Chapter 91
Gren wanted to take a quick bath so he set up a basin in Jasmine's room and warmed up some water. He realized that Tahloh's eyes were on him while he took his bath but it was a common occurrence lately. "You're welcome to join me. It's large enough for two people."
Tahloh got up and slowly made her way over to where Gren was. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were still a good size even after she lost weight. If she didn't have the pig nose then he'd be willing to take her as a wife right now. "Sorry about last night. I broke the promise."
"It's fine. As long as we don't have actual s.e.x then I'm okay with it. From the looks of it, I must have enjoyed it." The promise was that she could look at him as long as she didn't try to take advantage of him. "I might ask you to do that again when I'm sober." With Gren's matured body, there was an increase in his s.e.xual desires.
Tahloh seemed happy with his response. She was easy to please since she was head over heels in love with Gren. Gren strung her along so that he would be able to have a loyal soldier on his side. After teaching Jessica how to use a gun, Gren planned on arming Tahloh with a rifle and having her become his right-hand... woman. s.e.x might be necessary in the future to keep her loyal to him so he might need to rethink making her his wife at that time. It might be wrong in the eyes of others but if both parties were kept happy then Gren wasn't going to feel bad about it.
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Telling Tahloh that contact with him was okay was a mistake. She was soon following him everywhere and Jasmine began to get jealous. Gren had to explain to Jasmine that Tahloh was going to be in charge of his s.e.xual relief after Jasmine got pregnant so the two of them would stop fighting. Gren even managed to convince her to teach Tahloh some things in bed which gave Gren more spare time.
Unfortunately, that spare time just flew out the window while Gren was eating. "Susan escaped custody." Gren was left with a dumb look on his face as he had eggy bread sticking out of his mouth. Annie repeated her words just in case Gren didn't hear her the first time. "Susan, the former bandit leader, has escaped. Duke Adier put out an emergency request and the bounty on his head is pretty high."
Gren finished chewing and gulped down his food with some water. "Is he still in Adierton?" Gren didn't mind leaving him to rot in a dungeon for his crimes but if he could escape once then he could escape again.
"He should be. He did business with a few of the former gangs in the slums. There are three guilds that would have the funds to get him out and only two that would actually do it." Annie worked with the gangs to offload stolen goods at times so she was familiar with them. "The Scarlett Rose Guild is made up of women and only did business with him because I was around so we can ignore them for now."
Annie raised up one of her fingers. "The first and most likely possibility is the Viper Guild. We did a lot of business with them and one of Susan's daughters is married to the current guild master." A second finger went up. "The second possibility is the Golden Summer Guild. They're in charge of the casino so it's less likely that they would get involved with Susan now. They don't need to turn to crime to make money anymore when everybody's willing to just give it to them. We should take a team to investigate first but we need to look like we're not with a guild."
The Viper Guild was the group that attacked Gren in the past so it might be fun to pay them a visit. "We could probably take one of the knights with us but the other guild members are too famous or not ready for combat. Getting outside help might expose the plan."
Annie whacked Gren on the head before walking away. "We're not going there to fight yet. It's just going to be a few of us. I'll go get Estella. Make sure to wear a different suit of armor from usual." Annie went upstairs and left Gren behind to finish up his food.
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The Viper Guild's headquarters was located in the shantytown. It was clear that they didn't have as many resources as the other guilds. The shutters were ragged and the door was missing the bottom hinge. The lady at the front counter was surprised; it didn't seem like she expected anybody to enter.
"W-welcome to the Viper Guild, esteemed guests. How may I a.s.sist you?" Esteemed guests, huh? Estella was wearing a set of ornate armor that was from the elven temple and Gren was wearing a set of golden armor that he has had for a long time now. They did look pretty important right now.
"We're here for my old boss. I've heard that he was in the city and your boss should know where he is." Annie was wearing scale armor so she looked the least impressive but it was made from dragon scales so its defense was above even metal armor. The Mimi backpack was no longer necessary with Annie's artificial leg that came from the system.
