Chapter 201 – New members and new ideas

The amount of medallions circulating on people’s hands grew quite a lot. One for Madam Irene, one for each of Samantha’s girls when they were in town, one for each of his mates, one in Nu’s hands, one for Grimaskin Mr.Purrils and his team of Black Mist cats sent on the mission, one for Black Mist Cat Village, one hidden in the first level of Labyrinth that he did not really have a need of, now that he had one directly in Town, and one on the uppermost level of Labyrinth to easily get to the Dryads' Core Forest without the need to pass the entire Labyrinth.

All medallions had to be constantly supplied with mana. Samantha’s, Kate’s, and Mr.Purrils’ medallions even more so, as they also had the ability to change appearance that needed to be recharged after use.

In addition to that, there were several ‘Lock On’ view screens constantly sucking mana out of him, yet they were too important to be discarded.

The strain was big, however, with Noah’s recent level-ups and bottleneck breakthrough he more or less had that consumption covered, needing to only goble one or two mana potions a day.

But now he faced another problem. The Parasite Tree. According to Ugy, if Noah did not recharge his vitality, he may lose his ability to get hard and even turn permanently impotent.

There were two skills currently in his arsenal to recharge vitality. Malignant Aura and Corrupting Touch. The first one was too big of a hustle to use. His very first attempt to use it attracted too many powerhouses from three different forces. Church, Adventurers Guild, and Dryad Queen. He was lucky to survive. Now with the rumor of impending war with Demons, the risk was even higher. All forces all over the human realm were on alert for any trouble from the demons.

Considering all that, the second skill, Corrupting touch was the most plausible answer to his problem. It had a far smaller area of influence to be sensed from a distance, but it needed close contact with the object. He of course could use it against just any plant but the amount of vitality he would gain was too small, and going around touching every plant was too time-consuming. The best option was to find a big target source that would give him enough vitality at once. Better even a pack of monsters.

This in turn called for a monster hunt. Without his trusted partner who was still undergoing repairs after the encounter with the space mage of Dark Association Guild, Noah had to either join hands with someone or hunt some weakass mob monsters, which as Ugy calculated would still be not enough to gain two weeks worth of Vitality too quickly. He would have to spend a few days hunting, which was unacceptable.

At first, it seemed that he would have to go hunt bigger monsters. Of course, in the middle of the night, there was no Party he could find to join unless he asked Samanth’s party. But as his thoughts swirled to the direction of available allies an idea came to his mind.

Beastwomen. Many of them volunteered to join his fighting force. Wasn't that just great? If they could hunt and capture monsters in his stead, Noah would be able to receive a steady amount of monsters to suck dry of all vitality, while girls trained and gained fighting experience. Luckily he had now also an experienced team of ex-adventurers who could act as instructors.

“Delegation of work that’s the road to success for a leader!” Thought Noah as the plan began to form in his head.

The beast women would have to be also provided with appearance-changing skills. So a medallion for each. Which would increase the mana use a lot. However, while drying monsters of vitality his mana would regenerate at a tremendous speed, which in the end would be even more effective than drinking potions. But for that plan, he was lacking…

“Weapons.” Said Noah aloud, surprising everyone.

“Parde me?” Asked Madam Irene lowering the glass of wine she was taking a sip from when Noah, who sat in thoughtful silence for some time, suddenly spoke.

“Where can I get weapons?” Asked Noah turning to Madam Irene reaching for his own wine and taking a sip.

“In a shop?” Said Samantha with a shrug, sitting near them on the balustrade of the balcony while watching down at the Mercenaries dragging bodies of the sleeping guests from the entertainment hall up the stairs and moving them into the rooms.

“How many weapons are we talking about?” Asked Madam Irene, putting down her glass with a raised eyebrow.

“For twenty adventurers to start, but there will be more later.” Said Noah.

“What adventurers?” Asked Samantha, finally turning to look at him.

“Beastwomen. Some of them wish to join the…organization.” Said Noah.

