Chapter 1127: Chapter 1126: Play To Your Strengths
Chapter 1127: Chapter 1126: Play To Your Strengths
"Well don't you look dashing, Kat~!"
Jahi wore a slightly strained smile as she looked me up and down, the Demoness accepting my hand and giving me a spin as she took in my dolled up appearance, her amethyst eyes slowly tracing the curves of my body while her emotions tried to hide away from me behind a forced smile.
Since the Sultana's information was about a merchant hosting a lavish party where these Fingers would be mingling around - and where all their information was stored away somewhere inside of the building - the decision had been made that my best course of action was direct infiltration.
Put on some light makeup that someone had procured for this very event, don the flattering but still conservative dress that hugged my finger in the right spots whilst concealing most of my skin, and for me to alter my personality to a more friendly and open one.
It had been something that I had discussed with my lovers before accepting the Sultana's request for this sort of infiltration, and the reason I had been alright with this idea had been entirely because of the Lust Mana that I was still learning to use; being able to mess with people's minds was something I desperately needed to master sooner rather than later, and what better place than a party?
All those people who are already inhibited by the alcohol and the environment getting further intoxicated on desires as I enhance or lower their lusts as I see fit; that was a perfect training ground for me, and since I needed to locate special documentation anyways... it gave me a myriad of ways to go about this mission.
I just had to promise to not go overboard testing out these powers and finding their limits, to not have a repeat of what I had earlier where I managed to get myself so aroused that the very idea of being exclusive was slowly becoming merely a suggestion... promises that I fully intended to keep, for obvious reasons.
That was why Jahi was staring at me like that, and while a small part of me wanted to be hurt at what emotions lingered in those amethyst eyes of hers, more of me understood the reluctance to let me do it this way; it was risky and something that was outside of her control, and the Demoness in front of me very much liked being in control.
I wasn't unarmed either, since we were allowed to have a small, slightly ceremonial weapon - a part of the culture inside of the Sultanate that I was happy to learn about - while there was nothing they could do to remove or nullify the tattoos I had on my wrists.
That was if they could decipher them at a quick glance when they were beneath flowing, yet transparent cloth, so I wasn't even worried about that anyways, especially not when I had learned how to utilize my voice to cast spells.
A skill that was slowly becoming more and more appreciated the longer I had access to it, and one that gave Jahi just a little bit more ease of mind when she looked me over once more, this time with some more appreciation.
"I'll be careful and reserved, Jahi; I won't be acting impulsively like you and Anput tend to on the regular~!"
Poking fun at the Demoness who legitimately owned my life was something I don't think I was ever really going to not find amusing, since she just rolled her eyes and plopped her hand atop my head as she replied "Coming from the very impulsive killer, I don't know if I find that reassuring."
She ignored my pout and instead checked the ornamental dagger I was bringing along, the simple weapon strapped to the thick leather belt I wore that complimented the dress and accentuated my waist not giving us either that much confidence.
"It's a shame that you can't take a real weapon in there... too fancy and far too practical to be allowed in a place like that, isn't that what she said?"
I hummed and nodded as I tapped the bejeweled hilt of my weapon, feeling only a little bit comforted by it since I knew it was good steel and properly tempered and sharpened; it just wasn't MY dagger, though it would definitely slice through flesh easily enough... so long as they weren't wearing a thick piece of leather, metal, or used their mana.
In other words, perfect against civilians, not perfect against hardened warriors and paranoid rich people.
Contrasting me with her full suit of armor and gigantic shield, I felt like we were in some kind of storybook with how different we looked right now, and when Anput sauntered over in full leathers with her shiny new blade resting on her shoulder, that feeling only grew.
"Don't be going crazy now, alright Kat? We're about three to five minutes away from your location, so if things go sideways... you'll be on your own."
Her obsidian eyes were serious as she stared at me, and I nodded and gave her the sincerity she deserved as I replied "I can lock myself away and keep safe for a few minutes, if not run away entirely. Besides, all I have to do is mingle until someone comes rushing in with a message for the merchant, or someone else gets some kind of important nod from the rich guy."
"Such a vague plan for you... how will you ensure you get the right people? Or that they actually know where their stuff is if you don't nab one of the Fingers?"
Before I could answer, the robed figure of our ashen haired wife joined our group, and her ever soothing and regal voice caught our attention right away as she said "The method for Kat is actually rather simple; pick someone who works for the merchant and question them about the Fingers in a discreet way. Use her Lust Mana to make them pliable to said questions, and work from there."
I nodded and added "It's just as simple as both of your tasks, really. You two have to break down a door and engage an estimated dozen trained and hardened warriors in close combat, kill them, and then comb through their stuff to find anything at all, be it money, materials or orders. Meanwhile Leone just needs to level a portion of the city with her magic so that the Sultana can renovate it later..."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
It was funny seeing how varied yet simple each of our strengths could be; I was an all rounder who happened to be pretty good at dealing with people, Anput was a smith who loved making weapons and using them, Jahi liked fighting anyone or anything, and Leone liked magic.
Put us in a position to make use of our strengths, and you would have a pretty good chance of us succeeding at whatever it was that you wanted us to do, which was a nice way to operate a large scale military or a small cluster of elites.
Just pick and plug as you please based on the task at hand, that basic kind of management still being used all over the world for a myriad of things; sometimes simplicity was the answer, and the simplicity of our tasks fit us all pretty well.
"Well... yeah, I guess that's true. Still, to think that this was supposed to be a vacation, and now we're coordinating a large scale, explosive and almost excessive show of force on a city that is technically still entirely under the control of the Sultanate..."
Jahi chuckled wryly and shook her head as she leaned against her giant shield, while Anput snorted and turned to look towards the tent we had last seen her Mom at, the Jackalkin narrowing her eyes as she muttered "Could've always been worse way to spend this time. At least we're getting some good materials."
"That's true, but I will say that I will NOT miss this damn heat when all of this is done; I absolutely despise this desert and all other deserts during the day, and even the nights cannot
make up for these days."
All three of my lovers all smiled at me as I made my way towards the canopy nearby, getting away from the sun and trying to cool myself off as best I could as we waited for the Sultana to come and finalize our orders; she wanted to do this on a timer that would lead into one another, and the plan was to have Leone finish last while the small squads hit the various hideouts hard and fast.
That way whenever the city was bombarded the Fingers would already be mostly dead and unaware of what was happening, so we could eradicate them as quickly as possible and without as many hiccups as we had back at the last city...
Though I imagine the emergence of another Fiend wouldn't be the worst thing to happen, so long as it wasn't- actually, that doesn't really matter now that the Sultana is here with us.
If an Arch Fiend or other really strong Fiend wants to make an appearance, now is most definitely the time for them to do just that, and the materials we could get off of a powerhouse like that... I know if Anput was thinking what I was thinking, she might just be drooling right about now...
Hells, I'm almost drooling myself just thinking about some even higher quality gear being made from some of those Fiends... my short sword already did so well, after all...