No, Belsach finds out

Thunk

Thunk

Thunk

CRUNCH

"Sorry dear, I think I was a bit too rough."

"This is the third time you gave me a compound fracture! You're gonna pay for that, you little slut!"

"Please no, don’t punish me like the dirty little whore I am!”

"GAH, THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE!"

"Don’t be such a drama queen you little leech. Shouldn't you be overjoyed being covered in blood?"

"HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF SOMEONE SPILLED A POT OF TOMATO SOUP ON YOU MID-COITUS!?”

“She’s got you there Evangeline.”

“ALSO, YOU SHOULD BE SCREAMING RIGHT NOW! THAT CRAZY BIRD JUST TORE OFF YOUR-”

“If anyone is screaming in here, it’s gonna be you two!"

"HNNG"

"HYAAAAH!"

"Goddamn, you should do that trick on us tonight.”

“Why wait? I’m rock hard and still horny. Help me lube Citrinas up before I get in.”

“No! Stay back! I just finished cleaning out all the semen from my-hyah! Fenri, let go of me and put my panties back on!”

“Don’t worry Princess, I’ll lick it clean again. Now stuff those bad boys in us before I do it myself.”

“If you put those in me I’m gonna-KHNG!”

“I genuinely can’t tell if your friend is brave or stupid.” Daria said, holding a cloth bag full of ice over Varrick’s helmet, the paladin softly groaning as he tried to stave off the headache of a lifetime. He was sitting in the wrecked remains of Belsach’s bar, the presence of two Great Terrors causing everyone in the direct vicinity to flee in terror. Within the hive of perversion and debauched desire was himself , Daria, and Belsach. He felt another throb of pain, groaning as he tried to remember whether his concussion was from Evangeline or Bell. In fact, he didn’t even remember getting hit or what he ate for breakfast. All he knew was that everything was spinning, his head hurt, and he needed a stiff drink.

Nearby, Belsach was busy directing his minions to clean up all the destroyed furniture and get to repairing the stage where his competition was held. Nearly every chair in the bar was destroyed, forcing him to use a goblin as a chair while using the last table in the room to hold a large stack of papers. His hideous, warty face had a pair of spectacles on as he had a thoughtful look on his face, the hobgoblin muttering numbers under his breath as though he were trying to calculate a spell. As he finished his equation, he scribbled several numbers, instantly calculating the lost profits, the cost of rebuilding, and the cost of bribing locals to spread word about his bar.

“Fucking broads. Okay, I can still fix this. Champ has a lot of fame right now as Beauty, so I can put up posters of him to draw up attention. Yeah, that’ll do it.” He growled, the hobgoblin rubbing his bald head as he tried to make the numbers add up. “Champ will work for free, and we’ve got the two broads who would probably take his cock with a smile. One of them’s royalty while the other’s a hero, so that’ll attract a lotta people. Maybe I can call up some other monsters to join in. Maybe I can get Isoldi to join too…” He muttered, trying to think of a suitably perverse show to reclaim his lost patrons. Another wave of pain hit Varrick as he clutched his helmet, the dizziness worsening as he tried not to puke.

“Here dear, drink this.” Daria said, pulling a light green potion from her inventory as he tenderly took it from her, his fingers grasping the bottle as he reached to his helmet with his other hand. As he tried to take his helmet off, he groggily felt a weight on his arm. His brain suddenly registered the green blur next to him, a gnarled, warty hand grasping his arm and holding it in place.

“Hey, keep the helmet on. Last thing I need is your mug ruining my bar.” Belsach spat, more annoyed than worried. As Varrick’s mind finally processed what he was about to do, he gasped and let go of his helmet, quickly glancing over to see Daria staring intently at the ground, unwilling to look at him. He felt a wave of guilt as he stood up, stumbling his way to a nearby door.

"Thanks Belsach.” Varrick said, leaving for a private room and locking the door behind him. Like all of the rooms in the bar, it was a gaudy room filled with portraits of nude women of all species being pleasured by all manner of genitals and appendages. The furniture was not meant for lounging, but for sexual positions known only to the most perverse of individuals. Since this was a lower class room, the bed was made of rougher material and filled with a mix of moss and slime, the mixture surprisingly soft despite its crude materials.

With a sigh, he removed his helmet and sat on the bed, silently scolding himself for what he had almost done. Once he knew he was alone, he removed his helmet and drank the potion, tensing up at the herbal flavors that ran down his throat. The bitter flavor was unpleasant to say the least, but it was slightly offset by the addition of honey and some fruit juice to improve the flavor. As he finished the bottle, he donned his helmet once more as the potion got to work healing his concussed brain. As he returned to the main bar, he saw a new patron had entered the bar.

