DD 203 Ch 11 (Patreon)

Chapter 11

Prince Albar returned from his raid to his gigantic tent, throwing off his armor into a pile for his manservant to clean and polish.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid two more have declined our request," the servant reported.

The prince glared at him. That was his fault. Anyone who failed the prince and his family might as well die.

This servant had been with his family for a while and had a fairly good track record. 

However, his failure to hire now six assassins was grating on him. Not that he'd show it. 

"Fine, fine," the prince waved his hand dismissively. "We will just have to adjust our strategy. Rather than getting rid of them soon, we'll have to lull them into a sense of complacency." Yes, this would work just as well.

"Very good, sir," his manservant dipped his head. "As always, you're brilliant."

The prince smirked. He knew that, but it was always pleasant to hear it. "Anyway, give it two weeks, and then we'll do the rounds again, though this time we'll do it with a lower offering. Someone will be desperate, and see that it's going down, and realize they have a limited time to take advantage of this opportunity. How'd the deposition for Crimson go?"

"Fabulously. Crimson admitted to her relationship with-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP," Prince Albar snapped at his manservant. "Don't even want to hear it. He’s done nothing with her because she’s mine." Prince Albar said with such fierceness as if he could will it into existence. "That elf fucker, and now a cat fucker, likely doesn’t even have usable equipment. Anyways, just make sure Crimson is taken care of. We can't have her lingering around, or we'll never be able to kill Ken and that bitch elf princess."

"Sir, I must advise you that killing the future empress, Elysara, will have negative consequences."

Prince Albar waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing money can't fix. And when she's dead, the elves, their emperor, and whoever is next in line will understand that they have to work with us in order to make the money they want. It's always about the money, Derge."

"Of course. Is there anything else you'll need?"

"Buy out all the potions, all the gear, on the 35th floor safe zone. And report back to my father that we should further restrict the resources flowing. And then we can pin the blame on the elves and turn the community against them. How dare they raise themselves up to try and fight me in a battle of business," the prince sneered.

No one could rival SJS Financial's might within the realm of finances. Even if they were only number two, that they were held responsible by only a select few allowed them to exert far more pressure than any of the other financial institutes.

Even the elven world couldn't stand up to them from all the information that they had gathered. The elven world wasn't nearly as populous as earth, much of their world uninhabitable. 

"Increase the guard outside," Prince Albar waved his manservant out. He lounged down on the bed where two mobile AC units pumped cool air into his tent, making it a pleasantly chilly environment. Even if most of it wafted out into the dungeon itself, at least his tent was the way he liked it. 

The prince would have to solve his problem soon.

The Albar family did not take failure lightly. His father had already called to discuss with him his earlier attempt in a fit of rage because he failed. The next time would have to be perfect.

To do that, not only did he have to get Crimson out of the way, but he had to get those elven guards away too. The prince nibbled at his thumb. He had hoped he could hire someone competent enough to deal with them, but it seems he might have to take things into his own hands. 

***

After dinner with Fayeth and a lovely evening at a hotel before we returned to the dungeon, I found myself light as a feather. I felt as if I could practically walk into the sky. 

"Someone's in a good mood," Censor Neldra observed, her hand on her hilt as she leaned against our tent. 

"Of course I am. Fayeth brings out the best in me," I told her. 

"I'm glad that you're taking your responsibility as the Adrel seriously," Neldra said, pushing off the tent flap and walking with me.

I turned to the Censor, raising an eyebrow at her. "And for what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" 

"Ely asked that we not only guard her, but make sure you are safe as well," she replied. 

I did a slight bow. "Oh, thank you." 

"No thanks necessary. If she's our future Empress, then that would make you quite important. Certainly important enough to have a measly Royal Censor trail behind you." She winked at me.

"Well, I guess if that's how we're playing it, we should see what trouble I can get up to." I rubbed my hands together nefariously.

"Please don't," Neldra said, a swagger to her hips as she followed me through the camp. 

I could see now that the Trusk tents were silent. Normally there was a busy swirl around their leader, Marin, the Dragon Summoner. However, even her tent was quiet, slightly flapping in the breeze. 

"I guess it looks like the Royal College is back," I said, glancing over at Neldra. "I don't suppose any of you got information on how they did yesterday?" 

Neldra shook her head. "If they had gotten through it all, they would already be championing their win. I suspect they did similarly to you guys. While your DPS is certainly outstanding, from everything Ely said, you were unable to fully utilize your incredible ability." 

I made a face at that. "You're not wrong. It wasn't like the Scarab fight at the DPS check, where all I did was hammer on a single mob for five minutes. Instead, most of these had me running around, chasing things, or avoiding attacks.” Even then, we were doing the fights for the first time and a decent amount of my attention was on the rest of the raid group.

“Everyone's DPS falls compared to a controlled environment, but I suspect yours fell more." Neldra raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, when it comes to my damage, the slower I ramp up significantly decreases the back end. Being unable to focus perfectly on damaging definitely has its setbacks." Perhaps I needed to let go of trying to lead a little more and focus on my damage.

