17 Mission
"Hey, Gloomy!" Ink and Gil heard girls' voices behind them.
"Hm? So it is you two...Meela, Loris." Ink turned around and nodded his head as a greeting while they were approaching them while waving their hands.
Those girls were twin sisters with cyan hair tied in a ponytail and 2 pigtails respectively.
"What a boring reaction...You really deserve to be called Gloomy, hmph!" Loris said while pouting before throwing her head to the side with crossed arms in front of her.
"It doesn't matter to me how you call me, as long as you are comfortable I guess..." Ink shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent expression.
"D-Don't try to act as if you care about our comfort! Even if you are handsome, we won't be seduced!" Meela approached Ink and stood on her tiptoes, pointing her index finger at Ink's face with slightly red cheeks.
"Y-Yeah!" Loris quickly followed her sister's example.
"..." Ink watched them with a literal question mark above his head.
'They are weird as always...'
"Stop it, you two. Why did you approach us?" Gil sighed and separated twin sisters from Ink.
"Oh! Right! I almost forgot, Mera-sama wants to talk with mister Gloomy and we are to be present too, however, we got no instructions regarding Gil." Meela expression quickly changed when she realized their purpose.
"Mera-sama? Well, I guess we can talk later." Gil muttered with a surprised expression before telling her goodbye to Ink, leaving him alone with twin sisters.
"Let's go!" Meela said with a triumphant smile before taking the lead with a proud look on her face.
"Wait for me, sis!" Loris quickly followed after her sister before turning around to take a look at if Ink was following them, just to catch him looking down at them with a flabbergasted expression.
"Hey, you better not make Mera-sama wait, Gloomy!" Loris said with a cheery smile. Ink just released a low sigh before following after them.
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"Meela, Loris...and our young virgin-kun" Mera immediately called out their names when they walked in. She was sitting on the couch with stretched legs while seductively touching her lips with her index finger.
"*Waah, Mera-sama is so beautiful*" Loris muttered, trying to keep her voice down but it was obvious from how Mera's smile widened that she has heard everything.
Ink felt someone's elbow poking him so he looked to the side.
"Right?!" Loris asked while frowning down at him, demanding an answer from him.
"Sis-" "Pff" Meela wanted to stop her sister from interrupting Mera anymore but when she heard a light giggle from Mera and saw her expectant look, Meela realized that she wants to hear Ink's reply.
'...Wouldn't hurt to compliment her a bit since I want to request a new sword from her.' Ink thought and decided to finally reply when Loris poked him once more, urging him to answer.
"*Sure, a goddess among mortals, stealing hearts of both women and men. Just as breathtaking as stars and moonlight.*" Ink replied to Loris with a blank expression in low voice but loud enough for Mera to hear.
"Haha. I had no idea you are now aiming to be a poet. But seriously...tell me now what you need." Mera laughed aloud before asking him with a serious expression, immediately seeing through his act.
"New sword..." Ink replied and draw two-thirds of his sword from the sheath to show its status to Mera.
Mera has shown a strange reaction towards Ink's words, putting her hand in front of her mouth, muttering something.
"Let's discuss it later. I want you to go on the mission to the Taigen town located in the northern area of the Empire. I also want you to take Meela and Loris along with you. Your target is the local lord managing the city, someone got quite a grudge against him to pay for his death a real fortune." Mera said, dismissing Ink's request.
"Whaa-? Mera-sama, do we really have to go with Gloomy? Not to mention Gloomy as a team leader?" Loris asked in a spoiled manner, cutely pouting her lips.
"Loris, you don't need to act as if you hate little virgin in front of me. He is also cool-headed so he won't make any harsh decisions. This is my final decision, you can depart today or tomorrow early in the morning." Mera said with a gentle smile towards Loris. She saw through her act of trying to please her but Mera no longer had anything against Ink and treated him as a "family" member.
'Traveling together with Gloomy, huh? It's going to be our first time on the mission with him.' Meela thought while secretly peeking at Ink's face, however, when his eyes darted towards her direction, she quickly looked away, slightly blushing in embarrassment.
"Understood" Ink nodded and was about to leave the room but Mera stopped him.
"Little virgin...Complete your mission and there might be a small reward waiting for you here." Mera said, slightly surprising twin sisters but she quickly dismissed the trio after saying those words.
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The trio departed right after receiving the mission from Mera. Most of their journey was peaceful with twin sisters bothering Ink now and then with weird questions. However once they arrived at the northern area of the Empire, they were immediately ambushed by a group of more than 30 bandits.
"What do we have here? It's not safe for kids to be traveling alone, you know?" A robust man in front of the others shouted at Ink and twin sisters with a wide smile.
"..." Ink just stood there and stared at the man without any change in his expression but twin sisters had a different idea.
"Huh?! Who are kids in your eyes?! We are already full-fledged adults!" Meela and Loris shouted.
"...HAHAHAHA!" Hearing their words, the bandits took one more look over their entire bodies and started laughing aloud and even Ink gave them a pitying look.
"You-!" Meela started gritting her teeth in anger, giving an angry look to Ink, waiting for him to respond.
