“So… what do you make of this?” a town guard said.

  “I believe it was a demon.” a priest said.

  “Do you have anything else?” the guard asked.

  “I’m afraid that is the extent of my knowledge.” the priest said.

  The town guard gave a heavy sigh as nothing new or useful came from the priest. Nearly an hour after Ren beat the demon called Pengrime, the town guards came. As it turns out, the guards are still in disarray after the raid on the Blood Hoof gang. Captain Releon had died in the raid and the guards are still trying to work out the chain of command. For the most part, the guards were just falling back onto their routine patrols. The issue was that this leaves them a bit inflexible when it comes to following up on certain cases. For this one, the guards were hoping that when dealing with a demon, a priest could be asked to help. Unfortunately, the priest wasn’t too helpful.

  “Alright. Thanks for trying.” the guard said.

  “I’m sorry, it’s been a while since there’s been a crusade or anything. A lot of us have barely seen a demon.” the priest said.

  “Alright. Alright. Thanks for coming out here.” the guard said.

  Elsewhere, Ren was using a magical tablet to make changes to her ring of minor protection. She had a bandage on her cheek, but was no worse for wear. As the day draws to a close, Ren had finished making adjustments to the ring awarded to her by a wealthy merchant by the name of Mackamer.

  “It’s done!” Apherward spoke within Ren’s mind. “This piece of trash is now usable.”

  “Now that I think about it, did this thing help us at all?” Warumasa said.

  “I mean, it helped a bit against the imps, but not by much. Now this is something of value.”

  Ren holds up the ring. It is a dull copper ring that now emits a magical aura.

  “I’ll call it the Shield Bound Ring of Protection.” Apherward proclaims loudly to the only demon who can hear it.

  “Okay. So what does it do?” Warumasa said.

  “This!”

  Ren puts on the ring and magic lances out from it. Two magic shields that appear at either side of Ren. They look transparent with a dull blue color, as if they were shields made of stained glass. They float at either side of her. Ren takes a step forward and the shields match her movements.

  “Ah! Neat.” Warumasa said.

  “And the ring maintains the property of protecting the user from some lighter attacks.” Apherward said as a mark of pride.

  “Light attacks? When was the last time we had to contend with light attacks?”

  “I have no idea, but I didn’t change that when making adjustments. I just used the magic from the tracker to make the shields.”

  “Wait, tracker? What do you mean?”

  “Oh, so the ring had some magic as part of the enchantment that broadcasted it’s location to some unknown receiver.”

  “You’re saying that you’ve known that someone has put a tracking spell on our girl since this morning and you didn’t think it would be prudent to inform me of this?”

  “It’s fine. What’s a little tracking spell anyway?”

  “If I could ring your neck, I would do it until you were a beaten corpse at my feet.” Warumasa speaks in his low demonic voice.

  “What’s the big deal?”

  “The big deal is that a guy I’ve been telling you is a vampire gave her that ring.”

  “You were there when he stood in the sunlight.”

  “And I suppose he likes to drink blood as a pastime.”

  “Did you actually watch him drink it? And did you see him in the sunlight?”

  “Yes! Yes, I watched him stand in sunlight too.”

  “Again, what’s the problem?”

  “The problem is that he is a clear and present danger to the girl, and you’re not losing your shit and demanding his head be set on a pike!”

  “A clear and present danger my hide. What is he going to do, throw money at us?”

  “Yes! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to throw money around? And you just let the girl take handouts from the lout. Like, he has a wagon full of magic items and you’ll just let the girl wander off.”

  “I wish I had a wagon full of magic items.” Apherward thought for a moment. “You know what, I want to see if the town guards still have something.”

  Ren made her way to the guardhouse of Blue Pine town. There she looks for someone to speak to. It is a bit hard since everyone seems to be busy, or at least they’re acting busy enough to convince the voices in Ren’s head.

  “Excuse me.” Ren tries to stop a guard.

  “Yeah? I’m sorry, can you make this quick?” the guard says as he’s trying to figure out which key on a keyring unlocks a man’s shackles.

  “Have you guys disposed of the magic goblets and daggers from the underground workshop yet?” Ren asked.

  “Oh, yeah. I mean, no! We’ve been trying to confiscate a bunch of them that had already been sold off. I think our efforts there have come to a stop though.” the guard said as the shackles binding a criminal comes undone. “Finally got it! Get in there, criminal scum!”

