"CAW! CAW! CAW!" [Crow] squawked.
"Ehhhhhnnnhughh!~' [Nero] groaned.
Thank you, Crow. I'm still tired. Exhausted, even. Someone should try to convince the Candy man to start working night shifts because I don't think that I can handle this repeatedly. [Daily Candy]! Getting the motivation to vacate my bed took a little longer than usual, but I'm now fully dressed and adding 8 new pieces of clothes to the Throne Room pile. I aimed for level 20 pieces, as per usual lately.
Finishing with adding the clothes, I made my way to the Kitchen. On arrival, I was alone. It makes sense. Mostly everyone should be asleep right now unless they stayed up all night. Thinking such things, I decided to make a small serving of three Fish. It only ended up taking me around 5 minutes before I found myself eating alone in the Dining Hall. It feels strange to walk around this Keep without running into anyone. It's eerie to be frank. Finishing up my meal, I went back to the Treasure Room to begin counting my Candy and Coins. I say that, but I'm actually just counting the buckets which still have Candy. Also, most of my Coins have already been converted into Gold Coins.
Counting the currencies took me around 3 minutes. I currently have 7 and a half buckets of Candy. I also have 408 Silver Coins, and 10 Gold Coins. I'll need at least 150 Silver Coins to manage my next shipment, leaving me with 258 Silver Coins. I'll need to dedicate 5 Gold Coins to my Lantern commission, so I should have the equivalent of 5258 Silver Coins to spend between Candy and a Broom. Last time I purchased Candy, I paid the price of roughly 1 Silver Coin for 1 piece of Candy. Honestly, I was purposely choosing the less expensive and smaller pieces of Candy. Aside from the Candy canes that is. They were more expensive, and I could fill less of them in a Bucket. The problem with just purchasing the smaller pieces of Candy is that they're limited. The Candy man makes a lot of different kinds, he just can't afford to keep making the same types of candies repeatedly due to the unique ingredients required.
Be that as it may, all Candy for me seems to regenerate a total of 5 MP per piece at the current moment in time. Therefore, it might prove best for me to limit my purchase at the Candy store by only purchasing as much of the smaller pieces that I can. If I start paying for the bigger pieces, I'll begin to start paying more for no reason. Yosh! Thinking that way, I counted out 258 Silver Coins into a total of 3 empty buckets of Candy. The buckets all seem full, but I could probably squeeze just a few extra Coins if I needed to. Securing 5 Gold Coins into my rain coat pocket, I left the Silver Coins here for now. First stop should be Hag's Hollow if I want to limit my purchase of Candy~
Waking Vigi, I told him to wait in the Throne Room until the Hallowed Gate disappeared and reappared. After arriving in the Beastkin Kingdom, I flew to the Beach and cancelled my Hallowed Gate before calling on a new one. Vigi appeared from the gate a minute later, and I bid him farewell. After closing my new gate, I continued to fly past the Beastkin Kingdom towards the Forest of Witches. When I had arrived, I was able to see other Witches flying in the skies, but none of them actually approached me. I saw a small squad of Witches flying in a fleet formation, and I was quite impressed by their skillful maneuvers. It must be some kind of [Flying Broom] lesson from the academy, or some kind of routine practice flight for a group of Witches intended to protect these lands. After admiring the Witch fleet formation for a few minutes, I decided to continue on my way towards the Hag's Hollow.
"Welcome to the Hag's Hollow! What can I help you with today?" [Unknown Women] greeted Nero cheerfully.
Uhm... What?! Who is she?! That is certainly not the Hag I met with the last time that I was here! Wait. Last time I arrived was during the night, so maybe there's a different worker during the day? But like… This girl is not a Hag by any means. They need to rethink the name of the establishment. She has vividly light green hair, freckles, and pink eyes. She looks to be in her early to mid twenties, and is dressed rather fashionably for a Witch. She has the good old fashioned Witch hat, but her robes were cut down to look skimpy. It's cute, alluring, and I want to slap her for working at a place called 'Hag's Hollow'.
"... Do you understand what I'm saying?" [Unknown Women]
"I must apologize, but you surprised me. I was expecting to see someone else. My name is Nero." [Nero] confessed
"Oh~ You must have been thinking about Rosina. My name is Gretel." [Gretel] introduced herself and the Hag.
...What? Rosina and Gretel… The Witch Rosina is now co-workers with another Witch named Gretel... I guess I'll lose if I question it.
