Chapter 13 - Findings and Priorities

It didn’t take a long time for May to realize Mirn wouldn’t find any kind of clawed gauntlet here on the first floor. The wares on display showed multiple armaments, but none that fit her description.

Even when Mirn started browsing through the armor section, hoping the gauntlet had been placed there by mistake, nothing was found.

The Sulphrite looked embarrassed at May, biting her lips as she kept on checking and rechecking different shelves and stands. It was with a sigh that the woman gave up for now, eyes down as she finished putting some weapons back in their places.

“So sorry for the delay, but it seems I don’t have any of the claws for display as of now…” Mirn said to May, who gave a nod of understanding. Maybe they could search for something else? Or somewhere else?

“Although… Maybe we’ll find something on storage?” Mirn bit her lips, thinking back at what the Emporium had within its walls. As one of the few employees under Mister Dragonfang’s direct command, she had studied the paperwork detailing what passed through the shop since its opening. “If I’m not mistaken 一 there is a crate with some old Beastkin-made weaponry… It should suit your needs, May.”

“Sounds fine to me, I guess.” The young girl shrugged, putting the word Beastkin in that part of her mind she was reserving for learning what new races were under Hector’s domain.

“You didn’t sell it?” Bel-Alis asked, putting a glistening vial filled with a bright pink liquid back in its place.

Mirn 一 pointed, thin tail swinging languidly through an almost imperceptible hole in the lower back of her dress 一 didn’t turn back to answer her friend.

“Hells, no. Can you imagine the hassle and the paperwork to do it? I don’t even know how the boss got it in the first place, but it should be from before Queen Cecilia. Also, you know how Asdenians react to Beastkin items. No one would take it even if I put it out for free.”

“Is it all right for us to buy it then?” May questioned, curious of why people wouldn’t take the items. It seemed silly to not buy something useful due to a preconception of their maker 一 which seemed to be what was happening here.

Mirn stopped, holding part of the wooden counter up for them to pass towards the back. She looked at May with those amber-colored eyes and winked. “As long as you don’t tell anyone.”

The doll in human flesh gave her most scheming grin in response, signaling with a nod that she understood the need for discretion.

“Will it be fine to leave the store alone?” Kreacher’s hissing voice asked, causing both doll and Priestess to turn sharply at their words, staring. “What? We have questions as well.” They grumbled.

“Your… lizard talks.” Mirn said to Alis, her eyebrows rising in surprise.

“We belong to no one!” The lizard in question said, white tongue flicking at the end of their statement.

“…of course, silly me.” The Sulphrite forced a smile and nodded. The way she looked at Bel-Alis demanded answers.

“Kreacher is a… rare specimen. They are not mine, we are more like 一 roommates.” The Priestess gulped when facing the stern, surprisingly non-impressed stare Mirn gave her. The way the woman had crossed her arms and was drumming her black, long nails along her forearm made Alis shiver. “Just like May here. They are both special in their own ways.”

Mirn narrowed her eyes, but sighed at the end. “I’d say I’m surprised, but honestly… I’ve seen weirder things. Although none from you, my dearest friend.” She gave a pointed stare at Bel-Alis, but her smile returned soon after.

“And to answer your question, my lizardy client 一 a little display of The Translucent Emporium's capabilities!” The Sulphrite softly clapped her hands twice, making the ring in one of her fingers shine a bright yellow. From the ground, light bent and twisted as it rose, coalescing in focal points that stood together to shape lines and forms. Fast at work, the mana May could feel surrounding the phenomenon soon was enough to turn light into two vague shapes; growing more defined by the second.

One of them was a siren, their fin-like ears and their skirt 一 which May considered their most discerning quality 一 growing more and more vivid; until a perfectly sculptured man was standing in front of them. He had a slight golden glow to his dark skin, but beyond that, the model of the siren race remained silent and still and with way too little clothing.

The other one 一 May noticed their finished shaping after forcing her eyes away from the wide shoulders of the siren 一 was a slimmer figure. May thought they were human at first, androgynous in appearance, but the sharp intake of breath Alis took after seeing the figure made the doll check again.

