Chapter 23: Do You Think Someone Like You Can

A Lump of Flesh Perfect for a Testing Slashes

 

Flamm continues to stare at the equipment lined up one by one, muttering not that one…not that one…, scanning the equipment she picked up as she kept thrusting her hand into the pile of scrap metals that had unbelievably disturbing aura around them.

“See anything you like?” asked Gadio calmly, looking at the girl from behind.

“It sure is an A-ranker collection. It’s nothing but strong equipment across the board.”

“And it apparently works against you huh.”

“I thought that an Epic equipment should do. I mean look, this is what a cursed equipment should look like.” Flamm raised a helmet and showed it to Gadio as an example.

The helmet made out of jet-black metal had several parts turned purple, and its form is even turned thorny.

“Because of how this helmet is turned into a weird shape, the field of vision of the wearer is going to be stupidly limited. Maybe it’s a feature of the curse itself though” the girl said, opening and closing the face guard of the helmet as she did.

“True, I understand that people have likes and dislikes about something that covers your face like that. If you have something that allows you to detect the presence of your opponents, then its downside will be a bit more negligible though” said the girl, clasping open and close the helmet’s face guard.

“I’m not that high level yet though.”

If she can improve her Intuition stat, perhaps the girl could have been as good as how Gadio described she could be, and thus she needs to find an equipment that harbors a stronger curse. At the very least, the helmet she’s holding right now is not it.

Thinking that she doesn’t need the black helmet, she put it aside, which elicits a trembling, resentful reaction from the helmet in the form of a vibration. Calmly ignoring the response, the girl continued to seek for the equipment she wished for.

“Hmm…this is…” the girl muttered, pulling out a leather-made loop. The item looks like a belt, but it was too short to be wrapped around her waist; at best it could only probably be circled around her arm or leg. Unlike other equipment, however, it doesn’t seem like this item is covered in bloodstain or any other mysterious stains.

Still unsure of how to use the item, Flamm cast Scan on the equipment.

——————————————————————————

Leather Garter of Unsightly Obsession

Rarity: Legendary

【Intelligence -131】
【Intuition -456】

——————————————————————————

Its name aside, it seems like the accessory that was meant to be wrapped around one’s leg gave a disproportionately huge stat boost for its size.

Flamm put the leather gauntlet to a separate place and continued to search for another piece of equipment. As it was well known, the deeper you dig, the greater the treasure you may find. It might sound like a weird saying in this context, but true to the saying, the deeper she dug, the more usable equipment Flamm finds. Finding more and more Epic-quality items as she did, Flamm couldn’t help but to smile, while Gadio who was looking over the girl digging through a mountain of cursed equipment looked at her bewildered.

Eventually, including the leather garter she found earlier, she collected three equipment in total.

——————————————————————————

Leather Belt of Agonizing Scream

Rarity: Epic

【Endurance -363】
【Agility -212】
【Intuition -749】
【Removes Poison Resistance】
【Inflicts Pain Amplification】

——————————————————————————

Despite its seemingly exaggerated name, it looked like nothing more than a double prong leather belt with a deep color. Perhaps blood and such had seeped into the leather which caused its uncanny color, but since it doesn’t particularly stink a certain way, Flamm didn’t think too much about it.

Judging by its width and length, its purpose is more decorative than to be something to keep one’s pants in place. Since its rarity is Epic, she should be able to materialize and remove it at will, but it seems that she will be able to wear it normally thanks to its normal appearance, though she’ll have to start thinking about it if she end up hearing mysterious death screams out of nowhere.

“Are you sure about that? The item had Pain Amplification enchantment to it” asked Gadio, concerned over the girl who was nonchalantly wrapping the belt around her waist.

There were no immediate effects on the girl’s body, but the enchantment should have affected her body in some way.

Flamm abruptly sent a strong punch towards the stone floor. Her punch carried such power that the dull sound of her fist slamming on the floor could be heard clearly by Gadio and turned the girl’s knuckles blazing red, which was quickly healed by the girl’s regenerative power.

The girl repeatedly opened and closed her hands before replying;

“It’s got inversed and the pain got dulled instead.”

Gadio furrowed his brows after witnessing the girl’s unhesitant act of self-harm.

“So it numbs your sense of pain, huh. Doesn’t mean you should get reckless because it doesn’t hurt though.”

So he said, but Gadio still felt worried. He witnessed how the girl fights when the two battled against Dain’s underlings, when the girl tends to recklessly charge into the thick of the fight. Understandably so since her Inverse magic would require her to physically touch the target.

That method of fighting is something that can bring fear upon her adversaries. One’s flesh and blood are not expendable, which would cause a normal person to think twice about getting hurt and losing something unnecessarily, but Flamm is someone who thinks and could do otherwise. This method of combat is truly something only the girl can do…but it’s also because of that, the girl tends get injuries more than she needed. Now that she obtained something that abates the suffering of pain, Gadio could only hope that it doesn’t feed into Flamm’s habit.

