12 Tattoo

Alec and Welf made their way upstairs together after a naked Alec put some clothes on. In the beginning, he was quite confused about why he didn't wear any, but then realization hit.

He was wearing only his underwear when he fought the infant dragons and the flame from the variant must have reduced it to ashes.

He didn't even realize that he fought them naked and that then he traversed two entire Floors without clothes. Now he could understand why the few adventurers he met, looked at him strangely.

Alec let Welf handle the monsters they met on their way up and only intervened to dwindle the numbers of monsters if they were too numerous for the blacksmith to handle alone.

They made some small talk along the way.

Alec found out that the teen was 17 years old, and that he come from outside of Orario, but he didn't specify where, but for Alec wasn't a problem. He already knew a lot about Welf's life, but he felt that he wanted the redhaired to open up to him and shared the information willingly.

He wanted to know him better, and not just what he read and watched when he was back on Earth.

With Kang was easier as he wasn't mentioned in the story, but he knew that he would be able to put aside his previous knowledge and know the person and not the character.

They took some time, but finally, they were out.

The sun was starting to set and the air was chillier than the day before.

During their trip, Alec grew restless and the unsettling feeling in his chest grew. The need to know more about the tattoo was nudging restless at his mind. He had a hunch that by playing his cards right he could gain something out of it, something good.

He must get answers.

"Well, I'll see you around," Alec told Welf and flashed him a smile.

Welf smiled back, but he seemed a bit hesitant and took a deep breath before replying.

"Let me buy you a drink to thank you for saving my life," Welf said with a tone that betray nervousness and a bit of shyness.

Alec was a bit surprised.

He didn't expect Welf to make the first move. He wasn't stupid and he both felt and noticed the want in the blacksmith's eyes. Even when he was about to die, Alec felt his gaze on his ass.

Normally, he would have already made a move, but his mind was occupied by the damn tattoo.

"I'd love to, but I must decline for now," Alec said regretfully and watched as the smile fell from Wel's face.

"Sure, no problem man," Welf laughed awkwardly but he wasn't able to hide his disappointment.

Alec closed the distance between them, close enough to be in each other personal space, but not enough to be touching.

"What do you say if I take a rain check on your offer?" Alec leaned down so he was face to face with Welf.

His purple eyes stared intensely into Welf's grey-blue ones.

"You don't have to," Welf stammered out.

"But I want to," Alec said with a faint smile.

"When?" Welf said while trying to calm his racing heart.

"In a couple of days. You said you're one of Hephaestus' kids, right?" Alec asked even if he already knew the answer.

Welf nodded.

"Then I'll find you at your workshop if that's okay with you?" Alec flashed a flirty smile.

"More than fine!" Welf said in a higher than normal tone.

Alec looked amusedly as Welf's cheeks colored a beautiful shade of red.

Alec leaned further until his mouth was near Welf's ear.

"Now, be a good boy and wait for me," Alec whispered huskily.

Welf's body reacted and a jolt of pleasure run down his spine.

Alec leaned back and smirked at the blacksmith.

"See you in a few days handsome," he said cheerfully.

He winked and turned around, leaving behind a stunned Welf.

He started to walk towards the guild.

"[Message]," Alec used the spell to contact his Goddess.

"Hestia, can you hear me?" he waited for an answer.

"Alec? Where are you? Why are you talking in my head?" Hestia's confused voice echoed in his head.

"It's one of my spells, don't worry about it. I just walked out of the Dungeon and I'm heading to the Guild. I need to handle some business, but then I'm free. Meet me at the Hostess of Fertility for dinner in about an hour?" Alec let her know about his plans.

"Uh, sure. I'll wait for you there," she said and Alec could hear the relief in her voice.

"Well then, I'll see you later," Alec said.

"See ya," Hestia said before Alec ended the spell.

Alec took a side alley and made a few turns, before teleporting to an alley near the Guild.

He didn't want to waste time.

