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Karna approached the store of The Golden Scale in her Scylla form and wearing an ostentatious dress along with a veil covering her face. Kensei and Valor were entering the premises along with her, wearing what was rather common attire for bodyguards of nobles in these parts. They were in disguise, and instead of sneaking in, they decided to just walk in and use audacity to their advantage instead.

“Welcome to The Golden Scale.” A rather attractive Sea Elf woman greeted them at the door. “Are you here to buy or sell? Or are you here on other business?” It was apparent this kind of greeting was extended to everyone.

"A little bit of all three," Karna stated with a voice that screamed nobility and pride. "I suppose selling is the main point."

"In that case, follow me, please. I will lead you to somewhere we can negotiate in peace." The elf made a small gracious bow and turned to lead them into the depths of the opulent and large merchant house.

“You might want to send for someone with authority to make big decisions. It will save both our time.” Karna added with a high-and-mighty tone. She flashed a bit of her power to make the point.

“My apologies immortal, but we have standing instructions that mean we have to evaluate anything offered to us before bringing it to the attention of the managers.” The elven woman responded calmly, clearly used to dealing with such situations. The elven woman herself wasn’t immortal.

Even in the Divine Planes most people were not. Due to the plentiful ambient power and the multitude of powerful materials and techniques, the average level of the people and magical beings was much higher than in the lesser planes, but that was mostly due to people simply cultivating faster. Everyone still met the limits of their potential sooner or later, and fancy techniques and powerful pills could help you only so much after that point. That’s why potential was so important. If your potential maxed out at rank nine, becoming immortal was almost impossible. It could be done, but it was arduous and would require timeframes that would necessitate being immortal. The average potential in the Divines Planes was also higher thanks to purer and more powerful bloodlines, but most people still met the limits of their potential before reaching immortality. The only reason reincarnators were not as limited was because they were usually born into better vessels and because they had found ways to work around the limits of their vessels over numerous lifetimes. They also had the best techniques, which allowed them to push their limits further.

The woman led them into a luxurious room and sat them around a table. “Now what can The Golden Scale do for you?” The name of the merchant house was a reference to both their mercantile nature, and the fact that the founders were powerful sea serpents.

Without uttering a word, Karna pulled out one of the crystals they’d just acquired and placed it on the table. The elven woman’s eyes flashed blue as she used magic on her eyes to appraise the item. “I…must confess, I’m not sure what I’m looking at. The crystal has power, of that I have no doubt, but I’m having trouble identifying the type and purpose.” The elven woman was loathe to reveal her ignorance.

"This is also why I wanted someone with decision-making power present. I know someone inside The Golden Scale wants these very much. Badly enough that lives are at stake." Karna pushed.

“You have more than one of these?” The woman asked and got a nod in confirmation. “Then may I take this and show it to some of my superiors to see if they recognize it?”

“Yes, with the understanding that if you happen to ‘lose’ it, I will bring this entire building down around you.” Karna grinned evilly, something clear from her tone even if the veil masked her expression.

“We would never.” The elf promised and placed the crystal on a tray to bring along with her.

“She was truthful when she said she didn’t recognize it.” Valor said as soon as the elf was gone. He knew Karna had already made it so that they couldn’t be listened to.

“That doesn’t mean anything. I’d have been surprised if she had recognized it. If it was common knowledge, then this whole mess would’ve already been dealt with long ago.” Kensei argued.

They had to wait a fairly long time before they sensed the elven woman returning, and she wasn’t alone. “You can sense it, right?” Valor confirmed.

“Of course.” Both Karna and Kensei nodded, knowing what he referred to.

The door opened, allowing a distinguished-looking man with a long grey beard and a topknot of grey hair into the room. He was dressed rather opulently, and while he looked human, the three reincarnators were all rather confident that was just a form the man had chosen to assume. The man sat down at the same place the elven woman, who was now standing close to the door, had vacated. "I must ask how you came into the possession of this." The man laid the tray with the crystal in front of him.

“And I need to know who you’re providing these crystals to.” Karna retorted with a confident tone.

“I’m afraid that information is not something we can share. Client confidentiality is very important to us.” The man shot that line of questioning down.

Karna smirked under her veil, and even Valor and Kensei had smiles on their faces, although Kensei's was rather nasty while Valor always smiled. "And I'm afraid you misunderstood me," Karna stated confidently. "I wasn't proposing an exchange of information. And that wasn't a request. You will provide me with the information, whether you want to or not."

