Disclaimer: English is not my first language. I'm using Grammarly to check the Grammar and using Word to write it.
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"Man, I really need to buy more food," I muttered, looking inside my mostly empty fridge.
Now that I think about it, when was the last time I went to the grocery store?
Wait, I remember now, it was like a week and a half ago.
...probably should have bought more than just instant noodles and drinks.
I closed the fridge with a sigh.
"You ready, Ben?" Mia enters the apartment.
"Yeah. So, which one-" I stopped talking when I looked at Mia. "When did you buy a wig?"
"I'm not wearing a wig," Mia places a small box on my table.
"Okay. Why did you dye your hair blonde?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Also, didn't do that. I used alchemy to change the color of my hair to blonde," Mia opens the box.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Makeup/disguise kit," Mia picks something and places it on her eyes. "How do I look?"
She's wearing jeans, sneakers, and a jacket. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a high ponytail, and her eyes have turned a striking shade of blue.
...blonde hair, and blue eyes.
Oh, don't tell me.
"Please tell me we aren't going to buy groceries in Empire territory?" I asked with a groan.
"I could say, but it would be a lie," Mia said. "You didn't answer my question."
"If you were going for the blend-into-the-crowd look, you nailed it," I said drily. "But why there?" I raised an eyebrow.
"To start gathering Intel on the Empire. This feels like a good opportunity," Mia said. "Now, come here. Let's get you ready."
After a few minutes, I was looking at my new look.
"How long does this last?" I asked, rubbing my blonde beard.
"This isn't time-based. It can last as long as you want. You don't look half bad as a blonde," Mia said with a teasing smile.
"Eh, I prefer my original hair color," I shrug. "So, how's this going to work?"
"We'll mix in with the locals and talk to a few people, gathering information without drawing attention. And don't expect this to go like when you tracked down Merchants' safehouses. You lucked out with that hobo," Mia said.
Tell me about it.
"Any advice on how not to draw attention?" I asked.
Mia thinks for a moment.
"Don't be the one to bring up the Empire; wait for someone else to mention it. If they do, let them talk, and add a comment here and there to prolong the conversation. If you need to ask a question, keep it broad; nothing specific. And if anyone asks who you are, just say that you're new to the neighborhood. If you would rather not talk with anyone, pay attention to the conversations around you. You'd be surprised by what you can pick up that way," Mia explained.
"Where did you learn all of this?" I blinked in surprise.
"A little bit from my family, but the majority of it came from firsthand experience. I took part in a few rogue magi hunts," Mia explained.
"Really?" I asked.
Mia shrugged, "The rewards were materials that I needed, and the money wasn't bad."
Huh.
"Okay, let's go," Mia said.
We left my apartment.
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"Hm, any preference?" Mia asked, comparing the prices of two cans of tuna.
"I prefer the one from SeaVista," I said.
Mia nods and places three cans in the shopping cart.
"You need to relax," Mia walked to another aisle.
"I'm not tense," I followed her.
"Say that to your shoulders," Mia said offhandedly.
I freeze for a moment before continuing to follow her.
"Is it noticeable?" I asked.
"Nah, I noticed that because I'm right next to you. And if anyone else did notice it, they don't have any reason to be alarmed," Mia stopped in front of the frozen food section.
I grunted in annoyance.
Keep it together, Ben.
We don't want any attention.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. This is your first time, you'll get the hang of it," Mia said as she placed a few packs of meat into the cart.
"Get better," I chuckled a little. "Never thought I would need to learn something like this."
"Life takes you to some strange places, doesn't it?" Mia places a few frozen pizzas in the shopping cart.
Says the woman from another world.
"Not many people around here," I noted.
"Did you notice that there's also this tension in the air? Like everyone else is waiting for something bad to happen?" Mia asked.
"Hard not to notice, but this kind of atmosphere is pretty common around the city. It might mean something, or it might mean nothing at all," I explained.
"I see," Mia hums.
She glances to her left.
"Oh, would you look at that," Mia said.
A group of women is chatting with each other.
"Let's see if the locals know anything," Mia hands me a list. "Here's the list of groceries," she said before walking off.
Let's see what's next on the list.
I wandered through the supermarket aisles, gathering groceries while keeping an ear out for anything worthwhile.
About fifty minutes later, and I still haven't come across anything.
I have a feeling that Mia will have better luck than I will. What are the chances that I actually overhear something important?
