Micchi Versus the New World - Chapter 91

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Chapter 91

For people like us, the whole concept of 'queen' was just a glorified way of calling someone the boss of their turf. What made a queen had nothing to do with charisma, nothing to do with how sweet with words you were or how hard you punched. No. It wasn't any of that. Anyone could throw a good right hook, a sucker punch, or deliver a kick hard enough to break someone's ribs.

The queen was the one who got beat the fuck up and still had the balls to get back on their feet for more. Gangs, punks, delinquents, thugs… You could tell their mettle by how many hits they took and stayed standing.

It was why no one wanted to mess with Chika. Why Anya, Kaoru, and Ririko became the queens of their respective turfs. When you hit them, they stayed standing. But when they hit you, you stayed down.

Having already fought three of them, and now fighting the fourth, I knew firsthand how hard they hit.

"Kuh… You caked up bitch. Bring it on!" I growled as Anya and I plummeted past multiple floors.

"Y'all better grit your teeth, because this next one's coming at ya hot!" Ririko cackled, then clapped her hands once with her fingers pointed at us. The glowing nails lit up like stars and fired a pillar of flames.

Anya filled her lungs with air and smashed both fists together, emitting a roaring shockwave in an attempt to deflect the magic. However, as both attacks collided, Ririko's spell split into multiple fiery columns.

Both of us were consumed by the blasts of fire and sent crashing into the freezing water at the lowest point of the mountain city. Steam filled the cavernous chamber when we resurfaced. A couple of beastling fishermen, who had fished up the sorry punks I tossed down earlier, threw their hands in the air.

"Ya scarin' all the fishes away!" one of them yelled.

"Now ain't the time to be fishing, old man!" Anya shouted back.

We glanced up in time to see Ririko descending. The water, as if coming to life, took shape and froze over into an icy throne which she landed on top of.

"Ririko Minami," I said her name, spitting out a mouthful of water as I did. "Blizzard of Hokkaido, huh?"

"Fourth pillar, blah, blah, blah. Introducing ourselves like that is like the stupidest thing ever. As far as I'm concerned, you're Micchi and Anya. Not so hard, right? By the way, it's not like Kaoru to miss out on a fight. Same with little Yui, at least from what I used to hear from you, Anya." Ririko took a seat on her throne and pulled out a nail file.

"Where they are is none of your concern, Riri. Now are you going to get up and continue this fight, or are we coming up there to knock you down?" Anya asked, but as soon as she finished her sentence, a frozen spike coalesced right up to our faces.

The Blizzard of Hokkaido title was right. She knocked us into the water with a surprise attack to put us at a disadvantage. We were in her element now.

"Relax! You're in cold water now, so chill out. This might be hard to believe, but I'm not here to fight," Ririko said.

"Oh, so you invited us to attend your stand-up show, am I right?" I backhanded the frozen spike away my face. "I must've missed the joke because I ain't laughing!"

We were suddenly lifted onto an icy platform and dried with fire magic, all done from Ririko twirling a finger like she was conducting an orchestra.

"Now, now. Just hear me out. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have invited your out-of-fashion asses. Both of you are enough of an eyesore as it is. That sarashi and loose coat combo? Ugh. You won't catch me dead wearing that—"

"Get to the point, Riri." Anya rolled her eyes.

"I want you guys to find me a certain artifact. Mou'nan is like soooo huge, and I am not going out there to find it myself. It's so cold, and besides, my poor eyebrows just got done. I don't want to let them freeze over." Ririko pouted.

This bitch…

"You invited the four of us to run errands for you? Do it yourself," I said.

"What if I told you there is a relic out there that can help you find Chika?"

For the first time since coming here, Anya and I shivered like a chill had run through us.

Since we were more inclined to listen to her now, Ririko fished us out of the water and brought us back to the guild hall-turned fashion runway. The hearth was about the only thing that didn't change. She ignited it with a snap of her fingers and pulled up a few chairs to talk around the fire. Fashionably-dressed beastlings served us food and drinks.

"Okay, guys. Full disclosure. I don't care about your fights; I have zero stake in it. Coming to this world was the best thing to ever happen to me. People bark when I tell them and dress however I want them to. Like what better life can I ask for?" Ririko beamed as a beastling woman served her wine.

"So you got nothing to do with what happened in Kazaar?" I asked, declining the offer to drink when the beastling came around to me. "Chika showed up to drop the hammer on us."

