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Chapter 191: Chumming the Waters for Dorothy
"Loco has already told you everything she knows. Can Loco leave now?" Loco stared blankly at the man standing before her, a hint of helplessness coloring her otherwise deadpan tone.
Rather than saying she had told Suyan everything she knew, it felt more like he had been feeding her the answers while asking the questions. She hardly needed to answer him at all. Suyan simply observed her reactions and drew his own flawless conclusions. Perhaps he has some special ÄRM with mind-reading abilities? Loco wondered silently.
Suyan flashed her a warm smile and nodded. "Of course you can. It's not like I'm a bad guy or anything."
"Then Loco will take her leave?" she asked tentatively.
Facing a monster that even her Cursed Scarecrow couldn't put a scratch on, Loco felt an immense, suffocating pressure—even if the man showed no intention of hurting her. For someone whose only goal was to survive in this chaotic world, the stress of simply standing near him was overwhelming. Seeing that Suyan had no objections, she finally allowed herself to let out a quiet sigh of relief. Slinging the heavy suitcase carrying her ÄRMs over her back, she turned to make her escape.
"Wait a second, little Loco," Suyan suddenly called out, struck by a passing thought as he watched her petite figure retreat.
Loco paused and turned back around, staring at his face in utter confusion.
"Hold out your hands for me, little Loco," Suyan requested with a gentle smile.
Though completely baffled, she obediently extended both of her tiny hands toward him in a daze. Seeing her emotionless, doll-like demeanor, Suyan chuckled. "Just one hand is enough." As soon as the words left his mouth, he channeled his Conjuration Nen, materializing a square of black cloth directly into his palm. He folded it casually, draped it over Loco's childlike wrist, and tied it into a neat little bow.
Loco poked at the bow resting on her wrist, noting that it didn't feel uncomfortable or restrictive in the slightest. She tilted her head, blinking her large eyes at him. "What is this?"
"When you finally find Snow White, or if you run into any life-threatening danger, just take this cloth off." Suyan gave her a simplified explanation of the item's trigger, though he deliberately omitted what would actually happen once it was removed.
The fabric was the physical manifestation of Tsuyuri Kanao's Conjuration Nen, an ability named the Disappearing Magic Cloth. Honestly, it felt like the three Butterfly Mansion sisters had a strange, lingering obsession with the concept of magicians. Kocho Kanae was the prime example; her first prototype technique used against the Upper Rank Two, Doma, had been a Transmutation-type move combining Flower Breathing with Nen, aptly named Flower Magic. Then there was Kocho Shinobu, an Enhancer who completely ignored the traditional Enhancement route. Instead, she stubbornly tried to mimic her older sister by developing a Transmutation ability called Butterfly Magic. Fortunately for her, the Contract with Suyan granted her adjacent Nen affinities equivalent to her natural category, preventing her from entirely ruining her potential.
As for Kanao? She was a Conjurer, meaning her affinity also lay adjacent to Transmutation. However, she didn't blindly follow Shinobu's path. Instead, she developed the Disappearing Magic Cloth.
During a late-night heart-to-heart, Kanao had confided in Suyan about the ability's origins. Shortly after Kanae's tragic death, Shinobu had taken the grieving girl out for a walk to clear her mind, and they had stumbled upon a foreign magician performing on the streets. Kanao was instantly captivated by a trick where the magician continuously pulled living doves out of a seemingly empty cloth. In her childish grief, her mind fixated on a singular, stubborn thought: If I can learn this wondrous magic, could I use it to pull my dead sister out of the cloth, just like those doves?
Even after Shinobu gently explained that magic tricks were nothing more than sleight of hand and illusions, Kanao couldn't let it go. That lingering obsession remained rooted deep within her heart, even after Kanae was miraculously returned to them as a ghostly Remnant Soul following the Nen Contract. The moment Kanao unlocked her Conjuration Nen, that deep-seated wish instantly crystallized into the Disappearing Magic Cloth. While the ability couldn't magically summon her sister from the void, its mechanics were eerily similar to the dove trick that had inspired it. The user conjured two identical cloths; by leaving one cloth at a specific location, the Nen user could utilize the other cloth to perform a "vanishing act," instantaneously teleporting to the first cloth's location.
By tying one of these magic cloths to Loco's wrist, Suyan ensured that the moment she located Snow White, he could bypass the search entirely and teleport directly to her side.
"Loco doesn't understand," she replied woodenly.
