Tensei Skill Shop Chapter 23

Tensei Skill Shop

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 23:

I slowly settled my weight on the heels, feeling the motors start to hum, but still holding my position as I kept my eyes on my partner.

“Ready… GO!”

My surroundings blurred as I circled around at a high speed-

Only to be met by a ready Leafeon with a glowing tail!

“FEE! LEEFEEFEEFEE…!”

I absorbed the impact, and spun into a different position, where the same green blade was coming yet again!

“FEEFEEFEE…!”

Wall riding, method air, a crouching spin, trick after trick, all met with the same slicing appendage!

Right, left, low right, high left, center, low-!

“-ON!”

SKKRRRNK!

I threw my body into a backflip along with the force pulling my arms upwards, releasing the item in my hands to save my fingers from the pain. There was a loud thunk as the blocking shield struck the ceiling, and I skated over to catch it before it fell to the floor. 

“Leaf!” Leafeon barked excitedly as I examined her work.

“That’s three out of three, Leafeon!” I told the Pokemon, turning the shield towards her.

The training tool had several slash marks on its surface, but the biggest was the large cut running down the center, left by her final blow.

“Looks like you’ve gotten the pattern down! Great job, girl!”

“Fe-on!” She puffed out her chest proudly, even as I petted her head.

“Alright, that’s all for training for today. Let’s go take a wash!”

“Lee…”

“Not that you smell bad, but you know that your smell gets a bit strong after training.”

“On?!” Leafeon sounded offended.

Experiencing combat in Spira made me motivated to focus on polishing my basics further. So I did just that, making use of the training room attached to the living space. 

I didn’t just work on my swordplay, but all the other stuff I picked up so far. AT tricks, positioning, parrying and blocking… 

Achieving the level of skill to be able to combine them together… The fact that I gained LP said enough about how I felt.

Having a training partner also did a lot for my progress, especially since Leafeon was quite invested in trying to perform combo techniques.

Leafeon’s tail was similar to a platypus’s, in the sense that it was horizontally flat most of the time, with a bit of freedom to twist slightly. Combined with her vulpine body's range of motion, it meant that her angles of attack weren’t as restricted as one might assume. However, achieving that level of ability took a lot of hard work, combined with multiple uses of [Appraisal] to ensure she wasn’t harming herself by moving like that.

Though to be honest, the fast rate of improvement was largely due to the [Trainer] skill I had. As evidenced by the damaged shield in my hands, she had gotten the hang of chaining together her Leaf Blade attacks. Even if she missed one or two, she could just move on to the next, pursuing and pressuring her opponent. 

But that wasn’t the only thing she managed to improve.

The Hidden Dungeon world system has weapon skills, like [Dual-Wielding Daggers], [Short Swords], and [Spearmanship], with ranks to indicate the level of mastery. Based on those, I [Created] a version that was meant for Leafeon.

When she had it active, her speed and power with her tail blade was much higher, not to mention the skill in which she executed her techniques. But it wasn’t meant to stay on all the time; the main intention was to show the Pokemon the heights I hoped for her to aim for, and it certainly stoked her enthusiasm. 

It’s a bit unexpected given her normally relaxed personality… But I guess she just enjoys improving in skill, as compared to Pokemon who thrive in battle, I thought as I replaced the shield on the equipment rack, before moving on to removing my ATs.

It would repair itself over time, thanks to Sano’s godly power at work. That effect applied to the ATs too, saving us a lot on maintenance.

It might be a good idea to go back to the Air Gear world sometime, just to pick up more variety of parts for Matsu to work with. I opened the door, letting Leafeon leave first.

“Rick-kun, you were in there for quite a while,” Uzume greeted me from the couch.

“Yeah, I guess we got a bit caught up in training.” I glanced at the game console in her hands. “How’s the game?”

“I’m trying a new team to beat the Elite Four with. It’s tougher this time around.” Uzume giggled when Leafeon leapt up to peer at the screen. “Interested as usual, huh, Leafeon?”

“Lealee~”

My Veil Sekirei sniffed. “Wow, you must have really trained hard, given how strong you smell now.”

“ON!?” This time, Leafeon fell over in shock, tumbling off the couch.

She didn’t object to the washing up when I suggested it again.

Matsu came out of her room to join us on the couch later, settling on the opposite side of me from Uzume as she always did. She took her glasses off and closed her eyes, resting her head against me.

“It’s about forty, fifty percent of the way there,” She said, answering the unasked question, “I need more examples to work with if I’m to progress faster.”

