Chapter 83 (1 of 2) A skulking acquaintance. (Patreon)

“Create a party with the name: Commission’s Ambassadors,” Lucille announced in front of Gilded Seat’s Obelisk.

[Party Created: Commission’s Ambassadors. Do you wish to invite Users to join? Yes/No]

She pressed on [Yes] as a brown-haired crafter eyed her sceptically.

“Ambassadors? Us?” Sedric said.

“Officially, that’s what we are. Representatives on behalf of the Aurelian Commission,” she replied. She swiped at a notification that had popped up. “Anyway, you two accept this so if anyone uses an Inspection skill on you guys, they’ll know you’re with me.”

The party invite appeared in front of Sedric and Scytale. Scytale shrugged and accepted it while Sedric let out a long sigh. “Are we going then?”

Lucy nodded. “Let’s go into the Obelisk. Sedric, as I told you earlier, you need to specifically say ‘Take me to the Supreme Serpent’s Silent City in the Violet Luminosity Jungle Region of the Beast Realm.”

He looked away. “I really don’t want to use one of my realm teleports for this.”

Lucille pinched her nose bridge. “Sedric, when was the last time you went to another realm? You’re Rank-2, so was it when you did the Demon Realm’s Stages?”

“Uh…” He hesitated. “Maybe… I was seventeen…”

“So, five years ago,” Lucy stated flatly. “That would mean you have nearly eighty realm teleports saved up, including the ones you gained the year before. If you aren’t going to use them for this, what will you use them for?”

Sedric smugly raised a finger. “I used them for teleporting between Obelisks in the Mystical Realm. Sometimes I couldn’t afford the teleportation arrays, in case you weren’t aware, Commission Head.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “Ignoring that abominable waste of realm teleports only to move planes,” she replied dryly, “How many teleports do you have left?”

He paused as if considering coming up with a fake answer. Then he slumped as he sighed, the big rucksack containing his crafting equipment weighing him down. “Sixty…”

Lucy gave him a flat look and then turned around. “I see. Then we’ll see you on the other side, Sedric.”

“Sure, sure,” he grumbled, following after Lucy and Scytale.

She appeared with her bond beside her, but Sedric had been taken to his private Obelisk space by the System. Lucille looked at Scytale. “Just making sure… but do you really want this City Lord title?”

He pretended to consider it. “Yup,” he said. “I mean, I’ll probably forget I have it after a while but it’ll be fun to brag about. And I can always give it to you or something if I want to.”

“Sure,” she sighed. She shook her head and prepared to go to the Beast Realm. “Don’t cause any trouble. And make sure to use your illusion abilities to appear as a Truth-Seizing Serpent.”

He looked down at himself. “Right, I should probably do something about my human form too.” He snapped his fingers and suddenly black-green chromatic colour bled into his formerly silver hair. Instead of the brilliant gold it used to be, his eyes became a luminous, large indigo that pulsated uncannily. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be able to cast any spell within the Obelisk, but using internal illusion mana to change his features was closer to a biological ability as an illusion serpent.

“You’re nearly unrecognisable from your former timeline self,” Lucy said with approval. Then she smirked. “Of course, you’re much shorter than you were then.”

Scytale glared at her. “Just take us to the Beast Realm already!”

“As you wish.” With the command relayed to the System, their bodies splintered into white light and they reformed across endless space in the new realm.

…

Sedric stared at the humanoid snake next to Lucille. “Who are you?”

“I know, I understand.” Scytale held his chin and nodded sagely. “When I look in the mirror, sometimes my handsomeness surprises even me.”

The crafter scowled. “Never mind. Maybe my question should be why does your bond look so creepy?” He shuddered. “Those eyes are way too similar to Lucy’s.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him while Scytale stuck his tongue out. “This is what all Truth-Seizing Serpents look like in their human forms. I’m just making sure I won’t stand out. And my eyes are way cooler than Lucy’s! She only has one eye like that anyway!”

Lucille sighed and turned around to face the rest of the plaza. “Before we head to the City Lord’s manor, I want to look around a bit and inspect the situation. It’s always better to get first-hand information before an important discussion.”

“Sure.” Sedric gripped the straps of his rucksack and glanced at the mixture of brick and wood buildings, colourful silks draped over balconies and doorsteps. He followed Lucy as she went towards the marketplace. “This place… looks kind of weird. There aren’t any magic engine carriages and they use beasts to pull the coaches, but I see a ton of decent-quality equipment.”

