Rival? (2)

Chae Gillard was far stronger than I had expected.

A mage whose physical stats sat somewhere in the thirties and forties had slipped a charging bandit's strike and loosed a skill in the same breath. That was no ordinary reaction speed. The enemy captain's agility had even broken fifty points, and still Chae had killed him without taking a scratch. He was a mage with far more combat experience than I'd given him credit for.

Definitely useful.

If I could pull that man onto my side, he'd make a solid ally. He was a Master with high growth potential.

But I doubt he'll come over easily.

With Kanisia, I had put in the groundwork to make her a companion, so she had fallen in line with my plans. Chae Gillard, a 4-star mage, was a different story. For one, I had no information on him. More importantly, there was nothing in it for him if he joined me.

Experience meant he wasn't someone you could push around. With so little I could offer him right now, no amount of talking would make him my ally.

Well, I've got time. I'll think of something. If it doesn't work out, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I can always drop it.

He was useful, sure — but he wasn't someone I absolutely needed.

"Are you all right?"

"Hm?"

Someone spoke to me from behind. I turned around. A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠man with short white hair and a scarred face stood there — Plasma, the Witch Queen's Fairy and a 7-star powerhouse.

Surprisingly few people in the subjugation force knew about Plasma. The Witch Queen had probably gone out of her way to keep his existence under wraps.

"You're the Fairy who's been at Commander Pazniri's side, aren't you? I'm fine. Ah — what should I call you?"

I knew his name and his strength, but I played dumb. Plasma had never once revealed his name to anyone in the subjugation force. Me knowing it would have been strange.

"Call me Plma."

"Ah... Plma, then."

So he's hiding his name?

He really was the Witch Queen's secret weapon. There was no other reason to conceal his name even here.

"Are you all right as well, Plma?"

"Hahaha. I was glued to the Commander's side the whole time, so I never had a chance to get hurt."

There was an unmistakable warmth in the smile he directed at me. Why the hell is this guy so friendly toward me?

He kept chatting after that — not probing for information about me, just rambling about nothing in particular before eventually turning away.

"You took down what looked like the enemy captain in a single blow... Impressive, Chae Gillard."

"....."

Plasma left me and went to talk to Chae Gillard. Unlike the genuine warmth he'd shown me, Chae eyed him with open wariness. He was probably still thinking about the illusion from ten days ago at the west gate, when Plasma had tried to kill him.

Kanisia let out a whistle as she watched Plasma talking to Chae Gillard.

"Whew~ He's filthy handsome."

"What?"

"Master?"

Abraham and I both turned to look at her at the same time. Two men of different species staring at her at once made Kanisia flustered, but she just shrugged.

"Wh-what? That Fairy's good-looking. That's just a fact."

She wasn't wrong. Plasma was a sharply featured handsome man. When he smiled, he looked like the gentlest man in the world. When he shut his mouth, his face took on a wolfish, predatory edge.

Yeah, he was handsome, sure, but...

She's praising another guy's looks right in front of me?

Strictly speaking, Kanisia and I weren't dating. We were comrades who sometimes ended up in bed together — sex partners, more or less. But even so, praising some other bastard's face right in front of me was not something I could just let slide.

Tonight, I'll make her scream.

Kanisia was going to pay for that.

The enemy had been wiped out, but the subjugation force had taken a fair number of casualties of its own, so we decided to spend the night in Kiba Village. Of course, that meant hauling corpses out of the way first if we wanted a decent night's rest.

Status window.

Tsk. No level up.

Even the day's battle hadn't bumped my level. I'd have settled for seeing an experience bar, at least. Disappointing.

A little disappointing, but... Potential can always be stockpiled again once I level up.

Over the past ten days, I'd steadily burned Potential to raise my stats. Five points a day, fifty points total. And the results were undeniable. Agility up by 1, Vitality by 8, Durability by 21, Magic by 20. The reason I'd been able to kill that charging enemy captain in a single blow was because I'd poured everything into my stats.

By the standards of my previous life, it was painfully slow. By the standards of this world, it was shocking. I hadn't even been in this world for three months. That meant this status window had taken a mere eighty-five days to build.

If word got out that I'd built a status window like this in eighty-five days, the world would be — and I'm only slightly exaggerating here — in complete shock. That's how fast and insane this growth rate was.

Should I get Magic to 60 first, then raise Agility? Hmm... but Wisdom and Luck are still sitting in the twenties, and that bothers me... Should I fill those to 30 first? But then I'd be wasting points...

It was a happy kind of dilemma.

"Mmm..."

