Chapter 163: Chapter 163 - F-rank Quest Complete

"A succubus," Austin repeated. "I’m talking about a literal, drop-dead gorgeous demon of the night who calls herself Gracie."

Ayako narrowed her eyes, the previous lightheartedness completely vanishing from her posture. "Explain yourself, Austin. What precisely gave you the impression that Gracie is a succubus? Demonology is not a subject to be broached lightly, especially given the current crisis."

"Because... because she literally invaded my dreams! I swear I’m not making this shit up! I had this crazy, vivid dream a little while back where this naked woman attacked me. She pinned me down to the bed, forced herself on me, and then she completely drained me!"

Kurt raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms "Drained you? You mean she siphoned your mana or something?"

"No! I’m not talking about my mana! I am talking about my life essence!"

"Your... what?"

"My jizz! My semen!" Austin yelled, completely losing his filter in his panic. "She drained my semen, okay?! She’s a succubus! It’s what they do!"

"""...""" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

A profoundly uncomfortable silence fell over the clearing.

Isabel’s face immediately turned red, slamming her hands over her burning cheeks and spinning around on her heel to face the horses.

Ayako, usually the picture of aristocratic grace, took a distinct step backward, her lips parting in mild horror as she looked at Austin as if he were a particularly strange species of insect. Ironic, considering the danger they just faced.

Even Kitty, perched on Kurt’s shoulder, let out a judgment-filled sigh as he stared at Austin blankly.

"Anyway," Austin muttered. "I just find it incredibly weird and terrifying that this ’Gracie’ person suddenly showed up again, but now in the physical world. Why is she stalking me?!"

Ayako slowly recovered her composure, turning her gaze toward the empty carriage door. Her eyes flared with a faint, crystalline blue light as she scanned the residual mana in the air.

"Her dark mana signature still lingers very faintly inside the carriage... but it’s fractured and scattered. Regrettably, she is truly gone."

Austin’s eyes went wide, and he practically threw himself toward Ayako. Though he wisely stopped a few feet short of her blade. "She’s gone?! What if she’s waiting for me in the woods? Lady Izumi, please! I don’t want to go through that again! You have to protect me!"

"Haaa. I shall extend my protection to you only until we breach the gates of the capital. Once we are within the city limits, your safety is entirely your own prerogative. For I have many other things that require my attention."

"Deal! Absolutely a deal! ARIGATO!"

Kurt, meanwhile, looked over at Isabel. The maid was no longer covering her face; instead, she was looking down at the muddy ground with her shoulders slumped and a heavy sadness radiating from her small frame.

"Isabel. You okay?"

"I... I just don’t understand, Master. We fought so hard together. I thought Gracie and I were becoming friends after everything we went through in the village. To think she just up and left without saying goodbye... and to hear that she’s a demon..."

Ayako shared a look of sympathy for Isabel then turned her sharp gaze toward Austin again. "Tell me, Austin. Did you inadvertently forge a binding contract with this entity recently?"

"Wha–! No! Hell no! I didn’t sign anything! I was a victim!"

"Hmm. Then it is highly probable that you are somehow cursed, or perhaps she marked you during your last encounter. Once we arrive in the capital, I suggest you immediately make your way to the church. The priests there specialize in purgation and spiritual cleansing. Perhaps they can extract whatever tether she left on your soul. The current Saintess is also in Eldoria. If all else fails, you must ask her for help. Though I hear her miracles are quite expensive."

"R-Right. Church. Holy water. Will do..."

"Good. Now, I believe we have squandered enough time. Austin, are the specimens inside the laboratory still secure?"

"Yes, Lady Izumi. Fully intact and perfectly frozen," Austin replied, instantly slipping back into his obedient act.

"Excellent." Ayako nodded toward Kurt and Isabel. "Follow me. We must catalog the evidence before we transport it."

’Damn. No wonder she’s the heiress to her clan.’ Kurt thought as he followed her inside.

Austin took a deep breath, preparing to follow them over the threshold, when a deep, smooth voice suddenly echoed directly inside his mind.

[Austin.]

"Holy–!"

He quickly shot a glance at Kurt, Ayako, and Isabel, ensuring they were fully inside and out of earshot.

Once he was certain he was in the clear, he dropped his gaze down to his own feet, staring directly into the dark, shifting contours of his own shadow on the wooden porch.

"Gary?" Austin hissed under his breath. "Where the hell have you been this whole time?!"

[....]

"Well?!"

[I’ve been hiding inside your shadow the entire time.]

"Is that so!? And what exactly have you been doing!?"

[Sleeping? Listen, Austin. For now, you need to maintain your composure and follow the others. We need to ride their coattails all the way back to the capital where it’s safe.]

*Tsk* "Fine! Also, since you just woke up, I’ll tell you now already. Do not be reckless. It turns out that Kurt is also here, and it looks like he’s firmly on Ayako’s side. Whatever you do, do not try to kill him. Them teaming up against us is like asking for a death wish."

[I am fully aware of his capabilities,] Gary’s voice carried a rare hint of caution. [I have no intention of provoking them.]

"Good," Austin muttered, turning back toward the door to rejoin the group.

Before his hand could touch the brass doorknob, Gary’s voice echoed one final time. The usual cynical edge was completely absent from his tone. It sounded genuinely heartfelt.

[Austin.]

"What?"

[... Nothing. I am glad you are safe.]

*Tsk* "Whatever, man. I’m... I’m glad you’re safe too, I guess..."

[Though I must say, the way you described this "Gracie" character as "drop-dead gorgeous". Was she your type? Gonna add her to your harem?]

"S-Shut the fuck up!" Austin snapped aloud, throwing the door open in a huff as Gary’s echoing laughter filled his mind.

......

