NOVEL NEXT (Chpt. 10) Karma.
It was still the middle of the night, the moon was shining brightly. We stood there, just wondering what to say. When I looked at Aizen, I was reminded, that she had torn down clothes. I did not notice before, her grandiose aura was not the same. Aizen was clad in some wicked energy, It was like she was the embodiment of darkness and evil of the world, however, I did not even flinch for some reason. I decided to ask the first thing that came to mind regarding the cause of the aura.
“Aizen what is your karma?”
“-400…”
My eyes went wide open, Aizen seemed to be flustered after giving the answer. How do you even reach that level normally? A lot must have happened. Aizen was fidgeting a lot, waiting for my reaction or something. My karma is way worse, what can I say? I just looked at Aizen and spoke.
“Well, we need to get rid of that wicked aura of yours.”
“...”
Aizen was visibly perplexed by my lack of reaction, in the meantime, I took the other [Glove of the Fiend] and gave it to Aizen. She was confused.
“What’s this glove for?”
“It stops appraisals on the items I am about to give you.”
She seemed to understand the value of items in this world. She silently accepted the glove. And wrapped it around her arm like if it was a bracelet? It ended up looking like a black leather bracelet. I wanted to say something but it looked the item’s effect still worked, I decided to not say anything. I took out another ring from my inventory. It was a [Divine] grade item! That’s right. It was [Useless Ring of Insanity v1] or rather known as [Failure of Insanity]. It did exactly the same as the other version except this one is lower grade. Aizen also took the ring. And asked in a confused voice.
“What’s this ring for?”
“It hides your aura.”
“Do we even need to hide our aura.”
Ah, why are you sometimes like this? I thought you were no longer this proud, old habits die hard I guess. I decided to show Aizen instead of trying to argue. I took off my glove and when she saw my ring, she audibly gulped. I took off my ring. Aizen started trembling and spoke in a nervous and quiet voice.
“K-... Y-Yami, just what is your karma.”
“-500.”
Aizen’s eyes widened in surprise, I decided to put my ring and glove back on. Aizen seemed to understand why the ring I gave her was necessary. Aizen silently put [Failure of Insanity] on her left hand. The ring turned obsidian black with thin golden stripes. She looked at it and nodded while looking at her hand as if acknowledging the ring. I decided to speak since she was silent.
“Anyways, we can’t go to towns while people think we are going to kill them all.”
“Nn.”
She silently nodded. I took out a blue long coat, black boots and pants for Aizen. It was the [Dandelion] armor set. The only [Relic] tier set I ever got from monster drops. It looked pretty bland. As soon as Aizen saw them she recognized them and spoke.
“Are you sure you want to give me this?”
“I cannot give this to anyone else, besides if the church decides to hunt me at least you will be able to help.”
“...”
She wanted to retort to that but couldn’t. She silently put on all of the things I gave her. I turned around while she was changing because regardless of body I was still a gentleman. When she was done, she looked rather dignified. ‘Befitting the ex [Legendary Dragon]’. ‘Nn.’ I nodded inside my head acknowledging how her aura was somewhat back.
“Hey, Yami I have been meaning to ask this but… When you asked me if I wanted to come with you, you said ‘us’. Who is ‘us’?”
“Ah.”
I proceeded to explain the whole situation to Aizen about Ari, that she was a slave, and I decided to take care of her. Aizen seemed fairly understanding about the situation. It made me wonder, just how much she changed. I decided to ask, in a teasing tone.
“Aizen, do you still kill people if they don’t prostrate and beg for forgiveness?”
I said so while poking at her, however, she maintained a solemn expression and answered with an indifferent voice.
“No, I am just a normal girl, why should they do that?”
“O-Oh, looks like you changed a lot.”
Aizen had a proud look hearing my words. I find it kind of weird that she has that mentality now. However, it is for the better... I am perplexed she believes that, yet her peerless elegance and regality are still there. After a few seconds of silence, Aizen spoke in a serious tone.
“Yami, does the Ari girl know about you.”
“No she doesn’t, keep it a secret.”
“Nn.”
Aizen nodded understanding what I wanted. We decided to head back to the lake where Fenri and Ari were sleeping. Aizen seemed very pleased seeing the scenery, I do not blame her. It was a leafy forest, the air was clear, the moon shined brightly with its silver light. The leaves rustled delicately because of the gentle wind. When we arrived at the camp. Aizen looked at Ari and just said.
“Well, she is pretty cute.”
“...”
Are you joking? Can’t you at least say something more appropriate? ‘sigh’ We laid on the floor, I decided to use [Cat’s eye] on Aizen since it bypasses, the [Glove of the Fiend]. Aizen shivered the moment I used the skill. What I saw made me gulp.
Name: Aizen
Family: Kuro
Race: ??? [Cat’s Charm (Permanent)]
LVL.120
Title(s): [Legendary Dragon] [Class SS Monster] [Catastrophe] [Kingdom destroyer] (32 others)...
Karma: -400
HP: 132981/132981(+ 50%)
MP: 89173/89173(+ 50%)
ST: 64391/64391(+ 50%)
Luck: 5000 [Cat’s Charm (Permanent)]
STR: 198230/198230(+ 50%)
AGI: 133404/133404(+ 50%)
CC/CD: 300%(+ 50%)
Special Skills: [Cat’s eye] [Translation] [Spatial Box] [???] [???]
Displaying a lot of ‘???’ even though I technically should be able to see everything? No classes? And her race is ‘???’. Huh? Moreover was she always this strong? Well, it only makes sense. If I think about it objectively. I would be on the weaker side of things if it weren’t for [Relic] items. At that moment Aizen turned to me with a dead-serious expression and said in a quiet but firm toned voice.
“Do not use that skill again on me.”
“...Nn.”
I nodded. ‘How could she tell I used the skill?’ I thought about it for a few seconds and remembered she shivered. 'Huh, I wonder what happens if I use it on myself?' After thinking that, I used the skill on my hand out of curiosity. at that moment I felt an extremely weird sensation, it was unpleasant. 'Yeah, that does feel awful.' I muttered agreeing with the thought of having the skill used on me. As I was thinking that. My eyelids were getting heavy and my vision was turning blurry until I could not keep thinking straight anymore. I fell asleep shortly after.