Soul Merger

Rosalina followed the secretary back out of the depths of the Pacio engraver's guild, along with her friends. Apparently paying the hired goons didn't rate the big meeting room, which was fine with her honestly. The people they'd hunted down deserved, well not everything they got, but death for sure. But there was no need to make a big deal of it. Just a need for a lot of cash to be transferred.

"So, what should we splurge on?" she asked as they started up the stairs. "I'm thinking on hitting up one of the real fancy bath salons and then a five course meal before I take Ibaraki on a grand tour."

"Aren't those kinda expens-," Alissa paused and did some hand math. "Wait. Are we rich now?"

"Pah, I could spend four thousand crowns in a night," Rosalina said. Sure she'd never done it before, but it wasn't that hard.

Clara tapped her bulging pack. "Yeah, but we got a sack full of high end delver gear that'll probably double that." Honestly Clara was probably underselling that, even with Rosalina's fuzzy understanding of secondhand economics. They hadn't needed to fry the mage's staff, so there was a pile of spell chips and a high end mithril core just waiting to be pawned off. Plus the rest of the group's gear and a whole mess of engraver goods.

Still that wasn't the important part. "I consider that a challenge. I bet a hundred gold I can burn through everything I earn before sunrise." That way she'd have a hundred gold left over.

Fili sighed. "All in favor of giving half of Rosalina's share to Akari to watch over?"

The dragon snickered in her head as five hands went up, followed hesitantly by Raiel's. Rosalina decided to ignore the blatant treason and instead focus on Kotori. "Why did you agree so fast? You barely know me, and you only learned about money a month ago!"

The harpy shrugged. "Clara seems like the smart one so I agreed with her."

Clara laughed. "Not sure if that's true, but I'll take it as a compliment. Anyway I do agree with the bath bit. Be nice to take a soak somewhere we don't have to worry about giant lake monsters."

"Indeed," Akari said. "I miss having hot springs easily available. Though perhaps we should pick a place slightly less fancy than Rosalina's suggestion." Rosalina sighed. She'd been hoping for the whole rose and lavender petal treatment.

"Um," Fili waved her hand a little. "I know a good place most of the monster tamers use. I think we can get a large double spa for the group."

Rosalina was about to object to going to a monster room when it clicked. Raiel and Kotori were humanoid, but there was no way they'd be let into a lot of the high end spas. And she wasn't going to ditch the two after dragging them all around the wilderness. "Sure! Let's try that Fili."

As they headed out into the street the dragon stirred again. "Well you've avoided hoarding cash again. I imagine you'll engage in quite a bit of heresy before returning to your job as Saint of the Slums."

"I'm not a Saint," Rosalina thought back. Though the dragon had a point. She'd been absent from the slums for a while. Perhaps she shouldn't spend all her money galavanting around. The orphanages would definitely need some support. She'd have to talk to Akari about it after they were finished paying off Ibaraki's debt.

Kotori looked up at the sky and sighed.

Raiel had told her that there were gods of good, forces that worked to bring happiness to all.

If it was true then those losers were slacking. What kinda shitty system gave her flight, then kept sticking her in places she couldn't fly?

Admittedly it was better out here then it was in the dungeon. Here she could stretch her wings, maybe hop from place to place on the boat they'd stolen. The low ceilinged dungeon hadn't even let her do that. But still she missed the open air she'd been allowed to soar through when she was out in the wilds.

Maybe she could talk Akari into moving out to a farm? She'd heard something about the woman living in a barn with cats. That seemed nice.

Well that would have to happen a different day. Ibaraki was in charge now, and the oni and Rosalina were off doing all the fun stuff Raiel kept saying she was too young to do, ignoring the fact that she'd done most of it before the angel had met her. Or at least she was pretty sure she had. Her self pre her was kinda fuzzy in some places.

Kotori hopped down to the deck where Clara was doing some paperwork stuff. "What's all that?"

"Price checks from my merchant friends," the large woman said. "Want to find the best places to offload that gear we grabbed. Normally I'd suggest keeping it in storage, but the whole Rampage mess means good gear is in high demand."