Suyan just smiled, reaching out to affectionately ruffle her blonde hair. "That's perfectly fine. All little Loco needs to do is be a good girl and listen to instructions."
"Understood." Loco nodded, before swatting his hand away with a rare look of dissatisfaction. Her dark eyes narrowed slightly. "Loco is not a child. Do not pat Loco's head so casually. And do not add 'little' to Loco's name."
"Sure thing, little Loco. Got it, little Loco," Suyan replied in a breezy, teasing tone.
Loco shot him a look of profound disgust. For some inexplicable reason, she felt the exact same infuriating aura radiating from Suyan that she got from that utterly detestable woman, Chaton. They were both just so... shamelessly thick-skinned! And the worst part was that Loco had absolutely no idea how to deal with people like them.
"Loco is leaving now," she stated, glaring at him one last time.
"Alright, have a safe trip, little Loco!" Suyan waved at her retreating back, finally letting her leave in peace.
He waited until her petite figure completely vanished from sight before turning his attention to his next course of action. With Loco acting as his unwitting homing beacon for Snow White, he could sit back and relax on that front. Utilizing the Chess Pieces' massive intelligence network was infinitely more efficient than wandering around like a headless fly. The real issue was Dorothy.
The most difficult part wasn't finding the infamous Witch of Caldia, but figuring out a way to approach her naturally. Despite both being female leads in the MÄR storyline, Dorothy and Snow White had wildly different personalities and backgrounds. Snow White had been raised in a beautiful castle, sheltered from the world and showered with immense love and goodwill from everyone around her. She was surrounded by beauty, which nurtured her genuinely pure, innocent, and deeply kind nature. She was a true princess, completely devoid of any stereotypical "princess syndrome" arrogance.
Dorothy, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. She had an older sister named Diana, and the two had shared a bond so incredibly tight it easily rivaled the love between Kanae and Shinobu. But one fateful day, Diana betrayed their homeland. She secretly stole 798 powerful, rare ÄRMs from Caldia and fled to Snow White's kingdom. There, she manipulated and controlled the king of Lestava, the largest nation in the magical world. Using the king's vast political influence and the stolen Caldian ÄRMs, Diana secretly funded and founded the Chess Pieces, reigning as their Queen and plunging the entire world into a devastating war.
In Dorothy's homeland, the laws were absolute and fiercely unforgiving: A traitor to the clan must be personally executed by their closest living relative. Thus, a young Dorothy was burdened with the incredibly heavy, heartbreaking mission of hunting down and killing her beloved older sister. She left her home, wandering the unforgiving world alone, eventually earning the moniker of a notorious, infamous witch.
Her terrible reputation wasn't exactly unearned, either. Whenever Dorothy heard rumors of a rare ÄRM, she would track it down and snatch it from its owner using tricks, scams, and deceit. Her underlying motivation wasn't hard to guess. Deep down, she likely clung to a desperate, naive hope that if she could recover all 798 of the stolen ÄRMs, she could atone for her sister's crimes and convince Diana to come back home with her. Tragically, the sisters' story was fated to end with Dorothy personally driving a blade through Diana's heart.
Given everything she had been through—having seen the ugliest, coldest sides of human nature—approaching a woman like Dorothy and breaking down her emotional walls was going to be an uphill battle. Any sudden kindness or unprompted approach would immediately be viewed with intense suspicion and assumed to have ulterior motives. Even if Suyan tried to perfectly replicate the protagonist Ginta's initial encounter with her, it wouldn't work. This wasn't a problem a cliché "hero saves the beauty" trope could solve.
First of all, Ginta was the protagonist of a classic adventure story; he possessed an impenetrable aura of sheer protagonist luck. Secondly, Ginta was a painfully pure, naive, and fiercely earnest middle schooler. People naturally lowered their guards around someone so transparently innocent. There was a saying that went, 'Sincerity is the ultimate finishing move,' and Ginta possessed that exact weapon in spades. Finally, the circumstances of their meeting were a perfect storm of narrative coincidence. When Ginta and Dorothy found Babbo, Ginta's power level hadn't even reached the Castle-class yet, while Dorothy was practically a fully realized Knight-class powerhouse from the very beginning. During the final arcs, when the main cast received massive power-ups from Caldia's ÄRMs to fight Phantom, Dorothy was the only one who didn't get an upgrade—because she simply didn't need one.
A Castle-class newbie heroically saving a Knight-class veteran? Yeah, right.