He walked out of the alley and in just a few short minutes he was waiting in line to be served.

Once his turn arrived, Misha, the pink-haired human employee that served him the day before, led him to the same room where he waited for Kang.

Once again he had only to wait a few minutes before the beefy man made his appearance.

"Hey," Alec greeted a bit subdued.

"Hey, I didn't expect you for a few more hours. Everything all right?" Kang asked as he sat in front of Alec.

Alec took a moment to appreciate Kang's figure.

He was wearing a white shirt, that hugged his muscle in all the right places.

"Let's just take care of the exchange first and then I need your help with something. You can ask questions later, deal?" Alec asked hopefully.

Kang gave him a searching look, after which he sighed and nodded.

Alec lazily waved his hand, more for show than real necessity, and the table was brimming with magic stones and drop items.

Kang started to count them.

"You're one lucky boy, aren't you?" Kang asked him teasingly after he found the jake bird's golden egg.

"You could say that," Alec let out a chuckle.

Kang continued with his work, and when he reached the stones and drops from the infant dragon he merely widen his eyes, not saying a thing.

His expression morphed into one of confusion and then worry once he spot the scale of what he recognized as a variant infant dragon.

"Later," Alec said as soon as he noticed that Kang was about to question him.

His advisor nodded with a serious expression.

They stood there in silence, not talking, the only noise was Kang's moving his loot and the sound of a pen writing on paper.

It didn't take much before Kang started to put the stones in a bag and the drop items in another one.

He left the room without saying a word, and Alec knew that he was angry. At him or for him, he wasn't sure.

He waited ten minutes before Kang come back. He gave him a paper and then retook his seat.

The paper was a receipt of some sort. On there it was written how many stones and drop items he exchanged and for how much.

The jake bird's egg went for a million.

The magic stones and drop item from the four infant dragons went for 200.000 valis.

The variant level three and its black scales went for half a million.

Then there were the 1.000 monsters he killed and he gain an average of 5.500 Valis per stone and drop item.

The grand total was 7.200.000 Valis, of which 1.080.000 went to Hestia's account.

"Care to explain where these infant dragons' drops and stones come from?" Kang asked in a carefully controlled tone.

'It seemed that he learned something' Alec was surprised to see that the older man didn't start to demand things from him like the day before.

Alec believed that the man could use some more work on the way he asks questions, but as long as he didn't get aggressive it will do.

"I met them on the Twelfth Floor…" Alec told him about his day in the Dungeon until his defeat of the infant dragons and the variant.

Throughout the story, Kang showed various degrees of surprise and even shock when he told him that he was able to kill a level three monster.

"You can kill Level Three monsters?" Kang was impressed by his feat.

"Yes, it almost killed me, but my magic was stronger," Alec replied vaguely.

"Good job, but don't get too cocky," Kang complimented him with a complicated expression.

"Told you I was good," Alec winked.

"I'm sure you are," he said in a deep voice that awaken something in Alec's pants.

'Get a grip! Now is not the time' Alec had to remind himself while blaming his praising kink.

It seemed that every time he was in Kang's presence he couldn't help but want to be dicked against the nearest surface.

"I felt a divine presence in the Dungeon a few moments before the variant showed up," Alec said abruptly and the change was instant.

Kang's teasing expression was gone, replaced by a grave one.

"Are you sure?" he wanted to know more.

"Even if I've never seen a God while using their Arcanum, I know what I felt and it was without a doubt a God releasing part of their power or at least their Divine Aura," Alec explained not at all offended by Kang's doubts.

"Someone must have broken the rules," Kang said absentmindedly.

'No shit Sherlock' Alec had to resist the urge to say it out loud, he knew that the man in front of him was just thinking out loud.

"There' more. The power I felt was dark. Not in a sense of being bad or something, but more like darkness, as in a dark room," Alec explained further.

"Dark? That shouldn't be possible," Kang murmured.

"Why?" Alec questioned him.

Kang stood silent a simply shook his head.