——————————————————————————

Damascus Gauntlets of the Cackling Slaughterer

Rarity: Epic

【Strength -1312】
【Intelligence -674】
【Intuition -377】
【Inflicts Spontaneous Combustion】

——————————————————————————

The next item she equipped was a gauntlet that had yet another spiky design. The tips of her fingers are covered by black metals that seemed dangerously sharp. Just like the Soul Eater, perhaps cursed items are dyed jet black because it feed on people’s hatred.

Now that Flamm is wearing the new Epic-quality gauntlets, it’s time to say goodbye to her bloodstained Steel Gauntlets. It carried some memories with it since it was a pair of gauntlets she obtained just around the time she first met Milkit, but thinking about it again, it is weird that she felt an attachment towards a bloodstained gauntlet in the first place.

Just as she pondered about what to do with her replaced equipment, Gadio suggested; “you don’t need that cursed equipment anymore, right? Just leave it there somewhere”, so Flamm took his advice and put her old armguard amidst the pile of rusty equipment as she gave the armguard a “thanks for everything”.

Focusing on her hands, Flamm turned her brand-new gauntlet into particles which turned into a blue seal engraved onto the back of her hand. The seal engraved on top of the Soul Eater’s red seal made it look like an intricate pattern.

Just in case, Flamm also decided to stow away her belt, which disappears into particles and became a seal engraved right under her bellybutton, though since there wasn’t any problems with how it looks, there wasn’t a need to stow it in the first place.

Lowering her shirt, the girl decided to materialize the belt once again.

In total, Flamm has 5 items equipped on her, and as a result, Flamm’s total status are as follows:

——————————————————————————

Strength: 1,922
Intelligence: 1,262
Endurance: 1,587
Agility: 1,167
Intuition: 1,723

——————————————————————————

Totaling 7,661, she’s about as strong as a mid-tier A-ranked adventurer, and that’s excluding her Inverse power, her regenerative power and her Cavalier Arts. The girl is truly incomparable to the time when she was sold away as a slave by Jean. Flamm too felt that her body grew lighter, her mana flows in her body, and her five senses are keener than it’s ever been.

“Okay, um…can I take the three I put on?”

“Sure, do as you like with it. Not that I can use it anyways. Cursed Equipment tends to fluctuate greater than normal equipment, so it’ll be a lot more useful if someone can find a practical use for it.”

“I guess the compensation is pretty huge on its own.”

The more someone trains, the more someone fights, the stronger they become and the higher their stats become, but that rule doesn’t apply for Flamm. On one hand, one can say that Flamm had the advantage of being able to equip cursed equipment, but if she’s not wearing one, she won’t be able to fight even an F-ranked monster.

“I wish the Inverse power would work in the way that I’d be able to get stronger by just lazing around.”

“The world isn’t that kind.”

“How I wish it is. Pretty sure no one would complain about it anyways.”

Gadio exhaled at Flamm’s remark, before muttering languidly, “Tell me about it.”

Exiting the basement room, the two climbed back the staircase they came from, and as they emerged on ground level, a little something came dashing to Gadio’s chest.

“Papa, play with me!”

It was Hallom, whose selfishness gauge is completely filled out. Pattering from the far side of the hallway, her mother Celena approached the three.

“Hallom, you can’t just leave mama alone while we play hide-and-seek! That’s too cruel!”

“I guess you’re still you for being so easily deceived, Celena.”

“Ugh…I can’t help it now, can I? Is there any parent who could refuse the wavering puppy eyes of their daughter!?” said Celena, raising her voice in an attempt of hiding her embarrassment.

“Come on, papa~ We can play now, right? Your errand with that person is now over right?”

“That’s true, but you’re being rude to our guest, Hallom.”

Gadio tried to pet the little girl’s head gently to get her to cheer up, but it doesn’t seem to bear any fruits, while Flamm started to feel bad for causing discord between the three’s family time.

“Sorry about this, Flamm.”

“Ah, don’t mind it. That’s just how much Hallom-chan really loves you.”

Of course, Gadio had felt a bit of reservation in honestly expressing his joy. Gadio does not dislike having Hallom around. If Hallom is not his best friend’s daughter and his heart has not been stolen by an existence he referred as Thea…perhaps he could still consider the option of having Celena as his wife.

“Alright then, I’ll excuse myself since it seems like I might intrude upon your family time.”

“Huuh? Are you going home already, onee-chan?”

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Flamm blinked her eyes repeatedly as she heard Hallom’s unexpected response. Since the little girl hasn’t paid any specific attention towards her, Flamm thought the girl never had any interest in her in the first place, but…

“Let’s play together, onee-chan!”