"Hm," Kotori peered over the numbers, but honestly she was still working on reading. That level of math was beyond her right now. Maybe she'd learn it later if it seemed fun. "Kinda sucks they're leaving all that to you."

Clara chuckled. "I'm the best at it. Alissa's contacts are too old to know the best places. And the rest of them have no merchant background. Alissa can check my assumptions and the rest can check the math, but I have to do the initial work. I get to laze around after."

Raiel moved to join them. "I'm impressed at the amount of learning your world has. That everyone would know their letters and numbers well enough to work on a merchant's books is almost unheard of."

"This isn't that good. Pre Fall it used to be better," Clarie said. "We had public schooling that lasted as long as it takes to get a tower certification now." The woman shook her head. "Real pity we lost that. It's kinda infuriating when you have to spend days to figure out something some kid would have just been handed in a schoolbook before."

Kotori stretched a little considering that. "Didn't your world have no magic before the Fall though? How did you know all that stuff without magic?"

"Observation and study," Clara replied. "Don't need a spell to see where the moon rises. Or to use a telescope. You'd be amazed what people can do with just tools." She looked over to Raiel. "Wasn't it kinda similar back on your homeworld? Can't imagine they were relying on magic for everything there."

Raiel shook her head. "I honestly don't know. I came from a peasant family. And not a well educated one at that. I had to learn my letters and numbers from others when I arose as an angel."

"Huh." Clara nodded. "Suppose that makes some sense. Can't imagine everyone in the world knew all the stuff we did pre Fall either. Otherwise we wouldn't have lost so much. But that's interesting. Becoming an angel was kinda a huge change wasn't it?"

"Yes," Raiel replied. "Something I'm still trying to work through I feel."

Kotori grinned. "Well if angels are supposed to be like overbearing parents you're doing good!"

Her mood soured when Raiel pouted. "Um, it's not that bad. I don't hate you or anything. Just you're totally fussy sometimes over minor stuff."

Clara's heavy hand came down and patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. She's just feeling bad because you insinuated she's an old woman."

To Kotori's surprise Raiel blushed. "What? That's not- I'm ageless!"

"Huh," she mused. "So Raiel has feelings like that."

The city was annoying. But it was better than the dungeon. She was learning all sorts of interesting things here.

The sandwich place Sera had recommended was really good, Alissa decided as she cleaned off an errant bit of horseradish sauce. They obviously cared a lot about fresh ingredients, which really made the difference. Most places in the city obsessed more about the meat and cheese quality. But there were limits to how good you could get there. It was the vegetables that decided the quality in the end.

"So how have things been for you?" she asked.

"Pretty normal," Juli said. "Business is starting to pick back up. Rich folk are getting out of the holes now that the wrath of the people is sated. Though the idiots are a little more handsy than before. Might be they're testing what they can get away with at a new club."

Sera shook her head. "I'm kinda glad I got out. Anyway it's been okay for me. Still getting used to customer service that involves actual products instead of just acting nice to idiots. But the tricks are the same."

"Except you can't ask someone with a stun stick to zap bad customers," Juli replied. Sera rolled her eyes.

Alissa snorted. "She can. It just will take a while for me to show up. It'd be funny seeing someone get blasted for trying to browbeat a discount off a merchant with obvious nonsense."

"Don't tempt me," Sera replied. "Anyway how are you doing? I know you ran off for some special mission."

"Yeah that." Alissa sighed. "Went good and bad. Completed the mission but that damn succubus is still out there. Told me to go to an arena. Which is three different flavors of worrisome."

"Uh crap." Sera shivered and Juli looked worried. "How's that thing not dead? Maybe you could mention that to some of the guilds out there. Bet the Crimson Maidens are still hunting. Probably the Silver Guard as well."

Alissa considered that for a moment before nodding. It was a good idea. She wanted to kill it personally, but leaving the damn thing flying about was a terrible idea. "Will do. Anyway I don't suppose either of you heard about this arena thing?"