"Do you have an appointment to see the guild master?" The receptionist looked too nervous.
"Just tell him that Annie is here to see him." Annie scared off the receptionist with a glare and the three of them waited.
After a minute, a somewhat scruffy man came down from upstairs. "It really is you. I thought that you were caught and sold into slavery."
"I was but I've earned my freedom. I'm looking for my old boss because I've heard that he did the same." Annie looked around before commenting on the state of his guild. "This place has seen some rough times. What happened to your decorations? The viper head is no longer mounted on the wall."
"The guild is in the process of changing so I've sold pretty much everything. You won't find your boss here after his escape. Check with one of the other guilds. That Female Mercenary Club or whatever they're called has basically run us out of business and the Golden Summer Guild hired all of our strongest mercenaries for some big job." A big job sounded suspicious "Check with the two of them. I don't think that it'd be the Scarlett Rose Guild unless the proprietress wanted to breed him with her girls." That was a very weird comment but Annie was nodding along to it so Gren was now confused. Was that actually something that would happen?
"I figured that if it wasn't you then it would be the Golden Summer Guild. That other guild you mentioned isn't in the slums so there's too much risk for them to be harboring a fugitive." Annie wasn't convinced by his words but he really didn't look like he could afford to bribe the dungeon's guards. "Are you still married to Trisha?"
The guild master didn't seem happy about her comment. "Trisha... I don't even know anymore. This country's weird when it comes to marriage. She left me for some rich merchant that lives down in Valkland." Gren came hoping
"Patty, right? She was always a smart girl." Gren felt awkward just listening to Annie and this guy talk about personal things. "What is she up to now?"
"She's helping me restructure the guild so that we can get restarted. Our greatest problem has been that we relied too heavily on mercenaries and requests." Gren could sympathize with that problem; he had faced it before. "I don't know all the details but we're going to specialize in selling products related to the G.o.ddess. Apparently this is a popular place for people to visit on their way to the Land of Healing Light."
Annie still didn't know that Gren was the son of the G.o.ddess. "Do you think that you could get a painting for me?" Gren just wanted to this conversation to end so he cleared his throat. "Right, we need to get going. It was nice catching up with you. Let Patty know that I said hi."
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Gren hadn't gambled before or since he played with Erling so this was naturally his first time in the casino. The interior lived up to the name of Golden Summer; there was a large painting of a sun on the ceiling with gold trim leading all the way down the pillars. The dealers were wearing black clothes with golden thread. They went with a very elegant look for a place that was filled with a bunch of ruffians.
A guard at the door asked them to turn in their weapons but Annie had already known about the weapon check so they didn't have any on them. The guard gave them a quick pat down and made sure they had nothing on them. "What about the leg?"
"How am I going to get around if I hand you my leg?" Annie was baffled by the guard. "You can look at it but if you want me to leave it with you then my friends and I can just wait to gamble when we go back to Sekaton." Annie used that as a threat because Sekaton had a much larger casino.
The guard did a quick look over the leg and didn't see anything that looked like it could be pulled off. He seemed reluctant to let them through but, after looking at Gren's armor, he decided to give in. "You're clear. Go on through."
There were plenty of mercenaries sitting down at the tables. It was a job that people usually only did because they needed money but then many of them spent all of their money in places like this or at bars. Mercenaries tended to be walking contradictions; they put themselves in danger just to survive, they spent a lot of money just to earn a small profit, and they were both a necessary part of the system while being completely expendable. Gren hoped to improve their situation by reducing their casualties but it would be futile to try to protect their wallets from their vices.
"We just need to play for a while until someone recognizes me." Annie's looks were a rarity in this part of the world so that wouldn't take too long. She held her hand out as if asking for something. "I didn't bring any coins with me."
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Everybody was given a budget of five gold coins. Gren sat at the cheapest table and placed five coppers on a round of blackjack. Estella decided to stay with him and play by his side. They looked out of place but Gren wanted to try to see if his system could help him cheat.