The Royal College's tents were similarly quiet, but rather than the abandoned feel of the Trusk ones, it just felt like they were sleeping, likely sleeping off their exhaustion from the most recent dungeon escapades. 

Candice caught me before I could find a quiet spot to practice my sword work. After a day of relaxing, I felt the need to knock the rust off. "Ken, there you are," she said. 

She had straight blonde hair that fell down just past her shoulders, and a pair of piercing blue eyes that seemed to analyze everything she saw. Candice wore the standard Haylon uniform, a white jacket with gold trim, though she seemed to prefer a dark charcoal skirt to go with it.

"Candice, how are you?" I asked. 

"Wonderful. While I was out yesterday," she pulled her CID out, "I was looking for potions." 

I chuckled, "Me too," showing her my CID that I had bought plenty of stoneskin potions. 

She peered at them and smiled. "Good idea, but I also got these." She pulled out a few that would increase the main stats, agility, strength, and magic. "I figure we were going to find some fights that would require a little more damage. If nothing else, these will help us clear trash a little quicker. But your stoneskin potions are a wonderful idea on reducing how much damage we take on that troublesome boss."

She must have seen something in my face. She did her best to reassure me. "Don't worry, next time we'll get it.”

“I'm sure we will," I said, not quite feeling my own conviction. 

"Was that what you wanted to talk about?" I asked her. 

"Not just that," she said, before moving with me until we found a clear spot amid the sea of tents. "Actually, I was hoping to practice with you." 

I raised an eyebrow at her. "No offense," I twirled a knife in my hand, "but you don't quite strike me as the best sparring partner." 

Candice laughed. "No, not to spar. I was thinking about trying to buff you." 

Neldra, who was standing nearby, bounced her eyebrows. "Ken is the star DPS." 

"He is," Candice agreed. "I was doing the math, and I think if I spent two thirds of my time on each fight buffing you, I could generate more damage than I could do myself." 

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said to Candice. "But I don't want to take that away. I know becoming support can bother some people." 

Candice dismissed my words with a wave of her hand. "Mathematically speaking, this is the best way for me to contribute. Thus, it is the best for the raid. I wanted to understand how you fight, and how I can best accelerate your damage." 

She made one of the many runes she uses to cast her spells. "This one, pulses a weak version of Harley's Haste on you." The rune lit up, and I could feel a jittery energy in my body, like I had just drank several energy drinks back-to-back. But it only lasted three seconds before the effect faded, and came back three seconds later when it pulsed again. 

"I can only keep three runes up at a time," Candice explained. "If I time two of these right, I could give you Haste, which would help you with your initial stack buildup." 

She then ran a hand through the rune before it pulsed a third time. "I could also work in some of Kendra's enchantments." 

Candice drew another rune in the air. The blades I had been twirling before caught a sheen of ice as they picked up some sort of frost enchantment. I activated Dark Blades, and to my surprise, the two abilities stacked on my weapons. Candice saw the test and nodded in satisfaction. 

"I expect the Haste buff is more beneficial early on," Candice said, "whereas once you've got going, the frost enchantment will do much better." She drew a hand through the rune before it pulsed a third time yet again. 

"What's Kendra doing?" I asked. 

"Mostly enchanting the tanks," Candice explained. "Other times, she's helping Harley with the healers." 

I frowned at that. "Is she using so much of her time helping the healers?" 

Candice nodded, then I thoughtfully played with the edge of my knife. "I don't know if that's the best use of her abilities. I think helping the tank out is great. It's a singular point that she can leverage to help the raid. However, I am unsure that the healers should need this much help." 

"I tend to agree with you," Candice said. "I actually think our raid group is too heavy on healers, which is also raising the burden on them." 

I frowned at her words. "Usually if you had more healers, that would make it easier. I've seen more people throwing healing around." 

Candice saw my frown and shook her head. "I know it's confusing, but if you have too many healers, then there's not enough damage to finish the fight. I think in this case, we need some of our support to focus on helping the DPS." 

"That's my thought exactly. What if you gave me haste and Kendra buffed me?" 

"It's possible," Candice said. "If Kendra focused on buffing the melee DPS and the two bow users, between that, she could use her wand. She actually does a decent amount of damage herself, especially if she focuses only in burst."

"But regardless," Candice continued, "I would like to work with you on seeing if I can't find the breakpoint between boosting you with haste and enchanting your weapons." 

Neldra drew her sword and stepped out in front of me. "It just so happens that I could use a little warmup." She swung her sword around dangerously. Neldra was a high-level adventurer and one with quite a bit of experience.

I glanced at her silver hair. "Well, I guess if the gray-haired old lady wants to fight, then we can fight." I shrugged helplessly and spun to parry her first strike.

Neldra was not one to be insulted. On several occasions, I called her hair gray instead of silver, and it earned the temporary ire of the Royal Censor. 

She came at me swinging, and in order to build up my stacks of Liminal Speed, I had to start moving quickly, striking her sword, or getting light touches on her armor.

