65: Assault on Raining Treasures
“I mean, seriously, what the hell?”
Haley complained, while she was wiping the shelves and other furniture with a rag as if the dust and dirt itself offended her. Throughout all this, her brother listened, dealing with the ledger for the day’s business.
“I get that we might be in trouble, but getting slaves? Isn’t that just horrible? I know that Nina’s the type to get them, but I can’t believe Aidan would just agree with her! I really thought he was better than that.”
“Come on, Haley, be reasonable,” Van said, which only made Haley more frustrated when he put on that mature older brother act. “I don’t like it either, but having more people to work with is just going to be better, not worse. And if even Aidan was alright with it, then maybe the situation is a lot worse than we imagine.”
“Van, they’re getting slaves,” Haley repeated. “Doesn’t that make you feel… I don’t know, the ick?”
“I get it,” Van repeated himself, nodding to his sister. “But facts are facts. Slaves are people that work under us. It’s not like it’s easy to find people willing to defend the city against a big threat all the time. Half the time, they would either evacuate and leave the city or just hunker down and stay hiding until the coast is clear.”
Haley couldn’t really say anything back at that point. Due to how she had built her stats, she wasn’t a fighter by any means. So she would likely be in the latter category of hunkering down to hide herself. However, she knew that there would be people who had more than sufficient stats and skills to fight, yet they would rather just skip town and leave everyone to die than to risk themselves.
But at least they had a choice in the matter. She still felt raw emotions from being confined to sign a contract under Nina’s control so long ago, so she always compared herself to a slave. Aidan, the one who brought her to become under Nina’s thumb, no longer seemed as frightening as when she first saw him. She just saw him now as this goofy guy with supremely powerful magic and abilities that always helped them out.
But she understood that he was also in the same position as her. That’s why she felt a bit miffed that he would agree to her getting slaves under her control.
“Also, you forget that Aidan can’t exactly say no to her,” Van said, finally bringing out what Haley was thinking. “Isn’t he also under the same contract as yours?”
“Well… yeah.”
“Then can you blame him?”
“...No,” Haley finally gave up, letting out a big breath. “It just pisses me off.”
“That’s fine,” Van nodded, showing a look of sympathy that she always hated to see. “We’re lucky that you can even speak out your opinions without getting punished for it. It could’ve been way worse, you know.”
“I know, I know,” Haley said, waving off her brother’s words. “I just thought they were better…”
“Well, this is Nina we’re talking about,” Van said, shrugging. “Kinda on you for expecting her to be a good person after all this time.”
“Then why the hell is Aidan always defending her?” Haley asked. “He doesn’t strike me as a bad guy. Actually, he’s always super nice.”
“I get it. But maybe he’s got his own circumstances. For now, let’s just trust them to bring some capable people to help us save the city, if it ever comes.”
Van was starting to sound as though the attack would never come, and frankly, Haley felt the same. She didn’t think Aidan was lying, but it felt so long since the mention of the attack came around and, considering nothing really happened, it was starting to feel like he just had a bad fever dream.
Not that she would ever say it to his face. Though she had a gut feeling he would just laugh it off and say she was probably right. Not unlike Nina who would outright glare at her. Seriously, what does Aidan see in her that made him follow her around? Even if he was under the same contract, he was always giving her the benefit of the doubt.
God, it would be so dumb if he was in love with her or something, Haley thought. The idea itself seemed ridiculous, but she couldn’t exactly rule that out. Nina was quite beautiful, and it was the natural sort of beauty that just increasing the Charisma stat wouldn’t compare.
If that happened to be the case…
Oh god, a love-struck puppy with powers like that following the orders of someone like Nina?
A shiver ran down her spine at the thought.
A powerful knock on the door echoed out, loud enough to cease everything going on in the store. The siblings looked back at each other, knowing full well that the store should be closed at this point, and everyone they knew should know about it.