Under the platinum hair and pale skin were long ears, shaped like a knife in a way that was similar to Alis’s own. However, while the drow's were pointed back, this figure’s own kept pointing slightly upwards.

Not only that, but when they opened their eyes, May could swear there was something… different.

The projection 一 as that is how May was calling these people simulacra created by Mirn’s magic 一 had no mana in its eyes; and yet, they were full of an ideal that felt displaced when put in contrast with the jovial face. They had age in them, so much of it that they felt eternal, unbound from the natural decay of things and existing in an odd place outside of time.

Immortal. That was the word.

“If the elves find out there will be trouble, Mirn!” Bel-Alis reproached in a whispered hiss.

“Oh, C’mon, Alis. Relax! When was the last time elves were here in Asden? Before the Grip? It’s fine!” Mirn defused the argument with a wave of her hand.

May, in the meantime, tilted her head at the sudden conflict. “What’s the problem with the elves?”

“It’s… It’s not a problem, per se. Well 一 it’s one, but not in an obvious, harmful way.” Bel-Alis tried to explain to her, but putting into words the complicated culture of the most mercantile-headed race she knew of, was an ordeal even to her knowledgeable mind. So the Priestess cleared her throat and tried her best at explaining. “Elves forbid any visual representation of their faces and looks. Masks, drawings, paintings 一 and spells, of course 一 are completely prohibited. To the point that they even pay to take the works down… or their authors, of course.”

“It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds, May.” Mirn said, leaning on the counter, hands holding her chin. The woman looked so relaxed even after Bel-Alis’s explanation that May couldn’t help but think the Priestess was exaggerating. “The elves haven’t put a bounty on anyone in, like, decades. It’s not unusual for us to even receive a few bold offers regarding artwork depicting them.”

“I hope you haven’t taken those offers, Mirn. It could get… bad.” Alis tried to be diplomatic, but the Sulphrite narrowed her eyes at her, scanning her form from head to toe with that amber glint that someone could drown in.

“I 一 appreciate the concern, but I’ve been doing this for years, Alis.” The woman was serious in her approach, an unknown tension spreading through her countenance. “I’m very aware of what can and can’t be done in my line of work.”

“Oh… of course.” The Priestess couldn’t help but sheepishly nod under the pressure, biting her lips in embarrassment. It wouldn’t be the first time her too concerned stance left Mirn feeling patronized.

The Sulphrite’s eyes slowly unfocused from her friend, returning to the other two unusual customers. May and Kreacher had ignored the altercation to their best efforts 一 choosing to inspect the constructs in front of them 一 a process that consisted of the doll poking their skin and finding it as soft as expected, while the lizard tried to climb their bodies.

Kreacher didn’t find any success before going through the simulacrum as is air and falling to the floor.

“Let’s go upstairs, shall we?” Mirn invited them to go around the counter, which the trio did with a snap. “You two… take care of the store, all right?” She ordered the elf and siren almost as a second thought.

May saw both the entities move 一 a serene, salesmen smile glued onto their faces 一 as the siren began to roam the alleys while searching for clients, and the elf positioned themselves in the same space as Mirn previously occupied behind the counter.

Leaving them behind, the doll focused on the stairs partially hidden in the back wall of the Emporium. Made of wood, the steps lightly creaked under the Sulphrite’s heels, the trio following behind her as glass windows illuminated the passage upwards. Bel-Alis’s cane hit the boards in that odd tempo of her limping gait from the back.

“Will they keep up to your work?” Kreacher asked from their place around May’s shoulders as she hugged the doll close to the chest.

“They are fairly capable. The boss bought the ring from one of the illusionists from the Islands. Expensive, but worth it when you don’t need to pay more salaries than necessary.” Mirn shrugged.

“Sounds like a cheapskate.” Kreacher said, before managing to give a clearly unapologetic shrug of their shoulders after May pinched their scales at the criticism. “Ow. Sorry.”