The numbers were easy to see when the system scanned the deck. Gren managed to win his first hand but quit playing. The dealer had a king hidden under his sleeve which helped to ruin his enthusiasm. After walking around, it seemed that most card dealers used this trick. The only clean tables were the ones that left everything to chance.
On Earth, roulette was able to be cheated by having clever contraptions in the wheel but there was nothing like that in this world. Cheating would be simple for Gren. {Make sure that the ball lands on my number.} Gren had decided to use the AI to store and deploy the marble fast enough to go unnoticed.
After winning twice with a single number, Gren decided to put all of his coins on the number 8. With five of his own children and three children that were either adopted by him or he planned on adopting, it seemed like a good number to finish with. The croupier tossed the marble in and, with the system's help, it landed on the number eight. They would need to pay him over one hundred gold coins.
The croupier quickly called for someone to explain what happened. Gren couldn't hear them whispering but quickly found out what they were talking about. "You dare to cheat in this establishment?" The guy spoke a bit loudly so that he could get the attention of the people around him.
"I didn't cheat." Gren lied. "You can't just make a claim like that just because you don't want to pay up."
"If you won twice in a row then I could accept it but three times in a row is impossible. How did you do it? Magic spell? Magic eyes?" What were magic eyes?
"Don't be silly. You can tell that his eyes aren't magic if you look at them and your place has someone that can see the activation of spells. They would have seen him using magic and doused him in water by now." Annie came to Gren's defense. "My friend here has always had ridiculously good luck."
"Who... Annie? If you say so then I'll believe you but having that much luck is the same as cheating." The guy recognized her but still didn't want to pay. "Out of respect for you, he can keep his money, but cheaters don't get paid."
"That's fine. We're here to talk to your boss anyways." Annie made the decision without talking to Gren first. "It's a bit crowded so we should discuss things elsewhere." Oh well, it's not like he needed the money anyways.
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The Golden Summer guild master was surprisingly young. The guild master was an elf so it was possible that they were actually much older than they looked. Elves got a much longer lifespan in exchange for their women only being able to get pregnant once every few years. Gren couldn't tell if they were male or female; pure elves were all beautiful in the eyes of a human.
"My men tell me that you're looking for Susan and that you're interested in doing a job with us." Even their voice was androgynous. "I've heard that you've been running around as a mercenary these days. Why would you be seeking him and why would you need to find a job in our guild?"
"I owe him a lot and the current mercenary guild I'm in is localized in Adierton. I'll never be able to get vengeance for my sister with them." Gren forgot about Annie's goal of getting revenge. He'd need to talk to her about that again once this was over. "His group might be gone but, with his strength and charisma, I believe that he will quickly gather a new army. Once this job is complete, I can ditch the guild."
"The old him would have been able to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time but he's a changed man." The guild master's words hinted at him actually having Susan but he stopped just short of an admission of guilt. "So, before we continue. Who are you two?" The guild master looked at Gren and Estella.
The two of them already had a fake ident.i.ty set up. "The name's Tommy. I went on a request with Annie a while back and heard that there was money to be made here. My wife and I want to retire with lots of riches." Gren pulled Estella closer to himself and gave her a side hug.
Estella wrapped her arms around Gren's waist and looked up at him from the side. "What my husband here forgot to mention is that he's a warrior while I'm an archer. He can be a bit scatterbrained when I'm not there to keep him in line. I'm Ella, by the way." Estella was going off script. "You know, my mother is an elf. This is my first time meeting one besides her."
"You have some odd friends, Annie." The guild master signalled for the others in the room to get up. "Come. He probably misses you and I'd like to discuss this job with the three of you."
The guild master led them through a secret entrance behind a fireplace in their office. "Ever since we've become a guild, our coffers have been slowly getting filled. People love to gamble but often lose so it's an easy way to make money. However, it's just not enough. The riches we have will never match what the Duke has in his vault and our blacksmiths will never be able to make weapons and armor as nice as what his soldiers have."