“Alright then, we’ll go back to Spira tomorrow.”

“Before that, can I ask for a favor, Rick-tan?”

“Sure, what is it?” I answered automatically.

Matsu pulled away so she could look me in the face. “Could you help me get some more stuff from Skyrim?”

Back to that cold place again… Can’t deny that I still have things I’d like to get from that place. “What sort of stuff? Is it going to be tough to get?”

“It should be quite simple actually. Care to guess what it is?”

“Hmmm… nah. I’d rather wait for you to tell me.”

She pouted, like a child that had been denied her fun. “Boo…”

Then again, it’s probably something I should be able to think of normally, except I’d much rather not work my brain after all the training… And I’ll probably kick myself for not realizing the answer.

To my embarrassment, that thought was right on target.

Matsu wanted a bunch of soul gems for her work with dresspheres. Given the fact that spheres consisted of pyreflies, which in turn came from spirits, that meant that theoretically they had something in common with the soul gems of the Elder Scrolls setting.

As for what happened with the soul gems I brought back previously? They had all been used up to practice with normal Skyrim enchanting. I had considered going back to collect some more in the future, just not immediately. 

Except now there was a good reason to do so, and not just to keep Matsu happy.

Crossover mechanics really were interesting to explore, huh?

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. Anything else you’d like to add to the shopping list?”

“Well, there are a few things I can think of…” She caught sight of the face I was making. “I’ll do that thing you like.”

“Deal.” She knows how to get me to do what she wants…

Once I was in front of the door, the first thing I did was to make sure to set a timer for an auto-return, since I wasn’t intending to spend too long in Skyrim this time.

The first thing I did after stepping through was to use [Event Predictor], to see how much time had passed since I was last here. That was followed by search skills to locate the various named characters I had interacted with.

Okay, okay… so I definitely set off quite a few butterflies with my dispatched courier. On the upside, looks like Mercer Frey’s given up on finding me for now, but the downside is that it’s probably due to the increased Thalmor presence around the region. As for the others…

Astrid no longer showed up when I tried locating her, which meant that she was definitely dead. On the other hand, the destruction of the Brotherhood was still a few days off, so if I wanted to meet up with Lernen then, I had to hurry a little.

My current location was near Windhelm still, so I decided to go handle a certain quest in the area. No need for Lernen the walking plot device to trigger this one, because I had my own tricks.

Even with [Cold Resistance], the misting of my breath, plus the snow and ice everywhere made it clear just how savagely freezing the Forsaken Cave was. Thankfully, it grew warmer the deeper I went, thanks to the still-lit braziers in the barrow within.

The creepy atmosphere got to me more than the traps or the waiting draugr, but eventually I arrived at the final chamber, passing some swinging blades to do so.

The coffin burst open, a Draugr emerging from it like a puppet pulled up by its strings. That was supposedly the great alchemist who created the White Phial artifact. Sounds from the sides alerted me to other enemies reinforcing the boss for this fight.

[Haste] [Throw: Fire Gem] [Throw: Kunai] 

The draugrs behind me were consumed in a large burst of flames, and the last remaining one had its head severed by the sharp piece of metal going through its neck.

The boss draugr’s jaw opened jerkily. “FU-”

“[Silence].”

“-s!”

The expected shockwave came out as nothing more than a light breeze that ruffled my clothes. It didn’t even slow my approach towards the draugr.

So not a complete nullification, but still more than enough to negate its effect as a practical move. Hmm…

If the draugr could show shock, I think it would have, but all it did was to work its mouth silently, before raising its weapon-

[Overwhelming]!

Too late to do anything as Murasame flickered through its body several times in less than a second, empowered by the skill I copied from the [Hero] job class Michio had.

I sheathed the blade and watched as the blue unlife of the draugr’s eyes extinguished, and its body fell apart into separate pieces.

Damn, that was cool. I gave myself a thumbs-up.

I didn’t have [Draconic Soul], so I couldn’t learn the Word of Power on the Word Wall in the chamber. Instead, I entered the descending stairs below it, heading all the way to the end where a carved ancient bowl was, awaiting some kind of alchemical mixture to unlock the chamber beyond.

In a normal setting, this was where the player would be stuck without the required alchemical mixture, because that item served as a special key to open the door to where the White Phial was stored.

As it so happened, I had [Created] a skill based on the special artifact I had the pleasure of holding for quite some time, and it would unlock any door, even one without a physical keyhole.

[Skeleton Key]

I glanced at the empty bowl, then at the stone door opening up the way. 

