Punishments and Secret Plots

While Mistaken Fox was excited about his quest to the Demon Continent up north, another of Kirou's acquaintances in-game was getting excited over a different issue. In another part of SC Pier City, both Navi and Reya were currently holed up within a private room within the Alchemy Branch for the Sanming Sect.

While Reya was busy forging pills within the cauldron before her, Navi was sitting in a simple chair off to the side. While it looked like she was watching Reya at work, Navi was currently on an important telepathic call.

"That's right, boss. He said that tomorrow is out but he'll be able to help us out on Monday night. At the moment he is only waiting for a time from us." While Navi was speaking, her voice came across as both calm and professional. This prompted the busy Reya to spare a few glances in her direction every once in a while.

[Player Unknown: Very good. I'll deal with things on my end. For now, set up the meeting for 9 pm sharp at the gate of SC Pier City. We'll move together from there to the target area.] The voice coming from the other side came out in an unhurried and somewhat relaxed manner in Navi's ears.

Navi went silent for a moment as she thought of something before she started, "Sir, about the blueprint...." She was cut off before she could go any further.

[Player Unknown: Don't worry about it. Since Shen Jiang wanted to show off before me, I'll have him act until the end. Since he went as far as to rob you of that item in broad daylight, I'll make sure both he and his men put their all into completing the production of those items for the entire sect. As for the advanced variant in your possession, you are free to learn it yourself or have a blacksmith you trust learn it and create those kits for you and Reya. It no longer has anything to do with the Sanming Sect.]

Hearing those words caused Navi to release a sigh of relief. How would it be possible for her plan to escape the boss's eyes when he's known both Navi and Reya for so many years. In fact, Navi was sure that the boss expected this outcome when he initially gave her the task before the other branch leaders.

[Player Unknown: Is there anything else you'd like to report, Secretary Yin?]

"Nothing more, for now, Sir," Navi said this while releasing a helpless shrug. While she had something else that she wanted to say to the boss, Navi decided against it for the moment.

[Player Unknown: Very good. I'll see you in the office on Monday. If anything comes up, contact me immediately.] Following those words, the boss terminated the telepathic call, leaving Navi to release a sigh as she stared out into space.

Off to the side, Reya had just finished concocting a few pills and was putting them away when she noticed Navi's current expression. After she finished securing the pills in her inventory, Reya went over to Navi and spoke, "How did it go, Sister Navi?"

Navi's gaze remained unfocused for a few more seconds as she answered Reya absentmindedly, "The boss agreed to push it back to Monday night at 9. As for the matter with the plant harvesting kit blueprint, we don't have to worry about Shen Jiang or his cronies for the time being."

"Oh? Why is that, Sister Navi?" asked Reya while looking at Navi in a somewhat strange gaze. It looked like she had an idea in mind, a dastardly one at that, but she wanted to hear what Navi was going to say on the matter. Reya knew her brother well enough to know that Shen Jiang was going to pay for this little stunt.

"The boss wasn't pleased with the stunt that Shen Jiang pulled in front of our branch." When Navi said this, a sharp glint flashed within both hers and Reya's eyes seemingly at the same time but left just as quickly as it came, unknown to the other. "Because of this, the boss will task the creation and supply of the plant harvesting kits for the entire sect to the Assassin Branch. They'll have to take care of procuring the materials to make the kits as well as be responsible for all of its productions. And they won't be receiving any aid from any other branch, nor can they openly ask for any help either."

Reya nodded her head as she heard Navi's words. Knowing her brother, this was something he would do and this was considered a light punishment considering what Shen Jiang did. That was what she thought up until her mind focused on a specific word in Navi's speech, "Wait, openly?"

"You've got to remember, Sister Reya. The other branch heads all have eyes on our branch and its resources, pitiable as they are. While they are competing amongst themselves over who gets to control our branch, that doesn't stop them from making alliances amongst themselves. While they'll have to split the profits with each other, they'll be able to have a better chance of obtaining the prize at the end in a group as opposed to doing so alone."

Reya adopted a scowl on her face as she heard this, thinking that all the branch leaders were just being greedy and shameless, targetting a weak branch like theirs that barely has anything for itself. She wanted to find each and every one of those branch leaders and kick their asses.

