Conquering players in another world-Chapter 209

"So, let’s ask the obvious first: Anybody knows what that is?" John asked and gestured at the thing on the table. "If it helps, Herman called it a Metracana."

"It does not, I have no clue what it is." The response from Lydia immediately extinguished most of John’s hope of identifying the item.

John looked over to Rave, but she just shrugged and shook her head. Continuing on to Thana, who just looked at the thing with understandable hatred (it had been stuck in her head for the longest time), yielded nothing else. Aside from these the only person who maybe could know something John didn’t was Siena.

’Do you?’ John asked in his head.

’Mhhhh,’ Siena moaned teasingly in response. ’Let’s say I did, what do I get in return?’ ’

’You would get ten minutes to try and kill me or thirty minutes alone with me in bed,’ he offered, he was way immensely curious about this thing.

’Too bad I know nothing then,’ Siena lamented. ’It would have been fun to try and stab you.’

John sighed, so her priority was still murdering him. Well, not entirely unexpected. "Why don’t ya just use Observe?" Rave asked.

"Yeah, funny story," John said and did. He had tried this before, after Herman had ’blanked’ the item. Since then he could put it into his inventory and use Observe without getting a headache but...

"It’s blank. Aside from it being called Metracana Metra and the creator being a ’Sargon of Akkad’, guess Google is where we should take this now," John whipped out his smartphone.

Rave did the same, "I will check the auction for info on Metracana."

John’s search yielded two results. A: a Youtuber who made politically motivated videos, and B: a peasant turned king who built the first historically recorded empire in Mesopotamia in about 2300 BC. The latter one seemed more likely as the source.

Rave’s search resulted in next to nothing. "Yeah, well, it seems like we have stumbled into one of the better hidden secrets in the Abyss," she said with a gleeful expression. "Which I find C-o-o-l, there isn’t a lot of stuff out there hidden enough that you won’t even FIND it on the auction. Wait, nevermind, here is something... behind a 2 Trillion US Dollar paywall though."

"How much?" Lydia asked before John could get a heart attack. The princess seemed in physical pain at the thought of spending that much money on information.

"2 Trillion, here," Rave repeated and then showed the screen to each of them in turn.

"That’s a fuckton of zeros," Thana laughed.

"And something I will not pay for your little mystery and you won’t be able to muster anytime soon," Lydia added. "Therefore, this has no hope of a result."

"Okay, so, to gather what little we know," John mumbled, "this is an old Mesopotamian artifact of probably extreme worth made by the king of Akkad himself. That puts it around 4000 years old...you think we could catch up to Luna and ask her if she knows something?"

"No, but even if you could prepare to pay more than monetary compensation," Lydia said and crossed her arms - "If I may remind you, you are still indebted to me. Push this endeavour into a timeslot after our current business concludes."

"Okay, okay," John tried his best at a calming gesture, "I will, just curious."

"Here is another idea," Thana interrupted, "just smash it until it is completely fucking broken. I volunteer to see that through!"

"Thana, I know that this isn’t the greatest of things you want around you," John said, "but you will have to put up with me on this, because I am way too curious to see what this turns out to be. You don’t have to like it, but you don’t get to break it either." With that statement he put the Metracana away. Clearly, they wouldn’t make more progress on this today, and he didn’t want to have Thana even more worked up than she already was. The day had been stressful enough.

"Okay, can you answer some other questions for me then, Lydia?" John asked.

"Make it quick," the princess said with a look at the clock.

"The whole city is an Illusion Barrier, so I can’t use Create I.D. here, how and or where do I leave the city? I don’t want to spawn out in the middle of some private property in Rome." Leaving an Illusion Barrier in a place that did not exist in real space had interesting effects at times. He wouldn’t just appear in the air and start falling, Gaia assured that much, but beyond that he was best advised finding safe spots to leave.

"There are public exit points all over the city, this mansion has a private one in the garden. It can only be used as an entrance point if you have a key though, so don’t forget to take one with you."

"Are dollars accepted in Abyssal Rome?"

"Every currency is."

"Is there a dedicated trading district or something?"

"Yes, go to the third ring, the crafters have their homes there. I recommend staying on the west side: the quality is best there, the prices are the highest, though. If you are short on money, go to the northside. That district has seen better days, and they are desperate. The quality will suffer, however."