No effort was made to resist the smirk on my face as I walked right through, and proceeded to loot the chamber of the Phial, and all the alchemical reagents stored within.

A quick [Appraisal] informed me that the White Phial’s rumored effect of being able to purify and amplify any liquid placed inside it was real, though currently unavailable due to the damage to the vessel. In the game, it was possible to repair it, though the method used would only restrict it to one type of potion.

However, I was confident that I could do better eventually, or if not, have Sano extract the inbuilt skill from this artifact. 

The White Phial went into my inventory, and I made my way out of the cave.

Time to head down to Falkreath, and hopefully meet up with Lernen again.

…

Perhaps Astrid the assassin wasn’t expecting Lernen’s reaction, but he found her easier to slay than he had anticipated. After getting the key from her corpse, he unlocked the door and released the kidnapped people.

It took him a while to get an idea of where he had been brought to; the shack was somewhere north of Morthal, and he decided to go there to report what had happened.

The guards in that isolated settlement scoffed at first, until one of them decided he was telling the truth, and gave Lernen directions to speak to a commander located at Dragon Bridge. Given that it was barely light out, he decided to rent a horse to cut down on the travel time.

At that place, he found Commander Maro in the main outpost building, and informed the man of what he did. Maro reacted to the news of his slaying of Astrid with excitement, claiming that the dead woman was the leader of the Dark Brotherhood. According to the official-looking soldier, it was an opportunity to wipe out the Dark Brotherhood, since the loss of their leader would leave them vulnerable.

To that purpose, Maro provided him with the location of the Brotherhood’s hidden base, along with the password required to access it, and tasked him with killing all their known members. 

“But, I’m just one man,” Lernen protested, “I don’t think I can handle a group of dangerous assassins by myself!”

“I am truly sorry, my friend,” Maro apologized, “But my men are being tracked by their spies. If I were to gather them for an attack, they would know and flee into hiding. No, if their destruction is to have any chance of success, I must rely on someone unconnected to the Penitus Oculatus.”

“Someone like me.” Lernen’s voice sounded reluctant even to himself.

“Please, my friend. Your assistance is necessary.”

Lernen thought back to that moment in the shack, when Astrid just told him to pick one of the three to kill, after she had kidnapped him from his bed in Windhelm. The Dark Brotherhood, if they were made up of people like her, should not be allowed to exist.

“...fine, but I need to know a few things.”

“I will give you whatever help I can,” Maro promised him.

Although the commander couldn’t give Lernen help, he could buy the Dragonborn time. Time that Lernen needed to hone his strength further. And he didn’t intend to waste any of it.

As he stepped out of the outpost, Lernen spotted a man, who could only be another courier, coming towards him.

"I've been looking for you," The Nord said to Lernen, "Got something I'm supposed to deliver, your hands only."

To his pleasant surprise, and subsequent disappointment, the message was from Rick.

Apparently his friend hadn’t noticed his disappearance, having had to leave urgently in the middle of the night himself. The note contained an apology for the sudden departure, and wishing him good luck on his quest to stop the return of the dragons. The post script at the end also indicated the possibility of meeting up once more.

Over the next week, Lernen slowly made his way in the direction of Falkreath, honing his magic and other skills on the various obstacles along the way; the wildlife was a common threat, and so were bandits, but there was the occasional dragon that he was hard pressed to defeat.

Still, he overcame each of them, and felt himself growing stronger.

Lernen wondered if that was part of the gift Rick gave him, because when he compared himself to the mages he saw in his youth, he could honestly say that he was outstripping them in magical ability.

He had considered enlisting someone else for help, like Delphine the Blade, but the message he left for her received a response of rejection. She considered it too risky with the number of Thalmor agents in the area, and Lernen couldn’t disagree with that.

One of the squads had accosted him with hostile intent, forcing him to fight for his life against them. It was not an experience he was keen to repeat.

However, it appeared that the gods were listening to his prayers for some help in his quest.

Rather than heading directly to the Sanctuary, he first stopped over in Falkreath to stock up on supplies, and that was where the answer to his wish appeared.

“Oh, Lernen? What a coincidence seeing you here.”

“Rick?” The Breton couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Yes, it’s me. But seriously, why are you here? I thought you would be learning magic at Winterhold right now.”

“About that…” 

“It’s not because I left suddenly, is it? I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you in person, but I hope my message reached you.”

“It did,” Lernen assured the other man, “It’s just… it’s a long story.”

“Well, I’ve got time. So let’s hear it.”