  “Do you need help disposing of the magic items? You don’t need to pay me or anything.” Ren said.

  “Oh, that’d be a great help. I’m afraid that we still haven’t gotten to everyone who had a business deal with that workshop, but I think we have no choice but to close the case at this point.” the guard snaps his fingers as a thought dawns on him. “Actually, Falock is still recovering in the clinic. I think he can still do desk work. I can pass off the work to him. Have him write the report and close the case. Anyway, there are like 5 crates at the corner of the meeting room. You can just grab and go.”

  “Got it. Thank you.” Ren said.

  “No problem.”

  The guard waved Ren off as she went and looked around a meeting room. While the guard said there were 5 crates, there were now 6. They seemed like matching items. The guard was probably just not informed of the additional crate. In either case, Ren grabbed them and took them to her room at the inn. The next stop was the Blue Pine town’s temple.

  “This isn’t right!”

  “There are demons in our fair streets!”

  “How could you do nothing?”

  A crowd of people had gathered at the temple. Earlier in the day, another demon ran amok in the streets of Blue Pine town. The people did not feel safe and wanted the temple to assure them of their safety. As the other priests and staff at the temple struggle to calm the citizens, a single voice breaks through the flood of panic.

  “Worry not, good people of Blue Pine town!” a man’s voice resounds throughout the temple’s main hall. “By the power vested in me by the divine Yerl God of Nobility, you shall be safe!”

  There is a brief pause as everyone takes in those words. Once the words had been digested, the townsfolk cheer as the other staff at the temple give him very concerned looks.

  “Parnidot! I'll pray with everything I got if you promise to save my family!”

  “Please save us!”

  Mona, the nun, stood to the side since she wasn’t particularly a people person. Still, the sight of desperate people clamoring at another priest’s feet was a bit concerning to her. Thankfully, this made it easier for Ren to find her.

  “Hi Mona!” Ren said.

  “Oh Ren. You’re hurt again.” Mona said. “That’s not good for your health.”

  “I know.” Ren said flatly. “Anyway, I want to make a magic item that is very harmful to vampires. Can you help?”

  “So you still think that Mackamer is a vampire, right?” Mona crossed her arms. “That, or you’re dealing with a completely different vampire. If that’s the case, then the town might very well be doomed.”

  “Don’t worry. I still think that Mackamer is a super evil vampire and junk.” Ren said without any inflection in her voice.

  “Good.” Mona nodded at her words. “Anyway, when it comes to Mackamer I don’t know how I can help. I have been doing a bit of research, but I’m not sure if it’s anything actionable.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, besides that all vampires die when sunlight touches them and always double check by cutting their head off if they haven’t turned to ash, nothing really. There was a book describing some different strains of vampirism, but it wasn’t enough for me to figure anything out.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Strains?” Ren asked.

  “From what I’ve read, there are different types of vampirism. They each have their own unique quirks, but the blood feeding and sunlight issue is standard across the board.

  “Quirks?”

  Yes. Like- how should I put it? There were a few with different rules on the wooden stake to the heart. Some needed specific breeds of wood to work when staking them in the heart. Some needed wood from a tree older than the vampire. Stuff like that.”

  “Oh! I see.”

  “These unique traits can lead to us using them as a weakness, but it’s only helpful if we know what strain of vampirism Mackamer has.”

  “Oh. How can I tell what strain Mackamer has?”

  “I don’t have the faintest idea.” Mona gave a heavy sigh as she spoke.

  “Can I see your research materials?” Ren asked.

  “Sure. It’s over here.”

  Mona led Ren away and brought her to a small room with books. They were all somewhat bookmarked with some notes here and there.

  “Wow! You’re studious.” Ren said.

  “It’s just a force of habit. It wasn’t much, but I did kind of annihilate a noble family through hard work and effort.”

  “Cool.”

  Ren looks over all of Mona’s notes. As she said, it wasn’t enough to take advantage of some great vampiric weakness. Besides dragging him out into the sun, there was nothing they could really do even if they knew for provable fact that Mackamer was a vampire. Even then, Mackamer did indeed just stand out in the sunlight to prove himself innocent of the crime of vampirism.

  “Hmm… I wonder.” Ren mused or at least appeared to do so.

  “Something catch your eye?” Mona asked.

  “I wanted to make a weapon that did awful things to vampires, but maybe it would be better to make an item to identify the strain of vampirism.”

  “Can you do that?” Mona asked with a hesitant tone.

