[Hanako] Chapter 6: Birkensen Trading Company

[Asta]

Hanako gave a respectful bow. "Of course Frau Leiningen, we would be glad to accompany you and see your new facility. Herr Klein does send his regrets he couldn't attend in person, he is still recovering indeed but everything is still fine at the estate. A moment if you will though, I must ask my companion to write something down so as I don't forget."

"If you could please Minette" she said, turning to the girl and waiting for her to withdraw her notebook and a writing implement. When she was ready, Hanako spoke slowly and clearly enunciating each separate syllable in the following sentence: "Ato-de. Wa-tashi-ta-chi o to-ri-na-sai. Shi-te-ki-na ba-sho." When she finished she made a small motion with her head toward Sofia, indicating that she should show her.

Minette was smart, and she hoped her Japanese was paying off. Ideally she would understand what Hanako meant and would write it in Refedorian.

[Throndir]

Minette nodded, seeming able to understand. Trudy and the rest didn't understand a word of what you said however. Sofia continued to stare carefully at both you, and now Minette, as the latter began to write down what you said in Refedorian.

Minette then showed the message to Sofia. Sofia herself nodded.

"Well... If you follow me." Sofia said, without waiting for a response, she turned around and began walking out of the room.



As you made your way deeper into the complex, Sofia eventually lead the way down some stairs. Finally there was a door with guards on either end, which the guards promptly saluted and opened the way for both her and your troupe. Once there, she had lead you through more doors, and yet a second level further down. Each door having guards. It seemed like security was especially tight.

Finally, she made it to what looked like an old-style elevator at the center of a room. It looked like a metallic cage that was big enough to fit everyone. Once everyone was in it, the cage began to rattle and move downwards. Down and down the elevator went. There were glowing crystals at every few intervals, which Sofia explained.

"They are called mana crystals... Not something you see in our world, but apparently is used here." Whether or not it was the fact that the group was so deep into their case of operations, Sofia began to talk more frankly.

"The demons don't know I've been gathering and trading for them, and... I prefer to keep it that way." Sofia said calmly, a hint of sharpness in her voice. "Luckily we're far enough from prying ears."  At that moment the elevator stopped. A new set of doors were in front of you, and they opened.

Leading the way in, what you saw was a large room, filled with many workers, each of them hard at work creating something. However, what you noticed the most was what looked to be a girl in a cage, a collar strapped to her neck. She was panting hard, as the collar kept activating over and over. The glow from the collar was unique, it was a white and bright glow that seemed to burn her. She had long pink-colored hair, and her eyes a clear blue, she would have been a completely normal person, save for the fact that she had two horns that grew at the top of her head.

She noticed you and called out.

Spoiler

"Help... me..." He voice was full of pain.

[close]

[Asta]

"The demons don't know I've been gathering and trading for them, and... I prefer to keep it that way... Luckily we're far enough from prying ears."

"Naturally." agreed Hanako. When the elevator came to a halt and everyone stepped off her gaze was immediately drawn to the horned woman in the cage. "What the fuck is this!?" she said forcefully, all the faux politeness gone from her voice.

It was difficult not to jump to conclusions, and however bizarre and awful the scene before her was acting on impulse was not an option. However, depending on Sofia's answer there could be problems.

[Throndir]

"That? Why... you've seen them walking around on the surface. It's a demon of course. We caught her snooping about... Which works for us too anyways." Her eyes flashed.

"After all, we have to make sure our new product works well."

One of the guards handed her something, then she threw it over to you. It was a collar, designed similarly to the ones you yourself were familiar with. But these ones seem to include small fragments of the crystals you had seen earlier in the elevator shaft. The mana crystals.

"Regular collars... Don't work very well on demons you see. I give you the first of many... Demon slave collars!" As if on cue, the engineers working on tuning the slave collar retriggered it again, and this time around the horned girl collapsed in a fit of pain.

"Calibrating this is a bit tough, that seemed to have almost killed it. Tone it done maybe two percent?" One of the engineers who had a notebook and pen commented. Another one chuckled.

"Just two percent? If we can't kill it, maybe five percent?"

"You're right... Reduce it by one percent." The first responded with a sickening smile. Both found it funny as they began to change the settings.

"Believe it or not, it harnesses light magic... We simply infuse those stones with light magic, then, modify a slave collar to make use of that." Sofia continued ignoring the idle banter. "This new world... had a lot more fascinating things to it than our previous one..."