"Great, would you object to me just going out to buy stuff?"

"Just don’t get stuck up in an interview, don’t tell anyone anything important or do something foolish," Lydia demanded, and that was the end of that little question session. The princess moved over to her room and left the rest of the crew to the sound of the crappy romcom still running in the background.

"I’ll go get back to that," Thana announced and jumped over the back of the couch.

"Ya wanna go buy stuff?" Rave asked.

"Yup, namely a new flight-capable object I can possess; with Spellcarrier around I can abuse a flight unit. I will probably go grind a bit afterwards, try to get to level 81. Want to come with?"

"Kinda, but I need to be around for when the furniture arrives. Do me the favour and don’t try any of the new kinds of dungeons, okay? I wanna be around when ya do that."

John had more than enough targets for a first-clear bonus without tackling any of the new mechanics. "Sure, we will see each other when I get back then," John said and left the house (after taking one of the keys that lay in the hallway), alone, a moment later. Not even Aclysia had the time to accompany him.

Of course, he was never truly alone.

"Hey, hey, hey John," Sylph palavered, just appearing next to him as he walked. "What are you going to buy? Is it cool? Tell me it is cool! Like Pew-Pew cool, like your glove cool, like Undine’s attitude towards cold water cool, like the fact that I beat Salamander’s Mario Kart record cool."

"Well," John laughed when he found an opening to talk, "honestly, I am just looking for a new flight unit, so probably nothing that great. My money is kind of limited after all." He strolled through the gardens until he found the frame of a gate just standing around the place. After using Observe to confirm what it was, he turned to leave the island.

He didn’t want to leave the Illusion Barrier, not yet at least, he just wanted to know where the exit was. No, first he would stroll over the market of Rome. When he reached the edge of the mana street, he quickly checked with his elementals. Save for Undine, who was soaking in the bathtub, everyone was around him. John didn’t know WHEN Siena had slipped back into his shadow, but the fact that she had was hardly surprising. After all, the nightmare elemental was a sneaky one.

’Undine, could you come along?’ John inquired. A confused feeling, what would she need him for? ’I feel uncomfortable going out without my healer,’ he explained. Hesitation, then a picture of Romulus. ’Yes, I know we are under his protection during the tournament, but I don’t want to be unprepared. I can live with not having Aclysia around, Gnome can tank as well, but I need you.’

A conflicting mixture of happiness, annoyance and confusion. ’Fine,’ Undine finally said and, by changing into incorporeal form, made her way over to him fairly quickly. It was one of the few advantages that being incorporeal had: they could move towards John at pretty high speeds. Same couldn’t be said for away from him, though.

"Yay, the elementals are going on a date with John, long overdue, long overdue, way too long overdue," Sylph chirped and sat down on John’s shoulder.

"I would actually prefer if you were incorporeal, Sylph," the Gamer told his wind spirit, gently taking her off his shoulders and having her stand on his palms as he spoke to her.

"What? But that’s so boring, I don’t want boring," the mini tempest elemental complained, her long hair cascading through the air as she turned on her heels and pouted.

"Mhm, I understand, but I don’t want to reveal you to the enemy that easily, you are one of my bigger trump cards," John said, but Sylph continued to pout.

"I can blow the enemy just fine if they are prepared, I am Sylph," she turned to John with her wide smile- "Hey, hey, did you know that I am awesome? Because I am! You should give me cookies!"

"Should I? You will get fat, you cute, little fairy you," John teased and tickled Sylph’s tummy with his thumbs.

"Hihihihi," Sylph giggled, and for a few moments, John just continued doing that. Seeing the tempest elemental and her permanently good mood always lifted his spirit in one way or another. Sure, she was annoying at times, but which one of his girls was perfect? "How about this, you still have an allowance to spend;" John told her, "Gnome is the one who decides how it will be spent in the end, but with one hundred thousand dollars, you all should get something nice. I am sure you can convince her to get at least some cookies."

"Yay, cookies, Gnome, Gnome, can we get cookies? With lots and lots and lots of chocolate?" Sylph asked.

’Uhm, I am sure we can find something,’ Gnome agreed.

