Chapter 732

“Do you have any of your own stories to share?” asked Nixilei, “Interesting things that happened to you or your friends growing up?”

Kat gave a light shrug, “Not really? I mean, you grew up in an orphanage as well so I imagine a lot of the stories I could have, if I did considering them interesting enough, which I don’t, that you’d seen or heard about them in your own time at your orphanage. Hmm... what unique stories...

“I suppose there is the time I took on three of Lily’s bullies at once... but looking back on it, it wasn’t anything impressive combat wise. See, my home dimension sort of... hmm... not grew out of conflict because that’s very much NOT the case. We just... moved it to more mental escapades. Bullying is all about name calling, constant harassment, sending hundreds of threatening emails. It’s mostly talking. Talking about the bad things they want to do but just a constant barrage of it.

“Anyway, I suppose that’s just background. What you mostly need to know is that your average person is very comfy. They live... well I want to say better then lords but with magic I’d be inclined to think the lords here live better... anyway. They live very nice, comfortable lives and so when I told them to stop, and they were being obstinate... well I just calmly walked up and slammed my fist into their jaw.

“The other two didn’t know what to do it about it. I mean, looking back my technique was horrible but was I able to deal with pain, and keep calm under pressure so they saw me take this girl out in one hit without so much as flinching, and I told them, feel free to do little pranks on me, but that taking it out on Lily was no longer acceptable, and that was that,”

“Yeah I can’t imagine that happening here,” said Nixilei, “I mean, sure if you looked a bit more trained, maybe if you could project some mana or something... but everyone knows how to fight at least a bit. Monsters aren’t a huge deal for the average citizen but they do still get into the cities so everyone is expected to at least know how to wack a slime with a big stick. It’s taught in schools even.”

“How do monsters sneak in?” asked Kat.

.....

“Oh plenty of ways. The sewer is the main way slimes get in because they are perfectly happy in that kind of environment. Otherwise, a lot of towns don’t have big walls, or walls at all, too expensive to maintain so they just... wander in. Bigger monsters can’t, and most towns have enchantments to monsters above a certain power level as long as they aren’t masters of stealth...

“But if they ARE stealthy monsters there isn’t much we could do anyway. They’d get past the guards if they could get past the enchantment. It’s very basic, couldn’t keep a human out if they were even designed for that. They just look for large mana signatures not attached to items or people. Monsters also liked to trend larger as they grow in power...

“Or is it more accurate to say that most monsters don’t really have a natural size cap like people? A monster can jut keep growing and growing and growing until they are finally killed. So, a particularly powerful slime would be too large for anyone to miss,” explained Nixilei.

“Seems a little... Blasé Faire about the whole thing,” suggested Kat.

“I’m afraid it’s just practical at the end of the day. Walls are too expensive, better enchantments are MUCH too expensive. So we don’t really have any choice in the matter Kat. It’s just life here, and life as a town guard isn’t just about criminals. Monsters can’t be reasoned with though, and they don’t go for theft. They just jump you at some point and people need to be ready for that,” explained Nixilei.

*I suppose I can’t really say anything against that. It’s hard to really get myself in the right headspace. Maybe I’m just too used to politicians that don’t like to speak the truth. Nixilei certainly knows how much it takes to maintain a wall or the enchantments` and if she says it can’t be done realistically, she’s probably right.

I also don’t really know how common small villages are these days. Without highways I’m not sure what’s considered ‘far away’. I wonder if they have similar systems? If they do how many people need to bunch up to get them? Do the farms I presume these larger towns have get protection as well? Or do farmers assume some amount of crop damage from wild animals are acceptable losses?

I also wonder why... well I don’t want to say technology stagnated their civilisation hasn’t necessarily been around long enough... hmm... I wonder if it’s because individuals can get so much more personal power or because lifespans seem to be a lot longer.*

Deciding that there wasn’t much else Kat wanted to know about when it came to the subject of city defence she returned to more personal things, “Did you ever have anyone in the orphanage itself you were close to?” asked Kat.

“Not really,” said Nixilei slowly, “I had at best acquaintances. I was a surprisingly driven kid and I didn’t understand for a long time what the point of interacting with many of them was. By the time I did learn that lesson, during acting and infiltration classes, I was largely an outcast and the closest person I had to a friend was Green, I wasn’t really able to find any other close friends. Oh sure I’m able to be professional with them, but we’re not friends.”

“Don’t you consider Green a friend?” asked Kat noticing that detail.

“Hmm? Did that not translate properly? I used WAS” the translation was perfect, “because it is no longer the case. I do consider her a friend, or probably something closer to a sister in truth, but no, I was not friends with her at first. As I said I didn’t really understand. Not sure Green did either, but we tried to pretend at the start. Somewhere later on we managed to stop pretending,” Nixilei let her statement drift off.

“You think it’s similar with Kress? No other friends?” asked Kat.

Nixilei could only shrug, “You’d have to ask him honestly. He was older than me when he joined Gareth’s household. His family is dead as well, unlike mine. Perhaps he just let that bitterness fester. I certainly don’t know of any friends he might have but it’s not like I particularly care either? If that make sense?”

“I suppose,” said Kat, still hoping for more answers she didn’t really want to ask Kress about. “Hmm... well... what about... what kind of missions have you been on? I mean no specifics obviously but like... have you done seduction? I feel the need to ask because that’s what I get asked as well, being a succubus,”

“Well, much like you, I just don’t have the temperament for them. I can fake so many emotions if it is required of me but romantic interest, lust, LOVE. No, I just don’t properly understand how to fake them. I don’t even really understand flirting. I only really managed to pass that class because when I was assigned as the ‘target’ and needed to resist the someone trying to use flirting to get information from me... well I finished the task and still didn’t know who’d actually TRIED.

“According to the instructor the answer was six. He sent six separate people to actually try and get info from me and I was forced to flirt with... eight or nine total? Anyway, the fact they couldn’t get anything from me really ramped up my score despite not being able to flirt at all. I managed to get a bit of information, but apparently I used intimidation and not flirting. I just happened to get a rather submissive partner assigned for the exercise and mistook it for proper flirting. I did lose points for that.”

“Why did you lose points?” asked Kat, “I mean if you got the information I don’t see how you could loose points, especially if they got fooled by it?”

Nixilei shook her head, “No. Well yes? No. Hmm... how do I explain this... ok. The other spy was playing a person of interest not another spy. The person of interest wasn’t supposed to have any particularly strange or unique fetishes. Just vanilla stuff. The SPY, the person behind the act, was a submissive and really enjoyed the exercise. Propositioned me after as well. Apparently submissive does not mean shy.”

Kat opened her mouth to ask if Nixilei accepted the offer or not before shutting it rather firmly. Nixilei was a friend at this point, probably, but Kat was still asexual. She DID NOT take any enjoyment in learning about other people’s sex lives and she wasn’t about to start now. “Well, I suppose that’s a thing,” said Kat not really knowing what else to say.