Embedded Files
It started as a dull thud, nothing more than a silent sound in the middle of the night
The light in the room dimmed. The shadows shivered.
The candles went off, drowning the room in the eternal darkness that followed afterward
Not a single soul in the house knew what happened. Not until much later
Not until the first ray of light hit the luxurious mansion. Not until the servant came to this room to wake up their master after he didn't show up for breakfast
Not until they see the dried blood stain on the curtains
In the dark, a pair of sharp, feline opened
The shadow flickered, disappearing into the moonless night
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Clack. Clack. Clack
The sound of heels clicking against the wooden floor could be heard, accompanied with a chilling gust of cold air. The samurais all tensed up as the presence made themselves known in the entrance of the room
"It's been the third case this week" Her voice rang out in the silence of the room, crisp and clear "And still no culprit, not even a single suspect, has been found"
Winter Schnee frowned in frustration, a contrast to her usually calm and collected appearance
Never before had such a severe breach of security happened. One of their closest feudal lords, among many others, was assassinated in the night. This alone has proved to be quite a burden to their current position
Following standard protocols, the servants in the house has been locked away and thoroughly interrogated this morning, yet none of them seemed to be aware of anything. The same can be said for the household lord's relatives who underwent a less stricter questioning procedures
Until further evidences are revealed, the culprit is likely an outsider with hidden motives. Perhaps a personal vendetta against the victim
That is most likely the case, given his occupation before moving here
"General Lagune, one of the major figure in the Great War" She began
"He was best known for being a master swordsman and a profound strategist. A close confidant of our clan's Patriarch, also one of the five major commander who took part in our war with the Faunus"
Since Lagune has already retired from duty years ago, it's most likely that the culprit has a grudge with him when he was still a general in Atlas's army
"The subjugation of Menagerie, and the execution of chief Ghira Belladonna at his own hand were the general's most highlighted achievement during the war" Winter briefed "Other minor accomplishments involved stamping out several Faunus rebellion, the zenith of which resulted in the public beheading of their matriarch, Kali Belladonna, whose daughter had been sold off as a slave shortly after"
Winter gestured to the numerous blades showcased in the room, as well as pictures of the general standing with a pile of beheaded Faunus corpses behind him
"It's no doubt that a man like Lagune would be very difficult to take out. Not only does he has experienced years of combat, but also trained himself in the way of the sword to expert level that only few could match. Furthermore, his room is airtight, laced with traps and weapons that he could use lest there is an unexpected intruder waiting for him"
At this she paused, her arctic blue eyes cast downward at the corpse under her feet
"...yet, despite all that paranoia and effort, the General died with a single slash to his throat"
She slowly bent down, face to face with the dead man
"Not a slash, more like a slice. There's no sign of resistance from Lagune. Which pints to an action made with surgical precision from a blindspot, allowing for maximum lethality to the body. The general was killed in one hit without being aware of a single thing" Winter's frown deepened as she concluded "The same method as the previous two"
"And each time the murder was committed, our mysterious perpetrator escaped the scene without a single clue left behind...apart from this taunting message from them"
In the deceased general's cold hand, was a wilting flower
"Examining the species of this flower and it's properties, this seems to belong to the nightshade family. And a deadly one at that'' Her gloved hand gently plucked the flora from it's place
The samurais tensed up
"Left to say, it's other name is the Atropa Belladonna. A mockery, or perhaps...a message?"
Winter dropped the flower to the floor
She stood back up, fixed her uniform, and strode out of the room. Her two guards accompanying her on both side
"Contact Father immediately" The young woman calmly delivered her orders "Send the elites back to the castle to guard him. We might be in danger of an assassination attempt at the hand of a Dark Magic user"
"No one can interfere with his plan, especially during this period. Squad B, find out the culprit at any cost and publicly execute them immediately if possible"
"What if we can't catch the killer, Ma'am?"
Clack
"Then we'll just have to get ourselves a scapegoat" She brushed her long hair back, voice laced with exasperation at the seemingly, from her perspective, redundant question
"Find a normal citizen with low profile and frame the crime on him. No one will know, and no one will have to know"
The samurais accompanying her gulped
Even if they've pledged their loyalty to the Schnee name a long time ago, these battle-hardened veterans could not help but feel uncomfortable at their heiress's cruelty and seemingly disregard to the human's life
No, it is not cruelty. They had served her for too long to know that's not the case
Winter Schnee has an obsession, one that was born from what she perceived as 'the right thing to do', her personal subjective views of justice from a past experience had warped her into the cold-hearted individual they knew today
"As long as a society have an outsider, a lower class, something that they can step on, someone that they can blame all the sins on this world, they will be content. And with contentment come stability, that is the way it has always been"
Their grip tightened on their weapon
"There can never be order without sacrifices, and our job as "cleaners" are to maintain it with all our abilities. Have you simply forgotten?"
They shook their head
"We get our hands dirty" She resumed walking "And the land stays clean"
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"One set of dango and one lotus smoothie!"
"Pancakes!"
Both hungry children yelled at the same time
To mentally call these 15 year-old as children would probably be quite rude, but I can't help it
After all, I am 4 years older than them. I am more experienced in combat than them, and I, excuse the partial narcissism, is more mature than them
Seeing that I'm the one paying for all these food we're eating, I'm at least entitled to that
"...Two sasami yakitori portion, please"
Sighing, I too made my orders to the waitress
"That'd be 650 Lien, sir"
"Hmm..." She received the coins I gave her with graciousness, before politely bowing and walking away
Yes, you heard that right
Coins. Not cards
I guess this is another one of those alternate changes caused by the parallel reality of a known fictional universe. The regression, or rather the lack of, technology may have caused this alteration in currency form
But the weird thing is that the value of these Lien coins also change
Instead of the 1 dollar equivalent like in the show, the Lien's worth here are roughly estimated to be 100 times larger than that
Which would be equal to....the international trade currency for the Japanese Yen today....very funny, and also quite historically accurate consider the timeline I'm in
Congratulation, you have found an easter egg
Har har, so this is that kind of game huh?
