Chaotic Anomaly - 9 & 10

Here it is. 

Chapter 9

The guards brought us to the Freelancer League. It was still quite loud even at this late hour, as shouting and obvious merry making was going on inside. On the walk over, I was able to get a good look at the buildings, and found that while the craftsmanship might be lacking compared to the civilization I came from, nanotech and all, it was masterful in its own right.

The builders had managed to get the most bang for their buck by using some advanced construction techniques. Or at least that was what Echo reported to me. I honestly had no idea. It looked like stone and wood had been pressed together with mortar. For someone like me used to metal and glass, it felt archaic.

“Here you are. Even as Demon-kin, you should still be able to find a place to stay for the night. Remember to register in the morning.”

“Thank you. We will do so.” The guards nodded to us then left, heading back toward the gate. I repositioned Imperia on my back and looked at the door to the Freelancer League. “I hope the translation spell works until we get settled for the night.”

“Should have a couple hours left. I might not be able to cast magic right now, but I can still understand its flow.”

“Really? That’s good.” One less thing to worry about for the moment, I pushed open the door and walked inside. Argos attempted to follow us and I motioned for him to stay. I didn’t want to start a panic inside. “Wait here. I’ll make sure you get you situated.”

He whined, but sat on his haunches. Moving into the building, I was happy to see a few other demon-kin among the rabble. They might have looked the bandit part to a tee, but I wasn’t going to judge someone on their fashion sense. Casting my sight around, I found what looked like the reception desk.

A pretty woman that looked to be in her twenties turned to look at us. She had blue hair and long ears. Most likely an elf. I cleared my throat once I was closer. “Good evening. I was hoping we could get a room for the night. We have nothing to our names.”

“Freeloaders. You’re allowed one night for free, as per regulations. After that it’s the street or the guards.”

“Understood. We’ll take you up on that if you don’t mind.”

“Room… seven. Here you go. No food.”

“Thanks! Also I have a deamon outside. What’s the procedure for him?” When I was looking around I found a few people had beasts with them, but they were all much smaller than him.

“Type?”

“Umm, a DireCreg?” I replied not sure if that was what she was going for.

The receptionist’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously?!” the rest of the room grew quiet as well and I looked around nervously.

“Yeah. I sort of bonded with him a few days ago. I really don’t feel comfortable leaving him on the street by himself yet, so if I could take him up to the room. That would be great.”

She bit her lip. I assumed that guests must have caused problems in the past. It didn’t help that I wasn’t paying for the night. “Fine, but I will call the guards in the morning if there is damage!”

“Of course.” I adjusted Imperia then moved back to the entrance to call Argos in. He got halfway before his rear got stuck in the door frame. It took a bit of wiggling to get through. I worried when I heard some creaking from the door. I heard gasps and whispers from the gathered people but ignored them. I took the key from the receptionist and made my way down the hall after she directed me.

Imperia snorted once we were out of earshot of the common room. “To think they are impressed with something like him.”

“I guess the world has changed then,” I replied.

“I command hordes of Direcregs. They wiped entire cities off the map in a single night.”

“And now you’re riding on my back like a child.”

She grumbled but didn’t say anything else. Once we reached our room, I laid her on the bed. A look of pure delight formed on her face. “A bed! Yay!” she exclaimed sounding like a child getting a new toy.

Looking around, there wasn’t much to the room. Other than the bed, there was a writing desk and chair. A window looked out on the back alley behind the Freelancer League. Echo hopped off my shoulder and flew over to the desk. Argos had been such a large sensation that no one seemed to care about him.

I sat on the end of the bed. Imperia was already breathing lightly. Once Argos managed to get through the door, he crawled over the bed, barely missing Imperia’s head with his paw, and laid down in the corner of the room. There wasn’t any room to move, but at least he managed to fit.

“At least we found civilization.”

“It appears similar to the middle ages of Earth and a few other civilizations the Federation has found over the centuries,” Echo commented, his drone looking out the window.