“Where’s your etiquette now?” May whispered the question to the lizard’s ear holes, who gave her a glare that made her grin all too sweetly.

“A cheapskate? Ha. That’s one way to call him.” Mirn gave an amused humph, already reaching the locked door to the second floor. The keys she carried around her neck jingled as the Sulphrite picked the correct one. “He has so much money and still insists on keeping very tight personnel. Hells, he doesn’t even have a secretary! Cursed man makes me work to the bone sometimes.”

“And you still do it.” Alis tried to joke, and the Sulphrite smiled at it.

“Of course I do! Who else would give me such liberty to work however I want without complaining? Plus... working with him has other advantages.”

Mirn finished as she pushed the door open, revealing the mostly open ground that was the second floor.

May was the first to notice that, if the first floor was organized to allow browsing from both customers and workers, this one had none of that consideration. It wasn’t only the locked door and small plaque hanging from it saying “Employees Only”, but the organized chaos only someone who knew the wares would be able to go through that alerted her. Crates and boxes and stacks were displayed, loosely divided into areas of an undefined size that grew and shrunk according to how much of each product there was available.

Some of the objects made her take a double look, prompting an almost unconscious step forward through the door frame in excited curiosity. There was weaponry and armor, of course 一 some sparking or gleaming or mumbling almost inaudibly 一 but what got May’s attention were the things she hadn’t expected to find here.

An everburning dress, sewn with embers and flames as the making cloth, constantly spewing smoke that smelt of incense and forced it to be close to a window. A constantly twitching rug, tied by a cord that hummed with mana as a lullaby. An empty nest, made with twigs and looking fairly mundane until you noticed the tiny runes etched into every bramble, stick and leaf, prompting flower-like eggs to grow and decay in miniature cycles of life.

They were… entrancing to her. Something about how they stuck out like a sore thumb when compared to the more common wares made them exotic in that way only the unique could be. Like her. Like Kreacher.

“…eacher, May! Come over here! We found it.” Bel-Alis called the staring duo from their sudden, shared session of appreciation. Both snapped out of their focus with a shake of their heads, turning their backs from the more unusual objects to see Mirn using a metal hook to open one of the boxes.

The look May and Kreacher shared for a split second as they walked was enough to confirm both felt the… attraction.

“Let’s see, let’s see…” Mirn looked inside the box, pushing some of the objects and taking them off, searching for something that might fit May’s wish.

The trio stared patiently, May noticing that unlike the more detailed labels some of the boxes had, this one had only a quickly painted word on it.

Beastkin.

“Aha! Found it!” Mirn exclaimed with a large, satisfied smile, presenting the weapon for May to see with both hands.

They came in a pair. And unlike what the doll had been expecting 一 a gauntlet covering her entire hand with some blades at the tip of the fingers 一 these were all daggers tied with some kind of greenish leather strips. The blades were segmented and lightly curved inwards at the top as they jutted from the multiple rings designed for her to put her fingers into 一 the gray, ashen color of their making slightly darker at the edges.

When May tried to put them on, the leather strips used to tie the claws to her hand had to be wrapped around multiple times. Her skinny, childish arms ended up too thin when compared to the adult ones the piece was designed for. Even the rings she put her fingers into were loose, making May lack the necessary grip on the weapon to properly move the blades.

“It’s… incredible,” May said, biting her bottom lip in an unconscious reflection of her growing arsenal of observed expressions, half excited and half sad she wouldn’t be able to properly use it. “But 一 they don’t fit properly.”

“Oh, that’s fine. Bel-Alis can resize them, right?” Mirn commented, receiving a nod from both Priestess and watchful lizard.

“That’s right. Don’t worry about it, May. It might take some hours, but it’s not that difficult, especially considering they aren’t enchanted.” The Priestess leaned on her cane, analyzing the claws with the empty shadow that was her sight. “Maybe I can even put something else in it. Basic, of course, but it should improve it a little bit at least. Hmm, do you know what it’s made of, Mirn?”

