Roa The City of Criminals Part 01: The hero debut is Roa!!

Connor and Vanessa have reached the vicinity of Roa city.

As they got closer the caves opened up to an unbelievably large cavern, Connor looked at the ceiling and his jaw opened up.

"Is that the night sky? we are underground!!!" He couldn't believe the scenery in front of him.

With a laugh, Vanessa pats his back.

"Haha! Everybody says the same thing! I told you those are mushrooms used for lighting, the same ones we found on our way! Look in the middle of the cavern, that's Roa, the city with the worst reputation in the entire kingdom, The city of criminals!"

In the middle sat a city with a size comparable to Bluemill, if not a bit larger. It looked like an eerie glowing pile of gems.

"Wait, didn't you say that you use those mushrooms for lighting? how come the city glows stronger than the ceiling?"

Vanessa started explaining in greater detail to Connor.

The cavern is too large which makes it very expensive to light and since this is a city full of criminals, making them pay taxes is a bit of a hassle. After the continuous attacks from monsters, it was decided that lighting the place is a must, So the idea of using the mushrooms to provide dim light with basically no cost came to be. Even so with dim light only creatures with night vision could see. Since there are a lot of people who don't have that, they came up with another idea to light the city streets better.

"And that idea was?"

Vanessa said as if she was proud of something.

"A certain mage suggested that we capture Muphelien Jelly and use them as a light source! By keeping them in cages in the street and feeding them occasionally they can provide us with low-cost light!!"

I want to see that! I hope we get there quickly!!

"Let's hurry up, I want to see the city!"

Vanessa smiled as she replied to Connor.

"That's right. It's better if you see it yourself! Just keep your guard up, this is a lawless city after all!"

After a few minutes' walk, they reached the city entrance.

The faint smell of old wood washed over Connor, two small streams passing through the city's wooden walls.

Connor could hear an arguing incident, "No, that's money is ours!!"

"Ya goddamn thief! steal from people outside!"

"Look who's talking! A murderer, Fu*k off!" The sound of something getting smashed and a fight started.

Connor thought to himself. We haven't even entered the city and I can smell the problems! Ariel, can I ask you to keep the lookout?

{Notice: You don't even need to ask! I'm scanning a hundred meters in every direction!}

Thank you! I will keep [Earth Magic] and [Teleportation Magic] Active all the time so use them if you need! Also…

{Notice: Mark anyone who is a red challenge or higher, also all the people you interact with!}

As expected from Ariel, Always a step ahead!!

"What are you doing? hurry up!" Vanessa called Connor.

As they approached the gate, two guards cut their way.

"Lady Vanessa, haven't seen you in days, thought you finally kicked the bucket!"

"Yeah! and who is this with you? did snare a man! Hhhhh" The second guard started laughing!

"Mind your business, he is a work companion! A quite skilled one at that!"

"True, I should mind my business! The entrance fee please!" The guard extended his hand toward Vanessa.

Vanessa shoved the guard's hand away.

"The deal was giving you a discount in our establishments! This isn't the first time I entered in front of you!"

"Not you! him, the dark elf with you! Never seen him before in the city! A first-timer should always pay, that's in the deal!"

"Tch!" Vanessa turned toward Connor to see him approaching the guard.

Shit! he's going to kill him, we don't need problems here!

"Master, wait, don't kill him I can pay!" Vanessa instinctively called Connor Master, probably the Contract magic is affecting her.

"Master?!" The guard was Confused as he heard Vanessa call the dark elf her master.

Ariel, use [Shadow Magic] To give me a shadowy aura. [Light Magic] to make my eyes glow red.[Sound Magic] to add vibration to my sound. We're going for intimidation!

Connor stood right on the guard's face looking down on him.

Connor just realized how tall this elf was! He was about 6 feet 5 inches/ 1.92 meters. The muscles Connor had has carried over to this elf form, turning him into one hulk of a dark elf.

The guard wasn't short, neither was he weak! But in front of Connor, he looked like a skinny midget! Wait halfling should exist in this work if what Alice said is true so the guard looked like a halfling.