“It’s a simple case of viability trumping efficiency,” Lucy replied, ducking under the tusks of a massive horned beast covered in bags of supplies. “You could buy a magic engine carriage to use in the city, but there wouldn’t be many workshops that could service it. Replacement parts and alchemical components would be hard to come by, and the specially bred low-ranked beasts here have been trained to be useful in combat as well. A magic engine can’t protect its owner.”

She put a hand over her eyes and peered up. “It’s more crowded here than before. Taller buildings have been constructed too. News of the Supreme Enclave has spread to the surrounding regions.” Lucy placed her hands behind her back and hummed. “But just news can’t have caused this response. The enclave must’ve made formal contact with the City Lord.”

She ignored the rude yawning coming from her bond when Sedric stopped, becoming distracted by an interesting array of leather hides hanging up from ropes outside a storefront. “These are… only a few days old? But the tanning process is supposed to take at least a month.”

“That’s because the dense mana of the Beast Realm preserves their strength,” Lucy explained, walking up to him. “The leather we obtain in the Mystical Realm has had its mana slowly leached out the longer it remains in stock. While mana attracts mana, that rule only applies depending on a certain mana ratio per cubic metre.”

“Stop nerding out on me, you two,” Scytale complained.

Sedric thought about it, completely ignoring the snake. “So these only seem a few days old because the leather I’m used to obtaining has partially lost its strength.”

Lucille nodded and turned away as he followed. “Correct, but sometimes it needs to lose its mana before it can be used. Dense mana will strengthen its properties such as hardness and firmness, but the leather is unworkable during that time.”

She took out her pocket watch. “We have around two hours before I need to visit the manor. Let’s look around for anything of interest in the meantime, primarily materials for the new frame of my dimension artifact.” She held up a finger. “Just for this day only, though… if there is anything else you see of interest, then I’ll buy it for you.”

“Okay, but…” Sedric frowned and glanced around. “I don’t get why you think this place will have what we need. The most common element here is illusion, which doesn’t have anything to do with space mana.”

“We need some way of disguising my dimension when I open my briefcase, don’t we?” Lucy asked while tilting her head. “I don’t want just anyone opening the case and having access to the dimension. Not to mention I’d like it to have camouflage properties when I need to leave it alone for a while.”

“I guess…” He shrugged. “Fine then. I’ll head into the leather shop to see if they have any good materials for the outside. You’ll be able to find me, right?”

She smirked and crossed her arms. “I’ll always be watching.”

Sedric scoffed. “Whatever. See you later.”

He left them alone, while Scytale turned to his bond. “What are we going to do?”

“Us?” Lucille smiled and spread her hands. “I’m going to resolve some unfinished business I have with someone. Do you want to come along?”

“…does it involve ruining someone’s life?” Scytale asked with suspicion.

She grinned. “Potentially.”

He grinned back. “Count me in!”

…

Opposite a low building with the opulent gold on royal-blue sign spelling out ‘Abbott Everett’s Magisterial Treasure Emporium’, Lucy and Scytale stood leaning against a wall. Lucy was spinning her pocket watch by its chain, whistling as she observed the bony figure bumbling around the shop. “I’m impressed he’s still well enough to work. I thought he might’ve gained some kind of deadly heart condition after his incident with me.”

“Did you have anything to do with him in the former timeline?” Scytale asked with an eyebrow raised. “Is there any real reason why you want to keep picking on him?”

She blinked at him. “Does there have to be?” When Lucy saw his dull look she smirked and shook her head. “I’m tying up loose ends. It would be best to displace a witness to the fact that Larena and Garthe were here just before the avalanche. They’re passing through here to go back to the Permafrost Glacial Abode Region and investigate the destroyed convoy.” Lucy nodded in Abbot Everett’s direction. “He has the highest chance of recognising them."

Scytale screwed up his nose, trying to understand her actions. “…why now? Shouldn’t you have done this earlier?”

“Nope. I could’ve asked Ravimoux, but an assassination or sudden death would’ve been suspicious so close to the avalanche.” Lucy shook her head. “I just need him out of here before he sees the mercenaries again. More eyes are on me now after the two debuts. I need to take extra care with my actions.”