“Come on, Hallom, don’t trouble her like that! Forgive her for saying something weird, Flamm-chan.”

“No…I don’t mind. Am I not going to be a bother?”

“Of course not. If anything, I’d be glad if you can hang out with her for a bit.”

Now that even Gadio asked her, there’s no way she could refuse now, so in the end, with Hallom dragging her by her hand, the two spent hours playing together in the little girl’s room. She refused the family’s invitation for dinner and exited the mansion by then, and the curtain of darkness had already fallen upon the capital.

It’s likely that Milkit was waiting for Flamm’s return at home, so Flamm hastened her pace towards the west district, not wanting to miss dinnertime.

“Oh my, is that Flamm-san that I see?”

However, as she did, someone called out to her. The man who did as the two passed by each other was Reach whom Flamm had never seen in a long while. Wearing a black vest on top of his white Y-shirt, he had quite a rough style with him.

Judging by the fact that he wasn’t escorted by his guards and his hands were empty, it was likely that the man was simply out on a casual walk.

“Since you came from that side of the city, I assume you were visiting Gadio-san’s mansion, no?”

“Well, yeah…wait, did I ever tell you I’m friends with Gadio-san?”

“I’ve heard that you started living together with Eterna Lynnbow. I didn’t think that the person accepting my request for gathering herbs were Flamm Apricot the Hero, but after this far, I’d be blind to not notice. I’d say you’re a cheeky one for keeping it a secret, Flamm-san” said Reach jokingly.

“Please don’t call me a Hero. I was barely of any help when I was in the team.”

“I don’t know what happened, but you deserve to be called a Hero for what you did to save my wife.”

“Aah, speaking of which, how is your wife’s condition?”

The last time she met Reach was during the time she got back from Enichidae after successfully gathering the herb he requested her to. The medicine was administered ages ago, so the result should show anytime soon.

“She’s currently recovering thanks to you. It’s just like magic.”

“Hahaha, I wonder if it’s fine for us to laugh at this joke.”

“I couldn’t help but to bite my lip when I first hear it, even though I knew that we need the medicine precisely because magic couldn’t heal her.”

Though it’s not that Reach’s wife understand the situation, Reach made sure that she wouldn’t tell anyone about her method of recovery. It might partly be because the woman naturally had a good head between her shoulders or it was because she was Reach’s wife that she gained that wisdom, but there are little to no chance that she would expose their secret.

“Oh, Reach-san, what a coincidence to meet you here.”

As the two were chatting, another woman came and greeted Reach. Her outfit cannot be described by anything other than flashy, donning a fur-decorated red coat that also had corsages filled with large flowers stuck to it. Her nails glows in seven different colors and her fingers were decorated by gold rings sporting huge jewels, while her opal hair is a mix of blond, pink and blue.

“Are you out on a walk as well, Satyllus-san?” Reach said, smiling to the woman as he looked over at the burly man escorting the lady as well. Unlike the smile he showed Flamm when he talked to her, his current smile is nothing but a business smile.

With her thick makeup and intense perfume, the woman seemed to follow a certain pattern to the point that Flamm, who was not born and raised in the capital, had heard of her before.

Satyllus Francoise. Owning several branches of businesses, she is naturally Reach’s rival in business, though perhaps because their businesses deal with different things, the relationship between the two is not that hostile since at least the two were still able to pull up a business smile as they meet and have a small talk  with each other.

“Yes, I thought it would be good as a change of pace. Still, it is not a bad little walk since I get to meet you. By the way, is that slave one of yours, perhaps?” The woman’s cold-hearted stare, that which looks down on slaves, turned towards Flamm.

Flamm herself was used to being looked down upon but being used to it doesn’t mean she stops being pissed about it. Just when her stare starts to turn into a glare, Reach jumped in between them.

“Belay the thought. The girl is a truly excellent adventurer, Satyllus-san.”

“Ara? She’s completely unarmed though? Do you know any sort of quests she can take with that getup?”

“We can’t know her true strength just by looking at her outward appearance and the numbers. At the very least, I have complete trust in this girl.”

Not knowing why he would say that much about her, Flamm fidgeted, shifting her footing and changing her posture as an awkward feeling overcame her. Even though she knew it was nothing but lip service, she couldn’t help but to feel uneasy.

“Hmm,” muttered the woman. She looked closely at Flamm from the tip of her toes to the top of her head, perhaps curious as of why a man on Reach’s caliber would say that much about a girl.

However, her gaze suddenly stopped just as she observed the girl, and with a quiet “hm?”, she furrowed her brows as she turned perplexed, likely that she had just used Scan on her and checked her status.

All she must have seen were flat zeroes.

“…well, if Reach-san says that much, I’m sure this girl is someone excellent.”

“Yes, she’s someone truly reliable.”

