Franco and Swaine

While Mallory was admiring her own work, the main wall which was in between her and the rest of the group was beginning to show signs of fading with every attack they did.

"Hurry and help the boss!"

"Kill that kid!"

Bang!

The sounds of metal clashing against the magic barriers started to make others passing by notice something was wrong but few were willing to go investigate the dark alleyway.

Most would just inform the city guards about the disturbance so they could avoid being involved.

The barrier broke and magic scattered but the remaining walls were still blocking other escape routes.

All they could do was run forward towards Mallory but the moment they made it past, Mallory had already stepped forward with a talisman in her hand.

A pair of shades were covering her eyes as she spoke once again in her native language. "Flash!"

The moment that she finished speaking, the talisman broke apart and released the magic inside which formed into a bright flash of light.

The flash of light lit up the dark alleyway for a short second or two before dying down while the people who were leaving the barrier were blinded by the light. "Argh!"

"My eyes!"

In the short time which they had been blinded by the light, Mallory had already thrown out many kunai which landed on their legs and arms.

"Guh!"

"Aah!"

Mallory quickly got close to them to deal the knockout blow before admiring her own work. "The talismans do have excellent tactical uses but when up against stronger or smarter opponents, they can only be used so much before they become nothing more than a minor inconvenience."

She started to search through the belongings of those she defeated and found a bag of Valis, poisons, potions and other weapons or tools used by mercenaries or adventurers.

After defeating them she felt the same sensation as when she did when she had protected someone from harm with her talismans so she quickly checked their auras. "A deep and heavy aura which comes from their crimes committed and the harm they have done to others. They are dressed more like the average mercenaries so they must be the types which take on any type of jobs so long as it pays."

While mercenaries and adventures were often praised for the feats they achieved in places like Orario, there were always those in the same profession that chose to act for their own benefits or to satisfy their own twisted desires and beliefs.

Not everyone dreamed of being a hero, some became villains while others remained somewhere in the grey areas in between.

After finding something suitable within the bags of them, she started to tie them all up with it. "The main problem would come afterwards once it is found out who ordered this. When could I have been noticed and made an enemy of someone? Was it from the beginning when I entered the slums and sent those two to look into some things?"

Her eyes turned cold again. "They may be in danger but luckily I had prepared for this so they should survive."

A city guard arrived and took them away but informed her that the Seshat familia would hear about the results of their investigation.

Since the city was on high alert and investigating many cases, the Seshat was at the central position of most of the movements.

New policies were being added to different places and certain individuals which had been identified by Mallory were put under a closer watch but that was just the beginning as there were still many underlying issues within the city which had yet to be discovered.

Franco and Swain were carrying out their duties as ordered but they were unable to find anything that useful which would be of use to Mallory.

They were limited in how far they could go to investigate certain people unless they chose to infiltrate onto the property of someone they suspected but that would only put their lives in danger so Mallory had advised against it.

Franco had chosen to drag Swaine away so they could give up the task Mallory had given to them so that they could avoid being spotted in one place for a long period of time. "Lets go."

Just as they were getting a little closer to returning to meet up with Mallory, a metallic object reflected light off it as it headed towards Franco's throat after they both decided to take a detour.

A dagger was about to pierce his neck while another was aimed towards Swaine as they both had their guard down.

They did not possess the keen senses of Mallory so their ability to detect others was far less than her.

The people sent to kill them seemed to have more experience and were more used to killing others quickly and quietly so it could be understood that those which had hired them had mistaken Swaine and Franco as the major threat while Mallory was the lesser threat.

While Mallory had a mercenary group come to deal with her, assassins were hired for Swaine and Franco.

Both assassins were both thinking the same thing as the daggers were about to end the two lives. 'Such an easy task.'

Just as they were about to land a killing blow, a protective light surrounded the bodies of Swaine and Franco.

Swain couldn't help but pat his chest in fright. "So close!"

Franco rolled his eyes and started to run. "Idiot, move already!"

Swaine realised that the effects would only last so long so he followed behind as the assassins chased them down.

Swaine took out a talisman and threw it behind him as he followed the words given by Mallory in her own language. "Barrier!"

A magic wall appeared between him and the two assassins which allowed their targets to get away. "What the.."

"It seems that they were prepared for this. We should report back about this."

When the two loyal followers of Mallory met up with her, she nodded in approval because they were able to avoid another disaster. 'They are certainly a good source of Excelia since they get into so much trouble but I guess this time may be my fault. For them to survive.. they will need something more than experience, skill and hard work.'

Mallory crossed her arms and then spoke to them. "How about you two continue to work with me in the future? If you will do so then I will ask my goddess to let you receive a status."