  “Maybe.” Ren pauses for a moment. “No. To identify the strain would require a library of existing knowledge. We don’t have that. It might be faster and quicker to just make a magic item to identify a particular person’s weaknesses. All I need to do is make a call function. Call some information. But how then, and what checks would run after the information is called. Maybe I could use those goblets. Although the magic is demonic in nature. I’ll need to make some adjustments. The goblet functions by imbuing the contents of the drink with magic. I would need to do the reverse. Make the contents of the liquid impart information into the goblet. It already works well with blood, but I’ll need to be careful not to break the magic.”

  Mona gave Ren a confused look. She was spouting a lot of magic nonsense, but that is to be expected of a magic type person.

  “If you want, you can take my notes back with you to your room at the inn.” Mona said.

  “Oh yeah, that’d help. Thanks, Mona.” Ren said.

  After some time, Ren went home for the day with Mona’s notes in tow.

  She then spent days at a time working on the magic tablet in her room at the inn. During this time, she rarely left her room at the inn. Thankfully, Warumasa made sure that she ate and slept. Days passed as Ren worked on a stone magic tablet and messed with goblets and daggers. In the end, there were scraps of iron stacked against a corner.

  “Phew! It took a little more than a week, but I managed to do it.” Apherward gave a sigh of relief.

  “It was more like an octant, but sure.” Warumasa corrected it.

  “Fucking, why did they make that a thing? Ugh. I’ll never understand. Stupid octant or whatever.”

  Ren held up a mashed and mangled iron goblet. Where there was once iconography of demons on the sides of the cup, there are now engravings and various magic runes with a variety of dents in the iron. There also appears to be what looks like lips that close into a mouth.

  “So what is it?” Warumasa asked.

  “It’s a goblet to identify the weaknesses of vampires.” Apherward said. “All I need is a sufficient amount of blood in this goblet. It won’t tell me what kind of strain or whatever the vampire has, but it will speak of what weaknesses they might have.”

  “So you want to cut a man open and fill this goblet to the brim?”

  “Well, not to the brim. The magic will take effect long before then.”

  “Right. And how do you plan to do that?”

  “Hey Warumasa! You want to cut open a vampire and bathe in his blood?”

  “Well shit, don’t threaten me with a good time like that.” Warumasa said. “You want today or something. I think the girl’s arm is fully healed and she isn’t bruised any more.”

  “Sure, as long as there aren’t any other distractions.” Apherward said.

  As Apherward spoke those words in Ren’s head, a knock comes to her door at the inn. Ren opens the door to see Velaura, the daughter of someone called Lord Albrinter.

  “Hello.” Velaura said.

  “Hi.” Ren said.

  Velaura was welcomed in and she looked at the magic tablet with a shoddy looking goblet and what can only be described as scrap metal piled against a corner. She shakes her head and addresses Ren.

  “After some tests and an octant without any further issues with the home security system, I have determined that your quest is complete.”

  Velaura waves her hand in the air and a system message appears in Ren’s head.

  Quest Complete

  Repair the Albrinter estate’s ward and barrier.

  Level up!

  Ren

  Level 8 Warrior -> Level 9 Warrior

  Strength: 15 -> 17

  Magic: 25 -> 26

  Agility: 11 -> 12

  Vitality: 11 -> 13

  “Oh. Cool.” Ren said in a flat tone.

  “And I may not have a lot to offer one such as you. I may be the daughter of a lord, but I have little to offer in recompense of your services. I can only offer my favor. Simply speak it and I shall bequ- ah!” Velaura stops mid sentence as she accidentally bites her tongue.

  “You okay?” Ren asked.

  “Yeth.” Velaura says while wincing in pain.

  “It’s okay. You wanted me to accept a favor from you as a quest reward, right.”

  “Yea.”

  “Thanks, Velaura. This is convenient timing. I was going to stab a wealthy merchant in town. The level up will be a lot of help.”

  “Wai-wha?” Velaura goes wide-eyed at those words.

  “Yep. So there’s a guy in town called Mackamer Fundae. He was funding a lot of crime fighting initiatives, but he was also supporting a new gang forming in town and reaping some of the benefits. So he was kinda double dealing. Anyway, he’s a vampire that’s also dealing with demons and junk. I tried to prove it by making him stand in sunlight. But he didn’t burn up. And the only proof we have is that me, a nun and a few town guards heard that a vampire demon said so with his dying breath.”

