Return of the Fallen Volume 2 Chapter 73
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Author: Blue_Rat
ch73
Tilly had been gone for nearly 20 minutes when she finally returned. Behind her, she dragged a thin young man with wireframe glasses into her office.
“Alright, Lan. these are my guests I told you about. Give me an identity and register for each of them.”
Lan swallowed hard before stuttering.
“Miss, as, I I ss said I can’t, it’sss il illegal.”
Tilly laughed at the man in his face before slapping his back extremely hard.
“Hahaha, boy have you forgotten who your speaking with. Nothing I do is illegal or do you want to tell my son here what it is I’m doing?”
Tilly stared hard at Lan for a while without blinking, causing cold sweat to pour from Lan’s face.
Thinking about his position and hers, he could only give up.
A ring on his finger glowed and a small crystal orb appeared and floated in mid-air. Taking one last look at Tilly’s nonchalant attitude, the man felt almost like crying.
(Please don’t let me be caught, please please please.)
The man’s glasses lit up and he determined everyone’s age but once he saw Tsura’s and Kazuki’s he felt his glasses were making a mistake and so he just asked for everyone’s ages instead.
After telling him, Lan nodded and the crystal beside him started displaying images of people along with relevant information next to their face and name. Thousands of images began flashing in rapid succession after what seemed like 10,000 images had passed Lan Finally stopped on one.
The image was of a young man built tall and strong.
“Ian Zha, This man was 22. His height and build are similar to yours. This man died 3 years ago in a rockslide. He was a Silver Rank adventurer. Young man, I can reset his Rank to White for you if you’d like, what do you prefer?”
These questions were directed toward Sam but Sam had no idea what any of these terms meant.
Danny cut in and asked.
“Um, Lan was it. Before any of that, what exactly are you doing?”
Lan traded looks between Tilly and the rest of the group. Shifting his glasses a little on his face he was perplexed.
“You all wanted new identities as adventurers correct?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with a dead guy?”
Lan nodded in understanding.
“Oh, that, that is quite simple really. You see, instead of making up a new person entirely which is very difficult and easy to disprove, I’m instead using an adventurer who’s already existed. I’ll use someone who is deceased and has a similar age height and build.I’ll replace their image in the database with yours and change the report from dead to M.I.A. In doing so you will be able to take on this new identity.”
Danny got the gist of it but wondered about the implications if someone who knew the deceased person finds out.
“And what will happen if someone knows the dead person and finds out?”
Lan waved that away.
“Not many people have access to this information. The only way someone will find out is if you go shouting from the mountain tops your name and rank. You people wanted to keep a low profile right. Well as long as you keep your head down, you should be able to easily avoid trouble. This is also why I asked if you wanted me to reset your rank in the guild. Ah also your age, I can change that too. In the end, you’ll only be using the name if you want. It’s just a waste to not keep a Silver Rank.”
Lan could see that they were a little lost when it came to Rank and wondered exactly where these people came from to not know some basic information.
“There are 5 Ranks. When you start off your Rank will be White Rank and it will be displayed in the top left corner of your adventurer’s card. At the lowest rank you can take on small missions, such as gathering things retrieving things, finding missing items, so on and so forth. After that is Black, Silver, Gold and the highest rank, Platinum. The higher your rank directly correlates with how difficult and dangerous the mission will be. The higher the risk, the higher the reward as well. Plus the perks that come along with your rank. White rank gets you jack all but the higher you go up the ladder you can get just about anything from discounts on equipment and goods, all the way to being allowed into certain places?”
“Certain places? Like where exactly?”
Lan thought about Danny’s question for a moment.
“Hmm, Dangerous areas with terrifying monsters. Normally people aren’t allowed in such places but if your rank is high you’ll be allowed in. Also, you could get into certain rooms with exquisite and rare artwork, masterful magic tools that haven’t seen the light of day in centuries and the upper levels of some of the world’s national libraries to seek knowledge. It all just depends on how high you can go really.”
Danny’s eyes started to glow in anticipation. If they could get into special sections in the top libraries in all the different nations, the amount of knowledge they could gain.
(If we can get into those places, we could possibly gain more power more quickly. If we know exactly how to reach the next stages in magic our powers should be able to grow adequately enough so we don’t have to hide like rats.)
