Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?-Chapter 64 – New Life

Chapter 64 – New Life

[Okay, time to get to work.] (Syrus)

Anlesa stood up out of bed, got changed in clothes that blocked their facial features and prepared to leave. Today was going to be a long day; there were already some of the processes worked out, but there were a few more details they needed to figure out.

The now ten-year-old, who looked nothing like a ten-year-old, ate breakfast and checked out of the inn. With yesterday's events completed, they were filled with resolve to begin the next step. Even if they wanted to, there was no time to keep wallowing in the pain, time was limited and they needed to mark out their place.

[Any preference on what we will do first?] (Syrus)

The two basic tasks they needed to complete were finding a place to work and finding a home.

For the former, they had many options, but they did range in difficulty to acquire. However, finding a home would be much harder.

Well, just finding a place to stay wouldn’t be too bad, they did that the day before, but now they had new requirements.

[A new residence first is my option.] (Eva)

[Sounds about right. Luna?] (Syrus)

[I am in agreement; we just need to find a place that is private and has at least some wiggle room if people want to break in.] (Luna)

[A room on a second floor would meet those requirements, but they would likely cost too much money.] (Eva)

[Maybe a basement room could work?] (Luna)

[A place or room with a basement could work but living in a basement might be too much.] (Syrus)

[Why?] (Eva)

[It’s just about movement; if something happens, it’s harder to leave quickly. I suppose breathability would also be a factor; some basements I found are really stuffy to be in. So sleeping in one every night will not be the best.] (Syrus)

[Fair enough… So what is your preference, then?] (Luna)

[On homes or what should we do?] (Syrus)

[Both are fine.] (Luna)

[I got no more comments about housing, and I do think it is reasonable to start figuring that out first because we will need a place where we can hide during cooldown times. Although, now that I think about it, we should look around the jobs first, because it will cause trouble if we live close to where we would work.] (Syrus)

[Agreed, I could see that happening.] (Luna)

[So we want to peek into a few places first?] (Eva)

[If we can, Eva can you handle the look?] (Syrus)

They had to create a new disguise and identity for themselves. With each girl having their own form they could take, they did solve some of their problems, but that had its limits. Besides the simple time limit that was found by staying in one form for too long, there was also the big issue of attribute usage. While one was in control, the other two couldn’t use their attributes. Maybe after their body recovered and they trained in it, they might be able to, but for the time being, they were locked in only ever using two attributes. Of course, having two attributes was amazing, but for the purpose of disguise, being locked wasn’t ideal.

The other option was to have Eva transform the body in disguise so they could do their business. The weak point in that plan was that Eva’s skills in using Morph were far from enough.

[I’ll make it work.] (Eva)

However, they still had to proceed with it. Eva could maintain one change–keeping her horn hidden–but multiple demands started to stress her out and could only be maintained for a limited time. So, she kept it simple. She kept Anlesa’s reddish-brown eyes but dyed their hair a crimson red to match Syrus’s. With this, there were only two changes to maintain, but that still couldn’t be maintained forever; however, it could last for a while longer.

Ideally, they would switch between Syrus’s form and a Morph disguise that would look similar to Syrus's. The big issue with that was the size difference between Anlesa and Syrus, it was enough that people would clearly notice if they claimed to be the same person.

[Looking good; now let’s start looking.] (Syrus)

There were a few jobs they could acquire, but the main two were being a potion maker or a hunter. Technically, both were also an option. A potion maker was going to be well-paying, but if they didn’t know if there was any place here that would be a good place to do that,. If there was any contract they had to sign that required them to work for a set period of time, then those places were out. Anlesa understood that their mindset was extremely restrictive on their options, but they wanted zero risks, and being bound to a company was too much at the moment for their current self, who wanted to stay out of the limelight and away from people.

They could always buy and scavenge the materials themselves and sell homemade potion, which would still be worth something. Eva, outside of being a little fearful, was even curious to see what she could do now that her mana control issues had been healed.

Then there was being a hunter. Compared to being a mercenary in Syrus’s home, there was far less bureaucracy involved, for better and worse.

If there were some other well-paying jobs they could find, they for sure would have tried to claim them if they met their criteria.

As they were walking through the city, Eva noticed something.

[There… are a lot more people with exotic attributes than I was expecting.] (Eva)

[Being a trade centre and a little further away from the Nevald Kingdom allows that, but there is even more than I was expecting.] (Luna)

[Arisea Station being a single important trade city allows for people to mingle a lot more, with what you said, and the links to the territories where they are more common allows for them to be treated relatively normally. Though I presume there are plenty of people who look down upon them within the city, especially with merchants from the Nevald Kingdom.] (Syrus)

While Cancole was bordered by Arisea Station and had a clear road to it, the Nevald Kingdom was in a different situation. It did have a border with Arisea Station, but that border was made up of a treacherous mountain range.