“Such as coming out here all alone without a guard from the Commission?” Scytale pointed out. “I don’t get why the Counties allow that.”

She raised an eyebrow. “If I couldn’t prove I can protect myself without relying on their aide, I couldn’t have proved myself as someone worthy to lead them. What reincarnated Archmage needs a few little Rank-4s to tag along when I’m going out for petty errands?” She put a hand up to her face and took of her characteristic half-mask.

Ravimoux always has hidden guards nearby for me, Scytale.

‘Oh….’

A distant chime alerted them to the fact that Everett’s few remaining customers had left. With a smirk on her face, Lucy walked forward and confidently entered the shop.

“Good day to you, sir,” she announced brightly, drawing his surly gaze. “Do you take returns?”

His scrutinizing gaze took in the brilliance of her clothing’s colours and the fine materials they were made out of. The balding man’s face broke out in a slimy smile as he recognised her status and bowed deeply. “That is not among our policies, lady, but for someone of your status I may be able to make an exception.” He winked.

Off to the side, Lucy’s use of an invisibility cast on Scytale was undetectable by the mana circles as she controlled the atmospheric mana with her Transmutation Mastery

Has he forgotten me so soon? No, I should be understanding of his advanced age. He’s someone who never attempted to defeat the Demon Realm’s stages and wasted his life away, so his mind must be failing. Plus, I thought this might happen if I took off my mask.

“You see, quite some time ago, more than a year, I purchased a large quantity of objects from this establishment,” she continued amiably. “I never put them to their proper use though, so I felt sorry for keeping them on my person any longer when other excellent warriors may require them.”

Abbott frowned when he heard ‘large quantity’. “If too many objects need to be returned, you may have better luck going to another branch store. This store doesn’t keep that much capital on hand,” he replied, giving her a strained smile.

Lucy narrowed her eyes. “After I wasted an Obelisk teleport to come here? Tell me, sir, how you’ll compensate me for the realm transfer if I go to another branch?”

His pandering expression shifted into a grimace. “As you wish, my lady, I’ll allow you to return what we can afford.”

She huffed and marched forward up to the counter. “Yes, you will. Come have a look at these.” Lucille began to pull out the items one by one. “These items have been barely used, so I’m sure they have resale value. Here, this is an extendable rope I obtained to climb high cliffs. As you can see, no fraying can be seen. And this water flask hasn’t a speck of rust!”

Something about Everett’s expression became increasingly strange as she placed a magically protected bag on the counter and pulled more items out of it. “And here’s a wire net I bought to trap any monsters that may fancy me as a meal. And this…” She pulled out another ten items until only one remained.

“And I have one final object that I would like to see if you’re willing to purchase,” she murmured in a low voice. “Because you see, this used to be wielded by a famed Mythos of Glory Pantheon. I’m certain that only the Magisterial Treasure Emporium can deal with such a high-profile object.”

Out of her dimensional bag, she withdrew a bronze dagger, with a gaudy sapphire the size of a pigeon’s egg fitted in the handguard. She slowly lowered it onto the counter, waiting ‘eagerly’ for his response.

Abbott Everett’s face slowly turned mottled purple, and then bright red. His pale hand roughly swept aside all the items on the countertop and pointed his knobbly cane at her.

“Are you mocking me?!” he shouted, drawing looks from others just outside the shop. “Where does it say ‘owned by a Mythos’ in its item description? My shop is not somewhere for you to mess about with your foolhardy antics! Unless you prove to me which Mythos owned this object, I’ll call the city guard on you!”

“But sir, I can’t do that.” Lucy leaned forward to whisper, “It’ll ruin the weapon’s power if I tell you.”

“How utterly ridiculous,” he stated curtly. “There is no power at all to be found within that glorified butter knife.”

“Really?” Lucille stepped back and made a show of admiring the light glinting off of its surface. “I could’ve sworn that was what you told me when I bought it, though.”

“I have no memory of you,” he retorted sharply. “Leave this place before I use my system-given authority to force you from my shop.”

She shrugged and dropped the knife on the ground. “Oh well. This was about as much as I expected for our reunion. You can keep all the trash I left in your shop. It was yours to begin with.”