“Noah, fighting is not for everyone…”

“I know, I know.” Said Noah, stopping her with a raised palm. “They are not entirely newbies. There are fighters among them too. Some of them were guards in their village. I need many hands and a lot of fighters. So I was thinking… why don’t you train…”

“Huh? Why should we? You hired us for our skills. Would you need us if we train to exchange for us? That would be greatly unwise of us. Don’t you think so?” Said Kate standing with crossed arms and leaning on the balustrade near Samantha.

Samantha shrugged in confirmation that she agreed with her friend.

“You four can’t spend your life protecting this place. That’s not for you. And these guys…” Said Noah pointing at the Mercenary team dragging bodies around. “They aren’t permanent. They have their path and will go away at some point. You can prepare a worthy substitute for yourself here. Such guards that you would not be afraid to entrust your friend with. And if I needed someone to substitute you, Sam, I wouldn’t have bothered to help you at all.”

Sam and Kate exchanged thoughtful glances before looking at Irene who sat with a surprised look.

“OK. We can try. I won’t guarantee anything though.” Said Samantha.

“Hold on. Beastwomen?” Asked Madam Irene not understanding the topic of their discussion.

“Have you heard of the boob sap crisis lately?” Asked Samantha.

“Yeah. Something to do with the bullmen clan’s war. What about it?”

“It wasn’t a war. More of a massacre.” Said Noah.

“How do you know that?” Asked Madam Irene.

“He saw it himself.” Said Kate with her back to the group watching the Mercenaries on the lower floor work.

“Noah is the one who stopped it and saved the enslaved people.”

“Wait but that’s half a realm away from here…” Said Madam Irene, surprised.

“Long-distance travel, remember?” Said Noah tapping on the medallion that lay on the table near Madam Irene.

Madam Irene gazed at it thoughtfully before her eyes started to go wide. A few minutes ago when they discussed the business and agreed on cooperation she only considered this medallion as an emergency device that would allow her to escape to a safe place if she was in danger. But now that Noah mentioned it can be used more than just traveling toward him or a specific location…

The look in her eyes suddenly turned to greed as she peered intently at Noah. Worldwide logistics! She could build her empire across the whole human realm! She was no longer bound to this region or even this country. Only now realization of what a great opportunity knocked at her door finally dawned on her.

“Yes.” Said Noah. “I plan to offer this ability for travel for our members. At a price of course.” He seemed to understand her thoughts from just her expression alone.

“Members? How many members are there in your organization?”

“Mist cats for now. We plan to find other Monster households that are struggling and would be loyal to us when we save them from their peril.”

“Labyrinths! You can even go there?” Asked Irene, her breathing started to quicken from excitement seeing Noah’s nod.

“I would like to…” Started to say, Irene.

“You can discuss the condition with Theressa. As I would be unavailable for the next few weeks, my mates would be the ones to manage it all. I have a skill that allows me to give them free access to the transfer skill.

“Is it possible to meet Duchess Threadweaver in person?” Asked Irene.

Noah shrugged. “As I said, discuss it with her.”

“Hey. They seem to be done” Said Kate pointing with her head at the first floor below them. And a few seconds later a woman named Becca walked over to their table the whole way gazing intently at Samantha and Kate in their disguised appearances.

“You’re done, sweetcheeks?” Asked Samantha.

“Don’t fucking call me that.” Spat back Becca in anger.

“If you're so fierce, honey cake, she might take a liking to you.” Said Kate.

“Fuck you.” Grumbled Becca.

“Girls please.” Said Irene with a sigh. “Don’t mind these brutes, Becca.”

“Hey!” Protested Samantha. “Who are you calling brutes?”

“Excuse me, Count. I should go instruct my girls.” Said Irene standing up while ignoring Samantha’s glare.

Noah stood up as well offering her hand.

“Why thank you.” Said Madam Irene beaming a smile at Noah. It felt good to be treated as a Lady. Even though this man knew very well who she was he did not show a spec of disrespect, being absolutely curt with her.

Even though customers respected her rules in this establishment, there was no hiding that they still gazed at her as a dirty whore below them, especially if it was noble. This man however showed no hints of seeing her as less than an equal.

“She really found a good man.” Though Irene, throwing a quick jealous glance at her friend sitting on the porch.