"-ling you, something is going down!" Someone said.
...never mind.
There are two men arguing at the end of the aisle.
"Keep your voice down!" The second man hissed.
He glanced nervously at me.
Opps, can't let him know that I heard him.
I walk to the other side of the aisle without giving either of them a single look.
I stopped, started to pretend to check the prices of cereal, and reinforced my ears to hear their conversation.
"The hell are you yelling for!?" The second man whispered angrily.
"Hey! Why do you get to yell!?" The first man whispered back.
"You started it!" The second man whispered back.
"I...I'm sorry," The first man apologized. "But trust me! This is important!"
"Alright, alright, just say what you want already," The second man whispered.
A warm sensation spreads throughout my body. 'Hoho' is a high-speed movement art and the third of the Shinigami's main fighting styles. They are primarily used as auxiliary techniques to enhance the combat capabilities of other moves.
Nice, just two more for-wait, not now!
I quickly return to eavesdropping on their conversation.
"There have been sightings of Oni Lee at the borders of Empire and ABB territory," The first man whispered.
"So? That happens every other week," The second man whispered boredly.
"It's different this time. Empire grunts are going all over the place. They are agitated as hell," The first man whispered.
"How do you know all of this?" The second man asked.
"I know a guy," The first man whispered proudly.
"You know a guy?" The second man whispered skeptically. "Who is it? Is it Mark?"
"That isn't important!" The first man whispered defensively.
"It's Mark," The second man whispered.
"Anyway! They are all over the place and gearing up for a fight. You know what that means," The first man whispered grimly.
"God, it's always something with this city," The second man sighs tiredly.
"Tell me about it. What are we going to do?" The first man asked.
"Well, I will have to leave the city because of work and won't be back for three weeks. So, this is really more of a your problem kinda of thing," The second man said casually.
"What!? You son of-"
Ok, I heard enough.
Time to find Mia.
It didn't take long to find her with We Need to Regroup.
"Hey," Mia said.
"Hey. How did it go?" I placed a few more groceries in the shopping cart.
"As well as you would expect from a group of housewives," Mia shrugs. "What about you?"
"Overheard two guys talking. Apparently, Oni Lee has been poking around the edges of the territory, and the Empire ain't happy about that," I said.
Mia nods, "I was told the same. Things are only going to escalate until the inevitable happens."
Another gang war on the horizon.
Goddamn it.
"Anything else?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. Do you want to go to a bar later?" Mia asked with a smirk.
"Is it an interesting place?" I asked.
"Some interesting people go there now and then," Mia said.
I hum, "Ok. We can check out the place later. Let's finish the groceries first, there's something I want to show you."
We grab the rest of the groceries and go home.
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"Well, that's new," Mia said with wide eyes.
We're inside my workshop and I'm showing my new perk...by walking on air.
"What am I looking at?" Mia asked.
"It's a high-speed movement art called 'Hoho', and another one of the shinigami fighting styles. I'm using reiryoku to solidify the air under my feet to create a temporary platform for me to stand on," I explained.
"What does it feel like?" Mia asked curiously.
"It doesn't feel any different from walking on the ground," I said, walking around the workshop. "There's also something else that I can do. Don't blink," I said before using shunpo to appear next to Mia.
She jumped a little at my sudden appearance next to her.
I smirked and used it a few more times to appear around the workshop.
"Well?" I appeared next to Mia.
"That's impressive, Ben. Is it tiring?"Mia asked.
"Not really, but it's supposed to be used with kido or any other fighting style I get in the future. So, you know," I shrug.
Mia hums, "We will have to work on your spatial awareness while in a fight later."
"Yeah. Hey, how long is this stakeout going to last? I got work tomorrow," I said.
My sleeping schedule has been all over the place the last two weeks. And it isn't getting any better.
"Do you still need your job?" Mia asked. "If we ever need money, there are still other Merchants' safehouses we can raid. And it would be good to focus more on your magecraft training," she explained.
Huh, I didn't think about that.
"Do you have any emotional attachment to this job?" Mia asked.
I shake my head, "Not really. It was the first job that hired me. Not many opportunities for a high school dropout."
"You drop out?" Mia asked.
"After mom got sick, I started to look for jobs to pay for the treatments. The Lord's Port was the only place that someone gave me a chance," I explained.
She's right.
Money isn't as big a concern as it was before.
We still have to get in contact with Number Man.
