Ch26: Jackson Village

Riding on Arturia's back and leaving the shotgun in her hands worked better than I thought. The girl actually knew what she was doing with a gun which surprised me. As in, she didn't wave it around like an idiot or accidentally shoot Matt, his waifu, or me. Instead, she pointed it down with the leather strap over her shoulder. And I found that riding was really fun.

We were galloping down a dry dirt road with the village in sight. Tamers moved towards the village, riding their own waifus, driving chariots with teams of wild monsters driving them, or ran. They didn't even bat an eye or give us any trouble as they passed us. So really, Matt was worried over nothing. He kept looking around like he was expecting bandits to jump out of nowhere and beg to die.

I half expected it myself with all the rank 1 tamers running around. However, the only rank 2s I detected were far off in the village. So, we had a smooth ride galloping down a dirt road and saw the sights of other tamers and their waifus. It was magical.

The danger of the area could almost be ignored until someone dangerous road beside us. He was a man dressed to the nines in a flashy fancy suit purple with a gold tie. The man looked ready to stand in front of a congregation and preach the virtues of sacrificing lives to legendaries. He wore a rapier on his saddle with a worn leather handle and rode on a mind-controlled monster. The rank 2 bicorn stallion hadn't even looked our way, and its eyes only looked down.

"Young man, you have a fine mount. Have you thought of renting her out for breeding purposes? I'm willing to buy her off of you for a good price. I'm sure you've had trouble meeting her expectations."

I didn't like how worn the man's rapier looked or the small smudges he neglected to clean. He had the feel of a man who specialized in the gentlemen's arts. He was a duelist who only took waifus that furthered his chosen class. An all-rounder like me couldn't compare until my build was complete and there were too many people to put a bullet in him. We were probably walking into a village filled with his gentleman friends. Each village had its own laws depending on what mob ran the village and who they let be their day-to-day face.

Still, he insulted me, my dick size, and Arturia. Killing him shouldn't be my first course of action, but it felt like the right thing to do.

I glanced at Matt, who put on a false smile. His eyes clearly asked how I wanted to handle this mess. He didn't miss the well-used rapier on the gentleman's saddle. Night qi rolled off the weapon revealing more of what I concluded about the man in the purple suit. He was a duelist and a gentleman class. His skills were linked to the night and vampires. There was a good chance he was trained to handle night qi which was knowledge I desperately needed. I doubted there were books outside a sect or clan library. Professor Cacao probably had a book like that beside his toilet.

"I've killed people for less," I said.

The man grinned. "I don't doubt that, bucko. I can feel the malice rolling off you. But before you do something you'll regret, know, I'm quick to draw."

"What does premature ejaculation have to do with combat?" Arturia asked.

"Everything," I said.

"Maybe she isn't good breeding stock after all. I would hate for my bicorn's future descendants to be smooth-brained bimbos." The gentleman said.

I wasn't relieved; he insulted my waifu again. Those were fighting words even if he was too powerful to fight directly. The gentleman had to die one way or another.

"NOoo!" The word radiated like a thunderstorm as a man leaped out of some bushed and swiped the gentleman with his hand. In a flash, I felt the overwhelming power of a high-ranked tamer. It was like stepping in a puddle only to see it was connected to the sea. The gentleman's body disintegrated under the lion man's blow before the man bit into the bircorn's neck. Then, with a shake of his head, the man tore the bicorn off its feet before moving towards the bushes.

That was Nietzsche, the scientist, and creator of a legendary day monster. He was in the process of reaching the 8th rank, but there was a problem. He was cursed by the leader of the Jehova syndicate. This was one of the quests we could take to help him reach the final stage in his evolution to the 8th rank. Unfortunately, doing so would put us at odds with his rank 4 assistant.

Nietzsche spawns at random wherever lion-type monsters can be found. He was the lion that roared no to the world dragon, a symbolic act of erasing the preconceived morals of the world. This quest was necessary to have the easiest time to reach the 8th rank when the time came. Unfortunately, it was random, making the quest difficult to find.

I had three weeks to complete the quest, which was plenty of time to get the last two power skills and return. With those, I could balance out my power skills and possibly get a gun skill.

Matt made to get down from his waifu when I stopped him and shook my head. "Trust me, we don't want anything that guy touched." Matt looked at the well-worn rapier for a second before reluctantly leaving it behind.

We nearly turned a corner when the looting began. No one paid much attention to the dead gentleman except to rob his corpse of his waifus. One man grabbed the man's well-worn rapier before screaming. I kicked Arturia's side, and she raced forward. Matt was quick to follow my lead.

"What's going on with that guy?" Arturia asked.

"Rank 1s can bind their qi to an item close to them. It is dangerous and stunts their growth, but it strengthens their combat skills and allows them to possess the object after dying. Well, he's possessing the guy who picked up his rapier now." I said as we escaped.

"Yea, it's something to watch out for, but what kind of rank 1 would stunt their growth for a short-term gain," Matt said with an eye-roll.