Saileri
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[TWS] Chapter 19 - The Trial
🕑 Added 2020-10-29 21:18:40 +0000 UTCSilence filled the room after the transformation took place. Everyone was staring at Miria, who was focusing her attention on one man on the opposite side of the table. She was showing the coldest expression Ast had ever seen on her face, but it wasn’t like they were together for that long. It just felt quite surprising to see her assume such a mood after experiencing a lot of her full of energy, partially shy, very gingerly behaviour.
Asterios discreetly patted Miria on the back, bringing her from being deep in thought back to reality. She turned to the elf woman and spoke with a soft but still slightly cold tone.
“Greetings Guildmaster, my name is Miria and I’m Master’s contracted familiar. Do I have to recount everything again or is it enough for me to just confirm my Master’s words since I’ve been by his side this whole time?”
Suanori was still in a daze from what they witnessed. It didn’t feel like shapeshifting magic, not with the mysterious, black mist surrounding the girl during transformation. And also, it was usually people who shapeshifted into beasts, not the other way.
Meanwhile, she just watched as a black panther turned into a woman. Even if you would somehow manage to create a humanoid form for a beast, the lack of intelligence or just the pure experience in that body would prove difficult for them to move, not even mentioning the ability to speak a language properly.
This could explain the dense spiritual energy she felt around the beast the other day. There was more to it than met the eye as she thought. Rather than a beast, she seemed more like a person, but the unusual ears and tail were contradicting that statement a bit.
The Guildmaster cleared her throat, but Rhode shouted out before she could reply.
“What the fuck?! Summoners can’t contract people! What the hell are you trying to pull off?” He turned to Suanori. “Guildmaster, they are definitely scheming against me together! She must be a shapeshifting magic user posing as that loser’s familiar!”
Miria furrowed her brows and turned to the man again. “I’m not!”
“Calm down, Rhode. She definitely isn’t a shifter,” the Guildmaster answered.
Suanori knew well that a magician returning from their shapeshifting spell comes out pretty much naked since all the clothes fall off of them during the initial transformation. And Miria appeared in front of them in full gear, even with swords behind her waist.
“Besides, why would one try to act like a tamed beast in the first place? That would drain their mana at an enormous rate. Even the best potions wouldn’t be able to keep up and they would quickly end up with the overuse sickness,” she continued.
“I don’t know! Maybe he is one of those freaks who fancy some animal ass and she is into getting fu—”
“You bastard! Master is not—”
Miria began losing it and started standing up but Ast grabbed her by the wrist and shook his head. He asked her mentally to let the man run his mouth as much as he wanted. As long as they didn't make the first move, they would have the upper hand.
She wasn’t exactly happy about the thought of having to listen to that jerk’s rude remarks any longer, but Miria had already decided to trust Ast more from now on. She emitted a low growl, which surprised even Asterios since he didn’t think she could do that in this form, and sat down while staring daggers at the adventurer. Her body language gave off a feeling that she would jump at him at any given moment.
“Everybody, please, let’s calm down a bit. And Rhode, tone down the insults. Now, Miria, could you please prove that you are his familiar?” the Guildmaster asked.
Miria glanced back at Ast with an uncertain gaze. She had no idea how to show them their connection. She didn’t know of any means to do that besides just words.
Ast smiled at her. ~I can take care of that. Do you mind if I touch your forehead?~
~Of course not, Master,~ she replied instantly and turned her whole body to the side for him.
Asterios first transferred some mana into the fingers of his right hand and drew a circular sigil, a very simple one, with just a few brushes. It disappeared with dark crimson particles after he tapped the glowing rune.
Then, he took off the black, leather glove covering the hand he used and showed the back of it to everyone. It was decorated with a crimson red symbol too. This one though was in the shape of a heart lying on fairy-like wings and with a crown above its top.
This was his Summoner’s Brand. It manifested itself during the very first successful contract of an aspiring magician and no one had any control over how it looked. Some people mocked Ast for his being all girly and cutesy, but he never paid any attention to them. It was only beautiful in his eyes. Now, even more, after it turned into a dark crimson colour.
Confirming that everyone had a chance to take a look, he moved his hand towards Miria’s head and plopped it onto her hair. He brushed his thumb over her forehead while also stroking his fingers through the fluffy, black strands.