But even though the door was locked, the knob kept getting turned over and over until it broke off, the metal knob falling to the floor as the door swung open, making the two react.
A group of men walked in, each one revealing an aura of intimidation that made Haley’s hair stand on end. This wasn’t your average ruffian coming to harass the retailers, but a bona-fide group of intimidating men coming forward as if they owned the place.
“Is this the Raining Treasures?”
One of the men in the lead, sporting a red belt that could be easily seen from a mile away, spoke up loud with a gruff voice. The siblings kept silent, Haley glaring hard at the man who so casually destroyed their property without even knowing whether it was the right store.
“It is, and I expect you to pay for the damages done here,” Van said, pointing at the discarded knob on the floor.
“Since we found the right place, we don’t have to worry about that little detail,” The man said, turning to the side to face his men. “Search the place. Find every trace of Nina Alcatroz, and take any valuables you find here.”
The men did just that, silently following their orders like an elite squad as they crowded the store, ignoring the siblings entirely as they went around and entered through the backdoor and throughout the building.
“Hey!” Haley shouted, her eyes widening in panic. “You can’t do that! We’ll call the guards!”
“Go ahead,” The man with the red belt said, shrugging his shoulders. “None of them will bother coming over. They know not to mess with us.”
“Who do you think you are?” Van said, glaring daggers. “Coming in here and storming the place?”
“You can blame it all on Nina,” The man said with a sneer. “Thanks to her, everything is going to shit at our base. She did something that really pissed off our top brass. And I mean really pissed them off.”
Haley kept staring, but she didn’t know what to do at this point. All of the men who were invading their home ranged around level 30 and above. Even if the siblings have experience fighting in a dungeon, there was no way she and Van could take an entire group of them.
Especially when the men in question didn’t belong to the Red Riot like the guy with the red belt, but from another gang–the Stained Brotherhood, known to have powerful combatants and mercenaries in the city.
She could hear the men causing a ruckus within the building, probably turning over furniture and breaking everything of value to find what they were looking for. But all Haley could think about was finding a way for her brother and herself to get out safely. With Aidan not around, there was no way they could defend themselves against them.
“Yo, what do we do with them?” Another man asked, pointing at the two. Her heart froze at the mention as the red belt man looked at them.
“The boss didn’t say anything about dealing with her lackeys. But that girl could make a decent profit,” The man said, sending chills straight down her spine at the clear lack of humanity behind those words. “Take her in.”
“No, you fucking don’t!”
“Van, no!”
Before Haley could do anything, her enraged brother flew out of the desk behind and pulled out his sword and buckler. The next few moments became a blur as flashes of steel and bits of red became the thing she noticed the most.
Before she could even fathom what occurred, her brother was on the floor, groaning loud while the red belt man stomped his foot on top of his back.
“No! Stop!” Haley shouted, reaching to her brother in a futile attempt to help.
Before she could even do anything else, her vision was shrouded in darkness as a sharp pain lanced around her neck.
…..
He was more than glad that they got out of the Grim Corner, and just as pleased to find out that they didn’t really need that many slaves on hand. Not that Yin could be called a slave anymore, more like a contracted employee if anything.
The three traveled together through the town, enjoying the night air. While Aidan could just as easily fly them around using his Craft, it was better to lay low and not cause much of a ruckus. Nina didn’t seem to mind as she filled Yin in about what was to be expected.
According to Nina, she won’t just be put as a potential fighter for the upcoming threat, but rather be put as a sort of liaison for Nina. She would be handling most of the minor businesses that Nina would send to Yin’s way while she would likely bring Aidan over for more covert operations. She even revealed how they managed to get her in the first place, going as far as telling her how they tricked an older couple to pay for them while they got her contract.
It looked like Nina wasn’t going to hold back any secrets, which made Aidan believe that Yin was a lot more accomplished than he gave her credit for. It wasn’t just her high level, Class, and race, but something else entirely. Since Nina was the only one capable of seeing her status page including all the titles and skills she had learned, she must have deemed it necessary to reveal all of her plans to keep her in the loop.