A languid voice from beside me made me turn my head. Kanisia ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lay naked next to me, her smooth shoulders and collarbones fully exposed, sleeping soundly. A smile lingered on her lips — apparently she'd been satisfied with what we'd done.

I pulled back the blanket. Moonlight spilling through the window revealed her full breasts — larger than my fist, pink nipples standing stiff, marked with handprints and bite marks. Punishment for daring to praise another man's looks in front of me. A Fairy, sure, but still.

Status window.

I hadn't been able to raise her stats much without Growth Stones, but her level had gone up by 1 and her class level by 3. Her skill levels had risen across the board as well.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Almost level 30.

One more class level and her basic Spearman class would hit Master Level (Lv. 30). After that, no amount of grinding would raise the class level any further. To push it higher from there, she'd need to advance to a higher-tier class.

Where was the dungeon that dropped the Spearman class advancement tome again?

Getting a higher-tier class was surprisingly simple and, at the same time, incredibly difficult. Clear certain dungeons and an item called a Class Advancement Tome would drop. Read it, and you'd get the higher-tier class.

Just clear a dungeon and you get a higher class — simple as that. The hard part was that the drop rate for those tomes didn't even reach 1%. Higher-grade classes dropped at even more abysmal rates.

That's why players used to throw a fucking fit demanding they raise the rates.

Every now and then the Fairy Masters developers would run a double drop-rate event for Class Advancement Tomes, but it was pointless. Even doubled, the rate still didn't hit 1%. The official forums would go up in flames like a wildfire every time.

Dungeons, dungeons, dungeons... I really need a dungeon of my own.

Well, that was all previous-life stuff. Regardless, I needed to secure a dungeon of my own as soon as possible, the way other city rulers had. That was the only way to grow my party members — and myself.

I lay back down and closed my eyes.

After spending the night in Kiba Village, we resumed our march.

Do they even know where they're going?

As far as I knew, the intel they had on the Snake Bandits was extremely limited, and most of what they did have was false. The Snake Bandits had done a thorough job of burying their own information. And yet the subjugation force was marching as if they knew exactly where the Snake Bandits were.

Should I ask?

Plasma seemed to like me, so I figured I could ask him. Might as well build some goodwill while I was at it.

"We'll rest here for a while."

At the word of the subjugation force's commander, Prince Pazniri, the march came to a halt. Combat engineers attached to the force immediately started putting up tents.

"Haaah... I can finally breathe..."

Kanisia sprawled under a tent, a blissful smile on her face as cool air blew down from above. Mounted on top of the tents the engineers had set up was a square box with a hole in the center, blowing air cool enough to rival an air conditioner. One of the Witch Queen's inventions.

"Rest for a bit. I'm going to go ask about something."

"Sure..."

"I shall accompany you, Master."

Kanisia had claimed the prime spot under the cooling box and showed zero intention of moving. At least my precious Fairy, Aquaril, stood up to follow me.

"It's fine. It won't take long. Stay here and rest."

I sat Aquaril back down and got up alone. We had no idea how much farther we'd have to march, so it was better to rest while we could.

"Plma."

"Hm? Ah, Han. What can I do for you?"

"I have a question."

"What is it?"

"It's nothing major... I was just wondering if we know the enemy's location, and that's why we're marching this way."

"That's what you wanted to know? Yes, we know."

"Really?"

Plma smiled and nodded. The certainty in his eyes actually surprised me a little. These people had nothing but false intel — how did they know where the Snake Bandits' den was?

"Forgive me for asking, but how do you know the location of the Snake Bandits' den?"

"Well... it's not exactly classified, so I'll tell you. The Snake Bandits' den is the Kutlanka Ruins."

"The Kutlanka Ruins?"

I've heard that somewhere before...

I tilted my head at Plasma's words. The name sounded familiar. When I couldn't quite place it, Plasma started explaining.

"Three years ago, a monster appeared and went on a rampage, destroying villages and slaughtering people indiscriminately. A great many died. If the ruler of Baidu and master of magic, the Witch Queen herself, had not personally intervened, the damage would have been far worse."

If you're going to hide it, hide it properly, you idiot.

Plasma was hiding his own name, but the moment he mentioned the Witch Queen, his eyes lit up like stars. Even if I hadn't seen his status window, that look alone would have made me think, This guy's the Witch Queen's Fairy, isn't he?

Anyway, I've heard this story somewhere too. Kutlanka, Kutlanka, Kutlanka... Ah!

Repeating the name Kutlanka, I finally remembered where I'd heard it — or rather, where I'd seen it.

Kutlanka was the name of a monster that appeared periodically as an event boss in Fairy Masters.

And that thing was...

...that bastard's an undead?

A massive undead monster made of nothing but bone.