Lucy walked out before the storekeeper could reply and instead turned a corner to walk into an alleyway out of sight of the Magisterial Treasure Emporium. She lowered her hand near the ground to allow her bond to slither up her arm, where she removed the invisibility spell from her bond. Scytale swayed to let the keys hanging from the ring around his neck jangle.

“The serpentine thief extraordinaire, the Great Scytale, has returned with the old fogey’s keys,” he announced proudly. “For I am a master of decept-”

“Give me those.” Lucy pulled the keyring off her bond’s neck and held them up to observe them. “Good. I can use these when I meet with the City Lord later.”

“Hey! Where’s my thanks!” Scytale said with injustice. “That was my reward, not yours!”

“And who distracted him? Never mind.” She set her bond back down so he could revert to his human form. “You’re just being as obnoxious as always.”

Scytale sat on the ground, gazing sourly at her. “When I become City Lord, I’m going to imprison you,” he complained.

“You can try.” Lucille pocketed the keys and walked off. “I want to see if there are any souvenirs that the others might like.” She looked back and contemplated her bond’s attitude and normal behaviour. “Scytale, I give you permission to free-roam the city until it’s time to meet the City Lord.”  

“Really?” He stared at her to make sure she was telling the truth and then he bolted upright. “Nice!” He held his hands out. “Money please.”

Lucy shot him a flat look and then rolled her eyes as she fished out a rose crown, enough for whatever it was he wanted to buy. “Don’t cause trouble.”

“You know me, when have I ever caused trouble~” He ran off down the alley, where she knew he was already searching for food.

She shook her head and sighed. Then she spread her perception field to find the first place she wanted to go. Lucille nodded to herself after a moment.

If souvenirs are what it takes to stop the future Prismatic Dragon Ruler from sulking, then it’s a small price to pay.

Annaliese would whine if she didn’t get anything, wouldn’t she?

…

Two guards in full-body armour protected a dark oak door, a blue crest on their chestplates. They looked up when they heard heavy footsteps marching towards them. They quickly bowed. “Captain McGarrod.”

“Let me in,” he growled, flipping his visor up. “The Lord called for me, didn’t he?”

They obediently opened the door and stood to the side as the City Guard Captain marched in.

“Beric!” Captain McGarrod shouted, walking up to a table and slamming his armoured hands on it. “Please reconsider the selling of the City Lord! We don’t know what these people will do!”

The City Lord, the swarthy bearded man sitting in the chair opposite McGarrod, frowned and placed down the page he was reading. “How disrespectful, Darvis McGarrod! Kneel down this instant!”

Caught off guard by the normally easy-going City Lord’s apparent change in temperament, he got down on one knee and lowered his head. “I-I apologise. I was overly emotional.”

“In the first place, nothing has been decided yet. You shouldn’t have panicked.” The City Lord looked down at the page in his hand and then dipped his head in the direction of the windowsill. “And you’re disrespecting my honoured guest. If I hadn’t known you were acquainted, I would've had to order your punishment.”

The City Lord stood up from his chair and walked over to the window. He bowed to the figure there. “I give you my sincerest apologies for this incident, Commission Head. I don’t know who leaked the information.”

“It’s alright. As you said, we’re acquainted.”

Darvis McGarrod looked up and his eyes widened as he saw the dark-haired young woman waving to him.

“Hi Darvis,” Lucille told him brightly, a green-black mottled snake with indigo eyes resting on her shoulders. “It’s been a while.”

…

“I can’t believe it,” Darvis began, looking dumbfounded. His helmet rested on the floor beside his chair. “Aurelian Commission Head. Of all the possibilities…”

Lucy calmly sipped her drink and placed the teacup down. “I became Aurelian Commission Head after meeting you, so don’t think I intentionally fooled you.”

“I… see…” Darvis looked at Scytale, who was sitting cross-legged in his own chair. “And… you must be her bond I saw last time. You’re definitely a Truth-Seizing Serpent.”

Scytale gave him a thumbs-up while a cookie was stuffed in his mouth.

Darvis turned to Lucy. “But this talk about purchasing the City Lord title? Is this true?”

“I’ve been meaning to expand the Commission's services into the Beast Realm for some time now,” she explained. She gestured to her bond. “He was the one who suggested for us to come here, though. And he’s the one who wants the City Lord title. Not me.”

Scytale swallowed and then nodded. “Yep. I figured that if someone was going to be a City Lord between us, then I wanted to be the City Lord of the place closest to my enclave.”