A moment later, an identical symbol manifested itself above the girl's eyes after Ast’s caresses and he pulled back his hand. “This should do, right? You can’t fake the mark. And I’m pretty sure someone of Guildmaster’s calibre would instantly see through minor illusions from this close.”
The glowing, dark crimson shape had something enchanting to it, capturing the attention of anyone who looked at it. The feeling was very faint and unintrusive but persisted for the whole time the Guildmaster stared at the two symbols. She shook her head to clear her mind.
“Yes, this is enough. Well then, do you want to add something to the story, Miria?”
“Everything that Master said was true and already very detailed. I can vouch for his every word. We were lured into a cave and trapped inside by this man and his accomplices. We somehow managed to push through around thirty wolves and a Bloodfang, finding—”
“A Bloodfang?!” Ellie shouted in shock, joining the conversation for the first time.
“Ah…”
Miria realized that Ast didn’t specify what kind of beast they fought in the cave and she might have spoiled his plans, but he just nodded that it was fine. He wanted to mention it after getting done with the adventurer, but it wasn’t any worse if they learned about it earlier.
“See?! She must be lying! There’s no way a fresh newbie would survive a Bloodfang! No matter if his overfed cat can also turn into a person! C and even some B-ranks have problems with them without proper team composition and management and those two even fought tens of wolves at the same time!” Rhode kept catching onto every possible little fact which could save his ass.
“I’m not lying! You are!” Miria responded.
“You are his bitch! Of course, you will go with anything he says! Should have chosen a better lie than this!”
“Silence!”
The Guildmaster raised her voice and many wooden tendrils sprouted from the ground, quickly restraining the adventurer, tying him to the sofa and also coiling around his mouth to completely shut him up. Nature magic was one of the strongest schools in Suanori’s repertoire. And quite a useful one for crowd control. She sent Rhode a disgusted glare, getting enough of his baseless insults.
She turned back to the duo. “I’m not accusing you of altering the truth, but he has a point there. You do seem strong, Miria, but judging by your equipment, it would be almost impossible to deal with a Bloodfang while fending off its small army.”
“I know! We barely made it and that’s only because of Master’s efforts. My lack of focus almost killed both of us…” Her ears dropped and she lowered her gaze, visibly feeling guilty again.
Asterios quickly moved closer to the panthergirl and started gently scratching her head. “We’ve already talked about this. And it was you who ripped that oversized wolf into shreds in the end.”
Still feeling a bit down, she let herself be cheered up a bit by his affectionate pats. They always made her feel warm and pleasant. She shouldn’t sulk about her past mistakes and as Ast told her before, focus on improving.
He slipped his hand into his spatial pouch and grabbed the canines of the Bloodfang, throwing them onto the table between everyone. “Good enough?”
Ellie and Suanori picked one each and examined them. The former spoke. “They do seem to be of the correct size, but with just that—”
“Miria.” Ast glanced at his partner and that didn’t need any more instructions.
She opened a crimson portal near their sofa and disappeared in it. The women looked at the shimmering, dark gate curiously, being aware of its purpose. A moment later, something flew out of it and landed on the lap of the adventurer. He started fervently wriggling in his restraints and muffled screams could be heard from him.
Everyone besides Ast gasped after noticing that the object was in fact a decapitated head of nothing else than a Bloodfang. Miria stepped back into the room through the portal and it closed itself by descending into the ground. She sat on Ast’s side again.
There was no need to investigate any further. The girls knew for sure that it wasn’t a fake. They really had downed a Bloodfang with just two people. Ellie’s eyes suddenly widened and she turned to Asterios with a fearful expression.
“Wait! Then this was the rumoured alpha?!”
“Most likely. It’s quite fortunate that no one tried subjugating it based on the given information or we would have had plenty of casualties,” Ast answered.
“But why wasn’t it reported as one?”
“You only told me that there were rumours about an alpha, so I guess some hunters found big pawprints and assumed it’s one. No one might have seen the real thing.”
“If so, then we are really lucky you have dealt with it before anyone else stumbled on the beast,” the Guildmaster joined.
“BARELY dealt with it. I’ll still feel stiff in all my joints for at least a day more. Nevertheless, we are discussing a different case here. Are we going to end that charade or should I finally let Miria do what she is dreaming of since the moment that idiot collapsed the cave behind our backs?”