"They are not our targets but they stand in our way to complete the mission. Don't spare a single one after revealing your abilities." Ink said and put his hand near his waist just to remember that he left his old sword at the hideout since he wanted to appear as a genuine traveler who poses no threat.
"Just what I wanted to hear! Sis, let's hold a small competition!" Meela said and immediately rushed towards the robust man in front.
"Wha-?!" The robust man was horrified by Meela's speed and before he could put his weapon up to defend himself, several deep cuts appeared on his upper body.
"AAAGH!" The man started screaming in pain and other bandits could just look on with shocked expressions before they woke up and draw their weapons with angered expressions.
"That's not fair, sis! Why did you have to get a head-start!" Loris completely ignored the wailing of the man and shouted at her sister angrily.
"Kill these brats!" Bandits immediately started pouring down at them from all directions.
"I won't lose!" Loris said before rushing towards the group of bandits on the left while dual-wielding the knives.
And that's how the massacre began with Ink just standing still in the middle while a group from behind and from the right side rushed at him.
Someone slashed a large axe at Ink's head from above which he easily side-stepped and then kicked the attacker into his throat without even looking behind him. A guy in front of him immediately tried to split him in half at his waist with the sword but Ink precisely deflected the sword with the small metallic plate on his leather gloves before punching the guy once again into the throat, completely crushing it.
Several more bandits tried their luck but most of them were killed in one move and if two moved at the same time, they just ended up killing each other under Ink's precise movements.
"T-They are monsters, run away!" A few remaining bandits around Ink decided to ditch it and started running away.
"That won't do" Ink muttered as he watched their backs, still standing on the same spot.
"Agh!" Those running away got the backs of their heads pierced by small daggers or their dead comrade's weapons.
"Haha, done! 7...8...I got 9 of them!" Meela said with a smile and bloodied clothes.
"Grrrr, I got 8...It's not fair! You had a head-start!" Loris stomped the ground in frustration with puffed cheeks.
"It's still my win. How many did you get, Gloomy?" Meela replied with a triumphant smile and chin held high before asking Ink.
"15...which means that was all of them and no one escaped." Ink replied, he was counting his kills too but for a completely opposite reason than twin sisters.
"Ugh, got bested by Gloomy" Both Meela and Loris muttered with a disappointed expression.
"...How annoying. We have to clean our clothes and wash our bodies of the stench of blood before continuing on our way. There is a river if we will walk back for a few minutes" Ink muttered while looking down at his gray pants with an annoyed expression.
Hearing his words, twin sisters looked at each other before lightly blushing with widened eyes.
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They arrived at the clean and relatively deep river.
"D-Don't you dare to peek on us, do you understand?!" Meela turned at Ink and started pointing a finger at his face with an embarrassed expression.
"Y-Yeah, just because you have a handsome face doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want!" Loris said, stuttering a bit while blushing but she was still trying hard to look dead serious.
'What would I be even peeking on?' Ink thought while looking down at their petite bodies with a completely blank expression.
"Sure, I will stand guard for you, then we will switch once you are done."
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They quickly switched places and right now Ink was cleaning his clothes and body. His upper body was filled with several small and few bigger scars but most of them were almost invisible due to his technique when handling the wounds. This was all thanks to the knowledge from his dreams.
'...I feel like I am being watched...' Ink thought with a blank expression before he continued washing his long hair.
...Not far away in one of many bushes, twin sisters were kneeling down, peeking at Ink with their hands over their eyes, looking at him through the gaps between their fingers.
"*It's not as great as watching Mera-sama but it's still an interesting and pleasant experience." Loris whispered with a beet-red face.
"*Mm, mm. I totally agree sis but don't forget, we are only doing it for scientific reasons!*" Meela nodded her head several times and whispered back with a perverted smile and drool coming out of the corner of her mouth as if she even convinced herself with that sentence.
"*Y-Yeah, you are super smart, sis!*" Loris whispered and bumped fists with her sister while having similar smile on her face before both of them turned back towards the river.
"Huh?" Both of them released a surprised voice as they no longer could spot Ink, just to see a big shadow looming over them right from behind.
"What are you two doing?"
"Ah!" Both of them jumped in shock, turning around just to see Ink glaring down at them with crossed arms, wearing only his pants.
"Hehe~" Loris giggled with drool running down her chin, by her expression it was easy to assume that her mind wasn't "present".
"Sis!" Meela lightly punched her sister's shoulder to wake her up.
"W-What? G-Gloomy, what are you doing, flashing us like that, do you have no shame?!" Loris recovered and quickly said towards Ink.
*Bang* *Bang*
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"Ow ow ow...Why me too?" Meela asked while both sisters were holding the top of their heads with both hands.
"You were supposed to stand on guard, not to guard "ME". You are also the smarter one so you should have stopped your sister." Ink replied while walking towards the Taigen town.
"Grrr" Meela released an upset growl before looking at Loris just to see her smug look.
"Bleeeh, that's what those who don't play fair get!" Loris stuck her tongue out at her sister while pulling down her lower eyelid.
"Grrrrrrrr!" Meela started growling even angrier.
"Stop it, what are you, a dog?" Ink looked back at them and said before returning his sight in front of him.