“Do you have their language?”

“Affirmative. There were nine hundred and seventy-six languages that had similarities. I will need more data on dialects, but we should be able to communicate. Writing with require a few samples.”

“We should try to get that done tomorrow. Should only need to visit a few shops. It would be great if they had a library,” I said laying back next to Imperia. I didn’t need to sleep, but I might as well when I had the chance. I was just glad my changed body could sleep. I usually enjoyed my dreams, though that was because they revolved around half naked women usually.

~~~

A soft sensation drew me back to the land of the wakeful. I looked at my chest to see Imperia was wrapped around me, like I was some sort of body pillow. Her chest was pressing against mine and either I had unconsciously wrapped my arm around her or she’d repositioned me herself, but my hand was enjoying a handful of amazing thigh and butt.

I couldn’t resist a few more squeezes to make sure this was real before I lifted my hand. I cleared my throat, but her breathing didn’t change. She’d slept for ten thousand years! How could she still be tired.

“Imperia. Imperia!” I said getting louder each time.

She finally groaned and looked up at me with heavily lidded eyes. “Ah. Lex. Good morning.” She immediately dropped her head back onto my shoulder.

“Hey. Hey. Wake up!”

She grumbled and sat up. “You make an amazing pillow,” she mumbled still half asleep.

I rolled up into a sitting position on the side of the bed. “Thank you, I think.”

Standing up, I stretched, my jointed popping in the process. I checked my eye but it was still missing, the scorched flesh having already healed. There were Biuna that only possessed one eye, it was possible that the one that fused with me was one of these types. Or it might be something else altogether that was keeping my eye from regenerating.

A deep rumble echoed around the room, and I looked at Argos. He whined with his tail wagging strong enough to cause a breeze. “I know. We’ll get our business taken care of at the Freelancer League then grab some breakfast.”

I felt a tug on my arm. “I would be most pleased if we found something with a bit more… flavor,” Imperia said looking down at her hands.

“I’d planned to find some real food, but we might have to settle for protein bars until we earn some money.”

“I’ve scouted the area around the town during the night. I have the location of four Kesh dens,” Echo noted. Trust Echo to use our time efficiently.

“Great. That will make the hunt much easier.”

We walked down the hall to the common room from last night. A different receptionist was on duty but seemed to be expecting us as he waved us over. “Wow! A real Direcreg. Never thought I’d seen one that wasn’t trying to rip my throat out.”

“Are they that rare?” I asked casting a look at Argos. He acted like a giant dog to me.

“Well, actually no. They just move in packs of thousands. You usually don’t run into one or two, but three or four hundred at the minimum.”

“Huh. What’d you do to get thrown out of your pack?” I asked petting Argos on the head. He just titled his head with his tongue hanging out.

“Do… do you mind if I pet him?”

“Sure,” I replied, and he started to reach out. “but don’t blame me if he takes your hand off.” The man stopped with a jerk.

“Maybe next time.”

“Okay. Can you help us register for the League, umm?”

“Seirus. And yes. I can.” He reached under the counter and pulled out some sheets of parchment. There were several that looked the same but written in different languages. “Which one can you read?”

“None of them,” I answered honestly.

“Very well.” He grabbed one that matched the writing in the room. He pointed to each entry and explained what information that needed. Five minutes later, Imperia and I were registered with the League.

“Thanks Seirus.”

“You start at rank G. Complete pursuits to move up in rank. That board over there is pursuits in the area.”

“Got it.”

We walked over and Echo scanned all the documents and compared the language to the documents that we’d just filled out. It didn’t take him long before he had a grasp of the written side of the language. He translated everything for me in real time, but I planned on having him teach it to me later.

I grabbed all the pursuits that dealt with the Kesh then went back over to Seirus. “We’ll take all these.”

“Are… Are you sure you want to take all these?” Seirus asked after looking them over.

“Why? Is there a reason I can’t?”

“No… its just,” he looked between me and Imperia, “it isn’t a good pursuit for two women alone.”

I could only sigh in annoyance. It wasn’t my fault I had this body! “We’ll be fine.”