Both guards assumed one thing! Dark elves live long, this one looks extremely strong! He can use shadow magic on top of that, is he by any chance Vanessa's teacher? The one who taught her magic and fighting!

"You Need ME to pay you? To enter this filthy city?" Connor put his hand on the guard's shoulder, gripping it tightly.

"Sorry for the inconvenience but this is the rule, master!" The guard used up all his courage to speak to Connor.

Does he seem to not want to give up? Do I need to scare him more?

{Notice: No need, ask him how much he wants.}

"Shorty, how much is the entrance fee? speak or I will turn into past tense!" Connor growled at the guard.

"Two gold coins, You don't have to pay it all now!" The guard spoke while sweating.

{Notice: He is lying!}

Connor caught the guard from his neck and lifted him up.

"I asked you how much the entrance fee is, not to try and scam me! Should I bath your friend in your blood?"

The guard struggled to free himself but to no avail.

"Stop it, please! The fee is just one gold coin!" The other guard interfered trying to save his friend.

{Notice: He also is lying!}

What? They never learn.

"You have no shame do you?" Connor looks pissed.

"Vanessa, how much is the entrance fee?" Connor asked.

"50 Silver Coins!"

Connor looked at the two guards, what should I do with them?

{Notice: We can do this…}

After a moment of thinking, Connor put his hand in his pocket and took two gold coins, and threw them at the guards.

"It's just two gold coins, I'm not losing anything! Next time you try to scam me I will have you pay with your souls!"

Connor then dropped the guard down and entered through the gate.

"Let's go!" Connor called Vanessa.

After they entered the city Vanessa talked to Connor about what happened.

"Why did you give them 2 gold coins? I could have paid 50 silver!"

Connor laughed.

"I told them that I didn't lose money! So I didn't lose any money, I won't lie that much!"

Vanessa knew something was off.

"What did you do?"

Smiling, Connor answered her question.

"I stole those two gold coins from the guard using [Shadow Magic] and gave them back to him as a payment!"

Vanessa was dumbfounded.

"Hold up! you can use shadow magic like that?" She can't believe it.

Connor explained how he did it.

It was mostly Ariel's idea.

Since we were close our shadows overlapped, so with the help of Ariel I used [Shadow Magic] to extend my shadow control to the shadow inside the guard's pocket. So with this, I was able to teleport his money into my shadow pocket dimension and them to my inventory!

"Please don't use it for pickpockets, you're unfair with those skills!"

"You sure? I don't think this skill is that useful for me since I will not be using it for that!" Connor replied.

"That was a di*k move, I'm sure they were happy they gained an extra gold coin and a half just to find they got bamboozled!"

"They got what they deserve!"

Vanessa looked at Connor with disbelief, is this really a hero?

Connor was following Vanessa as they walked the city streets, the buildings were ruined but they looked sturdy enough to live in. It looked as if they were in the slums.

Some places were nice, but mostly it looked like no one was attending to the city.

As they walked Connor noticed what looked like a birdcage on top of a pole. Is that a street light? Are those the things Vanessa talked about?

{Notice: She called them Muphelien Jelly and yes, there is one at the top!}

"Hey. Hey Vanessa, let's see this Jelly at the top!" Said Connor with an excited face as he pointed at the street light.

"Don't act like a kid! wait, I will find the ladder they use to feed it!"

Connor caught Vanessa from her hand.

"No need for that, just come closer to me" Connor dragged and hugged Vanessa with his left arm.

"What are you doing in public? let me go!"

[Earth Magic: Earth Pillar] A platform raised from the ground lifting them both to the cage.

The moment Connor used his magic all the eyes in the city turned toward him.

Who is that? Never seen him before but he looks familiar.

He looks strong, is he a veteran?

Isn't that Vanessa from The Shadow hand?

Isn't she usually cold-blooded? Why is she acting like this with him?

Is he a promising new recruit?

Did he just use magic without chanting? Did he waste an item just to get to see the cage?

No, we didn't feel any mana fluctuation as he used magic, was he really using magic?

When we looked at him we felt as if something was watching us! it's creepy.

He might be dangerous let investigate him more!

This is what the people started thinking.

"Listen, the way you use magic is extremely abnormal so don't use it in the city if you can! Are you even listening?"

