Swordsmaster Fox-girl

"Stop right there, criminal scu—”

“Fuck off!”

One swift stab to the stomach and a kick to the face was enough to shut anyone up. I splashed the blood of my blade onto the ground before continuing to the next section. 

It was the same. Room after room, I stealth killed one and picked off the other. There were only two guards per room for some reason. I definitely remembered there being more on my way here.

Anyways, I arrived at a fairly long and narrow hallway. Unlike the other rooms, the wooden beams holding this place together were exposed.

And at the end of it…. Pate.

“My good woman! Fancy seeing you here!”

I took a step forward and smiled. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to help you! Come! Let us defeat the evil crime boss!”

I nodded and started walking toward him while minding my feet. As soon as the floor started to give way, I dashed back.

My eyes drifted downward and saw a hole full of spikes coated with deadly poison. With a smirk, I unsheathed my sword.

“Predictable!”

But Pate smirked back and snapped his fingers. “Oh, I know.”

Suddenly, the room rumbled. Part of the ceiling collapsed and down came a bull that perfectly fit this room. Its horns were laid with straws that were eternally on fire.

“Good luck, my good woman!” Pate said as he escaped and locked the door behind him.

I gulped. Taking cautious steps back, I raised my hands up in defeat. “Easy there. You don’t want t— UWAHHH!”

The bull suddenly charged forward in a mad daze. I reflexively got on my belly and covered my head. Luckily, it charged straight past me and rammed its head into the door I came from.

I got up and pointed my sword at the animal. But I soon put it away with a sigh. “Well, harmless now.”

The bull couldn’t turn, so there was no point in fighting it any further. I sheathed my sword again and took off after Pate. 

There he stood on top of some stairs. “Ah, you lived. How disappointing.”

I shook my head. “You disappointed me, Pate. Why? Why are you doing this?”

Pate held his index finger out and wayed it from left to right. “A gamble, my lady. I got an invitation to join Donatello’s little gang. Now, when I heard of your capture, I had to make a choice: you or him.”

“And you chose him….”

“That’s right.” He snapped his fingers again. “Please die now!”

A boulder of pure metal came rolling down the stairs. I sighed and cut it up with my sword. Then, from behind me, a mechanism sprung to life and spat poisonous arrows toward me.

Again, I sliced them all without even looking back.

I grabbed an arrow head and threw it at Pate’s knee, making him fall to the ground while trembling. I slowly approached him and put the tip of my sword right at his throat.

“P-Please! I yie—”

“No.”

A quick thrust was all it took for Pate’s body to become lifeless. I got up again and sighed. This definitely left a really bitter taste in my mouth. If I hadn’t acted hard to get at that time, maybe things would’ve turned out differe—

“Khahahahaha! How ruthless!”

“Pate!?” I looked down. His body was now no more than a large straw doll. “How the fuck—!”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, my good woman.”

“Come the fuck out here right now!”

“Oooh! No, I’m not suicidal. You’re going to destroy the whole place at this pace, so I figured I might as well run now. Until we meet again!”

As his voice echoed further and further away, I shook my head bitterly. 

“Pate, you glorious bastard….”

—

The path to Donatello’s office was uneventful, though I was a little paranoid about Pate’s traps. Just beyond this door. Come on, you can do it.

As soon as I opened it, I saw a flash of steel. I blocked the strike with my sword and redirected it to the ground. When I looked up to see the bastard that surprise attacked me, I found Smith.

“What—You too!?”

Smith quickly let go of his weapon and raised his hands up.

“I-It’s not what you think! I thought you were their reinforcement!”

I quickly pushed him to the ground and looked behind him. Yep, a literal stream of bodies was there. That was probably the reason why I encountered so few enemies. Sighing, I got off him and helped him up.

“Look, I appreciate your help, but I got this in the bag.”

But instead of saying anything related to what I said, Smith looked at me with concern. “A-Are you alright, Esther? I heard you were captured….”

A shiver suddenly passed through my body. I hugged my shoulders and fervently shook my head. “I-I’m fine! Nothing happened!”

