"Thanks for the free humvee, Garant!"
"I'll thank you for the service also, hehehe," says the foreign dragonoid.
"Ohoho, you started selling your body now?" mocks Lues.
"Why would I? In fact, I should've sold you instead. Considering that there are many petite body lovers on the blackmarket."
"So what kind of service did you give?" you ask.
Chronos shrugs, she then holds onto the straps of her giant backpack. "Just your normal competitive-killer scheme. You know, sabotage, explosion, killing, sabotage—"
"I can see that."
"Chronos likes to be sabotaged, and sabotaging someone's asshole," says Lues.
The pink devil's smile widens again. "I can do it now with your asshole."
In the hope of trying to halt the future destruction as much as you can, you intrude the heated conversation with your curiosity. "Is this just me or are there more dragonoid demi-humans than the other races?"
"You mean the Aiseirighians? They can be your perfect asshole or a perfect sacrifice in a group operation!" says Chronos.
Ignoring the ominous remarks, you continue. "So they are called Aiseirighian?"
"Individually, Aiseirigh is for the whole," says Lues.
Walking away from the expansive garage to the elevator, you follow the two misfits trying to take each other down. The venomous hisses and the death threats became deaf upon your ears after hours of being within their presence. You felt like a kid sitting in between two parents on the verge of divorcing.
Chronos sets the destination to B1.
The elevator doors open as you finally arrive in the crowded massive space of a fantasy junky's dream with weapons, and weapons! Everything is just a cluster foxtrot of a factory for blacksmiths to bless their warriors, so that they can take life without wasting too much time to feel sympathetic.
Arriving at the memorable corner where you first met your microgun, the bulky and slouchy elk man is there feeling agitated as usual the moment Chronos and you appear in his vision.
Chronos gives Carbonite the double gun pointing gesture with her hands. "Sup!"
Feeling tired and wonky, the elk blacksmith only gives a deadpan. "Yeah, sup, you stole another kid again?"
"Yup! I'm planning on selling the reddish one to the blackmarket."
Lues, still maintaining her grin, shows the two of them her little middle finger. "Try me, bitch."
"One is crimson and the other is enveloped by crimson blood. Don't tell me that the shorty multiplied with the second stage of deformative genes."
Carbonite stands, his height is more towering than the three of your party members as his eyes gaze with his usual angst surrounding him like a vengeful ghost, crossing both of his arms to his chest. "So how is the hunt?"
"Quite laborious," replies Chronos, as she unpack three Yelper Ores and the other ten you hunt out of boredom, and also your meal.
"I'm the one who is hunting."
"Alright then, this saves me quite a lot. Hiring mercenaries is quite a costly method for obtaining these." Carbonite and the three of you store the ores into the place he points at. One by one, you miss the time where you can feel the texture and temperature of an object because your senses have also begun to paralyze.
After everything is in its place, the blacksmith hunches down to close in on you. "So, Missy, what kind of weapon do you want?"
The weapon that you want, something that can become your blade in a tight and awful situation, something that is compatible with your blood bending technique, something terrifying that can strike fear into your mortal enemies, while also working as a magnum opus for giant enemies.
Remembering how cool the tan oni back then, you've decided. "I want an ōdachi," you say while gesturing the bended shapes of the blade with your hands like an opening rainbow.
The ōdachi the oni held back then looks fearsome, it's also long to cut through anything on its path. Now you're only wondering about the durability considering that the siblings which are katanas are also quite fragile for a prolonged fight, the longer brother might be harder to maintain.
You hurriedly take the crystal gourd from the backpack and show it, showcasing some of your capabilities of manipulating the blood.
"You're a vampire!?" he immediately remarks.
A metaphorical shining lightbulb appears on top of Chronos's head. "Surprise! Long Leggy is a vampire from the beginning." She's lying.
Her sudden action puts you in confusion as you're sure that she is bullshiting again. Lues, who is beside you, begins to bite her own thumb with her sharp fang until she tastes her own blood before leaning her head to your ear.
"Wait, you're a vampire?" whispers Lues.
"How would I know!?" you whisper back.
"I see, so a suitable ōdachi for a vampire." Carbonite drowns himself into deep thoughts. "I think I can picture the schematic. Considering that Missy is literally using her own blood for motoric actions, I won't ask how you got into that situation."
'Ah, he is perceptive.'
It seems like the stereotypes of anything that involves blood is always related to a vampire. Now you're wondering, there are fancy races in this world such as Aiseirigh and Aekha, then you have the creature from European folklore being preserved 12,000 years into the future. There must be nerds and librarians who are still using the ancient concepts for many things.
His next sentence must be something along the lines of him being surprised to meet with an ancient.
"Hmm, something that can match the ancient blood bending art—"
'Yup, now I'm feeling really old all of a sudden.'
The pink devil smirks, something of a silent chortle. Another victim to her lies, again.
The pieces starts to makes sense now, an ancient vampire in the form of a child being discovered within Kauhu Forest, Chronos trying to convince the elk man that you're a vampire—
It seems like she wants you to get noticed as the said vampire, depending on the situation, it can come with two different outcomes: People will fear you as it gives you some sense of seniority over the weak even though you're weak yourself, Chronos can also use you as a shield if something arises, figuratively or literally. You don't doubt either way
And then the worst outcome, people will hunt you or even see you as an enemy as you haven't known how they treat a blood lusting vampire. No wonder that the lion man and lizard man in the Kauhu Forest back then was so scared of you, which leads to the conclusion that the remaining one individual who stands firm not showing any hints of reluctance actually does know your real power level.
Fear of the unknown is a prevalent thing, even outside of the regular humans you once knew.
Lues also mentioned that the tan oni is one of the 'primordial' at first, does 'primordial' equal to a literal ancient?
"You okay, Missy?" asks Carbonite.
"I'm fine, really fine."
Within your deep thinking, both of your partners are continuing their tongue wrestling of shitting each other.
"Long Leggy, I do hate you but the past is the last." The tall blacksmith turns around to scan his tools, probably for your weapon. "You lost your memories and my daughter looks the same age as yours, just don't be your former self and we will be cool."
The angsty blacksmith seems to be more understanding than you thought.
"I'll make sure to remember it."
Then, he turns his head to the bickering couple. You could see a reluctant sigh escape his lips.
"Oy, Compose. How will you handle her true origin?"
Chronos hums knowingly, "I'll probably put a box on her head."