"Aside from knowing that it happened from my people warning me that we might get attacked? I had no hand in it, and I don't care that it happened," she said.

To be honest, I found that hard to believe. Even Kaoru encountered Chika at some point when she came here. It must be the same for Ririko. Whether she was lying or not, she definitely sounded convincing.

"Alright, so you aren't involved with Chika, but you're willing to lend us a hand to find her?" Anya chimed in, snatching the entire bottle of wine from the beastling's hand.

"God, no. I'm not risking a chipped nail for you guys. You're on your own. All I know is that there are artifacts riddled all over Mou'nan that have yet to be discovered. The people here are strong, but not strong enough apparently. You guys, on the other hand, are a different story," she said.

"What makes you think we can find your shit?" I asked.

"You brought the Celestial Bell, didn't you?" Ririko smiled and pointed to my bag between my legs. "I know it contains one of the eighteen gods. The only way to commune with a relic or artifact is through them. What better way to find them than through the gods that created them?"

How Ririko knew was beyond me, but this bitch wasn't some ordinary caked up clown with a big mouth. She had people in places watching us. That was the only way she could have known.

Did that mean she also knew we were looking for the Goddess Lyria's trial?

"If we wanna find Chika, it's the best chance we got." Anya threw me a hard look and shrugged.

"We'll play ball for now," I said to our host.

"Great!" Ririko clapped her hands together, but even though no magic came out, it still made Anya and I flinch. "The artifact I want you to find is a flower that's said to grant eternal youth and beauty, but is protected by an ancient monster. I'd like to stay as hot as I am right now while I'm at the height of my beauty. Bring that to me, and I'll give you the location to an artifact that points you in the direction of demons. That should help you find Chika."

Ririko gave us a nice place to stay in the upper rings. Apparently, the higher we went, the more wealthy beastlings were. Like the other buildings, it was carved into the mountain and reinforced with stone and lumber.

To both mine and Anya's surprise, it was incredibly warm compared to the lower rings, which Ririko explained was due to how heat rises naturally. Perks of literally being at the top of society.

"Make yourselves at home, ladies!" Ririko threw her arms out to welcome us into the house. "Don't cause too much trouble, ya hear? I'll know."

"You haven't told us where we're supposed to start looking," I said.

"I'll send ya someone later tonight. She's an archeologist and relic seeker." The door slammed shut, leaving Anya and I stumped.

Our place was circular like the ring with furniture, like beds and chairs, arranged around a central stone furnace that emitted heat. Although there was no carpet on the ground, the stone at our feet was warm to the touch.

"Well, now you've met Riri. Not exactly like us, but she sure as hell fights like us," Anya said, throwing herself onto one of the beds.

"Don't like her at all. I bet my ass she's hiding something like Kaoru did when we met her," I replied with a scowl.

"I think so, too. Not much we can do though. For now, let's look for that artifact. This girl Riri's sending us might know how to find the trial. We get that and maybe get strong enough to not give a shit anymore," she suggested.

The two of us went out to look for food. Unlike the bottom floors, beastlings were more posh up here. They spoke with an inflection in their voices that made me want to punch them in the mouth. Many whispered derisively about the way we dressed.

We were lured into a shop by the smell of meat being cooked fresh on a burning stone. Even while cooking, the workers dressed like they had something to prove. One cook, who wore knee-length fur boots that clashed with his apron and a bad combover, took a look at us and frowned.

"Your—"

"Say one thing about my look, and I'm tenderizing you myself, hairball." I glared.

He swallowed hard. "W-What would you like to eat?"

"Sheesh. And I thought Ash'tar was bad about their fashion. I'm starting to think Riri's making people dress like shit so she's the only one that looks nice," Anya said.

When we were heading back to our place, a beastling girl was trying to peek into the house. She couldn't look more suspicious if she tried.

Anya picked the girl up by the scruff of her neck and lifted her into the air.

"Eeek! Please, don't hurt me!" she cried.

The beastling was dressed for the cold and had a thick, green cloak around her small shoulders. The skin around her eyes had a much darker complexion than the light grayish skin, and from afar, could have been mistaken for a bandit's mask. On her back was a leather knapsack fixed with a lantern and sleeping bag.

"Then either you start talking to us, or you start talking to my fist." I balled up a hand in her face.

"Fashion Queen Ririko sent me! My name's Naka, a relic-seeker and former A-rank adventurer of the Grishant Branch Adventurer's Guild. I'm supposed to help you find relics in Mou'nan," she hastily explained.