Chp.9: Gifts

Since they had arranged their siblings to communicate with them again the next night, since they couldn't do it during the day since the gladiators might have noticed something (since the body used by Darbi would have deactivated the illusion as soon as it was returned to his true body), Darbi and Haku had to wait until the next night before hearing from them. Darbi passed the time by talking to his brother and playing cards again with the other gladiators, while Haku spent the time sleeping. Misune, on the other hand, continued to train with the strange punch Haku had shown her, and rested just long enough to get some sleep before continuing. She seemed to be intent on pushing her body to the max.

The next night, as soon as the gladiators had gone to sleep again, Darbi headed back to the baths and there he unlinked his avatar back into his real body. Haku was left alone to check that no one went to the toilets, although that was unlikely since everyone was asleep. He took the opportunity to take care of a matter. "Misune, come here"

The slave immediately obeyed and stopped training. She was completely covered in sweat, so much that her hair stuck to her forehead, and her face was as red as a ripe pepper. "You shouldn't test your body's limits like this" Haku said. "This won't make you stronger, you'll just pass out from the effort"

"Uh… ok" Misune muttered, a little put off by that comment. She had expected at least one compliment for her effort.

"Let me see your punch" Haku said. Misune complied and moved her hand to show him how much she had improved. Haku looked at her carefully, then he commented: "I say that for the moment it can be considered an acceptable result. You have acquired enough dexterity and control to use this"

The dragon pulled something from his dimensional bag. Misune looked at it with great interest. She immediately recognized the wyrm's sting, but this time it was tied to a kind of bracelet made of a strange fur (perhaps lion or tiger) and several bungee cords (which were probably intestines, but she tried not to think about it) formed a kind of pulley. "Put it on your arm, and then do the punch I taught you"

Misune complied and put the strange bracelet on her right arm. She was placing it with the wyrm's sting pointing up, but Haku shook his head: "The other side" he said, and so she set it down. Then she tried the punch she had learned. As she did, something clicked and the wyrm's sting shot out like an arrow, reaching past her hand at least ten centimeters before stopping. Since the wrist was rotated, the sting didn't risk touching her hand. Misune relaxed her arm and immediately the mechanism worked in reverse and the sting returned inside the bracelet.

"It will only activate when you make that movement, because only that movement will move your forearm muscles in the right way to trigger the mechanism. So you won't risk hitting yourself" Haku explained. "I can't teach you how to be strong, as I have no idea how to control mana, but I can give you some defenses. Keep training and use that as a weapon. And remember, if you ever need to use it, always aim for the throat. The wyrm's venom is potent, but I don't know how long it will last before it dries completely. On the contrary, the sting will always remain sharp... or at least for a long time. So learn to be precise and aim for the vital and softest points of the body, just like the throat"

Misune touched the bracelet with trembling fingers. Her eyes sparkled as if she had just found a treasure. With that, she would finally no longer be defenseless! With that, she could have fought!

Noticing her expression, Haku let out a sigh. "Don't get too big-headed. Even with that weapon, your best bet is always to avoid combat. So hide it under your sleeve and never show it to anyone. In your case, your best defense is to take advantage of the fact that you look weak. In this way your opponent will lower his guard and at the right moment you can hit him"

Haku got the idea after Misune told him how she got information about Zamor: since the girl could lie so well, then she could use that to her advantage. Haku had repeatedly had evidence that newcomers tended to let their guard down when they were convinced they were in the presence of a weaker individual. And since every inch of Misune's body inspired weakness, then she could easily fool anyone. If another gladiator like Anur or anyone else had the ingenious thought of trying to take advantage of her again, she would have just let him get close enough and then stab him in the neck with the sting. Once that was done, the poison would do the rest. And even when the venom was gone, the sting would still open a deep wound; her opponent, taken by surprise, would have concentrated on using his mana to heal himself, but Misune would have already planted the sting in his head and pierced his brain by then.

Haku didn't have the ability to turn Misune into a warrior… but he could turn her into an assassin.

Haku hoped that by giving her a chance to defend herself, she would start to improve mentally. In fact, he had reflected that all his siblings, even though they had suffered many traumas, were still living war machines. Maybe that was the difference that had kept them going on despite everything. Maybe, if he made Misune able to defend herself, she too would get on with her life.

However, he didn't expect that weapon alone would be enough, so he had prepared a couple more things. Fortunately Darbi had given him a hand, or he would never have been able to build such small things with his big paws. With a quick movement, he pulled what appeared to be a shirt and pants from the dimensional bag and handed them to Misune. The half-elf took them and realized that they were completely covered in black scales. "These are..."

