110(1) – Zenyo! (VI)
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PART 1 – Conversation on the way!
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Lina certainly didn't know when to shut up. She bombarded Verna and Zenyo with questions about their world: what method they used to get there, if they planned to return, how they obtained information from other worlds, and so on.
Verna answered without hesitation, not in detail, but enough to satisfy her curiosity. Lina naturally grew more excited and frustrated.
"So you're telling me that worlds have consciousness? That worlds are neutral, but to avoid disasters and imbalance, tend to favor certain individuals to carry out missions?"
"Yes. I've already done dozens of missions and assigned many to people close to me," Verna said nonchalantly.
"I've participated in four of them, gained a lot of EXP and a free level in one of my skills," Zenyo said to confirm Verna's story.
"...why have I never received anything? Or is it something only Demigods can handle? Well... it's a mission given by the world, I guess a Legend can't do much," Lina sighed.
“The world can’t communicate through normal means; they tend to manipulate things to gather a group of elites and place them at the center of the chaos. When they finish, they’ll receive tons of rewards,” Verna said calmly.
“Aaahh~” Lina seemed to understand something. “So, there have been two cases where I suddenly received an abnormal reward in EXP, Talents, and Attributes. But I was much younger, before becoming a Legend.”
“It’s not uncommon. You were probably directed to end a problem before it escalated. For example, a few years ago I dealt with a mad alchemist who was playing God. Experimenting with bodies and souls, creating abominations in an attempt to reassemble corpse parts into a perfect living being, he even achieved some success. But he was a maniac and was taking many lives, and apparently, if he wasn’t stopped and what he studied became public, it would result in a very dark era.” Verna sighed, remembering that rabbit.
Through Kaleria, Verna obtained many details about the timeline she came from, but besides Kaleria, the most important information came from Hackel. Unfortunately, due to the constant changes in the world's growth, with the Seahorse Continent changing considerably, several locations with rare and unique resources were moved or disappeared.
Resource information became useless, but there was information about individuals that was useful. Hackel and Viper took care of that.
…
“That's crazy… I only dealt with a few demonic creatures on those occasions. Since it seems that missions given by worlds have the potential to escalate a lot, I believe that could have turned into a demonic invasion without my intervention?” – Lina smiled proudly.
“Demons? They're the most common headache there is. Verna must have already reaped dozens of Demonic Demigods and a few thousand Legends.” – Zenyo said, obviously wanting to downplay Lina's achievements.
Lina frowned before speaking.
“What’s your record again? Killing 6 or 7 at the same time?” – Zenyo asked.
“There was this one time I faced 12 Demonic Demigods, I killed 8 of them and the remaining 4 escaped. I got lazy to chase them, so I let them get away.” – Verna said, shrugging.
Lina blinked, then laughed. – “Good joke.”
“It’s not a joke.” – Zenyo said seriously. – “Verna is considered a monster even among the Demigods. She must have the strength of dozens of Demigods combined.”
“Could you go head-to-head with Gods?” – Lina asked curiously.
“I’ve never gone head-to-head with one, but I’ve felt the pressure of one and I know I can’t go against them. The difference in power is surreal. Gods are called that for a reason. Demigods are nothing more than ants that glimpsed a little of the divine secrets.” – Verna said, yawning.
Lina nodded slightly.
“It’s going to be a long journey to our destination. I’ll teach you a few things. First, tell me your skills, so I can find the best replacements.” – Verna said calmly, and Lina winked, then smiled happily.
The following days were an adventure in the jungle. Sleeping outdoors, being attacked by monsters, hunting for fresh food, and accidentally stumbling upon a group of mercenaries who saw three women, one of them Black… they were killed. Zenyo hated being mistaken for a woman.
And little by little they approached one of the four passages to the Neutral City.
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PART 2 – Neutral City!
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Verna, Zenyo, and Lina. The trio arrived at one of the artificially created passages.
Upon reaching the passage, beastmen emerged and surrounded them.
“Look what we have here. Faces I’ve never seen before.” – Said their leader with feline ears, a very handsome and strong man.
