Reborn as the First Boss (Patreon)

Chapter 12 – Considerations

I was gentle with the young rogue. The first time. But I wasn’t the type to go for only a single round, unless it was a quickie like Astruth gave me in town. And that was more like picking up a light snack, rather than indulging in a full meal, like I did with Jewell. And she was a delicious little meal, indeed.

I smiled as I stepped back from the desk, looking down at the thoroughly ravished rogue splayed out over it, my seed leaking from all three holes. With a thought, I undid the transformation that gave me a cock. While it was fun being able to wield that monster, I was still a woman, and it would screw with my head to have that thing constantly swinging about. Not to mention that, even if my pants had the Conforming property, there was no way I’d be able to wear them without that thing being immediately noticed. Not great if I wanted to blend in.

Pants no longer around my ankles, I looked down at the young rogue. She was pretty, once you cleared away the masculine disguise she’d been wearing. Not supermodel pretty, but more the girl next door. The kind that felt more ‘real’ than an out of this world beauty. The kind of girl that boys would be lining up to take as a bride, and count themselves lucky.

Too bad that I got to her first.

I gently stroked her head as I considered what to do next. Tomorrow night was the ritual. With the Hero dead, I was feeling confident that I wasn’t going to be interrupted before I could complete it. Afterwards, though? I had to assume that throwing around enough magic to make me semi-Immortal would get noticed, and people would start asking questions. I might be forced to flee. If that happened, I would need a good party around me.

Actually, I needed a party, regardless. I was no longer the First Boss, but I was still a Roaming Boss. That meant I needed levels. I needed to get stronger. And I needed people to watch my back, and cover for the gaps in my own toolkit.

The Voice of the World told me that a party was limited to six people, though familiars and other such minions weren’t included in that number. Unless they were. There were too many exceptions to the rule to really go black and white with it. But, for my purposes, that meant I could get five minions before I started needing to get into more complicated organizations.

There were several main roles in a well-balanced party. Tanks were just that, people who could keep the attention of the enemy, either avoiding or mitigating damage from attacks, and keeping the monsters from getting in the face of the squishier party members. Damagers were typically split up into Melee, Ranged, and Magic, based on what kind of attacks they did. Not as beefy as the Tanks, they were geared entirely for offense, with melee types, like Rogues, going for close-in kills, while ranged types stood back and used guns, bows, or throwing weapons to strike down enemies, and magic types used spells to do the same. Supporters were the third type, and included healing-type classes, as well as those that gave buffs or debuffs, or specialized in battlefield or crowd control. The final type were Utility types. Those included people with [Trapfinding], as well as those with social skills, like [Diplomacy].

Of course, not everyone was specialized to the point where they only had one role. Most adventurers tried to cover one role well, and then to at least be passable in another. Adventuring was not a safe business, after all. If a party got split up, or lost a member, then the remainder would be in that much more danger if they had all their eggs in one basket.

I, myself, would be classified as a Ranged Damager, Support, and Utility. Spellshooter straddled the line between Ranged and Magic Damager, but was more closely aligned with Ranged, since shooting guns was the primary focus of the class. Mind Sorceress was one of the quintessential Support classes, once you moved past the healing types. Being able to read minds, daze foes, and cast illusions were trademark Support things. As for Utility? I was a Greater Succubus with the Courtesan profession. I lived and breathed the ‘social utility’ role, just by existing.

Linette and Astruth were both Fighters. That was some solid defense right there. Maid was not particularly useful on a battlefield, but had strong organizational skills, making Linette a Tank with some Utility roles. Astruth, on the other hand, was pure Tank, with his Bodyguard profession.

Jewell was a Rogue, which was a very nice Melee Damager that also had strong Utility. [Trapfinding] was absolutely critical in dungeons, as were skills like [Lockpicking]. Being able to disarm traps and open locked doors was always welcome in a well-balanced group.

Looking at it from that perspective, I had two open spots in my party. I was hoping that Jewell’s sister would submit, like she had. Healer / Alchemist was a potent combination, that fell very solidly in the realm of Support. That would be a big win for my group, if Jewell could convince her to submit.

That left one open spot. Looking at it rationally, what I really needed was some sort of Magic Damager class. Sure, Spellshooter had magic, but a real Magic Damager class would fill in a lot of gaps, as well as giving us more of a ranged presence than just my spellgun. Perhaps, once the ritual was over, I’d go and look at the slave market?

No, that wasn’t the answer. Not at the moment, anyways. I was still short on cash, after my spending spree the other day. While I wasn’t exactly poor, I couldn’t afford to let go of too much coin, if I wanted to continue blending in. Taxes from the local lands weren’t terrible, but they weren’t great, either. If I wanted coins soon, I’d need to go out and do some actual adventuring.

