NOVEL WEB Chapter 13 – The World
Kumo POV
Our struggle resolved and our determination on sight that I, Kumo and Itia finally left the alley feeling like the weight of our mind has been removed and for the first time it felt our vision has become clearer.
"Kumo look!" Itia said to me as she stops and points into the sky.
In the sky there is a woman with 3 pairs of wings fluttering about coming to us. "What have you seen Gabril?" I immediately ask her.
Gabril gently lands on the ground and started explaining. "Morus-sama was enraged with the appearance of a Kurumi slave trader." She reported to us. "It seems that she was enraged by what the slave trader said." She explains.
Our reactions were immediate. "Those Kurumi scum!" Itia rage at the report as her inhuman features were beginning to appear like metallic claws and her hair straightening like spikes.
"Calm yourself Itia." I try stop her transformation. "Morus-sama would not be pleased if you show yourself in a way in front of these humans." I said to her as a warning.
"...Yes." She calms down immediately as she returns back into human form, but bit her nail in frustration.
[I can understand your feelings Itia.] I thought. Not only at the thought of someone insulting our master, but also the slave trader itself. [But just like you said, we should do this mission for Morus-sama's sake.] I try to hold my emotions down for now as I tighten myself and forget about the past and look at Gabril. "Is there anything that happened afterwards?" I ask her.
She tells me. "Well, since Morus-sama is with many people, she couldn't immediately get rid of them." She pauses. "But I think they'll be planning to attack her soon though." She tells us with a raged eyebrows.
"...Tsk." Even with my calm demeanor I couldn't help but snicker at those creatures. [Rats should scuttle amongst themselves in the presence of a cat.] I made the metaphor as I hold my helmet. "...When will they learn..." I mutter to myself.
"How preposte—!" I knew that Itia would act violently at this so I promptly stop her.
Even as my rage seeps up Gabril told us what to do next. "Do not worry you two, I will go back and forth to moniter any suspicious movements around Morus-sama." She told us.
Our shoulders has been slump down in relief after she told us that but, "How can we be sure?" I ask her.
To which Gabril responds, " I won't be peeking through the windows of houses until I find those rats!" She salutes and hides down her skirt.
"....Pervert." Itia mutter but I intentionally ignore that. "Well I'll put my trust in you for now." I said to her.
"Thank you!" She said with a beaming smile, but she continued. "But it seems as though that she will be going to the Merchants Guild, and I doubt those scum will be going anywhere near there anytime soon." She explains her reasons. "So I think I'll have a little bit more time here with you guys." She causally said as she lays down in midair.
"So what will we do now?" She said with a grin as she puts her hands behind her and crosses her legs, intentionally letting us see drenched panties.
"Damn slut...!" Itia is fuming at the ears as she saw the promiscuous woman showing herself as she stomps her way towards her.
Although I couldn't care less of a woman's privates, that is still unsightly behavior from her so I rub my eyes before speaking. "Well what should we do now is..." I honestly couldn't think of a job for her to do. [She already did her task.] I hate to admit but she did her job better than the two of us so...
[Ah!] I look my eyes around until I see the pocket of my pants.
"Then Gabril you should..." I look towards her as my sentence trails off the sunset.
"Hyaah~!" She screamed in pleasure.
"What are you doing Itia?" I ask her as I marvel at the scene in front of me.
"I'm punishing this horny angel!" She twist her hand to the side, which made Gabril moan louder. "Yes~! That's the spot!" She writhe her body midair like she's in a straightjacket.
Right now my companion Itia is screwing our colleague Gabril in her crotch with her hand, as Itia's fingers get wrapped by the fabric of Gabril's panties.
Although Gabril is indeed invisible but with Itia on the other hand.... "Itia, you just look like your playing around..." I say with my hands on my face and made the deep sigh. "...Look." I point my thumb beside me across the street as she turns around and finally notices.
The surrounding people are noticing the strange actions of Itia and begun giggling, like they were seeing a child playing gun.
"...E-eeh...!" She backs off instantly as she rest on my side and looking at me with a tearful expression, while rubbing her dirty fingers across the side of my trousers. [She's invisible so there's no stains on your hand Itia.] Is what I wanted to say to her but decided to stop so she couldn't be embarrassed anymore than she is now.
I look at her again with a tired expression on my face as she lets out one last moan before limply going up and look at me with an arch back. "Well here's your new task..." I told her what I originally wanted to say to her. "Okiie~" She says to me like a slacker while looking at Itia with a grin as Itia is now behind my back...
After I explained to her my task, she tilts her head slightly. "So you want to collect money from me?" She asks.
To which I nodded. "Yes, but of course you must not steal any from anyone's pockets, or within their homes." I warn her.
My plan is to make Gabril find us some currency we could use for this market that is laying around on the ground, like currently that fell to the ground or drop on the water. That also means not stealing like a thief, not going to houses, and I added places that people offer money to like a fountain or a statue. [Even with those limitations I believe we could find some spares in this whole city.] I thought with a smile.
"Well okie then..." She spreads out her wings. "Let's play again little Itia-chan~" She teasingly blew a kiss towards Itia before waving bye bye and fly away.
"I'm not playing with you pervert!" She shouted, which attracted the humans again so she run in embarrassment and I have to keep up with her.
I hold my money in hand. "Jeez..." Our journey continues on.
•••
Itia POV
"So what do you think fine customers?" An old man sitting on a mat tells us the merchandise his selling.
As we left the pervert and look continue our search on the market, me and Kumo came across this vendor selling magical items.
[Why does this look so weak...] I thought to myself as I hold the thing in my hand.
What I'm holding right now is a so-called wand, or I think it is. "...Is this actually a wand or a stick?" I whisper to Kumo, to which he nodded with a stern look.
"It does look genuine, but the mana content...." Kumo also holds a type of healing potion but it seems as though he's disappointed in them as well.
I look at the wand in my hand a bit closer. [Is this what the standards for a wand is...?] Although it does look like one, the wood content and the purity...
"Sir what material is this from?" I need to ask him this question.
"Hmm? Well I can't tell you my sources but it's from a trusted supplier connected to the Mages Guild." He said to me while smiling.
"It's not made out of any Sprite Wood or Ent's Branch?" I ask him curiously.
To which he, "Huh? I dunno what you mean by Sprite Wood but an Ent's Wood is only reserve for the court magicians of the capital!" He said to me angrily.
"I see..." I look at it again. [They only use regular wood huh?] Morus-sama has said to us that this world is the future that many things may have change but... [It's more like degradation.] I thought with a flat face.
The wood this wand was made out of has absolutely no magical properties. Although technically any type of wood can be used for concentrating magic it is practically common sense to use wood that had been endowed with mana since it was a sampling than to gradually use regular wood and slowly hunt creatures with it until it gets anywhere, as magical wood already has a base level mana to it this making it easier to use and not run the risk of the wood breaking.
But... "I'll buy this then." I give him 5 small silver coins called Dracha to him.
"Yes I'll also buy these as well." Kumo also hands him a couple of Dracha to the vendor.
The old man joyfully smiles as he grabs the coins, "It is a pleasure doing business with you." And bows his head.
"Sure." "Of course." Me and Kumo said our thank you'd and left.
After we left I begin to complain to Kumo beside me. "No matter how you look at it Kumo I feel like we are being ripped off!" I angrily told him.
To which he responds with a serious face. "Sigh... I know Itia but we need to investigate this world's weaponry, even if we think these items are nothing but trash in this world's standard it is reasonable equipment." Kumo said with a slightly disappointed look.
"Well..." I look at the decorated stick in front of me, "This is the best product I could find in this place." As a Xana, a spiritual type being. I have a special affinity with finding magical items and equipment at a glance. Me and Kumo have been searching several stores like that man has but he has the best equipment compared to the rest of them. [But 'good' is a relative term in comparison to the rest of them.] I look at my surroundings to see if there's any humans nearby as my hand glows.
Kumo notices and warns me, "Make sure you hide them carefully Itia." He said to me, as I nodded in response.
My hand turns into particles of light as it looks to be cut off for a moment, until I pull it back and mtly hand returned to normal. Along with a very decorated, long gem encrusted stick that I summoned myself.
I look at them side by side. "Yup, even if it's 'good' it's still trash." I hold the two sticks tightly and concentrate on them. "Here we go..." I pour my mana within, as both of them started to glow brightly until....
Crack!
"...Yup, Istill trash in the end." I stop pouring my mana.
"Be careful not to break that thing Itia." Kumo looks intently at me instead of the product in question. "Don't worry I bought a spare one." I said to him as reassurance.
I look back at the two sticks, one slightly glowing and the other almost broken as cracks appear all over, I have a dissapointed face at the latter one, but fully expected this result. "It only took that much to break huh..." I mutter to myself.
The long, gem-encrusted stick that I hold is my personal wand. I'm more used to using a sword to fight but Morus-sama gave me this wand as a backup for me. It's long, almost the size of Mary's forearm, decorated with blue gems for power and for casting intricate, flowy lines inked by a powerful dust grinded from an elemental dragon.
Meanwhile.... [I guess this world's standard has fallen huh...?] Not only the degradation of magical items but also the air itself.
"Just with that wand alone you'll attract the spirits, so hide that immediately." Kumo says as a warning. But even if he didn't say it he must have noticed it as well.
[There's no magic at all.] As a Xana I can also feel the magic within the air. But mysteriously there's no strand of mana flowing in this city anywhere we go, which is extremely unusual as only controlled environments where the divine beings themselves remove the magic is the only thing I know of that this would occur.
[Seriously what happened to this world?] I honestly am puzzled by this lack of magic, as magic back in Atlantis and beyond is abundant. So I could only wonder what could have happened at this point.
So Kumo warning me about this makes sense. Having a dense amount of mana flowing in a circular area with minimal mana is suspicious no matter how you interpret it.
I shook my head. "I shouldn't be thinking of anything else right now...." I have a task given to me by Morus-sama after all.
"Well, I'll hid you back now." I said as the wand glows and disappears within my hand. Although that wand may be overkill but even the first temporary wand given to me was more powerful than this.
I look at the now crickety piece of stick in front of me with a frown. [Well.... I did use that pervert's money after all....] Although I hate to say it but that pervert is actually good at her job, she found coins laying around on the street, under structures, and most importantly on the river itself. [Well... I guess I should reward her.] I thought with reluctance.
Kumo saw the face I made with the wand and ask me, "What will you do with that thing?" What to do with it.
I handed the one to Kumo. "Put it inside the sack." I told him, as he agrees and puts in in the sack on his back.
Right now Kumo and I are each holding a sack containing items that might be useful in Morus-sama's investigation to this world. It is filled with things like statues, magical items, and small weapons.
But as a result of that, "What shall we do? Our coins are all spent." I told him. To which Kumo says, "That's right, but we have investigated this place already, so..." With what Kumo just said, our thoughts have lined up.
[[What shall we do next?]]
We have already investigated the whole marketplace, and we don't know what to do next. "Maybe going back to Morus-sama wouldn't be..." As I begin to mutter to myself what to do. Kumo pointed his head up. "It's Gabril." He said.
I look up and see the angel going down towards us. [It's the pervert...] And I smell a especially promiscuous smell this time.
As Gabril lands down she greets us with a smile. "I'm back~" And in her hand is a small palm-sized sack with a couple of gold Dracha coins.
"Where did you get that?" Kumo ask with a fierce look. "Don't tell me you've sto—" But he's interrupted.
"Don't worry, I found these buried somewhere, so that's fine right?" She tells us with a relaxed look.
Sigh... Kumo rubs his eyes in deep frustration but, "That should be alright, I think." He also knew that we don't have any coins left.
Then our eyes meet up next, "Hey It—" Before she could even greet, "Get away pervert." I back off immediately. [I already know your pattern slut!] I realized after seeing her that everytime she's in a lackadaisical state like that she's probably peeking through the window of someone recently.
"Aaawwwww.. Okie..." Gabril slumps in midair before returning to the report. "Anyways! Here's the coins I found and also..." She pauses. "Two things, one is that Morus-sama is dealing with some merchants and about to get a deal with lots of Dracha~" She cheerfully says.
"As expected of Morus-sama." "Morus-sama's so cool!" Is each of our responses towards the news.
"Then secondly, while I was flying I saw something pretty interesting..." She looks ahead in front of us.
Right now we're on our way to the town square just outside the market, walking along a small alleyway dedicated for the Shoemaker's Guild as we make our way to the main street.
""Hmm?"" We both look at the direction of Gabril and saw many humans gathering and looking towards the road.
We run forward and made it out of the alleyway to join the crowd.
"Hey mister what's happening?" I put on an act and pretend to be a little girl towards one of the humans looking ahead.
"Oh! You didn't know? Well you see..." He looks ahead. "The Prince has returned to El Niño and is about to travel this way." He said before grabbing a box and looking ahead.
[A prince?] I wonder as I look at Grabril, who's smiling like she always does. "The second thing is that I saw a large crowd when I was going back to you guys and saw a carriage going along this street." She said to us.
I look at Kumo. "You know what to do right?" There's many humans blocking our view and we can't exactly just kill them, so Kumo understood what I meant.
"Sure thing." Kumo nodded in agreement as he sat down and drop his sack of items. "Gabril watch over these okay?" He turns around to look at Gabril.
"Aye aye captain Kumo!" She salutes in amusement.
Kumo then looks at me, "Go on." He said with pure determination.
I only nodded in response.
I sat on his back as he slowly stands up and let's me see the street.
"Uwoah!" "Prince-sama!" "It's royalty!"
The people immediately stir up when they saw it.
A golden carriage.