Connor was focused on the small animal in front of him, it's literally a jellyfish that glows blue in the dark!.

"I really look like a jellyfish! How can it float in the air? How is this thing even breathing?"Connor asked Vanessa.

"Ha… you aren't even listening to me? doesn't matter, I don't know how they breathe or float. I'm not an expert! All I know is they eat glowing mushrooms and give off light."

Vanessa handed Connor a small sack that was beside the cage, inside of it glowing mushrooms.

"You try feeding it!"

Connor was extremely happy as he started feeding the jelly.

"Can we take it home?" he asked.

"Of course not! it's used for lighting, if you want one we need to catch it in the caves!"

After Connor finished feeding he lowered the pillar so they could keep moving.

A minute of walking passed and Connor started noticing some weird shops around.

"Are we on the right track? I see a lot of 'Interesting' places around here!" Connor asked as he looked around him.

"Of course! This is the red light district, Of course, it's filled with brothels and bars! I own a brothel series here!" Vanessa answered.

"Nani!?" Connor was surprised.

"Ara? didn't tell you about it? It's easy to kill people when they are doing their 'business' It is also a good source of income!"

"Ha! I don't know what to think anymore!" Connor had enough.

"Hmm? don't worry, I never worked there! It's for members who can't take on dangerous jobs or just like that type of work! So I Am Still FRESH!"

Connor looked At Vanessa.

"Alice might kill you if she heard that!"

"Hehe! I haven't met her yet so I don't know!" Vanessa replied.

They reached the brothel.

The building looks nice from the outside, Constructed from stone with wooden doors and windows. Red and Yellow Curtains decorate the walls, the smell of herbs fills the air giving a sense of relaxation.

Due to Connor's strong sense of hearing from the [Draconic Senses], he could hear something from the inside that he didn't want to hear… Ah~Ah!~

Vanessa opened the door and called out loud.

"Alema! I'm back!!"

With Connor's habits he stopped at the door to take off his shoes, since they were steel boots they could damage the floor and are quite dirty.

The reception room was big but not too much, the floor is made from wood but to Connor it seemed a bit different from the wood he knew. On the opposite side of the room, there is a wooden counter with an open door behind it. The door was closed with a green curtain so Connor couldn't see what was in the room behind.

"Vane-san, you're back! we missed you!" From behind the curtain, a woman who looked in her early twenties emerged floating.

Slender build with a small chest, pointy ears, and long pink hair. Two thing horns adorn her head, she has two bat-like wings and a long and thin black leathery tail that ends in a heart-shaped pointy end.

She is only wearing a skimpy bikini with a weird black marking on her belly that looks as if it was a tattoo, her nails are black and pointy as if they were made to scratch things.

The moment she saw Connor her brown eyes turned pink and she floated directly at him.

"Excuse me for a moment Vane-san, there is a fine customer here!"

"Wait he isn't…" Vanessa tried to call her but she was ignored.

{Notice:

Name; Alema Loring. Level: 14

Age: 123 Race: Succubus.

Social stats: Owner of The demon flower brothel.

Class: Charmer.

Titles: Honey bee, Devil kiss.

Health: 42/42.

Mana: 240/240.

Stamina: 31/31.

Strength: 8 , Dexterity: 16 , Speed: 14 , Magic: 20 , Luck: 18

Constitution: 7 , Wisdom: 15 , intelligence: 16 , charisma: 30 , Will: 18

Skills:

Succubus innate skills:

[Life Drain: Level 30], [Succubus Charm Eye: Level 20], [Succubus Guise: Level 21]

Learned skills:

[Illusion Magic: Level 24], [Float: Level 20], [Water Magic: Level 18]

Weakness:

Physical attack, Pain, Magic jamming.

Resistance.

Mental Resistance.

Conditions.

In Heat!}

Those stats are…

"Say… Would you like to play with me a little!" She started clinging to Connor.

"Alema! Stop!" Vanessa yelled at her.

"Don't cling to me like that! It's already hot and humid here!" Connor tried to push her away.

"Hmm~ Don't be like that!" She hugged Connor tightly, their faces closed up so much that their noses could touch.