“Sam, I think you should keep your rank then. Why give up free perks if we don’t have too.”
Sam wasn’t sure and confirmed with Kazuki before he agreed to it.
With things confirmed, Lan took out a blank crystal card from his chest pocket. His wire-frame glasses began to glow momentarily before they flashed for a second. With that flash of light, Sam’s face replaced The dead adventurers in the crystal orb. The data was changed from deceased to Missing In Action. The rank remained Silver, the name remained the same the height and build were already close enough so they were left untouched and Sam’s face replaced the deceased.
Taking the blank crystal card, Lan hed it up to the floating orb and the two items glowed for a moment. Little lines appeared on the blank crystal card one at a time, until Sam’s face appeared on it following all of the relevant information.
“Sam, was it? If you place a drop of blood this card will be officially registered to you and only you or those necessary in the guild will be able to see the information. Of course with your permission, anyone can see it as well. So if you would.”
Sam bit the tip of his thumb and a single drop of blood fell upon the crystal card. The blood sank in like the card was a sponge.
*SHINE*
Sam held the card and admired it. It reminded him of the first time his mom had bought him a pack of pokemon cards. Seeing something like this, knowing that an adventure awaited brought warm feelings of nostalgia.
Afterward, Lan did the same for everyone else. Changing the official records of deceased adventurers to simply M.I.A and replacing the relevant information and image. The only one that was difficult was Mei. Since she was so young it was hard to find someone of similar age and build. In the end, she took the identity of a short young man. This caused her to almost cry with complaints.
“I’m not a boy.”
Tsura hugged her and pat her head gently.
“I know I know. Mei mei is my sweet little girl, It’s okay it’s okay don’t cry.”
With everyone’s cards adventurer card and newfound identities, the group was set.
Lan held out a hand to Tilly expecting some form of payment but Tilly simply laughed it off and directed her gaze to Kazuki.
Kazuki sighed.
*Haaa*
Handing over 50 gold Zeni, Kazuki had paid much more than he ever expected he would in this small town of Edngaul.
After Lan left, it was Tilly’s turn to hold out a hand.
*Haaa*
“And what is it I owe you?”
Tilly smiled.
“Oh nothing much, just take me on an adventure with you and your friends. After that, we’ll call it even.”
Everyone’s eyes went wide… well everyone except Kazuki’s. He was now more aware than ever what type of personality Tilly had. And a few seconds later it was confirmed.
“Bwahahaha, look at all your faces. Look at how old I am, you think these old bones could last out there, hehehe.”
Tilly took a large swig from a bottle.
“I’ll tell ya what, Ryuta my boy, next time you’re in town, you go out drinking with me, your teat of course.”
Everyone visibly sighed in relief but Kazuki knew the truth.
(Most likely she actually does want to go on a trip but she knows that it isn’t something she can do. She may have armor that can defend her from normal thugs on the street but that won’t last out in the real world where everything is unpredictable. Hmm, taking her drinking, I can do that.)
Agreeing to her terms, the two shook on it and they were on there way.
With supplies gathered and a wagon big enough to fit everyone, Kazuki gave a slight whip and the two horses slowly pulled them out of town.
Soon the town was as small as a pebble behind them and everyone was relaxing and chatting casually.
*BOOM!*
A large boulder came crashing down in front of the horses, causing to buck up wildly.
Kazuki pulled on the reigns and gained control and calmed them down, while Shin, Sam, and Asuna leaped out of the wagon with weapons drawn. Kimi and Nunully aimed their staffs at where the boulder had come flying from and Danny looked around on high alert.
Instead of some surprise attack or ambush though, Several men came sauntering from behind a few trees. 11 Men slowly surrounded Kazuki and the others with swords drawn.
A man stepped forward and barked at their group.
“You woman over there and the child, Where is that old geezer that was with you the other day. I need to repay him for this bullshit curse he put on my arm.”
Tsura and Mei recognized the man. He was the one who harassed the two of them the first day they arrived in Edngaul at the Guild Hall. Kazuki had pretended to be an old man and had grabbed his arm sending some ki into it. By simply bursting a few blood vessels and giving a few of the man’s muscles some micro-tears, Kazuki caused the man’s hand and arm to create instant bruising. This freaked the man out and with a few words about a curse, the man ran away in fear. Who knew he would return a few days later with a group.