After finding a private spot, Lernen spilled the whole story to his friend, who listened patiently until the end.

“It’s a tough task you’ve been set, but…” Rick patted the sword at his waist. “You have my sword and my magic.”

“Rick…”

Lernen was overcome with gratitude, and he nearly broke down crying from being faced with such graciousness. Needless to say, he accepted the offered help.

The next day, they departed to the west of Falkreath. Commander Maro’s information stated that the most optimal time for them to attack was in the late hours of the morning. Given that they usually conducted their deadly business at night, that was the time when most of their members had returned to the place to rest, leaving them at their most vulnerable.

Lernen knew better than to rely on that information completely, but it was still somewhat helpful. 

They found the black door embedded in a rock formation, just as Maro’s information said where it would be. With the skull carving marked with a bloody handprint on its surface, Lernen didn’t need to feel the eerie aura around it to know it was bad news.

He paused and turned to look at his companion. “I know the password. Let me.”

Rick nodded, not saying anything, hanging back while Lernen approached the door.

Even though he was expecting it, Lernen jumped when the door suddenly spoke.

“What is the music of life?”

The Breton gulped, before recovering his wits and reciting the response taught to him. “Silence, my brother.”

“...welcome home.”

The door unlocked, and swung slowly and silently open.

Lernen stepped back and summoned his dremora, while Rick moved ahead, the other man nodding to him as he passed. 

Contrary to the exterior, the inside of the place was warmly lit and comfortable, but the two invaders didn’t let their guards down. Following Rick’s lead, they paused a short distance in.

Rick made gestures with his hands, before the glowing magicka in them burst with the casting of the spell. The sounds around them became muted, allowing Lernen to identify it as a Muffle spell.

“So we have five targets,” Rick said, already beginning a second spell, “Let’s see…”

Lernen just waited, recognizing the next spell as a Detect Life one. 

The other Breton released the spell, and looked around with glowing eyes. “We’re lucky. There are five people here, and one frostbite spider. And they’re mostly separated, so we can take them out one by one.”

Lernen set his jaw and nodded. “Lead the way.”

“You remember the plan?”

“You handle things quietly, and I take over when things get loud.”

“Good.”

They found the first member, a Nord, dozing on a bed in a side chamber. Since he didn’t appear to have noticed them, Lernen let Rick take the lead. The other man drew his long, thin blade in a reverse grip and moved, all without a sound.

It was so fast that the mage nearly missed it; the Muffle spell settled over the bed at the same time the blade slid through the sleeping man’s neck. The sleeping assassin jerked, but it was too late by then.

The sharp metal sliced out from the Nord’s neck with a spray of blood, almost as though it moved on its own without its wielder pulling it. Then Rick reversed his grip and performed a conventional downward swing, severing the man’s head entirely.

Lernen felt a spike of worry when he saw Rick’s expression, but the exhale of relief contrasted that.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, still under the Muffle spell.

“That man was a werewolf. We were lucky we caught him sleeping.”

He felt a spike of doubt at first, before controlling himself. If Rick said so, he was going to believe Rick. A closer examination showed that the decapitated head had slightly feral features, as though in the middle of transforming from a man to a wolf.

“Are the rest like him?” He asked Rick.

“I don’t know, but best stay cautious.”

The next one was an Argonian standing before a forge, and once more Rick executed a fatal sneak attack, ending the assassin’s life with a blade sharper than anything Lernen had ever seen.

However, things didn’t continue smoothly, especially with Lernen’s cry of shock at the frostbite spider popping out at them. He killed it quickly, but it didn’t change the fact that stealth was no longer an option.

The alerted remaining assassins fought back with blade, bow, and magic, demonstrating skill honed by taking the lives of many.

Lernen felt quite out of his depth, but he did his best to play the role he agreed on. “You will face death at the hands of the DRAGONBORN!” 

His roar sounded weak to his own ears, but it worked well enough as a taunt to make them focus on him. It was enough to make him reconsider when a few arrows came too close for comfort.

“You will die like the others!”

He poked his head out to cast a spell, and spotted Rick sneaking up behind the archer. His friend did something; it was not a spell as it lacked the telltale glow of magicka, but her next shot went unusually wide.

“What? That shouldn’t be! Nazir, I- Urrgk!” The female archer’s shout cut off in a gurgle as a blade came out through the front of her throat.

“Gabriella?! Festus, there are two of them! Festus!?” The Redguard dodged behind a wall to avoid Lernen’s lightning bolt.

The sound of running feet was followed by that of a door slamming shut. The mage had ran to save himself.