  There is a pause in the conversation as Velaura takes in Ren’s words. She takes a moment to fix posture and make herself presentable.

  “Can we talk to my lord father before that?” Velaura asked.

  Ren thinks on it for a moment, or at least she looks like she’s thinking.

  “I’m not sure. I want to get to him if there are no other distractions.” Ren said.

  At those words, another knock comes to Ren’s door. As Ren answers it this time, she finds Sally the daughter of the Vert family who first saved her.

  “Hi, Ren!” Sally said.

  “Hi, Sally.” Ren said.

  “Oh! Do you have a new friend?” Sally looked into the room.

  Sally entered Ren’s room and approached Velaura.

  “Hi! I’m Sally Vert.” Sally introduced herself. “I’m 12-years-old and I’m going to be an adventurer like Ren.”

  “Oh! Hi! Hello!” Velaura responded in a panic. “I’m Velaura Albrinter. I am 10-years-old. I am the daughter of the lord of Blue Pine town, Lord Albrinter. I am a genius mage.”

  “Cool! Hey! Do you want to be friends?” Sally asked.

  “Friends? With me? Really?” Velaura looked to Ren for help.

  Ren just gave her a thumbs up. She has no idea what kind of intention that a thumbs up was supposed to signify at this time, but it was clearly some form of affirmation.

  “Yeah.” Velaura said hesitantly. “Sure.”

  “Yay!” Sally gave Velaura a big hug. “My first friend in a new town!”

  “Y-your first friend?” Velaura stammered.

  “Yeah! I don’t have a lot of friends after I moved. So you’re my very first!” Sally said.

  Sally was a fair bit taller than Velaura. Sally lifted Velaura up and spun around with her. Before they could have a playdate, Ren asked a question.

  “Sally, did you come here to play?” Ren said. “I didn’t think your parents would let you go out alone.”

  “Oh!” Sally kept hugging Velaura as she spoke. “Dad wanted you to beat up some bad guys outside of town and stuff. He wanted it done soon so he asked me to tell you.”

  “But I wanted to beat up a different bad guy.” Ren said.

  “Dad said he figured out how to use the system to issue you quests.” Sally said.

  “Oh! Okay. I’ll go on a violent rampage.” Ren said in a flat tone.

  “So, you’ll wait for me?” Velaura asked while still held by Sally.

  “Okay.” Ren said.

  “Well, well little girl.” a burly man said as a little over 20 men surround a single girl. “There’s a toll to pass through here. Namely, all your goods and everything you have on you.”

  “Just to double check, you are bandits robbing merchants on this road, right?” Ren asked.

  “Yeah! And we’ll do it again!” the man said.

  “Okay. Thanks for your clarity. Could you please draw your axe and pose very intimidatingly?” Ren asked the man in a dull tone.

  “Sure. Hang on.” the man said.

  He pulled an axe from his belt. He gave a snarled look as he put the axe on his shoulder.

  “This good enough for ya?” he asked.

  “Yep!” Ren said.

  In an explosive movement, Ren rushed at him while her sword was still sheathed.

  “Blade flashing, steel drawn.

  Your blade sang first, feel cold light.

  In a blink, you die.

  Form 1: Flash”

  In a single motion, Ren drew her katana and cut downward at the man with the axe. He is bisected from shoulder to hip. Within Ren’s head some bickering is had by two voices.

  “What was the point of that?” Apherward asked.

  “Okay, so Netami style Form 1: Flash only works if an opponent already has their weapon drawn.” Warumasa explained. “The quick draw is a technique made to defeat foes who already have their sword drawn. It’s supposed to be some iaijutsu, something or other about never being the first to draw a blade and put people’s lives in danger. Because that is how iaijutsu came to be as a martial technique, everyone who bases their fighting style on it has to do it too. The martial technique actually doesn’t work if you don’t have an enemy who already has their sword or other weapon drawn.”

  “Ugh. This is why magic is superior. You can just make whatever changes to spells you need and tailor it to your specific needs and use cases.”

  “One of these days I’ll impart battle cries unto Ren. When that happens, one of the battle cries I’m going to have her use is the anti-magic battle cry. Then you’ll see how pathetic your magic is.”

  “Wait. There’s an anti-magic battle cry?”

  “Did you think no warrior would come up with a means to shut you magic types down? How long were you living under that rock?”