“We don’t want trouble, how about we just get out of the way?” – Verna said coldly, facing their leader and already drawing her axe.
“There’s no way. I like you and I want some extra cash.” – Said their leader, laughing.
“Wait.” – Lina suddenly interrupted. – “I haven’t been around the continent since I arrived, but wouldn’t this be… I don’t know, maybe the 3rd or 4th group of alpha males who try to take us over and get killed like chickens? This is getting boring.”
“I agree. The last group didn’t even last 5 minutes.” – Zenyo mocked.
“There’s nothing to be done. Pathetic trash always bands together and thinks they’re strong, until they run headfirst into a wall.” – Verna said, laughing, and without hesitation she swung her axe, sending their leader’s head flying.
With Verna’s action, Lina, already drawing her sword, charged and with one blow cut a man in half. Zenyo, with one hand touching the golden grimoire at his waist, conjured gold coins that shot out and, like bullets, pierced the bodies of three men.
The rest roared and attacked, their eyes gleaming with fury and a reddish aura surrounding them.
“Fury? It seems to be their signature skill.” – Verna said, blocking the ferocious attacks of a man as large as a bear, with his ferocious roars and heavy blows.
“I find it quite inefficient. They literally lose control with the slightest impulse.” – Lina said, dodging and piercing the throat of a man with feline features. Blood spurted. “Not to mention they become oblivious to their own safety.”
“How about we stop talking and finish them off?” Zenyo snorted, knocking two of them down.
“What? Worried about this trash?” Lina laughed as she appeared behind one of the men, grabbed his neck, and pierced his heart, the life slowly draining from his eyes as large volumes of blood flowed from the open wound.
“Apart from the leader, who was a Legend, the rest must be around Level 15.” Verna said, throwing her axe at the fleeing man and pinning him to the tree. Needless to say, with the enormous hole in his torso, his chances of survival are nil.
Zenyo rolls his eyes. Since Lina arrived, the taunting and mockery towards him has only increased.
…
“They’re quite poor. Only a 3 cubic meter storage item.” Lina snorted, but she was extremely pleased with what she had just received.
It turns out she'd never had an item like that before. Even 1 cubic meter would be a treasure in her world.
“You didn't even have one of those and you talk about how poor they were?” – Zenyo mocked.
“I come from a very poor region where resources are scarce. I'm sorry if I offended you, Mr. Tiny.” – Lina bowed, Zenyo opened his mouth and closed it, showed her the middle finger and went on.
Next to Verna, Lina says, – “I'll never get tired of teasing him.”
“I'm sure that as soon as the curse ends, he'll consume all kinds of potions and use magic to have a penis bigger than his arm.” – Verna said, already predicting the future.
“That won't change anything.” – Lina shrugged.
……
Crossing the passage. They spot a road ahead that rises uphill, and as they follow it, they notice the high mountains surrounding them. Then their attention falls on the structures ahead.
No walls are visible, only scattered and organized structures. A beautiful place where people live.
The trio went ahead. They didn't need to pay a toll to enter; they simply went in and analyzed the surroundings.
Lina took a deep breath and said, "I feel at home."
Zenyo glanced at her, then noticed the obviously hostile environment, with fierce people who seemed ready to start fighting at any moment. "You call this home?"
"I've lived my whole life with a blade near my neck, a constant struggle for resources, where your ally could kill you to take your EXP. Well, the hostility is familiar, but the organization and beauty are not. I don't see hunger and disease, parents selling their children for crumbs, or… parents cooking their children to live another day."
"Disgusting." – Zenyo grunted and Lina shrugged.
Verna has an excellent memory. As she walks, she doesn't notice the various intellect tests that are carried out, where her mind automatically associates various faces with wanted posters she saw in the city before coming here.
Neutral cities are perfect hiding places for these criminals. The reason for all this hostility is that it's impossible to know who is a criminal and who is a bounty hunter.
Of course, the city has rules. Any kind of violence is prohibited inside.
<Lina.>
Lina looks at Verna, hearing her voice in her head, something she's still getting used to.