Eva was in wonder seeing all these people. The actual percentage was less than five percent, but that was still so many more people than she expected. A long time had passed since she found out she had an exotic attribute and an apparent culture hidden in her home. After overcoming the hurdles around it, she had long been curious about exotic attributes because she had never seen any before.

There were a range of differences, but the most common were animal ears or horns with some face and arm markings, and sometimes claws. After that, there were a few who leaned more on the animal side, with fur or scales covering their faces. There were also a few other weirder traits; there was one person whose arms reached his legs, one who had light blue skin, and another who possessed a bony exoskeleton–some people tended to stay further away from him.

However, the difference between their and her changes was a little weird for her. The only aspect that changed about her was that she grew one horn, and that was it. The horn only grew on the left side and made her forehead asymmetric. She even wondered if something had gone wrong with how little had changed. Syrus mentioned people with smaller changes were common, but it was still concerning for her not to see any like that in her mind.

[But it is always a crazy sight… to see how things can change in just a short travel distance.] (Syrus)

[Were exotic attributes looked down upon?] Eva asked because she remembered Syrus saying the opposite of what she was asking, so she was slightly confused.

[I mean, no, exotic gifts weren’t looked down upon. I believe I mentioned people who even laughed at those who made them a problem. I’m just referring to general things, you know?] (Syrus)

[Okay.] (Eva)

They mapped out the city and located where the appropriate places for hunting and potion-making were. They also wrote down in their notebook a few spots of interest and places they would look at later.

[There are three alchemy workshops mapped out; I don’t think there are any more around.] (Syrus)

[All three seemed to be owned by some big-name companies; I don’t think doing individual orders for them is going to work well.] (Luna)

[Would the hunting guild have a potion request?] (Eva)

[No, here hunting guilds just have requests for animal parts, monster exterminations, and material gathering.] (Luna)

[If we want to do guard work, we need to sign up with the local mercenary union, right?] (Syrus)

[No, there is nothing like that around. When it comes to guard work, you either have to be a guard or a well-known person within the hunting guilds and they will request you directly.] (Luna)

[So inefficient.] (Syrus)

[Different cultures prioritise different aspects.] (Luna)

[True; I should just be happy that the requirements for the hunting guild are so low that we don’t need to sign up.] (Syrus)

The hunting guilds worked by accepting quests from businesses and people and publicly posting them without indication of who the original party was. The reason there were multiple locations in the city was simply so that one location wouldn’t be too crowded–all locations were owned by the city.

Then all someone had to do was go in, grab a quest, and book it, that was it. If they completed, they got rewarded, and if they failed, depending on the failure, nothing would happen or they would be fined. Of course, by working consistently, people would come to know you, but there was no direct reward for continually hunting besides the financial reward for each quest completed.

Technically, a person could sell directly to a client, but that was considered bad practice, not illegal, but simply bad practice–as specific higher-wage requests could be monopolised.

The problem at the moment was their body; it still was healing, so any animal hunting quest would be difficult to complete solo.

Anna walked past the two-story hunter guild. It was a well-maintained building, made of dark wooden planks with large matching logs used at the corners.

[Let’s not go in today.] (Syrus)

[Why?] (Luna)

[Our body’s current state is too weak; I don’t want to risk being taken advantage of and being forced to use multiple attributes.] (Syrus)

Luna didn’t think anything bad would happen. She could see multiple children and young adults walk in and out, but she decided to respect Syrus' opinion and wait for her body to heal. freёwebnoѵel.com

[So, do we want to check out the alchemy workshops?] (Eva)

[I would rather not; dealing with them never goes well.] (Luna)

[I think I saw smaller shops, apothecaries–well, maybe only two but they could use our services.] (Syrus)

[...Instead of working for the manufacturer, we will sell to a consumer, huh?] (Eva)

[Pretty much, are you nervous?] (Syrus)

[Yeah… I think I have nearly burned through my social energy for next year already.] (Eva)

[You will be fine, Lilly, you have nothing to worry about.] (Luna)

[Thanks…] (Eva)

Anna moved towards the apothecary that Syrus noticed earlier. They were hopeful because they needed something to go right.

“Here is your delivery of potions, Ms Evelen.”

When they arrived, they found a delivery man at the front door and a woman in her thirties with long, messy brown hair and golden eyes.

“Thanks… Why are there ten more potions than what I ordered!”

“Just a bonus, Miss; please don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry, my arse, you fuckers are going to charge me excess fees later!”

“If you have any problems with our services, you are welcome to go to other companies for deliveries.”

The woman growled, “You cheapskate bastards.”

She took the bottles she ordered out of the basket, gave the rest back to the delivery man and told him to shoo off.

[...] (Eva)

[This is going to go well.] Syrus smiled.

[You think?] (Luna)

Anna walked into an apothecary, ready to make a fantastic first impression.