"Right then. Frankly, I have only brought 5 Gold Coins with me today. That being said, I would only like to purchase a Broom worth 4500 Silver Coins at a maximum price. Do you possess the capability to convert Gold Coins into Silver Coins?" [Nero] explained his situation frankly before asking.
"Oh don't worry about that, I'll just go quickly wake Rosina. I lack the spell to handle it, but she can do it no problem!" [Gretel] happily stated while puffing out her chest.
And with that, Gretel disappeared into the basement of the store and I waited for a few minutes before she returned alongside a groggy Rosina complaining about needing to wake up. Strangely, on noticing me; Rosina's eyes went wide before she began to point at me.
"It's you!" [Rosina] screamed restlessly while still pointing at me.
"Indeed!" [Nero] proclaimed snidely while striking a pose with one hand sprawled out towards the skies, one hand holding his heart, and both legs spread.
"So you need Coins to be converted, huh? You better not be thinking about converting your Coins without taking a Broom?" [Rosina] mocked me.
"I would never!" [Nero] defended himself while holding his pose.
"So you think you've got what it takes?!" [Rosina] beckoned ferociously.
"I KNOW that I've got what it takes!" [Nero] screamed.
"Uhhhh-" [Gretel] chided in.
"Silence!" [Nero and Rosina] yelled in unison towards the stranger, Gretel.
"Which Broom will it be then, lad?! Which Broom will carry you to greatness?!" [Rosina] frantically continued screaming.
"I don't know! I want to spend 4500 Silver Coins right here and now on a Broom but I just don't know which Broom!" [Nero] replied hysterically.
"4500 Silver Coins is enough to secure you greatness?!" [Rosina] resounded in a similarly hysterical voice.
"No! It's just going to need to work for awhile, but I seek your guidance in helping me choose one!" [Nero] clamored on as Gretel sneakily vacated the premises.
"Good! You can't expect a measly Broom worth 4500 Silver Coins to bring you into the upper echelons of Witch society, but I'll accept the challenge in finding you the best Broom you can afford for the time being!" [Rosina] barked while beginning to frantically scour through countless Brooms.
"Thank you for your aide, mam!" [Nero] screamed while saluting.
"Oh! This one! This Broom should do the trick! Yes, very nicely... I'm certain!" [Rosina] gasped as if she had forgotten the Broom's existence before confirming that she had procured the right Broom for the job and began to carry it over to Nero.
"What is it called mam?!" [Nero] yelled.
"This Broom is a Cerberus String Emberwood Broom! It's the same price that you asked for, and I think it will go nicely with your affinity!" [Rosina] exclaimed excitedly.
"Thank you very much!" [Nero] stated while handing 5 Gold Coins to Rosina in exchange for the Broom.
Then, as Rosina was counting out the Silver Coins after having converted them with magic, I began to inspect my new Broom. The wood looks somewhat red, but the broom thistles are black and somewhat sleek. There's a silver looking metal to attach the thistles to the Broom. My Common Broom can't relate. Looking at my status~
Name: Unnamed Monster (Nero Miki)
Race: Cat (Halloween)
Weapon: Lantern (Poor Iron Lantern)
Mount: Broom (Cerberus String Emberwood Broom)
Class: Halloween Cat (Sub Class: Witch/Tamer)
Level: 39
HP: 195/195
MP: 653/1160(+380)
SP: 65/100
FP: 89/100
P. DEF: 157
M. DEF: 132
STR: 156
INT: 580(+190)
DEX: 117
LUK: 39
AGI: 342(+108)
Titles:
[True Halloween Cat+1], [From Another World], [Fish Mongerer+1], [Master of Disguise+1]
Abilities Learned:
[Flying Broom+1], [Soul Merge], [Clansmen Capture], [Hallowed Gate+1], [This is Halloween], [Wailing Keep], [Language Comprehension+1], [Shapeshift+2], [Barrier+1], [Daily Candy+1], [Claw Fishing+2], [Disguise+3], [Recovery by Sleep+1], [Enhanced Meditating+2], [Swim+1], [10 Minute Makeover], [Pumpkin Bomb]
It appears that the Broom is effectively able to skip 18 levels of progression for my MP, INT, and AGI stats. It's pretty good. I'm impressed. Who knew that Coins could be so helpful?! Soon, I'll be debatably as powerful as Crowli. I say that, but I still think Crowli could probably destroy me in a battle. [Pumpkin Bomb] is fine and all, but I don't think it's really going to do much against a flying enemy. Also, the Hag mentioned something about my affinity; so I decided to ask her. Apparently, my affinities can be quite expensive to improve.
