Faced with Alaric's invitation, Medici's expression didn't change, but his eyes betrayed his excitement. Then, a shadow of disappointment flickered as he put on a bold front. "I'd love to singe that raven's feathers again, but I'm not even Sequence 2. Looks like you lot get to have all the fun!"
Alaric smiled, placing a box on the table and sliding it toward Medici, gesturing for him to take it.
Medici raised an eyebrow, opened the box, and, as expected, found the "Conqueror" characteristic Alaric held.
"Lending it to you for now. Return it when you're done." Alaric said with a smile. In anyone else's hands, the Conqueror characteristic might not shine, but with Medici, it was a different story.
"I thought you'd just hand it over as an advance." Medici said, his fingers brushing the characteristic, feeling its strange yet familiar aura. His emotions were hard to pin down in that moment.
"Even with friends, accounts need settling. Three years of work means three years." Alaric said, grinning, fully embodying the ruthless capitalist. Then, unhurriedly, he added, "But if you want to snatch another Conqueror characteristic from someone else, I'm all for it."
"Got any leads?" Alaric asked, propping his chin on one hand, smiling.
He didn't believe for a second that Medici, with his style and ambitions for Sequence 0, wouldn't have looked into the whereabouts of other Conqueror characteristics. Unlike the original story, where Medici fought alone and had to rally allies, he no longer worked for the True Creator but still maintained good ties, making it easy to borrow their resources.
"I've got some clues." Medici said, pausing before glancing at Alaric. "One of the two remaining Conqueror characteristics is likely with the Demoness Sect. The other… might be tied to that mirror world you mentioned."
Alaric blinked, unsurprised, and smiled. "See? This just proves we need to take on the Demoness Sect. The mirror world's got tight ties to the Primordial Demoness. Heck, if you take her down, you might even score a Red Priest Uniqueness as a bonus... assuming, of course, someone like Adam decides to invest in you."
"You knew." Medici said, shooting Alaric a look, though he wasn't shocked.
"I never said I didn't." Alaric replied, shrugging with a brazen grin. "Gotta give you some room to shine, right? Or do you want me holding your hand the whole way?"
"Tch!" Medici scoffed, pulling an apple from somewhere and taking a bite. "I'm curious... what don't you know?"
"Oh, plenty." Alaric said, pausing before grinning. "Like… has that raven ever been beaten to tears?"
…
Whether Amon had ever cried from a beating, Klein didn't know. Nor did he know that what started as Alaric's spur-of-the-moment plan had ballooned in participants.
All Klein knew was that his knack for attracting trouble had kicked into high gear, making the past few days wildly eventful. He'd explored a bizarre underground structure, accidentally glimpsed the true faces of deities like the Evernight Goddess, stumbled into a murder case, and witnessed an attack on Miss Sharon by a Marionettist, among other things. The chaos rivaled his time in Tingen.
By the time Klein snapped back to reality, it was Monday.
"Wait, you said yesterday you ran into a Marionettist attacking Sharon. What was their name?" Alaric, in his Jack persona, listening to Klein vent about his chaotic days, suddenly caught a detail and raised his hand.
"Based on the séance, their name was Rosago…" Klein's expression turned odd as he continued, "He was apparently working for Intis's ambassador. After losing his usual puppet in a prior operation, he targeted Miss Sharon, likely wanting a wraith as his new puppet."
"..."
Rosago! You died so tragically!
He hadn't escaped his fate after all. But then again, what widowed Marionettist wouldn't want a wraith puppet? Alaric silently mourned Rosago for three seconds with a mental chuckle before asking curiously, "So, how'd you take down Rosago?"
"Miss Sharon kept him occupied, and I used Creeping Hunger." Klein said succinctly. "Rosago was strong, but Creeping Hunger was stronger."
"Tch, poor Rosago!" Alaric shook his head, then looked at Klein with enthusiasm. "So, you grazed him?"
"Yeah. I divined that Rosago, as the Intis ambassador's lackey, had done plenty of dirty deeds over the years... truly deserving of punishment. So, I used him to replace the Faceless characteristic." Klein said, nodding without hiding anything. "After grazing him, I gained the Marionettist's Spirit Body Threads skill."
Klein stressed Rosago's crimes because of his principles... he'd sworn to only graze those who deserved it. Creeping Hunger's grazing granted one to three random skills from the target. Klein wasn't that lucky, getting just one, but it was the Marionettist's core skill, so he couldn't complain.
"Nice!" Alaric gave Klein a thumbs-up, then rubbed his chin, intrigued. "By the way, when Medici gave you that Marionettist characteristic, I meant to ask... you said you wanted to start an alt account, but relying on the gray fog felt too fake. Now that you've got the Marionettist characteristic, have you set up your alt?"
"I tested it, and using the Marionettist characteristic for an alt account works. I'm planning to use 'World' as the codename and join the Tarot Club with Miss Magician today." Klein said, nodding, then eyeing Alaric suspiciously. "Jack, why do I get the feeling you're really excited about my alt account?"
Alaric blinked, giving him a puzzled look before saying matter-of-factly, "Wouldn't you want to see a friend cosplaying a deity and playing both sides right in front of you?"
"..."
Alaric's brazen attitude left Klein speechless. Staring at Jack, whose face practically screamed "I'm here for the show." Klein's mouth twitched. He finally rubbed his forehead and said, "Jack, I'm starting to think I liked the old you better. Can you go back to that?"
Losing the naive, sweet Jack hit hard. Klein realized he preferred that version... at least that Jack wouldn't so openly admit to wanting to watch him make a fool of himself.
***
Every 100 Power Stones and 5 Reviews will earn you a Bonus Chapter.
And if you want to read up to 50 chapters ahead, don't hesitate to visit our patron: pat reon . com / XElenea (remove space)