You notice Trudy tense up as she grabbed on to your shirt, then whispered quietly so only you could hear.

"Light magic... is rare."

"We've been developing new weapons as well... Much of them are in the prototype stage... Cannons the size of a sword and can be carried around for one. Not nearly as fascinating as the new slave collars, but with more experiments with these new mana crystals... I'm sure we can get something interesting going... Interesting enough for the demons too I would imagine." She smiled, though, it wasn't a warm one, it was one more akin to someone who had begun making plans, and seeing the results come to fruition.

"Perhaps... if only Herr Klein did summon the hero, most of the citizens would rally to his... or her... cause. Then perhaps even the Refedorian people would free themselves of the demons... Wouldn't you agree?"

"S-stop. N-no more!" The demon girl looked like she had tears in her eyes as the collar triggered again.

[Asta]

Uh oh. Moral quandry. Hanako thought watching the demon girl repeatedly subjugated to painful looking shocks.

"Do the females all look like this?" she whispered asked Trudy quietly. After hearing her response she turned to Sofia. "Light magic you say? I hear that's an uncommon element to use, how'd you manage that? she inquired.

Hanako turned the collar over in her hands, examining it. Then she thought Why the hell not?

"How do you work, collar?"

[Throndir]

"Not all of them... Some are scarier... Most have red skin... Tones from red to blue or grey, but hers... She looks different."

"I'm glad you asked... There are some other interesting things we found out in this world... For example, these balls of light that the we bought from one of the noblemen here. Apparently it was akin to war spoils with the demons against the northern countries. Come, I'll show you." Sofia said leading the way.

At the same time, the collar began to speak to you, its voice only you can hear.

"Oh! How do I work? Well... I suck up this kind of energy from these gems embedded in me... Then... zap! I used to zap with electricity did you know? But I'm a changed man! Now it's a soft and warm glowing light... But then goes zap! Hahaha!"

"P-please...!" The demon girl continued to beg as Sofia began leading the way to the next thing she wanted to show you.

[Asta]

"Interesting, thank you." she thought spoke to the collar. "Do you happen to know exactly how much of a zap you can put on say... a demon, before they die?"

She gave a momentary gaze to the pink haired demon girl as she cried out again. For whatever reason, it felt wrong to let her suffer so much but that could also have been manipulation on her part. Hanako was not familiar with the demons and didn't know how guileful they could be.

Might as well Sense Motives to see if the girl is trying to emotionally manipulate Hanako.

Rolled 1d20+3 : 9 + 3, total 12

"Is that so?" she asked Sofia, following her along. "Tell me, how exactly is it that you managed to catch her? She looks different from the ones I've seen outside." Hanako mused to herself about the potential of taking her. She would be hard to get back to the estate, and the others would... not be happy to see a demon in their midst.

[Throndir]

"If I go full power, I can probably kill them! I told you! I'm a changed man!"

Sense Motive: 12
You could not tell.

"The demon? They come to town fairly often... This particular one wanted a job... We happened to have had a position open for test subject." She smiled to herself. "So..."

"We gave her one."

[Asta]

"Ok, whats the smallest zap you could give one before they die?" she replied to the collar.

"Wait, she wanted a job?" Hanako asked, confused. "That seems odd. I assume you figured she was snooping?" The possibility wasn't out of the question, but something still bugged her

Hanako was still looking the collar over as she walked behind Sofia toward their next destination.

Knowledge Slavery on the collar to see if I can know specifics about its construction, power output, etc.

Rolled 1d20+11 : 16 + 11, total 27

[Throndir]

"The smallest zap before one dies? Those demons are pretty tough I hear. Probably depends on how tough it is... But I can guarantee you, if I go full power, I can probably kill one! I haven't tried it yet, oh, but I'm excited too!"

"Of course she wanted to snoop. The growth of the Birkensen Trading Company is nothing trivial. Even when the demons arrived here, we've been catering to our new overlords' needs. And then if we ended up refusing her, she would have gone straight to her superiors... It was better to accept her. So we did, for a short time... Though of course kept her closely watched. Once our collars were operational... well... We simply changed her position. She hasn't broken yet. But believe me, any slave can be broken. We'll find out exactly why she came here, or if somehow our operations here have already leaked to her superiors."

"She knows too much." She had her eyes trained on you. "Surely you understand what that means?"