The eyes of the Sulphrite closed for a second after meticulously looking at the claws. “The leather is definitely from a hydra’s. An infant one, if my eyes aren’t deceiving me. And the metal is… some kind of steel.”

“I will use the leather as the base then.” Bel-Alis nodded at the information, choosing the best place to carve the runes into. Monster’s remnants were better to enchant than plain metal.

Unless they were specially forged or naturally magical, of course.

“Thank you then,” May said at the Priestess, who nodded in return.

“What else do you need guys? Some armor? Battle vials?” Mirn asked with a smile.

“Do you have animals?” Kreacher said from his place on May’s shoulders. “We want a bird, please.”

“I… don’t work with living beings most of the time, but 一 I could recommend another store here in the Strip? There are some people that work with it that I’m sure can give you what you want, dear customer.”

“Tsk. All our desires, our paw.” They mumbled to May’s ear, making her giggle inward and the voices in her head outright laugh. Her small smile was the only sign she was willing to give though.

“We will look into it later, all right Kreacher?” Bel-Alis tried, succeeding in her attempt to postpone the lizard’s wish. There would be time for them to get new bodies later on. “Still, we could use some simple protection for May. Oh, and a Shard of Reality of course! Gods, I was almost forgetting about it.”

Mirn’s flickering expression at the request made May focus back on the conversation, stopping her attempts to flex the segmented blades.

“I could get some simple protection, a plate for her vitals would be easy enough.” Mirn pointed at May, struggling to keep her smile up, but the twitching of her lips and the way Alis looked at her made the Sulphrite give up with little resistance. “Damn it. The Shard is gonna be a little complicated, though…”

“Really? How come?” Alis asked, not understanding where this was coming from. She knew Shards were somewhat uncommon, because of how they were produced, but it was a consistent market monopolized by the Adventurer’s Guild. They were always selling it to merchants or affiliated Gifted wanting to avoid the hassle of making one themselves.

“The Guild has… stopped selling them.” Mirn admitted with a sigh.

“Wait, what? They can do that?”

“I 一 don’t think it was their decision, Alis. We knew there've been some issues with the dungeon for a little while now 一 sudden sinkholes and whatnot. I believe they stopped sending the low-ranked down there to make the Shards. It... became too dangerous.”

“And we are going there?” May interjected, interested in better understanding the procedures of her growth into Wood-Rank. The larger amount of danger was never a concern.

“We have to. We need both the Altar and the Shard for your Shaping, and the only place that has both of those is there. Well, unless we go east…” The Priestess shook her head at the thought. “No 一 it would take too long. How dangerous is it, exactly?”

“For you, Alis? Maybe not that much, especially considering your Abilities since the dungeon is underground. It’s just… you guys are gonna have to work it out all by yourselves.”

“Can’t we hire some adventurers like last time, Alis? They were pretty helpful.” Kreacher proposed, but Mirn shook her head in denial.

“It wouldn’t work. They are only allowing their more… experienced adventurers to go down there for now. And 一 pardon my honesty, Alis 一 I don’t think you guys can afford to hire them.”

Bel-Alis looked down to the floor, but confirmed through the slightly burning of her cheeks. “She’s right, Kreacher. Even if we don’t buy the things we need, I doubt we could post the quest for assistance at the Guild.”

“So we will do it ourselves then?”

The Priestess’s resigned sigh conveyed the answer. “Yes. Mirn, please prepare our items. And add a map to the first floors as well. If we’re doing this then we will prepare accordingly.”

***

“Any other advice for us?” May saw Bel-Alis adjust the cloth bag holding their items. The Priestess had denied help when she offered, and even now the doll could see she was dangerously leaning to the side like an unbalanced column.

Mirn shook her head at the question, a sigh on her dark-painted lips. “None, sorry 一 just be careful, please. All three of you.”

“It’ll be fine! Alis will take care of the planning.” Kreacher announced with no doubt, but Bel-Alis’s response was more restrained.

“We will try our best, Mirn. Thank you for helping us out.”