Swaine was the quickest to answer as he knelt down and saluted. "I will gladly serve you. You have already saved us many times already."

Franco rolled his eyes and commented. "You suck up… sigh, I will join too since things could get more dangerous for us in the future."

They both had decent abilities to survive and were okay with a sword but they were most useful to her as scouts or supporters because their abilities were much lower.

Mallory nodded and went to ask her goddess if they could be accepted which quickly was accepted.

After they had joined the familia, she was very happy as she thought to herself. 'Now I have some useful cannon fodder!'

In a dungeon or outside of the city, it would be much too dangerous for Swaine and Franco to survive for that long without a larger group to assist them while their growth would likely be quite slow.

While cannon fodder may seem like a bad term used by someone in a dungeon because they could easily be discarded, to Mallory it was the opposite because they were useful as they were.

If they encountered dangers and were saved by her or her talismans then they would only help towards making her growth much faster.

Everything that Mallory had found out from the families involved with the curses was told to her goddess along with the details of the assassination attempts on her and her followers.

Seshat looked over a document and passed it over. "Do you remember your visit to the slums?"

Mallory nodded. "Un."

Seshat continued to explain. "It seems to have some connection to that I believe. That was the main time when you three had been reported to be together and could have been identified. It seems that there are those which dislike you poking into and interfering with their business. This document confirmed my suspicions… there is definitely something going on down there for them to order this assassination."

Mallory thought back to when she entered the slums then recalled the many eyes on her from the surrounding buildings and those in the streets which had run off to report to someone. "I believe that this is all connected too. From being spotted in the slums to being spotted again dragging a group there will cause many to wish to remove me. They would not like me doing the same to them since they have things to hide and since they targeted those two with more skilled assassins then I think they failed to identify me as the leader so their information collecting abilities may be limited or they do not have information on our familia…or me who is new to it."

Seshat patted Mallory's head. "You have already done enough already so you should go and rest."

Mallory resisted the urge to knock the hand away then stepped back so she could gain some distance, she then left the room. "I will do just that!"

As the Excelia was rushing into her body from all directions, her body was becoming more and more full but she was still quite far from reaching her bodies limits which could be contained.

While she was in her room, she took out the cursed items and started to study them carefully.

With her ability to detect the ominous energy, she could make out the traces of curse and look closer on how they were infused into the item.

By her side were some books on item creation which ranged from ordinary items to clothing and armours so she continued studying them and compared what she had seen. "So interesting."

When she was not looking at the cursed items, she was researching magic and making new batches of talismans but she would occasionally place some more magic stones or cheap monster drops which she had purchased within her purification circle.

She had heard a little about the stats of the two new followers of herself which had come from them training their bodies and going through many experiences but there was one thing which caught her eye in particular.

Although it was usually frowned upon to have the status leaked to others, Seshat had told Mallory because they had mainly joined to follow Mallory and the skills they possessed needed to be told to Mallory to make sure they were not hiding anything from her to stab her in the back in the future.

Swaine had far better stats than Franco overall but his biggest advantage was his strength and endurance while Franco had better dexterity and agility.

They had gotten to where they were through training and their own experiences but they were still considered as lower ranked mercenaries which had difficulty dealing with monsters without a proper team to assist them.

The main thing which Swaine had was a quite useful growth type skill which increased his own luck so it was a very rare skill but it did not provide the same advantages as Bell Cranel's growth skill.

In some cases, the skill would act as a way to provide him extra luck or chances to survive certain things so long as he kept trusting in those people but the moment that trust was lost, the effects would disappear so it would be useless if he was betrayed by those he trusted in.

To protect Swaine from getting too caught up with his skill and to only focus on his duties and loyalty towards Mallory, Seshat decided to only show him his stats and left out the skill.

———

Name: Mallory

Familia: Seshat

Level: 1

Strength: S (934)

Endurance: S (934)

Dexterity: SSS (1399)

Agility: SSS (1399)

Magic: SSS (1399)

—

Skill: [Apotropaic] [None] [None]

Magic: [None] [None] [None]

Curses: [None] [None] [None]

——

———

Name: Swaine

Familia: Seshat

Level: 1

Strength: I (61)

Endurance: I (46)

Dexterity: I (32)

Agility: I (33)

Magic: 0

—

Skill: [Foolishly Naive]

———

Name: Franco

Familia: Seshat

Level: 1

Strength: I (22)

Endurance: I (21)

Dexterity: I (47)

Agility: I (53)

Magic: 0

———

[απλοϊκός /Aploïkós (Naive) - The user is easy to fool and will trust others easily. The more that the user believes in and desires to support a person or organisation, the stronger the luck the user possesses.]