But something told me the guy didn’t really believe it. He picked up his halberd again and let it rest on his shoulder. His wide, broad, and reliable shoulder.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. I’ll always be here if you need me.”

Fuck! Theodore! Is he using some sort of Skill on me?

[Nope]

I swear if you’re lying….

I shook my head to rid myself of such thoughts. Picking up my sword again, I readied myself and inched closer to the reinforced door.

“On three.”

“Esther, you don’t need to face him if you’re traumatiz—”

“Two!”

Smith shut his mouth up and focused again.

“One! Break it down!”

The man based his shoulder into the door, knocking it down instantly. 

I jumped on his back and flipped inside the office. Seeing Donatello huddling in the corner, I threw my sword toward him instantly.

“Hiiik! [Iron Fortress]!”

The turtle-man shrunk into his shell as soon as I threw my sword, making himself impervious.

I picked up my sword and tried to strike his shell, but my attack just bounced off it harmlessly.

“Tch, how about this?”

With Aura infused in my blade, I slashed. But again, it bounced off. As I tried to strike again, I felt Smith’s hand on my shoulder.

“Do we really need him dead?”

Did we?

I mean, I kinda killed all his goons, so I might as well finish the job.

“You try, Smith.”

Smith nodded. He readied his halberd and delivered a hefty strike to the shell. But apart from making his target bounce around the room and strike him back, it did nothing.

I patted Smith, who was holding his stomach in pain. 

—

“So let me get this straight. You turned yourself in to the gang to take them down.” Claire, the receptionist pointed her pen at me as she adjusted her glasses.

“Mhm.”

“And nothing happened to you?”

“Absolutely nothing happened!” I hugged Pate’s dog—I mean, turtle closer to me. Found this little guy on the way out. I couldn’t bring myself to leave him alone.

While Claire nodded at me, her eyes told a different story. She glanced at Smith before both of them exchanged a knowing nod. 

“Alright. Now onto the matter of this thing.”

Donatello and his shell were right in the middle of the Mercenary Guild. The Mercs were circling around it and poking it with all kinds of things in curiosity. Only when Claire shouted at them did they part way for us.

“Any ideas?”

None. Nothing worked. The whole Guild fell into silence as everyone adopted their own thinking poses. Even the nosy uninvited Adventurers outside kept their mouths shut in thought. 

But the silence was broken by Pate’s turtle, which I decided to call Turtel. He poked his head out of his shell while sweating profusely.

“What? Too hot, buddy?”

It nodded.

I brought it to the Magically Cooling device with Three Blades and returned to thinking. Now, it didn’t take me long to come up with something.

With an evil smile, I approached the shell again and smacked it. “Last chance, Don. If you don’t get out, we’re having boiled turtle meat for tonight.”

“...”

“...”

“...”
“No? Alright then.” I turned to Claire and whispered, “Bring me a pot with water.”

“Why— Ohhh! Good idea!”

—

Anyways, Don came out after we used “the pot.” He was immediately arrested by the city guards. As for myself, I placed Turtel in the care of the Mercenary Guild since, come on, I could never keep a pet alive.

“Esther.”

As soon as I stepped out of the Guild, Smith called out to me. He was leaning against a nearby wall while acting mysterious and shit.

“What?”

“I understand if you don’t want to be a Merc anymore after this, but-” he threw me a business card. “-if you still want to be a Merc, please consider joining my group. We need one more person and you seem like the perfect fit.”

“...I’ll think about it.”

I stuffed the card into my pocket and walked to my inn. As the inn was in sight, I stopped for a bit to stretch my arm. 

Today was a stressful day. Maybe I’d gotten too soft, as the old me wouldn’t dare call this “stressful.” 

Whatever. I need some sleep.

I opened the inn’s door and whiffed in the good scent of food. Joyously, I closed my eyes and skipped toward the counter to order. Finally, some good fucking food!

“You know what I want.”

The boy behind the counter smiled. “Right away!”

I turned around and scanned the room for an empty table. To the left—nope. To the right, even more so. Some fucker was having a birthday party here and hogging all the seats. All that was left was the front. I found an empty seat and—

N-No!

No way!

“N-Nira? Aerin!?”