But that was a consideration for another time. After the ritual. Once she had the skill, and knew its ins and outs, then she could start working on leveling. According to the reports she got as Baroness Pureheart, the Cunning Tombs dungeon was located a day’s ride from Windwater. Undead dungeon, with various forms of zombies and skeletons, mostly in the Level 4 to 10 range for the first couple floors, and the monsters got stronger the deeper you went. No one knew just how deep the dungeon went, but it was supposed to be at least thirty floors.

More importantly, the little town around the Tombs had adventurers of all stripes. The Adventurer’s Guild used the dungeon as a training hub, letting their members get experience and gear from the dungeon so that they would actually be useful against the various monster threats in the wider world. Even in a peaceful area like the Windwater Barony, there were still wild monsters that popped up, here and there, with goblins being the most problematic.

Oh, sure, horned rabbits were the most common, but they were just normal rabbits with a horn and an attitude. Dangerous to unarmed commoners, but they rarely survived to get beyond level 5, so they weren’t exactly a major threat. Same with more dangerous creatures, like the Shadow Wolves, or the Mountain Bear. They were dangerous, but if you didn’t go into their territory unprepared, you were not likely to fight one.

Goblins, on the other hand, were foul, nasty creatures that liked nothing better than to kill, rape, pillage, and burn everything they could get their hands on. Exclusively male, they made a point of capturing any females they could. Most female adventurers agreed that it was better to die than be captured by goblins.

“Mistress?”

My musings were cut off by Linette’s voice as she entered the study. Still dressed in her maid uniform, she had that ‘strict elder sister’ vibe that some of the guys dug, back in my old life. From Mhyrsha’s memories, she was very… enthusiastic in bed.

“Yes, Linette? What is it?”

“A delegation from the town requests an audience. Representatives of the Merchant’s and Adventurer’s Guilds are here, as well as the Mayor of Windwater and the Captain of the Guard. What shall I say to them?”

Hmm. With those four groups, the only thing they would likely want to talk to me about would be the bandits. No other problems were brewing around here, as far as I knew. Yes, I could use this.

“I’ll meet them in the main reception hall. If the four of them have come to see me all together, then it is no doubt a matter of some importance. It would be rude not to treat it as such.” I paused, considering. Meeting in the throne room (because that was what it was) would convey power, and ‘Baroness Pureheart’ had a reputation of taking the welfare of her subjects seriously that would benefit me. But if it wasn’t an emergency, rushing directly there would send the wrong message. Making them wait too long, however, would also be an insult. Best to keep the wait short. “Tell them that I will be with them presently. And have one of the maids clean up my new pet, and take her to her room.”

“As you wish, Mistress,” Linette said, before stepping back outside to ring a bell, summoning one of the other maids.

I ignored them coming in to clean up Jewell, and take her away. Instead, I made my way towards my throne room. As I walked, shifted away from my ‘adventurer’ look to that of Baroness Pureheart. Next, I focused on the glamour enchantment woven into my clothes. They shifted, and became a long gown, suitable for a noblewoman, but still being somewhat easy to move in. My weapons were quickly deposited in my inventory, leaving me looking like your average noblewoman.

That done, I undid one of my castings of [False Appraisal], the one giving me an ‘Adventurer’ persona. But I wasn’t going to just assume that no one would try and [Appraise] me, or use a skill that could see through my spell. A second layer of the spell, this time bumping my ‘fake’ level to 10. If anyone used [Appraise] on me, they’d see Alis Pureheart as a Human Female, Level 10 Mind Sorcerer / Diplomat. The ‘real’ [Appraise], if they got through my first one, would have Pureheart as a level 5 Mind Sorcerer / Spellshooter / Courtesan. Seeing that, most people would assume that was the extent of my plans, and try to take advantage of my ‘slip’. If I met someone who had the presence of mind (or paranoia) to check a second time, without my noticing, then I was likely dead already.

I stopped just outside the back door to the throne room, and took a breath. So far, I had been skating by on hiding my true self from everyone, and not appearing as Baroness. I couldn’t pretend to be a ‘fresh character’, here. I was Baroness Pureheart, and I needed to act like it, or I would likely have a rebellion on hand. At the very least, these other groups would start to have doubts, and that was a good way to get a Hero tracking me down.

No point waiting outside the door forever. I needed to go pretend to be a noblewoman. No big deal. Right? I sighed and then steeled myself as I pushed open the door, located behind my throne.

I should have picked up the [Acting] skill.