Chapter 78: Remielle: This Figure...Beyond Doubt! (Patreon)

"It's all your fault… I'm still a little sore," Cecilia said reproachfully the next morning as she ate breakfast upstairs, glaring at Musachi across the table.

Heaven knew what Musachi had put her through last night. Her bones felt like they were about to fall apart from the pounding.

"Can't be helped. Who told you to wear Remielle's clothes? Didn't you know that kind of thing gives a buff?" Musachi said with a grin.

He bit a small hole into the top of a soup dumpling and gently sucked out the broth inside.

As he sucked, he arched an eyebrow at Cecilia and waggled it, clearly hinting at something.

Seeing that, Cecilia flushed with embarrassment and anger and lashed out with a smooth little foot, kicking Musachi once.

Only after the kick landed did she regret it. Why were Musachi's bones so hard…?

"Ssss—"

She yanked her foot back and sucked in a cold breath.

"What's wrong?"

Musachi looked at her innocently, as if nothing had happened.

"Nothing. It just feels like a mosquito bit my foot," Cecilia said with a shake of her head, puffing out her cheeks.

"What? A mosquito bit you? Hold on, I'll draw out the poison for you!"

As he spoke, Musachi dove straight under the table and grabbed Cecilia's little foot.

Before his eyes was a smooth, pale foot, the veins clearly visible on its instep. Five toes like cardamom buds curled slightly under his touch, as if struggling.

"Wait, what are you doing? It's just a mosquito, what poison? Let go, now!" Cecilia said in a panic.

"That's where you're wrong. Even a mosquito carries plenty of toxins, malaria included… It's dangerous if you get infected! So for the sake of your health, I've decided to suck the poison out!"

With that, Musachi leaned straight in toward the top of Cecilia's foot.

He looked like he meant to swallow her whole foot.

The closer he got, the more clearly he could smell her fragrance.

It was obvious Cecilia kept herself spotless. Even her feet were well cared for, without the slightest blemish or odor, and the whole sole looked pink and tender and quite adorable.

"Get lost!"

Seeing what he was doing, Cecilia quickly stuck out her leg and planted her sole on Musachi's face, refusing to let him come any closer.

But she pulled it back almost at once.

When Musachi climbed back up, he saw that Cecilia had gone from sitting properly on her chair to hugging her legs and perching on the table in a ball.

When his gaze fell on her, he could see half her face peeking out from the hollow between her knees, looking at him with faint resentment.

"Done eating? It's hard to eat in that position," Musachi said with a grin, arching an eyebrow.

"Done. I'm too angry to be hungry."

Cecilia rolled her eyes and went back into the room.

When she came out again, she was fully dressed.

And she had already stripped off Remielle's sheets, duvet cover and everything.

"What's all this for?" Musachi asked, taken aback.

"Washing them, obviously. I sweated so much last night, and Remielle will definitely notice when she gets back," Cecilia said, rolling her eyes.

"She can't come back for a couple more days anyway. Washing them in a couple of days is the same."

"You're planning to make me stay here another two days?" Cecilia rolled her eyes again and spoke flatly.

Clearly, once was enough for this kind of thrill. Apart from the excitement of the first day, anything after that just piled on the risk, so Cecilia figured one day was plenty.

"Fine…"

Seeing her expression, Musachi couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

He'd been planning to keep Cecilia here for another couple of days.

"All right. When the sheets dry, make Remielle's bed yourself. I'm not dealing with it. I'm off now, you little rascal," Cecilia said with a wave and a smile at Musachi.

Then she left.

Watching her back as she went, Musachi felt a bit wistful.

After that, Musachi opened the shop. With nothing better to do, he sat down at the computer and opened the Inter-Knot.

Although he had a computer, he didn't really enjoy gaming anymore.

To him, browsing the Inter-Knot and watching videos was more fun than games, since gaming was tiring.

Fortunately, heaven didn't seem to want him idle. Before long, a figure came knocking at the door.

"Hm? Isn't this our Big Sister Venus? What wind blew you in?"

Musachi arched an eyebrow at the bright, pretty Venus standing in the doorway and greeted her with a grin.

They'd both been busy lately and hadn't seen each other in ages.

Though they hadn't met in person, they'd kept in touch over social apps.