"Let me see what you can do…" Alema's already pink eyes flashed as she looked straight at his eyes.

Connor stopped moving for a second.

For Alema, the entire Room was sucked into pure darkness in a flash.

"Huh?"

Alema found herself standing in a pure black room unable to either move or breathe, she couldn't even make a sound.

Right in front of her face a bloodied fetus that has a golden halo is looking her straight in the eyes.

{Notice:} Tentacles sprouted from the fetus's body and started licking Alema's entire body drenching her in blood.

Alema's expression turned pale as fear started taking over her.

{Notice:} With extreme force the tentacles strangled Alema and twisted her limbs. Without a moment's rest, the fetus started slamming Alema left and right on the ground and walls as if wanting to break every bone in her body.

Alema was in great pain but she couldn't resist.

{Notice:} the scenery changed and Alma found herself in a barren wasteland, the fetus was nowhere to be seen.

Alema remembered this scene.

"She is there!!!"

"The cursed demon! kill her!!!"

Behind her was a mob of people holding scythes, sickles, and pitchforks, some torches.

Alema started running, she knew this scene, it was for a few decades ago when she was chased from a city by its people. A memory she has long forgotten from how much she feared it.

She started running for her life. Just as she thought she was getting away a stone hit her in the head and she fell to the ground.

As steel pierced her body and fire burnt her skin, she screamed in fear and pain, but she still had hope. Using her last remaining strength she pushed the people away and floated toward a nearby well, blood dripping from her messed body.

Slowly opening the heavy lid she thought, If I just hear they won't be able to follow me, I can just wait for Vane-san to save me!

She opened the well's lid… the fetus was looking her in the eyes from the inside. All hope has been erased from her.

"Plea.."

{Notice:} The fetus used its tentacles to violently drag her into the well.

…

…

"PLEASE STOP! NOOOOOOOOOO… I BEG YOU!!!" Alema who was just clinging to Connor fell to the ground terrified, with a pale face and trembling limbs.

Sweating heavily and crying uncontrollably, she has already pissed herself.

Connor's eyes are glowing blue, she has no idea what happened.

"Alema are you alright! calm down, I'm here!"

A bunch of people rushed from inside the building and surrounded Connor with weapons in hand.

"Put your weapons down unless you want everyone to die!!" Vanessa yelled at them.

"But Boss, what did he do to Alema? should we let him go!" one of them said.

"I tried to warn Alema but she didn't listen, he has an anti-charm innate ability. Alema received backlash when she tried charming him!" Vanessa yelled at them as she was tending to Alema.

"But Boss…"

"Everyone return to your duty!" As they heard Vanessa they left and returned to their work.

Ariel, what did you do to her?

{Notice: As Vanessa said she tried to charm you by digging into your mind and finding the thing you love most and showing it to you if she did that she could control your decision-making mind and turn into a submissive slave! That was her plan if I wasn't there inside you.

The moment she set foot inside I beat her mind senseless and then invaded her brain through the route she opened, and I showed her the most traumatic moment in her life! Lastly, I dragged her back to reality before she could receive any permanent mental damage.}

But look at her, did you have to go that far?

{Notice: Please! I could have turned her into a vegetable or gave her permanent PTSD, even deleting her memories was possible, she's the one who opened the link between your and her brain and gave me full access after all! This was like a slap on the wrist.}

"Can you help me carry her to the room?" Vanessa asked Connor.

Connor rushed and carried Alema to the next room where they let her lay for a moment on the couch.

After a few minutes Alema finally calmed down, she excused herself to the shower to wash up. Vanessa called two people to take the couch Alema was laying on outside and wash it.

When everything was settled down, Vanessa, Alema, and Connor sat to disguise what happened before.

[Sound Magic: Sound Proof Room], [Dark Magic: Dark shell]

With this nobody will be able to neither see nor hear anything from this room.

{Notice: Connor let me out!}

Ok! [Light Magic], [Sound Magic]. Ariel just registered them as new combined magic.

{Notice: Finished [Combined Magic: Ariel Guise]}

[Combined Magic: Ariel Guise].

As a small ball of shining light appeared a voice spoke.