"Why?" Alec asked again sharply when Kang didn't reply.

"Because he should be in Heaven right now, or at least that's what I was told," Kang was clenching his fists over the table and was looking down.

Alec was taken aback by such behavior, nonetheless, he took Kang's hands in his and started to draw circles on their backs.

Kang looked up and Alec could see an immense sorrow in his eyes, and his heart clenched at the sight.

"What's wrong?" Alec asked concerningly.

"Nothing's wrong," Kang's face suddenly turned all professional and abruptly took his hand back, startling Alec.

There was no trace of the sorrow nor the vulnerability that was there a second ago. It changed so fast that for a moment Alec thought that he imagined it, but he dismissed the idea immediately.

Alec awkwardly took his hands off the table and rested them on his lap.

Alec waited a few minutes to see if Kang would explain himself or say something, but nothing come out of the advisor's mouth.

Alex sighed loudly after looking at Kang's stoic face.

"I need some information on a tattoo," Alec decided to drop whatever was going on and change the subject to something he was more interested in.

"A tattoo?" Kang repeated.

"Yes, a tattoo. I saw it on someone's chest and it struck me as odd-" Alec was interrupted by Kang.

"Odd? Odd how?" Kang's voice sounded quite interested.

"Perhaps if you let me finish you would know," Alec snapped.

He felt irritated by Kang's changing moods, he had questions he need answer to, and the advisor wasn't helping.

He decided to ignore Kang's raised eyebrow and simply went on.

"As I was about to say," he sent a pointed look to the older man, "It's not only odd but strange in its nature. It was like the tattoo was alive, and it feeds from the mana and the lifeforce of the person it was etched onto. What is it?" Alec finished explaining.

Kang stood straighter in his seat.

"Can you tell me what the tattoo looked like?" Alec could hear the anger in Kang's voice.

"I can you do one better, I can draw it," Alec memorized the shape of the tattoo before leaving the Dungeon, he felt like it was something he had to do.

Kang passed him a sheet of paper and a pencil and Alec started to draw.

"As a magic user, I can feel that it was something dark and twisted. It felt repulsive to me," Alec told him as he passed over the paper.

Once it was in Kang's hands, he looked at it and his expression turned scary. His expression turned into one of pure hate and disgust and rage filled his eyes.

Alec was frankly scared.

He was feeling power like he never felt before, and he was sure that Kang would be able to kill him, so Alec readied himself to teleport out of there at a moment's notice.

"What's that?" Alec asked and it took all the courage in his being to just voice his question.

Kang raised his head and Alec was at the end of a fierce glare. He felt like an animal that was about to be slaughtered.

It took a lot out of him, but he managed not to flinch back, and instead, he met the glare with one of his own.

Alec wondered what Level Kang was, but he was sure that he was at least above Level Three as even if when he faced the variant infant dragon, he didn't feel such pressure.

They look at each other until Alec decided he had enough of it.

"Get a grip and explain what is it," Alec said in a no-nonsense tone.

Kang glared at him some more before closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. He continued to do so for a couple of minutes, after which he reopened them.

The change was immediate, the tension in the room that was created by Kang's power and rage was now gone.

It was like a switch was pulled and now Kang appeared more in control, but the tension in his shoulder and the tightness in his jaw told a different story, not to mention the slightly crazy glint in his eyes.

"The tattoo is not a tattoo but a slave crest. It's made by mixing the blood of a God with ink and then drawing a specific pattern in the victim's chest. It then constantly eats the life force and mana of the user, and the only counter is to consume a potion daily made with the same blood. The wouldn't stop the working of the crest, it only stops the crest from consuming all the mana and life force, avoiding the death of the slave. Disobey the masters' orders cause unbearable pain. What makes it worse is that the crest considers a master every member of the Familia of the God that the blood was used in the potion. Do you know who bore the crest?" Kang's explanation send shivers down Alec's spine and it wasn't from pleasure, but dread.