Unfortunately, Neldra was a consummate swordswoman, and my attempts to do anything beyond a light tap were quickly dodged or parried. Before I built up my stacks, she not only had an advantage in experience, but also speed. 

I didn't use my abilities, not for the sparring session. The idea here was to give Candice some data points that she could use to make decisions in the raid.

After several strikes, sparks of purple lightning were dancing up my body, and I began to pick up enough speed that Neldra wasn't able to dodge quite so easily. 

A few minutes later, I felt myself match Neldra's speed as she continued to warm up, and a minute after that, I was faster than her. Even then, with Neldra's experience, she was able to swing where she knew I'd be, and forced me back on several occasions, but at that point, I was just too fast. Not that most people would give me several minutes to build up stacks and defeat them, but Neldra knew what she was doing. 

Meanwhile, Candice was watching. She had pulled out a small camera that was recording. It didn't look like the bulky slow-mo cameras they use for DPS meters, but I assume it filled a similar purpose. After about five minutes, it was no longer fun to dance around Neldra, and I blew my stacks with the second phase of [Liminal Speed], waiting in the stopped time, and pulling out a sandwich to eat. I hadn't yet had breakfast, and pushing myself that high in Liminal stacks already made me very hungry. 

Candice touched the camera before plugging it into her CID. "Thank you," she said, staring at the screen. "I should be able to run an analysis of this to see where you'd benefit from being faster, to where you'd benefit more to additive damage to your weapons." 

I nodded my thanks at Candice. Hopefully, small tweaks like this from everyone in the raid would make us that much more efficient going forward. 

Neldra let out a heavy breath and put her sword away. "Now if only we could find a way to get you those stacks quicker." She looked me up and down. "Once you get rolling, you're a force to be reckoned with. If you ever figure out how to start up quicker. We would be able to trust you with the princess." 

I raised an eyebrow. "You mean no censors everywhere we go?" I knew she was doing her own part to encourage me.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," Neldra said. "Though I think they are still beneficial. Sometimes having a guard means that you don't have to be alert for every issue." 

Neldra poked me in my side, moving quicker than I could block her. "After all, given your family's profession, you should understand best that an assassin isn't supposed to be good at a stand-up fight. They're just supposed to strike once with the perfect hit." 

Neldra moved quickly and poked me in the throat before stepping out of my reach. It seems the royal censors were taking their job a little more seriously given the current threat of SJS financials.

Of course, with Elysara waging a financial war on them, they were more likely to retaliate in some form. I found it hard to believe they'd be stupid enough to send another assassin after us. But then again, I had been wrong before.

Grandpa appeared out of nowhere, giving me the briefest of hugs before flitting over to Neldra, “my favorite granddaughter-in-law.” He attempted to hug Neldra, but the elven censor held him at arm's length. 

"Please don't touch me," Neldra said. 

Grandpa, however, managed to evade her arm and latch onto it from the side, as if he was holding onto his lover. Neldra quickly tried to shake him off, but Grandpa clung to her like a barnacle. 

"Don't mind him," Grandma Hemi said. "He's just excited to be here." 

I raised an eyebrow at another of my grandparents' sudden appearances. The other three seemed to pop up out of nowhere. Then again, they were all trained assassins. 

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, not expecting my grandparents to drop in. 

"Oh, you know, this or that, coming to check on the princess who just gave us billions in business," Grandpa said, still clinging to Neldra's arm. 

Elysara's attack on SJS Financial had involved using the Silverfang Guild as an intermediary. Many deals were now running through the guild, using it to soak up the profits and leaving SJS Financial with the burden of the operations. 

Grandma Akira came up behind me and squeezed me in a bear hug. "It's not every day my grandson turns me into a billionaire overnight. I knew you had a good eye for the ladies, but not this good." She slapped me on the shoulder, sat me down, and laughed mysteriously. 

"Leave him alone," Grandma Sakura said. "I doubt he picked her for the money, that's not Ken's way.”

“Well, if you're all here, the least I can do is treat you guys to a meal." I glanced at my grandparents and instantly regretted that inviting them back into the tent was just going to fuel my grandfather's antics that much further.

He suddenly disappeared from Neldra, his killing intent washing over me like a wave of blood before his sword came crashing down in the spot I had just been.

I spun with Grandma Sakura out of the way, just in time to avoid the attack. 

"Just making sure you're still sharp," Grandpa smiled a little too wide, pinching his eyes closed. The old man was sensitive, and having thought about him being a problem must have been picked up. Either way, him randomly attacking me was nothing outside the norm. 

"Alright, but you guys are on your best behavior," I pointed at my grandparents one after the other. "Today we are getting a rare break from training, and the last thing I want to do is chase you around." 

My grandmothers all looked towards Grandpa. Everyone in this conversation knew exactly who I was really talking to. 

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Grandma Hemi waved her hand at me. "I want to go meet my granddaughters again, they're all so lovely. I brought cheesecake." 

I had never been one to be able to deny the sweet Grandma Hemi, and led them back towards the tent. Yui had disappeared and already slipped ahead of us. I saw her entering the tent, and picked up speed before the sadistic woman could get her hands on anyone.