Between the two of them, the Redguard was quickly slain, leaving only the mage to slay. Lernen found Rick waiting for him in front of a pair of double doors, which must have been where the mage must have ran into.

His friend jerked his head towards the closed door. “He’s definitely preparing to hit us the moment we open the door.”

“I’ll handle it,” Lernen said confidently.

Rick raised an eyebrow, but stepped back.

At his command, the dremora moved to open the door, only for it to be struck by a burst of magic that saw it disperse back into Oblivion. Lernen dove aside to avoid a burst of fire coming through the doorway.

“Fools!” The Brotherhood mage thundered, “I will not be slain so easily! You-”

BANG

The Breton twisted around on the ground to look up. Rick was standing there with a strange device held in his hand, like a crossbow without the bow, aimed through the doorway.

BANGBANGBANG

It made that same loud sound several more times, before his friend lowered the weapon and looked at him.

“It’s done.”

Lernent carefully got up. “R-Rick? Wh-what was that?”

“It’s a special weapon that I keep as backup. I don’t usually use it, but I think this was a special case.”

The corpse of the Brotherhood mage bore several holes in his body, but he didn’t feel like looking any deeper into it. The Dark Brotherhood was dead, and that was what mattered.

Much, much later, the two of them stood outside the door to the Sanctuary, both of them carrying much more than they entered with. They had spent quite some time looting that place, with Rick taking most of his share in clothing and soul gems.

“You really can’t come along with me?” Lernent asked.

Rick shook his head. “I’d like to, but I’ve got matters to attend to this time. Sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize. You helped me quite a lot already. I don’t think I could have done this without you.”

“I believe you would have found a way, somehow. Besides, you still have to stop the dragons, right?”

“You really think I could do it?”

“Well, if you don’t believe in yourself, then believe the me that believes in you.”

Lernen snorted. “Did you get that from somewhere?”

“Who knows? Anyway, I think that Dragon Shout you got in that place will be a very useful one.”

“I hope so too. May we meet again, Rick.” Lernen nodded to his friend.

“May we meet again, Lernen,” His friend echoed.

It was a lonely journey back to Dragon Bridge to report his success to Commander Maro, but the mage was hopeful for the next time he would be reunited with his friend.

…

In the dim twilight, a young girl was carefully harvesting several herbs among the trees of the forest, adding them to the basket she carried with her.

Her ears pricked up at the sound of someone approaching, and she quickly stood up and placed her back against the nearby tree.

The man approaching her wasn’t armed, but she remained on guard. If he thought her vulnerable just because she was alone in the woods, it would be the last mistake he ever made.

“Hey, are you Babette?”

“Yes, sir? That is my name?” The innocent-looking child slipped a dagger from her sleeve, ready to take a life to preserve her secret.

“I’ve got a letter for you. Here it is.”

She blinked, and accepted the folder piece of paper he held out. “Oh, thank you, kind sir.”

“Just doing my job.”

She watched the courier leave, before opening the letter and reading the contents. A familiar handprint mark at the bottom indicated who it was from.

‘Babette, my girl-’ She scoffed. Only Nazir would refer to her like that. ‘If you’re reading this, then it’s likely that we are all dead.’

She continued to read, before crumpling up the letter and burning it to hide the evidence.

“So that’s the name of the one who slew my family… it’ll be the last mistake you ever make… Mercer Frey.”

With that, the vampire stalked off into the night, intent on having her revenge.

…

[Appraisal] sure is broken, especially when used to enhance the results of [Forgery]. Hope Mercer Frey likes the attention I’m sending his way.

Perhaps it was callous of me, but I found that the act of taking lives had become surprisingly easy in this world. Not that I would kill a random passerby or any person that irritated me with their behavior, but for murderers like the Dark Brotherhood or the bandits that tried to kill me for my stuff? 

I wasn’t going to lose sleep over taking out the trash.

More importantly, I had errands to run.

“Hello there, can I interest you in my wares?” The shopkeeper greeted me after I stepped into his shop.

“Got any soul gems?”

“An enchanter, are you? Well, you’re in luck!”

“Good, I’ll take all of them.” I poured the coins out on the counter. “This should cover the cost.”

“Glad to have your business.”

Alright, that should be enough. Time to head back. Didn’t take as long as I thought it would.

After I finished destroying the Dark Brotherhood, I still had quite a bit of time before the timer I set was up, so I decided to collect some more skills while I was here. Even if I wouldn’t earn as much DP from selling the same skills, it was still worth something.

