Cursed Explorer of the Arcana

“That’s your target.” The random thug points at a three-story building with its windows barricaded across the street.

“So all we need is to get in, teach them a lesson, and leave with your dudes and what they owe?” I make sure to clarify.

But honestly, what a lame first task this is… I’ll obviously pocket some of the booty we find there, negotiate first, and make a quick exit if things look too dangerous. I get the part where sending muscle our age is a quirky move and will make them lower their guard but it’s still scummy so I’ll be equally underhanded.

“Did you not hear me the first time?” Our guide grumbles, showing the disparity in professionalism between street dwellers and the Fist.

“Would it hurt to ensure we do what you lowlives are asking?” I quip back and leave him seething.

Valka plays along, walking confidently by my side as we approach the abandoned-looking building without much caution. “So what’s the plan?” She asks in the end.

“We’ll break in.” I don’t go into details.

“That’s it?” She hisses, making me enjoy this even more.

“From there we’ll improvise.”

This takes us not to the main entrance but around to the back, into a dark alley where only more barricaded doors and windows await.

“Okay, just break that thing down.” I point at the door without properly explaining things.

I want to see if she trusts me enough to go along blindly or not. Yes, I’m that petty.

To my great relief, Valka simply sighs and puts her fist through the poor wooden planks before tearing the rest of it down, magically without making a noise. Creating a sound-isolating bubble without seeing the other side is a little trickier but I’m stronger than I was yesterday. Quite a bit stronger.

This new entrance leads us to what looks like a storage room, tastefully decorated with clutter and spiderwebs. The door right across isn’t barred or even properly closed, hanging just barely on its last hinge but showing no signs of life through its cracks.

“Are we even at the right place?” Valka asks a very valid question hoover I don’t really care.

If the intel was wrong that’s not our problem, we literally have no interest in actually beating up anyone. We also won’t complete our objective but I highly doubt there’d be any retaliation for that. Hector isn’t a complete idiot which is why he picked us over fifteen gold even though he knew we’d most definitely go behind his back.

“Do we really need to do this?” She whispers again instead of shutting her mouth. Not talking is quieter than keeping your voice down.

“Look, I want to bolster our funds and maybe buy some actual clothes. Think of this as hunting but we’re not after a deer this time.”

That’s right, we’re hunting for money.

Without further ado, I take the lead and push the next door open, with sounds canceling of course, because there’s no way the thing isn’t creaking.

This leads us to a kitchen, or what remains, and a small corridor with wooden floorboards broken in places. Already I can tell we’re at the right place as the muted conversation coming down from the stairs on the other end and the poorly concealed tripwire just four steps ahead also a telltale sign.

This went a lot smoother than I expected. Being discovered upon entry or finding a lookout on the ground floor was part of my plan but a single stupid trap is a little…

Just to make sure I activate Mana Perception. Paranoia has been a good friend of mine lately and incompetence isn’t exactly the same as stupidity. And man I love being proven right.

That piece of wire was just too obvious as if someone made no effort to hide it but as it turns out that really was the case all along. Because it’s an illusion. The real trap with the real wire is just a step behind it concealed by a hint of light magic and attached to a metallic cube.

“Clever.” I whisper, giving credit where it’s due. A part of me is curious to see what’d happen if I triggered the trap but maybe a bit later. “Long step here.” I warn Valka before proceeding to the steps.

But witty mind play is all for naught in the end as the floorboard my foot lands on creaks loud enough to alert half the city.

“They’re here.” My snap prayers to remain undiscovered stay unanswered, as usual.

Now I just need to sharpen my silver tongue and talk my way through this. We’re not their enemies, and there’s definitely a peaceful solution-

Then a man who I vaguely recognize rushes down the stairs.

“It’s those rats, the ones who attacked the greedy bastard!” He yells, unsheathing his curved sword.

Greedy bastard… greedy bastard? Ah, one of the guards I walked past after making the healer piss himself. Yeah, words won’t work here, time to move to plan B.

