#63 Oarburgh's hideout
Babara started explaining what she felt when she was under the curse.
"He said that his sword is named Murasame, maybe it will help you later once you will be looking for more information" Babara said with a serious expression.
"I see...The information you just provided to me is extremely valuable." I replied with a small confident smile.
"Anyway...how did you stop the curse? Do you already have some kind of strategy against that sword? Because even if you are extremely skilled, there is always a chance for you to get caught off guard and attain one but fatal nick on your skin." Babara asked with a curious expression while putting her hand at her stomach on the location where I penetrated my hand into her body.
"You already know about my ability to control fire...I just used the fire to purify it and burn the curse itself away." I explained with a small smile while looking at Taeko and Chelsea talking to each other some distance away from us.
"You...burned it away? But wouldn't that also burn my insides?" She asked with a curious expression.
"I don't have that good control over my flames but I was able to burn only the thing I wanted to burn, of course, it took a big toll on me since my control isn't the best yet." I explained with a smile and Babara was slightly surprised by my words.
"Anyway, what do you plan on doing, now that you have failed." I asked with a slightly curious expression.
"First of all, we must return to our base and report this to our leader. This time, we have got big targets." Babara immediately replied with a slightly disappointed expression.
"I see...your leader. Is she still the same after so many years?" I asked with a slightly curious expression since I still want to get my hands on the Danger Beasts control technique.
"Well...It's hard to say. Ever since she met you, she has been treating men with slightly more respect but her illness is still there. However, I must commend her that she at least tries to push her urges back when she is in a serious situation." Babara said with a tired expression.
"Well, I guess her sexually assaulting women is still better than whoring herself out on the streets...That would be a real disgrace for Oarburgh." I jokingly said with a small smile.
"...Please don't even joke about such things." Babara glanced at me and said with a serious expression.
"Alright, when do you plan to leave? Are you well enough to travel?" I asked.
"I want to return as fast as possible and my condition is already better so we will take our leave after lunch." She answered while glancing at both Taeko and Chelsea.
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"Well, I guess I no longer need to accompany you since you will be returning to your clan right now." I said with a small smile while standing and facing all 3 of them.
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'Are we going to part ways so soon? After I finally discovered something new and pleasant? What is this stinging pain?' Taeko thought with a confused expression while pressing her hand to her heart.
'Although we didn't spend long time with each other, it was fun and I kinda don't want to return now. All of this despite him being utterly irritating and annoying the entire time' Chelsea thought with a slightly sad smile.
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Babara and Chelsea said their goodbyes to me and turned around to leave however Taeko didn'T follow them and stood on her original position completely frozen. She was staring at me without blinking.
"Taeko...?" Babara turned her head back and called her out but she still didn't move a bit.
When it looked like Babara was about to come back to check on Taeko...
"Granny, how about we go ahead?! Taeko surely must have something to discuss with Akashi after all, they didn't have time to talk about that yesterday's fight at all." Chelsea was saying this while pushing Babara ahead with a forced smile.
"Hm? Fine...stop pushing me, you are annoying as ever." Babara replied and started walking without looking behind her.
Taeko finally responded and looked at Chelsea who only showed her thumb up with a wink before running after Babara.
When Chelsea and Babara disappeared from our sight...
"Taeko?" I called her out with a gentle smile and she looked down while gripping her sword tightly.
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'What should I say? I have no idea why I even stayed behind to begin with...Chelsea said to simply follow what my instincts and heart say without thinking too much about it.' Taeko thought with a difficult expression.
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"Um-! Akashi? Would you mind coming back with me?" She suddenly raised her head and called out my name aloud and then she blurted out this question.
...I see, well, I haven't said when I will return and I could also use this chance to interact with their leader in better circumstances than before. And I won't lie....I also want to spend more time with Taeko after the last night.
My expression remained calm without any changes while I gestured for her to come closer. She was confused by this and tilted her head to the side in confusion but she still came close enough to me.
I suddenly put my hand on her cheek and gave her a quick peck on her lips.
"Is that enough of an answer for you?" I asked with a gentle smile.
"Mm!" She immediately brightly smiled and nodded her head with a happy expression.
We caught up to Babara and Chelsea and both of them were immediately surprised to see me.
"What is going on?" Babara asked while looking at Taeko before she directed her gaze at Chelsea who had a teasing smile on her face while looking at Taeko.
"I am going with you, I will regularly check on your condition on your journey. I also want to talk with your leader under normal circumstances." I said with a small smile but Babara just glanced at me before looking back at Taeko who was brightly smiling.
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'What exactly happened when I fell unconscious? It looks like Chelsea is aware...maybe I will force her to talk, hehe' Babara was slightly confused from seeing her pupil act like...normal girl but she didn't exactly mind it as long as she will continue to grow stronger.