When Madam Irene walked away her hips sway seemed to have gained a few extra centimeters making the motions of her gorgeous butt, better pronounced.

Both Samantha and Kate seemed to have noticed it, rolling their eyes before boring them at Noah, who at that moment quickly tore away his eyes from that mouth-watering pendulum and looked into the ceiling silently sipping his wine with his cheeks blushing a bit from being found staring at their friend's ass.

“Girls! Listen up!" said Madam Irene's voice calling to the attention of all her workers. “Just as I explained before. Get in the rooms. Make it look like you and our customers just had a wonderful time, and make them doubt their own memory. Convince them that it was the best night of their life and for a while, we have extra clientele that would come back for the same. And congratulations. You all gained a bonus today.” She said as all the girls nodded and walked into different rooms to wait for patrons that Dahlia put to sleep were going to be waking up soon.

Magic music playing device started to play again bringing life to the establishment once more.

Madam Irene sashayed back to Noah’s table and took a sip of her wine once again.

“You know, Your Highness, maybe you could lend me a Dryad from time to time as well? Normally only part of all Patrons would bring a girl to a room, but today we are sold out. And girls didn’t even need to work.” She said to Noah with a smile while sitting down.

“Sorry. That is not possible. They only serve their Queen. This would not be in agreement with her.” Answered Noah

“Too bad. But returning to your question about weapons. How fast do you need these weapons?”

“Preferably today.”

“Impossible.” Said Samantha. “Good weapons are made to order, No one holds so much in stock. Maximum a few good weapons made in advance per Smithery. All kinds of newbie crap, the smithy's have plenty, but that’s not what you really need thinking on, right?”

“Yeah, I thought of something durable and giving advantage to grow faster. But I need them in the field already in the morning.” Said Noah thinking about the fact that once he returned Dryad Queen would most likely use up all the stored Yang vitality in the….wood dildo… that Noah would have to start recharging again.

“Not possible.” Said Samantha once more.

“There might be a way.” Said Madam Irene thoughtfully.

“I am all ears.” Said Noah.

“If it’s not below you to steal the items from the hands of the worthless owners of said items. Then I might know a place where to procure them in bulk.” Said Madam Irene.

“I am not a criminal. But I’d hear you out before deciding.” Said Noah.

“You remember that disaster with Vega village right?” Asked Madam Irene, seeing Noah’s nod.

“At that time City Lord did not ask Nobles for help as some of them could leak information to the Dark Association. But later when the result of the raid turned out to be so disastrous for an Adventurers Guild and City Guards were too strained while protecting surrounding territory and nearby villages, City Lord turned to Local Nobles who possessed their own territories for help, asking them to assist the adventurers guild and the Town force by providing a few men for the cause as a backup.

The ones that answered the call could be counted on one hand and even if they sent a man or two out of their leashed dogs, they received this task as a punishment for some misconduct. All in all, they were mostly useless. Others simply answered that their forces are too small to even guarantee safety even to their own territory and they could not provide assistance.”

“The nobles that are supposed to protect the citizens, turned away from them. The City Lord had to use the Mercenary Guild’s help and spent a lot of money on it.”

“In my opinion, if these Nobles and their small armies of pocket mercenaries and ex-adventurers can’t be relied on in times of crisis, they are worthless.”

“I agree.” Said Noah nodding “But what of it?”

“They are providing equipment for all their mercenaries and adventurers.” Said Kate. “So they have an armory. These fat bastards love being safe. So they don’t skimp on equipping their people. They have good stock in their armories.”

"Lots of good weapons." Said Samantha nodding in agreement.

"They are wasted if they never see the use but just lie there, don't you think? So I thought we would be able to borrow from them." Said Madam Irene.

“Getting into Noble household's Territory and Mansions is the hardest part. They have magic barriers and alarm magic around their territory." Said Noah.

“Luckily, I have information that one of such Nobles is actually making a banquet bachelor party for his son’s system bottleneck breakthrough. Noble’s love this. Calling their offsprings geniuses and giving themselves fancy nicknames for the simplest thing as a twentieth-level breakthrough, that commoner adventurers would not even mention. Normally such parties involve a lot of…escort women from the best entertainment establishments such as mine from all nearby towns. So sneaking in would be easy.”