Seirus picked up on my mood swing and gave a sigh of his own. “Very well. You have a week for each pursuit.”

Chapter 10

Leaving the Freelancer League, we took a look at the street trying to remember which way was the gate. While we could cruise the shops, Echo had already learned the written language, and I didn’t want to window shop. I would hate to find something that I couldn’t buy. Plus, the other two were hungry. I didn’t want to reveal my nanites in the middle of town until I knew a bit more about this world, so I planned to make their food outside the town.

Turning down the street, last night coming back to me, we joined the morning crowd that was moving about the road. Taking in the people, I didn’t spot any more Demon-kin. Mostly elves and dwarves or whatever they were called in this world. I mentally decided I would call them that even if that wasn’t the case.

I hadn’t noticed last night due to the light and the fact there hadn’t been any people on the streets, but none of them had the rounded ears of humans. The people all were slender with sharp ears that had to be close to thirty centimeters long. Other than that, there wasn’t much difference between them and humans. It could just be an evolution thing, something on the planet caused their ears to evolve like such.

I decided to put it out of my mind for the minute and looked at my companion. “How you feeling this morning, Imperia?”

“Better. I can actually feel my mana for the first time since the tower,” she replied flexing her hands.

“What exactly is mana?” I asked realizing I hadn’t taken the time to ask before now.

“It’s the life blood of the planet. There are places around the world that produce it like a spring in nature. From there it spreads out over the planet for its inhabitants to use. We create our own, but it is comparable to a drop in an ocean.”

I tapped my chin. The fact it came from the planet worried me. Generally, resources like that were finite. Even if the civilization hadn’t progressed in ten thousand years, it was possible they had used up much of this resource. “Sounds dangerous. Don’t you risk depleting the planet’s mana?”

“I’ve never heard of the mana in nature being depleted like the game in the forests. Like I said, people produce it too. When they die, their bodies are absorbed into the world and puts some of the energy back.”

So there was some sort of recycling function. The same could be said about oil on Earth, it would have just taken a few centuries given how all the processes worked. I dropped it for the time. It would be nice to be able to use the magic, but I hadn’t been able to feel a drop of energy my entire time on this planet.

We eventually reached the gate. Looking around, I found we weren’t the only ones leaving the town. Several other armed groups that ranged from four to ten people were also in line to exit. Quite a few of them were casting glances over at us, and I just hoped they didn’t try and cause any trouble. Mainly since, the people looking were men.

Argos was likely the reason they were keeping their distance. He was about as tall as I was while standing, and I was keeping my hand on his neck to keep him from trying to run through the gate until it was our turn. The picture was good enough to deter even the more foolish looking of the men.

When we reached the gate, a familiar voice reached us. “Ah. The ladies from last night.”

The Magian from last night was still there, though he looked like he was ready for a good night’s sleep. He had black circles around his eyes and yawned a couple times in rapid succession.

“Derrick, right? You’re still manning the gate?”

“Yep. I don’t get relief for another hour. Not enough Magians to take up the slack while the Kesh are a problem.”

“I see. We’re heading out to try and relieve the burden a bit. Expect good things,” I said giving him a thumbs up. He looked at me with a confused look.

“I do. Just don’t get yourselves killed out there.”

He waved us through and the fields from yesterday came into view. The groups that had already gotten through before us we each heading in their own directions, but it looked like the fields themselves were their goal. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen armed farmers. There were a few planets that had more wildlife that made farming one of the most dangerous professions on the planet.

“Echo. Where’s the nearest nest?” I asked the eagle drone on my shoulder.

A path appeared in my vision. “There are an estimated one hundred and nine bodies in this nest.”

I stretched then checked my weapons. “Sounds like a good workout.” I pointed for Imperia’s benefit. “Let’s head this way.”