Suyan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. If I can't actively approach Dorothy... I've got it! I just need to make Dorothy actively approach me. But how?
Once he shifted his perspective, the solution presented itself almost immediately. He opened his hand, focusing his mind and concentrating his Aura into his palm. Slowly, a sleek, silver ring began to materialize out of thin air.
"Perfect." Suyan picked up the newly formed ring, holding it up to let the sunlight catch its dazzling, silver-white luster.
If any hardcore anime fan from Earth were present, they would instantly recognize the iconic design. It was the Sky Ring of the Vongola Family from Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Without missing a beat, Suyan continued crafting. The Storm Ring, the Mist Ring, the Rain Ring, the Lightning Ring... within moments, a complete set of seven Vongola Rings rested perfectly in his hand.
Of course, these were just standard, powerless rings conjured through Nen, devoid of any actual Dying Will Flames or magical properties. But as counterfeit ÄRMs? They were more than enough. A set of incredibly intricate, unique-looking "ÄRMs," combined with Suyan's actual Nen abilities masking them, would easily pass as a set of ultra-rare artifacts. It was the perfect bait to lure in a witch obsessed with hoarding rare magical items.
The next step was simply leaking the rumor that he possessed them.
"Damn it, I messed up!" Suyan suddenly slapped his thigh, a wave of regret washing over him. He had let Loco leave way too early! If he had used Loco's connection to the Chess Pieces' intelligence network, he could have spread the rumors about his "rare ÄRMs" across the continent in a matter of hours. Now, he'd have to do it the old-fashioned way.
Whatever, it might actually be a blessing in disguise, he reasoned. Dorothy likely already had her suspicions about Diana being the Queen of the Chess Pieces. If she caught wind of these rare ÄRMs strictly through their information network, her paranoia might have kept her from taking the bait entirely.
Shaking off his minor frustration, Suyan slid the Vongola Rings onto his fingers, admiring the way they gleamed against his skin. The chum was in the water. Now, all he had to do was wait for his target to bite.
....
Three days later, in the bustling streets of a lively city.
A hulking, vicious-looking brute of a man blocked the path of a handsome young man with striking black hair and dark eyes. The brute slapped his own bicep—which was thicker than a normal man's thigh—and growled, "Listen up, pretty boy. Hand over every single rare ÄRM you've got on you right now, or things are gonna get real ugly, real fast."
"Here we go again," Suyan sighed softly, rubbing his temples in exasperation.
Three days ago, he had formulated his brilliant plan to use the Vongola Rings to bait Dorothy. He had successfully spread the rumors, exactly as intended. The plan was solid, the logic was sound, but there was one tiny, agonizing flaw in the execution. For three straight days, Dorothy was nowhere to be seen. Instead, endless waves of suicidal, third-rate bandits, thugs, and thieves kept throwing themselves at him.
Suyan had to admit he had completely miscalculated this aspect. At first, he found it somewhat amusing to turn the tables and rob the bandits of their ÄRMs. But he quickly realized that these low-level thugs carried absolute garbage. Forget rare ÄRMs; they barely possessed anything remotely useful. It made sense, in hindsight. If they actually owned powerful, rare ÄRMs, they wouldn't be reduced to street-level mugging. Even joining the lowest ranks of the Chess Pieces offered better career prospects than this.
Suyan stared at the balding brute in front of him and couldn't help but ask, "Seriously, how do all of you idiots decide to rob a guy who supposedly holds multiple ultra-rare ÄRMs? Do I really look that incredibly weak to you?"
"What the hell are you muttering about? Cut the crap and hand over the ÄRMs!" the brute yelled, completely failing to comprehend Suyan's logic. He proudly thrust his weapon forward. "You see this ÄRM in my hand?! This is an incredibly rare, powerful ÄRM with an empty magic stone slot! If you keep running your mouth, I'll carve you into pieces!"
"Oh?" That immediately caught Suyan's attention.
In this magical world, Weapon ÄRMs were the most common and universally utilized ÄRMs. Practically everyone and their mother owned one. To put it in Pokémon terms: they were as common as Pidgeys on Route 1. That was the status of standard Weapon ÄRMs. A tier above them existed a highly sought-after variant: Weapon ÄRMs equipped with a built-in slot to house a magic stone.