“Hey, I’m sorry I couldn’t do more. Still, good luck all right? I hope to see you guys right after to hear about what happened.”

May was the one to interject, hugging her doll body closer and giving a genuine smile to the Sulphrite. “Of course, Miss Mirn. It was a pleasure to meet you.”

“It was nice meeting you as well, May. I’m sure you’ll be able to help them a lot. Gods know Alis could use the interaction.” She gave a small jab at the end, to which the Priestess scoffed on her way out. A teasing smile on her own lips, May nodded at Mirn, silently assuring the Sulphrite.

She turned around to leave the store, Bel-Alis and Kreacher already a few meters in front of her, when May heard the sound of Mirn’s heels quickly impacting the floor.

“Oh, May, one last thing!” The merchant called out, making the girl turn to see Mirn approaching her. “May I?”

The woman pointed at her wrists, to which May tilted her head before extending her right arm forward. Mirn took it with care, putting one of her nails on May’s open, lower palm.

“Just 一 a small blessing for the young.” She half-explained, her amber eyes shining like precious stones. Mirn gathered a tiny bit of mana on her nail and slid it down May’s right forearm until it reached the middle. She sealed a quick kiss in the middle of the drawn line and repeated the process on the other arm after asking again.

Mirn took a step closer, holding May’s head between her hands. The doll looked up for a second, but the Sulphrite was focused even as she got uncomfortably close to May.

The older woman’s lips shone with little mana, intent unknown, but May couldn’t even ask more before she felt Mirn kiss the top of her head, mumbling the same sentence thrice after, in a low tone that felt uncharacteristic.

“Bring Hell to thy enemies.”

Standing as still as possible, May waited for whatever Mirn was doing to end, as the whispers remained silent. Their usual chit-chat was absent as if they were focused on whatever the Sulphrite was casting, prowling like a beast in the back of her mind. Their lack of reaction assured May more than the short connection she had with the merchant.

Satisfied, Mirn took a step back, patting May’s shoulders with a kind expression. “Take care of yourself, all right?”

“Oh, hum, sure.” The tender touch left her feeling weird all over. “Thank you for… this.”

The Sulphrite’s smile grew in fondness. “It’s no problem. Younglings should be protected.”

And wasn’t that an idea that resonated with May’s core?

“Of course.” She readily agreed, but the lingering silence after made the situation uncomfortable. “Hm, bye then.”

“Bye, May! Hope to see you later!”

Quickly retreating from the interaction, the girl didn’t look back as her feet scampered away from the Sulphrite. She didn’t even look at the siren simulacrum walking the Emporium.

Shy. Timid. Nervous. The whispers began, teasing and remarking with the same words.

“Just not used to it, all right? It’s weird to be taken for a kid.” May revealed in thought, trying to put into words why both the final interaction with Mirn and Madam Leticia had made her feel... awkward.

You. Child. Young. Soul. Young. Body. Protector. And. Participant. They tried to explain 一 and May could understand where they were coming from 一 but she didn’t feel like a child. She could better put her place in that limbo between an adult and an infant, all the while lacking the knowledge to be part of either demographic.

May diverted their attention for now. She'd dwell on the question of her mental age when she didn’t have other things to worry about. “Do you know what was it that Mirn did?”

The whispers talked among themselves, throwing possible ideas around while May tried to think of one of her own, but the cacophony made it hard to even focus on her steps.

No. Magic. Unknown. Beneficial. Simple. Protection… A few of the whispers protested against the last word, reigniting the discussion for a second before they settled again. Maybe.

“So it isn’t bad then?”

Unlikely. Folk. Emotional. Spell. Good. Kind. Unexpected.

May nodded in understanding. It felt nice to know Mirn had given her free assistance, especially considering it was unprompted. “Can you tell me what it does?”

The voices searched for a description among themselves, that alien sound of their whispers coming in multiple languages that were still understandable to May. After a moment, though, they managed to find a proper description, with some shouting it out while others barely said the word.

“Retribution.” And nothing more.