“Since she doesn’t belong to you and her face isn’t that bad, I thought she can be used in some way, but seems like I have to give up.”

“…used?” Flamm asked, tilting her head, confused about what Satyllus is talking about and what sort of use she’s referring to. That one sentence explained Flamm that she’s the type of person whose sense of humanity was so warped that Flamm intuitively thought that it would be better for her not to get too close to the woman.

“Aah, how I wish a cute slave will come falling from the sky…Reach-san, be sure to let me know if you come across any cute slaves, okay?”

“I’m sorry, but I have a principle not to own any slaves.”

“Is that so? What a waste. There’s no tool as convenient as a slave, you know? Ah, that’s right, let us go to the market together once. You might be surprised how much you’ll be enjoying yourself there.”

Saying with a bewitching laugh, the woman turned around and walked away. Until she disappeared from her sight, her domineering cackle still echoed around the street.

Confirming her disappearance, Flamm stiffly dropped her shoulders and heaved a massive sigh.

“That’s Satyllus Francoise, huh…I guess we’ll have a tendency of coming across someone like that in the East District.”

“As you might have seen, she’s a vixen with a truly awful hobby.”

Flamm was taken aback by the man’s sudden statement, covered in poison.

“I…I didn’t expect you could say something like that, Reach-san.”

“Even I can’t turn a blind eye upon it, you see. Her outward appearance is a manager of clothing and bookstores, but I also know she’s involved in darker dealings.”

Perhaps detailing how much he abhors the woman, the man completely abandoned his efforts of making a business smile.

“Can’t you directly prosecute her if you know that much?”

“I did look her up before, and I did manage to compile enough evidence to prosecute her, but since I know of her business management, I also know that her connections with the church is solid, which is probably why she can hide her dark dealings in plain sight. If I play my cards wrong, I might be the one who’s going to be erased.”

Flamm couldn’t help but to completely agree with the man. She knew that the church would probably even murder the CEO of the Mancathy firm if they need to.

“You seem to know a lot about the church.”

“Since the previous generation we had disputes regarding medicinal herbs. Even now if we bring up the subject of medicinal herbs, we still will clash against each other.”

The church’s misdeeds go over just the issue with their research. Even if it would risk the livelihood of the people, their own conveniences are top priority.

If only there is no institution such as the church, more people should be able to earn better, and more people should be able to attain greater happiness…and the people who thinks that way should not be limited by that one man alone, but the fact that no one can publicly declare that completely illustrates the influence the church had.

“That’s why I had to turn a blind eye to Satyllus’ awful hobby. In fact, I heard that she was in contact with a certain twisted slave trader recently and she could manage to purchase some slaves illegally.”

Flamm sighed. “Why didn’t she go through the legal ones?”

Slavery itself was legal. One that went through proper procedures to become slaves can be traded in sexual slavery through institutions approved by the kingdom.

“She said that normal slaves are comprised of people who already gave up hope, so their reactions are uninteresting. She also disliked the fact that normal slaves are subjects to their own set of rights, and it’s a major inconvenience for someone whose hobby is to torture people.”

“Torture…”

“To be exact, she said that she had the desire to ‘break anything that’s beautiful’,” Reach said, delving into further details. Perhaps he didn’t come through that information by coincidence and instead he got that information from actively investigating the woman. “Though I heard that this slave trader she was dealing with got killed just some months prior. Traders or owners getting killed by their slaves is not an unusual story, but I heard the scene of the crime is so gruesome, with the room filled with corpses and everything. It’s not that the information is disclosed publicly though, since he’s an illegal trader after all.”

Flamm could recall the scene of an illegal merchant trader and countless corpses. As a matter of fact, she personally knows the culprit who killed the merchant; it was herself.

“It seems like those guys are fumbling around to look for a way to collect slaves illegally, but…wait, you seem troubled, Flamm-san. Is there any problem?” Reach asked, looking at the girl’s face worriedly. However, the girl had a bigger problem than to pay attention to what Reach had said.

Illegal slaves, torture, the desire to break anything beautiful, and finally…the dead slave trader.

The puzzle pieces clicked together, and Flamm came towards a single answer.

That woman…Satyllus was—

“Milkit’s former master…”

—and the person responsible for injecting poison into Milkit’s body.

Flamm glared at the corner Satyllus disappeared into, taking a deep breath to withstand the impulse of simply running after her and chopping her up to pieces, as failure in doing so would lead to Reach prosecuting her for what she did in the past.

Still, even if she regained her senses temporarily, the fact stands; she now knows the person who hurt Milkit, and the feeling she harbors in her heart probably wouldn’t disappear until she can do anything about that person.

Perhaps it was because Flamm had went through the death of countless people, or perhaps it was because that’s just how far she would go in reflection of her strong bond with Milkit; Flamm had no hesitation in her heart.

Solemnly, the girl swore.

She will kill her.

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