The next morning, we were all refreshed. Considering another party would have been forced to sleep in a cold, dangerous, and dark dungeon… wet and shivering, I felt we got out of it pretty good. The girls were in fresh clothing and had their dried armor back on. As promised, I was out of Chalm before the morning came. However, I didn’t jump right into the dungeon. Instead, I ended up in the blacksmith’s shop.
“Lord Deekson?” the blacksmith asked, hearing the noise of us in the front of his shop and coming to check. “What are you doing here? Rumor has it you were lost in the dungeon. The Knights of Lord Reign have been going around town stirring up trouble and asking about you.”
“That… it appears like Lord Reign is causing trouble. Feel free to tell him I’m here if he asks.” I said.
I reckoned that it would only confuse them more. As long as I kept dancing around, he would definitely not be able to pinpoint me.
The man spit. “Lord Reign has been nothing but a pain in the arse if you ask me. If the Knights come, I won’t say a thing.”
“Ah, thanks.” I laughed weakly, and then went on to business. “To answer your question, I was looking for the other blacksmith. I think her name is Rubee?”
When he heard that name, he stiffened a bit and then turned away. “As to that, my lord, I’m sorry. I hope she wasn’t something you were counting on.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Ah, the reason… well, yesterday, she had gotten her hands on some orichalcum, supposedly. Lord Reign heard about it and then demanded that she hand the metal over to him. She claimed that she had already used it and that the piece she had was destroyed. He went into a rage and threw her into the slave market. Rubee is now being sold off as a slave.”
“I see…” I thanked the man and asked him if we could leave out the back.
Once we were in the alley by ourselves, I started to stroke my chin and think about things. I was hoping to just send Rubee to Chalm with the promise that she could work on all of the magical chitin. In the end, Rubee was taken away as a slave. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.
At least, that’s what I wanted to say, but if I could buy her as a slave, wouldn’t it make my life a lot easier? The problem came down to my identity. Although it wasn’t likely that the slavers knew that Lord Reign was looking for me, I didn’t think I could get into the city and get out without being found out. Even if he couldn’t prove I killed his knights, he would assuredly make my life more difficult.
“Ah… y-yes!” She saluted.
“Do you have more fairy dust?”
“Yes… in fact, mother made some. She told me that fairy dust is made after a fairy dance. I have a vial.” She handed me an amount not much less than the amount we obtained back in Karr’s dungeon.
If we could make this indefinitely now, I could depend on some of those overpowered skills. I could create more water of life without tapping into the still infant fairy spring. I could also cast God Eye on enemies and learn a lot more about them. However, right now, I had another idea.
“Shao, one of your Shadow Knight abilities caught my interest. It was called Shadow Deception.”
Shao nodded. “Yes, Master. It allows me to hide my identity by casting shadows over my face and body. The Shadow Knight class is more about hidden strikes than the normal variant.”
“Then, please cast it while imagining a disguise.” I sprinkled fairy dust on her as she cast Shadow Deception.”
“Many Faces?” she said in wonder as her fusion spell formed with the fairy dust.
Shao had genuinely changed. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and looked a few years older. Only her face changed though. Her body remained the same.
She had successfully unlocked a new ability. Based on what I knew about her skill and fairy dust, I could usually predict what the fusion would do. Well, I had been wrong before, but whatever ability we got would have been strong. Had it failed, I could have tried a combination with one of the other girls.
As for combining the gems into fusion skills, I hadn’t tried it out yet.