Going through the open glass doors, May found Bel-Alis and Kreacher waiting for her outside, the afternoon sun falling upon the streets of Crystalia with that unpleasant warmth even under her light clothing. It was a mystery to her how Alis managed to stand around with those darker robes of hers.

“What took you so long, youngster?” Kreacher asked, constantly flicking their white tongue.

“Mirn just… wanted to say goodbye,” May said, not explaining the small blessing the Sulphrite had given her. It was her spell now, anyway 一 no need to divulge it more than necessary.

“I’m happy she took a liking to you, May.” Bel-Alis commented, a soft smile on her face. The girl only nodded in response, before asking a question of her own.

“Where are we going now? Back to the sewers?” May questioned, nose scrunching at the memory of the smell down there. She would have to propose a better way of dealing with the refuse when she returned to Hector.

Wait… couldn’t she stop her body from smelling it? Like she did with the sweat? May would have to try later, but there was a real chance she would be able to do it.

“I guess so,” Alis answered, adjusting the bag holding their purchases. “We should reconvene and plan for the dungeon delving. Plus, I need to check on some of the things we learned at The Brimming Plaza. Honestly, I don’t think we’re going to manage to go anywhere else today.”

“We should buy dinner then. We're still hungry.” Kreacher said, lizard eyes glowing yellow at the thought of food.

“We’ll try to get something for later. But you, Kreacher, are going to find some new bodies for now. It’s too risky for you to have only this iguana one.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We will look for…” They thought back on the diet this new body had imposed on them. “Something carnivorous. Eating only plants is a terrible blasphemy.”

May scoffed at the comment but didn’t engage. “I want to help with the planning part.”

“Oh, you do?” Alis looked a little surprised for a second. “Well, sure 一 I’ll give you some supplies to sketch a plan.”

“Thank you,” May said, excited about the idea of arranging ways where she could be in Control of situations inside the dungeon. She could still feel the lingering purr of her Gift when she saw her plan unfolding as expected back when attacking the human woman at the Plaza, her ideas being successfully put out into the world.

She would just have to study what a dungeon was before drafting any plans. It couldn’t be that hard… right?

They walked back in companionable silence to the outskirts of the capital, getting closer and closer to the place they had gotten out from 一 only stopping to buy a simple, ready meal for dinner. Some combination of beans and a meat stew, along with what seemed like a kind of flour.

It smelled incredible, but May hoped Bel-Alis had a way to heat their food later on. Eating this cold would be… a little disgusting.

Along the way, Kreacher split their path from them, saying their quick goodbyes after noticing a sneaky mouse trying to scamper away into one of the shadowed alleys. If they managed to get at least another body, it would be relatively simple for them to scout for the ones they actually wished for.

The silence after that was enough for May to feel for the book around her waist, thinking back at what she had to do. Her tasks grew in number by the second since had she met Alis and Kreacher, and the doll feared… she might not have enough time to complete them all before something important happened.

And the solution she thought of 一 while climbing down the stairs into the sewers and locking away her body’s sense of smell 一 was a single one: prioritize.

Hector would be her first priority, of course, but she had to put herself in a close second place to understand more of herself and the world she lived in. The book would be an easy way of learning more about Gifts and other forms of power; the rest would have to depend on her experiences for now.

In third place would have to be those following her. Bel-Alis was a pleasant necessary presence to have at her side, considering the Priestess was both friendly and knowledgeable. Kreacher was a little prick 一 even if they kept growing in fondness like a weed 一 but they held answers of their own about herself and the other stormtouched; if they even existed, which was something May was fairly certain was true.

May would keep that order for now. Develop her connections, her intelligence, her strength. And when the time came for her to prove herself and engage in the fight for survival that was the world… she would drag herself to the top. And the others she worked with would be dragged with her.

They were companions, useful and blooming in more ways than one inside her chest, growing in affection and tenderness. A blessed balm after months of isolation. Still, these connections would ensure the greatest of honors to them: that they would have a place besides May and her Master when she returned to him.

All would serve Hector in the end.

Isn't she the kindest of friends?