Rhode started wriggling even more and panicky tried to speak with his mouth sealed by the vines. A pinkish flower sprouted from one near his face and puffed a small amount of pollen of the same colour. The adventurer instantly lost consciousness.
“It was pretty clear who was putting up an act for some time already. I promise you that we’ll deal with him appropriately. Attempted murder is no joke. I hope you don’t mind leaving that in our hands.” Suanori stood up and firmly lowered her head towards the duo. “As the Guildmaster, I sincerely apologize for allowing such a thing to be done to you by someone from our ranks. I have no excuses for letting this happen and not noticing that something was wrong with Rhode much earlier, besides his usual, rude attitude. I can promise you that I will personally investigate this further to uncover who helped in hiding all the information.”
“There’s no need to apologize so deeply, I understand. Sometimes people like him appear inside big organizations. I’m fine letting you handle the case. I only hope that there weren’t any mo—” Asterios stopped for a moment and glanced at the charming receptionist. “Ellie, were there any rookie adventurers who perhaps tried to get closer to you in the past?”
She blushed a little and was going to ask where that question came from, but just before doing so, she recalled Ast calling him Rhode’s girlfriend and she instantly realized the real reason behind it. “There… were… some...” She answered, with her eyes losing sight of reality like she was trying to remember a lot of things.
“Did any of them suddenly disappear? Not coming back to the guild after taking on a quest or something?”
Her silence and a very sad gaze were enough of an answer.
“Son of a bitch!” Even the usually calm Guildmaster couldn’t stop herself from cursing the man. She rubbed her temples and sighed heavily. “How did no one ever notice that?”
Asterios sighed too. “People come, people go. It’s not like advisors are obliged to run looking after their adventurers when they stop showing up from one point.” He stood up, passed by Miria and sat close to the dejected girl. “Ellie, don’t blame yourself over this. No one would normally keep attention to such details.”
“But…”
He subconsciously began ruffling through her hair as he did to Miria when she felt sad or down. The frequent pats started being a natural reaction to him. “No buts. You already have a quite sexy one, there’s no need for more.”
Ast’s unexpected joke took her by surprise and Ellie snickered, quickly taming that little laugh down. She understood that he only wanted to cheer her up by suddenly acting completely different than his usual self, but she still didn’t feel right to laugh at a moment like this.
“Thanks… I’ll be fine, I promise. I just need some time to get over this.” She smiled gloomily at him.
“Good. You better do. If the next time I come to you here and see you acting like a mourning widow, I’ll order Miria to lick you all over until you can’t take it anymore.”
Miria shifted into her panther form and walked to Ellie from the side. She gave her hand a little lick, showing that she would definitely go with that order without any objections.
“You should take a break. Don’t come to the guild for a day or two. I know how uncomfortable it could feel to have to forcefully act all fine in front of crowds of people.” Suanori joined.
“I will. Thank you, everyone.”
They left getting into the details about the Bloodfang and submitting Ast’s tasks for later and Suanori went with the restrained man while Asterios and Miria began escorting Ellie back to her home. They gave the saddened girl a slow ride on the panthergirl’s back on the way to her house.
She did look happy at the moment, but Ast knew she was just putting up a front, so he didn’t impose on Ellie any more after they dropped her in front of the door to her house. She needed some time alone to get over the unexpected, painful revelation. Even if she didn’t have any feelings for any of the guys that might have lost their lives to the man’s schemes, those still were people she knew to some extent.
Ast and Miria also rode home and he ordered his partner to finally go back to her realm for a bit longer to rest properly and meet up with family and friends. Miria asked him to call for her when he would have some time so that they could talk about the future.
After some ear scratches, Ast promised Miria to do so soon and let her return to her realm. He could guess what she had to say and most likely also ask, but it would be better to do it after they both properly rested and got rid of all the stress and tension. It would also give Miria time to collect her thoughts properly.
Both him and Miria understood that they had to get to know each other much better before taking up another commission. They didn’t want a repeat of the recent situation. The short training they did together, which shouldn’t even be called that, was nowhere enough to prepare them for the unexpected. Your usual mobs, monsters or beasts didn’t pose a threat to Miria, but you never know when a stronger foe could appear.
He also had the new, weird power inside him to investigate. From what he saw that day in the cave, it could make a real difference if he managed to control it properly.
