Chapter 355 - Miwa (Patreon)

Teleporting back after the auction ends, I check the result and receive just over three thousand shards for the five items. The tournament shop has already covered the entire rent for the house and workshop, and a few days still remain.

It's not as good as looting Veil Ignition Station, but it's good enough to make me a few thousand more shards before the tournament ends.

As I check the crafter ranking, I'm still first, with the second person being someone called Miwa and even Adam is there. For a moment, I consider buying their things to examine them but then decide not to. Looking at my results and 1st place, it's obvious I'm doing better. So, there wouldn't be that much to learn from them. I still might do it before the tournament ends.

Sensing a few signatures on the roof, I boost myself and land on top of it. Lily and Tacita are still in the same spot, and in addition to them, Maya and Sophie are there. Both of the women observe Tacita while talking to Lily.

Maya is closer to the mute girl. Maybe too close. Unlike me, she doesn't seem to notice the tension in Tacita's body every time someone moves too quickly, steps closer to her, or talks loudly. It's obvious to me after dealing with her for a bit, but Tacita seems to be twisted as well, like most of us here.

Maya, being as straightforward as she is, smiles and reaches her hand to the girl, introducing herself.

When Tacita ignores her, Maya makes a bit of a mistake. She steps even closer and saying something with friendly intention she reaches a hand to her.

In a flash, that hand gets cut off, and Maya staggers back, a dagger stabbed in her neck. She coughs, blood from her mouth dirtying her clothes.

Maya doesn't panic and her face turns into a deep calm of the skill both of us possess. Before Lily or Sophie can move, Maya puts a hand on the wound after pulling the dagger away, the blood seeping between her fingers. A blade made of mana extends from the stump of her cut off hand. Even bleeding, her expression turns dangerous.

Lily lets go of everything and moves at a speed similar to Tacita's, reaching Maya and putting a hand on her to heal her quicker. She heals her even before the tournament healing aura activates, the wound closing within a blink.

Then the three of them stand there, skills about to be activated at any moment to attack Tacita.

On the other side, the mute girl is calm, her slim body relaxed, arms hanging along her body, and fingers slightly bent. Her feet are placed in a way that would allow her to move quickly.

Not to escape, but to attack. Even facing three powerful members of Hell difficulty, Tacita doesn't hesitate.

It might be sociopathic, but I want them to fight. I bet Sophie and Maya would go down, barely able to do anything, and only Lily could defend herself. Knowing that it's impossible to die here allows me to have such thoughts.

But I don't forget to warn them, “If you damage the house, I will expect an item equal to the damage caused.”

Tacita lifts her hands and gestures at the trio opposite her after meeting my eyes.

“You too, I don’t go around destroying your stuff, so I would expect you to do the same.”

That makes her deflate a bit, and her stance becomes more relaxed.

"You saw what she did to Maya," Lily says through clenched teeth. Maya, unlike her, still keeps a calm face, her eyes on Tacita.

Did they forget who the girl was? She is solo climbing the floors, the same as Savant. She has again proved herself to be extremely dangerous and not that stable. Maybe the way she acted made them forget it? Tacita's playful behavior most of the time, silly emoticons she uses instead of speech.

It's amusing, to be honest. How little is enough for people to let their guard down in front of someone. Just a few smiles, childish behavior, and an innocent face.

Unlike them, I keep strengthening my body every time I see even a shadow of Tacita and keep a barrier under my skin, ready to activate it. Not even once have I forgotten to do so.

I also know Tacita noticed it; she knows that I'm ready to fight her anytime. But being twisted as she is, she doesn't mind such distrust. No, it seems like she appreciates it and is more comfortable when I treat her in such a way.

Tacita looks down on people who become too relaxed. But I guess that's the result of her climbing the floors alone and having to be on constant guard.

It's for the girls to realize it on their own, especially here where it is safe.

So I just say to Maya, "Dennis told me you know about someone who can make pizza."

While keeping her eyes on Tacita, Maya says in a calm tone, "Yes, I met her already and can lead you there."

"Sounds good. Can we go?"

Maya glances at me and then at the mute girl. Her expression slowly turns back to normal, and she examines her bloody clothes. Her expression clearly shows that she realized she made a mistake and that she’s really dissatisfied with the result.

Cursing, Maya says, "Yes, just let me change clothes." She then jumps off the roof and enters the house.

For a while, I observe the Sophie, Lily, and Tacita standoff, but in the end, it looks like there will be no fight.

"Boring," I mutter and also jump off the roof and sit on the bench outside, waiting for Maya.

***

Me and Maya enter the common area and only then she turns to me, "I fucked up."

"A bit," I nod. "Do you know where?"

"I thought of her as harmless and allowed myself to get lulled by the safety of the tournament."

"I agree, you have [Focus] too so you should keep it running in the background constantly. Use it to keep your strengthening just a blink from activating or to monitor your surroundings. Whatever you like to do."

We pass through the people while she leads us.

After a while, she asks, "Would she do the same even out of the tournament? If there was no field preventing us from dying?"

"Yup," I say.

I know that without a speck of doubt. Tacita would do the same even out of the tournament. To the native, to the real person. It doesn't matter. That's how she is.