I specialize in the dark element, but I can also sub specialize in the fire element. Not only those, but I also have an affinity for spacial and time magic. That's why it gets expensive. The Hag chose to ignore my spacial and time affinities due to their cost, and instead helped me improve my dark and fire elemental proficiency. The Emberwood making up my Broom is especially helpful for fire magic, while the Cerberus string is especially helpful for fire magic but also has traits of dark magic affinity as well. It's like the role reversal for what I need, minus two very important aspects. I also decided to ask the Hag just how she knew my affinity, and learned that she has a similar ability to [Appraisal] and [Distinction]. Her ability is called [Inspection].
[Appraisal] is capable of seeing the status of individuals or the names of items. [Distinction] is capable of seeing the names of items as well as the sturdiness. [Inspection] is capable of seeing the elemental affinities of items or individuals. It sounds like a crazy combo if someone were to have obtained all three. Strangely, I don't remember seeing any of them having been obtainable as one of my starter abilities. Halloween Cats might be incapable of learning any of them. Fuaaahh! It's interesting though. I wonder if the clothes made by [Disguise] also have elemental affinities? Well, after Rosina finished counting out her portion of the Silver Coins, I called a new Hallowed Gate standing outside of the Hag's Hollow. I am now carrying 6 empty buckets of Candy back from the Treasure Room into the Hag's Hollow. Quickly stuffing the buckets full of Coins, I ended up with a little bit of extra space in each bucket. Yay~ Success!
Exiting the Hag's Hollow and returning to my Hallowed Gate, I was met with a dozen Witches who I'm assuming to be the ones previously having been practicing on their flying. They're crowding around my Gate, so I guess it's on me to get them to leave. Sigh~ I suppose that you can't always just summon a massive gate to the underworld and expect no one to care. Who knew?
"Excuse me! Please explain why you are crowding around my gate?" [Nero] called out to the group of Witches in a slightly irritated tone of voice.
"This is yours?" [Witch #1] asked dumbfoundedly.
"Where does it lead?" [Witch #2] chimed in.
"It's massive!" [Witch #3] exclaimed.
"Yes, it is mine. It leads to my home, and I can't control the size of it. It just happens to be large." [Nero] explained honestly.
"...Can I see?" [Witch #3] asked while slowly lifting a hand to touch the portal.
"Wait! If you touch it, you'll immediately be tele-" [Nero] began to yell before the Witch disappeared.
"...Is she going to be okay?" [Witch #4] asked tentatively.
"Ugh… Maybe? I honestly don't know how my followers will receive her. Please stay here while I-" [Nero] began to say he would fetch her, before several of the Witches entered his gate.
"Yikes… Please give me time to go save your friends." [Nero] finished flatly to the remaining 3 Witches who simply nodded.
[A/N: This Novel is hosted 100% for free on both WebNovel and RoyalRoad. All of the Chapters are free, and will forever be made free. If you are not reading on either of the aforementioned platforms, then you are supporting a scrapper that saw fit to steal free work. Please stop, and support the original author with your views and comments. Thank you for any support that you lend]
Entering Halloween, I was met with an extremely disturbing sight. This is tiresome... Stop! The Witches probably started to fight with my Clansmen after having noticed monsters, and an epic battle has commenced. My Clansmen are not holding back, and I'm currently looking at my Clansmen menu roster to see their statuses. It does in fact appear as though my Clansmen are less draining on MP within Halloween. The power of night is probably much more intense here. The Witches are using pretty cool spells, and they vary extensively per Witch. They probably all specialize in one or two elements. Regardless, they are definitely losing this battle.
The Witches have begun to defend a street somewhat north of the Gate, I'm assuming that the first Witch began to explore on arrival until the battle began. Watching them assume a defensive formation, I can't help but wonder why they aren't using their Brooms. Like, they're purposely choosing to defend the ground. It doesn't make much sense, but then again... They're up against a Crowli. I decided to use my time to tell my Clansmen not to kill the Witches and to only hurt or terrify them. It wouldn't look good for me to promise to save the Witches from my own followers in my own domain only to return with fatality reports. Descending towards the defensive formation of the Witches, I began to speak.
"Well, well, well… You have all foolishly walked into my domain even as I was explaining the dangers of it. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" [Nero] called out while sitting on his Broom from above them.
"I'm sorry! I was just curious..." [Witch #3] apologized before averting her eyes and getting cut off.