"Yay, okay, yay, yay, I will stay bodiless for this tour, but I demand a proper going out after you have fought the first time. You don’t have to hide us after that, right, right?"

"That sounds fair," John agreed, and the tempest elemental disappeared, the smell of sweet flowers spreading from where she just had been.

John coughed, the smell was a bit too sweet and reminded him of that one time Frank, his bully back in Springfield, had sprayed deodorant in his face. ’I should punch that guy in the face whenever I get back to Springfield,’ John thought. ’If I ever... with mom no longer living there and me not planning to return to Ashcroft... there are really no reasons to go back there, are there?’

As a matter of fact, John had a few painful memories of that place that he would much rather avoid. The back alley that led, HAD led, into the old Arcade, the hospital that reminded him of Herman, the street where he had killed the Bloodfallen when they had attacked him.

Looking back at it, it still surprised him how little he had cared about the loss of human life. He hadn’t ever since he had gotten these powers. Neither the strangled bodies of the rockers nor the victims of Mana Ray had fazed him. ’I don’t enjoy killing, but I sure am more indifferent towards death than I would have thought before all of this began.’

He stopped thinking about these dark things as the mana streets carried him down towards the city of Rome. He landed on the west side of the third circle, as Lydia had recommended him to.

The streets were packed. Pretty much every house along the main street was a shop of some description. The alleyways seemed to be reserved for restaurants or coffee shops. Weapons, armour, trinkets, poisons, potions, scrolls, books, magical conveniences and items were being appraised by interested buyers. Some people recognized him as he passed by, but none approached him. The crowd was as diverse as one would expect from the heart of a Europe spanning empire. The cosmopolitan atmosphere was universal, underpinned by a thick air of old traditions.

Whatever John might think of Romulus’ ambition to kill Gaia, he had to admit that the guy was not a bad ruler. If there was anything bad that could be said about him, it would be that he was disinterested in modern developments, but the foundation he had laid was well kept and sturdy.

John buried his hands deep in his pockets and walked deeper into the trade district, checking out shops occasionally as he went. His checks were ever only out of curiosity. Apparently, mechanical dolls, like the kind he wanted, were a bit of a niche market. Maybe he should have just bought another one on the auction after all? He had decided to go out and see if the real shops would offer some more extensive services, like the clothing shop for Aclysia had done. Well, here was hoping he wasn’t wrong.

’John,’ Siena suddenly sighed into his inner ear, ’I have some information you would like to know. I would be willing to give it to you for five minutes of freedom to kill you. Condition being that you fight against me on your own, how about it?’

’That would need to be pretty great information,’ John answered, inspecting a sharp looking dagger.

’Yet you are going to agree?’ Siena asked as if the end result of this conversation was only a matter of time.

’Probably,’ he conceded; ’I, however, wonder what you know, that I don’t, which you promise yourself will be more entertaining if you just tell me now.’

’I believe neither of us will be interested in the outcome of this coming to fruition. There’re more entertaining ways to tease you.’

’I’ll agree only if I am allowed to take one other person into our fight,’ John haggled.

’That is satisfying, a deal is struck then.’ Siena took a dramatic pause and then purred, ’You are being followed.’

*****Separate Chapter repeated

John continued walking as if nothing unusual had happened. On the inside he was in turmoil, however. ’Where? Who?’ he asked in quick succession.

The nightmare elemental just giggled, ’That wasn’t part of our deal, so you’ll have to find out on your own.’

John suppressed a sigh of annoyance, ’Well, I guess I will find her by myself.’

’Oh? You noticed her already?’ Siena wondered.

’Nope, I lied, but now I know it’s a woman. Thanks,’ John smugly answered.

’...I could have lied to you,’ Siena returned.

’You are a terrible liar,’ John thought back at her. ’Thanks for warning me anyway, now I just need to filter the correct woman out of the crowd. Shouldn’t be that hard.’

Siena distanced herself from his thoughts, thus making clear that he wouldn’t learn anything more from her. She did leave him with the hint about his stalker’s gender though. Trying to look as nonchalant as ever, he turned into an alleyway and used Possession on one of the bricks of the walls.

