The Gatekeeper Chapter 15- Black Wolves.

As we landed in a secluded alley a few blocks away from the guild.

"Listen, in public. You will refer to me as Toru."

"W-W-What!!? We have to call Master by his name?"

Nirvana panics and hyperventilates.

Are you sure you are the oldest? What is with this reaction? You've been my servant for an hour!!

"And you are not allowed to kill humans unless I explicitly give the order."

""""Understood""""

"I'll be heading off to do some work, we have a telepathic connection so you can explore on your own. I'll come get you for lunch."

"Okay, T-Tor-ru-sama…"

Seriously, what are you? A fangirl?

"s.h.i.+rone, keep an eye on them, and don't get separated."

"Understood, Toru-sama. I will not let you down."

"Here, take some money. You are free to use them anyway you like."

I hand s.h.i.+rone four silver coins and move towards the guild to get some things done.

Nirvana is the crybaby type, Freya is the hot-headed type, s.h.i.+rone is responsible and sincere, and Kuromi is the loved little sister. They all have highly distinct personalities, which makes me wonder if they are actually sisters.

While absentmindedly thinking about the dragons and how to utilize their potential, I ended up in front of Mirae-san with four requests in my hand.

"Wait, are you seriously taking 4 requests at a time!?"

"Don't worry Mirae-san. As I said before, I am fast."

"B-But still, taking 4 requests at once!? Isn't that a bit too extreme? And all the requests are for hunting beasts…"

"It'll be fine… I'll be back in a bit then."

I part with Mirae-san who had a lonely look on her face, probably because s.h.i.+rley-san had to take care of some personal matters and was unable to make it to the guild today. After scribbling some stuff on the back side of each of the papers in the local script of this world, I head towards the market where I directed them to go.

It's been almost 30 minutes, I am worried that something unexpected might happen. All four of them are a top-cla.s.s beauty, they won't pale in comparison to even the most beautiful of actresses.

I can sense their presence, they are standing out way too much because of their mana, I'll have to them to tone it down a bit.

Comparing their mana to the common folk just seems comical. It's like comparing a ferocious forest fire to a matchstick. I move through the crowd of people in the market and make my way towards where the four of them are jumbled up.

As soon as I close the distance between us to about 20 metres, I run into a dense crowd of people, the type of crowd which you find when a major pop star or actress makes an appearance. Wait, don't tell me…

It's just as I suspected.

After I made my way through the dense crowd and reached the core, what I saw was 4 girls, surrounded by numerous guys, each one of them had hungry expressions on their faces, ready to prey upon the innocence in front of them. The small food stalls which covered the whole street were missing their owners. More than 100 men gazed upon the beauty of these four girls, each girl with varied hair and eye colour, but slightly similar facial and physical features. And of course, the four girls in the middle of hungry pack of wolves were my servants.

They were wary of the surrounding men and a.s.sumed defensive positions. I gave them the order to not 'kill', but I never said that they could not 'harm'.

I arrive at the scene, the one talking to the girls is a man with long blue hair, a wicked looking face, a small beard and a weak build with long height, a typical mage build. He was talking to the girls with a lecherous expression on his face. Ignoring the aggravated voices of people whom I push, I make my way and stand beside the girls. The other men are further away than I imagined, I can only a.s.sume that this guy is some big-shot.

I place myself between Nirvana and the man, whose body was closing in on her with each pa.s.sing second. When I came between them, the two concerned parties had polar opposite reactions. Nirvana seemed so happy that she almost danced out of joy, on the contrary, the tall man's expression turned from lecherous to angry in the blink of an eye. I am 183 cm tall which can be considered considerably tall among men, but this man was about 7-8 years older than me, and had a height of more than 2 metres. He does have an impressive amount of mana, but comparing it to Nirvana, who is holding back her tears of joy right now, is just amusing.

"M- Ah, Toru-sama, we are really glad you are here."

Nirvana whispered to me while grinning, I gave a slight nod while saying "No problem".

"Hey, you!!! Who do you think you are?? Get out of my way, or do you think that you are going to protect these girls from all of us?? This whole street is under my control, you better run away, I'd like to take these babes as my concubines, it would be an honour for them, would it not hahaha."