Inside the underground laboratory, the air remained freezing cold, courtesy of Ayako’s lingering ice magic.

The group stood huddled around the primary workbench and stared directly at the frozen statue of the cultist whose face was locked in a mask of screaming fury.

"Yeesh, this guy looks angry. Who rocked his shit? He looks like he desperately wants to strangle the life out of somebody."

"That ’somebody’ would be Austin, Rossana-sama. Right before I froze him, the cultist discovered that his young assistant wasn’t quite who he claimed to be. He was... in the process of attempting a lethal termination of Austin’s employment when I intervened."

"Huh. I see. Good timing, then."

His gaze then drifted past the cultist, landing squarely on the second, much larger block of clear blue ice. Inside it lay the pale, ethereal form of a woman.

"And who exactly is she?" Kurt asked.

"This is the body of the previous Saintess. I have no idea how the cult managed to kidnap her corpse. It appears she was the primary source and medium for the cultist’s wicked biological experiments regarding the infected."

Isabel let out a sharp gasp, her hands flying to her mouth as her eyes widened. She stumbled back a step, completely overwhelmed by the gravity of the revelation. "The Saintess... the holiest figure of all, used for such filth? It’s... it’s horrible!"

Kurt, however, didn’t flinch. His expression remained entirely stoic. Ayako watched him closely, expecting the same shock that Isabel had displayed, but he merely stared at the frozen woman.

’I can’t really say I don’t know the significance of the ’Saintess’ status in a world like this. However, judging from Isabel’s reaction and Ayako’s tone, it’s probably a massive political and spiritual shitstorm. But right now, a corpse is a corpse, and a piece of evidence is a piece of evidence. Getting emotional won’t fix the damage.’

"Well," Kurt said aloud, breaking the silence. "Let’s give this entire lab a full sweep. Gather anything remotely incriminating, pack up the two bodies, and let’s get the hell out of this swamp."

"Agreed."

"Yes, Master."

Kurt began sorting through piles of stained parchment on the main desk until his hand brushed against a thick leather-bound book hidden beneath the mess.

"Hey, I think I found a journal."

The group crowded around as he flipped the book open.

The pages were filled with messy notes, punctuated by complex alchemical diagrams and sketches of human anatomy intertwined with insectoid segments.

Kurt scanned the lines and furrowed his brow as the terms became increasingly hard to understand. "Can anyone actually read this? It’s all gibberish to me."

Ayako glanced at the pages and tried piecing it together. "These are his personal notes detailing the specifics of his experiments. However, the cipher and the magical terminology used here make absolutely no sense when looking at them casually..."

Kurt let out a heavy sigh and closed the book with a dull thud. "Fine. Let the experts and the royal researchers or whatever take over from here when we report back to the capital. We’ve got what we came for. Let’s leave."

A sudden, practical problem occurred to Kurt as he looked at the two massive, incredibly heavy blocks of ice. "One issue. How exactly are we going to get these two frozen bodies back to the capital? They aren’t exactly going to fit in the passenger seats of the carriage."

Austin immediately piped up, eager to be useful. "Ah! There is a large, slightly broken wooden supply cart around the side of the house! The wheels are still intact; we can easily hitch it to the back of the carriage."

"Perfect."

Without a word of complaint, Kurt walked over to the frozen cultist and hoisted the heavy block of ice onto his shoulder. His mana-enhanced muscles strained slightly under the dead weight.

Ayako then raised her left hand, channeling a calm wind spell that lifted the ice coffin into the air, letting it float effortlessly behind her like a balloon.

The process of securing the cart to the back of the main carriage took twenty minutes of hard labor in the humid swamp air.

Once the two frozen packages were safely secured, Kurt climbed up onto the passenger steps, looking over at Isabel, who was once again holding the leather reins of the horses.

"Hey, Isabel. Tell me something... is this how all F-rank adventurer quests turn out? Because if so, I might start to actually fear for the future." He joked.

"Hahaha... I believe this was the exception. Not the rule."

Ayako, who was stepping into the carriage behind him, paused on the ledge. "My, Rossana-sama. If F-rank assignments truly involve unearthing international conspiracies and battling such monsters, then I might genuinely have to reconsider being the formal heiress to my clan. Perhaps I shall renounce my title and become a simple adventurer alongside you."

"NO!" Austin suddenly yelled from the back.

Everyone stopped, turning their heads to look at him.

Austin froze, realising he had just screamed at one of the most powerful high-ranking nobles in the world. He immediately let out a loud, incredibly nervous chuckle, rubbing his arm as his face flushed.

"I mean... no, Lady Izumi! Your clan absolutely needs you, haha... Myria would fall into utter chaos without your lineage! You can’t just run off and become a mercenary..."

Ayako stared at him for a beat, her expression completely unreadable, before a small smile touched her lips. "I am fully aware of my duties, Austin. I was merely jesting. Also, I believe Myria will be just fine under the rule of the current Shogunate – but thank you for the kind words."

Austin let out a massive, visible sigh of relief, wiping his brow. "Right! Ha ha! A jest! A truly excellent joke, Lady Izumi!"

Ayako didn’t laugh further. She simply shrugged her shoulders and stepped into the interior of the carriage. Kurt followed her, taking his seat across from Austin, who quickly scurried in and claimed the corner furthest away from the one-eyed assassin.

Isabel sat straight on the driver’s box, the sadness in her eyes slowly giving way to a quiet, focused determination. She looked out at the long, winding road that would finally take them out of this place of death and back toward the high walls of Eldoria.

She lifted the leather reins, snapping them down with a sharp crack.

The horses let out a collective snort, their hooves digging into the dirt as they pulled the heavy carriage and its grim cargo forward. Leaving the gnarled trees of the swamp and forest behind them as they began the long journey back home.