Free Web NovelChapter 201: Goddamn, I’m Sexy~
The first thing the System recommended was a Durable Adventurer’s Outfit in a sensible brown.
"Nope..."
-Ding!
{It has reinforced stitching and tear resistance up to moderate combat stress.}
"Looks like starting gear for a generic RPG."
The System moved on without comment and offered a Ranger’s Traveling Set, practical, layered, built for long distances.
"I look unemployed," Nico said.
-Ding!
{You are technically-}
"Next."
A Noble’s Formal Attire appeared, high-collared, gold-trimmed, the kind of thing that announced its own importance.
"Too pompous. I’d look like I was compensating for something."
-Ding!
{Host’s standards are irrational.}
"My standards are excellent. You’ve got bad taste."
They went back and forth through the apparel section for another four minutes while Nico walked through the forest, rejecting everything the System surfaced because he already had a specific vision in mind and refused to compromise.
But eventually, that vision materialized.
Sky-blue haori, loose and falling to the mid-thigh, with hand-drawn doodles scattered across the left chest panel and both sleeves in white ink, stars and small geometric shapes that looked casual enough to be intentional.
Underneath it went a dark navy samue.
Black pants below that, and light brown tanker boots that came up to the ankle with a steel toe cap and a solid heel that managed to look like they belonged beside the haori rather than contradicting it.
Nico bought everything, changed in the middle of the forest without a second thought, sent the previous clothes to inventory, sold them for 2 credits, then bought a full-length mirror with those credits, propped it against the nearest tree and began posing.
The scar ran from above his left eyebrow straight through the eye patch and down across the cheek in a thin, clean line of red.
The ice leg seeped frost on the ground under the boot whenever he stood still. His black hair was slightly disheveled, which he had decided on reflection was a feature rather than a problem.
He stood there for a long moment, trying out multiple angles and poses.
[Goddamn, I’m sexy~]
Finally selling the mirror back, Nico began walking toward Shinkotsu.
The western gate was a different creature from the southern one, which was currently hosting the demographic equivalent of a small city attempting to relocate itself.
The western approach had no settlements on the other side of it, no trade routes of consequence, and the primary residents of the western forest were magic beasts with the good sense to avoid both the Outsider territory and anything that smelled like civilization, which meant the gate queue was four people and a mule.
Nico cleared it without event, showed his ID, and walked into Old Shinkotsu through the western approach.
And the first woman he passed on the street did a quick look.
[Sexy and I know it~]
The second woman looked for slightly longer than the first had.
[Good god, you look hungry~]
The third was simply staring, without particular attempt at discretion, and Nico damn near began cackling in the middle of the street.
[Calm yourself, lady, your husband might be around~]
A child three steps behind her pointed at the frost prints appearing and disappearing behind his ice leg, and the mother immediately grabbed the child’s hand and redirected both herself and the child to the opposite side of the street with the quickest pace she could manage without looking like she was running away.
Nico counted that too. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
He was being looked at. That was all that mattered technically.
By the time the stump of his leg had reminded him it existed, the decision to find a carriage had moved from musing to necessity.
Walking to the Adventurer’s Guild and then from the guild to Kisho Hikaru’s estate across Old Shinkotsu was a distance that was, by itself, manageable.
But there was also the thought that arriving at the estate of a wealthy businessman, looking like he had walked there, was well...
Let’s just say, impressions are a huge part of diplomatic strategies.
So, he found the carriage: a black coach with two well-maintained horses and a driver who didn’t look basically homeless.
"Where to?" the driver asked.
"Adventurer’s Guild first," Nico said with a smile and a tilt of his head. "Then Old Shinkotsu after. Exact address to follow."
"That’ll be... a hundred silver."
Nico reached into his inventory with his hand inside the haori and pulled out two hundred silver.
"Make me comfy," he said, tossing the pouch towards the driver.
The driver looked at the coins.
Then looked at Nico.
And wondered for a second if Nico was asking for a different kind of comfort along the way before shaking the thought out of his head as he bowed with something very close to reverence while opening the carriage door.
The seat inside was upholstered, padded, and not made of anything that qualified as a hard surface.
And so, Nico’s behind touched the first soft thing since the sofa this morning; his back accepted the cushioned support after a full day of forest floors and tree roots with a degree of gratitude that bordered on emotional.
He settled in, rested his one arm on the window frame, and let the carriage begin moving while he ran through the evening in his head.
Kisho Hikaru had requested the meeting, which meant he wanted something.
What Kisho Hikaru wanted was, in a practical sense, irrelevant, because Nico already knew what he himself wanted from the exchange and had three separate routes to achieving it regardless of how the conversation went.
The mine owner could approach it as recruitment, as a gratitude gesture, as a veiled threat, or as a business proposition, and none of those approaches would change where the evening was going.
[Doesn’t matter what he wants...] Nico thought, watching New Shinkotsu’s mix of rooftops slide past the window as the driver navigated with extra care. [I already know what I need and how to get it.... The rest is just conversation.]
The carriage arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild without Nico registering a single notable bump.
Stepping out, Nico looked at the guild entrance and spotted a bunny-folk man with red hair heading for the doors, and called out to him.
The man turned.
And his eyes immediately found Nico before going wide.
"You’re," he started, "you’re-"
"No," Nico said, flatly and with complete sincerity, "I’m not daddy who went out for milk years ago."
The man’s expression immediately gave up.
"Go tell the Chief Nico’s here," He said, tossing a pouch of fifty silver toward the man.
The man looked at the pouch. Looked at Nico. Looked at the pouch again and went inside at a pace that was technically still walking.
And with that, Nico stood in front of the guild and waited.
Adventurers coming in and out recognized him, producing a range of reactions from whispered conversations to pointed looks to two women leaving the guild at the same time, making a brief detour that was not entirely necessary given the available path.
Nico counted that too.
And a few minutes later, the Chief emerged.
Nearly seven feet of bald, deeply tanned, impossibly broad-shouldered mage, wearing what was clearly his best formal outfit.
And his best formal outfit was an intricate purple and gold mage’s robe with embroidery running up the sleeves and a high collar.
Basically the kind of garment that screamed "important occasion" from across the street. Even though the whole thing looked absolutely surreal against the physical reality of the man wearing it.
The Chief walked toward Nico, took in the carriage and the outfit with a brief, appraising look, and nodded.
Nico opened his mouth, before immediately bursting into roaring laughter.
A full, folding-forward, hand-on-stomach laugh that showed no immediate signs of concluding.
"What," the Chief said.
Nico held up one finger, requesting patience before wiping something from the corner of his eye, and attempted to compose himself, and he succeeded... albeit partially.
"Dude..." he said, gesturing between the carriage and the two of them, managing to keep most of the laugh out of his voice but not all of it, "I hired a carriage, got dressed up, came to what’s basically your place... and stood outside looking handsome as hell."
He then gestured at the purple and gold robes. "And you came out wearing that beautiful, flowing, very thoroughly embroidered gown."
Gesturing between them one more time, he laughed, "I don’t know, man. I feel like I’m picking you up for a date."
The Chief looked at the carriage.
Then at his own robes.
Then at Nico.
Then he too started laughing, head at the sky, eyes curved, shaking his head while the laugh slowly wound down into a wry exhale.
"Come on..." he said, moving past Nico toward the carriage door. "We’re already late."
Nico followed, still chuckling, and climbed in after him.
And with that, the driver clicked his tongue, and the horses started moving, and the black carriage rolled south through New Shinkotsu toward an estate whose owner believed he had arranged this meeting entirely on his own terms.