He was a massive beast of almost 10 feet clad in fur and claws with a long, feline snout and deathly red eyes that glowed in the poor lighting. There were numerous bald spots on his body from scarred tissue that had improperly healed, leaving him with an almost patchwork appearance. His fangs jutted from his mouth, his face a perpetual snarl as he stood before Belsach, the hobgoblin sitting once more as he went over his paperwork.

“Speak.” Belsach commanded, his words causing the massive beast to tense up as his eyes dilated, the monster knowing on an instinctual level not to antagonize the thing before him. Even as a retired bar owner that had long left the world of ****, Belsach was still someone to tread carefully around.

“S-thir, I hafyerreport." The beastkin growled, biting his tongue mid sentence as he froze. He nervously glanced down, expecting Belsach to strike him down then and there. Belsach shifted in his seat, glancing up and staring down the beastkin, every hair standing on its body as Belsach’s glare pierced his very soul. There was an air of fear as the beastkin began to shiver, the mere act of looking at Belsach leaving him feeling dirty. A long, sustained silence fell over the bar, the only noise being a faint creak as the towering giant of muscle and fur tensed up.

“What the fuck are you waiting for? Put it on the pile!” Belsach commanded, the beastkin forcing the papers onto the table only to drop several on the ground. He cursed and squatted down, grabbing them before forcing them onto the table, wrinkling them as Belsach snarled. “Just leave.” He spat as the beastkin nodded, speed walking out of the bar as Daria and Varrick watched the beastkin flee Belsach’s gaze.

“Why do you still have spies? I thought you retired." Daria asked as Belsach scoffed, going over the papers his messenger brought over.

"Business." He answered flatly, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world. Varrick looked at the reports, then to Belsach, waiting for him to give an actual answer. Dread filled him as he realized just how fixated Belsach was on his bar.

"This stack of papers is for the bar!?" Varrick asked in exasperation, now awed at just how much effort Belsach put into making sure everyone who came to his bar got laid. The numbers, the calculations, the meticulousness was on par with head of finance running a kingdom, and the hobgoblin had used his logistical skills to optimize pairings to ensure every woman climaxed at least once.

"You try running a bar in Olskroya. It’s like owning an ice cream store in Garup." Belsach said as Varrick and Daria winced, the pair still remembering their fated expedition. Daria blushed and reminisced fondly of the experience while Varrick bit his lip and tried to push the memories of her naked body pressed to him. At the time Eren’s command of “everyone get naked and snuggle together before you fucks freeze to ****” when the blizzard hit made sense to stay warm. In hindsight, Varrick realized that their mages were strong enough to create a fortress to deter the cold and they had ample fuel to stay warm. The only reason they slept in tents was because Eren just wanted an excuse to get naked and snuggle with a group of beautiful women. As he looked away from Daria, Belsach made a low grunt while reading over his latest report. “What the fuck? You two, come here.” He muttered as Varrick sighed.

"If this is about the latest fetish fad, I’m not interested.” Varrick said as Belsach shook his head.

"This is a shipment, and it’s using the Roses’ emergency supply routes." He said as Varrick and Daria ran over and read over the reports, fully aware of the implications. There were three people in the world that knew the logistics of the Roses. Eren, Belsach, and Pelrin. They quickly looked over the shipment, **** to find something to work with, only to reread the papers assuming they were encrypted in code. Copper wiring, metal, some weird metal rod, some oddly precisely forged metal components, and an artifact called the Gloves of Purification. No, not gloves of purification, just Glove as in singular.

"One Glove of Purification?" Daria asked as Belsach wracked his brain for what the artifact was capable of.

"Divine artifact of the God of Smithing. Touch something, shout what you want to purify, and the gloves will **** whatever you shouted to be dragged to them. It can only harvest things in a 1 cubic meter area and takes a full minute to work, so it's useful for purifying stuff like iron ore from soil." He said after a moment of thinking. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of every combat artifact in the world, but support and crafting artifacts were harder for him to remember.

“Why only one glove?" Varrick asked as Belsach shrugged.

“Eren stole a glove a few months ago, so I’m betting this is the one he stole.” He answered as Daria continued staring at the strange list of supplies.

"So what's this stuff for?" She asked as Belsach shrugged.

“I don't know. Nothing seems magical, but he had to cut off shipments to a bunch of our old supply depots AND use our hidden supply routes to get these. Even Eren would have trouble fixing this logistical mess, so they HAVE to be useful." He said, himself unsure whether this was all an elaborate ploy. There was no logic to these components, and yet the trouble he went through screamed that there was more to these components.

"A weapon maybe?" Daria asked, giving the most obvious answer.

"But why build it in Olskroya? We’re limited to tier 4 level magic. Also, why use all these elaborate pieces of metal and wire?” Varrick asked, the three of them musing aloud just what they were looking at. As if on cue, the doors slammed open as Verdi, Citrinas, and Fenri returned from their night of “negotiations” with Bell and Evangeline. Judging by the two naked, twitching bodies lying in bed, they didn’t find out much.