The guild master pushed open a door, revealing a dining room filled with people in it. Gren recognized the elephant beastman and Susan. "Of course, n.o.body is crazy enough to go after the Duke's riches. Even if you managed to get them, you'd become the most wanted person in the kingdom. We've got a better target in mind. Chauncey, do you want to explain the plan to our new friends?"
"Yes, sir." Oh, the elf is a male after all. The rat-like man brought out some drawings of a building. "An unknown group with lots of money have been investing in a guild here in Adierton. We believe that they might be related to the Church of Healing Light." Oh. That didn't sound good. "We've thought about hitting this target in the past but we've only recently been able to get ahold of information on the members and building's layout."
Gren didn't like where this was going. "A sales receipt from the Genrich Trading Company was found that overlapped with the guild's members. The fact that they had so many goblins allowed us to send in one of our own to sketch these floor plans." They were talking about the FMC... Gren was going to brand those d.a.m.n goblins when he got back. "Are you talking about the Flours Mercenary Company? If so, you've found the right woman." Annie took off her helmet. "I've been working with them for a while now. I can give you much more information about them."
Annie pointed to a blank area on their map. "Goblins aren't allowed in this area. Do you have a pen?" After dipping the quill in ink, Annie started to draw. "All of the good stuff is kept back here. This is where the weapons and armor are stored. The guild master's husband develops new weapons here but he's secretive so n.o.body knows what he's working on. The last thing he made was something he called a gun. It is like a smaller version of Susan's cannon but without the explosion at the end."
"That sounds useless. The cannon wasn't even that useful against an army." Susan spoke up after getting out of his chair. Gren didn't realize it earlier but Susan was much thinner than he used to be. "The only threat that is between us and those weapons is that minotaur. The rest will be easy to deal with."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Gren interrupted their conversation. "The minotaur might take a few minutes to kill all of you and some of you might be able to escape. You've just never seen what a gun can do. Allow me to give you a demonstration." Everybody in the room was guilty of conspiring against the FMC--a crime that came with a heavy penalty.
Gren pulled out his Model 3 and shot Susan in the head. The only other person near him was the guild master; he was trying to cast a spell so Gren shot him in the chest. Annie and Estella were unarmed so he had the system deploy two s.h.i.+elds for them to use.
There were a few people that tried to charge at Gren but he had the M14 in his pocket dimension ready for use already. Gren quickly unloaded its thirty round magazine into the group and released the magazine. Gren held his hand out and a new magazine appeared in his hand while the spent magazine disappeared. While Gren was reloading, Annie and Estella used their s.h.i.+elds to cover him.
There were still people that were standing so Gren carefully selected his shots and took down the biggest threats first. After going through the second magazine, everybody but the elephant beastman was down on the ground. He was injured but still able to move towards their group. He was a bigger guy with tough skin so Gren needed a bigger bullet. The M82 was modified into a.75 caliber rifle so, when the elephant beastman got hit in his chest by its round, there was no way that he would survive. The sound was much louder than the previous shots which caused Estella to grab her ears; Gren healed them just to be safe.
Gren made sure to walk around the room to finish off anybody that might have survived. These people were thinking about harming his family so they couldn't be allowed to live. After looting their bodies, Gren found a few keys on the late guild master's corpse. All of the spent cartridges and used bullets were absorbed by the system--minus the.75 round that went through the wall--to help leave as little evidence of his weapons as possible. At the end, Gren pulled out a sack and his axe in order to gain proof of Susan's death.
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The people in the casino were panicking because of the loud noises but Gren had already cleaned the blood off of himself so there was no proof of what he did. The vault was located behind the tellers so Gren couldn't get access to them. He'd have to remember to come back later to take everything that they've got as punishment for daring to conspire against his family.
Gren couldn't help but grin at the thought that he was able to defeat his first enemy so easily. Susan was a terrible person but he was useful at least once in his life. Without him, Gren might not have known that there was a plot against the FMC.