"We only came here to save her after you said it might be dangerous!" [Witch #4] exclaimed admirably.
"Exactly. It might be dangerous. For you. Yet here you are, risking your lives trying to fight my followers while I could have easily just entered here by myself and retrieved your friend and telling my followers to leave her alone!" [Nero] brutally barked back. To which, none of the Witches made a response for over three minutes.
"Now then, if you have nothing left to say for yourselves... Please follow me and leave this place at once. I wish to close my Gate and avert further Witches from entering my home." [Nero] stated calmly as he began to slowly fly back towards the Hallowed Gate.
Arriving back at the Hallowed Gate, it appears as though two of the remaining Witches from outside had ventured in but stayed near the Gate. Thank you for not wandering off, but also couldn't you have just waited five minutes? After shoving everyone out, I put down my Silver Coins and old Common Wooden Broom near the allegedly trick blood fountain before exiting the [Hallowed Gate] back into the Forest of Witches myself. Closing the gate, all of the Witches began to leave except for the one who had originally ventured in.
"I'm truly sorry for intruding on your home. I've never witnessed magic like that before, so-" [Witch #3] apologized but was cut off by Nero.
"It's fine as long as you're all safe. It would have been a huge pain if random Witches were found to have died due to me." [Nero] accepted the apology and explained why he didn't want the Witches to venture in to begin with.
"So, you're a Witch... Right?" [Witch #3] asked tentatively while tilting her head and looking at my new Broom.
"Yes." [Nero] confirmed flatly.
"I've never met a male Witch before, but you're also a Tamer; right?" [Witch #3] stated frankly before asking again.
"Yes." [Nero]
"...How does that work?" [Witch #3] asked.
"I'm a sub class of Witch and Tamer. I wield Lanterns and use Brooms as my mount. I just so happen to be male." [Nero]
"Cool! My name is Miu, what's yours?" [Miu] asked.
"You can call me Nero. It's nice to meet you, Miu. I actually need to go check in on something in the Beastkin Kingdom, so I'll need to bid you farewell for now." [Nero] replied with a smile.
"The Beastkin Kingdom? But you're a Witch, no?" [Miu] seemed confused.
"Well, yeah… But I'm also a type of Catkin, and besides; I'm a male sub class of Witch. Even if I'm a Witch, I'm still not very welcome in the Forest of Witches so I genuinely don't spend very much time here." [Nero] explained while feeling somewhat dejected.
"...Oh, well when will you return?" [Miu] asked.
"I don't have any plans to return here at all to be honest. I just got my new Broom, so I guess my next return would probably be when I've secured enough Coins to afford a much better one?" [Nero] said.
"Well that's not fair! If I don't know when you come back, then I won't get a chance to see you again!" [Miu] said angrily.
"Uh… Sorry? I don't know? Take it up with your Council, I guess? They're the ones who refused to recognize me as a true Witch due to my gender and race… It's really not my fault. I can't even be enrolled in your 'prestigious' academy despite me being a Tier 5 monster whom commands several other Tier 5 and 6 monsters and is highly proficient in not only spacial but time magic as well." [Nero] replied as if unsure of what he could possibly do to solve the issue.
"That's not fair either! Time magic is considered to be one of the most rare forms of magic! Space magic is also really helpful, and normally you can't command anything above your own Tier… You should try and get them to reconsider!" [Miu] proclaimed happily.
"Sorry, I really must be going. To be frank, I don't feel like needing to speak with them again. Even if I'm not overly welcome here, I genuinely don't mind it too much. I'm quite busy as is, so I doubt that I could even commit enough of my time into learning here regardless. Anyways, if you really want to see me more often... You could always try flying into the Lost Kingdom. Roughly in the middle of the Lost Kingdom, there's a Village. On the northwest edge of that Village, you can find my home." [Nero] laid it out flatly.
"The Lost Kingdom? I thought you lived in the Beastkin Kingdom?" [Miu] asked.
"Nah. I just have business in the Beastkin Kingdom similarly to how I have business here." [Nero] explained.
"Do the Beastkin also treat you poorly?" [Miu] asked.
"Not personally, but I still don't really it there too much. They treat some monster races as better than others. I have friends in the group that they treat poorly, so that's how it is." [Nero]
"Oh, well that sucks. I'll come visit you if I have spare time!" [Miu] proclaimed excitedly.
"Okay~ It was a pleasure to meet you, Miu!" [Nero] called while waving and beginning to fly away.
"Farewell!" [Miu] waved back.