'I definitely didn't think that Taeko would dare to ask him to come with us. I highly doubt that what he said is his real reason why he is coming with us...Hehe, I can't wait to spy on them.' Chelsea thought with a naughty smile while enjoying her lollipop.
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"You don't mind me knowing the location of your hideout, right?" I asked with a small smile.
"...*sigh* This will be definitely troublesome" Babara released a tired sigh and muttered something while massaging the bridge of her nose.
"Hm?" I tilted my head to the side with a smile and closed eyes, acting as if I didn't hear her. I wonder if Mera will attack me on the first sight or if she will actually hold a normal conversation with me like a normal person.
Since we will travel for some time, I switched to my Yato special class once again and asked Chelsea to prolong my disguise so I could travel with them without worrying about having my identity discovered.
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Unknown mountains...
*BANG* The debris flew everywhere.
"Haha, this is already the fifth one!" I laughed when my ax kick made head one of the Danger Beasts that attacked us into a meat paste.
"You have to meet Gilberda, you two will definitely hit it off right away" Chelsea said with a forced smile while her right eye was twitching when she noticed the damage all around the mountains, crater after crater.
"Hm? Is she strong?" I turned at Chelsea and asked with a bright smile.
"Yes, she was born with superhuman strength and then she was trained by Oarburgh. So I would say that she is quite strong, even bullets can't penetrate her skin, even really sharp swords can only cause her scratches." Taeko jumped next to me and explained with a smile.
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Class: Blade Master (Lv. 3; +5 Str, +5 Agi, +2 Const) 23/40 XP
Special Class: Yato (Lv. 5, +16 Str, +16 Const, +16 Agi, +5 Int) 19/160 SXP
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"Oh? Sounds interesting, do you have any other "interesting" members?" I asked Taeko with a curious smile.
"You better be careful around Gilberda, she was greatly affected by our leader. She is almost the same as her with the expectation of not hating men. As for other members, there is also a girl named Cassandra, she was naturally born with four arms." Babara answered in Taeko's stead and if my eyes didn't fail me, I could swear to see Taeko pout a bit.
Another pervert who can't hold back her urges? To be honest, I am slightly afraid to take a step into their hideout...
And girl naturally born with 4 arms? Hmm...interesting, she must be quite strong since she was trained by them and with 4 arms she can do twice more things than a usual person in the fight.
Oarburgh is really interesting bunch except for a few people...But I wouldn't mind having them as my personal assassin unit.
"Granny, say, how much would it cost to hire Oarburgh for eternity?" I asked with an amused smile.
"?!" Both Taeko and Chelsea were surprised by my question.
"...That's something even I can't estimate. But you can be sure that it would be a hefty sum, not even the Empire would find that price acceptable, not to mention we have bad relationship with the entire Empire since we are assassins who have no qualms to assassinate emperors" Babara replied with a serious expression.
"Tch, I thought that you would feel at least a bit of shame due to this failure and would say the small sum of money" I muttered with a disappointed expression.
"Heh, you are really cruel, lad."Babara chuckled when she heard my words.
...
It took us more than 4 days to reach their hideout since I insisted on resting each night due to Babara's condition. Although she wanted to refuse, I insisted, mainly to make it look like I really am here to check on her health.
We traveled more than a day through the mountains before we found a small building with the stairs that led underground.
Immediately the moment we entered, I noticed numerous beautiful women dressed in a maid outfit.
What a harem underground...
"Who is he?"
"A man inside Oarburgh?! I thought that only Daniel is allowed here." The maids immediately started to gossip when they saw me walking alongside Babara and Taeko with carefree expression.
"You know, it is much grander than I thought it would be." I said with a playful smile and closed eyes while having my hands behind my head.
"How do you think we spend our money? We are also normal humans." Babara explained.
"I wouldn't say normal but humans you are~" I said with an amused smile while taking a peek at Babara's expression with my left eye.
We continued walking through enormous rooms underground filled with numerous maids that always started gossiping when they saw me.
When we finally arrived in front of big double doors, Babara opened them and when we came in, I was finally able to see Mera sitting on the leather couch while hugging 2 maids from each side but I remember one of them while the other one has 4 arms which must mean that they are Cassandra and Gilberda.
"Oh? Babara, you are back, how was the mis-?!" Mera stopped talking with a shocked expression when she noticed me, a man standing next to Babara.
Both her maids also noticed this and looked towards us just to be shocked to see me.
"Yo~! Long time no see Me-ra-sa-ma~" I said with an amused tone and closed eyes while raising my hand as a greeting.
"?....?! A-Akashi?!" At first, she looked a bit confused but after looking more closely and thinking about how many men she met who would dare to speak to her like that, she finally found the answer. She stopped hugging her maids and stood up with a shocked expression.
Her maids were now more shocked by Mera's behavior than by my presence, they also stood up and went to Mera's side.