If he had to solve this mystery on his own, he would need to start by looking for whoever followed him. Of course, he didn’t expect to find out who by the first alleyway he crossed this way, as the amount of people around was too high to simply filter out one person. The chance of just grabbing somebody who was going in the same direction was too high. If he repeated this strategy, entering an alleyway and then possessing something inside the street to check who entered it behind him often enough, there should only be one person left at the end, however.

’The fact that Siena was able to locate her means that she can’t be much further away from me than five metres,’ John thought, ’so I am searching for a person that is female and is physically following me close by.’

It took around 4 more alleyways before he found the person that was suspicious and another 3 until he was certain that she was the only candidate. A brunette, fairly plain, around her forties in boring worker’s clothes. No one would think about her for an extended amount of time or notice her in passing. Not even an Observe, made during a casual glance over his shoulder, revealed anything of interest, but John had been fooled on that front before, and he was aware that there were ways to obscure what he saw.

’Momo?’ he stretched out to his support back at the mansion as his feet carried him towards the north side of the district.

’What is it?’ she asked, slightly annoyed.

’Can you ask Lydia for me if there is some local law or custom concerning catching an information broker on your tail?’

’...Sure,’ Momo answered after quickly going through his recent memories. About a minute later she returned with the result, ’Long story short: It is a punishable offence, level of punishment varies greatly. Vigilante justice is frowned upon but, in small portions, not strictly forbidden. Local authorities have the right to drag you to court if you overdo it.’

John continued to walk around, seemingly random, in the search of some isolated place. What he found was the backyard of a building that was for sale, lying in the shadow of the tall wall that separated the third and fourth ring.

The informant hesitated when she saw John go there. She had been steadily falling back as the crowds got thinner, and now that her target vanished from the main streets completely, tracking him further would be very dangerous. It would pose too great a risk for her to follow him into such a far-off place. She probably guessed that John had found out about her and was trying to trap her.

The woman came to a halt, hiding at a dark corner, probably thinking about whether it was worth following John further. None of her guesses helped her when Siena appeared behind her; the nightmare elemental’s hand pressed on the woman’s mouth to muffle any cries for help.

As Siena’s claws dug bloody lines into the stalker’s cheek, she whispered, "Such a naughty little girl. It’s time for you to get punished." The spy was dragged away by the nightmare elemental and brought to John, who was waiting for their arrival.

The Gamer had Gnome create two somewhat adequate chairs. Made from stone, they were maybe not the most comfortable seats one could imagine, but at least they were seats. The woman was placed in front of John, and finally, Siena pulled her hands away. Her sharp claws left long, red lines.

The nightmare elemental returned to John’s side. She was the only one of his elementals that John currently had made manifest. "Who are you?" John asked straight out. No answer, just an amused glare. Of course, that would have been too easy.

John observed her clothes one by one. Enchanted vest, Uncommon, nothing important. Sturdy boots, Common, nothing important. Brown gloves, Common, nothing important. Spy’s earring, Rare, Misinformation 2 – Bingo.

He went over the rest of her equipment to find out anything he could or check if anyone was tracking her over a Possession or something of that kind. If there was someone, his hiding skills were stronger than John’s detection. "You done starring?" the woman asked.

"Yes, not much to stare at, really," John stated and gestured at Siena; "As you can see I have a finer woman at my hand."

"Mhm, nicely chosen words," Siena hummed. "I like it. You know what I would like even more, Master?" The nightmare elemental’s claws were suddenly in front of the captured woman’s face. "If you would add a few more wounds to this face. They would be such beautiful scars."

"We will see about this, servant, we will see," John said, careful not to drop Siena’s name, just to be sure. Siena took a step back, and John shifted in his chair, the armguard underneath his suit rustling. "Until very recently," he said, looking at his fingernails as if what he was saying wasn’t the slightest bit important. "I had an information broker on my tail. I am sure you are aware of this."

He was pretty sure that his acting came across as forced, but all he needed to do was back this up with some actions that fit the bill.

The woman just continued staring, a drop of sweat running down the side of her head and mixing with the blood coming from the thin scratches across her cheek. She could act as cool as she wanted, but they both knew that, now that she had been caught, John was not only in the superior position, but that he could do whatever he wanted with her. Even if she screamed now, Siena would cut her throat before any help arrived. The woman was probably thinking that he wouldn’t kill her if she didn’t act up too much. John needed her to think otherwise.

