So how to be an Eminence in Shadow as a girl?
I've watched a lot of stories that involves one or two hidden powers, but it's rare for a girl to be the mastermind. At most, I usually see them as a really good assistant to the final boss, or a hidden love interest.
Which is bad because that still gives a "Main Character" vibe instead of a "Powerful being in the background" atmosphere!
I don't want to be a second rate shadowbroker. My ideal is someone far more grander than that!
I have learned everything I have to know to become a Power in the Shadows, but only as a guy. I haven't researched anything from the girl's side because I thought that wasn't relevant to me.
Who would have thought that this kind of development will occur!?
Right, I should try and research this thing about how to be a perfect female shadow eminence. I can't really just do my own interpretation as a male when I am a girl right now. I'll just look like a tryhard, and it won't be a topnotch product.
I only accept the best for my ideal! There is no compromise!
So it's been ten years since I transmigrated to this world. Since then I have been practicing not just my whole body, but also my acts to be the greatest shadow eminence.
Due to that, I am actually quite strong that anyone can see it... not!
I can't be called a hidden character if I just brag how strong I am. That defeats the purpose of being a hidden power in the background!
So in front of the world, I act as the unremarkable daughter of a Baron. All my talents are average, and my academics are below average. It's to the point that my family in this world ignores me.
Actually, that last part is what I truly hope for. Sadly it can't happen because I'm the only daughter of this house. As the only daughter, I'm the one who will succeed my father when the time comes.
Which is bad because being a lord of the house is not ideal for my persona as a normal, unremarkable girl!
Why didn't I have any elder sibling? At least give me a brother, or a sister even!
Well, despite the existence of magic, nothing in this world is fair so whatever.
Anyway, being the future Lady of the house, people just can't stop looking at me. I'm really troubled because it cuts into my time of training.
Despite trying to show unremarkable feats and below average capabilities, these people try their hard to bother me for "The betterment of my future".
Also, my mother is always fussy about my wellbeing. Normally that would be a good thing because a parent naturally worries about their child. Though for me it's just annoying.
"Arisa, I told you to take care of your appearance!" Once again I can hear her chiding me on the distance as she get closer to me. Walking with an exasperated sigh.
This is my Mother, and her name is Martha Frelldyll. As for me, I am named Arisa Frelldyll.
If I have to explain how she looks like, she have long purple hair and violet eyes. As for her appearance, you can say she looks like a former heroine from a prequel series of a fantasy light novel.
Basically, she is a Named Character.
And that named character is my Mother.
"What a waste. You have a good appearance too... here, come over." She ushered me closer to her and I can only obey her.
Look, I could just ignore her and go on my way, but that act wasn't unremarkable. In fact, being rebellious to my parents will just make me conspicuous. Which will put me on the pedestal.
And that wasn't how a female mob works!
I might be assuming things here, but because I don't have any knowledge about the girl's side of mob-ness, so I am just copying those female background characters that usually hangs around the female protagonist.
Which means I have to act like a proper girl, who only have a normal aspiration to life, and will live in the background as a decoration on the side of the road.
That's it! To truly become inconspicuous to the public, I must act like a normal girl!
To be a normal girl in the eyes of the crowd, I will have to be obedient to my parents.
As for my looks, yes, I look unremarkable. I'm not running away from reality.
Even if I inherited my mother's purple hair, and my father's yellow eyes, I'm totally as normal as it gets!
So please... stop putting me on the main screen, dammit!
"There there, now you look proper at least..." My mother is smiling, and I was also giving back a smile of my own, but I definitely want to run away from her.
This is turning into a slice of life genre, and I feel like I am becoming a sub character.
Nope. I'll have to look for more ways to become very unremarkable to their eyes. I hope they will stop trying to fix my appearance.
You know what's cool for a hidden power in the background?
For me, it's them actually being a part of the background for the whole series. Like they were seen here and there, but the protagonist and even the antagonist doesn't know that they were an integral part to the plot.
I am trying to blend in the background of those main characters. Well, there are no main character candidates on our backwater territory, but that's besides the point.
I am failing actually. My mother with her former heroine aura is pulling me out of the background. Though they are not expecting much of me, so I think I am somewhat succeeding?
Anyway, let's set that aside for now.
In the middle of the night, I just saw a group of bandits on a ruined village. They are huddled together on the campfire and they seem to be talking about something funny.
This backwater territory, and the nearby territories surrounding here are actually a hive of scum and villainy. There are a lot of slavers, bandits, thieves, and nutcases who are squatting on these regions.
Normally, that's worrying. The public order is in chaos, and going outside the town walls are dangerous due to them. There is also the existence of monsters, so that added to the negatives.
For me though, it's anything but bad. Bandits? Thieves? Criminals?
All of them are just incomes waiting to fall on my lap. I would actually prefer if every patch of grass are bandit camps.
As someone who wants to be a shadowbroker, I need a lot of capital. Can't really just be called a hidden power if I don't have anything in my name.
The money I got from my family is not enough. I need a lot of capital to increase my eminence in shadow collection.
So that's why... give me what is yours!
"Huh... who the hell!?"
Jumping out of the roof I am standing awhile ago, I landed in front of them and grinned.
"Hyahaa! Give me all your riches!"
"The hell, who is this brat!?"
I can see them standing up, and scrambling to get their weapons. I let them be.
I actually need test my new prototype suit.
Currently, I am wearing a hooded black suit that covers most of my body. It have the tailcoat, and anything that makes me look so cool.
This outfit is made from a special material that no one in this world can expect is actually useful.
You see, magic can bring a lot of things on the table. They can increase your physical capabilities to an absurd degree. Their range of attack is so wack it felt like they are cheating. Using guns won't actually matter as they are that fast and strong.