Speaking of which.

I turned around and with my neck slightly tilted downwards, looked at Nirvana.

"Here, these are four requests. Each one of you gets one, I've mentioned all the important details behind the paper, read them and complete these jobs properly. I am counting on you guys, got it?"

I handed Nirvana the four papers I was holding on to. They were all beast subjugation requests, and the highest paying ones in the Copper rank.

"Uh-um, okay Toru-sama. And what will you be doing?"

"Oh, I will be having some fun here."

I say so while pointing at all the men that surrounded us, the men looked at me with eyes full of hatred and resentment. These eyes were the same from back in my world, guys used to glare at me like this all the time. I was almost always surrounded by girls and had been confessed to many times, because of this, the guys at my school marked me as their common enemy. These glares directed towards me right now were the same ones.

"Understood, Toru-sama."

"Be careful, and you know how to enter the city, right?"

"Yes. We'll be back in a bit."

After our conversation, Nirvana turned towards the other girls, who had relaxed after I arrived.

"Let's go!! Umm~ s.h.i.+rone, you do this. Kuromi, you get this, and Freya, you can complete this one."

After handing each one of them a request, Nirvana turned towards me and said cheerfully.

"Fufu… I will be back soon, Master."

After she said this, the other three followed suit.

"See you, Toru-sama!"

"I will return as soon as possible."

"I'm off!"

All four of them looked genuinely happy.

"Okay, okay. Just be careful, and yeah, be sure to always remain in the human form."

I lowered my voice and told them to not revert back into their original forms again.

They waved their hands as they pushed past the dense crowd of men with relative ease. The men were shocked to see that the girls had so much power. Each one of them went in separate directions, leaving a trail of men sitting on the ground while holding their rear.

"How are they just moving like that?"

"They are running over us like ants.."

"Are they even Humans?"

So were the opinion of the guys who were trampled on and left in the dust. Well, that guy got it right, they aren't humans. They are the strongest dragons there are.

After the situation calmed down, and it had been a minute or so after the girl's departure, the tall man who seemed like the leader talked to me.

"Hahahaha. What just happened? Who even were they?? They just trampled over my guys like they were nothing…"

Don't feel bad about it. If I hadn't restrained them, they would've probably killed you all in a matter of seconds.

"Now they're gone. Looks like I will have to make do with you…"

He moved his long and slim legs and positioned himself in front of me. In this situation, any normal commoner would be terrified. But I can roughly estimate his physical prowess and magic capabilities as well.

"Well, I did tell the girls that I'd have fun with you guys."

I look at the guys who were blocking all my escape routes, they had a big grin on their faces. More than 100 guys are surrounding me right now, each one with dense killing intent. The narrow lane is completely filled, with me as it's centre.

I still can't figure out why they want to crush me. I mean, is it because of my looks? Or are they wary because of my relations.h.i.+p with the girls? Or is it the fact that I insulted them? Maybe one, maybe all. It doesn't matter. I am really hungry after a whole day of experimenting and dealing with problem dragons. I have to finish this before the girls come back.

"Fufufu You don't know who I am, do you? I am Meinos, the leader of the mafia clan 'Dark Wolves'. It is the strongest clan in this area and owns every shop in this whole sector. I can use fire magic of the intermediate level. Well, before you die, I may be willing to show you the mighty power of the fire element intermediate spells."

What a cliche self-introduction. Now then, how to crush his mind, body and spirit simultaneously while consuming as little time and energy as I can?

"Oh, really now... I would really like to see an intermediate fire spell, Meinos-san"

"Fufufufufufufufu. You are dead."

"Fire Magic- Wheel of Fire."

As the name implies, a wheel of intense flame erupted in front of the man, who was standing in front of me with a distance of about 5 metres between us. I am surrounded, leaving no room for escape… Well, I wouldn't want to run either, this is the perfect situation to test the capabilities of manskin.