My answer makes the usually straightforward and talkative Maya stay quiet, deep in her thoughts.

I, on the other hand, try to look as weak as possible. There are a few people even trying to examine my mana, sending their detection-like skills at me. Even Maya notices them, but I act as if I didn't and only reduce the amount of mana that leaks from my body.

All in order to help the disinformation campaign.

Like that, we reach a smaller house that's carved deep into a nice grassy hill that is also covered with colorful flowers. Outside of that house is a small workshop, a constant sound of hammered iron from there, and a lot of heat.

"Let's wait outside, apparently she’s sensitive if people interrupt her," Maya says.

Now even more curious, I plop down on the stone nearby and Maya does the same, and we wait.

I do not send my mana sense toward the workshop where the blacksmith Miwa is. She is the second ranked crafter in the tournament shop and it looks like she is also someone able to help me with pizza for my minion.

It takes around one hour and in that hour, I die four times. All deaths caused by black mana turning my brain to mush as I experiment with it. It's mostly its use for [Focus] or just directly using it for the brain. All the while I keep a field around me to stop mana from seeping into the area and keeping as much as I can inside of my body.

At this point, I start thinking that before the event ends I will have to be a bit more careful and stop relying on passive healing of the tournament. It would be unfortunate if I tried something similar outside.

Anyway, I'm learning a lot and my control that I was able to improve with the help of the Duplicate improves even further. Now even more so than before, I realize how much time experimenting together with him saved me. Months, half a year, maybe even a year that I would’ve needed to practice on my own, slowly to not blow my head off.

Maya next to me also trains, a focused expression on her face while she moves mana through her body.

Another hour passes before the woman in her forties finally exits the workshop. She has a youthful face and seems to be Asian, Japanese if I had to guess. The heat seems to radiate from her skin while she wipes her sweaty forehead and glances at us, then taking a few steps she greets us with a nod.

A few seconds later she coughs and tells me, “Hey, my eyes are up here.”

Maya seems to be shocked for some reason and pokes me.

Finally lifting my eyes off her arm I look up at her, “You didn't make it, where did you get it?” I ask.

What I mean is her right arm which is entirely made of metal. Some sort of prosthetic with articulation and covered in delicate inscriptions. The metal itself is an alloy I do not recognize. A silver color with a slight pinkish shine.

The arm is beautiful and I'm unable to take my eyes off it.

She looks at me, “I'm Miwa, I would like to hear your names first.”

“Noname, it's nice to meet you.”

“Knight, nice to meet you, Miwa.”

Miwa nods, “Thanks, even though they are aliases. Now then, I thought you wanted help with pizza, offering an epic item in exchange?”

“I have a healer in my group. She can restore your normal arm. I will add two epic items and you will give me your metal arm,” I offer.

“I apologize, but no.”

“Five epic items and my healer will make your new arm stronger than the original should be.”

“I already said no,” Miwa repeats decisively.

Should I try to steal it later? I mean, she is only Hard difficulty, it should be easy enough. It might be worth the trouble Tess would give me or Gareth's complaining. I saw a few prostheses, but this arm is something else, there is only one floor where she could get it.

“You got the arm on the second Floor, right?”

Seeing no reason to lie, Miwa nods, “I got it from a man called Keiron.” She lifts her arm, it moving perfectly, fingers reacting immediately and nimbly as normal ones would. Even the metal seems to bend slightly at the required places.

The arm is a masterpiece and more so given by Champion Keiron. Maybe he was nerfed on Hard difficulty or not, no matter what it's not something to ignore. More so him being a descendant of Lissandra.

I want to offer another trade, but Maya pokes me before I can and when I look at Miwa I do realize that if I ask again she will send us away. Even now she is only acting politely.

I will think of something later.

“Yes, we came here because of pizza. Apparently, you can make one.”

Miwa gestures to us to follow her and heads towards the house, “I like to cook so when we reached the common area I traded with other people and got a lot of ingredients. With what I have, I should be able to make pizza as well.”

We enter the hallways where she takes off her shoes and puts them to the side. Doing the same, we take off ours and then she invites us in.

Sitting in a smaller, but lovely kitchen, the woman still in her work clothes starts preparing tea, her metal arm as or even more nimble than a normal one. Me and Maya both sit there somewhat awkwardly. Even Miwa seems to be somewhat cold because of my offers.

Well, I think I know what will make her more friendly.

“I can give you an item for the pizza, but what do you think about this instead?” I put a few pieces of metal on the table.

Turning back to us, Miwa sighs, “Please, do not try to change…” she cuts off. Miwa quickly puts the kettle away and takes a quick step towards the table from which she grabs a small piece of metal.

It's voidsteel, not a blade, just a few pieces of the metal I found in Veil Ignition Station.

As expected, the woman seems to be even more interested now. Voidsteel is extremely expensive in the system shop and is mostly sold in ingots for one or two thousand shards. Then there is the problem that they are difficult to work with, especially for us from Earth with only one year of experience. So the pieces I gave her are even more interesting and will allow easier experimenting.

Then I decide to push more, “I also have a damaged arcane grade item.” I lower my voice, trying to make my offer sound as enticing as possible. “I will let you look at it if you let me look at your arm.”

***

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