“I guess the talks have collapsed before they even began?” I can see Valka’s mocking grin even without looking.

“Yeah, time for aggressive negotiation. Can I play a little?” I flutter my lashes, acting all cutesy.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” She answers, sounding just like Dad.

[Warrior lvl 131]

More than one and a half times my level, twice my size, and reinforcements are about to arrive any second now. I’d say it’s a fair matchup.

As the man approaches, clearly cocky as the numbers presented by Identify paint him as the favorite, I just swat him away. One powerful step, a swipe of my arm, plenty of wind mana, and the effects make even my jaw hit the floor.

He doesn’t just hit the wall but smashes through it, damaging the poor dilapidated building even further, but at least clearing my path. Emboldened and equally excited I rush forward to look for more testsub- to meet my enemies.

I catch them rushing down the stairs and decide to give them a hand, twirling once before another swipe urges the winds to give them a violent nudge. Once piled up at the bottom in a heap of thugs I reach for a new element to test, giggling silently with satisfaction.

Lighting is a different beast and requires its own tempo, a distinct dance. My arms snake like the crackling lines of energy striking from the sky, each step snappy and crisp just like the element itself. When the sparks dancing between my hands begin to hum I thrust an arm forward, discharging a bolt with a deafening thunder.

At that moment a cold shiver runs down my back as a guy, a boy rather about our age, catches my eyes in the dogpile and I try to tear my own spell into pieces as it leaves my fingertip. He might not survive what I’m about to unleash.

I’m not here to kill anyone, least of all a kid, I just got swept away by the excitement of my new power.

Sparks fly everywhere, striking the walls and ceiling, as the magic scatters but the brunt of it still strikes my intended target.

They cry out in chorus as the lightning strikes, some of them staying on the ground while others try to regain control of their body.

Even reduced to a fraction of its strength the attack was still devastating but more importantly… no notifications.

“Can you take care of them for me?” I whisper and Valka understands her task.

That was close. The first time I was forced to hurt somebody, and it’s not just a friendly brawl I’m thinking of, was easy because I was scared but the aftermath was hard to digest. I had to defend myself and I did what I had to. Killing a beast be it aggressive or unsuspecting… I was fine with that, that’s what Dad used to do for a living, it’s part of nature.

But killing someone… I have played with the idea before, many times actually and Mom shared her words of wisdom on the topic before we departed for Sereban but I don’t think I can bring myself to it. It’s not the act of extinguishing a life itself but the possibility of facing a friend or even a relative of that person, looking at me with endless hatred and pain…

It’s scary. And it’s almost unavoidable.

Sooner or later the time will come when I either lose something dear to me or fight with everything I have without any restraints and pulling my punches.

While I wage war against my darker thoughts usually kept behind a locked door in the back of my mind, Valka does short work on the wobbly thugs barely able to stand. They might be older and higher level but I doubt any of them have ever come across a light blue Class during advancement, much less a cyan one. Numbers matter but so does quality.

“Stay behind me, you clearly can’t control your magic yet.” She takes the lead and this time I really don’t feel like arguing with her.

It’s not my fault we’re in a city without anything in need of demolishing. In my opinion, a third of the city is a crimeridden slum so I’d do a favor by turning it all into dust but not everyone living in poverty is there due to their own actions.

The upper floor is well-lit and much more open than below so it doesn’t take much looking to spot the remaining seven people on the opposite end of the floor.

“D- don’t come any closer!” His voice just cracked, that’s embarrassing. “If you do your friends will have- we will- Don’t come any closer!”

Two men and a woman, beaten and barely conscious, tied up and held at knifepoint. The hostages.

By the Gods, I’m happy we skipped any form of negotiations with these amateurs.

“Fine, we only came for the money.” Valka shrugs, ignoring anything else and making her way to a few sacks and a pot of stew.

And it’s not a bluff. She hates humans and loves eating, and I did say we’re mostly here for whatever valuables they have. And plays the role I had in mind even better than anything I can come up with right now, so I just follow her lead.