"The clothes of one of the many ogres I killed. They belonged to a little boy, so they should be your size" Haku replied. "I coated them with lindworm scales to make them very hard, and I also added some of my own scales to make them even tougher. I also inserted some lion, tiger, bear and wolf claws in between the scales, and placed them in so that they are difficult to see. Basically if someone hit you while you are wearing that, not only would it be very difficult to hurt you, but it would also hurt him since the claws would penetrate his skin. If in the future you have the opportunity I recommend you to sprinkle those claws with poison or damage potions, so as to make them even more lethal"

Misune felt a little uneasy knowing that the clothes belonged to a dead person, a little boy at that, but she knew she couldn't afford to be too picky. And then, after all, that little boy didn't need them anymore. As soon as she realized what he had just thought she froze: since when was she thinking like this!? She was beginning to think that Haku and Darbi were influencing her with their 'anything it's okay if it's to survive' philosophy.

She ignored that uncomfortable feeling and put them on, then hid them under her normal slave dress. The clothes fit her perfectly, but she felt like she was wearing boulders. "They're heavy" she said.

"Of course, do you expect something to be strong and also light? Why do you think people spend years training with armor?" Haku grumbled rolling his eyes. "Always keep them on and sooner or later your body will strengthen and be able to move normally even with them on. And as in the previous case, don't reveal to anyone that you have them on. In this way, if someone attacks you, they will try to grab you, but as soon as you he will be hurt by the claws and you can hit him with the sting"

Misune had only had them on for two minutes, yet she was already sweating. "Do I really have to never take them off?"

"Weren't you the one who wanted to learn how to defend yourself? Nothing is free in this world. If you want to be protected, you have to bear the strain" Haku replied. "So no, you can never take them off. The only time you'll be allowed to do that is when you're taking a bath. Which by the way, you should do as soon as possible"

Misune blushed slightly at that comment. Even though she knew that Haku was a dragon, and as such he had such a fine sense of smell that he could detect even the slightest drop of sweat, being told she smelled wasn't exactly nice.

"Now, my last gift" Haku said pulling one last thing out of the dimensional bag, which turned out to be a pair of gloves... no, they were... lion paws? "I removed all the bones and flesh, and left just enough for you to wear them. The fingers are still clawed, so you can use them to attack, and on the back of the paw I inserted a pair of blades that I took to an elf gladiator after I kill him. They're enchanted, so they can do a lot of damage"

Misune took the two gloves and put them on. Even though they were a little big, they fit her quite well. It was strange to look at the clawed fingers, and even stranger was to turn the hand and see a long blade present on the back, which gleamed slightly showing that it was enchanted. "As in the previous cases, nobody has to see them, so you won't be able to wear them and you'll have to keep them tied to your waist and hidden under your robe" Haku explained. "Only put them on when you already know that you will have to face an opponent and that this opponent will want to take your life directly. With these you would hardly be able to win, but combined with your outfit you could buy enough time and disorient your opponent enough to be able to hit him with the sting with a surprise attack"

Misune looked up and her eyes met the Haku's ones. A smile was painted on her face and some tears of joy started falling from her eyes. "Sir… thank you, thank you very much" she said while she sobbed.

Haku felt strange at that sight. He'd seen an expression of gratitude before and heard the words 'thank you'… but always only from his siblings. No newcomer had ever spoken to him that way, or looked at him that way. All the newcomers when they looked at it just had terror, fear or at least anxiety in their eyes. That was the first time he had seen real gratitude.

It was... strange. But in a positive way.

He tried to compose himself and he looked away. "Don't thank me. If you want to survive, always assume that these weapons cannot protect you, and try to avoid confrontation as much as possible. Only when all options for escape or appeasement are exhausted, then use these weapons. And even then , always act with the belief that your enemy is stronger than you, and that therefore you will have to beat him in speed and cunning. Only if you keep these precepts firmly in your mind will you have a chance to survive"

Misune was about to reply with the classic 'yes, sir', but just then Darbi came out of the bathroom. "Haku, the others gave me very interesting information. Listen here..."

Darbi quickly explained what their siblings had discovered. When he was done, Misune was disgusted to find out what was going on in the Baudonia City Alliance, though she wasn't as shocked as Sarah had been since she was used to seeing atrocities in the arena. Haku, on the other hand, had a very satisfied expression. "That's good for us. If indeed that's the case, then that Zamor has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Just the kind of guy I was hoping to find"

"So what's the plan?" Darbi asked.

"Easy: tomorrow, as soon as he wakes up, we'll take him aside and talk to him" Haku replied. "Since his people are in such a critical condition, I have no doubt that he would do anything to get out of here and come back to help them. It will be easy to convince him"

"What if he says no instead?" Misune tried to ask. "I mean... it is possible that he has given up"

"I doubt it. Judging from the information we have, he doesn't seem like the type of person to give up to the adversity" Haku replied, then his eyes narrowed. "But in the unfortunate case that he will say no… then we'll tell the others to kidnap his wife and get her to tell him something only she and he know, so we'll prove to him that we really do have his mate, and then we'll blackmail him with that"

Misune gulped. Even though she was used to Haku not having the slightest bit of empathy, at least towards those who weren't close to him, he was still creepy every time.