“I see.” Said Noah, nodding. With this occasion we will have an easy entrance all else would be easy. But you suggest sending Sam and her team as I understand? What do you say, girls? Would you be willing to do the job?”

"We have to earn our bread somehow. And this type of job  we are not averse to." Said Samantha after they had a silent glance at each other with Kate.

"Alright. In this case, I would like you to help me with this." Said Noah.

“Yeah. But there is one thing you should consider. These weapons are usually branded and easily identifiable with all kinds of crappy useless decorations. It is easy to remake it of course to make them stand out less. But on close inspection, they might arouse suspicion because of the obvious leftover appearance-degrading marks. Your girls would have to avoid entering a town where they might be stopped for inspection at the town gates with these weapons.” Explained Samantha.

“I see.” Said Noah. “We would have to hide them…or store them.” He said as an idea popped into his mind.

Noah quickly picked Madam Irene’s medallion from the table and held it in his hand in silence in front of himself for a minute, raising confusion from the women around him. After a minute Noah smiled and gave the medallion back to Madam Irene.

“Do you know how a dimension pocket sack works, Lady Isabella?” Asked Noah.

“Of course. I have my dimension storage wallet.” Answered Madam Irene, nodding.

“Try storing something into the medallion just like you do with your wallet. Something recognizable.” Said Noah.

Madam Irene raised an eyebrow taking the round object from Noah’s hand and took out a small pin with beautiful blue gem stones out of her dimension pocket. She concentrated her thoughts, sending a small amount of mana into the medallion, and the pin in her hand disappeared. All the women in the room raised their eyebrows in surprise.

“You can give it a storage ability too?” Asked Kate the most surprised one of the lot, as she knew how incredible of a feat that was.

“It’s useless. They can search through the item pocket and dimension bag at the full identity inspection inside the guard house.” Said Samantha said without being much impressed.

“Yeah. Normal ones.” Said Noah, opening a hand that held the very pin that Madam Irene had just stored away.

“Wait! What?” Exclaimed Kate, rushing over and looking at the pin and then the medallion in shock.

“What’s going on?” Asked Madam Irene in confusion.

“It’s not so much as giving the ability to store as an ability to use my storage dimension. You did not store it in the medallion. You transferred it to me.” Said Noah.

“This would not show on the inspection!” Exclaimed Madam Irene.

“But there is one more thing. You can’t just take the item out. You need my authorization or my approval to send it back to you.” Said Noah. “I minor setback, but I think My mates and I would be able to handle it if it is not used often.” He added turning to look at Isabella who was sitting in silence as she gaped at him.

“Is everything alright?” Asked Noah.

“Noah…” Said Madam Irene “If you can store but need authorization to take it out…it’s like in the bank. Only your bank can’t be robbed.”

“Holy fuck!” Said Kate. “Underworld Bank!”

“There are banks in the underworld?” Asked Noah.

“Duuuh.” Said Samantha. “Where do you think all those criminal guilds hold money? Legal banks?”

“Interesting.” Said Noah rubbing his chin. “What do I need to make a bank?”

“A legal one is quite a hard thing to do.” Said Madam Irene. “You need the Country’s approval. Underworld bank however operates purely on trust, credence, and status in the underworld that is spread by word of mouth mostly. So there are several underworld banks, that disappear and appear occasionally, making their clients lose money for different reasons. Mostly after being attacked by concurrent groups. But that's part of the underworld's risk.”

“Thank you for the idea.” Said Noah. “I’ll give it a good consideration. “But it looks like your clients started to wake up.” Said Noah pointing in the direction of the halls where some of the clients with beaming smiles were accompanied out by the girls leaning on them.

“It’s time for me to return as well. It was an enjoyable discussion.” Said Noah standing up and taking Madam Irene’s hand that followed him to stand, before pressing his lips to the back of her hand. Madam Irene beamed with a smile at his gesture, throwing a smirk in Samantha’s and Kate’s direction, who rolled their eyes at her.

“Ladies.” Said Noah turning to Samantha and Kate, making a small nod before excusing himself and leaving with Dahlia in tow.