  “Yes! You’re all boneheads who fall to magic eventually. And I don’t know! I didn’t exactly have hands to scratch out the days I spent there. Even then, it was underground with no way to tell time.”

  As the two voices in Ren’s head bickered, there was battle to be had. Men had surrounded a single girl.

  “Come on boys! This is why we gang up on people!”

  “Yeah! Let’s get ‘em!”

  “Cut ‘em up!”

  “Your guard, crushed and split.

  Heavenly divide descends.

  Split helm tells your tale.

  Form 3: Helm Splitter”

  Ren brought her sword down on a man’s head and he was split from head to toe. The other men rushed towards her in an unorganized charge. Ren responded by making a normal attack to a man fast approaching her. He too was bisected. Ren then prepares to unleash her Netami style technique.

  “Feathers grace the sky.

  Winged hunter, fly unmatched.

  Swallow guided blade.

  Form 2: Swallow Dive”

  Two men were cut in half. One in a downward swing and the other in an upward one. Ren then moved to make another normal attack and cut another man in half. It is only then that the men began to hesitate to approach her.

  “I won’t fail again.” Ren said.

  She took up another fighting stance as she spoke a haiku.

  “Cut upon the wind.

  Beyond my blade, you shall fall.

  With my steel, you die.

  Form 4: Blade Wave”

  Ren swung at the air. The blade is nowhere near long enough to slash at anyone. Then, a man some distance away suddenly screams as he is cut from shoulder to hip. It was as though, Ren had cut him despite the vast distance between the two of them.

  “Holy crap!”

  “He’s dead!”

  “How did she do that?”

  “Outta my way! I got this!”

  A man brought out a musket and pointed it at Ren.

  “Shit! They have guns!” Apherward shouted.

  “Huh. Those are supposed to be expensive. Wonder how roadside bandits got their mitts on them.” Warumasa said.

  “We can worry about that later. They’re going to shoot our girl!”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll have her parry them all.”

  “What?”

  Ren learned Martial Arts Level 1.

  Skill Level Up

  Martial Arts Level 1 -> Level 2

  The man fired his musket. The iron ball moves with a speed greater than any arrow. Even still, Ren brings her sword up. With a swift motion she parries the bullet. The bandits go wide eyed and look on in shock.

  “No way!”

  “She deflected it with her sword?”

  “That’s insane!”

  Ren continues to make a series of normal attacks as the men stare in horror and the man with the musket tries to reload the greatest weapon known to man as of yet.

  “Wait! You can just do that?” Apherward shouted.

  “Yes. Did you think that no one would develop skills to counter guns? ” Warumasa said. “Although, to be fair, it isn’t a new skill at all. It’s a skill. A very niche skill, but one that has existed long before you or I have known existence. Here where black powder was invented the skill barely exists. In the east, it’s a highly coveted skill. Aside from the stories and light novels from the east, I think the martial arts skill that has been shown to overcome guns has also risen in popularity. Now a lot of people think that katanas beat guns, but don’t understand that it takes more than a foreign sword to overcome guns. So some people claimed that eastern cultures had the means to beat guns and a lot of con men took advantage of that. Some broken promises and investments later, and the term weeb was created as an insult to idiots who think that eastern stuff is better because they are eastern in origin.”

  “O-okay. But there is a counter to guns?”

  “Yes! And you know what?”

  “No I don’t know what! Just tell me.” Apherward spoke like an annoyed wizard.

  “The finest arcanists in the world are still having trouble coming up with magic that blocks gunfire. But those who dedicate themselves to the blade have had the answer the whole time.” Warumasa gloated in the voice of a demon.

  “Yeah, alright. Just kill them all before they regroup and attack as one.”

  “Oh please, they’re already running away.” a dark thought crossed Warumasa’s mind. “In fact, let me try something.

  Ren learned Netami Style Form 5: Horizon.

  “What is that?” Apherward asks.

  “The next step!” Warumasa says.

  Having had enough of the girl cutting them apart, some of the bandits began to flee. The bandit with a gun manages to fire another shot from his musket. It cuts through the air, but Ren parries this one too. She pivots on one of her feet and prepares to unleash a devastating technique.

  “Look upon the line.

  At the place where sky meets earth.

  Sweep away my foes.

  Form 5: Horizon”

  Ren swung her sword across in a straight line. It is a white line that cuts through the area as a flat plane originating from Ren. The men who once surrounded Ren were bisected at the hip. The men, clearly outside of Ren’s reach, were cut in half.