Argos charged ahead once we started moving. He appeared to relish the fact we were hunting beasts weaker than him. I just had to remember not to rely on him if we encounter anything too strong. He’d be more likely to run and hide in those cases.

As we walked, we passed a group in a nearby field. One of their members was standing with a staff and was chanting. There would be a green flash periodically and I thought I could smell an earthy scent each time.

“Nature magic. Boosting the crops. Do it enough and this single field might be able to feed a city,” Imperia commented from next to me.

I whistled at that information. The field couldn’t have been more than a couple of acres judging by where a few trees seemed to mark the boundary of the field. If what Imperia said was true, then nature magic was almost as advanced as the inner Federation Plantation ships. Those things were the size of a small moon and could feed a planet.

“Impressive. I can only imagine what the areas with more development are like.” If this was a frontier town, then the capital would likely be even more impressive. I doubt they would have monster problems in a place like that.

The field transitioned to plains of regular grass as we walked. Soon out of sight of the others, I quickly created some protein bars for the two, but Argos came bounding back with a Kesh in his mouth. Its neck twisted in a horrible fashion. He dropped it, then took off returning less than a minute later with another one. The pursuit stated that we had to collect the shards from their chests to claim the reward.

I used my claw to easily slice the chest open and spotted the reflective object easily enough. “What exactly are these?” I asked looking it over.

“Life stones. Everyone has one. It is how people can use mana.”

“Really?” Maybe that’s why I couldn’t sense this all-encompassing energy?

I closed my eyes for a second, and the nanites flew into the ground to form a bag. Dropping the shard into the bag, I tied it to my waist. I walked over to the second one and did the same. I found it interesting that my Biuna didn’t find anything interesting to absorb from these creatures, but I wasn’t complaining.

Now that I thought about it, I didn’t remember seeing a shard in the bear that attacked us. I mentioned it to Imperia who pointed at Argos. “The mutt likely ate it. That’s why he grew so rapidly. I thought you didn’t care, but you just didn’t know. Figures.” I glanced at Argos, who looked at us with a curious expression. I couldn’t get mad at his carefree if albeit bloodstained face.

The path ended just off in the distance. I couldn’t spot anything other than a small rise in the ground which likely meant it was a den of some sort. It would make it easier to take them out, since they couldn’t surround us, but I also couldn’t snipe them from a distance.

“Argos, hunt around the area and catch all the stragglers outside. We’ll head in and deal with the main infestation.” He barked then moved off, his massive bulk managing to disappear into the tall grass. With his fur being green, he easily blended in with little problem.

Echo’s path led directly to a large hole that reminded me of an ant hill. There weren’t any guards around the immediate entrance, but we could hear crude talking from just inside the hole. Echo sent me an overhead image of the hole. I saw four of the creatures inside that looked like they were ready to pass out.

I drew my sword since the rifle wouldn’t be much use in the tight confines of the tunnel. Looking at Imperia, she was my only concern. “You going to be okay?”

She looked slightly offended but must have considered the last couple days before getting angry. “Yes. I think I can use some lower rank magic without collapsing.”

I stared at her to make sure she was sure, then nodded. “Alright. Stay behind me.”

Charging up the small incline, I hopped into the hole following the image Echo was sending me. As I dropped, I spun by twisting, and managed to sweep my sword around cutting the Kesh guards in half. This sword was indeed a dangerous weapon. Even the wall of the hole hadn’t stopped it when I was cutting. A gash several centimeters long showcasing its power. Echo and I really needed to find out where to get more of this material.

Imperia peeked over the edge and I motioned for her to jump. The drop was only two meters or so. With a flutter of fabric, I caught and placed her on the ground. She was as light as a feather. Setting her down, we turned to head deeper into the Kesh den. Rough torches being the only thing that was illuminating the path ahead.

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