Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 38

Myrina, Sakura, and Bridget got along much better than I’d worried they would. I feared that was partially because I'd asked them to save whatever the female equivalent of dick measuring was for later. At least the three of them were talking just fine. And they had a lot to talk about—though the only thing the three of them had in common was me.

"Does Carter still make that weird squeak when you pinch him?" Myrina asked.

"Everyone makes a weird noise if you pinch them unexpectedly, Myrina," I replied.

"Oh yes," Sakura said.

"Definitely," Bridget added.

I felt three people all trying to pinch me. I caught a wrist with either hand, but Bridget was faster than the other two and got a good pinch in, right on the ass. I bit back a squeak.

"Eeep! Ahem... come on, you three… that’s not fair."

I reached around to give Bridget a retaliatory pinch. She only smiled at me, without making a sound.

When we spoke with Misa, she seemed both nervous and relieved that Myrina was in on our business affairs. On the one hand, it meant she wouldn't need to hide from the Samhain Clan anymore. On the other hand, it could mean that Myrina might be scooping a share of her lucrative Mana Bomb contract and bartering with other sellers.

I didn't think she had anything to worry about, though. I didn't exactly plan on letting Myrina handle my purse here in Themyscira. That would be Misa's responsibility.

"This is really great, Carter! You have a fantastic thing going here," Myrina said as she smiled at me. "I'm glad you brought me into it. And I’m more than a little impressed that you managed to do so much on the sly. I thought you were at my side the whole time you were here!"

I chuckled. "I figured out how to slip away now and again. You really shouldn’t drink so much."

"So that’s what you were doing! I wondered why you weren't in the castle when I came to. I looked everywhere for you." Myrina looked more than a little relieved at that realization.

I only had so much time left on Themyscira, and there was somebody else I needed to set up operations with besides Misa. I hadn't forgotten that I wasn't just bringing Mana Bombs to sell through Misa. I'd promised the town wizard copper wire.

Initially, I'd only promised to do it to buy his silence—so he wouldn't tell the Samhain Clan who'd sold him the Mana Bomb. I thought it was just something he was mildly interested in, which was why I was surprised when he rose to his feet the moment Sakura, Bridget, Myrina, and I stepped into his shop.

"Well well well, if it isn't... erm... the fellow who sold me that nifty little metal ball..." the wizard scratched his head, clearly wondering if he was supposed to remember my name or not.

"Carter," I replied.

"Ah, yes, young wizard Carter. What an odd name. Certainly not a local one. I am Galbatorix of the Dragon Lodge of Wizards. And you, my young friend, hopefully have something some of my colleagues have been hounding me for since I sent them that last sample."

"You want Mana Bombs, too?" Myrina asked, brows scrunching together.

"No no no," Galbatorix waved her off.

I could have sworn I'd heard his name before, but couldn't remember where.

"We have spells and enchanted items aplenty that can do much the same. Though most such items use natural gemstones instead of wasting such a precious material!"

"What? The copper wire Carter uses to make those things is precious?" Bridget asked.

"Precisely!" Galbatorix pointed at Bridget. "My lodge has assayed the purity of the metallic components, and it's unlike anything we've ever seen. No mine or forge in the entire Arcadia Multiverse could produce pure metal of such incredible quality! Not to mention how flawlessly it was drawn into fine wire.”

The man talked with his hands, and he started waving them all about.

“That Mana Bomb you delivered to me has already been disassembled and used to make an assortment of wands and rings suitable for wizards well over level one hundred. The only tragedy is that the wire was not made of silver, otherwise it would have been even more valuable. You must tell me how your people do it!"

I ran my fingers through my hair sheepishly. "Well, there's this big box..." I gesticulated, holding my arms out wide. I mean, I was pretty sure some sort of enormous machine was involved in the process. "...and it makes the wire."

"Mhm... I see. An ancient artifact of some sort, I presume? That would make sense. Indeed. Well, if you can continue to supply us with this wire, or any other metals of similar purity, the Dragon Lodge will pay you handsomely. Gold and Silver would be especially valuable to us."

"Noted." I shook hands with Galbatorix.

While I was in his shop, I cleared his shelves of a bunch of low-level magical gear and equipment. I'd sort through it all later to figure out if any of it was useful to me. If not for me, I was sure someone back home could use it.

It would pay to have a full armory, and what I couldn't use personally would still be valuable. After all, somebody in Crownhill was bound to get a spell caster class… eventually.

***

The four of us spent the next two days much as my previous days with Myrina had been spent, only now Sakura happily joined Myrina on the front lines and Bridget surged in with sneak attacks to deal critical strikes like the DPS she was.

Myrina's level was still head and shoulders above the rest of ours, but that just meant she had more to teach us. The three women competed with one another, both on the battlefield and off it, for my attention. But aside from a few reminders to keep things friendly on my part, they did an admirable job working together.

"More monsters dead ahead!" Myrina shouted.

"Got a level on them?" I called.

Myrina squinted into the distance. "Twenty-eight."

"Then pull back. Bridget and Sakura need this last push if they're to make it into the D-Ranks."

Myrina pulled back. She stood a few paces behind Sakura and Bridget while I jumped up into a nearby tree. Sakura and Bridget were in for a tough fight, since the two of them were both still E-Ranks. While the pair of giant spiders they were fighting were only a few levels higher than them, that simple rank up was a big deal.

