into a fight right now, I just came here to chill and get wasted. Come to think of it, I did hear rumors about a guy with a couple of green stripes in his hair registering. Yeah, a lot of people were talking about him apparently possessing just the one Skill and no Magic Class," She recalled thoughtfully.
"Yeah, that'd be me. And the rumors are right, I've got Mana, no Magic, and only the one Skill, Item Box," I replied with a sigh, shrugging my shoulders.
Maybe if she thinks I'm weak, she'll try to force me to leave. I'm not sensing any aggression from her though, even after what I just said.
"Huh. That's really fascinating...I didn't even know it was possible for a person to not have any Mana or a Magic Class, I've never heard of such a thing. I see now, your Mystic Pressure isn't suppressed, it just straight up doesn't exist. I wonder if it's unique to you or if there are other similar cases? Well, you learn something new everyday," She responded with a look of fascination.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so...," I muttered as I sipped on my beer in bemusement.
Huh, gotta say, that...was not the reaction I was expecting.
"By the way...I'm curious, about your hair...does the curtain match the drapes?" She inquired with a wry smile, causing me to choke slightly on the beer.
Definitely wasn't expecting a question like that. Also, the answer to her question is...yes. I've, uh, got a couple of green stripes down there.
TMI? Yeah, I thought so too.
"Do yours?" I countered dryly, finishing off my beer before cracking open a small bottle of rum and taking a sip, wincing slightly at the unpleasant taste.
She paused for a moment, looking a bit caught off-guard, before breaking out into cheerful, amused laughter.
"Hahaha, you're pretty amusing, aren't you?" She chuckled light-heartedly.
She's kinda throwing me off...
"I like this girl's energy. She's definitely got a kill count under her belt, not as large as yours, but still impressive for such a young mortal," Remarked Arkiela in amusement, landing on the top of my head before I swatted her away in annoyance.
"Thought I felt a bug or something," I said as the girl stared at me in bemusement at my annoyed expression, before clearing my throat and asking, "So, what's your name, anyway?"
Huh? Wait, is that the first time I've asked someone that in this world? I mean, I didn't even know the names of the people in the orphanage, despite living there for eight years. I don't even remember the name of that cat girl, RIP.
Yeah...this girl is really throwing me off, I can't seem to get a read on her. Or maybe I'm just being more talkative because I'm drunk and stoned.
"Oh, I'm Aura Lunabell. And you?" She prompted me, walking over and leaning against the railing of the rooftop, a couple of feet away from me.
"Jaedfern Meraled...well, that's kind of a mouthful, so just call me Jade or Fern or whatever, I don't really care either way," I replied with a shrug.
That's true, I don't really have any attachment to my new name. There have been a few instances where I legitimately forgot what it was.
"Alright, Jade it is, then. Hm? Wait...jade is a green rock or gem or something, right? And fern is a kind of plant, also green. What did you say your last name was, Meraled? If you move the last 'e' to the front, it becomes 'Emerald', another green rock. Is that a made up name, because your eyes are green and you've got those green stripes on your hair?" She inquired in bemusement.
That's...a good question, actually. I didn't even notice that.
"Oh, damn, she's pretty smart...I noticed the two halves of your first name being green stuff, but I never noticed that your last name is the word 'Emerald' with the letters mixed up," Remarked Arkiela incredulously.
Same here, I never made that connection either.
"I don't know...I have no memories from beyond eight years ago, I was told this was my name, but I don't know if it's real or made up," I replied with a shrug.
"Hm, I see. Emerald, huh? How about that, it's an interesting coincidence..."
"What do you mean?" I responded uncertainly.
"Oh, never mind, it's not important. Well, anyway, I look forward to seeing what you're capable of in the entrance exam, I have a feeling that it should be pretty interesting," She remarked with an intrigued gleam in her eyes.
What's with this girl?
"Fuck it, I'll just come right out and ask...why aren't you mocking me? The Adventurers at the Guild ridiculed me a whole lot after finding out that all I've got is Item Box. Which is understandable, I suppose, but that just makes it all the stranger that you aren't saying anything insulting," I frowned, kinda blurting my thoughts out on impulse before I could stop myself.
Maybe I've had a bit too much to drink, should've figured this body would have a much, much lower tolerance than what I'm used to since this is the first time I've consumed any intoxicants after reincarnating.
"Huh? Well, I mean, it certainly is weird that you don't have a Magic Class or any Mana...but that said, the look in your eyes, it's not that of a weakling. The fact that you registered at the Guild despite only have that one ability, likely means that you've got something up your sleeve. It'd be stupid and dangerous to underestimate you. You know, I'm glad I registered for the exam this year...like I said before, I've got the feeling that I'm going to see something interesting," She replied with a smile, as she took a swig from the bottle of alcohol she'd brought with her.