"{Notice: Next time you tried to charm or mind control him I will make sure you never wake again!}" Alema shuddered as she heard the voice.

"I apologize deeply… It will never happen again!"

Alema realized something. Whenever they talked with someone Vanessa would always sit on her chair, the leader chair, now she is standing beside Connor who is sitting on the leader chair. Alema herself was sitting on the ground.

"What happened?" Alema mustered her courage to ask.

"The hero hunt mission was a failure! The entire squad was Massacred and I'm the only survivor!" As Vanessa said those words, Alema's expression turned pale.

As she turned toward him, she was unconsciously backing off slowly.

Connor canceled his shapeshift turning it into his true form, Mei jumped out of Vanessa's bag into his lap.

"He is the hero we failed to kill!" Vanessa said.

"Don't worry! I'm not a bad hero!" Connor said in a monotone voice.

"Don't worry Alema, we have struck peace he won't be killing anyone here! The best proof is you're still alive even after trying to charm him!!!!"

After thinking for a moment, Alema asked.

"What will happen from now on?"

"Firstly both of you need to sit and let us talk!" Connor told both of them to sit and pointed to the seats in front of him.

Vanessa was the first one to speak, retelling what happened. From the start to the point where Connor is Vanessa's master and the new leader of The Shadow Hand and that he will be supporting the guild in exchange for their service.

"So he is the leader now, but can you win against Xaviin? He is extremely strong!" Alema asked.

"He won't be able to stop the hero, It's fate!" Vanessa replied.

Connor cracked his neck and looked toward Alema.

"We will stay here for an hour before heading to Xaviin castle, so is there anything we can help you within the meantime.

Alema thought for a moment before answering.

"We don't need anything, the only problem we had recently was a shortage in contraception which slowed our work down."

"Can't you just use Detoxification Magic? Or you don't have one?"

They both looked at Connor dumbfounded as if said something abnormal.

"Of course we can't! Be it assassins or thieves, even bandits or small criminals, Restoration magic is a holy type of magic that isn't granted to those people!" Vanessa said.

"Gods won't help criminals!" Alema adds up.

Huh? Wait they can't?! Ariel, can't we work around this?

{Notice: As per Alice's memories gods can bend their rules if the hero will!!}

"Vanessa, do you know how to cast restoration magic?" Connor asked.

"I didn't bother to learn it since I won't be able to use it anyway!"

"What about you Alema?"

"I know how to cast the weakest healing magic, but I never succeeded in using it!"

"{Notice: just try it again under my instruction}"

"Okay…" Alema brought a big parchment and started drawing on it, neither Connor nor Vanessa could understand what she was doing but for some reason, Ariel was giving her instructions like, erase this… move this… write this instead and show the symbols to Alema using [Light Magic] That Connor allowed her to use.

Just a few minutes and they have finished.

"{Notice: Now lastly the chant. If you worship or live in the domain of Avander It usually is 'By the name of The god of renewal and rebirth, Avander, I ask thee to heal they wound' change it into 'By the name of The Hero, Connor, I ask thee to heal they wound'}"

Alema was quite shocked, calling for the hero instead of a god seemed unreasonable but she tried it anyway.

Connor cut his finger for Alema to try healing it.

"By the name of The Hero, Connor, I ask thee to heal the wound"...

Nothing happened and the magic failed.

"See! we can't use it!" Vanessa said.

"{Notice: This isn't the end, Alema add this symbol into the magic circle and use this chant now 'By the name of The Hero of destruction, Connor, I ask thee to heal they wound' this should work"

hold up Ariel, from when I'm a hero of destruction?

{Notice: from the moment you got the Portfolio of Destruction.}

Oh! I forgot about that!

Alema prepared to try again.

"By the name of The Hero of destruction, Connor, I ask thee to heal their wound" The spell activated and Connor's wound got healed.

Alema was staring at her hand dumbfounded while Vanessa's jaw dropped.

"Wait, why did it work?!" Vanessa yelled.

"{Notice: It seems that Connor's soul has a special property of being able to convert mana into both holy and cursed mana, right now Alema used Connor's soul as an intermediate instead of a god!!}"

"Is that even possible?" Alema said in disbelief.