Zoe released her hold on an avalanche of bottled-up system notification as she skirted around the town wall.
Hellfire Blast has reached level 10!
…
Hellfire Blast has reached Tier II.
+10 Power
Blood Whip has reached level 11!
Rending Touch has reached 13!
Cloak of Scorn has reached 6!
Cloak of Scorn has reached level 7!
…
Cloak of Scorn has reached level 9!
Surgeon’s Eye has reached level 19!
Surgeon’s Eye has reached level 20!
…
Surgeon’s Eye has reached Tier III.
+10 Perception, +5 Vitality.
Blood Siphon has reached level 3!
Hellfire Eruption has reached level 3!
Oh, nice. I guess that’s a decent compensation for wanton destruction of my private property. Also, that’s another skill reaching the third tier.
The free stat boosts were nice, but the main benefit was the ability to begin combining skills together—something Zoe had yet to try. It was another thing she needed to start thinking about in terms of her progression in the system. There were also the options she had for a class upgrade, which should probably come first. But before any of that, she needed to get to Stella and figure out how to deal with their mutual clerical problem.
“Wait,” Lilith interjected, “what do you mean by clerical?”
Zoe thought it was obvious, especially in their current context. You know, clerical, with the Inquisitors and so on. Members of the clergy. Also, Zoe could point out how these were no ordinary priests. They had divine boons and magic power, like a cleric character in a tabletop game.
“I don’t think that’s what ‘clerical’ means.” Lilith sighed. “But why not, I guess.”
Zoe soon encountered a difficulty in her plan. She needed to decide on how to reach the alchemy shop. The reason for circling the wall was to avoid running through the streets and being seen. However, there was a slight flaw in her initial reasoning—the wall went in a circle.
If I keep going around, I’ll just go in a circle. And if I want to get to the shop, that means I have to go inside. This was, to Zoe’s unfathomable dismay, how a circular barrier tended to work.
I guess I’ll just enter at the closest point. The shopping area isn’t in the exact center, so I can get a lot closer from the other side of the town.
It was a solid plan, and so Zoe continued running at the edge of the forest surrounding the town.
_____
Just like Zoe’s house was on roughly the opposite side of Blossomfell as the path to the old guildsmaster and the mines, her clinic and the main market area was on the same side as that path—and thus on the opposite side from where Zoe started her trip.
The end result of these unfortunate circumstances was that Zoe had to run farther around the edge than she would have if she’d taken a straighter route through the town itself. The prime shopping block was roughly two thirds of the way across town from her house. With nothing better to do, Zoe estimated how much farther it would end up taking her.
Assuming that pi was equal to three, the wall was a perfect circle, and she was right about the two-thirds distance—then that means I’ll have covered two and three-quarters the distance I would have needed if I just took the normal route, when counting the distance I still have left.
Zoe had reached the ‘closest point,’ so to speak, and was now hoisting herself up over the rough stone pile that served as Blossomfell’s aesthetically minded attempt at a physical border. It didn’t taken any exception feats of strength or gymnastics, just a willingness to scuff the elbows.
The reason Zoe wanted to go around the wall in the first place was to avoid being seen by anyone who might be in collaboration with Marceus. She didn’t want word to spread and for the wrong person to somehow show up at the alchemy shop before she did.
Her error was in underestimating how much longer it would take. She had lesser disguise anyway—what was the chance that someone happened to suspect an unfamiliar woman was the Olivia they knew using a stealth skill? Avoiding any suspicion from said unfamiliar woman walking out of Olivia’s yard was, ultimately, a tiny concern. You live and you learn—or I guess in my case, you live and figure out how to make exciting, new kinds of mistakes.
Lesser Disguise!
Zoe changed things up more than usual, this time. Short and scruffy ginger hair, a lot of freckles, and a thin, sharp face—in all, a scraggly teenage boy dropping over the wall for no good reason.
Standing and dusting herself off, Zoe broke into a sprint. A quick look around oriented her to where she’d ended up. She’d nailed the location closer than she expected—all she had to do was take a single turn and run straight.
A couple minutes later, a scruffy and exhausted guy who was most definitely not Zoe burst through the entrance of Loch Alchemy & Enchanting. Nothing looked out of place, to Zoe’s relief—not that she’d know if anything was. A better way to say it was that nothing looked obviously damaged or toppled over.
Also, Stella was in her usual place, looking thoroughly bored and entirely unbothered. That was good, but Zoe still needed to go bother her. “Hey! We’re the only ones in here, right?”