“Would your enclave appreciate someone as young as you being their neighbouring city’s lord?” the City Lord queried.

“Not a problem.” Scytale shrugged. “I have a higher status than most of them. I’m the only grandson of the Truth-Seizing Matriarch.”

Darvis and the City Lord stared at him, and then at each other. The City Lord turned to Lucy. “Do you mind if we…”

She nodded. “You can go ask them if this is true. We don’t have anything to hide.”

“Then if it’s for the purposes of improving relations between us and the Supreme Enclave, this would be a good move,” Darvis murmured. He frowned. “But I don’t like the idea of you giving up everything our fathers worked so hard to build here, Beric. This city has only seen its second genera-”

The City Lord pushed the page he had been reading over to Darvis. “This is the proposed contract, Darvis. Finish that thought after seeing this.”

Darvis picked it up and scanned it. Slowly his eyes grew wider and he lowered it to stare at Lucy and Scytale. “Governor…?”

“This contract will be signed before the City Lord title is transferred, obviously,” Lucy replied nonchalantly. “Benefits you’ll have are the support of the Aurelian Commission Head herself, access to a chain of a franchise that will supply high-quality items to your adventurers, and you’ll have a direct route of contact with the Supreme Enclave through Scytale. A decent opportunity, don’t you think?”

“May I ask what this chain is?” the City Lord spoke up.

Lucille leaned back and gave them a wide shrug. “I received the official receipt of the purchase of the Magisterial Treasure Emporium yesterday morning. Granted, I have some cleaning up to do of the business, but it’ll soon be up to the standards I outlined.”

Both Darvis and the City Lord began to smile, but then a thought dawned on them and they exchanged bitter looks. “It might not be possible to obtain Everett’s store,” the City Lord said.

Lucy tilted her head. “Oh?”

“This Ascendent City is still… relatively new,” the City Lord began slowly. “Our laws are rapidly developing, but at the same time can’t be changed easily. While Everett is an employee of the Magisterial Treasure Emporium, he purchased the building under his own name and the shop is run under his own name instead of that of the Magisterial Treasure Emporium. That is often the standard in frontier regions of the Beast Realm.”

The City Lord sighed. “As such, unless he hands over the keys to his shop himself, you won’t-”

“These keys?” Lucille held up the keyring and let it dangle for the two men.

They stared at it. Darvis slowly raised a shaky finger to point at them. “A-Are those-”

City Lord Beric coughed. “I apologise, Commission Head, but without an official reason for you to have those I can’t authorise the change of ownership-”

“I got these in exchange for returning an item I purchased,” Lucy said with a broad smile. “You can even head to his shop to see the item yourselves. Both of you will be familiar with it, especially you, City Lord. I recall a story of your son selling it to Everett.”

“The bronze dagger?” Darvis murmured.

The City Lord glanced between them. “Will that excuse work?”

“Why of course!” Lucy replied, blinkingly innocently. “Even the owner of the Magisterial Treasure Emporium has recognised Abbot Everett’s method of exchanging one item of merchandise for another. While the shop was registered under his name, as you say, the Magisterial Treasure Emporium still owns rights to the shop, and they’ve authorised this trade.”

Darvis burst out laughing as the City Lord smiled. “I see. Then I’ll have to summon my head of law and officialise the exchange. Then the last matter is…”

The four of them looked down at the contract. With one last nod, City Lord Beric picked up a pen and signed it. The magical contract glowed as the deal was sealed. He stood up and held his hand out to Lucille. “I look forward to our future cooperation, Aurelian Commission Head,” he said as she shook it. “And…” He turned to Scytale and dipped his head. “I look forward to serving you as the Supreme Serpent’s Silent City’s Governor, City Lord Scytale.”

Scytale grinned and instead gave him a fist bump. “I like the sound of that title. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing and everything will be fine.”

“Then I’d best take my leave,” Lucy replied, nodding to the two men. “I have other places to be.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, where are you intending to go?” the City Lord asked politely.

Lucille looked back and smirked. “Well, I have another four cities in this region to buy. Only then can I claim I ‘own’ the region.”

Darvis smirked too. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for a little longer to see the illegal resident of your shop be evicted?”

Lucy considered it and turned back. “On second thought, I can spare the time.”