“I’m saddened that you’ve chosen such a hostile attitude. Angering The Golden Scale is a very bad decision, yet you’ve made it anyway. This is going to become a little unpleasant. You will not be leaving here alive.”

“Oh, but I disagree. You brought five immortals with you, who are hiding all around this room, ready to burst in. With you, that’s six immortals. You were planning on attacking me anyway, no matter how our negotiation ended, which is proven by the bloodlust your incompetent guards are unable to hide. unfortunately for you, I brought the Host." Karna's eyes wandered around the room, accurately spotting the enemies around them. "And even if I hadn't, six immortals is far from enough."

“I…” The older man looked a little hesitant. “What do you mean the Host?”

Valor and Kensei made a gesture and their forms were suddenly clad in the easily recognizable armor. “In case you’re planning on attacking us anyway, we knew The Golden Scale was involved, so in your place, I wouldn’t assume that we didn’t already inform our superiors of the situation.” Karna pulled out a viewing crystal that worked both ways. “I’m assuming you heard all that?” She asked the image of Marius.

“Loud and clear. Reinforcements are already surrounding the facility. The Golden Scale is ordered to comply fully with our investigation, or the entire merchant house will be destroyed. I would advise against trying to attack the three in front of you. They’d win. You’re welcome to try of course.” Marius spoke in a cold voice. He had been very surprised that the group had reported in instead of going in alone.

“Permission to interrogate this man?” Karna requested.

“Are you confident in getting what we need?” Marius asked. He could use his own ability to force information out, but it would take time for him to arrive. And the presence of so many Host, who were currently surrounding the building, would likely spook any co-conspirators.

“I’m not only confident, I’m certain I’ll get the information. No one has ever managed to resist for long. The only question is whether there’s anything left of his mind afterwards.” Karna responded.

“Ok, I really need to see her using the Song of Khali for once. Both Envy and her have such high opinion of the ability.” Kensei muttered.

“You’re allowed to watch. Just know that you’ll never be quite the same.” Karna warned her.

------

“Why does Kensei look so ill?” Hope asked as they reunited again.

“She wanted to stick around to see Wrath do the thing.” Valor responded, looking a little queasy himself.

“Ohhhh.” Hope made a sympathetic noise.

“You know the best part?” Envy asked with a grin. “She can use that in a positive way as well.”

“How can that thing be used in a positive way?” Kensei asked while shaking her head, disturbed by the memory.

“Well, you saw her using the skill to cause madness, fear, pain, and all sorts of bad feelings. It can be used to cause pleasure, love, hope, and all sorts of positive feelings as well. Mostly pleasure though.” Envy explained with a wide grin. “It’s the scariest bloody ability I’ve ever seen. So far, I haven’t found a solid way to counter it aside from stopping her from using the ability completely.”

“It can actually be resisted in several ways. That’s why the situation where it’s used is important.” Karna argued.

“That said, I’m a little surprised that you ended up calling for reinforcements.” Wisdom added. “You seemed pretty ready to go in with just us.”

"I was," Karna confirmed with a nod. "And I still think we would've been fine. However, I kept our goal in mind. Our personal goal that is. We aren't here to punish the ones behind the plot or even to avenge the dead. We're here to make a name for ourselves. Causing a huge scene would not be conducive to that, even if we were to flush out the powers behind the whole plot. Instead, we successfully completed our part of a rather complicated mission that went off the rails in the beginning, showing that we can be team players when necessary. We also showed we aren't just brutes and that we can have a deft touch. Successful and deft completion of missions also builds a name for us.”

"Also, we did end up providing extra information to the Host about how the new gods here are elevating themselves, and the Host is already taking steps. We also got the name of the contact The Golden Scale was providing the crystals to. As we suspected, the higher-ups of the city were involved, so now the more diplomatic side of the Host can take over from here. We were specifically instructed not to antagonize the gods, so I'd say we got as far as we could without breaking those instructions." Envy added. She had been rather gung-ho about taking things all the way as well, but she knew where to draw the line as well. "I would prefer if our next mission was more military-minded though."