Similar to elements; mana isn't that hard to manipulate. The problem lies in the reserves of mana, the amount of mana that humans have isn't nearly enough to be a determining factor in a battle. You'd rather go with the option of using some other barrier magic or any other attacking spell. But in my case, I have loads of mana to spare, the pure mana is really strong, if manipulated properly, mana can have more destructive power than any divine cla.s.s spell. And if I can master manipulating mana, I can immobilize weak opponents before even battling by sucking out their mana. Strong people who have a grasp on the concepts of magic and mana, tend to keep their mana in check, preventing it from leaking and being sucked out.

Manskin is also one of the techniques I came up with on a whim. I just concentrate an intense amount of mana and turned in into a kind of full-body invisible armor. According to the results of my experiment, the power of the barrier should proportionate to the mana provided. It wouldn't be visible to the people who don't have the ability to judge and control mana. I heard that almost all of the n.o.bles have this ability, making them the only people in front of whom, I have to keep my mana manipulation a secret.

The manskin surrounds me, covering my whole body in a light-bluish aura. Unaware of the manskin, Menios sends his wheel of fire towards me with incredible speed and precision, for others that is; for me, the wheel of fire appears to be travelling about one centimetre every 3 seconds. Given that, it would probably take more than 25 minutes to reach me, but I don't want to experience that. I break free from the confinement that is my super perception, within milliseconds of my return, I am struck by a blazing wheel of fire. If not for my manskin, my abdomen would've probably been sliced, while the rest of my body would be engulfed in flames.

The fire extinguishes immediately after coming in contact with my manskin, leaving me completely unscathed, and Menios, completely baffled.

Having your opponent remain unaffected by your strongest attack should destroy a person's fighting spirit.

"W-W-What!!!????"

Menios clasps his hands above his head at the polar opposite of the expected result. Other people start to panic as well, watching their leader s.h.i.+rek, made them terrified of me. All 100 or so people raise their hands. Realizing what is happening, Menios joins their ranks. Currently, 100 people surround me, preparing to cast their spells at the same time, with me as the target of their slaughter.

I consciously raise the mana provided for the manskin. The thin manskin starts to gain density and thickness. The once one centimetre thick layer of mana over my body now becomes more than five centimetres thick. The attackers remain ignorant of the dense, thick and blue aura around me and launch their attacks at the same time.

"Water Magic- Aqua Jet."

"Earth Magic- Stone Shower."

"Fire Magic- Wheel of Fire."

"Ice Magic- Ice pillar."

"Dark Magic- Shadow Volley."

"Light Magic- Holy Javelin."

"Fire Magic- Blazing Lance."

"Fire Magic- Fire Arrows."

"Ice Magic- Frost Lash."

"Wind Magic- Air Beam."

"Water Magic- Tidal Wave."

Many spells, ninety-percent being primary and the rest being intermediate, come my way without any mercy.

Looks like I went overboard on the defenses.

I realize this after observing the potency of the spells. A one centimetre thick barrier would've been more than enough defensive power to fend off these spells.

But then again, you can't be too careful.

After 30 seconds of barbaric bombardment, their spells cease. Each one of the men heave a deep sigh looking at the smoke originating from the position where I stood.

Looks like it's time to go.

I move in a straight line. Moving less than 2 metres, I leave the smoke behind and stand before the horde of men who were celebrating.

"AHEM!"

n.o.body noticed me coming out of the smoke, which was anticlimactic because I expected some fun reactions.

After I exclaimed loudly, everybody directed their undivided attention towards me. It was a deathly silence that followed my reveal, not even gasps could be heard, Menios and his guys kept their widened eyes glued at me.

Hey, I can handle the same stares from women, but men doing the same thing makes me feel really uneasy.

"Fufufu. Now then, I guess it is my turn."

I say so while chucking, their reaction really amused me.

"RUN!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!"

The first person to snap out, Menios, shouts and directs everyone to run for their lives. Everybody responds; they start to flee in various directions for the sole reason of getting away from me.

"Hoho… you ain't getting away that easy."

I release my mana skin with additional force behind it. It felt like releasing air from a balloon. The mana went in all directions. Everybody who came in contact with my overwhelming mana, fainted on the spot without delay. In a matter of seconds, all the men were laying on the ground, unconscious.

To anyone who witnessed this from far away, it would look like the people just fainted after being hit by a gust of strong wind. And for those with the ability to perceive mana, it would appear that a powerful tsunami of blue energy washed them away, and the source would be me.

