043 – Hello, Eve

Day 3

For my upcoming plan, Claire needed a voice. Which, in turn, meant I needed hardware. Pristine hardware that had not been exposed to the internet.

On my trip I had found a whole bunch of stores that might serve my purposes, but most were in some state of disarray. The scramble, the earthquake, the ice storm. None of which would be good for hardware. Which was mostly an excuse. I also needed to test some hypotheses regarding the Blessing, the Created and the demons.

So I walked up to the mall, fumbling with my suit’s cufflinks, my tail swishing nervously. Everyone knew about the power of walking into a place you don’t belong with a clipboard. People forgot about the power of a suit.

The automatic doors slid to the side and revealed a similar group of guards as the last time. Three spear-wielders and one caster.

Step one was a full success. Their dots on the minimap were white. The kobolds did not automatically assume that a mammon-touched kobold was hostile.

Beyond them, I could see how they had transformed the mall. The central passage was narrowed down with artificial walls, built out of pallets, laminate flooring and other materials they could scrounge together.

The caster called out to me. “You there! Who are you? What do you want?”

“I am here on orders of my master. Mammon is giving your tribe an opportunity to prove its value.”

The caster looked at one of the males and nodded over to me. He went over to the side of the entrance, out of my view, but I heard the clank of a heavy lever being pulled.

“Enter,” the female commanded.

I didn’t put it past the kobolds to make a sport out of killing a dragon-bootlicker. So I took care to not trip any of the three tripwires that ran along the short entrance.

The one kobold stayed to the side, while the other two spear-wielders stepped closer, their weapons pointed at me.

“I demand access to two of your stores. Their contents are meaningless to you anyway,” I said.

“And why would we care about the desires of your master?” She left no uncertainty about her feelings regarding that word.

In reply, I grabbed one of the spears pointed at me and ripped it out of its wielder’s hands. He even did me the favor of trying to hold on and subsequently falling down in front of me.

I snapped the spear in half, put one clawed foot on the poor guy’s neck, and put the spear tip against his throat.

For a split second their dots turned red, before the caster stopped the other two from attacking.

“First and foremost, you care about my desire to please my master. If you aren’t willing to cooperate, I will get rid of you and talk to your higher-ups.” I put some pressure on my foot, getting a howl of pain from the kobold. “Beyond that, your tribe’s cooperation will make my master more willing to accept your continued existence, in defiance of the kobolds’ proper place—serving a dragon.”

I looked away from the caster and down at my victim. Mostly so she wouldn’t see the fear in my eyes.

“Which stores?” she asked.

“Best Buy. And one of the repair kiosks.”

She crossed her arms. My demonstration of strength had worked. Kobolds were crafty bastards. But they weren’t brave.

“Go then. Do not go elsewhere, and do not cause trouble.”

I gave her a nod. “Thank you.”

Then I pulled the one underneath me up by his neck. “You will guide me. Wouldn’t want me to have any accidents in your oh-so-well-crafted halls, would we?”

He didn’t reply. He only gave the caster a panicked look. She narrowed her eyes at me, but nodded.

I barely heard him squeak, “Yes, mistress,” over the rush of fear in my ears. I should have done this after that debuff ran out.

But that didn’t matter now. I had done it. Social engineering worked on kobolds as well as any office worker.

I followed the kobold through hidden side passages, too narrow and small for humans. And, most importantly, there were zero screens active and out in the open. I didn’t want to kill my guide, but if the Wyrm made a move, I might have to, to protect my cover.

“Eve,” Lucy said, “this was the most attractive you have ever been. And believe me, I have extensive documentation of your life. It truly was. And I’ll tell Jamie and Ash every single detail about it.”

I didn’t dare reply or react in any way.

In the end, my fear about the Wyrm never came up. They had converted the Best Buy into a death-trap labyrinth. Without a guide, this shopping trip would have taken me hours, and very possibly killed me.

Instead I walked out of a side entrance after about half an hour, pushing a cart full of hardware and the necessary equipment to tinker with it. My guide had helpfully guided me to a loading bay and opened the gate.

“Will you return with more requests from your master?” he asked. Was he… hopeful?

“I might. His methods are beyond my mind to comprehend.”

He pulled out a small object and tossed it over. I nearly fumbled it as I caught it. It was a simple whistle, carved out of bone.

“Use this at the loading bays instead of using the entrance for our victims. Our scouts use them.”

I blinked, but pushed against the desire to thank him and kept up my role. I nodded sharply. “Your cooperation has been noted. I will remember this.”

With this, I turned and pushed my cart away. Behind me, the gate fell shut.

[“Why those two?”] I asked in Guide chat.

“Well, Ash, obviously, because this retelling will spike his heart rate even more than your demon shape did.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

[“It didn’t.”]

“Sure, you were the one with the heat vision and chose not to notice.”

[“And Jamie?”]

“Because I want him to notice that it bothers him when Ash has the hots for you.”

[“Lucy. Are you playing matchmaker?”]

“According to many of this world’s churches, homosexuality is a sin. It is my infernal prerogative to foster and encourage it.”

[“You’ve lied more gracefully before.”]

Speaking of the least devil-like person, Jamie ran up to me the moment I was out of sight of the mall.

“How did it go?” he asked.

I gestured at the shopping cart and started loading its contents into my inventory. “Swimmingly. Nearly zero violence.”

Jamie helped me empty the cart. “They just bought your story? That you were working for Mammon?”

“Yup. No magical truth-knowing. I wore the costume, they bought the lie. The Blessing doesn’t make them magically aware of what is and isn’t true.”

“How come this mission was a sudden priority? She told me about the favor you already did for her today. Why the need for a voice?”

“I can’t really talk about most of the plan, but the basic gist of it is that I need someone who can negotiate in a high-risk situation.”

“She gets a voice because she has disposable bodies?”