Alec was horrified to discover that something like that existed in this world, and it proved once more that it was much more than an imaginary world made of dreams and unicorn stickers.

"No, I didn't see them, I –" Alec was interrupted once again.

"What do you mean you didn't see them? You either did or you didn't, which one is it?" Kang said between gritted teeth.

Alec was immensely unimpressed.

"What I know is that they were female and from the kitsune race," Alec spat out.

"Is that all? No physical description?" Kang asked and Alec started to get pissed.

"No, she was on the 17th Floor, so I didn't see her" he kept his reply simple.

"On the 17th Floor!? How can you tell if you were never there?" Kang shouted.

Alec glared at him.

"ANSWER ME!" the older man demanded as he banged his fists on the table.

Alec detected some desperation in his voice, but he didn't care at the moment.

Alec took his sketch and his receipt, put them in his inventory, and stood up, wanting to leave the room.

He headed straight for the door when he felt someone grabbing his left wrist, hard.

He turned around and saw Kang looking at him strangely, the crazy glint in his eyes was more prominent than moments before.

"Let me go, you're hurting me," Alec tried to reason with him.

The grip lessen a bit, but he didn't let him go and it still hurt.

"Answer my questions and then you can leave," Kang's tone was demanding and it rubbed Alec's the wrong way.

Alec laughed in his face.

"If you care for your hand, you'll remove it immediately," Alec warned him coldly after his laughter died down.

Alec felt the grip tighten once more, and Kang was looking at him challengingly.

Alec moved his left hand and maneuvered it in a way that he was able to hold Kang's wrist. They were now holding each other, but Kang's seemed quite unimpressed.

Alec didn't waste time and from his left palm lighting was born and the room was filled with the noise of a thousand birds.

Kang was startled both by the noise and the pain he felt from the lightning hurting his wrist, so he instinctively let go of Alec, but the white-haired boy wasn't done.

As soon as his wrist was free he slammed his palm against the older man's strong chest, and cast a [Maximized Magic: Great Fireball], hitting him point black.

Alec watched as the magic hit, but was stunned to see that it only made Kang take three steps back.

Not willing to stay back and deal with a possible counterattack, he teleported out of there.

He found himself in a back alley near the Hostess of Fertility.

Alec took a moment to take a breath and calm his still racing heart.

He didn't know how or why things escalated so quickly, but he was sure that it wasn't the last of it. What was more surprising was Kang's strength. Not only did the older man tank a tier five spell, but the force he used to grab him was something else.

Alec looked down at his left wrist, and sure, he found black bruises already there. Thankfully his accelerated healing was already taking care of it.

'Why the hell did he react that way?' Alec wondered, and he knew that there was some real baggage behind it.

Alec made the short walk to the pub immersed in his thoughts and was startled when someone talked to him.

"Table for one?" a woman with brown hair and eyes asked him.

Alec blinked a few times and noticed that he was already inside the pub.

"No, thank you. My Goddess is already waiting for me," Alec told her once he found Hestia sitting near the counter.

"Then good evening sir," she smiled politely and went back to her job.

Alec made his way over and sat on Hestia's right.

"Alec, you're here!" she said cheerfully and Alec couldn't help but smile back.

"How are you, Hestia?" Alec noticed a little redness in her cheeks and he guessed that she must be a few glasses in already.

"Good, very good, I already order some food. How are you?" Hestia said in a sing-song tone.

"Not bad," Alec's smile was strained, but if Hestia noticed he didn't say a thing. Instead, she hugged Alec, who felt better after being enveloped in his Goddes' embrace.

"Yo kid, ye're good?" Mia appeared behind the counter with two plates filled with fried chicken.

"Hey Mia, everything's good," Alec smiled at her.

"Ya sure?" she gave him a pointed look in the direction of his left wrist.

"Yes, nothing that some good ale couldn't fix," Alec dismissed her worries.

Mia send him a searching look but didn't say anything more.