"Did Faultline answer your message yet?" I asked.
"She isn't going to answer back. The Empire got beef with us, and I doubt she wants to be anywhere near that," Mia said.
"Yeah, can't blame her for not wanting to be part of this mess," I said.
Mia nods in agreement.
"Okay, tomorrow I'm going to quit my job to focus more on magecraft. Now, grab the rest of the magical reagents and go to the mine. Time to make those costumes," I said.
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We researched what ores would be best to use, and the mine got some unbelievable ores besides mithril.
There's one that, according to the encyclopedia, is the crystallised blood of a god.
Mia was certainly surprised by that.
It took the rest of the day to choose which metals would be best to work with.
In the end, we chose to work with only Ebony.
The rest will come later.
When morning came, I hurried to the Lord's Port and resigned from my job.
Now all that was left was to finish the costumes.
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"So, what do you think?" I wiped sweat from my brow.
Lying on a table in front of Mia and me are both of our costumes.
My costume is a crimson-red ensemble: a trench coat layered over a hoodie, an armored mask with red lenses, chest plating, metal gauntlets, combat pants, and combat boots.
Mia is a copy of mine, but colored in deep blue.
Mia inspects the costumes and, after a moment, nods in approval.
"This is top-notch craftsmanship, Ben. Good work," Mia said, praising the armor.
"Thanks. This came out way better than I was expecting. What about the transmutation circles? Do you need me to adjust anything?" I look at the gauntlets of Mia's costume.
"No need. They are perfect," Mia shakes her head.
Good.
"Oh, there are also a few more surprises," I said.
I pull the gauntlet from my costume and slide it on. A quick flick of my wrist sends a hidden blade snapping forward.
"Both gauntlets?" Mia asked.
"Yep. You can pull out the blade if you want," I slide mine free to demonstrate.
Mia hums, "Anything else?"
"For now, this is it. I was going to add more, but then I had a better idea. Here, look at this," I give Mia a notebook filled with schematics.
Mia spends a few minutes reading the schematics.
"You want to make the armor modular. That isn't a bad idea," Mia flips through more pages.
"The idea is to swap out any damaged parts during combat and add weapons or gadgets that might help in the moment. These suits are the first iteration, and they'll evolve a lot once we have more magical reagents," I explained.
A warm sensation spreads throughout my body, and nothing happens.
Oh well.
"How would you carry these extra parts? You can't open your workshop mid-battle," Mia hands the notebook back to me.
"Take a look at this," I pick up a small pouch. "Your suitcase inspired me to make this. It's a bag og holding."
I handed it to Mia.
"I made it with the leftover magical reagents, so the quality isn't great," I said.
"How much can it hold?" Mia asked, inspecting the bag of holding.
"Eight kilos," I said.
"Yes, this will work. We can carry an armory like this. " Mia rubs her chin. "How about a trunk?"
"A trunk....yeah, that would be perfect. Besides carrying our gear, I can also add other weapons to it," I hum thoughtfully.
"You want to weaponize it?" Mia raised an eyebrow.
"I don't see any reason not to," I crossed my arms.
"...fair enough," Mia shrugs.
"I'm still going to go over these ideas later. So, maybe I won't use a trunk, and it will be a suitcase. Who knows. Feel free to give ideas if you want," I said.
Mia nods.
"Do we need anything else before we leave?" I asked.
"Put some food inside the bag of holding. Trust me, we will need it," Mia said.
"Sure. Oh! Let's not forget our burner phones this time," I said.
Honestly, of all the days to forget them, it had to be the day we met New Wave.
Well, it doesn't seem that we need anything else.
Let's suit up.
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I used Google Gemini to make the costumes.
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Please leave a review. It helps me to stay motivated.
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If you like my stories and wish to support me, you can find me over at pa-tre-on (slash) Regulareader.
Or at Ko-fi.com/regulareader
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Hoho (Vasto of White) 200:
Hoho refers to the high speed movement arts. This is the third of the Shinigami's main fighting styles. These are primarily used as auxiliary techniques to enhance the combat capabilities of other moves. The highest level of Hoho is the Shunpo technique otherwise known as the Flash Steps. Taking this power will grant you experience on par with Yoruichi Shihoin and Tenjiro Kirinji. Lastly there is a synergy bonus if you purchase all four of the Shinigami fighting styles. Your skills and power will instead be boosted to that of the members of Zero Division and Yamamoto.