It's fortunate that I have this thing called [Inventory] to carry these baggage, or else I might really need to invest in paper currency to work with
Not that I could do it, mind you. I'm not the type of person with enough charisma to start an economic revolution, especially in this era without any form of advertising media
Regardless, would you like to accept a personal quest?
I sat straighter in my seat, the sudden change of topic not escaping my notice
Personal..that means this quest is very important to the system or it's developer. I don't know which, since it could be the dev talking with me through the interface, though if an outsider is asking a player like me to participate....
'What's in it for me?'
Your payment has already been transferred a few days ago
A few days ago, that would mean when it decided to gift me with all those three skills
...Huh?
You didn't really think those are free, did you?
Um...well...yes, I kind of did...
...Damn it, I really overestimated my luck there
But on the other hand, I must say I'm amazed at the level of sentience this AI System possessed. To understand the concept of equivalent exchange and ethical favours, even to show and understand a degree of personal emotion...Just what kind of advanced technology is this?
Though putting that to the side, the System is right. Everything has it's own price. If learning up to three useful skills forced me to complete an unknown quest without earning any reward, so be it
Just what's the worst thing that could happen anyway?
'Alright, so tell me about the details'
Ding!
You have received a Unique Quest: [Legacy]
- Create your own [Breath Style]
- Craft your own [Named Weapon]
- Carve your name into history. One way or another
Reward: None. This is a favor paid in full
I raised my eyebrow
'How would this benefit or related to you guys in anyway'
This is an experiment
A test
But most importantly, an opportunity
...Well that explains a lot, they obviously want me to try a new concept they created and give my honest feedback on it as a way to improve this game, considering I'm only the Beta player to it
Though the line "opportunity" tell me if I play this right, there might be something good that come out of this
My finger hovered over the notification window, before shaking my head and shut it down by using a mental command instead
I'm in a public place. It would be troublesome if people saw me poking at the air in front of me like a lunatic
*sigh*
"Is something the matter, customer-san?"
"No, it's nothing"
My eyes snapped open. The voice that just spoke up seems all too familiar to me
Blake is standing there, in a black maid Yukata while holding a tray of steaming food in her hands.
She let out a small smile at me and began setting the dishes on the table
Contrary to her poor and dirty appearance just a month ago, the Faunus definitely look better now with smooth skin and long silky black hair tugged behind her back. The Yukata she's wearing exposed her dainty shoulder, trailing it up to her neck bone in a sensual fashion, though that may have been unintentional on her part
A kind of mysterious beauty that drew the opposite sex in like moths to a flame. Nobody would believed she was once a lowly slave wandering the street with her abusive master in tow if I were to tell them
Idly, I noticed the other customer in the vendor wasn't focusing as much on their food as they were focusing their lustful gaze toward her backside as she leaned toward me. Something just never change...
'So she decided to settle down and get a job here?'
It doesn't sound right
'After all she'd been through, this girl decided to work in such a peaceful place like this?'
That's certainly unusual, the last time I saw Blake the Faunus was swearing all kind of vengeance and stuff against humanity with such a dark look in her eyes. Why does she look so calm now? Had she given up, or it's merely the calm before the storm?
I shook my head
'It doesn't matter, we never officially met anyway'
All will be fine s long as I pretend I didn't know her. I would REALLY hate it if Blake ever discovered the boy who saved her from slavery that day is a human
"Thank you" I whispered, smiling at the girl
"It is my pleasure" Blake bowed politely, her mask faltering for a second as a hint of hesitancy crept behind them "Though if I may ask, have we met before?"
Oh hell no
"I'm sorry?" Contrary to her expression, I easily maintained my poker face "I'm afraid not, a man like me would surely have our meeting etched onto my memory if I ever stumbled upon such a beautiful woman like you"
She nodded, obviously used to praises like this from the other customers "My apologies then"
"Hmm, no problem" I drawled "Though in the future, you might need to pay attention to that bow of yours. It could draw unnecessary attention if you're not careful"
"Whatever could you mean by that?"
"Nothing" Deciding the conversation's already finished, I turned back to the table and took a bite out of the chicken skewers in my hand
I definitely didn't miss the slight hint of killing intent emitted from behind me, before the sound of her slowly walking away reached my ears
Even as the distance between us grew, her gaze still latched on to me with that same chilling precision, like a killer eyeing their victim. I couldn't help but smile at that
Blake really hadn't lost that desire for vengeance, had she?
I calmly took another bite
Well, not my business either way
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Author's Note: So, ideas ideas ideas IDEAS!
- Winter was originally intended to be a friendly companion to the reader. But then I decided to make her a pseudo-villain, which honestly (and not less surprisingly) fit her Ice Queen image!
- Blake was originally intended to follow the ADR (Asian Drama Route) where she became a prostitute in the Red-light District in order to get closer to the officials she wants to assassinate. For some reason I felt it would be more appropriate and suit the dark tone this story have more
But then I remembered this is supposed to be a Male Reader Insert, so I changed it!
Now, with that said, I am certain I have a good grasp about (Y/n)'s Breath Style, Weapon as well as Semblance that he will unlock in the future. It's going to be pretty OP if I were to be frank with you
But then again, this is Thienlibra! Every story of his all has protagonist with OP powers one way or another!
*Insert Image of assassin(?) Blake with Grimm mask*
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