<I'm going to start naming individuals in our field of vision; try to remember their faces. When I start the chaos, I want you to kill these people and keep their heads.>
Lina smiles and whispers, "Free gold? I'll never refuse~"
Zenyo also hears the message and pays attention, even knowing that this dirty work will fall to Lina.
Soon they arrive at an inn.
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PART 3 – Information Gathering!
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The inn, where you can see all kinds of faces. Where people drink heavily and their tongues loosen.
Criminals repeatedly boast of their robberies and killings to anyone curious enough to listen. Others compete with their stories, and whoever has the worst story pays for the round.
The atmosphere is quite lively, but even though it seems relaxed, everyone has sharp eyes, where anyone with quick fingers is easily spotted and severely punished.
Verna, Lina, and Zenyo are scattered around, using the fact that they are new to the city to ask about it, the most powerful, etc., and with a few coins along with their drinks, they started talking.
It turns out that the Neutral City, which many call the Mountain City, even though it's not a common name outside of it, is ruled by a Half-Elf Warlord named Alonso Rivel.
Many stories say that Alonso is a Demigod, few say that he is a Legend. No one actually witnessed his full power, but when Alonso is mentioned, others cite absurd stories.
‘Okay, a Legend who forced a Demigod reputation, probably to protect his neck.’ – Verna thought, rolling her eyes. A real Demigod wouldn't need rumors saying he was one; facts would prove it.
“Want to know who you shouldn't mess with besides the Warlord?” – An old, one-eyed mercenary laughs. – “Simple. Aside from the Warlord who commands everything, we have the 3 Crime Syndicates, governing the outer parts of the city and paying a large compensation to the Warlord to keep their activities running.”
“Covering the north to west side, we have the Beastmen, the largest faction after the center where the Warlord resides. They mainly work as mercenaries, which is a huge lie; everyone knows they're involved in human trafficking, so if they catch you, you disappear and end up in a cage in some big city.” – The old man laughed; that explains the confidence of those Beastmen.
“Oh, I heard Wiber’s group left this morning. I feel sorry for which village they’ll torment.” – Someone listening nearby said, laughing.
“I think they’ve already taken everything from the nearby villages. They’ll probably try their luck with mercenaries or unlucky people coming here.” – Another chimed in, laughing.
The old man smiled with a certain coldness. – “Besides the Beastmen, who cover about 40% of the outer territory, we have the Humans in the south. They handle the main drug production. I heard they have some valley nearby where they produce and plant, then they gather here in the city for redistribution. They’re tough, but also a bunch of drug addicts.”
“It seems they don’t follow the rule that those who sell shouldn’t use.” – Verna said, laughing.
“Actually, the leaders don’t consume this crap themselves, but they’ve already addicted their subordinates to something heavier. They practically have enormous control over them, so they tend to accept many addicts as subordinates and distributors, all disposable in the end.” – The old man shrugged.
‘So, in addition to the generic drug, they must produce something that addicts their subordinates to keep them under control and use it as payment. Clever, especially since they hire addicts, and this more potent drug will probably practically nullify the lower-quality ones with a long tolerance time. There’s no way they can sit on a throne of drugs with subjects in constant addiction who could go crazy and ruin everything.’ – Verna scratched her chin, thinking about establishing new guidelines and training for the police in the future.
“Finally, we have the Orcs to the east. They deal with transportation and security; they are the least dangerous in terms of crime, but they are extremely brutal and powerful. Even being the smallest of the three, they are probably the strongest in terms of elites.”
“I noticed that the names given are of species and not names of organizations, why is that?” – Verna asked curiously.
“Last year the east was Elven territory.” – Said an elven woman with a flushed face, drinking from her mug. – “The Orcs came and took the place, establishing themselves. Four years ago the south belonged to the Lizardmen, then the Humans came and took the place.”
“Using the names of the races is for the leader of the organization; it’s not like each group will only have Beastmen, Humans, and Orcs. The leader’s race gives the group its general name. Of course, they have names they gave themselves, but nobody bothers to memorize them, because the leader can die soon and another can take their place.” – Said the old man, drinking his beer and lighting his pipe.
“I heard that in the current Beastman faction, there’s a group of elves planning to take control. If the rumors have already reached here, it means we’ll soon have another bloodbath.” The elf woman laughed.