"Nope," Sera said.

Juli shook her head too. "Haven't heard a thing about an arena or even a fighting ring. But then we didn't hear about that monster brothel either."

"Yeah but I'd bet people are a little less interested in bragging about their trips to a brothel to a girl they're trying to impress," Alissa said. "Illegal fighting ring's probably more sexy."

"You'd lose the bet," Sera said with a sigh.

Alissa nearly choked on her drink. "Really? Some people actually brag about going to brothels in a hostess bar??"

"Yep!" Juli said with a wry grin. "It's a great red flag. You know by the end of the evening they'll pull down their pants and act like that's supposed to impress you."

She was starting to understand why Sera wanted to quit. Alissa shrugged. Well Juri seemed to think that was funny or something. More power to her.

"Ah! Alissa!"

She looked up to see Fili was walking by. "Oh hey Fili. What's up?"

"I was looking to meet up with my friends and see if they knew anything about the arena. Maybe it's a magical association or something instead of a real fighting ring. I figured it'd be helpful to check that sooner rather than later." The mage looked over. "Sera and Juli right? Good to meet you again." A faint hint of violet came off Fili.

"Pleasure," Sera said with a quick wave.

Juli grinned and gave a wink. "Thanks for looking after our Alissa here. Hear you helped get her to move on from being a customer to something more so thanks for that too."

"Ah, it's nothing." This time it was strawberry and moss. "Anyway I don't want to intrude. I'll see you later, Alissa!"

"You don't-" Alissa was a moment too slow to keep Fili from hurrying off. "Drat. I thought strawberry was a good sign."

Juli and Sera looked at the mage then back to her. Sera spoke up first. "So, you do know she's got a huge crush on you, right?"

Alissa blinked. "What? She's nothing but nice. Like I know she likes girls but she's not the type to just become a drooling mess at the first pretty face she sees."

She felt mildly annoyed as the two both rubbed their foreheads. "When was the last time you considered dating someone?" Juli asked

"Well that's-" Alissa shook her head. "I don't see how that's relevant."

"Alissa. Dear. You are utterly clueless about romance." Sera locked eyes with her. "When she has a choice between giving multiple people attention does she favor you?"

"That's-" Alissa chewed her lip. "How would I know? I don't pay attention to that."

Juli smirked. "But you pay enough attention to know what perfumes she picks out on good days?"

"I don't think that's a perfume, I think that's her slime," Alissa said. "And I notice things okay. It's part of my merge."

"Sure, sure." Juli shook her head. "I bet that Rosalina girl's already pointed this out to you too."

"She-" Alissa hesitated then turned pleading eyes to Sera. The elf just shook her head in response. "That's...."

Sera sighed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. The important question is what do you intend to do. Because if you aren't planning on dating her it won't matter. She'll get another crush eventually."

A flicker of irritation sparked in Alissa's chest. "Hey, I didn't say-"

Both her friends looked her right in the eyes. "So are you gonna date her?"

The irritation faded into a warmth across her cheeks. Fili was cute and fun to be with. Was she ready for a relationship? She wasn't sure.

But if not now, when?

"Alright you win," Alissa said. "I'll ask her out." She glared at the two. "But if you're wrong and she gets weirded out by it you'll both owe me big."

"Have fun!" Sera replied sweetly.

Juli winked then paused and pulled herself up straight, letting her ears settle. "Wait, no I should say this seriously. That girl's probably got as much or more baggage than you do, so you better take my advice here. If your date goes well, give her at least a goodnight kiss. And not some cutesy thing."

Alissa sighed again, but in for a penny... "Why?"

"Because the slime merge girl probably has serious body issues," Juli replied bluntly. "Just a guess. And if you want her thinking she's got any chance past a pity date you gotta show her that's not a turn off." Sera nodded.

"We'll see." It seemed like getting way ahead of things given the date hadn't even been decided on, but she'd keep it in mind. "First I'm finishing my lunch."

Then she'd find Fili.