And that's how I procured a new Broom, and even met a Witch friend. Actually I don't mind Rosina or Gretel either, so I can officially say that I like three different Witches. One might say that I'm picky with choosing my friends, but another might just say that these three were the only ones worth picking to begin with. Yosh! Miu and Gretel seem way too pure to be frank. But Rosina? I can probably drink with Rosina, man. She seems like fun.
Thinking about such things as I flew towards Reygid, I arrived at the Candy Store after around 10 minutes. I was taking my time. Walking into the Store, it would appear that the Koala Beastkin Candy man recognized me. Yay! I'll be your number one customer yet! On entry, I asked the Candy man to procure me 758 Silver Coins worth of candied rose petals, candied violet petals, pecan praline, sorghum drops, maple drops, cinnamon covered almonds, dragee almonds, and maple fancies. It's all the same candies from last time, but I added dragee almonds and maple fancies to my list. I'm excited. I informed the Koala man that I would be returning with the Coins shortly, so he could begin preparing the order now. I also made sure to add that I would be a repeat customer, especially seeking candies of smaller size. He seemed happy to know that me buying large amounts of Candy is going to be a regular occurrence.
After leaving the Candy Store, I made my way towards the Beach in the Beastkin Kingdom so that I could raise my [Hallowed Gate] once more. Getting to the Beach didn't take too long as I decided to spend MP in order to reach it faster. Stepping foot into the Halloween Town, I grabbed my old Broom and proceeded to bring it to my Treasure Room. I'm going to keep it. One must not forget their first Broom, after all. It's a lifetime thing. Placing it near my treasure chest, I reached for some empty Candy buckets and began to fill them with Silver Coins. I should have 500 Silver Coins in the 6 buckets within Halloween. I should have 408 Silver Coins here, but I don't need 150 of them for this as I want to save that for my next clothing shipment's carriages. So, I decided to first fill two buckets with 150 Silver Coins before dumping the remaining Coins onto the ground. Then, I dumped the two buckets back into the treasure chest before beginning to store the remaining 258 Silver Coins into 3 buckets.
Carrying them to Halloween and placing them with the remaining 6 buckets, I quickly realized that I would require at least two different trips to the Candy Store if I hoped to make this payment without a carriage. That is unacceptable and I refuse to allow it! Therefore, I asked Crowli to help me carry the buckets. He's carrying a whopping 6 while I'm only carrying 3. His choice, not mine. I made sure to close my Hallowed Gate again before we left towards the Candy Store. While we flew, I kept an eye on Crowli's status. Can't have him disappearing randomly on us while carrying so many Coins. It'd be a pain if he dropped them right now due to lack of MP. Thankfully, we arrived at the Candy Store without a single problem... Aside from the people screaming in terror as they fled the location where the Crowli descended. It couldn't be helped.
On entry into the Candy Store, the Candy man began shaking terribly as he was counting Candy; but thankfully he recognized me and realized that the Crowli was indeed… Carrying his payment. Can't go fleeing from your Coin, now can ya; Koalakin? After Crowli placed the buckets on the ground, he returned to Halloween. Thank you! Tension in the room dropped considerably afterwards, and we were able to proceed with the deal. I ended up leaving the Candy Store with 9 buckets of Candy and required Crowli's aide again though. When we returned to the Beach, I reopened the [Hallowed Gate] and we returned to Halloween.
Arriving in Halloween, Crowli put the buckets down and then went off to resume his own business. He's probably hanging out in the arcade. I'm currently carrying my new Candy back to the Treasure Room in trips. After finishing, I now have a total of 16 and a half buckets of Candy. Splendid! I decided to close my [Hallowed Gate] again before opening it back up in the [Throne Room]. It's nice to look at the two identical Gates side by side. Overlooking my status once more, it would appear that the [Wailing Keep] summon is now locking off a total of 232 MP, leaving me with 928 MP. If my MP reaches full capacity, I can now create 11 pieces of clothing while aiming at level 20. It's a pretty nice boost if I say so myself. I'm excited for the outcome of my Lantern commission!
Nevertheless, I did wake up tired, so I think that I'll go back to sleep until night comes. Yosh~ After getting undressed, I returned to my Cat form. Quickly before entering my bed, I cast [Disguise] while aiming for level 20 pieces until I had run out of MP. I had previously been recklessly summoning [Hallowed Gate] repeatedly, so I was only able to manage 4 different pieces. Nuzzling into my blankets, I began to comfortably fall asleep.