Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 57: Minstrel's Dance

With potions now prepared, there was nothing else Alice could think of that they needed to do.

She had done her research, made her preparations and Ria even purchased blood for when things went south. All that's left was for Allura to give her the wires and blood extraction kit.

"Is Allura still not here yet? Usually she's pretty on time. What did you say she was going to get?" Ria asked curiously, wondering where Allura was.

"She said she was going to buy blood extractor and some wires."

"And she never said where she was getting them from?" Ria raised an eyebrow.

Seeing Alice shake her head, Ria scratched her hair in annoyance as she made up her mind.

"Alright, I got an idea. Let's go gambling." She grinned, causing Alice to pause.

"Gambling?"

"Yep. I got a great place to show you." Ria rubbed her hands in excitement.

"No, you are not taking Alice to gambling." A voice cut her off as the two turned around and saw Allura approaching from the street. She had a bag in her left hand while her right was holding her jacket that was fluttering from the wind.

She had a cigarette in her mouth as usual and used her tongue to move it to the side.

"I know where you want to take her. Let's not go gamble through fighting. I do believe you remember what happened last time you went gambling." Allura sighed.

"Sh*t, why did you appear right as I told Alice I was gonna take her some place fun." Ria pouted.

The place she wanted to take Alice was a fighting ring where you can choose to fight certain opponents for a fee. However, if you win the fight you get to keep your money and earn more while you're at it.

Naturally, there was a limit to how many times you can fight along with who you can fight but to Ria, it was a sure-fire way to earn some quick coin.

"Some place fun? Last time you needed your grandfather to break you out of that place because you kept beating people up when they were trying to keep you there since you won too much.

They wanted to force you to fight a 5 Sigil user before you left since you kept boasting about how you were going to knock out anyone that came your way." Allura clicked her tongue in annoyance as she flicked Ria on the forehead.

"Alice, listen to me. If Ria ever tells you that she wants to take you gambling, say no and make sure she doesn't leave your sight." Allura warned sternly as Alice nodded her head.

"Good, now here are the things you needed. It took a little while since I decided to visit some old acquaintances to get my hands on some good wire for you to use."

Handing over the bag to Alice, Allura finished her cigarette before sighing out a cloud of smoke.

"I'm going to be a little busy over the next few days which is pretty good considering you two are on a mission. Here are the keys to your room and some funds for travel. I should be back by the time you two are finished but if not, take a few more missions and I'll find you eventually." Allura said as she pulled out another cigarette, causing Ria to wonder where she keeps grabbing these from.

Giving Ria a small coin purse, Allura turned to Alice.

"Any questions before I go?"

"Mnm… Only one. What else… do you think works well with my Sigil? I did some research and… Poison not what I want." Alice asked as she wanted to hear Allura's thoughts regarding what direction she went with her Sigil.

"Oh? I thought you were pretty excited about the poison thing, what changed?"

"I was lent a journal, that belonged to someone called Leoric Becker."

Hearing this name, Allura paused for a long moment before sighing out.

"Lord of Poisons… No wonder you got put off. He's pretty infamous once you make your way to the 'upper society' of Hunters I suppose. Personally, I've never really had any interaction with him so I can't say for certain but if you don't want to go down the path of poison then my initial suggestion still remains.

Try to focus on the physical aspect since it's the part I'm most familiar with." Allura said while flexing her bicep jokingly.

"But since I know you don't want that, I suppose you could think about what Sigils can unlock more uses. Your original idea was to use poison Sigils to enhance your passive ability of having poison blood. Maybe your next Sigil could be something that grants your blood elemental properties and so on. The limit is your imagination I suppose." Allura joked.

Naturally, she had more ideas but she wanted Alice to figure things out herself when she can. Helping too much would only dampen her creativity.

"Hmm… Alright, thank you."

"You're welcome. The inn I've booked for us is called the Minstrel's Dance. It's not too far from the entrance so even someone like Ria should be able to find it. I suggest you get a good night's sleep, get used to your new wire as well as extract some blood if that's what you plan and take a carriage tomorrow." Allura explained while ignoring the annoyed shouts of Ria in the background.

"Now that you know, I'll take my leave. Ah also, Gin will be in this city in a few days so keep an eye out for him."

Giving the two a wave, Allura turned around and instantly lost her smile. She didn't want to deal with all the issues popping up recently but things couldn't be simply ignored right now.

'Is it because the Eye found a new host? Is that why the Abyss is acting weird?' Allura thought with a frown. Shaking her head, she was going to deal with this issue as soon as she could so that the training period becomes a little safer for Alice and Ria.

Plus, this is just a two star Hunt. With someone like Ria around, the two of them should be safe.

Watching Allura leave, Ria huffed in annoyance but gave up on her idea of taking Alice to the gambling area.

"Let's go find the Inn I suppose. Do you drink?" Ria asked, feeling tempted to relax herself with a bit of drinking.

"Drink? Like water or?"

"Nono, drink as in alcohol." Ria corrected herself as Alice shook her head.

"Never had."

"Is that so? Interesting… I wonder what a drunk Alice looks like ahahaha, come on, let's go find this inn." Ria grinned eagerly as she was feeling excited about this drink now.

Raising an eyebrow, Alice couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at heart while following behind Ria.

Looking down at the bag that Allura gave her, she wondered what the blood extraction kit looked like considering most would use it on beasts rather than humans.

Opening the bag slightly to peek inside, Alice could see a transparent container holding two syringe tips, a rubber tube and what seems to a holder for the vials. It was a similar kit that she was familiar with as all she needed to do was insert the syringe into her arm and attach the vial. Once that was done, blood would flow into the container.

The kit didn't always look like this though. Early on, they would simply use a syringe or poke a hole in your arm and drain it into a bowl.

Looking carefully at the syringe tips, she understood that one was for her, and the other was for beasts considering the size of the syringe itself was many times thicker than the one used for humans.

Within this container, there was also a small pouch with extra syringe tips for future extractions.

'Maybe I can extract the blood of the Kata Charger and see what the effects are.' Alice mused to herself while checking out the other pouch within this bag. It was separate from the container and she assumed it to be the wire that Allura had ordered for her.

"Don't fall behind now Alice. I know you're excited about new stuff but we can look at them at the inn." Ria called out as she was quite far away now.

Nodding her head, Alice closed the bag back up and jogged after Ria.

The Minstrel's Dance wasn't too difficult to find as it was one of the more popular inn's for travelers. They didn't need to ask for directions as the music, shouting and laughter made it obvious which one was the inn.

Hearing all of this noise, Alice had a frown on her face as she was already feeling a headache from outside of the building.

Entering was no better as the scene of men and woman laughing while raising their tankards, people fighting and waitresses bringing over food to different tables.

Going over to the counter, they could see someone who seemed to be the owner arm wrestling a well dressed young man. He had a top hat placed on the side of the table while wearing a monocle on his face.

He had a forced smile while the owner had the same and despite his lean stature, the sleeves of his jacket stretched to the point of almost breaking due to his biceps.

He was currently at a standstill with the owner who looked as though he was made from muscle. He had a short beard, a pair of focused eyes, swept back hair and wore a rather simple jacket, shirt, pants and boots combination.

As their arm wrestle continued, creaking could be heard as their elbows had dented the table.

"Well I'll be damned. A skinny lad like you actually packed some power. Alright, food is on me for tonight." The owner grinned while pulling out a smoking pipe from under the desk.

Thanking the owner, the man walked back to what seems to be his friends as he relayed the news. Soon after, cheers could be heard as the owner turned his gaze towards Alice and Ria.

"Now then, how can I help the two of you?"