Hestia and Alec ate and drank, but despite Hestia's good humor being contagious, Alec was still a bit subdued.

He was still thinking about what happened at the Guild.

He wanted to know more.

"Hey Mia!" he called out to her.

It was still early in the evening and things got a bit slower, so she was kind of free at the moment.

"Kid, what do you need?" she stopped in front of him.

"I need to ask you a few questions," he said tentatively.

"uh?" she let out, before sighing, "shoot but be quick," she told him.

"What do you know about the slave crest?" he asked and passed over the sketch he made.

Her face darkened as she looked at the paper.

"Why do you ask?" her voice was hard as steel.

"I see someone in the Dungeon who had it. When I asked about it to my advisor he flipped, and he only explained what it is and nothing more before going full caveman on me," Alec explained and show her his left wrist.

Hestia was silently listening to the conversation.

"Who's your advisor?" she asked and Alec noticed that she had a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Jo Kang," Alec said slowly.

A look of understanding dawned on the Dwarfness' face.

"Then it's no wonder," she told him with certainty.

"What do you mean?" Alec started to feel frustrated by the situation.

"It's not my story to tell," she stated simply.

Alec's frustration grew and his left eye started to twitch, so he took a deep breath to calm down.

"The tattoo?" Alec pressed on.

Mia glared at him, but soon after she sighed.

"All I'm gonna say is that it was used by Evilus back in the days. Don't get involved, you're not strong enough. You did your duty and reported to the Guild, now let it go," she said with finality and Alec knew that Mia wasn't willing to say more than that.

"Evilus, they might be back," he pondered out loud.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Alec immediately noticed that something was wrong. He felt in serious danger.

He felt an overwhelming killing intent directed at him from his right. He slowly turned his head, and what he saw would haunt him in his dreams for years.

Ryuu was intently looking at him, her beautiful, elegant features were distorted into a mask of pure fury. Her clear blue eyes held so much hostility and urge to kill that Alec flinched back.

If looks could kill, he would already be six feet under

Alec instinctively took Hestia by her waist, and jump back, putting more distance between the Elf and them.

Hestia let out a high pitch shriek, but Alec ignored her.

His instinct was screaming at him to tread carefully on how he would handle the situation, or it would end badly for him.

Having Ryuu out for his blood wouldn't be fun, even if he was sure that in one vs. one fight he would be able to survive, and even kill her if pushed into a corner, he didn't want to, but now the situation was different. Hestia was there with him, and he had to ensure her safety.

He put her behind him, and now she was between him and the wall, safe from a sneak attack from behind.

The Corrosive Dagger materialized in his right hand, while he put his left hand forward, gathering mana and a spell at the tip of his tongue.

Ryuu was still looking at him, pure hatred oozing from every pore of her being, she took a step forward.

Alec readied himself for the confrontation.

She was about to take another step, when the loud sound of something breaking, made them look away from each other.

"Enough!" Mama Mia said with anger and a hint of danger in her voice. She used her fist and tremendous strength to break the counter.

Ryuu seemed to snap out from whatever trance she was in, but some hostility would be still visible in her eyes.

He refused to lower his guard, but he did put the dagger back in his inventory and lower his hand. He looked back at Hestia, and she was silent, with a pondering look on her face.

The other patrons were silent and looking at him with various degrees of pity and interest. The other waitresses, Chloe, Lunoire, and Anya, were casting their sharp gazes on him, ready to intervene if Alec were to make a wrong move. They were all Level Four and two of them were bounty hunters, and Alec didn't want to get on their bad side.

"Go out to sort this mess, I'll look after yer Goddess lad," Mama Mia practically commanded.

Alec looked at Hestia, and she nodded her approval.

"Be careful," she whispered, before seating back on the stool, near the part where the counter was destroyed.

Alec glanced at Ryu and made a gesture with his head, signaling for the Elf to go ahead. Alec wasn't willing to expose his back to her.

He followed her out of the pub.