Asuna yelled at them.
“Who do you think you are? Get out of our way or we’ll be forced to remove you.”
The man leading them threw his head back and roared with wild laughter. Even the men around him shared his sentiment and laughed uproariously.
*Bwahahahaha Hahahaha hahaha hahaha*
“Woman I ain’t here for you or them, I simply want that old fucker who messed with my arm. Oh and that sweet looking milf over there. Hand them over and I’ll let the rest of you off. After seeing your group gathering supplies, I was wondering when you would finally leave. As soon as it looked like you all were heading off me and my men left through the other gate ad circled up here. Bet you never thought I would show up huh, hehehe. You and that old fuck insulted and embarrassed me in the Guild Hall in front of everyone and now I’m gonna fuck you up.”
The man kept blabbing on and on while everyone stared with him. Kazuki leaned back to Tsaura and Mei and said.
“What do we do when someone or something blocks our path?”
Mei and Tsura understood and slowly got down from the wagon. The two spoke almost in sync.
“We remove it.”
The man leading the others saw Mei and Tsura get down and smiled, self-satisfied.
“Good so you’re coming over on your own. Now just hand over the old man as well and…and.”
The man was in the middle of saying something when he noticed the dangerous look in their eye.
He was just about to say something when Mei appeared before him in a flash.
On reflex, he swung his sword down. He wasn’t thinking at all at how bad it would be to kill a child or anything else like that. Something inside of his body was screaming to fight for his life.
*Swoosh Thud*
His sword came slicing down ready to divide the child in half with one stroke but before his blade could rend through flesh and blood, a tiny hand had already grabbed his wrist.
“What!”
The man tried to pull his hand away but found that his strength was no match to the girls. While this was happening Tsura appeared next to one of his men and punched out.
*Thud crack*
Tsura landed a blow on one of the men’s chests and everyone could clearly hear several bones break within. After that, Asuna, Shin, and Sam moved forward as well. Asuna sidestepped a man and thrust a dagger directly into the man’s side. Pulling her blade out, a gush of blood poured out. Shin’s speed was incredible and he appeared behind one of the men for a moment before disappearing again and reappearing behind another man. His sword had blood all over it and when the first man tried to move he found that his body wouldn’t respond.
The second man stared at the first and saw him collapse to the ground and a small pool of blood spread out. As he witnessed this, the second man fell to his knees. Only now did he notice that his neck was already cut. When this had happened the man didn’t know but Shin was already on to the next man.
Sam as well swung his large Warhammer down on his opponent. The man knew he couldn’t take such a blow and stepped to the side. Angling his blade and pushing, he tried to deflect most of the force away from him but Sam’s strength was too great. Sam’s Warhammer fell upon the sword and snapped it apart like it was a stick. His hammer continued down and landed upon the man’s shoulder but still didn’t stop. As the man’s shoulder exploded on impact, he could feel his flesh being torn apart as his entire arm, shoulder, and part of his chest sunk into his stomach.
The man tried to inhale one time and made an odd guttural noise before his world went black, he was dead.
The leader watched on as his men were killed left and right. That is when he felt a small hand on his neck. Mei’s hand was tiny and could only grab the front part of his neck. Staring the man in the eyes she uttered three simple words.
“We remove it.”
*Crush*
Exerting her strength, Mei squeezed the man’s trachea and crushed it instantly. The man fell over limply, he too was dead.
In under a minute, every single one of these men had died painfully. They had each been promised some fun and for such a simple thing they all died.
Sam and Shin piled the bodies up to one side and Kazuki flashed a few ancient hand signs. Summoning a few fireball’s he flicked them forward and burned the bodies, turning them into ash.
Everyone got back onto the wagon and started chatting once again as though nothing had happened. Kazuki looked on as the ash blew away with the wind and thought.
(Fools.)
With everyone on, Kazuki cracked the reigns.
“Let’s go.”
———————————————End of Volume Two————————————————-
[previous_page]
[next_page]
They have taken their first steps on the path of the murder hobo.