"You're kinda strange, aren't you?" I remarked, as I lit up my second joint and took a puff.
"Yeah, well, I could say the same about you. Hey, let me have a couple of hits off that," She requesting, nodding at the joint.
"Sure...pay me half of what it's worth and I'll share," I responded wryly.
"Wow, didn't peg you for a cheapskate," She chuckled, before taking out a couple of copper coins and tossing them at me.
I took a deep puff as I caught the coins and pocketed them, before handing the joint to her as I exhaled through my nostrils.
"Oh, I don't deny it. I don't see the point in being generous if there's nothing to be gained, you're just setting yourself up to be taken advantage of," I defended myself with a shrug.
"Hm, I guess I can understand the logic behind that, agree with it even," She nodded thoughtfully, as she took a slow, long puff and blew out the smoke in rings from her mouth as she handed it back to me.
"Hey, not bad...but I can do better," I smirked, taking a deep puff and placing a couple of fingers over the middle of my lips, before blowing out the smoke from both corners of my mouth in the form of small smoke rings.
I smoked a lot of weed in my previous life, and I used vapes pretty often too, so I practiced cool ways to blow out the smoke...I had a lot of free time, okay?
Glad I've still got it after eight years of no smoking, would've been embarrassing if I'd failed to pull it off.
"Woah! How'd you do that?" She responded with a wide-eyed look of surprise on her face.
"I've got more tricks up my sleeve, you haven't seen anything yet," I grinned, blowing out a large smoke ring followed by a smaller ring with a bit more force.
The smaller ring flew through the bigger ring, the smoke in the bigger one losing shape and swirling around the smaller ring.
"That's so cool, wow, wish I could do that...heh, you put the small one through the big one's hole," She chuckled, looking pretty pleased with that innuendo.
She looks pretty stoned as well, you do tend to laugh at dumb jokes more when you're high, I suppose.
Huh, you know what...I'm kinda having fun right now. I don't remember the last time I enjoyed another person's company...
...
...
"Aw, how sweet...you actually made a friend, I'm so proud of you, shithead," Chuckled Arkiela teasingly in a mocking tone, before quickly flying up as I swatted at her.
Tch...I'm pretty drunk and high, so I couldn't swat her as fast as I'm usually able to.
A couple of hours had passed, I'd just left the bar and was heading back to the inn that I was staying at. That girl, Aura, she left around the same time too, she seemed to be more or less equally as drunk and high as I am.
"Don't be stupid. I just happened to vibe with her, that's all," I responded dryly.
And it's not like I was totally isolated after I became a mercenary in my previous life, you know, I had regular human interactions. Like with clients, sometimes with targets, delivery drivers, some other underworld contacts that I associated with, hookers and escorts...that's a lot of people, so I know how to handle myself in social situations.
"Sure, if you say so. Gotta say, I like her...some of her dirty jokes were pretty funny, and she sure did make a lot of them," She laughed, as she swooped down and landed on my shoulder.
"Get off me, bitch."
"Come on, you probably can't even feel me on you, don't be such a shithead, shithead. Tell you what, don't swat me and I'll grow myself to a more human size and let you play with my boobs, deal?" She suggested enticingly.
"Alright, you've got yourself a deal," I immediately nodded in agreement.
I think the longest I've seen her grow upto is about ten inches tall, she's told me that the maximum height she can grow upto is about five foot seven, but I've never seen her do so. Flicking her boobs while she's bite-sized is fun and all, but I can't deny that I've wondered what it'd be like to do so at her full size.
"Wow, you sure agreed to that fast, didn't you?"
"It's an appealing proposition, what can I say?" I shrugged with a wry smile.
"I don't understand you mortals sometimes, especially with how easily they can be controlled when it comes to their sexual desires," She responded in bemusement.
Based on what she's told me, Angels don't feel any sexual desire, so she can't quite comprehend what it's like to get horny. And I can't comprehend what it's like to be incapable of getting horny.
Hm?
I was walking past an alley, and just spotted someone climbing in through the side window of a small building, looks like a store of some sort. I glanced around the area as I stopped walking, making sure the coast was clear.
"Why'd you stop?" Inquired Arkiela uncertainly, before I began heading into the alley, taking out a pair of goggles from my Item Box and putting them on.
These goggles are pretty handy, they can switch between night vision and thermal vision, and has a third mode that acts like a black light. With no electricity in this world, there's no streetlamps, so it's pretty fucking dark at night, with only a faint amount of light shining down from the moon and stars. The sky's cloudy tonight though, so it's a bit darker than usual, hence the goggles
"I just found an easy target that would be a wasted opportunity to ignore, pretty sure the person I spotted is robbing this store," I replied quietly, as some noises began echoing out from the window.