"What, can't your big sister come see you without a reason? Sigh, once you became a famous Proxy, you really did forget where you came from…"

She wiped away tears that weren't there, hamming it up.

"How could I? Even if I became a Void Hunter, I'd never forget Big Sister Venus. You're the white moonlight on my Proxy path! Loyal to the end!"

Musachi stood up straight and saluted, looking like Venus's own loyal little soldier.

"Hehe, okay, joking aside, I know you haven't forgotten. But I do have a commission for you."

Venus said with a smile.

"Then why not just ping me on Knock Knock? Did you really have to make a special trip for this?"

"It wasn't a special trip. I happened to be in the area, so I dropped by," Venus said with a laugh.

"All right, all right, let's talk about the commission. An Agent posted a treasure-hunting job, with the proceeds split fifty-fifty. The location is Ballet Building. It's pretty dangerous there, and the newbie Proxies under me aren't up to it. After thinking it over, you're the only one left."

Venus said with a smile.

"Ballet Building? I'll take it."

Musachi nodded and didn't say more.

"Here's the Agent's contact info. Good luck!"

Venus didn't linger. Once she finished explaining the commission, she waved and left the shop.

"Little 78, watch the shop."

Musachi gave the instruction, and once Little 78 answered with its "nya, nya," he headed out.

…

After selling what she'd brought out of the Hollow, Beli rented a flat in New Eridu, so she finally had a place to stay for the time being.

But New Eridu was an expensive place, and after paying the rent and buying some daily necessities, Beli didn't have much money left.

So she posted a commission on the Inter-Knot. One way or another, she needed to scrape together some cash first.

A single Denny can stump a Void Hunter!

"Hm?"

As Beli was thinking, she suddenly heard a voice behind her.

"If I'm not mistaken… you're my client?"

Musachi's voice came from behind her, and hearing that familiar voice, Beli was startled.

"I never expected to run into you here, kind Shopkeeper."

Beli sighed, then said calmly.

"Same here. I didn't expect the client this time to be you."

Musachi shrugged and looked with a grin at the dashing Beli before him.

Compared to that day, she was in black clothes that were easier to move in, and she looked sharp and capable. But even in black, which didn't show off a figure much, her slender frame was still on full display before Musachi.

In her hand she carried a tachi.

"I won't say more. Let's head into the Hollow first. No problem, right?"

Beli said with a smile.

"Of course not. As a Proxy, I'm very reliable!"

Musachi nodded.

Seeing that, Beli couldn't help smiling.

"Come to think of it, if I'd known you were a Proxy, I might have just gone straight to your shop. But what a coincidence. I only posted a random commission, and the middleman recommended you."

Beli said, a bit amazed.

Musachi nodded too. It really was a little suspicious.

He hadn't cast any divination, so how had things lined up so neatly?

Still, he couldn't figure it out, and he let it go. There'd been enough strange things happening around him already. One more wouldn't matter.

"By the way, if it's Ballet Building, the lower floors should be empty. Even though the Hollow is dangerous, it's close to New Eridu, so plenty of Hollow Raiders go in to scavenge. If you want rare items, you have to go to the upper floors. It's dangerous up there, and high-risk Ethereals haunt it, so ordinary Hollow Raiders don't dare go. But your strength should be enough, right?"

Musachi said, looking at Beli beside him as he made his suggestion.

"I'd like to think I'm fairly strong?"

Beli scratched her head, sounding a little unsure of herself.

She didn't know what level a Void Hunter in this world, a hundred years later, would be at. But no matter what, stats shouldn't have inflated to the point where level-seven Ethereals were fair game for anyone, right?

"It's nothing. Honestly, the Ethereals here at Ballet Building aren't that hard to deal with. Their traits are just strange, and ordinary Agents have a hard time killing them."

Musachi shook his head.

He'd heard the legend of the Ghost Twins of Ballet Building too.

In fact, Musachi had seen posts on the Inter-Knot from powerful Agents, and quite a few of them claimed to have wiped out the ghosts of Ballet Building. But after a while, they'd show up again… just like real ghosts that couldn't be destroyed.

"It's fine. I'm not an ordinary Agent."

Beli shook her head with a light laugh.

"Then I'm pretty lucky. I step out the door and run into a Void Hunter."

Seeing her confidence, Musachi teased her with a grin.

He'd guessed?