All the while, Yin just nodded in understanding, and only through Aidan’s senses could he find out that Yin was only really giving her attention due to one thing–because she was Aidan’s ‘boss’ of a sort.
It was hard to pinpoint, but he could tell that she really looked up to him ever since they met a while ago. Her soul, for example, was singing in a complex tune that made Aidan feel a little flushed from how much respect and admiration she held for the spirit race in general. It could also be due to his connection to harmony which she also has a deeper connection with.
“I understand what this job entails,” Yin answered once Nina finished explaining the basics of what she would have to do. “But if I may ask, how did you meet Aidan in the first place?”
“I met him in a forest after he got into a tussle with the guards of the city,” Nina answered. “After that, I guided him and helped him get an identity within the city, and due to that, decided to work under me to pay me back for the debt.”
Clearly, Nina wasn’t foolish enough to reveal that she practically cornered him to sign a contract, binding him to her will. However, Yin nodded, as if she had expected to be such a case.
“You have truly found yourself a worthy ally to align with,” Yin answered, genuinely in awe. “It is not often that spirits tend to be close to any humanoids, much less to humans as a whole due to their rampant number and lack of magical understanding.”
“Have you perhaps met other spirits before?” Nina asked, though Aidan noticed that she was quick to jump the topic away from Aidan.
“Only once, a long time ago,” Yin said. “Though they were nowhere as corporeal as Aidan, and their connection to the physical world was very faint. They often travel the world in secret, only offering to show themselves to those they deem worthy or who have garnered a deeper connection to harmony as a whole.”
“What was this spirit like, if I may ask?”
“Wise, if a bit melancholic. You could sense the age from the way they spoke and the presence they emitted. I believe that is how I managed to find out Aidan’s true identity. He has that very presence, yet there was no hint of long age within.”
“That reminds me,” Nina wondered. “I never bothered to ask your age. Aidan?”
“Uhh, I’m 21,” Aidan answered, feeling a bit off about the age as he was much older before he was sent to this world.
Also, why did she bother asking that question? Couldn’t she have just answered it, clearly knowing about it through her talent already? It might have been so that she could get Aidan to keep talking, which Yin clearly enjoyed. She was already doing what she can to appease Yin, including having Aidan join in the conversation for any mundane reason.
“Barely a child,” Yin said, surprising Aidan. “Ah, don’t misunderstand. I speak in the way of how elves are aged.”
“Right, right,” Aidan nodded. “So like, you only consider elves as actual adults if they were around 100 years old or something?”
“Around there,” Yin answered with a small smile. “Though I understand that for spirits, it might be the same thing.”
“Well, I certainly don’t feel like a child,” Aidan answered with a chuckle. “Though you’re right that I’m nowhere near as wise as that spirit you’re mentioning. Was it a good spirit?”
“The spirit’s existence blessed the land where I came from, bringing balance to nature and restoring things to their proper states. Corrupted mana was restored, and left the land to regrow in a proper state after the corruption had been warping its existence for many years.
Aidan was still a bit put off from how whimsical Yin spoke, but he could tell that she was a nice bloke who really cared about nature. Nina certainly wished for her to continue, doing nothing more than aiding Yin in speaking more about her homeland which she was clearly fond of.
Figuring that Nina had this underway, Aidan let out another Sense Vibrations check around the vicinity now that they were closing in, but froze when he noticed something. His eyes widened, and Nina quickly caught on when he stood still.
“Something happened to the store,” Aidan said, his heart beating faster as he sensed only one being at the store, their soul was slowly losing its luster.
Nina caught on and ordered him, “Go and find out what happened.”
Aidan nodded before taking off into the air with Craft, heading directly towards the Raining Treasures.