The focus had long since returned to Navi's eyes as she continued, "If my guess isn't wrong, then their secret helper is most likely to be the Crafting Branch. Just like our Alchemy Branch, they are responsible for obtaining resources used for all forms of crafting. It was originally their job to obtain the plant harvesting kit blueprint but the job to secure and manufacture those kits was passed onto us, a small branch, by the boss. I wouldn't be surprised if the branch head thought of it as an affront to her and incited Shen Jiang to bother us as a response." As Navi finished saying this, she took out her tools and materials and started mixing a few potions.

Reya couldn't stop herself from releasing a deep breath at Navi's words. While she wanted to deny them, she knew that Navi wouldn't lie to her and she can see the things that Navi explained happening as she personally experienced it for herself. Feeling slightly dejected, Reya could only return to her cauldron and continue to refine pills using the materials she has.

The two continued like that for a few minutes before Reya spoke up, "Don't worry. If we're able to rope Mr. Wolf into joining us, I'm sure we'll be able to grow our small branch and make it into an impenetrable fortress from those greedy branch managers."

Navi's hands paused for a moment before she continued working and spoke up, "That's a big 'if', Sister Reya. If I'm reading him correctly, then he'll be a bigger challenge to deal with than all of those branch managers combined." Navi let out a chuckle as she finished her statement as if finding such a scenario funny.

Besides the cauldron, Reya heard her words and started to chuckle as well. This went on for a bit before she spoke up, "I believe that is what makes it so great, Sister Navi. Convincing him is already such a monumental task so if he agrees, he probably won't allow anyone who tries to undermine his work to get away with it. I don't know why but I feel that he is just that kind of guy."

"I believe so as well, Sister Reya. So we should do our best to tame this great beast so that he'll protect us from those vultures." As Navi finished, both women broke out in laughter, completely stopping their hands and failing their current attempt in their respective mixtures but they didn't care.

*******

Meanwhile, in the underground cavern now known as <Shadow Palace>, Kirou let out quite a loud sneeze. The four summoned beings all stopped what they were doing turned to face Kirou almost immediately. Kirou, for his part, was currently sitting before his anvil with the hammer lying on the floor while Kirou was busy using the hand that was holding the hammer to rub his nose.

After relieving his nose of all of its soreness, Kirou spoke under his breath, "Why does it feel like there someone plotting something behind my back? And it doesn't feel like it's just one person either. I better watch out in the future."

Having said this, Kirou picked up the fallen hammer and started hammering at the piece of metal before him. After hammering on the metal for a while, Kirou then dipped it into a bucket filled with water to allow the metal to cool. When the metal had finally cooled down enough, Kirou took a closer look at it before tossing it into a pile of such metal ingots beside the furnace and retrieved another piece hot from the forge. Upon taking out this piece, Kirou examined it for a few moments before he started hammering it into shape. When he was done hammering it, he placed the piece of metal back into the forge for a bit before removing it again and giving it another round of hammering until he was satisfied with it, then quenched it in the bucket of water once again.

Kirou repeated the process of hammering, heating, hammer, and quenching over and over again for the next few hours until he ran out of materials to hammer. Following this, Kirou put away the metals that were now treated as a stack item instead of individual items in his bag and took out another pile of scrap.... (cough cough) gear which he then dismantled into their basic components.

After Kirou was done dismantling the items, he split them into four different groups; metal, fur, leather, and wood. He tossed all the metal pieces into the forge to be melted down, after which he then transferred the liquid to a special container treated to hold the liquid metal in shape while it cools and makes it easy to remove.

For the pile of furs, Kirou personally checked to see whether they were up to his standards for use or not. If they were good, Kirou put them aside for later use. If they were bad, Kirou shaped them up and made brushes and other fur-based products that do not require quality fur on the spot and tossed them aside for later use.

The leather was treated similarly to the furs in that the good ones were stored away for future use while the bad ones were made into low-quality leather products. As for the wood, Kirou directly tossed those into the heart of the furnace, acting as a secondary source of fuel to burn. Kirou felt no loss in this as all of the wood was too low-quality for Kirou to even give a second glance.

As Kirou was ready to start dealing with another pile of ingredients, an alarm that he had set within the gaming headset went off. Hearing it, Kirou now realized that it was now five in the morning. He immediately packed away all the items that he could, noticing that his inventory was much emptier now than when he started working. Following this, Kirou then dispelled both clones, prompting his two pets to sulk for a bit before they too were sent to the pet storage area and turned back into a medallion.

After making sure he had all his materials and gear accounted for, Kirou then opened the system menu and selected the option to log off. A timer starting from ten appeared before his eyes and slowly counted down, by the end of which, Kirou's vision went dark, disconnecting for Immortal Era.