“I think you missed a spot. My insides still feel slimy.” Citrinas complained as she walked forward on shaky legs, using Verdi to support her as Verdi shined the most relaxed smile Varrick had seen in his life.

“If you wanted me to eat you out again, all you had to do was ask.” Fenri said, the hero also walking with the gait of a newborn fawn and desperately trying to hide it.

“That’s not what-I’m not horny like you two!” Citrinas said as Varrick cleared his throat, reminding the trio of his presence as Citrinas jolted and blushed.

"So, did you find out what the two of them are here for?" Daria asked as Verdi blinked in confusion, puzzled at the question before cursing under his breath in some odd language Varrick had never heard of. Daria rolled her eyes, sighing before speaking. "Bell's here because someone left a letter in her pocket dimension telling her to save Eren by following the White Fox." She said, taking a silent pride in commanding a wild card like Bell. Great Terror or not, you did not just ignore the Vampire Lord when she made a demand of you.

"She came because someone sent a letter?" Fenri asked as Verdi strolled over to Belsach’s table, peering over his papers out of curiosity. The second he read their contents, his demeanor changed instantly as the faint light of recognition appeared in his eyes. This was soon replaced by frustration as Verdi clicked his tongue while crossing his arms.

“Why did we send out a bird to call Mathias over if you guys had a radio this whole time?" He asked as every eye in the room stopped and stared at him. There was a pause, everyone waiting for him to elaborate further as he waited for them to answer his question. Instead of answering his question, he received only a barrage of questions from everyone else.

“You know what this stuff is for?”

“What’s a radio?”

“How do you know what this stuff is for?”

“One at a time assholes!” Verdi snapped, shoving them all back as he looked at everyone, even more confused than before. “And what do you mean what’s a radio? You literally have all the components for one right fucking here!” He said while pointing to the stack of papers Belsach had strewn about. Varrick took another glance at the papers, **** to find some logical use for these things, but he couldn’t see what Verdi saw in these random components. Eventually, he cleared his throat and explained to Verdi the importance of these papers.

"This is a report from Belsach’s spies, and we think Tristiana is importing this stuff. If you know what they're for, please tell us." He said in a calm voice, making sure everyone else stayed silent as Verdi glossed over the design again. His eyes ran over the pieces as he muttered to himself. Eventually, he took out his canteen and poured the water onto the table. Sticking a finger into the puddle, he froze it and began shifting the ice around, rapidly crafting a miniature model of some strange contraption. Even from a glance, Varrick could tell the item was unfinished, having visible gaps for some other machinery to be placed. Watching Verdi sift through the papers, there was a good chance he knew what was required.

“There’s a lot of parts missing, but I’d say this looks like a spark gap generator or some variant of it. An inefficient one at that.” He said, his words incomprehensible to the paladin as he mulled over the term spark gap generator. He’d traveled to every corner of the world and seen weapons of every variety, yet the term was outright alien to him.

“And what does this spark gap generator do?” Daria asked as Verdi pointed to the antennae in the design.

“Generate radio waves albeit very badly. It’s not like the more advanced transmitters that can send messages or music, and just sends pulses. It hits every frequency, so listening in is quite easy.” Verdi said with a shrug as Citrinas focused on him, mulling over his words before snapping her fingers.

“Can you confirm these radio waves. Are they like light or sound waves?” She asked, the mage better attuned to the laws of nature than anyone else. Of course, it fell on deaf ears as Varrick tried to keep up with their conversation as Verdi got into the intricacies of electromagnetic waves and frequencies, with Citrinas having him clarify some tidbits. He wanted nothing more than to halt their conversation and return to the matter at hand, yet he could see how excited Citrinas was, as though he were a bard entrancing her with his voice alone. Sadly, Fenri lacked the same patience he had as she let out a growl.

“Oi, explain it so I can get it!” She demanded as Verdi rolled his eyes.

“It’s a crude machine that shoots bright light you can’t see or perceive. You can only use one of these at a time since the lights will mix with each other. You can pulse it to send codes to other peopl-" He explained as Fenri growled again.

“Simpler!” She said as Citrinas hopped to Verdi’s defense.

“Even a child could understand this! How much simpler can he get?” She asked as Fenri growled at her. To Varrick’s surprise, Citrinas didn’t even blink at Fenri’s veiled threat and continued to insult her for not understanding his explanation. For a moment, Verdi and Fenri gawked at her, both of them startled at her refusal to back down.

“Imagine some guy screaming so loud that we couldn’t hear each other, and he’s screaming in a language only certain people can understand. Everyone in the city can hear him, but they can’t fucking understand him.” He said, his explanation likely being suitable for Fenri as she nodded. Varrick knew that the explanation was horrible, that there was a lot of context, but from Verdi’s face he could tell that there was a lot wrong with his statement. Judging by Citrinas’ outraged expression and her clenched fist, it was over simplified.