"So, let’s be honest here, did you think I was an easy target?" John wanted to know. "I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised. SecretBlonde gave away VERY extensive information about me. It must have looked like I was just a fool with no idea how to hide myself. Not that that was necessarily untrue. I am going to pin most of this on SB being highly able, however. Having been highly able."

John omitted all reasons for why he spoke in the past tense; all he needed to get across was a simple fact: SecretBlonde was dead. The why should be speculation running through the woman’s mind.

"You wouldn’t kill a harmless woman, would you?" the woman pleaded, ensuring John that she had come to the exact conclusion that he had wanted her to. A hesitant gesture of his hand and Siena cut off the woman’s earlobe before she could react. It fell to the floor together with the earring that had faked out the Observe result.

"Janna Lanko, from the Guild of the Scurrying Rats," John read out loud and grinned beastly. The woman yelped, held her bleeding ear and jumped to her feet. The hope that he would spare her was exterminated by that terribly unsympathetic grin. Siena set after her before she could so much as scream. Thin tendrils of solid shadows wrapped around her limbs as she was violently thrown onto the ground.

Inside the dark corner of the deserted building, the woman was still struggling as John read her Character Sheet a second time, just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.

’John...’ Gnome carefully spoke into his mind, the desperate cries of their victim in the background. They were muffled by the dark tendrils that kept her bound and overpowered by darkly unfitting and sensuous whispers from the shadow spirit.. ’...is this really necessary?’

John closed his eyes and drowned out the sounds as best he could. He did not want to hear them, but he also denied himself the easy option of just walking away and leaving Siena to it. ’Do you want another Herman to happen?’ he asked and was met with silence. ’This is the necessary cruelty, to take everyone who thinks we might be an attractive target off our backs. Just the reputation of what I do to spies who follow me will get most of them off my back. I trusted Victoria, I was betrayed and lost Travolta and Jimmie; I trusted Herman, I was betrayed and lost the best friend I thought I had. If he had wanted to, he could have taken Jane too. No one will ever get to take advantage of me like that again. My trust will never again be cheap, and neither will be my forgiveness. This is the necessary cruelty. We will get this over with, and whoever else spies on me afterwards... they wasted their own lives.’

None of his elementals said anything to that. They all had their opinions about this, whether this was too cruel or not cruel enough, but they accepted it as what it was.

"To not waste my time any further," John said, "let’s find a quick understanding about what will happen to you."

’You have 30 seconds to do with her what you want, but don’t kill her,’ John told Siena. The nightmare elemental grinned wildly, still having the woman struggling on the ground. "30 seconds, I hope your mind can last that long," Siena laughed and started to scratch at the root of the woman’s fingernails.

John would have loved to avert his eyes from the torture, to stick his fingers into his ears and ignore the muffled screams. He wished for no one to see or experience what Siena was doing in the mere thirty seconds he gave her, and the less that was said about it, the better.

The time came to an end, and John had Siena place the woman back in the makeshift chair. The only part of her body that was actually bloody was her left arm. A clear line at her shoulder between where Siena had worked her craft and the rest of her body. True, this terrible display wasn’t deadly, it didn’t even bleed enough to be of short-term concern, but it didn’t take someone schooled in medicine to realize that this arm would never naturally become useful again.

John ground his teeth; he had only wanted the woman to suffer for a bit to underline the point he was about to make. This was already crueller than he had wanted it to be, and of course Siena had pushed his orders as far she could, despite being able to sense his intentions. The nightmare elemental cleaned her hands with a knowing smile. She could feel his anger, and she revelled in it.

Siena’s wish to twist his every order was one thing if it only damaged him, a whole other if she crippled a woman because of it.

John repressed the urge to gulp as the pain-struck eyes of Janna hit him. The panic had vanished, now there was only true pain, the horrific realization that she would die and the knowledge that there was nothing she could do against that. John saw himself in those eyes, not as he currently was, but as the weak kid that had gotten the powers to make everyone pay for his unhappiness.

"Make it quick at least," Janna now pleaded. The answer got stuck in his throat; he only now realized that he had been holding his breath since giving the order. He gasped for air and almost threw a coughing fit.