When he got there, he had to hold himself back at the mess that was left there. The door was smashed in, and when he landed to peer inside, the entire storefront was nothing but a clutter of broken bits and messy debris everywhere.
And laying on the ground in a pool of his own blood was Van, trembling slightly and coughing loud. Aidan rushed in and cast Heal before he could even ask.
“Van, what happened?” Aidan asked, and soon enough both Nina and Yin came in. He could already tell that the entire building was smashed apart, as though it was completely ransacked. Clearly it was, but that wasn’t what took his attention.
“Van,” Aidan urged, healing his wounds as quickly as he could. “What happened to Haley?”
The fact was that the only person in this messed up situation was Van, and Haley was nowhere in sight. Van was hurt badly, broken bones and ruptured organs from the looks of it. But even through the pain, Van lifted his shaking hand and grasped hard onto Aidan’s shirt.
“Aidan… Haley…” Van whispered, clearly forcing himself to speak even through the pain. “Red Riot… came in… they took everything. Even Haley…”
Aidan kept healing, but his heart ached when Van’s hand kept trembling, gripping harder to the cloth. Tears started to bud from his eyes.
“Aidan, please… save her. Please… please, save my sister.”
Before he could say anything else, his head fell to the floor, completely unconscious. His soul was stable now, and his body was fully healed from all the casting he did, but even though Van would live, Aidan wasn’t satisfied.
It was the opposite. Something stirred within him. Ideas of Haley being tortured by those gangsters, most likely due to her connection with Nina, filled his head. That bubbly girl whose only sin was stealing snacks from the fridge and gaslighting her brother into thinking that he needed to watch his weight.
The same girl who is always a favorite for the older folks coming into the store, always glad to help around the store and being just a joy to be around. Considering what they did to Van, he can’t imagine what those fuckers would do to Haley.
Even more so if they found out about her special talent.
Eventually Nina returned to the storefront, looking more than displeased. While her expression remained somewhat pissed, her soul was burning in fury unlike anything else.
“They took everything of value here, including all the materials,” Nina said, her voice curt and strict. “They even took apart the arrays just for good measure. It’s clear that they were searching for ways to find me by ransacking the place.”
“I take it you have more than a fair share of enemies?” Yin asked, still a little too new to the situation to feel the sense of urgency coming from the two.
“I do, and clearly they had enough of me being around. It looks like they found out that I didn’t die from their failed attempt at assassinating me,” Nina said, recalling the time they tried to use the cursed relic on her. “But more than that, they took one of our own. A valuable ally whose talent is top tier.”
“That’s quite a conundrum,” Yin said, sounding more serious than before. “What do we do?”
Nina, rather than answering Yin, turned to Aidan. Her eyes turned sharp, her soul rising further in agitation. But if he was honest, Aidan wasn’t paying attention to that.
He was waiting. Waiting for the words he wanted to hear from her.
“Aidan,” Nina said, speaking directly to him as if knowing exactly how he was feeling at the moment. “They stole from me, destroyed my property. They even had the gall to take one of my own into their clutches. This will not stand. This cannot stand.”
If there was anything Nina is known for, it was having no mercy, and this time, Aidan was all for it as she gave her command.
“Go to them, and prove to them what happens when they mess with Nina Alcatroz.”
In response, Aidan only asked a simple question.
“...Can I go all out?”
“You may. Don’t bother holding back; Show them, or rather, show everyone what would happen. Go all out. That’s an order.”
With that, Aidan took in a large breath, keeping his own soul calm. But it was no use.
Before he could lose all control, he pushed himself to walk out the door, stand onto the street, and looked above.
Then crafted the air before blasting off into the sky, pouring his senses throughout the entire town. Though he didn’t have to bother guessing where she was mainly at.
They were at the dangerous parts of the Grim Corner, within the Dark Zone. All the while, he decided to make a little something to prove exactly what would happen if they mess with Nina Alcatroz.
When they decided to fuck around with someone that could control harmony at will.