It was also a way for me to check on the changes I made, and I had been responsible for quite a few of them.

Cases of the Skilless Sickness were less common, though the demand for potions of Cure Disease remained high. That just made more targets for me, and I harvested wherever I could without giving myself away. It also provided the opportunity for easy money and Alchemy skill grinding, as I helped brew potions to handle the problems I caused.

The civil war was still ongoing, with the occasional clash between the Stormcloaks and the Imperial Army, but apparently the Stormcloaks were getting pressured by the new Destruction spells that had leaked out from the College of Winterhold. Given the Nords’ distaste for magic, it had taken them aback when the Imperial spellcasters took out many of their numbers with the wide-hitting Phantasm spell. 

However, the Stormcloaks were a stubborn lot, and they quickly learned to target the mages first whenever they appeared on the battlefield. So while the Imperial Army held the advantage, victory was still undecided. Things had thus settled back into an uneasy stalemate. 

The presence of Thalmor Justicars probably encouraged that. Thanks to me setting them on Mercer Frey, the deadly clash had resulted in them doubling down on trying to catch the presumed Blade. 

But as a consequence of doing so… well, the Thieves Guild were naturally drawn into the conflict. Some of their members were loyal, and chose to fight to their deaths in defense of the Guild. Others ran and hid, some successfully, others not. 

Apparently, in their attempts to evacuate, they tried to do so with their wealth, only to find an empty vault. Imagine that.

On a whim, I decided to use my skill to locate some of the notable people I met in the Guild. Delvin and Brynjolf are still alive, and…

Huh, they’re in the same location as Karliah. Guess she’s managed to convince them of her innocence… and that makes another bunch that are after that guy. Sucks to be him.

Feeling a tug on my line, I pulled back on my rod, and whistled in awe at the ebony equipment that came up with it. It went into my inventory, just like the many others.

The main reason why I was fishing was because it was too risky to go to the other places where the surveillance level was too high, not to mention it would take too long to try and sneak around them as I acted, even with my stealth skills. So with my limited time left in Skyrim, I decided to just try out something new.

[Lucky Fishing] was a skill Matsu advised me to make, and so far it was turning out to be VERY beneficial. I had fished up several pieces of equipment, some of them magical, and few of them even unique, like the Ring of Phynaster.

A twenty percent resistance to magic, shock and poison, all in a single piece of jewelry. Not as good as some Final Fantasy stuff, but still valuable nonetheless. 

Eventually, I felt the timer about to run out, and packed up my loot for the departure.

After one last check on named characters to ensure that none of them were near me, I found a secluded place that I could return from, and summoned the portal to return to the shop.

“Welcome back, Rick-tan! You-” Matsu stopped when I held my hand out. “What’s wrong?”

“[Clean]. Ah, that’s better. You wouldn’t believe the smell that comes from hanging around too much fish.”

She took a cautious sniff, but didn’t pick up anything. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Where’s Uzume?” I asked, not seeing the brunette around.

“Here,” The girl in question emerged from the toilet, “Welcome back, Rick-kun.”

They said absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I think that they’re right. Seeing my Sekirei after so long was a welcome sight, and even if it wasn’t that long for them as it was for me, 

After a welcome back kiss from each of them, I started unloading my loot.

Matsu was quite pleased with the bunch of soul gems I had brought back from Skyrim. There were even a few grand soul gems in them, and there was a mix of filled and empty ones. More than enough for her to experiment with.

The other goods went into our equipment storage space for later perusal. The jewelry, into a special storage case we bought just for them, while the clothes and armor were separated into two baskets. 

I did my best to avoid damaging the outfits to save Uzume the trouble of having to repair them. Supposedly, the full set of Shrouded Armor that the Dark Brotherhood used could make for a proper Assassin-style dressphere, but it would take work to achieve such a thing.

“Are you uncomfortable working with those?” After all, they come from killers, and I killed those people…

“Why would I? They’re just clothes.”

I smiled at her. “Okay then.”

And that was that.

“So shall we go back there then? To Spira.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Afterword: I thought we were overdue for a return to Skyrim, so I decided to write a chapter featuring that. The similarities between Spira’s spheretech and Skyrim’s soul gems does give rise to a lot of potential, wouldn’t you agree? If you think about it, the items the fiends drop that are used to customize weapons are quite similar to the enchanting process, or perhaps the alchemy one where you mix multiple ingredients with their respective magical properties until you get the desired one. That’s the beauty of crossovers that attracts me so much.

So many ideas, so much difficulty in getting them into words.