Dorothy's signature weapon, the Zephyrus Broom, was exactly this type of artifact. By socketing a magic stone into the broom, it transcended from a standard Weapon ÄRM into a devastating Nature ÄRM, allowing her to summon fierce gales and fly through the sky. Similarly, the supporting character Jack wielded a combat shovel that, once socketed with two magic stones, transformed into a Nature ÄRM capable of accelerating plant growth and terraforming the battlefield.
And then there was Babbo, the protagonist Ginta's weapon, which boasted a staggering eight empty magic stone slots. Every time a magic stone was socketed into Babbo, the ÄRM could transform into a brand-new form dictated purely by the user's imagination—a hammer, a bubble gun, a gargoyle, a Holy Guardian, a jelly cushion. In this world, magic stones were the equivalent of the Sharingan in Naruto: plug-and-play artifacts of immense, world-altering power.
"Weapon ÄRM, Silver Sword!" the brute roared.
A flash of light erupted, and a gleaming, silver-white double-edged sword materialized in the brute's grip. However, the blade was incredibly slender and elegant, looking hilariously disproportionate and awkward in the massive thug's meaty hands. The brute pointed a chunky finger at a circular indentation near the hilt. "You see this, punk?! This is the magic stone slot on my Silver Sword!"
"I see it," Suyan nodded approvingly. "That truly is a rare and valuable ÄRM. It's just a shame you don't actually have a magic stone to put in it."
"Shut up!" The brute's face flushed a deep, embarrassed red.
Magic stones were legendary commodities. Their value far exceeded even some standard Holy ÄRMs. How could a bottom-feeding street thug like him ever hope to afford one? But if he could just rob this pretty boy of his rare ÄRMs and sell them on the black market, he might finally scrounge up enough cash to buy a magic stone for himself! Then he could become a legendary adventurer, defeat powerful enemies, marry a beautiful princess, and reach the absolute pinnacle of life!
Lost in his own delusional fantasy, the brute threw his head back and laughed. "Bwahahaha!"
Suyan's next words brutally snapped him back to reality. "Your ÄRM is excellent. Which is why it belongs to me now."
"What did you say?!" The brute flew into a blinding rage. This arrogant little punk was practically begging for death! Not only did he refuse to hand over his valuables, but he was actually trying to rob him! The brute lunged forward, swinging the longsword in a vicious arc. "You've got a lotta nerve, kid!"
"Nature ÄRM, Storm Ring Fan!"
Facing the lethal strike, Suyan didn't even blink. He calmly raised his right hand, showing off the Storm Ring resting on his finger. In a split second, he canceled the Nen construct of the ring and simultaneously conjured Karaku's maple leaf fan, perfectly disguising the Blood Demon Art as the activation of a Nature ÄRM. With his left hand, he casually reached out and caught the descending Silver Sword between two fingers, stopping it dead in its tracks. With his right hand, he flicked the maple leaf fan toward the brute.
Before the thug could even process that his sword had been caught, Suyan fanned him. A localized, explosive hurricane blasted from the fan, launching the massive brute hundreds of feet into the sky like a ragdoll.
Suyan kept his grip on the Silver Sword. Now severed from its master's magic, the blade quickly reverted to its dormant state—a simple, elegant sword-shaped necklace.
Weapon ÄRM, Silver Sword. Get!
Suyan inspected his newly acquired loot, feeling a surge of satisfaction. "Much better. Now I just need to find a magic stone to socket into this thing, and it'll be perfect." He frowned slightly at the necklace. "The name is pretty terrible, though. I'll rename it once I figure out what abilities the magic stone gives it."
"Who's there?!" Suyan suddenly pocketed the Silver Sword and spun around, his gaze locking onto a darkened stairwell tucked in an alley behind him.
The slow, rhythmic sound of clapping echoed from the shadows. A second later, a stunning silhouette stepped out into the light, her movements graceful and unhurried. She wore her signature black-and-purple witch's outfit—a dress that appeared incredibly revealing at first glance, yet expertly concealed every vital curve beneath its fabric. Her cherry-pink hair was tied into twin braids that framed her mature, older-sister-like features.
The girl looked at Suyan, a playful, appreciative smile dancing on her lips. "Not bad, pretty boy. You've got some serious skills."
"I saw that whole fight just now. I didn't expect to run into a fellow wind-element user like myself."
There was no doubt about it. This was the exact woman he had spent the last three days waiting for. The female lead of MÄR, Dorothy!
The corners of Suyan's mouth twitched upward, forming an imperceptible, satisfied smirk. Finally. You took the bait.
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