The most definitely human shopkeeper looked up and squinted. “That is—one—a very concerning thing to say, and—two—I have no idea why, and I’m not sure I want to know. What do you want?”
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Zoe floundered for a moment before regaining her conversational balance. “You loaned a friend of mine a book earlier. She sent me to return it, and also I have a message that you should really hear in private?”
Silence was the only thing that greeted Zoe for several seconds. Then, Stella laughed. “Holy shit, that’s incredible. Obviously I knew you could hide yourself well, but this is ridiculous.” Leaving her desk, the shopkeeper strode past Zoe to lock the door and flip the sign. “Okay, follow me.”
Zoe kept her mouth shut as she followed Stella into the private back area of the building. They entered an office, which seemed normal enough, and then the storage closet attached to the office, which seemed strange. Then Stella pulled up a tarp, revealing a hole.
“Oh, you can’t be serious.” Zoe’s grin was impossible to contain. “A secret tunnel system?”
Instead of answering, Stella dropped down into the dark. Zoe followed, not keen to miss out on something she’d dreamed of ever since being a child. Inside the hole was a—well, a small hole. There was a crappy wooden door, though, which Stella pushed open. Zoe followed her through, stepping into what instantly struck her as a drug and improvised explosives lab.
It wasn’t actually that big. Zoe estimated it to be about the same size as the office above, with a literal dirt floor and a low ceiling supported by wooden posts. Still, it was cool enough as an architectural easter egg. The planters full of tubular, multicolored plants and the vats, still, and tangle of glassware and tubing made it even better. On the nearest worktable, a flask of shimmering purple liquid caught her eye.
Stella spoke again once she’d shut the crude door. “Don’t touch anything.”
Zoe set the flask back down and turned around. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to.”
“Right. You can drop the disguise now.”
“Okay.” Zoe did just that. The half illusion, half shapeshifting was never comfortable, and this last iteration was less comfortable than usual. She realized as she did so that it would be the first time Stella saw her natural appearance, even if the shopkeeper had already realized she was a demon.
“Oh.” Why did Stella sound disappointed? “You basically just look how you normally look.”
“Hey! No I don’t!”
“The hair is a different color,” the other demon conceded, “but no, you really do.”
Before Zoe could protest, a third demon made itself known, though only to Zoe. “Yeah, we really do.”
Zoe scowled. Shut up, Lilith. “Okay, fine, whatever. I didn’t just come to return the book. There’s something more important to tell you.” Zoe took a steadying breath. “An Inquisitor came and burned down my house.”
There, it was out. No more getting distracted by illegal alchemy labs and secret bunkers. That being said, Stella’s lack of reaction was starting to unnerve Zoe. The shopkeeper didn’t even blink. When she did reply, it was a single word. “Seriously?”
“Uh, yeah?” Zoe couldn’t tell if Stella was commenting on the event itself or on Zoe rushing over to her shop. “It happened less than an hour ago.”
“Shit. Okay then.” The shopkeeper began to pace. “What happened to the Inquisitor? And what’s the context of this? Like did they just show up and start blasting, or—?”
“I killed him, and no, not exactly.” Zoe grimaced. “He was trying to use me to spy on you, actually.” Zoe might have already gotten the other demon’s attention, but now she had Stella’s full blown curiosity. She went on to give an overview of her initial encounter while leaving the mines, the bear, and advancing with the help of Stella’s book just in time to get caught by the Inquisitor. When she finished, the shopkeeper remained deep in thought for a moment. It was still a little awkward, so Zoe cleared her throat. “You can drop your own disguise too, you know. I would say you can feel more comfortable around me, now, but really I’m just super curious.”
“What? Oh, yeah.” Stella did as asked, revealing a striking, raven haired demon whose human parts looked exactly the same. As this was the first look Zoe had gotten of another higher demon, she made sure to compare their horns, eyes, and other assorted bits.
It was all roughly similar. Stella’s horns were thicker, shorter, and had a wider outwards curve, giving a sturdy, no-nonsense impression. As for her eyes, the shopkeeper tiptoed past rosy pink and began to dabble in a cheery lilac color. Reminded of her own bloodshot appearance, Zoe experienced a pang of petty envy.
All that being said, there was clearly something that Zoe simply could not refrain from remarking upon. “The hell is this? Were you really complaining about me doing nothing but changing my hair color when you didn’t even bother to do that?”
