Chapter 16: 5 Months
Author note: I just love adding description of the enviroment and adding details that no one but me would enjoy . XD
Chapter 15
Sunlight rose from the East, just as it had for countless numbers of times, bringing light and warmth to the underworld as it cast its radiant light upon the land. When the sun just arose, the birds of the sky rose promptly, instantly flying out and starting their day as they chirped and went on their business. The other monsters or animals hearing it also arose from their slumber to start their day. Herbivores eat their plants while carnivores hunt for meat.
The village was just like the forest, but instead of birds marking the beginning of the day, it was a huge ringing of a bell from the city. Its sound, capable of reaching incredible distances, woke the monster and animals in the village. One by one, they woke up from their bed; for those without a bed, they woke up from wherever they slept.
And in the middle of the village stood a massive three-story-tall stone building. Its walls, as if newly renovated, were without any cracks or moss. And the pillars, which were dark wood, looked as if they had just been cut down, still fresh and vibrant. And on the top floor of the building, there was a bedroom with three beds. Two small and one massive. While the two small beds had occupants, the massive one did not have it. Causing the bedroom to somehow look a bit desolate despite only one occupant being missing.
From one of the beds, a goblin woman with the edge of her hair grayed out could be seen waking up. "HUAAAHH," The goblin woman yawned as she rubbed her eyes, still hazy and sleepy from just waking up. She turned a bit to the right, towards the stool next to the bed, and grabbed a glass of water and drank it.
"Gudu Gudu Gudu"
"Huah."
Then she slowly got up and walked towards the window to see the village. And the sight that greeted her did not disappoint her. A hazy golden hue dyed the village as it glistered like gold. The walls of the city in the distance were also dyed, giving them breathtaking color. Some monsters who had already gotten up could be seen going in on their business. The owners or workers who work at restaurants or taverns could be seen preparing their meals, while the owners of shops could be seen setting up their stalls.
While the view was breathtaking, the heavy iron window that was between her and the outside world damped the view a bit, but Kale did not mind. Then from the corner of her vision, she saw Katu sleeping with all of her limbs spread in all four directions salvia dripping down her mouth. Her mouth was raised and her eyes, despite being asleep was curved, suggesting to Kale that she was having a quite nice dream.
A mischievous grin graced her face as she approached Katu. Then she put her mouth near her ear and shouted. "WAKE UPPPPPPPPP"
"AAAAAAAA"
Katu screamed as she jolted awake like a startled cat. Blowing air around her as she rapidly got up. her breath rapid and her pupils contrasting wildly. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT ?" Katu screamed. Her childish voice echoed through the big long halls of the shop.
Kale just put a hand over her mouth as she got up to leave the room while pretending that she did not hear her question "ha.....pff..." Just the slightest bit of laugher fortunately or unfortunately escaped her mouth as she left.
"YOU AREN'T LEAVING WITHOUT GIVING ME A PREMIUM PYKE MADE FROM A SUPERIOR PIG" She screamed as she ran after her while clutching a pillow in her arms.
Meanwhile, outside the village, tens of kilometers away, Moon could be seen flying in the sky.
His normally pristine white wing, now almost golden after being enhanced by Moon's holy energy, could be seen flapping rapidly, akin to an engine, as Moon flew with speed akin to a speeding bullet train. No, he was even faster than it; every time Moon's wings blazed golden, his speed grew even faster as he flew.
Whee!
WHOOS
He would leave behind trail of wind as he flew, causing not a few animals to turn where they heard the sound with a confused expression. After about twenty or so kilometers, after traveling for unknown amounts of distance, Moon finally slowed down.
"Huuuu, absolute top speed for thirty minutes. Huuuuu , I have gotten better at this." Slowly Moon lowered himself as he gently fell in the middle of the big river. His eyes, opened wide as he fell and started floating while facing the crimson-red sky of the underworld.
His eyes, which from the third-person perspective looked like a weak spot for attacks, were ironically the toughest part of his body. With a transparent armor-like membrane over his eyes that blocks heat, cold, shockwaves, and anything that might penetrate. However, the rest of his body did not enjoy this privilege as it sometimes got injured. However, it is rare since even the rest of his body is incredibly resilient and tough.
Moon raised his left and right rings on top of him. Causing his wing to rise from the water as it glistered under the sun. There he saw seventy or so faces of drawn beings in absolute terror and agony. With some of them even moving despite being just a black mark on a wing.
"About 68 middle class and 3 high class," Moon muttered. Yes, he killed several high-class beings during this time. Two of them were Shadow Wolves, one mutant, one of which has noble blood or whatever. And another was a yeti, from the snowy mountain.
But he still did not transform like last time when he did, nor did that eldritch monstrous sound come to him and sound. But still, it did not bother him much since he was still growing stronger. Though it was getting a bit slower, he had a feeling that soon he would take the next step towards the path, hopefully granting him a human body. [Author: Which I won't and never will; at best, you will get a partial form.]