I draw in the majority overwhelming amount of mana flowing from me and leave it at the average mana capacity of the common folk. After all the tempering with mana and this incident, I mastered the art of mana output control. Now, I can deftly release and draw mana at will.

While I am contemplating about my mana, a voice calls me out from behind.

"Master! We are back!"

"Toru-sama, we have completed the task."

Nirvana and Kuromi arrive at the scene, completely ignoring the men who were laying on the ground, they approached me with a smile on their faces.

"Nirvana, did you bring Kuromi back?"

"Yes Master. Since Kuromi doesn't have the ability to use light magic, I was the one who accompanied her."

"Good job, both of you."

I walk towards them and pet their heads. They giggle with red faces as I caress their smooth and silky hair. After I take a bit of distance, they look up and extend their hands.

Kuromi is holding the horns of the same demonic wolves which I hunted yesterday while Nirvana is holding multiple long and sharp fangs. They present it to me with their faces covered with gleaming smiles.

I take the horns and fangs and store them in my spatial pocket. This is magic manipulation of the s.p.a.ce element. It makes kind of a personal s.p.a.ce, a personal dimension even. It can be used to store any number of articles, it basically has no end. I haven't told the girls that I can manipulate s.p.a.ce element, so I utilize the spatial pocket privately, without revealing it to the girls who are giggling while whispering to each other.

While I gaze at them with warm eyes, I hear two distinguishable womanly voice from behind me.

"Toru-sama, we're back!!"

"We're back."

Fufufu I can't believe the personality difference between these two. They truly symbolize their element. Freya is more on the energetic and cheerful side whereas s.h.i.+rone is on the timid and quiet side.

"Good work."

I do the same procedure of petting their heads and storing the retrieved body parts of the beasts in the spatial pocket. The four of them join up and start to talk cheerfully among themselves. Suddenly, a thought crosses my mind and I speak up rather than bottling it up.

"Nirvana!"

I call out to the oldest of the bunch, hearing me, she immediately runs over and stands in front of me with her hands behind her back.

"I have a concern. Since you all are my servants now, what will happen to all those whom you rule?"

"They will be at your disposal, Master."

She replies without a moment's hesitation

"What do you mean?"

"For the beasts, their acknowledged master is the most superior ent.i.ty, with their ruler being second. Therefore, for all the beasts who are currently unowned, our command is of the utmost supremacy. All four of us are your servants, and each and every beast that dwell within our rule are our dependants, making them your servants as well."

"How many exactly?"

"We consider the unintelligent and sub-intelligent beings as unessential. The population of intelligent beasts is very low, but they make up for it by power. Even the weakest of intelligent beasts are capable of annihilating huge human settlements. The approximate number is around 200,000."

"And how many of those 200,000 beasts are comparable in power to a Dragon?"

"About 20,000."

"Hmm. And how many of these beast's power have you personally acknowledged?"

"Not more than 1,000."

I got it.

"Do tell me, how many of these beasts can mimic appearances of other beings?"

"As I mentioned before, this is more of a skill than actual magic. So, many of the intelligent beasts which are comparable in power to a dragon can use this particular skill perfectly."

Is that so... This is some praiseworthy information.

"Nirvana, is there a way to find out how many of these intelligent beasts have a master?."

"273."

"Huh?"

"Whenever an intelligent beast acknowledges a master and vows to serve them, it is their obligation to come and greet their ruler. Currently, there are 273 beasts with their masters residing in this world. And if we include the four of us, the number will become 277."

"And what about the sub-intelligent and unintelligent beasts?"

"There are innumerable. We don't pay much heed to those who lack a noteworthy intellect."

"So, basically what you are saying is that, every beast that you guys rule over are now in my control?"

"Yes Master. We will inform the beast world about this lovely day when we return."

Oh yeah, I can send them back. I forgot all about it because the mana they consume is insignificant.

"Everybody?"

As I call out in a loud voice, the previously glaring Dragons-girls gleefully come over and stand in line with Nirvana.

"Would you like to stay and have lunch with me, or would you rather go back?"

""""We'll stay!""""

As expected.

"Fine then."