He had killed before. What was so different about this? He already had come to the conclusion that he needed this to happen to feel safe. ’This is no different from self-defence,’ he told himself; ’You are only doing this to be safe. Do it or Jane will get caught up in another one of your problems!’ "Take out your phone," his tone was surprisingly firm. The woman hesitated. Without any subtlety, John looked at Siena. "I can... always add another thirty seconds," he threatened. Hastily, as quick as her now useless arm allowed her, his orders were obeyed.

"I want you to sell the following information about me, for whatever price you think anyone would pay," he gestured to her to record him. With a shaking hand, she did. "Whoever I find, from today until the day I die, that tries to gather intel on me or my allies, I will hunt down and kill. No mercy, no negotiations, no second-guesses. You will force my hand the moment you invade my privacy. If you work for someone else, you will not be spared. If you place the order, I will get to you," John narrowed his eyes at the camera, "no matter how great the powers that protect you are."

The recording ended, and John stood up. Calmly he walked over to the woman and punched her in the face. Sadly, for her that didn’t do the trick and with a sour expression John delivered a second one. Still she stayed awake. ’Oh, for fucks sake, just, please, get knocked out,’ he mentally prayed as he bashed her head a third time. Thankfully, that did it.

The reason for this was quite easy, he didn’t want her to see Undine. "Make sure there won’t be permanent damage...except for the earlobe," John muttered. He had made his point. Alexej would learn of this, no doubt. This woman, Janna, would probably report back one last time and then go back to missions that were her weight class.

Maybe there were some more capable spies around that watched him from afar, even now. That would make revealing Undine incredibly foolish, and a wave of disagreement came from the water spirit as she had the same thought. She disagreed with this decision: the woman wouldn’t die either way, as Siena had followed his instruction on that front.

Nothing in this world could have convinced him to leave the woman behind in such a state, crippled and bleeding on a winter afternoon, however. So, Undine went to work and healed everything, from the scratches to the missing fingernails. Everything except for the earlobe, which would be a simple reminder, and surface damage.

"I am genuinely sorry if you have a pair of favourite earrings you can no longer wear," John muttered as he looked down on the unconscious spy, "but you made a terrible choice, and we all pay for our mistakes."

"Oh, don’t be so dramatic," Siena cleaned the remaining blood off her claws with a giggle. Evidently, she liked how this had turned out. "You could have given me another minute, her suffering would have been intense," the nightmare elemental moaned.

"How can you take pleasure in the pain of others?" John had to ask.

"It’s in my nature," Siena simply replied.

"And you never had the urge to change that?" he probed further.

"Why would I? It satisfies me deeply," she snickered. "Do you think of me as pure evil now, John? Are you disgusted with me?"

"There is nothing like pure evil," John said, more to himself than to her. "When I contracted you, I thought that maybe I could make you see moral reason and that your body and power would be worth the effort. Now I... don’t know anymore. You are not like Nathalia; you are not a force of nature that has forgotten that you have a benevolent side. You are completely twisted. I don’t even know if you have the necessary awareness to be described as evil." He stopped talking to himself and talked to her instead. "I guess, yes, I am disgusted by you."

"Oh, giving up on me already?" Siena sighed with disappointment. "I would have loved to play for a bit longer."

"No," John denied again and looked into her bright yellow eyes. "I just realized that I can’t reason with you. I am no longer going to think of you as an ally that has lost her way. You are a wild animal, Siena, and I will tame you. When you try to kill me, I will defeat you, when you try to dominate, I will put you in your place and when you do things my way – without me having to specify every sordid detail, I will reward you until the collar your mother put on you is no longer necessary. I will teach you some humility."

Siena stepped up to him, about to say something to answer his challenge.

"Behave," he told her before she could get a single word out. With an annoyed expression she sunk into his shadow. He pushed her to the far-end of his spirit and erected tall walls around her. She would have to sulk on her own, until he needed her again.

His forgiveness wouldn’t be cheap ever again. He had tried too many times to reason with people who didn’t want to see reason. If he had to break Siena down and build her back up from scratch to be free from her constant disruptions, disloyalty and the danger she posed, then it would be so. Enough of the carrots and more of the stick... at least for now.

John constantly glanced over his shoulder, after he returned to the streets.

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