Still, they had a secret weapon up their sleeves. Me.

Thanks to my Death Curse, I could participate in their fights without taking their experience points. That was in stark contrast to Myrina. If she participated in the fight, then she'd deal the lion's share of the damage and earn most of the experience points. But for me, all the damage I did merely earned more experience points for Sakura and Bridget, since my Death Curse redirected whatever I earned to them.

When the two spiders seemed like they were about to overtake Sakura and Bridget, I unleashed Mana Barrage. A dozen Mana Bolts flew forth to strike each spider. The rapid flurry of attacks scored multiple critical hits, driving the two spiders back. If not for my Death Curse drawing them to me, they probably would have retreated after that.

With the two spiders battered and wounded, Sakura and Bridget quickly finished them off. As soon as they did so, they both cheered with delight.

"I crossed level 25!" Sakura thrust her club high overhead.

"Me too!" Bridget clapped her hands together with a grin.

"Well done, both of you!" I cheered. "If what happened to me is going to happen to the two of you, you'll both need to choose your race now. Let's stop for lunch and Myrina and I can help you."

We made camp quickly. Myrina felled a tree with a single swift swing of her sword and then carved the top third of it off to make a seat. The rest of the tree went into a pile, which Bridget lit with remarkable speed. We briefly debated trying to cook the spiders, but even with my Disassemble skill to make the butcher's work a breeze, none of us were keen on trying spider meat.

Thankfully, Bridget had prepared more than enough travel rations for everyone. Apparently the inn they were staying in had a kitchen, and she'd talked the staff into letting her use it to practice her chef job.

"Cooking over an open flame is a lot more tedious," Bridget explained. "I didn't know fire management was a skill a chef needed to know. But apparently if you live in a civilization that hasn't invented electricity, it's a must-have skill."

"So that's how you lit the campfire with a snap of your fingers. It was an ability from your job." I raised my cup in appreciation.

Bridget blushed with pride. Especially when Myrina saw what Bridget was handing out.

"You were the one who made those amazing snacks Carter gave my sister!" Myrina gushed.

She flopped herself down on the seat next to Bridget and pulled her close. "I knew there was a reason I liked you best out of all of Carter's lovers. You and me, we're going to get along great..."

"Ha ha ha..." Sakura rolled her eyes. "You can have Bridget, Myrina. I'll take Carter." Our Oni stood and then came over to me, snuggling herself right up into my side.

"Here's what the System is offering me, Carter,” Sakura continued. “I can evolve my race from homo hornus to homo hornus humongus..." Her voice trailed off as she spoke.

She clearly wasn't too happy with the options the System was giving her.

"And for me, it's just like Doctor Roswell said. I can choose to revert and become fully human again. Or I can walk further down the path of the Lycan..." Bridget drummed her fingers against the log she was sitting on while Myrina reached for the bag of holding at Myrina's waist.

Misa had done a remarkable job getting a bag of holding for each of them, which meant we no longer had to hang on to the one they'd gotten from Myrina's mother. That might have looked suspicious if Cyra or someone had seen it. Now, the two of them had nondescript generic bags of holding, and I had both a bag and the Kidnapper’s pouch of holding—which I used to store my money in.

Bridget batted Myrina's probing fingers aside while Sakura and I looked through her options. She only had the one option, which made the decision obvious.

"Well, I guess that's what you have to pick." I shrugged.

Sakura rubbed the horn jutting out of her forehead. "But everyone already looks at me weird because of the horn... what happens if it gets even bigger?"

"It might not get bigger."

"The evolved race name is Hornus Humongus..." Sakura pouted.

Myrina shrugged. "So what? There are plenty of healers who can do body mods. But why are you so self-conscious in the first place? You’re an Oni; why not look the part? Oni are a strong and proud race. They'd be furious to hear you talk badly about your horn. They are quite proud of how their horns instantly distinguish them from the other humanoid races."

Sakura looked up. "Really?"

Myrina nodded. "Really. There are even some Oni like yourself on Themyscira—though they rarely come to our world. Their lust for battle is legendary, so you're more likely to find them as mercenaries garrisoned along some border than patrolling farmland. I know mother has one or two in her employ, but they would not be content to become castle guards. They always demand a more active role in conflicts. Perhaps I could introduce you sometime."

"That... would be nice..." Sakura trailed off.

"I'm not sure how an Oni bloodline ended up on Earth, though. I thought it was a place filled with only humans. I'm sure there's an interesting story somewhere in your family line." Myrina broke off the bottom half of the biscuit Bridget was eating—while the front half or it was at Bridget's lips.

She quickly wolfed down what she'd stolen before Bridget could so much as protest. Myrina flashed an innocent smile even as Bridget glared at her. The blonde stood and moved to my other side, away from Myrina. This helped her guard her next biscuit a little better from the thieving Amazonian.

"You're not half bad, Myrina," Sakura said, her confidence renewed as she made her racial selection. "As a reward, Bridget and I will only kiss Carter… while you sit there and watch."

"That doesn't sound very fun for me," Myrina crossed her arms.

"It will be compared to what we were going to do with him! Bridget and I have been away from our handsome man for a few days. And a few days is a few days too many."

Sakura laughed as she tilted her head up and planted a kiss on my cheek.