Manipulating magic, you can also imbue it to other objects so it becomes stronger. Though, there is only one thing.
Unlike using it on your body, putting your magic on other objects is not so simple. Each objects have their own magic conductivity, and there is always a loss when you do it.
Like if I put this in game terms. Putting 100 MP on a steel sword doesn't necessarily give a strength equivalent to that. At most, it will only retain 20 or 30 MP within. That's already a whopping 70% loss of magic.
Mithril, which is known to have the highest conductivity to magic, only have a 50% magic conductivity. Those are really rare.
This is why people needs to put a lot of their magical reserves just to make their weapons so strong.
How about just using it in their body?
Doesn't matter. Hand to hand combat became obsolete due to the fact that people here are superhumans. Putting them into submissions and hold will just cause the enemy to throw them away. Punches and kicks won't matter because the enemy can take a step back several meters away in a single breathe.
It's why swords and other weapons are a popular choice. By imbuing magic to their weapons, the capabilities of these objects increases tremendously. It can pierce through even their magic-clad bodies like it was wet paper.
Anyway, as I am saying. Mithril is already the strongest material out there, but there is a better material out there.
Slimes are just weak ass mobs who existed solely to be eaten by the wild. The way they survived is just to change their shapes and texture to better hide from their predators. They are omnivores and can pretty much eat anything.
They are also magical creatures who lives all their lives controlling magic to change their bodies. It's practically their oxygen.
That's when I come to think, how about I use them as materials?
And lo and behold! The slime bodysuit is an amazing prototype I made! It have a whopping 99% magical conductivity!
It can change form, and I can use all the excess to strengthen my defense, or even rip some of it to turn into weapons.
Isn't that a really ideal weapon for a shadowbroker like me?
I still need to test it, and so I am letting these people prepare. I think I will need at least 2 minutes to confirm if these prototypes are good or I should tweak it a bit more. Well, they just have to survive.
"Test number one." I muttered as I saw them getting ready.
I prepared my sword too, which is sheathed on my waist. The sword is jet-black and it gleams ominously on the light of the cracking fire.
"It doesn't matter. Just kill the brat!" One of them rushes towards me.
I pointed my sword at him and just let the blade elongate. Piercing him on his chest.
"Guaaaaaag-!?"
Function number one. This sword made of slime can elongate. It also seems like it's really sharp.
I think that confirms that putting even a tiny bit of my magic makes it incredibly dangerous.
"What happened!? Who the hell are you!?"
Looking at the remaining bandits, I smirked. I'm still not done testing whether this sword can hold or not!
"Hahaha! Die you pieces of loots!" I swing my sword around. Letting it bend like a whip as I dissect their bodies into pieces.
[This is the Protagonist]
"Hahahaha... uh?" I frowned. I just noticed that the screams have quietened a lot.
Ugh... what a disappointment. It didn't even take half a minute to kill all of them.
"You!"
Well, at least there is one who is still alive behind me.
Dodging the strike that I think might have been a surprise attack, I saw him gape at me before glaring. He takes a stance that I am somewhat familiar with.
"Test number two." I muttered.
He attacks... and I didn't dodge.
My body tilted as blood sprays out around the place. I can hear him saying about the Royal Bushin or something, but I honestly don't care as my second experiment is complete.
"Just kidding." I grinned as I quickly raised my feet in my tilting position. Hitting him in the crotch, and my feet slicing away straight to his forehead.
With that, the third experiment is complete.
"Wow... this gives me a lot of options."
This body suit is not just an outfit. It's also a weapon itself. I turned the tip of my slime shoe sharp and slice him in half. It's simple as that.
"Still, it didn't take two minutes at all." I sighed at that. "Well, the experiment is a success, so it doesn't really matter." I shrugged before going to their stashes of loots.
"Paintings, food, weapons... I don't really need it. Jewelries can be sold, but I don't have the time to look for someone to trade it with." I shake my head before turning to the side.
I need money, not jewelries. I don't have any interest with it, and selling it feels bothersome.
I glance at the side and saw the hanged corpses of the people there. They might be the owners of these stolen caravan. Well, that might look like it.
"Don't worry. I avenge you. I'll use all your wealth to be a successful Shadow Eminence." I said as I clapped my hands into a prayer.
Then I heard a noise just beyond those hanging corpses. Feeling curious, I walked there and saw a covered object in it.
Is there something inside it? Maybe it's where they put their treasures?
Well, I decided to slide the cover off, and grimaced in disgust as I saw a rotting hunk of flesh within the cage.
"... Wait, I heard this is what the people from the church called as the Possessed?" I just recalled about that.
I heard that it was a grave disease that causes people to become a hideous lump of meat like this. I think they said it's a demon's curse, and the church is buying all these Possessed so they can purify it.
Well, the people who are turned into these were never seen again, so I'm sure they are just being burned to death or something.
Hurray for the medieval age!
Well, it's not really interesting. I can't really sell it to the church. They will ask where I got it, and as a really normal and unremarkable girl, I can't have that kind of attention.
Right, I'll just end it's misery here... huh?
"Huh?"
As I got a bit closer to it, I felt a very familiar surge of magic rampaging through the meaty mound of flesh. I also experienced something like this on the past.
Isn't this the magic getting out of control?
I see... so is this what's causing the possession?
When I experienced the magic going out of control, it is when I concentrated more magic than my body can handle so I immediately stop doing that. It might make me strong, but I don't want to take that kind of risk.
So this is what will happen to me if I recklessly use magic huh... wait! I just have a great idea!
I can't really do it on my own body because I might just explode, or that's what I thought when I first experience my magic getting out of control.
This one though? It's not even my body!
I can use this to further improve my magic manipulation!