“No, sound waves and electromagnetic waves are two completely different things! Furthermore, us humans can’t hear these frequencies so a high pitched whine would be a better example! Also, we wouldn’t hear it in a language, we’d hear a series of taps because that’s what they are! And-”

“Bored now. So why is this important?” Fenri asked, interrupting Citrinas’ angry rant as Verdi shrugged.

“Well, that’s the weird part. This design is for a high powered transmitter that uses batteries as a power source. Theoretically, you could generate these radio waves by casting a spell with the right formula.” He said, casually tossing out another incomprehensible word as Citrinas perked up, excited to learn something else.

“Batteries?” She asked as Verdi shifted the papers around, grabbing one of them and holding it up. Varrick peered forward to find it was just a glass box with lead in it.

“There’s lead here and we’ve made sulfuric acid, so it looks like your sister is going to power the transmitter using chemistry instead of magic. ” He said as Citrinas tried to comprehend his words. The more he talked, the more it seemed like he was making things up.

“What benefit would you have using this battery over magic?” She asked as Verdi thought over the question, the alchemist himself lacking an obvious answer.

“A mage would require constant focus to power this thing. A battery can leave this thing on without a mage, so any old chump could use it for longer periods of time.” Verdi answered as Belsach leaned forward, taking out a slip of blank paper and handing over an ink quill to him.

“Hey Champ, do you think you could create something to listen in on the transmitter?” Belsach asked as Verdi grabbed the ink quill and got to writing, the alchemist requesting a variety of odd items with precise specifications.

“It’s called a receiver, and yeah, I probably could. This thing is so crude that you’d have trouble NOT hearing it. That said, I'd still need to test it, so you'll have to help me build a miniature version of the spark gap transmitter.” He said, continuing to write while Citrinas peered over his shoulder and read over every item he was requesting. “You’ll have to decode her messages yourself. I don’t know how to decrypt code.” He said as Citrinas’ eyes sparkled, visibly excited at building whatever Verdi had in mind. She suddenly grabbed his arm, her face overjoyed as though she had some revelation.

“Wait, couldn’t you use a receiver to identify where the transmitter is?” She asked, somehow piecing together his random mutterings into a fully fledged blueprint and improving it. Rather than agree, Verdi shook his head to dismiss her theory.

“No. If Tristiana is sending a message, we’d have a few minutes at most before she shuts it off. We’d have a vague direction, and that’d be based on how well we can hear the difference in volume of our receiver.” He said as Citrinas nodded in understanding.

“Yes, but what if we built three receivers, set them up around the city, and then built a metal dish around the antennae then rotated it? The metal dish would block radio waves from every direction except one, so when we hear the message, we can identify what direction it came from. If we have three of these, we could use them to-"

“Triangulate your sister’s position! You’re a genius! You just built a radar!" Verdi interjected as everyone stared at the pair go back and forth, the two excitedly chattering about how to design the receiver. As they spoke, Fenri groaned and whacked Verdi on the head.

“You bastard, did you pretend not to know the answer so you’d look smarter when you told us you found a way to find fox-bitch?” She snapped, both excited at the prospect of a second round with Tristiana and annoyed at his supposed trick to look smarter. Varrick wanted to scold Verdi for playing around at such a crucial time, but he held himself back when he saw just how startled the alchemist himself was. It seemed while he had a rough grasp of this technology, he was nowhere near as creative as he was with chemistry.

“I honestly didn’t think about building a radar until now.” He admitted while Citrinas helped him draft up blueprints for their new invention. Unlike his mirrors or the camera, there were a number of flaws in his blueprints, his understanding of electronics far outclassed by his knowledge of chemistry. As he watched the pair work, Varrick couldn't help but be amazed at their talents.

Verdi had a firm foundational understanding of electricity, and was able to design a crude receiver just from what little he remembered. Citrinas, on the other hand, was able to easily point out ways to optimize his receiver and improved it at every step. Meanwhile, Fenri was busy sitting in the corner idly sharpening her arsenal of knives as she prepared for a second round against Tristiana while letting the mages of her party finish designing their new tracking tool.

Everything was going well.

And that didn’t sit well with Varrick.

There was something strange about what Verdi said about the transmitter, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It was some casual mention that he didn't even feel the need to elaborate on, but Varrick knew it was something important. The thought gnawed at his head even after Belsach acquired the supplies and they began construction on the receiver. Shaking his head, Varrick pushed such thoughts out of his mind as Verdi tested out their new invention.

Author's note: Apologies for the long wait. It took me a while to write this chapter since draft 1 was a full on "how to build a radio from scratch", and it became too long and tedious. Hopefully, the breadcrumbs for the revelations/final fight choreography were properly foreshadowed so they don't feel like ass pulls.