“We’re not the guards dumbass, just kill them or wait until we leave I don’t care either way.” I know my spiel sounds cliché as fuck and nobody in their right mind would fall for it. But these guys seem pretty scared to me.

We just took out six of their friends in mere seconds so there’s not much they can realistically do to stop us from digging through every bag and even help ourselves to their early dinner. The only drawback of mental warfare is a lack of Skill levels and the human factor. Or in our case, greed.

Two of them lounge straight at us the moment we turn our backs, exercising our right to plunder. Valka blocks the knife with her forearm and I simply command the metal to halt midair without even turning my back.

“Drop your weapons,” I command in a calm and even tone and seconds later two metallic clicks can be heard followed shortly by the rest. “Now go down the stairs, grab your buddies, and scoot.”

[Congratulations, you’ve unlocked the general Skill [Intimidate lvl 1]. Would you like to replace one of your Skills?]

I don’t think I need a Skill to help with that.

Everything goes according to plan, even better honestly.

“You didn’t get to test your Skills.” Valka remarks handing me two pouches.

“It is what it is,” I won’t start beating people up just to sate my curiosity. “We got what we came for, proved our usefulness, and learned a valuable lesson.”

“Which is?”

“We’re not the underdogs here.” I start counting our booty. “Sure, they could still drown us with numbers or throw us up to the guards but nobody would get away unscathed. We might not be the apex predators around but we’re definitely not prey.”

Unlike most Mages, my style is perfect for urban combat and Valka is probably even more suited for tight, close combat encounters.

Makes us lose and we’ll take everything you have down with us.

“That won't help us escape though.” She points out the obvious.

The problem is that any faction we might approach could exploit our vulnerability and all our actions are monitored by more people than we can take down at once. They’ve got us on a leash for now, but once they step off the tiger’s tail…

“Two gold and sixty silver.” And I don’t even want to think of where this money might’ve come from. “You hungry?”

In the following minutes, we causally chat about nothing in particular, mostly clothes and my life back in Granhall, enjoying the free meal and playing with our observers’ nerves simply for entertainment. I even dance around a little, giving my magic a go at the minimum output and trying to get a hang of what quantity mana translates to how much devastation.

When finally satisfied we drag the hostages outside where it doesn’t take long for our overseer to appear.

“You let them escape.” He states the obvious, reaching out a hand to claim what they’re owed.

“We taught them a lesson, I thought we clarified.” I throw a pouch at him, missing the greedy hand intentionally. “Two gold all yours, can we go now?”

“No!” An ungrateful ex-hostage finally opens his mouth. “Sixty silver.”

All eyes land on me, none of them judgmental. It’s just business after all. After handing over the rest of it a nod confirms our work done, just as Solaire is returning to rest.

“That was stupid of you,” Valka speaks up as we return to one of the main streets. “They overheard everything.”

Oh, this naive little friend of mine… Victor taught me well.

“And that’s why I lied.” I fish out another pouch from my trusty bag. “Two gold and sixty silver, the contents of the first bag.”

Two more gold coins, enough to actually pay for a healer, not that they’d welcome us there, but more than what a good shopping spree requires. Clothes, soap, boots, snacks… maybe even freedom.

Money is a versatile tool if you know where to look and have enough of it. Sure, Hector probably wouldn’t let us walk away for the laughable price for Valka but there are other channels, other people looking for a little extra.

Sure we didn’t grow much today, didn’t make any new friends or learn anything to make us any wiser but money is still good. Quite the opposite of the usual fairytale adventure.

“Wanna have fun tonight?” I ask, feeling a bit more liberated after today’s task. it’s time to give the money back to the innocent people of Salermo. By spending it.

Sure they can boss us around a little but it’s not that bad. Much safer than outside and way way way more comfortable.

And if someone were to try their luck against two poor young girls in the middle of the night, well… I only hope they have money on them to fatten our pouch.