Knowledge (slavery): 27
The moment you started to focus on this specific collar, you realized then that you actually knew more about it than you first realized. This was supposedly new technology, but whatever reason, you knew how it functioned and how it worked.

The mana crystals in it were used as a power source. A collar could either be enchanted so that it would deal its damage or constrict through magicka, however, there were also types that relied on a power source. Be it either from the wearer themselves, or something else, such as this mana crystal. This mana crystal. By destroying or removing the mana crystals, the collar itself would no longer be able to deliver any more shocks.

Unfortunately, this particular model did not seem to have any sort of recharging capabilities. It could be used, but eventually the power in it would run out. There was no actual light element magicka cast on the collar, the power came mainly from the mana crystals in it. Once it ran out of energy from the mana crystals, it would likely revert back to being a collar that discharged electricity.

Details
-For each MP used in its charge, it deals 1d8 damage.
-This particular collar can store 50 MP of light energy before running out.

[Asta]

"Hmm, thank you." she said to the collar.

"Right. Of course. Are all the collars that you're making for use on demons the same as this one? I'm sure you know that they have a limited effectiveness and will eventually stop working on them yes? Also, what keeps the wearer from smashing the mana crystals to disable the light magic? Not saying I know more about this than you, but I have... an eye for things like this. So to speak." Hanako tried to ask the questions in a way that didn't come off as condescending. "If you don't mind, before we leave I can take a look at the one your actively testing. Perhaps I can find the proper power setting your workers seem to be looking for."

[Throndir]

Sofia shook her head.

"We're still testing, designing, and prototyping. Right now we've been modifying existing collars, but we've been thinking of building one from the ground up. Yes... I'm surprised you managed to pick out that these are limited-use collars. Unfortunately, as it is right now, we do not have a way to replenish the light magic that sustains it. We charge the crystals through a... process... Light magic is rare, and I do not know of-" She paused.

"Herr Klein's Isikawan soldier... are you by chance... adept at light magic?" She stared at you closely trying to read any tells that you might give away.

"And very well, feel free to take a look. I'll be waiting here."



The two engineers working on tinkering with the collar noticed your approach.

"The guests from... Herr Klein? Quite a beauty isn't she?" The first engineer said, he then triggered the collar again, and the demon girl collapsed again writhing in pain.

"The collar. Not the demon, of course.

[Asta]

"Herr Klein's Isikawan soldier... are you by chance... adept at light magic?"

Hanako shrugged. "I wouldn't know, I've never tried. I won't be gone more than a moment." With that she returned to the chamber with the demon girl.

"The collar. Not the demon, of course."

"Ah... right..." Hanako said, hesitantly. She knew that she was new to this world, this political situation, and shouldn't judge the zeal with which these men seemed to delight in torturing the girl. However, it did seem unsavory. "At what point do you become a monster yourself? she asked herself.

"If you could, for a few moments, suspend your tests so I can take a closer look at the collar she's wearing?"

Hanako leaned in and reached out to the collar with her mind to speak with it. "Excuse me, I know you are busy doing your job and all but could you answer a question for me to the best of your ability? About how low of a shock do you think you can do on a demon before they die? I assume you have some idea since you've been zapping this one for a while."

[Throndir]

"Suspend the tests? Well, sure, sure... Come take a look."

When you stepped nearer, you noticed that the demon girl's wounds healed fast. Already, the burn marks were starting to go away. There was a thick metallic wire that came from the collar into some sort of terminal that the engineers were using.

"Hello miss! Why thank you! I do love being able to do a good job!" The voice that responded seemed to be feminine. "Well, you see, these two people keep setting me at high numbers. Even at 20% I can probably kill her, even though she has such amazing regeneration! I'm set at 16% right now... But they can probably get to around 24% before it outright kills her. 20% will damage her severely though and risk killing her. Personally... going at 4% should be the default, given how it was for when I shot off electricity!"

[Asta]

"Why thank you, that was very helpful." she replied to the collar.

"Gentlemen, I can say with absolute certainty that even with this subjects regenerative powers 4% should be your default. You're already close to killing her outright, I wouldn't recommend going higher than 10%. In the long run you're going to use up too much mana setting it so high and frying your captive won't do you any good. Trust me on this, I'm kind of an expert."

She turned back to the captive girl and looked deeply into her eyes, studying her face. "Why are you here?" Hanako said to her, in a gentle but stern voice.