“Well, you’re about to get your wish.” Marius’ voice came from the same communicator they had used before. They had the communicator placed on the table and were waiting for further instructions as Marius dealt with their findings. “I got an advance word of your next assignment and you’re being sent to deal with the Netherworld forces pushing in on one of our more remote worlds. The details are still not decided, but I assume this will be part of a bigger operation.” Karna’s expression became more guarded at the mention of the Netherworld.

“Sir, did we find out what those crystals were being used for?” Valor asked.

“We haven’t gotten full confirmation yet, but we have some suspicions and one of the people we managed to apprehend near the palace hinted that our suspicions might be correct. The method they have been using to make new gods is apparently insufficient for elevating a certain person that they wanted to make into a god. They wanted to use the lifeblood of strong believers in other fates to enhance the process. Whether it would’ve worked, I don’t know, and we also don’t know who else is involved, but we’re figuring it out and this is no longer your problem. The factions whose spies were killed will likely want to leverage heavy punishments on the entire city and the gods created here so far, but we'll see how things unravel. This is no longer about justice but politics." Marius wasn't too pleased with that either as he was the servant of a God of Justice, but he knew the realities of politics. Gods rarely faced heavy punishments unless they did something egregious or pissed off the wrong more powerful god.

"So, mission accomplished, sir?" Wisdom asked eagerly. None of them had been too pleased with this mission.

“Indeed. Well done. You were handed a difficult situation and you did very well for a newly made squad. Your success has been noted. Unfortunately, I have some potentially bad news as well. Since you are being sent on a military assignment next, presumably into battle, the higher-ups of the Host have decided to boost your squad to full strength so that, and I quote, 'won't drag down the combat effectiveness of your allies'. Combat squads are usually ten strong, so they're effectively forcing four more people on you at least as a temporary assignment." Marius was a bit apologetic as he felt they should be rewarding the group for a job well done instead. Although, some would argue that more manpower was a reward.

“We’ll deal with it.” Valor stated before anyone could say something snide. They had been expecting something like this. While teams that were not deployed on the frontlines could easily operate understrength, combat teams usually were supplemented like this. "Do we at least get to influence what we'll be getting?"

"What, yes, who no," Marius explained. "The good news is that House Titannica can influence the who part to an extent at least, so we won't be getting saboteurs at least." Now that the House had finally decided to support Karna, they were starting to exert their influence. Truth be told, these reinforcements were the idea of the House as well, as they wanted to make sure their investment survived. "The other good news is that unlike most other squads, you won't be assigned a higher-ranked member of the Host as a leader, so all the merits still go to you. I managed to convince everyone that you have enough power to match the strength of that higher-ranked member."

“Well, you already know one person that we want in our group. We could use another front liner and a support caster of some sort. Maybe a dedicated healer as well.” Valor suggested.

“The front liner will be easy, as will the healer. Support caster might be a bit harder but doable. As for Arjuna, we are in the process of recalling him front the front. I don’t know if he’ll make it back in time, but I’ll do my best.” Marius had finally been able to flex the influence of the House Titannica to recall Karna’s father. It was the least they could do.

“See that you do. He was one of the main reasons we joined in the first place.” Karna said firmly.

"Any further information about our destination?" Wisdom questioned.

“Well, the world itself is rather small, but the resources gained there are important. Rather fittingly to your current whereabouts, the destination world is a tropical paradise of sorts, although infested with rathe nasty flora and fauna. The resources of the world are important, but the more important factor is the location. The world is located in a rather important chokepoint between areas that makes it an alternative path deeper into our territory. The main thrust of the Netherworld attacks has been in that sector for a while now. There’s a fortress world nearby that guards the main artery of travel in the entire plane, but this small world is expected to come under siege pretty soon as the fight from the fortress world spills over. We don’t know what kind of forces the enemy will send, but we expect it won’t be small.” Marius explained.

“So, we should expect more than our squad to take part.” Valor said definitively.

"Almost certainly. However, the main fighting is still at the fortress world and the connected worlds from there, so we can't deploy too much force to guard this place either. There's going to be a couple of higher-ranked immortals present at the very least to deter the Netherworld trying to blitz the place with a couple of elites."

“Good to know. How soon are we deploying?” Karna asked.

"Soon. The details are still being worked on but expect it to happen in the next week. Your squad wasn't originally slated for this as we expected you would take longer to wrap up the investigation, but since you were faster than expected…" Marius left the rest unsaid.

“Well, that’s what you get for doing good work. More work.” Envy shrugged.