“And what about the Warlord, doesn’t he do anything? Isn’t that part of the rules?” – Verna scratches her chin.
“Rules are for intimidation; the Warlord hardly ever interferes. It’s up to the three organizations to deal with problems in the outer area. But if it happens in the center, then the rules truly apply.”
Verna nods, understanding the overall picture. She needed to be more subtle in her questions from here on out. Wanting to know the most lucrative types of businesses and what kind of treasures she could find in the center.
The old man talks a lot, since Verna is paying him. He doesn’t seem to suspect her intentions. A stranger wanting to know how to make a living here is something everyone who arrives tries to achieve, a piece of this city.
Verna heard about many services. Slave trafficking is the most common and lucrative, especially sex slaves. Even though it’s a world with plenty of sex, lust is constant and greed even greater.
To covet owning people, to use them as objects and display them as trophies, the most common thing among these pieces of trash.
……
In the room!
Verna blocked the sound, but beyond that, she punished anyone trying to observe or listen to her conversation, making them bleed and probably lose some of their visual and auditory functions.
“The city's structure isn't that different from what the informants said. But getting into the city center isn't so simple; even if there's nothing particularly special about it, it's where the main operations take place and all kinds of contraband exist.” – Lina said calmly as she threw herself onto the bed.
“I couldn't get information about where they store what they steal, but it's obvious we're talking about warehouses and underground areas. We'll need to infiltrate to get better details.” – Zenyo said, crossing his arms.
“They must be covered in alarms and detection devices; infiltrating won't be easy with my abilities, not to mention I'm far from mastering what you taught me.” – Lina looked at Verna. “I’ll take care of that. Now, about our targets.” – Verna changed the subject. – “One of the targets is the leader of the Beastmans faction; he participated in the robbery and killed someone from the Viscount’s Family.”
“I heard they have a dozen Legends… we killed one, so it will be less difficult.” – Lina crossed her fingers, stretched her arms, and cracked them.
“I can’t rely too much on your fighting abilities. There are three of us against so many. I believe I could take them all down alone, but I’m not omnipotent; they could escape and render much of our efforts useless.”
“We know, so we have to help as much as possible without becoming a hindrance.” – Lina said, smiling.
“Speak for yourself. I’m much stronger than you; I can easily handle these groups.” – Zenyo puffed out his chest confidently.
“Mr. Tiny, you’re literally shitting gold and you don’t have any useful stealth or assassination skills, nor anything that could actually help you eliminate our targets in the shortest possible time.” – Lina rolled her eyes.
“What she says is true. Zenyo, you are undoubtedly strong, but your power varies between individual combat and large-scale destruction. You have nothing that would help you with infiltration or crowd control. Lina has considerable experience in that area.” – Verna said, and Zenyo fell silent.
“Zenyo, when the chaos truly begins, many will take advantage to try and loot and kill their enemies. It will be pandemonium, so your job will be to collect the heads of bounty targets.” – Saying this, Verna pulled several pamphlets from her storage space. “Memorize the faces and remember those I pointed out, but most importantly, you will assist Lina, ensuring an escape route for her. From what little I know of her, she might provoke one or two nests of Vestas, so your power will be useful.”
Zenyo smiled upon hearing this, Lina especially.
“Lina, I will deal with the Beastman leaders, delivering a severe blow to their strength before heading towards the Warlord. Your job, besides hunting heads amidst the chaos, will be to finish off the Beastmans, which will serve as a message, as our employer wished. You will also be in charge of collecting and finding their treasures. I will likely leave them in a visible place or give you some high-quality storage item, or several. Use them to store everything you can.”
Lina smiled happily. – “Have I told you I love you today?”
“Yes. A few dozen times.” – Verna said, rolling her eyes.
“I love you!” – Lina laughed happily, obviously excited.
“But all that is for after the investigation. I’ll wait until nightfall to begin my investigation. Until then, rest and get to know the city, avoid problems, and if they arise, show that you are Legends; that will avoid most of the headaches.” – Verna said seriously, and they both nodded.