While he was floating on the water, he thought of the business that had bloomed like Sakura during this period. The instant when the first few customers tested their effect, money started rolling in like crazy. Every time they closed, there were dozens of customers in line waiting, and when they got up and opened for the next day, those people would still be waiting.
The moment he saw that he was super-fled, only later would he learn that they were merchants and they were selling their potions at double the price in the city. However, later, the inhabitants of the city would learn and start buying from them instead of those merchants, and Moon, Katu, and Kale would also increase their price to match it.
Then the next month or so were the happy days; they would rake in money like crazy while also repelling some assassination or kidnapping attempts that probably came from their competitor. Which forced them to hire several bodyguards, not for Moon obviously but for Kale and Katu. Because he is spending most of the night in the forest surrounding the village.
Finding trustworthy guards was easy enough since Moon could instantly tell their character by how much disgust he was feeling when he saw them. And if they were sufficiently clean, then they could ask some simple questions.
A few questions like, Do you have an ulterior motive? What are your goals, and where were you working in the past? got the job done. But out of the dozen or so applications, he unfortunately killed three of them because he couldn't resist. Two, which he instantly blasted to ashes just upon gazing at. And another whom he attacked, causing the unfortunate orc to gaze upon his form. Because of it, they had to finish him off.
But in his defense, he has grown much better at controlling his instinct; he can now confidently say he is capable of keeping his mind clear and calm when he attacks them.
But after that period, the road started growing bumpy, with three clans of the city starting to want the new alchemy shop as their own. First, it was the minks; they came to the store one day, wanting the shop to be relocated into the Minks parts of the city and for a certain amount of money of theirs to be paid as taxes. In return, they would protect them and allow them to live a life of luxury in the city.
Which surprised Moon quite a bit, not the proposal or deal, but the fact that they did not try to force or kidnap them. Instead, they made a decent offer, although he doesn't know if they will keep their promise when they enter the city. But they acted much better than he expected.
(What he did not know is that A few minks saw Moon when he was fighting a high-class shadow wolve and they reported it back to their clan. And when they investigated it, they discovered that he was living nearby and he was once seen meeting the owner of [Revalidation for All]. So they changed their approach since they don't want to aggravate a high-class monster if they can. )
But because of Moon's situation, it wasn't possible, so they refused, and when they refused,. They tried other ways, such as better treatment, no tax, and the like. Heck, they were even willing to buy all of their potions for higher than they were selling. In return for not selling anything to anyone.
And the orc, who came just after Minx, was the exact opposite. They wanted them to give up everything they owned and become their slaves, with fake follower titles. In return, they would protect and feed them.
When the orc representative declared his plan to take everything and make them slaves with a fancy title called followers, fortunately and unfortunately, Moon was on the top floor at that exact moment, and he heard every word. And those words boiled his blood and caused his otherwise golden pupil to darken and turn sluggish black while the chains around his pupil that seemed to seal something started to brighten up in response, though he didn't see the darkening of his pupils nor the glowing of his chains.
But he managed to keep it to himself at the cost of going on a rampage outside in the forest. That day, he learned that he somehow gained immense pride and arrogance that he didn't have before. Those words that orc spoke as if he was superior to him, a true angel, touched places that none had reached. And the fact that the orc somehow had strength akin to a high class made it even worse. Suggesting to him that he might even lose if they ever fought, no matter if he has a higher chance of victory.
By the next morning, he collected every corpse along with the skeletal remains of all he had previously killed, not caring if they were middle-class or low-class. Heck, heck, he even put out the one high-class shadow wolf remains on display in their monster remains area part of the shop. The only high-class monster that he has killed at that time.
This, for some reason, seemed to have worked, as Orc stopped being aggressive and started proposing deals, no matter how stupid it was, such as you become my subordinate, giving us all your potion, and in return we will protect you and give you half the money we earn from those potions.
This continued for a week or so, and then Lizard Man's representative came in one day and proposed a deal that they instantly took. A deal was that they would give a certain amount of potion to each clan every month while also giving an extra few potions to Lizard Man in secret. In return, they would make the other two clans back off and stop them from bothering them. They will also provide some help, like selling some of their specialty at a lower price.
Slowly the speed at which he floated stopped as he reached his destination. A lake that has a mid-high-class sea monster inhabiting it.
He swung his wings once against the water's surface, instantly throwing himself five meters high. His radiant and eldritch appearance appeared in full glory as he readied for his battle.
HUAAAAAAAAA
His opponent appeared at just the right time. A sea serpent-like monster with blue scales and fins. Moon started gathering a large amount of holy energy while preparing to do a flash boost.
While the sea serpent started swimming towards Moon rapidly, his body, which was in the water, cleaved the water into two parts as he swam.
"He is stronger than expected." Moan, thought in his mind while sighing. He silently sent apologies to Kale, as she would probably be waiting for him in the meeting location for quite a few hours.
But nevertheless, since he started the fight, he will finish it.