“Yes, actually, I was.” The taller demon, of course, showed neither shame nor remorse for her misdeeds. “Anyway, you think there are other Inquisitors, right?”
Zoe nodded. She struggled to recall any exact words, but she was confident about that Marceus guy having implied as much.
“Then we need stay here and hunt every last one of them down.” Stella’s conviction took Zoe by surprise, both for the dark tone and because Zoe expected them to make a run for it. Her original plan was to remain in Blossomfell until she reached Rank E—and she’d accomplished just that.
But when she asked why they weren’t going to flee, Stella presented some convincing logic—as well as dropping a couple bombshells of her own.
“Tell me if I’m correct about this—you don’t have any particular reason for being in Blossomfell, right? You’re a random, weak demon who only made it into the human world recently and you’re still figuring out how things work and what you need to do to survive.” Zoe nodded. That was basically correct, although Stella probably didn’t have exactly the true idea. “Okay, then you probably don’t know that there’s a cult using this town as part of their network of operations.”
The fuck? Yeah, Stella was correct. Zoe had absolutely no idea about that. Is she part of it? I guess I can just ask.
But the shopkeeper shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. Your alignment is Disdain, right?” Zoe nodded again. “Got it. Mine is Passion. The cult revolves around Revulsion, but let me make something exceptionally clear. Here, no one gives a damn about which alignment you are. Infernal clan shit? No one cares. Demons either stick together or try to screw you over. Which, well, I guess that’s like normal.”
“Yeah,” Lilith interjected to Zoe, “it really is.”
“But what I mean is, either way it has nothing to do with your alignment.” Stella poked a claw into Zoe’s chest for emphasis. “Most of the humans will fear you, and most of the rest will try to kill you—or worse.”
Zoe swallowed. “Understood, got it. But what about the fraction of the fraction of humans who are neither?”
“Ah. You’re thinking about the infernal cults the humans have.” It was a rhetorical question, but Zoe nodded anyway. “Don’t. Let me be even more clear than I have on anything else up to this point. Cultists are not your friends, and you’re better off ingratiating yourself with ordinary humans and hoping they warm up to you.”
Zoe frowned. That’s—honestly, that actually does match with what I’ve experienced so far. Things went pretty well with the group of adventurers Millie was with, and that’s also how I met Lord Darius. He might be an asshole, but the dude was also pretty helpful.
Also, it helped to remember that Sasha was a human. The name ‘Lycan,’ combined with all the blatant wolf traits, distracted Zoe from the fact that a Lycan was a subvariety of human. Contrary to her earth-fiction fantasy expectations, there was no ‘beastkin’ species or anything like that. Monsters were just normal animals that formed a mana core, and like on earth, humans were just smart animals.
Sasha had been Zoe’s most reliable companion so far, and she’d known what Zoe was from the very beginning. Contrast this with Basil Von Blodmane—a bona fide cultist and Zoe’s number one enemy from day one.
“Okay, I see your point,” she admitted to Stella. “But what does that have to do with our current situation? I’m guessing the Inquistion is mostly here for the cult and not just us two.”
“I think so too,” Stella admitted. “If anything, the two of us were probably an unexpected find as well as a bit of an afterthought.”
“Right, so then why not leave them to it? Sneak away while the Inquisitors are busy and let the two sides fight it out?”
“Because that’s exactly what we’re going to do.” Wait, what? Zoe didn’t understand, but it was clear Stella was going to continue. “I would count on whatever backup your Inquisitor had knowing who we are, now—and I have reason to believe the cultists now know as well.”
Zoe’s eyes widened. That’s not good.
“Now I don’t know what your exact abilities are, but there’s no way we can take either group directly. That means this is the perfect situation to help both sides do maximum damage to each other, finish off the weakened survivors, and walk away with both more power than we started with and fewer witnesses.”
Okay, capitalizing on our ability to play the cult and the Inquisitors against each other does that does make sense here—except for the question of how we actually do it. I feel like this plan is a little lacking on practical implementation details.
“I bet you’re wondering why I’m so confident we can actually pull something like this off.” The shopkeeper shot Zoe a sinister grin. “You’ve seen the sign above my shop, right? I’m guessing you’ve at least heard a little bit about Lord Darius Loch.”
“Uh, yeah,” Zoe said said. That’s certainly one way to put it.
“Well the reason I’m so confident we can handle this is that we only have to keep the town occupied—and survive—from now until next sunrise. If you want to know why—well let’s just say that Lord Loch is on our side, and he’s scheduled to drop by here tomorrow morning.”