Hearing Musachi's words, Beli froze, then looked over at him.

But after a moment she saw no sign on his face that he'd seen through her. He was probably just joking offhandedly?

Thinking that, Beli didn't dwell on it.

"Forget it. Let's go up first."

Beli shook her head and suggested to Musachi beside her:

"I have a route that gets us quickly to the unexplored zones on the upper floors, but we have to take a detour."

"No need. Let's save time and take the fastest route."

Hearing Musachi's proposal, Beli shook her head.

Seeing that, Musachi could only nod.

She was the one paying, after all, so he'd go with her call!

That said, Musachi still picked a route with fewer Ethereals.

Compared to the routes piled with Ethereals, this one was relatively safer.

Only relatively, of course. The Hollow where Ballet Building stood had always been dangerous.

Luckily, Beli's strength was genuinely formidable. Along the way, Musachi and Beli ran into plenty of Ethereals, but none of them could withstand a single slash from Beli.

Even an Ethereal close to level four took only one slash from her.

Though the brief fights hadn't revealed Beli's true strength, there was one thing Musachi could now confirm.

That was… Beli was the figure from the footage that day.

Thinking of that, Musachi reached for his phone, only to remember there was no signal inside a Hollow.

Though Beli finished every fight cleanly, by Musachi's estimate this person had Void Hunter-level strength.

As for the yardstick, it was Hoshimi Miyabi.

When he'd carried out a mission in Hollow Zero before, Miyabi had shown a similar level of strength.

And since both of them used tachi, the comparison was even more straightforward.

"Hm? Looks like we're in luck."

After opening a searchable, Musachi looked at what appeared and arched an eyebrow.

"This is…"

Beli looked curiously at the object in his hands.

"A Void Hunter doll. It looks just like Hoshimi Miyabi."

Looking at the chubby Bangboo doll, Musachi couldn't help complaining. "Who designed this? A Bangboo body with a human head… There's no such Bangboo!"

"You're just scared."

Beli said with a smile.

"Who wouldn't be?"

"It only looks creepy at first. After you look at it a while, it's kind of cute. Also, this Bangboo should be the doll of the first-generation Void Hunter, the third head of the Hoshimi Family. It's not the same person as the Void Hunter you know today."

As she spoke, Beli took the doll, and a flash of reminiscence crossed her eyes.

"Still, it's Void Hunter merchandise from a hundred years ago. We're going to make a fortune off this. It'll fetch quite a bit."

Musachi said.

No wonder some people liked being Hollow Raiders. Picking up a few things here and there was an ordinary person's monthly wage.

This doll alone was conservatively worth five hundred thousand Dennies…

Though the danger level was high, of course.

After that, the two of them scavenged the Hollow for a while longer.

Aside from that first Bangboo doll, nothing else was nearly as valuable.

Still, the goods in the danger zones were truly worth the trouble. Musachi ran the numbers, and conservatively they'd get about a million Dennies each.

Of course, only Musachi and Beli could play it this way. Ordinary Hollow Raiders didn't have the strength to reach somewhere this deep.

They only came in to pick at the safer edges, and only Musachi and Beli were strong enough to push in hard.

Or rather, Beli was strong enough to push in hard, since Musachi's current identity was still a Proxy, the kind without much fighting ability.

"Please wait a moment."

Just as Beli was about to leave, Musachi stopped her.

"What is it? Is there something else?"

Beli was puzzled. Musachi had been holding his phone for a while now, as if contacting someone.

"A friend of mine is coming over in a bit. She's very interested in you," Musachi said with a smile.

"?"

A trace of confusion crossed Beli's face. She didn't understand why he'd say that.

"You'll see when she gets here."

"Fine…"

She didn't know what Musachi was up to, but seeing his sincere expression, Beli nodded anyway.

She'd had a fairly good first impression of Musachi. Otherwise, with anyone else she'd have left long ago.

Half an hour later.

A figure slowly flew in from the edge of the sky.

Winged Thiren could fly, though ordinary ones couldn't fly high or far.

But Remielle was different. She was strong, and her body was tough enough to sustain intense flight.

After landing, Remielle, her expression hurried, didn't even greet Musachi. She looked straight at Beli, unable to wait.

Then her face changed drastically.

That figure… Yes, there was no mistake. It was absolutely her.