"You know, this raises a good question...how come you haven't robbed any stores? It'd be an easy way to get money," She pointed out.
"It's not my style to target innocent people unprovoked, I'm not a barbarian. That's more something a common street thug would do, and I'd like to think that I'm better than that, that's all," I shrugged, before slinking into the shadows as the sound of footsteps approaching the window from inside echoed out.
Looks like he's done robbing the place. It's pretty dark, so I doubt he'll be able to spot me, at least not before it's too late.
Heh, this should be fun.
I quietly took out a pistol with a silencer screwed onto it, right as a man's head poked out of the window, before climbing out and jumping down into the alley, his feet hitting the ground with a slight thud as puffs of dust wafted up from the spot he'd landed on.
As he began to creep away, I took aim and fired, a startled cry of pain echoing through the alley as I hit my mark and brought him down onto his knees.
"M-my foot...! What just happened!?" He gasped in a sharp whisper.
Hm?
"Oh, hey, I recognize you...you're one of the Adventurers in the Guild, aren't you? I'm confused, why would an Adventurer act like a petty thief? Just plain old greed? Eh, whatever, doesn't really matter, either way you're gonna die now," I remarked as I walked over towards him.
"Wh-who's there!? What did you do to my foot!? I'll kill you, you bastard...take this, [Ice Shard Scatter Shot]!" He snapped, as he raised his arm back in my direction and fired out a barrage of sharp ice projectiles.
I quickly got low and ducked down to avoid the projectiles, a couple whizzing past the top of my hair and cutting off a few strands...in his rush to attack, his aim was a bit on the high side, a fatal mistake on his part.
"Why'd you have to yell? Now I can't take my time with this, since someone might've heard you," I sighed in exasperation, as I took aim and added, "Looks like the Guild will be down a member, too bad...oh, well, I'll just have to take your place and cover that deficit after I join."
"D-damn you, [Ice Spe-...]...!" He began in desperation, a frantic look in his eyes before I fired the gun, hitting the middle of his forehead and killing him.
Mm, that was a nice way to let off a bit of steam, it was short but sweet.
"Uh, you could've killed him with a bladed weapon pretty easily, you sure it was a good idea to waste two bullets like that?" Arkiela asked me with a raised eyebrow.
"It's fine, I was getting the itch to pull a trigger anyway. And besides, you know how much ammo I've got stored up," I replied with a shrug.
A few days before I died in my previous world, I'd just gotten a fresh supply of ammo for my weapons to stock up since I'd been starting to run low. And I'm talking a LOT of bullets, don't know the exact number, but I remember weighing all the boxes of bullets I bought and it was something close to twenty kilograms.
And that's just counting the normal bullets that I use in my regular guns, I have other guns with heavier or special ammo that I didn't weigh with the smaller bullets.
Now, then...I probably shouldn't leave this body here. There's nothing in this world that can replicate the same kind of injuries as bullet holes, and killing a member of the Guild might hurt my chances of getting in, so I should hide the body, at least for the time being.
Hm, maybe I'll feed it to some Monsters or something, that'd be a good way to get rid of the evidence.
"[Open Slot 20]."
I tossed the body into an empty slot before closing it, stretching my arms up as I let out a satisfied sigh.
"Question for ya...why do often make your presence known to the people you target, instead of, you know, sniping them with a headshot and finishing them off in one shot before they even realize they're being attacked?" Arkiela asked me curiously.
"Hm...you know how most people feel pleasure and probably get a rush when they do something that's objectively wrong or evil? They have this expression of triumphant thrill and ecstasy, like they're on top of the world. There are few things I love more than the way their expressions change so abruptly when suddenly faced with inevitable death and that high they were feeling disappears in an instant.
It's fucking priceless, I can't get enough of it...but let me be clear, I only do that to real scum, people who are undeniably bad. Whenever I took jobs to kill people that I surmised to be morally gray, people who weren't outright evil, I opted to kill them with one shot," I surmised, before adding, "Shouldn't you know all this? You were spying on me for most of my previous life, weren't you?"
"Well, I wasn't always reading your mind, it was more fun to just watch it play out instead of getting spoilers. I gotta say, I'm pleased...you're the definition of chaotic neutral, you're definitely not a good person, but you aren't outright evil either, despite your violent and sadistic tendencies. Yeah...I did a good job with your character development, not bad at al-...ow!" She chuckled, before yelping as I swatted her off my shoulder in irritation...
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Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone