Chapter 212: End Goal (1/2)
”Uh uh, so let me recap. You went to fight a Lv.170 vampire, lost your eye, pulled a bionic eye from your OP Item Box, transformed into a living breathing heap of Eion nanobots. Then your Kzanaria, whatever that is, gave you the power of crystal, whatever that means, and you became docile and blue afterward,” Allan summarized whilst sitting on a restaurant couch as meat grilled on the table grid before him.
And on the opposite side, Rakna nodded as he picked up a piece of beef with chopsticks. He put it on his plate first and then took a bite off, ”Except the 'docile and blue' part, the rest is accurate.”
”Oh, fuck off. What about you is not docile and blue right now, eh? Tell me.”
”…my skin's not blue.”
”Point in case but that is merely you being facetious,” Nyx commented from Rakna's right, sitting next to the window as she ate.
The therian snorted and made a small smile.
”See? That,” Allan pointed his chopsticks at him. ”Docile face and smile. Damn, I wish I could show this to the old master. He would be so proud of you,” he jested.
”Sure. He would say something like 'You've finally grown up, kid?'. I wouldn't really care about his opinion about this,” Rakna deadpanned and swallowed a mouthful of rice.
”So? Mind telling us about… that?” Marie, similarly sitting at the window, next to Allan, pointed at the other end of the table where a certain woman with noble attire and nine tails feasted with her eyes closed as she was being stared at by Flavia and Evelyn.
”Dude, is she like… your girlfriend or something?” Allan whispered but hiccupped when he heard his former teacher break her chopsticks.
Rakna stopped moving his hands for a moment and seriously looked up, the attention was on him and Kaelith opened one eye.
”Who knows. Ask her,” he uttered and the vixen choked on her food and started coughing.
Everyone turned toward her as she reached for the water and the werewolf snickered.
”Come on! Devourer, I was supposed to be the first in the line to mat-” Rakna wordlessly clasped the idiot mouth of a certain black cat sitting on his head as if it was her throne. She was certainly bigger than when she got raised as an Undead. In fact, her level had reached 50 already. She said herself that she could probably turn human at level 100.
”First in the line of what?” Kaelith raised an eyebrow.
”Don't listen to the horny cat,” Rakna retorted and Higure hit his head with her tail in retaliation.
”So… my question?” The blonde reiterated with a smirk and Kaelith looked back at him.
”Who knows. Ask him,” she blankly said.
Allan sweatdropped. ”Yeah, ok… I can see the chemistry between you two at least…”
”Shouldn't we introduce ourselves at the very least?” Flavia said after a deep sigh. She smiled quite brightly and Kaelith blinked at her in surprise. ”My name is Flavia Jeina.”
”Oh, um… I'm Kaelith Yahkshasa, Heiress of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan,” she replied uneasily then leaned in to speak in an inaudible voice that she knew only Rakna her could hear. ”Your friend was obviously a bit miffed at me… isn't she a bit too nice?”
”That's just how she is,” Rakna responded with a small smile. ”Get used to it.”
”Hm…” The vixen hummed as she glanced at him. ”I see… This competition might be harder than I thought,” she remarked and he rolled his eyes.
”Hi, the name's Allan River,” the brawler followed up and she nodded in greetings.
”I'm Marie Gorgona,” the lamia was next.
”Nyx Nocta Regysnite,” the former goddess said with an even tone and Kaelith squinted her eyes.
”I have heard of you. The rumor of a supposedly weak but fallen goddess accepted as a Host spread across the Celestial Plateau like wildfire,” the vixen said and Nyx scoffed.
”Weak, is it? Very few people would have been able to say that to me in the past, much less some half-assed gods trapped in this joke of a place.”
Kaelith smiled a bit. ”Interesting…” She said and turned to the last person who hadn't introduced herself and the succubus shyly opened her mouth when she was looked at.
”My name is… Evelyn Malcanthet,” she spoke and bowed her head slightly.
Kaelith had an expression of recognition. ”Excuse me, Malcanthet?”
”Um, yes?”
”Are you perhaps related to the family of alchemists of the same name?”
Evelyn's eyes widened. ”Yes, I'm, arguably, the last living member. How… do you know about us?”
”Well, we worked with the Jill folks several times in the past,” Kaelith said matter-of-factly. ”And even if I wasn't around a hundred years ago, my mom was. She told me many times about a family under the Jill that produced the best Rejuvenating Potions on the market. We still have some of them and the Clan Heads, especially the women, sing praises about them.”
”Rejuvenating Potions?” Rakna inquired.
”High-class concoctions with the purpose of reversing the aging process of the consumer,” Evelyn answered. ”It's a potion that applies to magic circuits as well. When people get to a certain age, the soul gets stronger, but the mana physical pathways get weaker. My family was the best at making them, we essentially owned the market. But...” she paused and clenched her hands. ”We were dependent on the support of the Jill Family…”
Kaelith scowled. ”They cut you off?” She asked with a dark tone. ”We always wondered why and how the Malcanthet had suddenly been murdered… The Jill claimed they didn't know about it.”
”They are lying!” Evelyn shouted in an outburst and strands of black force swirled around her and Rakna scowled at it. He looked around but it seemed only he, Higure, Nyx, and Kaelith had noticed since they were far more attuned to energies.
They looked at each other and Rakna nodded at Kaelith. ”Calm down,” the vixen said and Evelyn gasped. She lowered her head flustered.
”I'm sorry…”
”It's all right. I understand your anger,” Kaelith said delicately. ”I will report this to the Clan when I return. Do you have any clue about the perpetrator? That would give us a place to start.”
”I was told… that the main perpetrator was named Makis Jill Nalcanth.”
The fox woman frowned. ”If I may ask, who gave you that information?”
”The hat,” Rakna answered for her.